Night Squadron - the Saboteur

Note: Originally written in 2000... A one off short story in my Knight Squadron series.

***

Someone is sabotaging the Valkyrie fighters of the Luftwaffe. Or that's what Johann Strauss thinks, and he thinks he knows who it is too. Of course, it's a little more complicated than that.

***

Part 1...

The Valkyrie streaked back toward the base on the moon of Syria. There were no survival pods to be found in the wreckage of the Base Star, and the Kriegsmarines' mission was done.

Johann Strauss relaxed in the cockpit of his fighter. His girlfriend, Kerri, was waiting for him back at base. Johann felt a warm, familiar tightening in his lower body. He cursed under his breath and tried to control himself.

But Kerri's long black hair and blue eyes kept coming back into his mind. Kerri had agreed to a date after he got back from this mission.

Kerri had caught his eye from the first time he had seen her. At the time, she'd been on her back, working at the guts of a Ju-87. Captain Jac Jordon had walked up to Johann and closed Johann's mouth with his finger. Johann hadn't even realized that he'd literally been drooling.

On another occasion, Johann asked another pilot about the beauty who fixed the engines. The other pilots had responded to his excited queries with a sigh.

"That's Kerri Malina," one had said. "The Ice Queen of Syria. Don't get your hopes up. She's looking for her true love, and whoever he is, compared to him pilots are the scum from the Base Star's toilets."

"I wonder what she'd think of a Knights Templar?" Johann muttered under his breath.

Eventually, Johann decided to try his luck and walked up to Kerri one day while they were watching other pilots train. Kerri had noted the Sunsword clipped to his wrist, and decided to be a little more friendly to this one. After all, a boy who believed in the Mystica was less likely to be after nothing but her body.

Kerri had found a good friend in the young pilot who always kept the Sunsword on his wrist. And Johann found a good friend in the mechanic who disliked pilots. Their friendship grew, and they became very close.

Now, Johann sat in the cockpit of his Valkyrie, fidgeting inside his sweaty flight suit. He wanted a bath and a clean uniform almost as much as he wanted to see Kerri.

At last, the moon loomed up ahead. Johann brought the Valkyrie in for a clean landing at the North Landing Pad. As he climbed out of the cockpit, Kerri ran up and hugged him.

Johann's sleek body thrilled Kerri with how strong and handsome he was. Johann kissed her softly on the cheek, ashamed to be caught in his rumpled flight suit.

"I'll meet you in twenty minutes," Kerri whispered.

"Good. I need a shower," Johann replied.

***

Twenty minutes later, Johann met Kerri. Kerri giggled and slung a leg over her boyfriend's hip. Johann pulled Kerri close to his sleek chest and caught her lips in a warm kiss. As they stood kissing in the isolated corner of the base, a disaster was about to take place. Abruptly, a loud explosion echoed across the moon, knocking Johann and Kerri off their feet.

Johann began muttering ungentlemanly words as he noted every place where his body had contacted the unforgiving stone pavers. Those were going to be beautiful bruises tomorrow, all right. Kerri, however, didn't mind. When they had fallen, Johann's shirt had opened a little more than usual, revealing his lean chest.

Johann picked himself up, and looked out across the jungle. A column of black smoke was rising from the area of the South Landing Pad.

"Come on!" Kerri cried, and the duo raced down a narrow path to the landing pad. Johann and Kerri came out onto the pavement of the landing pad. In the middle lay the smoldering remains of a Valkyrie.

"What happened?" Johann asked. "And who?" He noticed some medics, carrying away a body on a stretcher, but it was little more than a charred skeleton.

"We don't know what happened, he appeared to lose control, but was coming in for a near-perfect landing. He would have made it too, but the Valkyrie exploded just a few meters above the pavement," said a frazzled Lieutenant.

"Who?" Kerri asked.

"Rob Kerman," the Lieutenant replied.

"Damn," Johann said. He bestowed a vicious kick upon a piece of slagged conduit, sending it flying into the jungle.

"Hey!" the Lieutenant bellowed at Johann. "I'll thank you not to kick evidence!"

"What do I care?" Johann bellowed. "Rob was my friend, and now he's dead." He immediately looked sorry about his outburst and spoke again. "Sorry."

Kerri clutched Johann arm. "I'm sorry, Jo. I know Rob was one of your best friends."

"Why should you be? Rob's out of your hair now," Johann said nastily, still upset. "He was the one you hated because your Ice Queen act wouldn't get him to stop asking you out."

"Jo, I may not have liked him, but I certainly don't want him dead!" Kerri cried out. "You know me, Jo. I just needed the right boy to love, the one who would be just right and put me at peace with the world. And I found him."

