Chapter 59

TCS Frigate Black Knight: While en route to Vega-3, Kathy Cloud stood in front of Major Cortez's door. She hesitated for a moment, then she knocked on it. "Enter."

She entered the room and stopped in front of his desk. "What can I do for you Lt Cloud?"

She looked at him, "It's about the people we rescued sir."

"Is there a problem?"

"Oh no sir. I was just curious as to what's going to happen to them sir."

He looked at her, and saw the concern for them in her eyes. He smiled at her, "Well, considering what they've been through, probably some counciling at the very least. After that, it's up to them. No one is going to force them to do anything they don't want to, you know that"

She relaxed a little, "Thank you Major."

"It's Ephram. When it's just us in private, you can call me Ephram Lt."

She semi-smiled, "Yes sir, uh Ephram. And it's Kathy."

"Was there anything else Kathy?"

Now she smiled again, "As a matter of fact there is. How about a match, after all, your up 4 to 3 on me."

He thought for a moment, he was a little tense. "Alright. Shall we say the exercise mats in 10 minutes?"

Now she really smiled, "Oh yes sir."

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Vega-3 Confed Corp Mentalist Training Facility: Anthony Mason watched as the ship set down on the landing pad, and he then saw the telepaths being unloaded. They were still sedated, and he knew that that had been done for not only their safety, but for the safety of their rescuers as well. He followed them into the medical wing of the facility, and made sure that they were all medically sound. He knew that the doc on board the Black Knight had examined them, and he also knew she was a competent doctor. But he was a little old fashioned, in that he saw these people as his people and now his patients. He smiled to himself, as he also knew that Missy would be a little upset at him for probably missing dinner, but oh well, that's the life of a doctor. Deep down he knew she would understand, and that was one of the reasons he loved her.

Dennis Adams felt himself slowly becoming aware of his surroundings. The bed he was in was not the one he had become used to over the last 3 years. He also realized that he felt heavier than he should, and the sounds were all off as well. He slowly opened his eyes, and he knew that he was in some sort of medical facility. Everything was painted bright yellow or white, and there was an very faint antiseptic smell in the air. He tried to rise up, and he found his muscles felt a little sluggish "No doubt from drugs." he thought. Then he saw a young woman open the door of the room and step toward his bed with a wheelchair. She couldn't have been more than 11 or 12 years old, about a year or two younger than himself. She stopped at the foot of his bed and looked at him. "Good morning."

"If you say so."

She looked at him, and he saw a little sadness in her expression. "I know you've been through a lot, and right now you have no idea what's going on, or where you are."

He just looked at her, "What kind of crap is the corps pulling now?"

"I can assure you that this is not 'crap' as you put it. Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life."

"Yeah right."

"I know you have no reason to trust me or anybody else." She seemed to hesitate a little. "And I know that what I'm about to say is going to be hard for you to believe. But you and everybody else who was at that prison are free now."

"Yeah right" and Dennis just rolled over in the bed away from her.

Angela Mitchell was a little ticked off now, "Listen bucko. You don't have to believe me, but it's just rude to turn your back to somebody when they're talking to you."

Dennis turned back around, and saw that she was really looking pissed. He had seen a similar look on his older sisters face when he used to get her mad. But he didn't really care if he ticked her off or not. "Just go away."

Angela leaned on the wheelchair, "Sorry. Can't do that. It's my job to get you to the breakfast meeting. Then you get to take some tests after that."

Dennis sat up in the bed, "I'm not doing any tricks for the corps. When are you people going to figure that out?"

Angela started to smile, and she then giggled. "I keep telling you that this isn't the corps."

Then she looked directly at him, "What if I can prove to you that this isn't the corps?"

"And how are you going to do that?"

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Angela walked over to the closet by the head of the bed, she opened it, and took out a one piece jumpsuit. She then took out some shoes and socks. "You can put these on, and then I'll take you to the front door."

"Then what?"

"Then you can leave."

Dennis just looked at her, "What did you say?"

"I said you can leave."

Dennis just looked at her, and nodded. "Yeah, I step out the door, and 'BANG' your people shoot me. Right?"

She looked at him, and he wasn't sure what she was thinking. He reached out with his mind, but she had her guards up, and she had to be at least a P-9 or P-10 from the feel of her.

"Well, are we going to breakfast, or would you prefer the front door?"

He looked at her, "Can I at least have a minute to get dressed?"

Angela looked at him and blushed a little, "Oh. Uh yeah." and she turned around.

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After he was dressed, Angela patted the wheelchair, and he sat down in it. "Where to?"

