THE BLACK VERITECH
Capítulo 12: Wedding Bells
Knight and his men replenished themselves with ammunition and were sent to search the ship, especially the enemy pods that were abandoned.
“Damn it, they killed most of our mecha pilots," Knight cursed, "there would surely be a shortage of pilots now.”
"How will Global solve this mess, we're out of men," he thought.
Knight reported to the bridge that the enemy pods were not abandoned with booby traps inside, which made the matter more mysterious.
“Where are the zentraedi pilots? Dozens of giants can't hide in the ship.”
"Lisa, any news, where's Rick?”
“Rick is helping in the rescue and firefighting work, our men can't cope to clean up this mess.”
Neither Lisa nor Knight could have imagined that at that very moment dozens and dozens of micronized zentraedis were headed for the main hangar of the ship to surrender.
The surprise was great, the mechanics gave the alarm and Knight and his men went to the hangar with their veritechs to destroy the zentraedis, but they were surprised to see several men (not giants) dressed in rustic unstitched fabrics to cover their nudity, and most shocking of all, they claimed to be zentraedis who had fled their ships in order not to fight anymore.
The Daedalus and Prometeus marines arrived at the site, but did not commit any massacres because Knight reported the situation to the bridge and Captain Global ordered that all marines not use lethal force.
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For the time being Global covered up the situation before the civilians but after they assured him that all the micronized zentraedis were confined, he decided to hold a press conference in which he informed the civilians of the deserting zentraedis.
The civilian population was very surprised and did so more by showing images of former enemy soldiers, that is, there were rumors about the appearance of the enemy, but only then could they see with their eyes how the enemy actually looked.
“Global was smart," Knight told Ricky, "it showed the civilians what the enemy was like before there were protests.”
“In fact, there were already protests, and Kyle was the one leading them," Rick corrected.
“It was clever to show the zentraedi in those rags, the people felt sorry for them. Global humanized the enemy and thus ended the protests.”
“What will happen to those guys?” Rick asked.
“I don't know, Rick, I heard they're asking for political asylum from Earth, you can believe it, political asylum!”
“Well, that's bad luck because we've been banished from Earth.”
“That's right, Rick, I guess they'll have to stay with us.”
“I don't think Global will let them out of town, they'll probably stay in the military area of the Knight ship.”
Rick was right, the defecting Zentraedis were ordered to remain in the military area of the ship to protect their security, and were given military uniforms so that they would not be an easy target for radical elements of the ship such as Kyle and his "pacifists".
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Knight was upset to learn that the three leading zentredis of the desertion had been on the ship long before and, worst of all, that they had become close friends with Sammie, Kim and Vanessa.
“You act like someone jealous, Knight," Sammie said.
“I'm not jealous, I just think that this guy's displays of affection are too much.”
“He doesn't know what the relationships between members of the opposite sex were, so he is always happy to embrace others.”
“I think he hugs you too much, I'm your boyfriend and I don't hug you that much.”
“Please don't be jealous, I feel sorry for him, he has nowhere else to go.”
Knight looked at the trio of zentraedis with mixed feelings, remembering the meeting where they said the reasons why they decided to defect, also remembered Dr. Lang's report.
Knight couldn't understand why the other commanders were surprised by the report, after all, between the chimp and the man there is less than 3% genetic difference. The Zentraedis were the same as the Earthlings, so the genetic difference between them was supposed to be almost nil.
“Okay Sammie," Knight conceded, "you better go back to your friends and those guys, or they'll make fun of me by saying I'm possessive or something.”
“Thanks Knight, you're wonderful," said Sammie and kissed him on the cheek.
Knight was frustrated and decided to go where Rick was.
“Trouble, brother?” Rick asked him.
“I must be a saint," grunted Knight and collapsed on the table.
“You did well, Knight," consoled Max, who had just arrived.
The three friends were talking about various things when Claudia approached him and informed him that the Captain had sent for him regarding his position on the granting of asylum to the Zentraedis refugees.
Knight was surprised not to feel nervous about going to Global's office with Claudia.
"After all, I didn't do anything wrong," he thought.
“Captain is waiting for you," said Claudia in a firm tone of voice. Knight put the best poker face on the woman and entered Global's office with a professional look.
“Lieutenant, sit down.” He invited him and Knight came in and stood up to him.
“Thank you very much sir, Major Grant informed me that you wanted me to be there.”
“Lieutenant Knight, I liked the defense you made about Lieutenant Hunter's position on granting asylum to the Zentraedis.”
Knight recalled how Rick was reprimanded by commanders for suggesting that the Zentraedis be given asylum.