"Kerri, I'm sorry. I suspect everyone, and especially that rat Keel," Johann said.

"Keel?" Kerri said. "Keel's a harmless mechanic."

"Keel is nuts," Johann said. "He's a frustrated pilot, he lost his hand irreplaceably in a crash, and now he's jealous of anyone who can still control a starfighter. He went for me once, choked me."

"Oh, Jo!" Kerri said. "I've worked with Keel a long time. While he may not love pilots, he does love the fighters. He would never destroy one!"

"I'm sorry," Johann said, giving her a quick kiss. "Do you mind if I break off our date? I feel like I've been shot down by a Jaheem Destroyer, and I'd like to rest. I have a training flight tomorrow."

"Wait! Jo!" Kerri shouted. "Don't go on that training flight tomorrow! Let me and the other mechanics check out the fighters before you fly again!"

Johann shook his head and continued to his room.

"Jo, please!" Kerri cried, her face contorting. "Do you want to go down in flames too? Do you think I want to watch you go down in flames?"

Johann shut the door.

"Johann Strauss, you can be stubborn as a mule," Kerri said as she turned around and walked toward the mechanics' barracks.

***

Part 2...

The next morning, Johan climbed into his Valkyrie. He sat ready for the high speed search and destroy practice. As he lifted off, Johann noticed a faint rumbling sound in his engines, but he assumed he'd simply gotten a cranky older fighter. He pulled out of the hangar to continue with the training mission.

Kerri had been watching the pilots train from a window and talking over some strategic locations for a new base with Gisela Deja.

And then there was a second blast.

In an instant, both Kerri and Gisela took off down a path toward the South Launching Pad. They swiftly arrived to view another starfighter laying in a pile of twisted, charred parts on the stone paving.

"Oh, who is it this time?" Gisela cried.

The commander of the training mission spoke."Sorry to have to tell you two ladies this, but... it's Johann Strauss."

"Dammit, Jo," Gisela said, turning toward the wreckage. "Make me like you for the fool idealist you are, and then go get yourself killed."

Tears stung Kerri's eyes. She hoped against hope that Johann had somehow managed to survive the crash.

Two medics were hauling away the remains of the canopy, trying to get at what was left of Johann. They pulled a body out of the wreckage that was clothed in a charred and bloodied flight suit... Johann Strauss.

Kerri ran to where the medic were strapping Johann to the stretcher. Kerri gasped as one of the medics ripped the flight suit off of Johann's upper body, revealing burns and bloody gashes. His ash-blonde hair was singed and his face scratched.

"Don't die, Jo," Kerri whispered, stroking Johann's bangs out of his face. "I love you."

Kerri and Gisela were abruptly shoved aside by a medic, who began cleaning Johann's wounds.

***

Later, Kerri was permitted to sit with Luke as he lay in his bed. Luke had been heavily sedated to keep him from feeling his many wounds, but Kerri held his hand anyway.

Johann lay still without a sign of life except for the slow rise and fall of his bandaged chest. He was naked except for the bandages and the sheets of his bed, which left him looking pathetic and helpless.

Kerri released his hand and began to gently trim away the charred ends of Johann's hair. As she worked, soft blonde curls began to frame his innocent, round face again.

When she was done, Kerri bent down and bestowed a kiss on Johann's still lips. Sadly, she relived the night before, when Johann had returned her kisses.

"Johann was probably right," Kerri muttered. "Keel probably did this to Jo because Johann Strauss is the hero Keel could never be!"

Kerri left Johann's bedside and tore off toward the hangar where Keel had been scheduled to work that day. She was no longer able to bear the sight of Johann's still body.

***

"Keel?!" Kerri bellowed. "Where are you?"

The little man with his single hand appeared. "What's your problem today, Kerri?"

"You know full well, Keel!" Kerri shouted, not caring who heard. "You didn't check Jo's fighter like I asked you to. He almost died because you didn't check it properly."

"I checked it. There was nothing wrong," Keel said. "No one had even touched that fighter in a long time because it always ran well."

"Or maybe you wanted Johann Strauss to die!" Kerri yelled. "Because he was what you weren't. Because he was the hero of Syria! You didn't care that he was my boyfriend and I planned to marry him!"

"Whatever you may think," Keel said, shrugging his misshapen shoulders, "I did not try to kill Jo. I hold respect for anyone who could train as a Templar, as he does."

"Whatever," Kerri said.

***

Weeks later, Kerri still sat by Johann's bedside. Now, he had nutrients flowing through a needle into one arm and waste flowing out through a catheter hidden by the sheet. He still slept, although he was no longer sedated and his wounds were nearly healed.

