by Lance Berry
It took Mara a moment to recover, her groans of pain and shock mingling with those of her fellow cadets. She had struck the deck plates hard as she fell on her side, the impact knocking the wind almost completely out of her and sending stars shooting up from behind her eyes as she bashed the side of her head. She was only dimly aware of Commander Tellner ordering his students to sound off, and it took her a couple of tries to bring her response up to an audible level.
She rolled over slowly onto her back, then gasped in shock as someone grabbed her around the waist, the pressure causing an electric charge of pain to blast the air out of her lungs once more. She craned her neck upwards to look into Katie’s scarred face—cut by shards from her broken glasses—and her friend gently let go of her. “Stay there, just stay there,” Katie ordered, trying to prevent Mara from continuing to struggle to her knees.
Mara’s body shuddered and she laid back down as her friend rushed to the Ops console and tabbed a panel. A hidden slot slid forward from the console’s side, and Katie pulled a dsp out of it.
She stumbled back to Mara, her own legs uncertain, then dropped to her knees, quickly scanning her friend’s body.
“Jeez, you’re a worrywart,” Katie said, trying to maintain a lighter air, although the shakiness of her voice belied it. “No broken bones, but two of your ribs are bruised. Just move slowly, breathe lightly. You’ll be fine.” She glanced around in the sparkled darkness, making sure no one was watching. She leaned down and quickly pressed her lips to Mara’s. “I love you,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to, it just happened. I want to marry you.”
In the darkness, Mara could see Katie’s blue eyes widen, as if realizing she might have said too much. She seemed to be waiting for a response, but Mara hadn’t a clue what to say. She did love Katie, but as a friend only—she could never bring herself to even attempt to find physical love with a woman. It was a sin, written in the bible, she knew it was wrong. Yet Katie had always been such a good friend, how could God judge a person as her to be unworthy? Her head spun, not just from the hit she had taken, but from the swirl of confusion which suddenly enveloped her. She wanted to tell Katie that she loved her too, if only for comfort’s sake, but it would be just as wrong to lie to her, get her hopes up for nothing. More than likely they would be dead soon—all of them would, and all because of her failure to perform a routine security diagnostic on the torpedo tube before giving the fire order. She tried to form words, but gave up, tears flowing down the side of her face as she simply let her friend sit there expectantly, looking down at her with a now crestfallen expression on her face.
Katie said nothing more. She got to her feet as quickly as she could manage, in order to find other cadets to help.
Mara lay on the floor, staring up into the darkness, waiting for death to come. Rochlol had promised death would come immediately if there were any delay, and certainly her smart-aleck tactic now fell into that category. She had failed her teacher and her entire class, and they would now all have to pay the price for her stupidity. She wondered whether she’d feel any pain when the Warner was destroyed…or would Rochlol instead send a boarding party over to the crippled ship, to secure his “precious cargo?” Would things be that much worse for her than what Tallworth had intended to do? Could she possibly just get used to it, after a while?
She knew she couldn’t, and found herself beginning to pray for a quick end. The only positive thing she could find to think about was that she would at least be reunited with her mother in heaven. She looked forward to being held in her arms once more…to have Gloria run her fingers through her hair again.
Tellner’s voice cut through the moroseness of her thoughts, and she strangely found herself focusing on his words once more. “—epeat, this is Commander Tellner! I didn’t quite hear you! Our conning tower is disabled, I’m attempting to boost our gain! Say again?”
A brief squeal of static burst over the ODC, and Mara winced at it. The sound died down, replaced by a human voice. “…said this is Captain Matthew Stuit of the Athena. We’re here with two other Heavy Cruisers, Commander Tellner. We’ve disabled the Calvorian ship that assaulted you, and will be boarding it shortly to take prisoners. What’s your status?”
Before Mara knew it was coming, a hearty laugh of relief jumped out of her throat. It was broken by painful grunts, as her body tried to remind her of the punishment meted out to it, but she didn’t care. She continued to laugh, as her tears turned to those of relief, and she laughed until she had no choice but to clutch her sides in pain…
Chapter 14
As it was in the latter stages of preparation for decommissioning, the Warner no longer possessed a medical staff, and so one had to come over from another Heavy Cruiser.
It took a while for the med techs to make their way past the breach amid-ships on deck one, but finally they did. The lead physician treated the injured cadets and crew as best she could, then had them transferred via shuttle to the sickbay of the Athena. Tellner and the rest of his students soon came aboard as well, and all ships held position…for whatever reason, Mara didn’t know.
