Mirage Sterling brings the last of her checks to the console/. Pressing butons on the toich screen, she closes out.
"Have a nice day," she says to a young man with blond hair.
"See you later, Mirage," replies her co-worker, Tim.
"You too."
Mirage walks out the rear door and into the night. Instead of wearing the gray uniform of a United Earth Forces Academy cadet, she wears a black polo shirt and black shorts. She had spent the past eight hours taking food and drink orders from people visiting the sports bar and grill. The place offers over thirty varieties of beer, some hard liquor, and sandwiches and buffalo wings and other foods like loaded potato skins, mozzarella cheese sticks, and cheddar cheese curds.
She gets into a ten-year-old car and starts the engine. She pulls out into the street, still lit with lamp posts and the headlights and brake lights of automobiles. Some people still walk around. After a few minutes, she is out of the city and into the surrounding countryside. It is dark, with only headlights and lights from distant buildings providing light.
Relying on memory, she makes a few turns, and then is driving along a dirt road. After a few more minutes she sees a house in the distance with the lights on. She turns onnto the gravel driveway, hearing the crunch of the gravel. She parks the car near the main house.
Getting out of the car, she walks to the front porch.
Looking at the open front door, she sees a girl with blond hair.
"Ann!" she exclaims.
"Mirage!" exclaims Ann Campbell, hugging her friend. "Your mom brought me here. She told me you were at work."
"That's right. I work at this sports bar in town."
They enter the family home. Mirage's parents are already in the living room.
"How was work?" asks Mirage's mother, Miranda Sterling.
"A little quiet," replies her teenage daughter. "At least there was time to wipe the countertops for our customers."
"There's still one taco left for you," says her father, Steven Michael Sterling.
Mirage looks at the folded tortilla filled with cut steak, lettuce, diced tomatoes, and sauce. She places her half-eaten taco on a plate on the dining table.
"How was your trip?" she asks Ann.
"Pretty long," she says. "I slept part of the way. I waited twenty minutes outside the curb until your mom came. I got to see the countryside and stuff. A little different from Idaho. More land being cultivated here."
Mirage takes another bite from the taco. "And your space cruise?"
"The second time was busy."
"She swabbed the deck," says Amber Nicole Sterling, who is wearing denim overalls.
"No, no, that was last year," corrects Ann. "this year I shadowed the sergeants as they made sure the junior cadets did their chores. And when I go back to the Academy, I get to babysit other cadets doing their chores."
"I remember my cruise," says Mirage, having taken another bite of the taco as memories from one year ago arise. "It was on an ocean ship on Tirol instead of deep space, but I do remember having to swab the deck and remove peeling paint."
"We also got to do more fun things in our second year," says Abnn.
"I know you play basketball," says Ashley Nadine Sterling, also wearing denim overalls like her twin sister.
"More than that," says the visiting cadet. "We had some social game nights. And we even have field trips." She takes out a device which projects a hologram of her, Mirage, and some other cadets, wearing T-shirts and shorts, some of them wearing sunglasses. They all stand on a beach, and there is blue water in the background. "This was a field trip we took to this beach just maybe a mile or so from the Academy. That's the Black Sea. You can find it in an atlas or globe."
"and here's another picture of us," says Mirage, pulling out a device. She projects a hologram of her, Ann, and some other cadets in gray uniforms, along a city street. "This is downtown Samsun, just a few miles from the just went out and had coffee and pastries."
"Maybe we can go there someday," says Amber.
"We would have to plan a trip, save up some money," says Steve.
"I really can;t recommend a place to stay, Mr. Sterling," says Ann. "All I know where to sleep is the cadet dorms."
"We should go for brunch tomorrow in town," says Mirage. "At the place where I work."
"Already reserved," says Miranda.
"Thanks, Mom."
"Got to be at the station early tomorrow," says Steve. "I'm up late enough as it is."
"Maybe I'll see you later tomorrow afternoon, Mr. Sterling?" asks Ann.
"Sure." Steve retreats to the back of the house.
Minutes later, Mirage and Ann leave the main house. They walk along a dirt pathway through the rear vegetable truck garden for about ten meters until they reach the guest cottage.
Going inside, Mirage notes it looks pretty much the same as before, with a bed and a small kitchenette in an alcove, and a door in the back leads to a bathroom. A backpack lies on the soft carpet, where Ann had packed her things for her trip to Ohio.
"Okay, it's not exactly a beachside resort, but it's comfortable," says Mirage.
"Your family was very welcoming," says Ann. "I don't feel too sleepy; I guess it's because I'm in a different time zone. And this is a nice place."
"I remember when we all lived in a double-wide Quonset. I remember the house being built. Dad actually worked hand-in-hand with the contractors."
"I saw the pictures." Ann recalls seeing the picture of the two half-cylindrical structures joined together, with the family car- new at the time- parked over there. She then takes a remote and turns on the television.
"See you tomorrow morning," says Mirage, yawning.
