by Isaac Stone
I never did find out what the name of the Roka was I captured. I was ready to transfer him back to the Hard Rain when I received another transmission from Latasha.
“Captain says the UDF is here and they get your prisoner,” she told me. “We’ve got your location locked down now that the station isn’t jamming us. The Udie squad will be there in a few minutes.
“Did you here that?” I spoke to Tank. “This punk gets a date with the Udies. At least he’s off my hands.”
We did a brief medical check on the guy and found him to be in good health. Not perfect health; the mix of drugs in his body had spiked his reactions beyond what most people could endure. I still wasn’t worried, as his vitals all appeared to be in the safe zone. We put our helmets on safety bungees that we tied around the guy's neck, just to keep him noisy and encumbered.
We were sitting in a break room, helmets off at long last, when the sound of boots came into through the door. I looked up to see several military types in basic environmental suits emblazoned with the UDF sun. They stopped upon entering the room.
There were four of them, armored and bulky an amusing counter to we fast attack jocks. The oldest had the shoulder boards of a full colonel. He was followed by two junior officers and some kind of green recruit. I should know the insignia of the UDF better, but it never came in handy. We didn’t interact much with them.
“At the ready gentlemen,” I spoke to my crew and my guys shambled into standing positions.
“Is this the Roka?” the colonel asked me as he pointed at our prisoner. He didn’t even bother to give me his name.
“The only survivor,” I told him. “He’s your problem now. Orlando, if you would please.” Orlando shuffled over to the prisoner, removed the helmets, and marched him over, anxious to get this done and return to the mothership.
“Why was this prisoner decorated in such a matter?” the UDF colonel demanded. “Do you not realize this is against article twelve of the uniform treatment of enemy combatants?”
I heard Orlando snicker as he untied the last helmet off the shaky form of the Roka prisoner. I don’t think any of them had ever encountered the UDF Navy prior to now.
The officer turned to me and glared. He was a lightly complexed man with iron-grey hair and steel blue eyes. I could tell he didn’t like dealing with us either. From my experience, the UDF Navy regarded us as mercenaries at best and savages at worst, and beneath their dignity. It’s easy to be dignified when you don’t have worry about someone blowing you apart each day.
“You need to keep you men under control,” he growled at me. His stood at attention while Orlando finished untying the last helmet. I heard it drop to the ground with a loud thump.
“He’s under control,” I informed the colonel. I looked down at the name on the suit. “Colonel Veen.”
“The name is Green,” he stammered. The suit had some engine grease on it, no doubt acquired from his travel through the filthy station.
“Oh, I’m sorry about that,” I spoke to him. “Here let me brush it off for you. I reached out and flicked the speck off his suit. “We can’t have anyone getting your name wrong.”
I moved my hand away faster than he could grab it, but I could still see the damage to his dignity. The colonel’s eyes snarled at me and he stepped back.
“Go get him,” he informed the enlisted man. The kid did as told and walked over to grab the prisoner, who was still handcuffed.
“Takes four of you to retrieve a bound man?” I commented as they turned to leave. “Good thing we didn’t capture an entire platoon of them. You’d never leave this place.” The rest of my crew turned to keep from visibly laughing at the UDF men.
The colonel stopped and turned back to me. “Sorry I deprived you of another victim,” he spoke. They vanished through the door to the main corridor.
“They act so high and moral,” I spoke to the crew, “but I doubt that kid will be alive tomorrow after they put him through the test. I’m sure it will be made to be our fault. Injuries sustained by the Order when he was captured, they’ll say.” I was disgusted.
“But don’t worry,” I continued. “We’ve done our part and filed all the forms and pictures. Anyone tries to pin it on us will have to explain why the prisoner was in good shape when we handed him off.”
I touched a button on my left arm. “Latasha, the Udies picked up that prisoner as you instructed. Can we come back home now please?”
“Give it another five minutes, Corwin,” she told me. “The station is still going through the transfer of responsibility protocols. Captain says congratulations on doing your part and not losing anyone, but don't antagonize the help. We are in UDF space on special dispensation as it is, don't rock the boat.”
It was the last that pleased me the most. I didn’t want to be known as the commander who sent men to their death just so he could get some glory. Besides, all glory was to the pack, as I’d been taught from an early age.
“You put up with them,” Tran spoke to me. He’d sat back down after retrieving his helmet. “I wouldn’t have taken it.”
“And that’s why I’m commander,” I explained to him. “You ever want this job; you have to put up with a lot of shit, and if you drop some of it on your boot Captain will see to it that you’re on broom detail and sleeping alone for a long time.”
“You can keep the job,” Tran grumbled, “If you have to deal with those assholes more than once.”
I didn’t have to encounter them very often. The UDF Navy was content to let us chase down smugglers and shoot it out with raiders in exchange for supplies and material. I was good with my status in life and didn’t understand why anyone would want more. There were times people transferred out, never to be seen again, because they decided it wasn’t a good fit for them. You could never come back to the fold if you left, can't have you coming back after years of being exposed to the world without proper monitoring. The gene pool had to be priority one. This was standard among all Order groups in the outer systems, you might change packs, but you never left the Order and came back. Sometimes you might hear about people spotting old members of the family who’d left, but not too often. It was considered very bad form to even speak that person’s name.
