The Proteus Awakening

Reactivated

Visibility was one hundred twenty five miles today, with just a few puffy white clouds in the sky. As he slowly worked the throttle and control stick back and forth lazily across the sky, Deklin Arteryn smiled to himself. While he was working, he so very rarely had time to be able to indulge himself and actually pilot planes. Now that he was retired, however, he could do so almost whenever he wanted and it was something that he took advantage of as often as possible. Between flying and gardening, retirement was shaping up to be both relaxing and enjoyable for him, just as he'd always hoped.

The silence was broken abruptly by the comm in the plane crackling to life. "Victor Romeo Three Two Seven Alpha, how copy?"

Deklin keyed up the mic and replied, "This is Victor Romeo Three Two Seven Alpha. I read you five by five, over. Who calls?"

The voice came back, "I have a priority transmission for a Deklin Arteryn. Acknowledge."

Deklin sighed, thinking to himself that it was probably his financial advisor again. He couldn't remember how many times he had told Robert to simply leave a message at home and he would get back to him. Instead, he was constantly interrupting his flights. "This is Deklin Arteryn. Patch it through."

"Thank you Three Two Seven Alpha. Have a nice day." The cockpit was silent for a moment, then the crackling started again.

"Robert, I'm going to have to find myself another FA if you don't stop calling me when I'm flying..." he said in a mocking tone.

"Deklin Arteryn? Commander Deklin Arteryn?" The voice asked.

Deklin blinked, immediately taken aback. "Um... Retired Commander Deklin Arteryn, yes. Who is this?"

"Adjunct Lieutenant Colonel Griff Kinsey, sir. I'm in Admiral Saxey's office." returned the voice.

"Shit," Deklin murmured under his breath, before quickly regaining his composure. "How can I help you Lieutenant Colonel?"

"Um... Sir? I hate to ask this, but the Admiral would like some of your time. Can you come to New Haven Naval Base, sir?" The voice almost sounded apologetic, but the tone did nothing to dampen the implication that this was not exactly a request.

Deklin sighed softly again. "Yeah, I can do that. Tell the Admiral I can be by sometime tomorrow or the next day..."

"Sorry, sir. He asked me to have you come by today."

Deklin's brow furrowed, "Lieutenant Colonel, what is this about?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, Commander. Just that it's urgent."

Deklin most definitely did not like where this was going. "I see. Well, I'll have to go home and change, but..."

"Not to worry, sir. We sent some warrant officers by your place to pick up your uniform. They will meet you at your hangar, you can change, and then they can bring you here."

"Of course you did..." Deklin muttered darkly, both hoping the Lieutenant Colonel heard and that he did not. But Deklin did not really have a good excuse not to go, and refusing his former CO, even though he was retired, was not a habit he wanted to start. "All right then. I'll see them when I'm on deck again."

"Very good, sir. I'll see you shortly." The transmission cut off and Deklin let the plane drift for a moment to allow himself to re-center, before slamming the plane into a roll and heading back toward New Haven airport.

Twenty minutes later, Deklin had landed his jet, and taxied it back to his hangar where, sure enough, there was a car and two uniformed officers standing outside it. As he stepped down from his plane, the pair snapped a smart salute. The brief thought of how excessive that was for a retiree flashed through his mind before he gave them a salute in return. One of them stooped and picked up a duffel bag. "Sir? Your clothes, sir."