Ooooooo
Ann later sips the sweet orange juice mimosa.
"I definitely like this, Mrs. Sterling," says the visiting cadet. She looks around. The main dining area has several varnished wooden tables. To the right of the room is a long, wooden bar where bartenders serve their drinks. Servers wearing black polo shirts and black shorts or black trousers walk around with trays of food and drinks.
Mirage also sips a mimosa. Her parents, two younger sisters, and Ann sit with her at this long wooden table. The place is always popular for brunch.
Their waitress, a woman with loosely curled blond hair, walks up. She looks at Ann.
"I haven't gotten time to introduce myself," she says. "My name is Jane."
"I'm Ann," says Ann. "I was with Mirage at the Academy. Just visiting."
"We're gonna have a bonfire at the beach in two days, the night before Ann leaves," says Mirage. "I work that morning and then I have the rest of the afternoon and evening off."
"I can make it," says Jane. "I don't have work that day. But now I'm at work, so I should get your order."
"Of course," says Miranda.
"We want eggs," says Ashley.
"And pancakes," says Amber. "With syrup."
And so Jane takes the orders from her guests, entering it into an electronic device that she holds. After confirming the order, she presses a button on the screen to send it to the control system.
About ten minutes later, Jane arrives with all the food, which includes bagels, pancakes, sourdough toast, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, steak, and cubed potatoes garnished with pepper. Butter and cream cheese and maple syrup are served. The twin girls are especially excited to eat brunch, which is a welcome break in the routine from simply eating cereal and drinking orange juice for breakfast at home.
"Better than the Academy," says Ann.
"And more expensive, I'm sure," says Miranda. "I wonder what you'll do after you graduate."
"Space aviation, ma'am. Hopefully, I can get into V-school and become a veritech combat aviator."
"Oh, like our grandma and grandpa and Aunt Maia," says Amber.
"I am aware of the martial heritage your family has."
Miranda sticks a fork into the egg on her plate. "Martial heritage," she says. "I remember running away from home when I was fifteen to fight the Invid."
"You did?"
"I was fifteen, thinking she knew better than all the old people. I'm lucky to be alive. I do sincerely hope that if you do achieve your dream of being a veritech pilot, that you only have to do search and rescue. Mirage's father and I still have to deal with the memories."
"Shall we make happy memories, Mrs. Sterling?" asks Ann, smiling.
Ashley slices another piece of pancake that is drenched in maple syrup. "Remember we have to gho dress shopping for the wedding?"
"Who's getting married?" asks ann.
"My oldest cousin, Emilia Katsulas," answers Mirage, holding a slice of pork bacon. ""She's a few years older than me. We're gonna shop for dresses for Amber and Ashley and myself."
"Maybe I can buy myself a little souvenir."
Oooooo
Lieutenant Roy Hunter drives the Toyota Acalon hover model along the dirt road, surrounded on both sides by earthen berms.
"This should be the place," he says.
He makes a left turn through a gap in the green grass-covered berm. He drives a few dozen feet along the gravel driveway until reaching the main house. He parks, the struts making contact wioth the gravel. Taking his cane, the Spacy judge advocate sets it on the ground, and uses it to help him stand up from the car. He walks up to the front door and knocks up.
The door opens and a bespectacled man in his forties, with short-cropped green hair appears.
"You must be Mr. Sterling," says the lieutenant.
"You must be here for my daughter," replies Steven Michael Sterling.
"I remember you," says Miranda. "You were a guest at our 20th anniversary party at that resort on Florida's gulf coast. That was three years ago."
"Yeah," replies Hunter. "A nice formal dinner. I wore my dinner dress whites with all the medals. And I'm going to Em's wedding next month. I guess I'll see you there then."
"You'll be there?"
"Em was the closest thing I had to a little sister."
A girl with purple hair appears, wearing just a sleeveless blouse and shorts. "You're the lawyer," she says.
"That's right."
"I spoke with Commander Ogilvie from the Ocean Patrol two weeks ago."
"He's the trial counsel," says the judge advocate. "I'm the defense counsel."
"We can take a walk around the place."
And so they do.
"I guess it's not surprising the former Commandant is being court-martialed," says Mirage.
"It's my duty to use proper methods to undermine the prosecution of Commodore Nijjar," says Lieutenant Hunter. "I know you spoke with trial counsel; now let me ask you some questions."
"Sure," she says.
And so Mirage recounts to the Spacy judge advocate her story, her academic troubles, the data stick that Cadet Major Ayanna Harden had provided, to being advised to use it by Melissa Karn, to offering it to Cadet Private Carli Padgett, to being told by Commodore Nijjar to keep quiet about it in exchange for an administrative separation from the Academy.
"I'll tell it to you straight," says Lieutenant Hunter. "You should have been expelled from the Academy. The Spacy and its cousin services rely on trust. To do my job, I have to trust my paralegals. And I have to trust my commanding officer, Commander Priyatosh.