"The front door."

She took him down the hallway, and then down in an elevator. When the doors opened, he saw that they were in a large open lobby. The receptionist looked at them, and Angela waved to him. They had just arrived at the front door, when he saw a very pregnant woman entering.

"Hi Angie. Where you off to?"

"Hi Missy. I'm not going anywhere. But Dennis here wants to leave."

The woman looked a little worried, "Does he still think he's with the corps?"

"Yeah, he didn't believe me when I told him he wasn't."

The woman looked at him first, then at Angela. "Did you let him scan you?"

Angela looked worriedly at her, "Do I have to Missy?"

Dennis could hear something in her voice, he thought it might be fear. "I knew it, she's afraid I'll see the truth if I scan her."

Dennis saw the woman put a hand on the girls shoulder, and heard her say, "Angie, I know that you don't like being scanned. And I could let him scan me. But I'm only going to have limited contact with him and the others. He and the others have been locked up for at least the last three years. They don't know about Confed, or Division M. Besides Angie, you're his Mentor, and he has to trust you. Do you remember how Leroy got your mom and dad to trust him?"

Angela looked at the floor,"Yeah, he let them scan him."

Then after about a minute her shoulders seemed to sag a little, "Alright Missy, I'll do it."

Then she looked at Dennis, "But he better be nice."

The woman looked at him now, "Young man. A few years ago, a Psi-cop scanned Angela without her permission, and he uh 'hurt' her. She's since been a little reluctant to be scanned by others. But to help earn your trust, she's willing to let you scan her. I just ask that you don't push to hard."

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Dennis looked at the girl Angela again, and he could see she was sweating a little. But she stepped over to the wheelchair and kneeled down next to him. Dennis reached out with his mind, and this time there were no guards, she had opened her mind to him. He saw her life of the past few years, it was happy and peaceful. He saw her and her family arriving on Vega, and the house that she now lived in. As he went a little deeper, he saw her life on Proxima, and the running to keep ahead of the corps. He felt her hunger pangs, from not having anything to eat for days at a time. Then he went a little deeper, and he saw the face of a Psi-cop. He felt her panic, her fear, and then he felt a blinding flash of bone searing pain. He quickly pulled out of the scan, and saw that she was breathing even harder and that she had tears flowing down her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I didn't. I mean. I uh." and he realized he had tears on his own cheeks.

She looked at him and placed her hand on his, "It's OK. I'm learning to live with that part of my past."

Dennis wiped the tears from his cheeks, as did Angela. She looked at him and whispered this time, "Well where to now?"

He gave her his best quirky smile this time, "I could eat, maybe a little."

Missy and Angela both nodded, and the three of them headed for the Medical wing cafeteria.

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Division M Training facility: After breakfast, the people from the prison met with the Director of Division M. He welcomed them all to Vega-3 and a new life. They had all been given a folder, and he told them that the rules of the division were in the folder. All of them were told that the division was in the process of trying to reach their families, and he asked them to not try to make contact with them. They were also informed that technically they were escaped prisoners from the EA. But that since Vega was an independent world, the local government was making discreet inquiries on their behalf to get their sentences either changed to time served, or probation. Then he told them he would let them have some private time to make their own decisions as to what they wanted to do and he left the room.

Dennis had listened to this man, Director Mason, and now he started to read the papers in the folder. He heard a lot of the people saying this couldn't be real, that it had to be some sort of Psi-corps trick. But he knew from what he had seen in Angie's mind that it wasn't. He slowly stood up and asked if anyone else had scanned the peoples minds. Everyone was just nodding their heads, it seems that they had also been skeptical at first. Dennis looked at everyone in the room, "I don't know about you people, but I believe them. And I'm willing to hear them out."

Everyone sat there, and some even felt a little ashamed. Here was a young man, barely past being a boy, and he had more courage than they did. Soon everyone in the room was agreeing with him. They would see if these people were for real or not.

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Two weeks later: Angela opened the door to Dennis's room, and saw him sitting at his desk. He was deeply concentrating on some problem on the monitor screen, so he didn't hear her enter. She got behind him and shouted "BOO"

Dennis's heart nearly skipped a beat, then he looked at her and was about to say, "Don't do that." but when he saw her smile he just laughed at her. "Angela, I'm trying to get my homework done."

She looked at him, "You've got a whole week to do that problem. Besides, I'm here in an official capacity. As your Mentor, it's my responsibility to see that you're well cared for, and not overworked. After all, for the last two weeks, you've been tested, poked, prodded and injected, and now you've got homework."

