Iceberg Valley City Morgue

Iceberg Valley, Europa

Jackie sighed as she zipped up Sergeant Mok's body bag, and slid it into a freezer. Private Huang's body bag lay beside it, awaiting its turn. She chuckled grimly as the freezer display changed to white, indicating that the body within was a dead cadaver instead of a live passenger.

Contrary to the expectations of many science-fiction authors, shipping frozen corpses back to Earth for burial had proven feasible and inexpensive, especially in a world where people-freezer technology was used extensively to transport personnel and livestock across the solar system.

Jackie knew that this would only hold true as long as the conflict simmered. If the warm war turned hot, the huge number of cadavers produced would most likely be laid to rest in the traditional spacer manner: fed into the recycling system.

In fact, Private Huang's cadaver, bound for Earth's Moon, would probably end up in a wet incinerator very similar to the one in the next room.

Mok and Huang had been sandwiched between the hapless defenders of the irrelevant airlock and the reinforcements deployed by the Japanese commander. Unable to extricate themselves from their position, and unconvinced that the doomed Japanese forces would honor a surrender, they had been overrun.

As hoped, the diversion of forces had allowed Jackie to hold the vault antechamber long enough for the police and militia to arrive. The close-quarters fighting that ensued had been long, bloody, and repetitive, as the trapped Japanese soldiers fought tenaciously for every corridor, room, and doorway.

Jackie looked at the dozen or so body bags that surrounded her, and began to leave.

She ran right into Star. They stopped, and surveyed the black body bags together. Jackie spoke first.

"It's not your fault, Star."

"What?"

"Marco told me that you were worried about the Japanese fighting to the end after you dunked their gear. It couldn't have turned out differently, and we did the right thing. When you dumped their gear into the ocean, we were hanging on by our fingernails. The odds were fair that they'd overrun the data vault, grab what they needed, and get out. Objective comes first."

"Oh. Did we get any prisoners?"

"Janna wheeled 'em off to some black site or another. Their uniforms had no insignia, so Security's holding 'em as spies."

"Did we get their sub?"

"No. It made a clean getaway. The Japanese Maritime Defense Force builds 'em better than we do, apparently."

Star nodded.

Jackie looked concerned. "So, you skateboard?"

Star shook her head. Jackie smiled. "I'm going skateboarding later. You wanna give it a shot?"

Star nodded. Jackie wrapped her arm around Star. "Come on. There's a train coming in five minutes."

Iceberg Valley Whitecap Park

Iceberg Valley, Europa

Whitecap Park had been built in a gargantuan cavern, carved from the ice by thermonuclear explosives and illuminated with huge electric lamps. Amidst the botanical gardens, grassy lawns, lotus-filled lakes, and bamboo forests (all harvestable) were playgrounds, kiosks, decorative structures, and a skate park.

If it were not for the tacky sky-blue insulation on the icy ceiling sixty stories above her, Janna could have mistaken the place for a park on Earth.

Janna walked up to Marco. Dressed in a hooded jacket and jeans, he was almost unrecognizable as a Space Force officer. He didn't notice her, and Janna followed his gaze from to the big, u-shaped half-pipe.

On the half-pipe, Jackie soared up one ramp, flew eight metes – nearly three stories - into the air, hung there, and descended back onto the half-pipe.

Janna whistled. Low gravity sports rule. "Isn't that dangerous?"

Marco shook his head. "Seriously, Janna? You're a commissioned officer of the Joint Government Space Force. You took physics!"

Janna groaned, and facepalmed. "Right. Kinetic energy gets turned to gravitational potential energy going up, vice versa coming down. Conservation of energy means Jackie comes down at nearly the same speed as she did going up, work done against air resistance makes the difference. But since her speed on the bottom of the half-pipe is the same as her speed on a half-pipe on Earth, she's completely okay. The really high ascent might make it easier to miss the half-pipe on the way down, though."

Marco nodded. "Pretty much."

Janna chuckled. "I ran a background check on Dr. Lucitor."

Marco nearly jumped out of his skin, and Janna laughed. "Relax. I knew you were jumpy about the guy, so I ran a check. The guy's cleaned up his problem. No complaints or incidents at work for the last three years."

Marco regained his composure. "The abuse of the powers vested in you is highly unethical. And Star isn't staying long."

Janna patted Marco's shoulder. "She could've been. I'm looking out for a friend, Marco. Just like you."

Janna walked over to talk to Jackie. Marco shrugged, and walked over to the kiosk to buy a drink.

Author's note: This author does not understand how skateboarding works. Presumably, there is more kicking the ground involved in off-world skateboarding to build up speed on the flat bit of the half-pipe, as merely dropping off the ledge of a normal-sized half pipe will not give you enough speed to soar beyond the ledge on the other side for conservation of energy reasons. Or maybe they build bigger half-pipes on Europa. Feel free to correct this author on this matter.

Iceberg Valley Naval Base

Iceberg Valley, Europa

"You're kidding me. This is what you wanted my Marines for?"

"Jackie, shush. You're ruining our grand entrance." Janna straightened her collar, checked her epaulets, and continued marching through the insulated corridor, a squad of rifle-toting, battledress-clad Marines in tow.