"My parents were veterans of the SDF-1 Campaign; they had to trust their officers to survive the war. And those who liberated Earth, including your mother and father, had to trust their officers.
"Breaking the Honor Code is a serious offense. And you did more than just cheat. You actually offered to help another cadet cheat. You should have been expelled for that.
"But that was then. The military cut you a deal. You get to separate from the Academy with no further military obligation. We have to honor our word to our troops, if we expect their obedience. I know if I broke my word to my paralegals even once, Commander Priyatosh would have me reassigned somewhere a lot less pleasant than where I am." Hunter looks and sees a girl with shoulder length blond hair, wearing a sleeveless b louse that exposes her middriff.
"Lieutenant, I am Cadet Ann Campbell, sir," she says. "Just visiting mty friend here."
"What year are you?" asks the lieutenant.
"I;'ll be in my third year, sir."
"Third year. When not only do you have to stuff and do homework and take tests and drill and train, you have to train junior cadets. I can still remember my Academy days, even after nine years."
"Yes, sir."
"I am representing Commodore Nijjar in her court-martial. When did you become first aware of the commodore actually helping cadets cheat?"
"Not until last April, I think. General Vukovich- she was the superintendent- announced that she resigned her commission. The commandant was removed from her post. I later heard from another cadet that the commandant would be court-martialed."
"And you heard that the court-martial was for covering up cheating?"
"Yes, sir," answers Ann.
"And what of Cadet Sterling? When did you first become aware that she may have violated the honor code?"
"Lieutenant, I have no personal knowledge that Mirage Sterling- or any cadet- actually violated the honor code. I only know what I've been told, sir. I was surprised when Mirage was removed from the varsity basketball team, and then packed her bags to leave the Academy. No one offered me any test answers or essays."
"So Cadet Ayanna Harden never offered to help you cheat?"
"No, sir."
"And the now-former women's coach, Melissa Karn, she never offered to help you cheat?"
"No, sir. I wish I could me of more help, sir."
Hunter looks at Mirage and Ann. "I should get going," he says. "The wife is bringing the kids over so we can all see their grandparents here on Earth."
"I guess I'll see you at Em's wedding," says Mirage.
Lieutenant Hunter gets back into the Avalon. The standing struts are withdrawn and the car drives off to the main gate of the Sterling homestead.
"I'd better go to the back house and take a nap," says Ann. "I want to be ready for the bonfire tonight."
oooooo
The beach at the shore of Lake Eerie, just a few miles east of Sandusky, is a rather popular spot during the summer. Many people are still on the beach, wearing swimwear, even at the cusp of nightfall.
Mirage Sterling, Ann Campbell, and some others who are Mirage's high school classmates all sit around a crackling bonfire. They, like most women on this beach, wear two-piece bikinis, baring much flesh.
Ann drinks a shot of whiskey. "This is the life," she says. "I can't do this at the Academy."
"Yeah," says Jane, one of Mirage's former classmates and current co-worker. "The Academy's a lot stricter than city college, that's for sure."
Ann and the others look out towards Lake Eerie. There is blue water all the way to the horizon. Boats, barges and vessels sail across the surface. The husk of an alien robotech space vessel, left over from the Robotech Wars, sticks out through the lake surface.
A red-haired girl named Lizzie downs a shot of vodka. "I was wondering, Mirage, what wil you do now that you are out of the Academy?" she asks.
Mirage looks out towards Lake Eerie. "I'm applying to Ohio State," she answers. "I can transfer my credits from the Academy. I'll continue studying aerospace engineering, and work for an aerospace pilot's license."
"I know you wanted to be a veritech pilot," says Lizzie. "I heard that some military contractors hire veritech pilots. They are under contract with the Earth government to defend Earth's colonies."
"Yeah, Troy goes to Ohio State on an ROTC scholarship," says Jane. "When he graduates, he's gonna be an officer in the U.S. Army."
"The U.S. Army," says Lizzie. "they're basically a marching band and gun club these days."
"I hope they stay that way," says Mirage. "Earth has known peace for almost all our entire lives. I've only heard stories of the Robotech Wars; I was too young to remember them."
"May we continue to have peace for one hundred seventy years," says Ann, downing another shot of vodka.
Oooooo
The interational airpiort near Sandusky is the largest airport on Lake Eerie's southern shore. Many cars arrive on the terminal access road to drop of and pick up passengers, some of the passengers arriving from or leaving to locations beyond the Sol system. The sky above is pink, sunrise is just in a few minutes
One of the vehicles is a red sport utility vehicle made by Starfire Motors. It pulls over to ther white-painted curb, and the hazard lights are turned on, blinking. Ann Campbell steps out with a bag with her belongings.
"Goodbye," says Miranda.
"thank you, Mr. Sterling, Mrs. Sterling," she says. "Amber, Ashley, it was nice to meet you."
The twin girls smile, still tired.
Mirage gives Ann a hug, and her heart races. "Maybe we'll see each other again soon," she says.
"I hope."