by David Adams
“Sorry, Lieutenant. Please go on.”
“...I was just asking you if you wanted me to reschedule the cooling pump replacement since we’re only a few days away from the big operation. I can’t really go on because there isn’t really much more to say. Um, it’s a question, ma’am.”
Liao felt flustered. She tried to straighten her shoulders and – for now – flush the fond memories of the nights with James out of her mind, but even this determined effort seemed difficult.
“...Yes. Reschedule the replacement for as soon as possible. We’ll need all our reactors online when the time comes.”
“Aye aye, Captain.”
The crewman went about her business and left Liao with her thoughts. James occupied them for a time, but there was work to do. Confident that the engineer’s report was accurate and the nuclear power reactors would be at full capacity on the day, Liao moved on. She strolled down the corridors of her vessel, heading towards the stern, where the ship’s missiles were stored.
On the way there, she passed Warrant Officer Yanmei Cheung, who was leaning up against the hatchway to one of the deck’s armouries. Although Cheung wasn’t an officer, Liao had found her to be an excellent head of the marines; she anticipated giving her a field commission at some point, probably during their next resupply run. Still... she was the head of a department and the idea of her also doing guard duty was a little strange. Curious, Liao turned around and headed back her way.
“Captain,” Cheung straightened her back, giving her commanding officer a firm nod. “Everything’s ship-shape here, ma’am.”
Liao nodded in return, frowning ever so slightly. Something felt... slightly off about the whole scenario. Cheung standing here in the corridor. Her formality. Her statement that everything was fine... Well, why wouldn’t it be?
“Good to hear it.” Liao studied Cheung’s expression, but it was impossible to read. “How are the exercises with the marines coming?”
“Very well, Captain. We’re running daily drills, counter-insurgency and boarding action, as requested. I’ve also done a few zero-gravity exercises with a handful of my best people... I didn’t want to mention it in the briefing, but there’s a possibility we might be fighting on the outside of the hull, if the Demons try to get in that way.”
“Don’t spend too long in microgravity,” cautioned Liao. “The techs went to a great deal of effort to make sure we have – more or less – artificial gravity on this boat. Spending too much time outside it has terrible effects on your health. Limit them to no more than one hour per day.”
“Aye, Captain. I just thought it prudent in case they board the ship.”
Liao hadn’t considered any zero-gravity combat, but it seemed unlikely. “Despite the risks I’m inclined to agree,” she offered, “and having additional zero-G experience will be very handy. In a prolonged engagement, there’s a possibility the artificial gravity might go off, so I don’t want anyone being helpless if that happens.”
Cheung nodded. “I know, Captain, and I had the same thought... and took it one step further. Since my people will be the most likely to be near the outer hull during a boarding action, and since a breach would almost certainly be followed by a decompression, I’ve expanded our training to include practice runs.”
“What about weapons? Will they work without an atmosphere?”
Cheung gave a playful chuckle. “That’s a common misconception, Captain. Bullets contain their own oxidizer so our standard sub-machine guns will work just fine in a vacuum, better in fact since there’s no air resistance... although the weapons will heat up very quickly and will jam – or get too hot to hold – after a few clips. Space may be cold, but it’s also a brilliant insulator... just like a Thermos. I pity our armourers too; the heat will damage the lubricants and the weapons will require a complete after-action rebuild and clean.” The woman gave a slightly nervous smile. “So don’t worry about our defences from that perspective, Captain.”
Liao nodded. Cheung’s specialist knowledge was why she had her on the crew.
“Good. Keep up the good work.”
Melissa almost went to leave, but stopped. Cheung had relaxed as she went to step away, but now seemed to tense up again. It might have just been nerves, or...
“One question, if you could? What’s behind that hatchway?”
“Uhh, this one? It’s an armoury, so... just guns, Captain. Ammunition and guns: flash-bang grenades, flares, glow sticks, radios, you know... armoury stuff.”
Melissa frowned sceptically, putting her hands on her hips. Her instincts shouted at her; something wasn’t right at all. “Right, well, I guess I should include armoury inspection on my daily checklist. Let’s take a look, shall we? I’d like to make sure, personally, that everything is ship-shape...”
“Commander Iraj already inspected it, ma’am. Just this morning.”
Liao raised an eyebrow at her answer, pausing just a moment to let her words sink in. “And while I’m certain he did a good job, I said I wanted to inspect the armoury personally, Warrant Officer. So please open the hatchway.”
“I’d rather you reconsider, Captain.” Cheung looked distinctly nervous, and her eyes flicked from side to side, unable to match Liao’s intense stare.
They had already had one mutiny aboard the ship during Liao’s time as commanding officer. She hoped – fiercely – that she was not facing another. Cheung had always been loyal, though. That’s why she had made her the chief of marines. What in the devil was going on?
“Marine, I’m ordering you to about face, open the hatchway, and show me inside.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Cheung blew out a low, nervous sigh, nodding her head. “Very well, Captain. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Turning on her heel, Cheung turned the handle on the doorway until it gave a soft ‘clank’ and stopped. Liao could hear voices and movement on the inside of the room. Her hand slowly, instinctively, drifted to her sidearm as Cheung pushed open the door.
The first sound she heard was a girlish giggle, followed by an equally girlish moan.
Alex had Summer bent over one of the ammunition crates, their clothing scattered around the deck haphazardly, her red hair bobbing wildly as Major Aharoni thumped his groin against her freckled backside.