It didn’t happen that often. Most of us raised on the mothership, or one of the colonies, stayed once we were given the option. All children were allowed the opportunity to leave once they turned eighteen. Only a small percentage opted out.
And why would you? All your family was in the pack. To leave meant cutting ties with everyone you knew and loved. To leave meant you couldn’t even join another Order, you were already tainted. So, it was a rare thing for someone to leave.
“You can return now,” Latisha let us know about an hour later. “Captain says everything is under the UDF Navy at this time, but antagonize any UDF staff on your way out and she'll have you sleeping on her floor for a month.”
I hated that floor. She’d made me do it several times when I was assigned to her as a younger man, no more foolish than I am now but certainly not as good at getting away with things. If you were assigned someone you had issues with, you could always just do your duty as quickly as possible and then sleep on opposite sides of the bed, or on the couch. Any problems were over by the next rotation anyway. Slightly different story when it's your commanding officer.
7
It was a slow walk back to the FAS ships in the hanger. The Hordesmen were gone and the UDF Navy was in position around the station. We passed them as they pushed sensor tables down the hall. Most of the technicians who performed the jobs were lower-level recruits and didn’t pay us much attention. A few looked up and starred at us as we walked by. They would note our pack insignia and seem impressed, or scared, not sure which.
Years ago, I’d encountered a sailor with the navy who wanted to know what it was like living all your life in deep space. He was young, in his early twenties and full of questions.
I was in charge of picking up some
supplies in the shuttle we maintain for short distance travel. He was in the cargo area when I landed inside his naval ship’s hanger. No one else was around; I guess this made him free to ask questions he wouldn’t in front of a superior.
“So how do you join?” he finally asked me as we moved the final crates on board our shuttle.
“First of all,” I told him while I checked the invoice, “we don’t take active military or anyone with a commitment. So, don’t even try to hide the wife or pregnant girl you left behind because the Order will find out. Second, it’s a long process and most people can't hack the training.” I put my clipboard down and walked to the ramp into the shuttle.
“My hitch is up in six months,” he called after me, "I almost made the Tactical Marines, so I don’t think it would be hard passing your requirements. Besides, it’s a small price to pay for new pussy every night.”
I froze and turned around to him, hand straying to the cold steel on my belt. “That’s the kind of attitude that will keep you out for sure,” I swore at him and went into the shuttle.
I never saw him again, which is lucky for him.
We had no shortage of assholes who thought it was a big orgy on the mothership. They didn’t understand the whole system was there to bind you to the pack, to maintain the gene pool's integrity through generation after generation of people borne in space. We were a true family, even children you had no part of creating were still yours to parent. I had a world of mothers and a world of fathers. We all knew the lineage of every child on that ship. You had to. If you didn’t know right away, you would remember it when they stood with their mother during assembly. It was an awesome thing to see a young man or woman leave the mothership to join another when they came of age. Since the roster included everyone on the ship, they had to leave at eighteen. Not seeing your kids grow up, that was an emotional price to be paid for the good of the Order.
We were strapped in and on our way back to the Hard Rain an hour later. I didn't like interacting with the UDF, or any outsiders really, it always makes the mind stray. The navy ship parked outside the station gave us the clear and opened the hanger doors. I allowed Tank the honor of leaving first. We followed him and were soon back in the endless void of space, while a gas giant planet rotated beneath us.
I waited a few minutes once we were back inside the mothership before I gave the order to disembark. “Okay guys,” I spoke while climbing down from the tower, “We’re home. Time to see if anyone missed us.”
“Duty almost over?” Tran asked me as he stepped up from his chair.
“About an hour,” I let him know. “You guys hang loose until then. Captain will want to talk to me and I might need some back up. She wasn’t pleased with the way I talked to that Udie officer. I should have known better.” I unzipped one glove and tossed it into a container that wheeled up the FAS as I walked out of the ship.
“I’m with Indigo tonight," Medoro mentioned to me as he placed his helmet on another self-propelled cart. “This is one time I’m going to look forward to her. She can be….”
He stopped, as he was face-to-face with the lady in question.
“Demanding?” she said to him. “Good thing I was assigned to the traffic control job today. Did you check that part of the roster?”
Indigo was in her mid-thirties and one of the engineers that kept the ship functioning. She was only a few inches over five feet in height, had a smooth scalp, and was one of the most powerful of any woman on the ship. She was due to be with child as soon as someone could make good in impregnating her, and she'd gotten rather aggressive about maximizing her time with the new bloods. I grinned. Medoro had a fun twelve-hour shift ahead of him.
She grabbed him by the back of the head and rammed her tongue into his mouth. Medoro was speechless and didn’t move. I don’t think he minded. He was a good three inches taller than she was and could’ve complained if he wanted to do so.
