“Oh, Keith and Dexter left with the Princess about an hour ago, in Keith’s car,” the gate guard tells us. “Her Highness was in the back seat, with two practice dummies.”
Lance arches an eyebrow. “Practice dummies?”
“Yessir. Dexter claimed they were for target practice.”
“What did the dummies look like?”
“They had on Doom soldier costumes, and bags for heads.”
“Bags for heads, or bags tied over the heads?”
The guard looks thoughtful. “Could be either, I suppose.”
“Keith and Dexter...did they happen to have on sunglasses, by any chance?”
“Yessir, both of them did. It is pretty sunny out today, and I guess they were planning to do some sunbathing. They both had on quite a bit of sunscreen. It almost looked like makeup, it was piled on so thick.”
Lance frowns. “I see. Did they happen to mention where they were headed?”
“No, but since Her Highness had a picnic basket in her lap, and they were going to have some shooting practice, my best guess would be Terehald Ridge. There’s an abandoned shooting range near there, and the picnicking spot of choice is just half a mile away.”
“That’s about fifty miles west of here,” Hunk says. “We can get there in the Lions in a heartbeat.”
“You’re right,” Lance says. “Let’s go.”
Less than two minutes later we’re speeding off to Terehald Ridge. Lance sends Pidge ahead to scour the area for an escape ship while the rest of us split up and cover the firing range. I pick up a tiny dot of pink beneath a cluster of trees. A close up from the cameras reveals it to be Allura. She has her hands folded quietly in her lap, a look of tension on her face. After a quick sensor sweep, I hail Black Lion.
“Lance, I’ve located the Princess. She’s stationary and there’s no one in the immediate vicinity, but she seems worried about something. ”
“Land and cover her, Tasia. The rest of us will be right there.”
“Right.” I bring Red Lion down quickly and emerge with pistol drawn, heading at a cautious run toward Allura. She looks up at me when I arrive, and the tension on her face vanishes, replaced with surprise and then relief.
“Are you all right, Princess?” I ask her.
She gives a hasty nod, and then points toward the row of firing booths some forty yards away. I nod in response, put a finger to my lips and zigzag my way toward the structure. Sven appears to my left a few moments later, and we work our way through the treeline toward the entrance of the building. Lance advances with Hunk and Dunkirk in tow and they flank the door while Alan joins Sven and me to open it with caution. Alan provides cover while the two of us enter with weapons at the ready.
The corridor is dark and empty. We give the all clear, and the group splits into two-person teams to widen the search. Sven is silent as a shadow as we go from booth to booth, checking for signs of activity.
Behind us we hear Dunkirk give a war whoop, followed by the crash of splintering wood. Hunk yells for the occupants of the room they’ve broken into to hold still, then there’s a long pause before he yells for the rest of us. There’s an uncertain tone to his voice. Alan and Lance reach the area a few seconds ahead of me and Sven, and we all halt in the doorway to study the sight in front of us.
Keith and Dexter are sitting opposite each other at a folding card table. Their faces are caked with makeup, and each one has a pair of sunglasses resting on the table beside them. A pair of battered old crash test dummies in Doom soldier outfits are tossed in the far corner. The only casualty in the whole room is the blueberry cheesecake resting on the table between them with nearly three-quarters of its circumference gone. Keith is staring at his watch.
“One hour, sixteen minutes, thirty-seven seconds,” he says, raising his gaze to Dexter. Dexter gives his head a solemn shake.
“Not so good. I think they need more practice.”
“I agree.” Keith turns his head in our direction to regard us with a solemn look. “You all realize if that had been an actual emergency, the Princess would have been on Doom by now.”
“We had a minor setback,” Lance protests. “We had to -”
“Clean the kitchen, yeah. I know all about it. Coran gave us all the details.”
“Coran? But he said that -”
“What, you thought we wouldn’t ask him and the gate guards to play along?”
Lance purses his lips and falls silent. I take a cautious step forward.
“Keith, I’m the one that started the whole thing. You were there for a little bit, you saw I was the one taking charge.”
“That’s true, Tasia, but your team supported and upheld your decision. You know how that works.” He looks at Lance. “And I sure would hate to see you put in charge of any hostage negotiations in the immediate future.”
Lance fidgets and frowns at the floor. Keith looks us all over once more before he continues.
“There’s a place for everything, and everything in its place,” he says. “What we do during our leave time is just as important as what we do on duty, but that doesn’t mean we can have the luxury of playing games when we’re supposed to be doing our job. Lance, I don’t care what argument you may have had to justify your actions. Dexter was on duty, and you had no business removing him from his post. And Sven...I’m just left without words. Of all the people I least expected to behave like this, you were at the top of the list.”
Sven’s mouth twists into a frown. Keith folds his hands calmly in front of him and looks over at Dexter. Dexter draws a deep breath and releases it in a regretful sigh.
“We were debating an appropriate punishment while waiting for you to arrive,” he says. “So you can forget any cheesecake being in your future for a long time.”
“Like that’s a big deal, Captain,” I reply. “We don’t get cheesecake anyhow. That’s what started the fight in the first place.”
Keith and Dexter exchange puzzled looks, then Keith gets to his feet.
“I think it’s time we got to the bottom of this, once and for all. Everyone back to the castle.”
