The next day, at Holocomm headquarters,
the chairman of the mining board stood at a podium, giving a press speech.
“As I said, ladies and gentlemen,” the
chairman concluded, “Holocomm is one of the cleanest companies in the known
galaxy. There is absolutely no corruption in our ranks whatever. Now, are there
any questions?”
“Mr. Chairman,” his advisor hissed,
standing beside him. “I think you should take a look at what just came in.”
“What is it Morgan, I don’t have all day,”
the chairman snapped, covering up the
microphone with his hand and
leaning over to see what was the matter. The advisor held up a data pad for the
chairman to see.
“It’s a newspaper article, sir, that was
written just a few hours ago.” The chairman’s eyes widened at what he saw
printed across the screen. “Scandal: Azuran Commissioner Caught Taking Bribes
from Azurestone Pirates!” it read in bold uppercase letters. Suddenly there was
a buzz among the reporters in the conference room.
“Mr. Chairman,” a reporter called,
standing up. “I’ve just received a report from the New Mars Gazette that the
Azuran Commissioner himself has been involved in some illegal activity. What’s
going on here, Mr. Chairman?”
“Mr. Chairman, I’m getting the same report
too,” called another reporter. Calls of “Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman” began
popping up everywhere.
“Umm…uh…I have no comment at this time…”
stuttered the chairman. “Umm…no more questions!” The chairman hurried for the
exit, led by his bodyguards and advisors. The repeated calls of “Mr. Chairman”
faded out of his hearing as he was led past the reporters clambering and
shoving to get to him with their cameras and microphones.
* * *
For the students at Base Camp 3, it was a
bright Tuesday morning as kids hustled back and forth through the halls of BC3
High once again. Sean, Jessica, Norman and the pirates were the talk of the
entire campus, but especially Sean. Jessica and Sean walked up the stairs
together towards Jessica’s locker when Joe met them on the way.
“Hi Sean, Jessica,” Joe said in his usual
cheerful manner. “My name is Joseph Gregory; I’m pleased to meet you Sean.” He
shook Sean’s hand. “You rescued Jessica here from pirates, I hear. How did you
do it? Were you scared?”
“I was a bit scared, yes,” Sean answered.
“I saw she and Norman go down in the storm, and I decided to try to find and
help them. Later, I saw Jessica get picked up by the pirates, so I just
followed their craft to their base. I used a special engine masking maneuver so
that none of them picked me up on the PWLS. I stayed low, sneaked past the
guards, and got her out—with a little help from a sympathetic pirate.”
“So he just let you go?”
“Yes, he didn’t like the way his comrades
were treating Jessica.”
“That’s amazing, a do-gooder pirate! I
hope they didn’t give him to hard of a time when the spec. ops. team stormed
the pirate base. Well ya’ll must have had an adventure escaping, huh?”
“Yeah, it was quite an adventure.”
“I bet you got to be real close friends, huh, Jessica?”
“What do you mean?” Jessica asked.
“Oh, never mind.” Hey, have you been
updated about the outcome of the raid on the pirates yet? They say the commandoes
came down pretty hard on them. Several of the pirates were killed but the rest
of them surrendered quickly. It was all over in a matter of minutes.”
“Some of the pirates were killed?” Jessica
inquired, her brow furrowing in concern.”
“Uh…yeah. They said that they captured the
pirate that help you guys escape. Name was um…Harvey Crower they said.”
“Ah, that’s good.” Jessica’s concern
quickly turned to relief.
“Yeah, they did a good job. It was good
talking to ya’ll. I’m going to find Kyle.” Joe walked off down the hallway.
“Don’t mind him,” Jessica said to Sean. “I
have a feeling that we’re going to get a lot of little comments like his
today.” The two reached Jessica’s locker and as usual, Tammy and Melissa strode
up to them there.
“So here’s the famous Sean Westcliffe and
the hostage he so valiantly rescued,” Tammy said, smiling as she extended her
hand to Sean. “Hello Sean, I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced, I’m
Tammy Summers. Thank you for saving my best friend, we owe you one. I’m sure
you’ve met Melissa O’Keefe here.”