She reached over and hit the save button on the keypad. "Now. Dennis Adams, it's time for your field trip."

"What field trip?"

Angela just smiled at him, and told him to grab his jacket and come with her. The two of them quickly made their way out of the residence dorm, and over to the landing field. He saw an older man waiting by a shuttle. He knew from his scan of Angie, that she cared a lot for this man, and she had told him that he had become like a grandpa to her. As they neared the shuttle Angie ran up and hugged the man. "You made it."

He hugged her back, and smiled at her. "How could I not?"

Angie stepped back a little "Oh, Leroy, this is Dennis Adams. Dennis this is Leroy Tate."

Mr Tate put out his hand and Dennis slowly took it, and shook it. "It's a pleasure Mr Adams."

Now he looked at Angie and smiled a little conspiratorially. "If we're going to make it to the field tests, we had better get a move on."

Dennis looked at the two of them, "What field tests?"

She looked at him, "Well duh, the James Carter's Field tests."

Leroy stopped her picking on him, "Angela Marie Mitchell, you behave yourself."

She looked down at the tarmac, "Yes sir"

Leroy looked at Dennis, "Angie figured you could use a break from all of the work you've been doing. So she asked me if I could help her out a little, by getting the two of you out of the facility for a little while. So shall we people."

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Soon they were in the shuttle, and were in orbit. Dennis had been in spacecraft before, but this was his first time in a cockpit. Leroy looked at him, and saw the wonder on his face. He pointed out the controls to Dennis, and explained their functions. He smiled at Dennis, "Why don't you fly her for a bit?"

Dennis just looked at him, "Really?"

Leroy just nodded, and waited until he had a grip on the control stick, then he let go of the other stick and let the boy fly the ship.

Leroy told him how to plot the course, and let him do it. Then the shuttle was soon zooming toward the fourth planet, and Dennis saw a lot of ships on the scanners. Leroy reached into his pocket, and pulled out two Id's and handed them to the two of them. "These will give you access to the special area's of the ship."

Dennis looked at him, "What ship?"

Leroy smiled and pointed at a really big ship that was besides a dry dock facility. "That one, the TCS Mastiff. One of the finest ships I've ever had the privilege to serve on."

As they approached the ship, Leroy called for and received landing clearance. Once the ship was down, the three of them exited, and were met by the CAG Lt Col Halko. "Hello Captain Tate, long time no see."

Leroy smiled at her, "Hi Janet, I heard that you were made CAG of the old girl."

"Yes sir, about 2 months ago. We all really miss you sir."

Leroy smiled a little, "I miss her a little to Janet."

Then Leroy introduced his two guests to the Col, and asked if they could spend a little time using the simulators. The CAG looked at the two kids, "Do you think they can handle it sir?"

Leroy just nodded, "They might surprise you Col."

"Well we do have a few hours before the tests start, I don't see why not sir."

They all headed for the Pilot training area, and once there, they helped the kids get ready. The Col gave them a quick briefing on the flight controls, and the type of ships they would be in. Once they were set, the adults left the room, and Dennis and Angie soon found themselves flying fighter ships. Because of the gravity and inertia settings, they felt like they were truly flying. What really surprised Dennis the most, was that after a little while his opponents kept changing their flying tactics. He and Angie had to constantly change their own tactics to keep up with the simulations. When it was over, the two of them were getting out of the simulators, and a pair of men in uniforms came up to them.

The oriental man looked at them, "So you two were our opponents. I have to admit that you two are pretty good. But just a little cocky. I'm Lt Cho, and this is Lt JG Strauss, or Dragonfly and Lockjaw."

They shook hands, and Lt Cho looked at Dennis, "If you ever want to try again, just give me a call."

Dennis was a little surprised by the mans words, but he quickly recovered. "I will."

The two men left, and then the kids saw Mr Tate and the Col. "Well, how was it?"

Dennis just looked at her, "Awesome."

Now Leroy looked at his watch, "We should get going, we're due in the observation room in about 15 minutes."

While the kids were changing, the CAG looked at Leroy, "Well, you were right sir, they did surprise me."

"I thought they might Janet, oh and would you thank the Lt's for flying with them."

"Yes sir, I'm sure Dragonfly and Lockjaw enjoyed it as much as the kids. Although dragonfly may have to take some ribbing. I mean it's not often that you get waxed by a little girl."

Janet hesitated for a moment, then started to snicker, "Twice."

Soon the kids were back, and the three of them headed for the observation room.