“Okay, here’s a copy of the menu request form.” Pidge pulls the printout from the printer tray and hands it to Keith. I walk over to take a look over Keith’s shoulder, then I turn to Tasia.
“Well, how did you miss it? It’s right here near the top of the list.”
“I know that, Dexter, and I checked the box.” Tasia walks over to point at it. “That’s the one, right there.”
“No, that’s the box you check for cherry pie,” I tell her.
“It can’t be, because cherry pie is entry number two, and cheesecake is number three.”
“No, look at the form,” Keith insists. “The entries are staggered. The cherry pie looks like it’s number two as you read along the left side, but in actuality it’s entry number three, going left, right, left. Cheesecake is actually number five on this list, not number three.”
Tasia makes a face. “Well, what sort of stupid arrangement is that supposed to be?”
“It worked fine for the year 2000 election on Earth,” Alan says.
Tasia frowns and folds her arms. “Well, it doesn’t work for cheesecake. I say they change the form so it looks right.”
“That’s an administrative thing, but I think it could be taken care of,” Allura says. “In the meantime, my team and I still have the rest of our weekend to enjoy, and I for one want to get going. Are there any disagreements?”
No one argues against her suggestion. She is the Princess, after all. So Team 1 gets a fresh set of picnic baskets and I head back to resume my duty at Castle Control. A peaceful quiet settles over things once more.
“Anyone for more cheesecake? This is the last of it.” Allura pauses with the cutter hovering over the plate.
Sven gives his head a shake. “Dat’s all right, Princess, I’m full.”
“Over here, Princess!” Hunk grins and waves at her. She laughs and cuts him a large piece. He starts on it immediately. “Hey, Keith, you gonna get some of this? Good stuff.” He breaks off another bite of it.
“That’s all right, big guy. You go ahead.”
“Yes,” Allura agrees. “I think Keith’s had enough cheesecake for one day.” She walks over to the hammock I’m lying in and pats the slight swell of my stomach. “I’ve heard of beer bellies, but never a cheesecake belly. It seems to fit in this case, though.”
I feel my cheeks get warm, and I give her a pout. She smiles and wrinkles her nose at me in return.
“You’re so cute when you do that,” she says and returns to the picnic cloth spread out on the grass. Hunk gives me a big, goofy grin, and I make a face at him. He chuckles as he returns his attention to his plate. Sven looks around in my direction but he doesn’t say a word. He knows better.
“Hey guys, we’re having fish for dinner tonight!” Lance yells at us from where he stands at the edge of the dock. Pidge promptly gets up from the tackle box and runs like there’s a bomb in it as Lance prepares to cast his line. He snaps the end of the rod forward and the hook snags him right on the sit-upon.
“Ow! Oww! Damn it! He yells as he twists around to try and locate it. Pidge is hurrying back over to lend a hand.
“Lance, stop moving around so much. You’re too close to the end of the -”
The last of his sentence is lost in the mighty splash that results from Lance losing his balance and falling off of the pier. Allura gasps an ‘oh, dear’ through the hand she claps over her mouth, and Sven goes to help Pidge retrieve Lance from the water - probably the only fishing to be had for the day.
I chuckle to myself and settle back into the hammock to catch a nap. I think I did eat too much cheesecake, and it’s making me sleepy.
“Hey, Dunny...wassup?” Tasia gives me a smile as she enters the sitting room. I shrug and return my attention to the radio in front of me. All the wiring is finished, and I can put the outer casing back on it. I pick up the screwdriver and a screw to start to work.
“Not much, Tasia. An’ ye?”
She shrugs. “Another quiet day at the castle. No Lotor, no robeasts...and no cheesecake.”
“I dunno,” Alan says. “I think Nanny could be persuaded to be reasonable. She’s the one who designed the form, after all. We could get cheesecake on a technicality if we worked it right.”
“Alan, you’re right!” Tasia says. “But we could go one better. Galen could hack into the inventory lists for the pantry, and we could be set up with cheesecake for life!”
“Or get twenty to life,” Galen says.
“Oh, come on. We’ll just make a little adjustment, nothing major. No one would notice the difference.”
Galen shakes his head. “I don’t think so. Your last scheme for getting cheesecake didn’t work, and we got in enough trouble for that when all was said and done.”
“But this plan will work, trust me. All we have to do is -”
“No, Tasia.” We all say to her in unison. She frowns at us then and folds her arms over her chest.
“What ever happened to teamwork?” She leans against the wall to pout at us.
Alan grins at her. “Teamwork, like chivalry, my dear, is not dead.” He walks over to pick up the covered dish from where it’s been hidden on my side of the table. Galen distributes plates and forks. Tasia blinks at us.
“Where did you get that?”
“Princess Allura talked to Nanny about the paperwork thing before she left and told Nanny to give this to us,” Galen says.
“You brats!” She says. “And when were you planning to let me in on this?”
“What’s the problem? You know now, don’t you?” Alan hands her a slice. She takes the plate and promptly scoops up a forkful of it, chewing with great satisfaction. “Mmmm,” she purrs happily. “You’re right, Galen. Blueberry is good stuff.”
“You know it,” Galen says. “Hey, should we save some for the Captain too?”
Tasia looks at me, I look at Alan, Alan looks at Galen, Galen looks at Tasia.
“Nahhh,” we all say at once.
“Majority rules,” Alan says, and cuts off another slice.
======== END
To Operation Cheesecake: Part 5 |