Part III
	The day of that first class' graduation, I got my new orders from
none other than good old Sergeant Kingsley himself. He showed up at the door
to my quarters with a box and a piece of paper.
	"Well son, since the local police decided not to charge you, the
officers in command found it in their best interests that you are shipped out
shortly. Here," he said passing me the paper. It was an order notifying me of
my transfer to the EFS Normandy. "And these are your new bars, First
Lieutenant O'Muirdagh. You ship out tomorrow. Try not to make any more
trouble."
	Staring at the paper in one hand and the bars in the other all I
could do was flip up my hand and mumble, "Yes, Sir." My eyes flipped back to
him full of questions. "Does this mean that I'm still on guard duty today for
the ceremony?"
	"Yes it does, smart ass. However you are not be on the green. You are
to be stationed on the entrance to the repair bays. After that you better get
your shit packed because you are on the first flight outbound for that ship."
Kingsley actually smiled at me and said, "And you don't have to salute me
anymore. If you hadn't noticed yet you are my superior officer." This got me
smiling and I said the only thing I could.
	"Yes, sir. Good day, sir."

	An hour later I was on station for the last ground bound duty I would
ever know. Sure standing over the ramp to the bays wasn't exciting but it was
enough for me. Flashing off my new paint job was a blast too. Kristi and I
had done my frame up in a matte white with red flames coming down both the
arms and out from the jump jets. Everyone who came by, from the CO's to my
students from self defense class, all wanted to know what was I thinking when
I had painted it.
	After a while it did get to me though because I could hear the
speeches being given over at the grandstand by the officers. Here I was
guarding the entrance to a part of the facility most of the officers couldn't
find, armed with the latest military technology, waiting for some hillbilly
to take a pot shot at me. The ceremonies were just winding down and things
were coming to a close when all hell broke loose.
	Gunfire started working it's way towards me from the fence, nothing
the size of a frame but lots of it. From what I could here, it was like those
hillbillies had finally had enough of us EFS people and were taking it out on
everybody. That was when the first shot bounced off of my faceplate.
	Spinning to my left where the shot came from, I saw three guys in
civilian clothes with shotguns and such charging the entrance ramp, but the
froze ten feet from the ramp when I saw them. I left my 114 locked down
behind my back, just used me left arm gun, and turned on my external
speakers.
	"On the ground. If you move, I have the right to shoot you for
illegal entry onto an armed forces base. If you fire I am allowed to use
lethal force."
	The three seemed to think this over for some time. Over by the
grandstand I could hear the beginnings of a serious firefight, but I knew
that had to take care of these characters first. To prove my point I lit up
the ignition torch on my flamethrower. Realizing that I meant business the
three lay down which allowed me to step out of my frame and tie the up with
some rope lying by the ramp.
	Getting back into my frame, I heard a rumble coming from behind me.
Before I knew what happened my frame was flying and I wasn't driving.
Whatever it was dropped me and by the time I rolled over and got up all I
could see was a training frame going over the grandstand heading for the
green where the cadets form up to receive their awards.
	Running for the stands, I came over the top on my jump jets and saw
whoever was in the frame tossing people left and right. This nut was kicking
and punching everybody, but saving the special hits for anyone in an ExoFleet
uniform. When whoever it was saw me they froze, they could see me but I
couldn't see them because of the polarized canopy the trainer had. They
solved my problem by turning their speakers on.
	"O'Muirdagh, funny isn't it. The kind folks who live around here were
so willing to help me get in here after your little gig at the bar. I hope
you haven't forgotten me, good old Jay Sullivan."
	"Jay, how could I forget kicking your ass and then watching you blow
all your training just to get back at me. So what is it now, do I get to kick
your sorry ass again? Or are you going to step out of that suit before you
hurt somebody else and I have to blow you away."
	"You're gonna pay for what you did to me you rat. I hope you die a
slow death."
	I stared at him across the green standing there surrounded by the
body of the people he had beaten and knew there was only one way to stop him
but I had to try something else first.
	"Look, Jay, just give yourself up and you wont get hurt." I knew he
was ignoring me, but hey, you have to follow the regs.
	Jay looked around once before charging across the field to beat my
frame with his. If he got to me first I would be finished because his frame
has two hands while my frame only had one hand and nothing else to deal with
a frame up so close. When he got to within fifteen feet I bent my knee to get
ready, and then when he got to arms reach I jumped.
	With one foot behind the other the frame was thrown into a twist over
the top of Jay and his frame. Jay was so worked up he kept running for
another ten feet. He turned to charge again and I fired from point blank with
my 114.
	The burst of plasma stitched their way up the frames leg to the main
body. Without warning the entire frame went up in a blinding flash, and
everything went black.