“H-hi, Sean,” Melissa said, a little
absently.
“Hi, Melissa,” he answered.
“You two are in the same class, right,”
asked Tammy.
“Yeah, and you’re in
“That’s right. Oh, how is
“I suspected that it was more than just a
broken leg, but I didn’t know until the doctors checked him out yesterday how
bad it really was. They say that he has a serious concussion too. They said
that if we hadn’t finally found him when we did, he could have slipped into a
coma.”
“Wow, close call, huh?”
“Too
close.”
“I hope he gets well soon.”
“Thanks.” Just then, an idea popped into
Tammy’s head.
“Hey
Sean, are you and Jessica going out together,” she asked curiously.
“Us? Going out,” Sean asked incredulously.
“I’m not sure our relationship calls for that
yet.”
“Oh come on. You two should go out, I mean
you did rescue her, even saved her
life.”
“We’re just friends, Tammy,” Jessica piped
in. “I think we’re both satisfied with that.”
“Whatever you say, but you do need a guy, Jessica. You really
deserve somebody to go out with.”
“Whatever you say, Tammy.” Jessica rolled
her eyes. Kyle and Joe soon walked up to join the group.
“Hey guys! What’s up,” Kyle asked.
“Surrounded by girls just like I thought, I see, huh, Sean? Seriously now, you
were amazing, man! Rescuing Jessica from the pirates and all that!”
“It wasn’t much,” Sean answered modestly.
“Did you hear about the Commissioner
getting caught for taking bribes and breaking into the main database? Imagine
that, the Commissioner himself!”
“Yeah, we know. When he was captured in
the end, he was trying to escape from the planet in a shuttle, but Holocomm’s
destroyer that brought the commandoes over was blockading the exit, and the
Commissioner was easily caught when he threw his hands up and surrendered
without a fight. It had something to do with the fact that all their guns were
trained on him, and they told him that they would blow him out of the sky if he
didn’t stop.”
“It’s been pretty freaky, all the ion
storms occurring one after the other, wasn’t it,” Joe commented. “Pretty
convenient, that one at the end too.”
“Yes, I must say that it could only have
been the power of God that that last storm came,” Jessica answered. “Otherwise,
the shield may have never been raised. It was also his power that took it away
at the right time.”
“Very cool indeed!” The buzzer for the
first period class rang out through the halls. All the students got busy
gathering their data pads and other school supplies. Melissa stood watching, as
Sean went over to his locker and opened it. She began to feel guilty for
speaking so ill of Sean in the past. Sean was unaware of the green eyes that
watched him hesitantly as he began to pass by. Melissa fixed her hair a little
bit and picked up her things and walked towards him.
“Hey, Sean!” she called. The two talked as
they walked to their classroom.
As the school day came to a close once
again, Melissa and Jessica walked together to their lockers.
“Wow, Sean’s a really neat guy,” Melissa
commented. “He knows a lot more than you would guess at first glance. He so
smart and witty, and he has such an
interesting family. Did he ever tell you about his uncle? His uncle is a
veritable genius! He used to work for Earth’s military, and he has so many
interesting stories that Sean told me about. Sean and I talked so much today
that we almost got in trouble with Mr. Calligan for talking in class. I was so
wrong about him being mediocre and all the times I belittled him. I wasn’t sure
at first if he would want to talk to someone like me, but he had no objections
at all.
“Yeah, he’s told me all about his uncle.
And you’re right, Sean is pretty cool. Looks like you had a pretty good time.”
Jessica said, slightly teasingly.
“Yeah.”
Jessica noticed Sean standing by himself
at his locker. She excused herself from Melissa and approached Sean. “Hey,
Sean! I just got off the intercom with
“Sure, I’ll come,” said Sean delightedly.
“Thanks!”
“You know, Melissa really has a thing for
you, I can tell,” Jessica said in a low voice. Sean was surprised.
“Really?”
“Really, lots of the kids do too,
including me.” There was a twinkle in her eye as she said this.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Jessica abruptly leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
“Thanks for everything.” she said. With
that, Jessica turned about and walked away, leaving Sean to contemplate the
events of the past few days.
THE END