For the remainder of that week domestic bliss continued unabated. Theo continued with his usual bouts of relentless questioning; while Jana continued to try her best to give Michael the rest that he needed after his long mission.
Late one evening Theo was asleep in his room, Michael and Jana had settled down to relax for the evening together in front of the viewer.
“I am Annika Raumov; this is the outer colony news service, the headlines today. The Montgomery class carrier Montfort has now arrived in the Agemman system and fighter patrols have already begun in the area. We now go live to the governor of the Agemman system, Mrs. Sylvia Cross.”
The picture on the viewer turned to a middle aged woman, with deep set eyes and a somewhat stern looking face; curled silvery hair flowed down to her shoulders.
“Governor Cross; what are your thoughts on the situation near your colony, now that the carrier Montfort has arrived.”
“Well, the arrival of the carrier will obviously boost morale for the mining operations that operate within the nearby asteroid fields now that they have fighter escorts. However I do hope that this is not just a short term solution, and also that the E.D. F doesn’t pull its forces from the area in a few weeks time, just for the attacks to grow again.”
“Thank you Governor Cross, we now go live to the commander of E.D. F forces in the area; Admiral J.G. Kenelly.”
The picture turned to a proud, tall man in full Naval dress. He looked to be in his early 50’s and bore a short silver beard. He had dark, ashen, albeit sharp intelligent eyes, the lines on his face gave a sense of a seasoned officer with years of duty under his belt.
“Admiral Kenelly, what are your thoughts on the Agemman situation.”
“We had a successful deployment, as of 13.00 hours Earth time, the Montfort is on an extended mission in the area, and it also gives us the chance to use certain classified equipment on board the Montfort. If there is anything out there; I am confident the Montfort and its fighter crews will find it,” the Admiral said.
“Thank you Admiral Kenelly.”
Jana turned off the viewer, “you know I still think something isn’t quite right over there.”
“And I still think it’s a waste of time,” Michael replied flatly. “Just some colonists wanting some air-time, besides that new system the Montfort has got should sniff them out.”
“Maybe,” Jana confessed, “what is that new system the Montfort has got anyway?”
Michael looked at Jana suspiciously, “you know I’m not really supposed to tell you.”
“Go on,” Jana pleaded. “I’m your wife; it’s not as if I’m going to tell anyone,” she retorted.
“Ok,” Michael conceded. “It’s called L.R.D.A.T.”
“What on Earth is L.R.D.A. T?”
“It stands for Long Range Detection And Tracking, the engineering services only installed it about a month ago. It hasn’t even been operationally tested yet, that’s why they sent the Montfort.”
“What does it do?” Jana asked.
“It’s a two way thing, its primary use is to track our fighters over a greater area, but its secondary use is to detect and track any hostile craft within a three light year radius.”
Michael paused to allow Jana time to take this all in.
“Sort of an early warning system for carriers, it’s a pretty good piece of kit. If it’s successful it will be fitted to all carriers in the fleet.”
Jana thought about this for a moment. “Perhaps your right,” she finally conceded. “Maybe it is nothing, let’s go to bed honey.”
“Sure; I’m getting a little tired anyway.” Michael said as he stretched and let out a long yawn.
That night they made love, slowly and passionately. And as Michaels’ body glided against hers in ecstasy, she had the strangest thought that she might not see him again.
Once they had finished, Jana lay face up on the bed, all kinds of thoughts running through her mind; she was staring up at the dark ceiling. “You know, I still have a bad feeling about what’s happening in the Agemman system.”
“Go to sleep,” Michael said exhausted.
The next morning they had breakfast as usual. Theo was making a mess, playing with his cornflakes and spilling milk everywhere. Jana did her best to stop him; however she was fighting a losing battle.
Once they had finished breakfast. A faint ‘chirp’ could be heard from Michaels and Jana’s bedroom.
“What the hell is that?” Michael said turning in his seat to where the sound was coming from.
Before Michael could even react, Theo dashed into their bedroom, and brought out a small white computerized object, with two wristbands connected to it.
“It’s my wrist comm. But I’m on leave, it shouldn’t be going off,” Michael said in exasperation as he took it off his son and quickly pressed a button on the communicator.
“Good morning Lieutenant, I was beginning to think you weren’t answering,” Michael immediately recognized the voice of Commander Juan Angel, second in command of the Ulysses, and knew it had to be important for the Commander to contact him personally.
“Sorry sir,” Michael replied.
“Well, now that you are answering Lieutenant, we have a situation; there has been an incident involving the Montfort, the entire E.D. F is on alert level two. All leave has been cancelled, and you are ordered to return to the Ulysses at eleven hundred hours. There you will be briefed in the primary cargo hold; deck 14.”
“I understand sir,” Michael replied.
And with that the communication ceased. Leaving Michael trying to fathom the enormity of what had just transpired. His face grew ashen, and his brows furrowed with worry. There hasn’t been a level 2 alert for nearly fifteen years, ever since the pirate attacks finally stopped.
“What is it?” Jana asked, eyeing Michael carefully, trying her best to read him.
The question snapped Michael out of his deep thoughts. “I’m Sorry, what were you saying?” Michael asked in return, still visibly shocked.
“What’s wrong?” Jana re-iterated.
There was a moment of silence before he managed to gather himself together again.
“I…Have…To…Go…Back to…the…Ulysses,” he stuttered, struggling for words in his reverie.
“But, your on leave, you’ve another four weeks yet!” Jana replied in desperation, both worried about Michael who was not even rested properly from his last outing with the Navy; and also because she felt almost cheated out of spending some quality time with the man she loved. Together with the very real possibility that he might miss Theo’s birthday.
“Not anymore, leave is cancelled,” Michael replied.
“No, they can’t do this… Bastards!” Yelled Jana, her voice was cracked and tears slowly began to form in her eyes, the news had hit her as hard as her husband.
“The whole E.D. F is on alert, I’ve got to go,” Michael said exasperatedly, he hated having to go through this with Jana. Didn’t she realize that this was as hard on him as it was on her?
He rushed into his and Jana’s room, and began to pack his things mindful that he didn’t have much time. Jana quickly followed after him.
“What about Theo?” She asked. “It’s his birthday; he was looking forward to spending some time with his dad?” Tears continued to roll down Jana’s cheeks.
“I’m sorry,” was all that Michael could muster, under Jana’s emotional assault his inner strength was weakening rapidly.
He quickly donned his royal blue naval uniform, black trousers and shoes. Fixed his Lieutenant rank slides onto his epaulettes; and made for the door, however he stopped short in mid stride. Turning around, he looked down at little Theo, kneeled in front of him, and gave him a hug. “If I don’t see you before your birthday, look after your mum for me; you’re the man of the house now,” he ruffled up Theo’s hair with his hand.
“I will, please don’t go daddy,” Theo said, beginning to sob.
“I’ve got to son, I will be back soon; I promise,” Michael replied, not really believing his own words.
“I hope so daddy,” Theo said looking up at him with tear filled eyes.