She had almost slipped into unconsciousness once during the ride over, but the med techs kept her awake with mild stimulants. She regained full cognizance in the sickbay, and lay flat in bed, a hospital gown covering her upper torso, while her uniform pants remained on. She went over the incident with the misfire again and again in her head, her self-recrimination and doubt adding to her feeling of failure. She was certain that when all was said and done, she would be asked to leave Deveraux. Her military career would be over before it had even begun.
Mara was placed in one of the bio-beds amid-deck within the sickbay, other injured cadets placed to her right and left, and scattered around. She heard the main door slide aside and glanced to her right. The lead physician that had treated her— Mara didn’t get her name—walked purposefully down the aisle, occasionally stopping to check with her med techs on other patients. Finally, the forty-something woman with auburn hair stopped at the foot of Mara’s bed. She let out a broad, friendly smile as she introduced herself. “Hello, Cadet Elliot. I’m Hannah Rollins, chief medical officer. How are you feeling?”
Mara considered it a moment. “Alright. I feel a little pain, but not much.”
Doctor Rollins pulled a medical dsp out of her white med coat and her fingers played the keypad with practiced ease as she moved to stand beside Mara. The doctor checked a few readings, then nodded affirmatively. “The pain-nullers we gave you are wearing off a bit. I’ll hold off on giving you anymore for now, unless you really start to ache. Two of your lower ribs are bruised and you tapped your head just lightly enough against the deck plates to escape having a concussion. Very lucky, if you ask me.”
“Thank you,” Mara replied softly.
Rollins smiled again. “Thank your folks. A hard head is the result of genetics more than anything. And from what I hear, it’s a valued asset in a soldier.” She turned her head in the direction of the entrance as the door slid open once more. It was Commander Tellner, who spotted the two of them and headed over at a decent pace. Rollins looked back at Mara.
“Speaking of which…” she said with a wink and a knowing grin.
Mara chuckled, and was glad to find it didn’t hurt as much this time.
“Douglas,” Rollins said pleasantly as Tellner approached.
His eyes widened slightly and it seemed he almost grimaced at the mentioning of his given name. He kept it in check however, and said in a mildly hushed tone, “I am on duty, doctor.”
“For now,” she acknowledged. “But I’d better damn sure see you tonight when you’re off. One more broken dinner engagement, and you’ll be doing push-ups all alone from now on.”
Mara instantly got the inference and bowed her head slightly, trying to stifle a giggle. Tellner turned beet red and nodded curtly. “Point taken. Oh-seven-hundred it is,” he said.
“May I please speak to my student?” he asked in a somewhat
chastened fashion. Rollins held off a moment from answering, enjoying every moment of his unease. Finally she nodded and headed over to another patient’s bed.
Tellner’s features slowly began to regain their normal hue as he took Rollins’ place beside the bio-bed. “How are you doing, Elliot?”
“Fine, sir. Just a couple of bruised ribs. I hope to be back to active duty soon,” she said, and was unable to keep the trepidation from her voice.
Tellner nodded slowly and his usually hardened features seemed to soften, just a bit. “If you’re worried about your performance aboard the Warner, let me assure you that you did nothing which will lead to your separation.” He gave the statement a moment to sink in, and watched with satisfaction as Mara lay back in bed a little easier, expelling a slow gust of air in relief.
Her eyebrows rose as she remembered something. “What happened to the Calvorian ship?”
“I wasn’t joking when I said Rochlol was an idiot. I thought that one of our bases on Mars would spot what was going on out there, and I was right. What really got their attention was the explosion from the forward half of our ship when the antimatter cannons jammed. Omega Base immediately notified Captain Stuit as to our position and the presence of the enemy vessel.
He brought the nearest support ship with him and notified three others. They just finished an onboard firefight with Rochlol’s people, who gave up. The crew of Misery’s Widow is being transferred to the base for interrogation. Nothing lights up the sky like an antimatter explosion.” He said this last with a light chuckle, but then saw the worried expression return to her face. He glanced around the sickbay, then moved a little closer to Mara in such a way that his back would block the view of all prying eyes. He reached down and gently took her hand in his. “I don’t bullshit my students, Mara. You didn’t do anything wrong. Yes, it would’ve been best to do a security diagnostic on the launch tube, but you were in a training scenario. It wasn’t expected that we would ever have to use the tubes…and even when it was, under a crunch scenario, it’s possible that even a seasoned veteran might’ve blinked under pressure like that. Besides which, I asked Captain Stuit to have his people do a flash-diagnostic of what was left of the tubes.
According to the report, there was a micro-stress fracture running along the line from the last quarter of the tube to the egress port. The end of the fracture was what jammed the port from opening. It was a one in a million mechanical failure which a routine diagnostic wouldn’t have caught at first pass.”
“Really?”
“Yes. You’re not at fault. If anything, you should be commended for quick thinking under difficult circumstances.