The troupe passed by rows of cubicles, drawing stares, gasps, and anxious whispers from the servicemen and women within. Jackie, feeling woefully out of place, blushed slightly with every distracted turn of the head and each curious rise from a VR immersion chair.

The corridor ended in a reinforced metal door. Janna showed her handheld to the marine on guard duty, and he duly opened it.

Janna, her eyes on the woman behind the metal desk, strode into the plush, well-decorated office. The Marines hurriedly fanned out around the room, and stood to attention, weapons at the ready. Jackie nodded, and Janna began to speak.

"Rear Admiral Charmaine Fong, I'm Lieutenant Janna Ordonia, Space Force. I'm here to inform you that Navy Fleet Forces Command has requested you return to Earth immediately to oversee training of the next generation of extraterrestrial submariners."

Janna handed over the watermarked bamboo paper with the Admiral's orders.

The Admiral looked at the orders, frowned, and then turned back to Janna. "Inform Fleet Forces Command that the recent incursion here indicates that our naval forces on Europa are at severe risk. A seasoned commander is essential at the current time. I would recommend that my replacement be delayed."

Janna shook her head. "The orders are not subject to review. You are to return to Earth immediately."

The Admiral stood. "If you swap me out now, fleet efficiency will suffer for months! At least give me a month or two to break my successor in!"

Janna shook her head again. "My orders are to bring you directly to dock sixteen, where a Space Force troop transport will ferry you back to Earth."

The Admiral looked at the Marines, and at Janna's Security badge. "Is this whole show because that Japanese submarine got past our sonar nets? I've been arguing for reinforcements, increased tech budgets, and settler conscription for years! The success of the Japanese incursion was a result of limitations in the sonar technology we had available, not because of the quality of our personnel!"

Janna sighed. "Look, Admiral. I'm just the messenger. But the buzz I caught was that some admirals back on Earth thought you and your subs were a little too aggressive with the Japanese and Euros. It makes good tactical and strategic sense to probe their capabilities, but they want you to hold back for geostrategic reasons. The recent incident with the Japanese just hit home that we're not up for a war on Europa… yet. They just want you to go to Earth and train extra submariners to improve our future position here. If things get hairy in the future… they might even send you back here."

The Admiral glanced at Jackie's carbine, sighed, and began collecting papers from her desk. "Give me a few hours to pack."

Janna smiled. "Feel free to leave your stuff in a locker. I have a feeling you'll be coming back soon."

The Admiral grabbed her handheld, and left the room. Jackie crossed her arms, doffed her helmet, and leaned back on the wall. "We're seriously packing in Admiral Fong? Scuttlebutt has it that she's quite popular down here."

Janna frowned, and joined Jackie on the wall. The marine next to her rolled his eyes at the officers, and stood a little straighter. "I told her the truth. We're at war. We can't afford to lose a good commander, but we can't afford to have a loose cannon running around either."

Jackie tilted her head, and extended her hand. "Someone with a spine, you mean." She waved her arm across her squad of armed marines. "Is all this really necessary? It's not like the Admiral would lead a mutiny, or that anyone would follow her if she did."

Janna put her hand to her chin. "How sure are you of that? Historically, the generals guarding the frontiers of China tend to revolt when the central government is weak, hastening the collapse of dynasty after dynasty. And every time the country breaks apart, between a fifth and two-thirds of the population die." Janna put on her creepy voice. "With automatic rifles, biological weapons, and nukes… we can totally beat those numbers."

Jackie shrugged noncommittally.

Janna smiled. "I'm kidding, Jackie. Things are a long way from that point. But think about it. If Earth had sent over a video message as usual, the Admiral or her subordinates would probably have found a way to lose the file, drag their feet, or send long, argumentative emails back. This would have continued until Admiral Fong could have instilled in her designated successor sufficient… gall to continue her chosen policies."

Jackie shrugged again. Janna continued.

"Basically, we're putting on this show for the desk jockeys out there. They see us march in with marines and march out with the Admiral, the whole thing goes on the grapevine, and everyone gets a reminder that the central government is still boss out here."

Jackie smirked. "You do realize that's your entire job description."

Admiral Fong came back into the room, empty duffel in hand, causing Janna and Jackie to scramble to attention. The Admiral's voice was sullen. "You know, Fleet Forces Command could have just sent me an email."

Janna shrugged. "They wanted to impress on you the urgency of your new assignment. Where may I find your flotilla's Security officer? I also have orders for him."

Admiral Fong frowned. "Captain Charles Ocampo. Office next door."

Janna walked out the door, leaving the Marines with the Admiral.

This concludes the second episode of Space Unicorn. To avoid timeline sequence issues (i.e. an adventure on Mercury seemingly taking place immediately after a romp on Uranus), future episodes of the Butterfly Effect series may be written under separate titles. It is unfortunately not logical for JGSS Invisible Pink Unicorn to jump around the Outer System willy-nilly – interplanetary trips, even with torch drives, take weeks in the Inner System and months in the Outer System, so nearby locations will tend to be visited in sequence.