	When I came to I was on my back lying at the edge of the crater of
what used to be the frame that Sullivan had stolen out of the repair bays.
Getting up I looked around at all the destruction Sullivan and his friends
had caused.
	People were lying everywhere, blood had formed puddles on the grass,
and the civilians and fleet personnel who had been at the ceremony were
strewn about the field. Closing in the distance I could hear the sound of
sirens blaring as emergency personnel and armed forces coming in from every
direction.
	By the time security had things under control and taken statements
from everyone involved it was after nightfall. So I did the only thing I
could, I walked my frame back to my quarters, parked it outside and went in
to pack. Once I packed up what little I kept in my room I set my alarm and
passed out not even thinking about what to was come.
	I woke up the next morning, tossed my things in my e-frame, and hiked
over to the landing pad for the morning shuttle. Waiting for that shuttle I
got two surprises I never would have expected.
	The first surprise was seeing Kingsley walking up again with another
package and piece of paper. It couldn't be that bad this time because he came
up smiling too.
	"Well, this one really put you over the top. If you weren't already
going out of the first shuttle, I think they would toss your ass out of here.
I think I might miss you even for all the shit you have caused."
	Up to here things had been pretty confusing. "I'm not quite sure I
understand stand, sir."
	"Since you seem to be the ultimate bad ass, let me explain it for
you. You get some kid tossed from training, you pass with flying colors. You
beat two hicks silly and kill a third, so they transfer you and promote you.
Finally some lunatic gun-bunny rolls through the graduation ceremony with a
small army, and you manage to capture three and waste the leaders
cotton-tailed, lop-eared lil' ass. The admiral here for the ceremony said you
came down like some angel from heaven with a fire mission cause of the paint
job on your frame, which is pretty funny cause of the nickname you already
have. Anyway the admiral could not openly support someone of your reputation
so I am here to present you with a Navy Commendation medal, a Joint Services
Medal, and a Navy Distinguished Service Medal." He smiled again and passed me
the open box to show off the medals and then opened the certificate. "This of
course proves you didn't just buy the medals, just don't wave it around to
much, if you know what I mean. I should mention that if you continue to pull
this sort of shit they will drum you out of the service no matter whose ass
you save. And good luck to you."
	And with that Sergeant Kingsley just marched off and into the annals
of history. My second surprise of the day was when Kristi walked out of the
shade of the control tower and stopped next to me. We just stood there and
watched the dust move for a while. That was enough for me. Finally she turned
to me and spoke as the shuttle came down from overhead, as it went into it's
final landing pattern.
	"So this is it, you walk out of here a hero."
	"I wouldn't say hero. More like a nice guy who got caught up in some
serious shit. But, now I'm out of here and I plan to start over at my new
post on the Normandy."
	"So that's it you just walk out of here without another thought." I
could tell she was fuming now and anything I said would make it worse so I
closed my eyes and tried to say something to wouldn't ruin everything.
	"Look, I left my home because I did some really dumb things. I joined
the fleet to get away from my mistakes, but it looks like trouble already
knew where I was going. The other reason I joined the fleet was to give my
parents something to make me proud of. So far I haven't done much to build my
parents pride in me. I may have a rep but out in space any rep you get on the
ground doesn't anything until you make one in space."
	I could hear the doors to the shuttle open behind me so I gave Kristi
a light kiss on the lips and stepped into my frame. "Maybe, someday if I can
straighten things out I'll come back and if things stay like they are right
now maybe we can try again." And that was all I said before turned and walked
into the shuttle not even looking back before the doors closed and we took
off for space.

	Ratislav had just closed his mouth when the speaker to the bridge
spoke. It was an officer on the bridge reporting pirates appearing from the
asteroids and for the captain to get to the bridge immediately. Captain Henry
jumped up and ran straight for the door, speaking as he went.
	"There is a map of the ship on the desk for you. It shows everything
that you will need to find onboard. Your quarters are marked in green, you
should go there now while I find out what is going on. We shall finish this
conversation another time. You are dismissed, Lieutenant."
	Ratislav did all right getting to his room except for the one point
when the entire ship jumped. Unprepared for the rigors of ship board life he
bounce off one bulkhead and was thrown to the deck. He actually did pretty
well for a first timer, that was until the gravity stopped. Ratislav had been
raised by very logical parents, they had taught him that the gravity bill was
pretty well paid up until the end of time. So finding himself ass up against
the ceiling did little for his confidence, hitting the floor was bruising,
but much better for his self-esteem. Finding he was unhurt he eventually made
his way to his quarters. Inside he jumped to the chair and strapped himself
in to ride out the disturbances.
	Taking the lull in the ships motions to mean that everything was all
right, he put down his bag, and spread out the few things he owned. A pair of
oriental wall hangings went up, and beneath them a collection of text chips
on a small array of topics. Then came out the clothes, which went into the
dresser, and finally a complete set of samurai swords done all in gold and
black and a lacquered black stand to hold them.
End Part III
1st Lt. O'Muirdagh