During that time, the Reich kept vigil over its hero. The wreckage of the Valkyries, both Johann's and Rob's, were pulled to pieces. No clues were found.

***

Part 3...

Late one night, Kerri cried by Johann's bedside. Johann lay, still and silent. His bandages were gone, but the catheter and nutrient IV remained. His pale skin was covered only by a sheet. As Kerri cried, one of the medics appeared and began to speak to her.

"Kerri, I know this is going to be hard on you... hell, it's hard on me too, but I have to say it. We think he may never wake up, and even if he does, he may not remember anything," the medic said.

Kerri gasped. She had been clinging to the hope that he would wake soon, squeeze her hand. She had dreamed of his baby-blue eyes fluttering open and him proposing to her.

"The essential part of Johann Strauss, Jo's mind and heart, they will be gone. It's your decision, because you are the closest thing to family that he has," The medic sighed, and continued. "You have to decide whether we should let Jo die now, without any pain, or let him live, perhaps forever a vegetable, dependent on life support."

"No," Kerri said. "I must give Jo the chance to return to me."

"Very well then," the medic said, obviously relieved that he would not have to pull the plug and kill one of the Luftwaffe's few heroes.

Days passed and Johann still lay deathly still in his bed. As each day passed, Kerri grew more distraught, more sure that the medic had been right. 'Is Jo dead? Is his mind, the power of the quiet Templar, gone?' Kerri asked herself. 'Is it right to leave this soulless hunk of flesh on support to help it live like a vegetable, the light within gone?'

Kerri cried again, sobbing into Johann's caramel-colored hair and clutching his limp, saber-callused hand in hers. Eventually, Kerri thought she felt Johann's hand move, but she wrote it off to her nerves. The squeeze at Kerri's hand came again, stronger this time. She dropped Johann's hand and looked at him. Slowly, Johann Strauss baby blue eyes fluttered open.

"Oh, Jo" Kerri cried. "You're awake!" She embraced Johann as he slowly sat up.

Johann slowly nuzzled Kerri and kissed her. Kerri returned the kiss, reminded of how much she had missed this while he had been out, and caressed his bare chest.

"Do you think you could go over to the closet and get me some clothes? No offense, but I'd rather not be naked," he asked Kerri.

"Hey, I don't mind it," Kerri said teasingly.

Johann playfully shoved her off his bed. "Just get me some clothes."

Kerri dashed to the closet and pulled out Johann's old white tunic and pants. As she helped Johann slip into the tunic, one of the medics came in the door. Immediately, the medic's eyes widened.

"Johann Strauss? You're awake?" he said.

Johann rolled his blue eyes. "Of course I'm awake. I'm fine, but I can't get up."

"You shouldn't be paralyzed..." the medic said.

"I'm not, my legs are just weak. I can't stand," Johann replied.

"With Kerri's help or a stick to lean on, I should be able to walk."

"Well, first let me remove the catheter," the medic said and reached under the sheet. He yanked the catheter free of Johann's body.

Johann bellowed like a wounded gorilla and took a weak swing at the medic. Fortunately, Johann's punch missed.

The medic laughed. "Every man who I've seen have a catheter removed acts like that." Johann replied by grabbing his pants wrathfully and yanking them on. Kerri giggled, because Johann never was quite so cute as when he let the whiny and frequently indignant Remus farm boy come to the surface, like now. She kissed him tenderly on the forehead.

"I have to go for my shift in the hangar now," Kerri whispered to Johann. "But I'll be back in time to eat dinner with you. They refused to exempt me from duty to sit with you."

"And that is just as well," Johann said. "The Luftwaffe can't afford to lose a skilled mechanic to sit with an injured pilot."

***

In the hangar, Kerri laid on her back, working in the guts of a Valkyrie. She groped for her socket wrench to tighten down the casing of the compressor to the hydraulic system.

Keel pushed the wrench into her hand. "Thanks," Kerri muttered.

***

Meanwhile Johann lay in his bed. He'd given up on watching the softcore holo-vids long ago. He'd never had the patience for romantic vids anyway. If he wanted romance, he'd take the real thing with Kerri. Now he watched the preparations for a test flight of some new Valkyries.

Kerri pushed open the door, carrying a large tray of food for herself and Johann. Johann made a face and pulled a pillow over his head.

"Come on, Jo, you have to eat," Kerri said, pulling the pillow off of Johann's head. "This isn't that bad, it's the same food everyone gets."

"Just keep the medics and their nutro-paste garbage away from me," Johann replied. "I want REAL FOOD."