She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled Medoro in the direction of the air lock. “Come on,” she told him. “I was so worried you’d have a problem on your first time ought, may I be the first to congratulate you on a mission well done.”
“Shift isn’t over for another hour,” he informed her as they neared the exit.
She stopped and turned in my direction. "I booked respite room two,” she informed me. “Do you have any objections with me taking Medoro back there before I haul him up to my place?”
“None,” I told her. “Though I have a sit down with Captain in a few minutes. I may have to request his presence, so be aware.”
“As you say,” she vowed and pulled him away.
I turned to the others. “You guys can peel off too,” They nodded. “Same thing applies; I might need to call you. Otherwise, enjoy being off duty, I have a feeling we're going to be pulling a lot of double shifts on this campaign,” They smiled and headed in the direction of the locker rooms.
I made my way to Captain’s quarters the moment I was cleaned up. Best to face her and get it over with.
I opened the door and stepped inside.
The first thing that hit me was the perfume. I looked and saw Captain in the bed at the far end of her quarters. I’d expected her to be in uniform and behind her desk. This was a surprise, as I didn’t think she’d scheduled anyone for herself tonight. She didn’t want anyone with her that often. However, as Captain, she could change her mind at the last minute. She didn’t make sudden changes very often. It tended to mess with the rhythm of life on the mothership when that happened.
She was naked beneath the sheets; that much I could tell from where I stood.
“I see you’ve started early,” I told her. At least this meant I could get out that much sooner. If she'd changed the roster, it meant Captain would want me out of the room as soon as possible. The evening shift was still forty-five minutes away.
“Very ready,” she told me. “There’s a cart next to you. Put your clothes in it and come here. I trust you cleaned up before I you came to me.” She let the sheet drop so I could see what was waiting for me.
“What?” I said. “This is still day shift….”
“Do you question me, Corwin?” she asked. “Look to the side.” I did and the duty roster still showed me with her with me for the twelve hours evening shift.
I started to unzip my jumper. “No, Corwin,” she told me. “Face your captain. I want to see you undress.” I turned and saw the sheet off her. He leaned across the bed on her stomach and watched me.
I sighed and removed the jumper very slow. I could see how excited it made her and wondered if we’d have time to go over what happened on the orbital station. From this distance, I could see her eyes shining. Did she want to have a baby again? At her age, that was possible, but not really a good idea.
“No, I don’t want to get pregnant, if that's what you are wondering. I am off the breeding list as of six months ago, now officially too old,” she told me as I sat down on her silken bed. Captain lay one hand on my naked thigh. “Though I did take some enhancement to make this better for both of us. I see you don't need much encouragement however.”
No, I did not, as I enthusiastically proved to her for the next forty minutes.
“I suppose you’re pissed at me,” I spoke to her later as she lay across me. “After what happened with the officer.”
“No,” Captain told me and ran her hand between my legs. Funny how she knew just were to reach and not look. “We’ve got bigger issues that override some toff from the navy.” I tried not to wince as she tightened her fingers.
“The Roka lieutenant they wanted appears to have fled the station on a small craft moments before we dropped out of Insubstantia, while the Great Khan was chasing down starfighters,” she told me. “He carried a lot of information about their activities in this system and took it with him.” I leaned back and tried to focus on what she told me, in spite of what she did with her right hand.
“I don’t care so much,” Captain continued, “It’s
the UDF’s problem, not mine.” Her hands were magic, and it was getting tough to focus on what she was saying. Better living through chemistry right?
“I made my point,” She said, slowing down to keep pace with my breath. “We showed them how tough the crew on this ship is, how effective we can be when left to our own devices.” She looked up at me to make sure what she did was having the right effect. It was.
“We’re going to be stuck here for some time,” Captain let me know between strokes. “Goddamn UDF wants the Hard Rain to provide security escorts to keep the trade flow in this system. You like that?”
“You can’t tell?” I asked her. “Can I ask you a question?” I had a hard time speaking between breaths.
“Any one you want,” she told me and licked my stomach. Oh, God, I was so close but didn’t want to yet. I wanted to enjoy this, especially after all the shit we’d been through on that orbital station.
“You’ve never been this way before,” I told her. Why now?” I almost bit my lip when she cupped me with the other hand.
“You worked hard and deserved it,” she explained as her other hand increased in speed. “I was impressed with how you conducted yourself out there. I thought you needed some special handling in here. Oh, look at that, you were ready.”
I’d once heard that outside of pack culture it was considered very bad form for a person in charge of another to have sex with him or her. Captain was the only superior I had on this ship. She was superior to all of us. Even the authority I had in the FAS was limited to combat scenarios. Captain ruled over all of us. It was something I thought about as she got up and went over to the sink, which was mounted in the wall. She waved her hand and the lights on the ceiling changed into the frequency of natural sunlight on Old Earth. I’d never been there, but the few souls I’d met swore the real sunlight was better than any duplication. I felt the warmth on my chest as she returned and rubbed the moist towels over me. When she was finished, I went to the sink and got a towel of my own. As she lay on her stomach, I rubbed her down her down as well.