Your actions were indicative of not only what it means to be a team member, but also a leader. We still need to re-take this final for the sake of the other cadets…but as far as I’m concerned, you passed the course. Congratulations.”
Mara smiled, and she could almost believe she could feel her guilt evaporating from her. A thought came to her, and she quickly glanced around the sickbay. “I just realized I haven’t seen Cadet Long anywhere. Is she alright?”
Tellner squeezed her hand once, gently, then let go as he stood straight once more. “I understand the two of you are friends as well as classmates.”
Mara nodded.
“I’m only going to tell you this because the two of you are so close. But let me state now that this is in confidence, Cadet. Do you understand?”
Mara nodded once more. Tellner then proceeded to tell her what happened with Cadet Katie Long…
Chapter 15
Katie Long sat at a secluded table near a rear window in the Athena’s mess hall. She picked up her glass of beer and stared at her distorted reflection, attempting to pick out the spots on her face where Doctor Rollins had used dermal sealant and Regen-V. The chief medical officer had done an excellent job however, and if it weren’t for living the experience herself, she would never have believed her face had been cut by shards from her glasses.
She heard some sounds of commotion from the forward part of the bar, and picked her new glasses off the table to get a look.
The non-organic recycling plant had also done a commendable job of fixing the shattered frames. As she settled the new set into place, Katie could have sworn she could see better than before. She shook her head as her eyes focused on Mara, who was storming through the bar with purpose. She had on her uniform pants, but still only wore a hospital gown on top. “Bite me,” she angrily threw over her shoulder at a crewman who catcalled to her. She reached behind her to close the gown tighter, but this only drew more attention to how incredibly busty she was for her age. Katie shook her head forlornly as several recent fantasies about her friend made a return engagement to dance through her imagination.
“Always causing a stir wherever you go,” she said facetiously as Mara reached her.
“Shut up,” Mara snapped, then plopped down in a seat across the table. “What the hell kind of bullshit is this I’m hearing about you giving a D.O.R.?”
“It would only be bullshit if I didn’t inform Tellner I wanted to be dropped on request,” Katie replied with a shrug, then went to take another swig of the synthetic alcohol. Mara slapped the glass out of her hand and it flew against the wall, shattering into a dozen pieces. Some of the conversation at tables near them stopped instantly as crewmen turned to see what the hell two near-grads could possibly be arguing about.
Katie was stunned, not knowing what to say. She had never seen such a look of anger on her friend’s face.
Mara ignored everyone in the mess and slid her chair closer to Katie’s, until their knees nearly touched. “How dare you drop out after all we’ve been through together,” she said in a lowered tone. “Or is that it? Are you leaving ‘cause I can’t give you what you want?”
“Wow. I never realized you thought so much of yourself.
You’re hot, but that’s not why I care about you like I do. And it’s certainly not the reason I’m leaving.”
“Then what? What happened?”
Katie started to say something, stopped…and a deep frown bent her lips downward. She shuddered, and had to reach under her glasses to wipe away a tear. “I just don’t have it, Mara. All these years I thought I did, but…being in the midst of all that happened on the Warner’s bridge today, it just shook a realization into me. I don’t have what it takes to be a Cruiser captain. I just don’t.”
Mara looked at Katie’s hands clasped together so tightly, the fingers wringing together. She wanted to take her hand for comfort, and a feeling of embarrassment at what other people might think took brief hold of her. She couldn’t believe that only a few hours earlier, she wouldn’t have even cared. She was ashamed at the feeling, cursed at it in her head, then reached over and gently pulled Katie’s fingers apart and held both of her hands in her own. Katie looked at her gratefully, and Mara was glad. “You will be a good captain, Kate…you’ll be a great one.
Don’t let what happened today make you doubt yourself. How do you think I feel? I almost blew up the whole damn ship!”
The two friends laughed briefly. One of the mess hall attendants came over with a dustpan and mini-broom. He gave them a curt glare, then gathered the pieces of glass into the pan.
The two young women waited until he left, then Katie sighed and shook her head once more. “Yeah, but you still rose to the occasion. All those tests we took, the ones in the classroom, couldn’t prepare me for the reality of what we’d be facing today.
And I’m not just talking about the Calvorians. I couldn’t even get a course speed down right for something as simple as moving the ship through an asteroid belt. If I freeze up with something as easy as that, how can I be responsible for the lives of more than five hundred people on a daily basis? In a combat situation?”
“’The pressure’s always worst on the ‘first’, you know that,”
Mara said gently, trying to reassure her. “First soldier over the hill, first one through the hole of
a breach into an enemy ship… and especially the first student in a live training scenario. I’m sure Tellner understands how hard it was for you. Don’t D.O.R.