your right hand and repeat after me."
Dasan came to rigid attention and raised his right hand.
" I.. please say your full name."
"I Dasan Daniel Sand ."
"Of my own free will and without coercion ."
"Of my own free will and without coercion ."
"Do solemnly swear to protect and defend the Constitution of the Confederation against all enemies both foreign and domestic. That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Confederation and will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of which I am about to enter with my life should it be necessary. So help me God . You may say your own religions’ God's name if you want," Captain Lule said.
Dasan repeated the oath.
"Then it is with great pleasure that I welcome you Lieutenant Sand to the career Legion service of the Confederation."
Captain Lule handed Dasan the career stripe he would wear on the sleeve of his uniform. Dasan took the stripe and saluted the Captain she smartly returned the salute. Dasan then turned to Aijuba and saluted. She returned the salute with the flourish that only old Legion naries could carry off. He returned the salute with a sense of pride and purpose he had not felt before.
The loss of the children would haunt Dasan for the rest of his life. It would haunt all of the human inhabited worlds for a much longer period of time.
Twenty-Five Years Later
LYTEN SYSTEM
ASTROID M51
LISTENING POST ALPHA
INDI WORMOLE ENTRANCE
SOL STANDARD 12/07
1200 HOURS
POST UNIFICATION YEAR 94
"I just did the last run. It is your turn," Olivia Tam said.
"That is not true. And you know it," Jamie Patlec said with a smile. He knew that Olivia was the Chief Technician for the station and he would complete the latest sensor sweep. It was his job, but he did like to give her some grief before he completed his assigned task. The only light in the room was from their displays and the large hologram that displayed their area of responsibility.
The two sat in the control room of the Listening Post Alpha. They were about to cross the path of the Indi wormhole and it was their turn to run the sensors to check for any unauthorized vessels. M51 was an asteroid that had been mined, reaping several trillion dollars of iridium, palladium and rhodium by Ecomcon who then sold it to the Confederation. It was a sweet deal, Olivia thought and just where she hoped to land after her enlistment was up. With her qualifications she could land a mining job without much trouble and add a couple of zero's to her current pay. So she did not mind sitting the four week rotations on 51 because, very soon her enlistment in the Navy was going to pay off big time.
The Confederation used the mining tunnels left after the minerals had been removed to build quarters for those who would man the listening post. Olivia and Jamie sat in a dome. It was the only part of the station above the asteroid’s surface; the rest of the station was below ground in the old mining tunnels. There were six of these stations in stationary orbit at the wormhole entrances in the Lyten System, ensuring each entrance would always be monitored. Alpha's job was to monitor the wormhole leading to the Indi system. It was time to run a routine scan. No, traffic was scheduled so Jamie expected to find anything. No unscheduled traffic had been found in over fifty years and then it had been a tanker that had forgotten to get clearance for the wormhole transit.
"You can be replaced you know," Olivia said.
"But the next guy would not be nearly as much fun as I am. You would miss me.'
Olivia arched an eyebrow at him.
"I doubt it," she said with some conviction.
Jamie smiled and turned to his screen. He keyed in the proper numbers and began to run through the sensor settings to be sure they were correct before he took his reading. Olivia glanced over at him. In spite of herself she found him attractive. He was a Ceti , tall and blonde.
Dasan came to rigid attention and raised his right hand.
" I.. please say your full name."
"I Dasan Daniel Sand ."
"Of my own free will and without coercion ."
"Of my own free will and without coercion ."
"Do solemnly swear to protect and defend the Constitution of the Confederation against all enemies both foreign and domestic. That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Confederation and will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of which I am about to enter with my life should it be necessary. So help me God . You may say your own religions’ God's name if you want," Captain Lule said.
Dasan repeated the oath.
"Then it is with great pleasure that I welcome you Lieutenant Sand to the career Legion service of the Confederation."
Captain Lule handed Dasan the career stripe he would wear on the sleeve of his uniform. Dasan took the stripe and saluted the Captain she smartly returned the salute. Dasan then turned to Aijuba and saluted. She returned the salute with the flourish that only old Legion naries could carry off. He returned the salute with a sense of pride and purpose he had not felt before.
The loss of the children would haunt Dasan for the rest of his life. It would haunt all of the human inhabited worlds for a much longer period of time.
Twenty-Five Years Later
LYTEN SYSTEM
ASTROID M51
LISTENING POST ALPHA
INDI WORMOLE ENTRANCE
SOL STANDARD 12/07
1200 HOURS
POST UNIFICATION YEAR 94
"I just did the last run. It is your turn," Olivia Tam said.
"That is not true. And you know it," Jamie Patlec said with a smile. He knew that Olivia was the Chief Technician for the station and he would complete the latest sensor sweep. It was his job, but he did like to give her some grief before he completed his assigned task. The only light in the room was from their displays and the large hologram that displayed their area of responsibility.
The two sat in the control room of the Listening Post Alpha. They were about to cross the path of the Indi wormhole and it was their turn to run the sensors to check for any unauthorized vessels. M51 was an asteroid that had been mined, reaping several trillion dollars of iridium, palladium and rhodium by Ecomcon who then sold it to the Confederation. It was a sweet deal, Olivia thought and just where she hoped to land after her enlistment was up. With her qualifications she could land a mining job without much trouble and add a couple of zero's to her current pay. So she did not mind sitting the four week rotations on 51 because, very soon her enlistment in the Navy was going to pay off big time.
The Confederation used the mining tunnels left after the minerals had been removed to build quarters for those who would man the listening post. Olivia and Jamie sat in a dome. It was the only part of the station above the asteroid’s surface; the rest of the station was below ground in the old mining tunnels. There were six of these stations in stationary orbit at the wormhole entrances in the Lyten System, ensuring each entrance would always be monitored. Alpha's job was to monitor the wormhole leading to the Indi system. It was time to run a routine scan. No, traffic was scheduled so Jamie expected to find anything. No unscheduled traffic had been found in over fifty years and then it had been a tanker that had forgotten to get clearance for the wormhole transit.
"You can be replaced you know," Olivia said.
"But the next guy would not be nearly as much fun as I am. You would miss me.'
Olivia arched an eyebrow at him.
"I doubt it," she said with some conviction.
Jamie smiled and turned to his screen. He keyed in the proper numbers and began to run through the sensor settings to be sure they were correct before he took his reading. Olivia glanced over at him. In spite of herself she found him attractive. He was a Ceti , tall and blonde.
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