Knight came out in defense of his friend, telling them that the asylum proposal could well be taken as a maneuver to keep the other zentraedis from attacking the ship knowing they had several comrades in arms with them, that it would give them time not only, but also the United Earth Government and the military to develop their weapons technology against the enemy.
“I want you to make a report on your point of view and give it to me by tonight at the latest. The military will not grant asylum just like that to deserters, but they may do so from your point of view.”
“I understand sir, I won't let you down, I'll give you the report tonight without fail.”
Global said goodbye to Knight and he went out to write the report.
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The captain received Knight's report and then received Lisa, who asked him to return to Earth to convince the military high command to negotiate peace with the Zentraedis. His proposal focused on the fact that the enemy was not so different from humans, apart from the fact that to date they did not attack a city on Earth (Ontario was an unfortunate accident).
Global agreed and ordered his best pilots to escort Lisa's ship back to Earth. Lisa was saddened by the goodbyes so she made sure Rick was on break when her ship left, but in the end she couldn't handle the anguish and told Rick she decided to leave for Earth at the last minute.
Max and Knight were escorting Lisa's ship when they were attacked by zentraedi forces.
“Damn it Max, we're outnumbered, we need reinforcements and we need them now.”
The situation was urgent but Rick came to the rescue piloting the latest model of veritech available, looked invincible and easily destroyed the enemies with astonishment.
“Knight, Max, go back to the ship I'm escorting Lisa's ship.”
Knight and Max breathed a sigh of relief that they had survived the day and were confident that Rick would safely escort Lisa's ship.
“That was an impressive ship," Max said.
“Not as much as his pilot," replied Knight.
After a few days, Rick was a bit down, so Knight suggested going with him and Max to the video games to clear his head.
Turns out Max was an expert in video games.
“I don't like ship games, I prefer magic games and swords," said Knight, frustrated at having lost in such a short time.
As they were about to leave the place, Max saw a beautiful girl playing one of the games. Max challenged her to play with him and the girl lost, but Max made an appointment with her in the park.
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Knight was in his room when he watched Kyle propose to Minmei on TV.
"Hell, Rick, at least this will make you forget about her," thought Knight, deciding to leave his friend alone to absorb reality for himself, with nothing to distract him.
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The next day, Rick and Knight were having tea in the ship's cafeteria when Max nervously approached them.
“What's the matter with you, Max?” Knight questioned him and Max explained how he had met this zentraedi girl named Mirilla and how he had fallen in love with her, and what was most shocking (Knight accidentally spat out his drink), that Max and Mirilla decided to get married as soon as possible.
Rick and Max criticized their friend for the hasty decision he made, but when they saw Mirilla they understood why he decided to marry so quickly, even Knight joked about it.
“Don't even think about it, Rick, it won't be you, it'll be me who gives the bride her first kiss.”
The three friends went to the bridge and told Global about Max's decision.
The captain and the girls were stunned, their eyes were wide open and Global asked Max to explain in more detail in his office about marrying a zentraedi, he even sent for Mirilla to clear up all his doubts.
Global was delighted, the marriage between these two showed that both races could coexist peacefully, so to Max's disappointment, the captain organized a ceremony not humble, but lavish and televised, ready to broadcast to every corner of the planet.
The military high command and the leaders of the united land government were very nervous when Global told them of his intentions to televise the entire ceremony. They could not prevent those two from getting married but they could prevent the broadcast from reaching every person on the planet, in the end only the military high command and some politicians could see the wedding broadcast.
“Hell, with what it cost us to cover up the existence of aliens in the Ontario disaster, that Global is crazy," Admiral Hayes told Lisa.
“Dad, I think Captain Global's measure is the right one, we can't lie to the people.”
“Don't be naive Lisa, think of the people's panic when they find out we're at war with aliens.”
“That is why it is important that we make peace with the Zentraedis as soon as possible.”
“There'll still be panic, Lisa.”
“Dad, you can't hide this forever, sooner or later they'll find out, it's better that they do it for us than some other way.”
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It was amazing how quickly Global organized Max and Mirilla's wedding, nothing was left to chance and everything went perfectly, or at least until several enemy pods decided to attack the ship.
Knight and his squad went out with their veritechs to destroy the enemy, but Mirilla's intervention made them neutralize the opponent instead of eliminating him.
“I only hope that the wedding and this demonstration that we don't want to destroy them will make the zentraedi stop attacking us," said Knight to himself, not knowing that out of cruel irony the wedding would be the trigger for the zentraedi leader to decide to eliminate the SDF-1 and the entire human race.
CONTINUARÁ...
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