"It is," Kerri said. Using female wiles and a large amount of trickery, Kerri managed to get all of the food into Johann.

After Johann managed to finish his dinner, Kerri slipped into the bed beside him. Johann slid his arm around her and held her close.

"Do you think you could take me to the landing pad so I could watch the training flights?" Johann asked Kerri.

"Sure," Kerri said, slipping Johann's poncho over his shoulders.

She helped him walk to the nearest landing pad. Johann smiled as he watched the fighters in the air above. Abruptly, one Valkyrie peeled off from the tidy squadron and headed for the landing pad.

One of the fighter's engines burst into flame as the pilot touched down. Johann started forward with a gasp.

"It's Aiden!" Johann cried. "Jump free, Aiden!"

"Sit down, Jo," Kerri said, leading him to a stone bench by the side of the landing pad. Behind them, Aiden Hunt leaped clear of his burning Valkyrie. Crews of mechanics turned firehoses on the Valkyrie, trying to rescue any evidence.

Aiden dashed up to Luke where he sat on the stone bench. "Glad to see you back on your feet, buddy," Aiden said. "We were afraid we'd have to organize a funeral for ya."

"I'm too tough for some cowardly saboteur to kill," Johann said, with a half-grin.

Kerri shivered abruptly. "Jo, it's getting cold. I'll help you back inside."

***

Part 4...

As the days passed, Johann slowly grew better. The Kriegsmarines packed up their supplies and fleet to move to a new base. Johann hobbled around, with the aid of a carved walking stick. His slight, white-clad body was a frequent sight around the base.

Among the last to leave Syria we Johann and Kerri, who would fly with Jac Jordon on The Ghost, by their own choice. Gisela would have preferred that Johann go on a bigger ship where his fragile health could be tended to by a medic. But, although she was not likely to ever admit it, Gisela trusted Han Solo to get aid to Johann if he needed it.

The tortured remains of the three destroyed starfighters were loaded aboard transports too.

Johann sat in the main cabin of The Ghost, sleeping with his head pillowed on his arms. Kerri sat next to him, holding his hand as he slept.

As soon as the battered old Korscian freighter entered gravity-drive, Jac left the cockpit to Blacki and delivered a message to his passengers. "Her Highness requests that we stop at Remus for some sort of conference," Jac said. "Tell Jo when he wakes up."

"He'll probably sleep the whole way to Remus," Kerri replied, gently stroking Johann's blonde head.

***

Several hours later, a few Luftwaffe landing craft descended around an abandoned moisture farm on the topaz-sanded planet. Keel came to the hatch of The Ghost.

"Jo, Captain Jordon, the Princess and General Ryker request your presence to discuss the sabotaged Valkyries," he said, "Come with me."

"Jo, let me come with you," Kerri said, helping him to his feet.

"Jo and Jac go with me," Keel said. "Not you."

"Well!" Kerri exclaimed. "I was the one who got him here! Without me, you would have removed the life support and killed Jo long ago!"

Keel walked slowly, matching his pace to Johann's halting steps.

They eventually came out into a cavernous chamber that had once housed immense tanks of water. There, Johann, Gisela, Jac, Ryker and some other leaders of the Reich gathered.

As the meeting went on beneath the sands, Kerri slept in a bunk aboard The Ghost. She was wakened by halting footsteps in the corridor... Johann's footsteps.

"Jo?" Kerri called to him, sitting up.

"It's me, Kerri," Johann replied. His voice sounded tired. He walked over to the bunk she lay on and sat on the edge.

Kerri sighed Johann embraced her and his strong hands slipped Into her hair. His lips brushed lightly against hers.

"Will you come with me?" Johann asked her.

Kerri shivered at the feather-light touch of Johann's lips to her own. "Of course," she replied.

As Johann led her out of The Ghost, Kerri abruptly realized that he was no longer wearing the black shirt and pants he had earlier. Now, he wore the flight suit of a Luftwaffe pilot.

"Jo, where are we going?" Kerri asked.

"Come with me Johann whispered, his face somber. The laughing boy hero was mysteriously gone from his face.

Upon entering the cavernous chamber beneath Remus sandy surface, Johann left Kerri and went to stand between Gisela and Aiden.

Kerri looked around, unsure of what was happening in the Reich.

Abruptly, Kerri's hands were grabbed by Jac. Han held her back and prevented her from joining Johann.

"What is the meaning of this?" Kerri cried, struggling in the Korscian's tight grip.

***

Part 5...

"Kerri Malin, you stand accused of the murder of Rob Kerman and the attempted murders of Aiden Hunt and Johann Strauss, " Ryker said.