Hearing the door open, Summer – her eyes still closed – stifled another playful little moan and waved her hand in the air. “Ahh-... ahh-... Yanmei, piss off, we’re not done yet!”
“Oh, I think you’re quite done,” Liao intoned, her voice sharp and commanding, her Captain’s Voice at work again. Summer’s eyes snapped open and the two of them frantically disengaged.
For a moment nobody said anything, the two of them standing there naked with Cheung and Melissa looking on, until finally Summer broke the silence, shooting Cheung a dark look before turning her eyes to Melissa.
“Soooooo... Captain! Hey! What a surprise seeing you here!”
“I’m surprised to be here, myself, but more surprised at seeing the two of you... well... creating an unsanitary condition in my armoury.”
Apparently unconcerned by his nudity, Alex gave Liao a wide grin, his hands on his hips. “Sorry, Captain. Just enjoying a little recreational time between shifts. A little social networking...”
“Oh, you’re networked alright. I can see that.”
Summer absently picked up her shirt, holding it in front of her, frowning at the two. “Hey, if you’re going to chew us out, could you at least – you know – close the door?”
Liao motioned to Cheung who turned and sealed the hatchway.
“Before you start,” Summer accused, pointing her finger towards Liao with her free hand, “don’t get all hypocritical on us just because we’re having a little fun when we’re off duty. We know you’re fucking Captain Grégoire.”
“Oh, do you now?” she questioned, a distinctive edge to her tone. She turned to Alex. “You know my policy about rumours aboard my ship, but... we’re not talking about
me, are we, Mister Aharoni?”
“No, Captain. Can I put on some pants?” A sly grin formed on the man’s face. “Or are you just enjoying the view?”
Summer elbowed him in the ribs. “Shut up,” she hissed, “Can’t you see she’s pissed?”
Liao reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes a moment. “Okay, the bottom line is... you’re both off duty at the moment, you’re both consenting adults, and you’re both... young and stupid enough to do something as crazy as shagging in an ammo locker in lieu of getting a good night’s sleep only a few days before the launch of one of the most important operations mankind has ever embarked on.”
“It’s good for my morale, Captain,” Alex argued. “And besides, it’s not that late that we’re missing out on sleep...” he coughed. “...Not that we do a lot of sleeping when we’re in bed together anyway.”
Liao held up her hands to get him to stop. “Your shared nocturnal activities are, unfortunately, not none of my business... but I really don’t need specifics. How long has this been going on?”
Summer shrugged, glancing at Alex. “I’m not sure, Jazz – when did you come on board again? The day after that?”
Liao wrinkled her nose at Summer calling her best pilot by his remarkably juvenile call sign, but said nothing.
“Something like that,” Alex answered. “Or maybe it was that same day... I think it was after that boring-as-hell briefing. Yeah... it was. I asked you for a drink, and you said something flirty, and that was when we broke into the mess hall and-”
“Enough!” Liao blinked a few times, shaking her head. “What the hell am I going to do with you two?”
A moment of silence as Liao pinched her nose again. Then she just threw her hands in the air helplessly. “Well, look. It’s not harming anyone, and as long as you two keep it discrete I don’t really care what the hell you two kids do instead of rack time.”
Summer looked to be about to speak, but Liao cut her off. “-but... no more shagging in public places. In your bunks only, and certainly not while you’re on duty.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Okey-dokey.”
Shaking her head at Rowe’s informality, but feeling unable to chide her about it since the redhead was stark naked, Liao beat a swift retreat out of the room. She let Cheung step out first, began to close the door, then stopped.
“Oh, and about that view?” Liao winked slyly as she shut the hatchway. “...James is bigger.”
“Hah! I KNEW you were fu-”
*****
Later
“So, how long have you known about those two clowns?”
Liao walked down the corridor with Cheung who just gave a low chuckle. “A few days, Captain. I sprung them together in a nuke tube when the engineers were doing maintenance on it.”
Liao’s eyebrow shot up at that, shooting the marine an incredulous glance. “In a missile launch tube?” They rounded a corner and Liao gave a nod as some of the junior enlisted crew jumped out of her way. “Are those things even pressurized?”
“Not during normal operations, no, but since we had work crew doing a maintenance run before the big operation, we temporarily pressurized them. It takes about an hour to check each missile, so... they just slipped in when they saw the others being worked on.”
“The fuck? What if we had to open the launch bay doors?”
Cheung shrugged absently as the two worked towards the stern of the vessel. “They would probably get flushed out to space, die, and we would never know what happened to them. I mean, this ship is a closed system, so eventually we’d just have to assume they somehow got away from the ship. But I mean... the radar’s not configured to look for objects of that density so they’d probably be automatically filtered out.”
Liao digested that for a moment. “Those stupid... Ugh, I can’t believe it. I guess I’ll have to let them know not to bump uglies anywhere where they might be flushed out into space at a moment’s notice.”
“I thought you already did that.”
Liao shrugged. “Technically, I told them not to bang on duty, and not to do it in a public place. I’m not sure a missile launch tube is classified as a public place, but... I did specify that they should do it only in their rack, though. I can always fall back on that.”
“That’s true.”
Liao sighed. “It seems like everyone’s just getting busy...” she waved a hand at the marine absently. “I’m guessing you’re seeing one of the men on the side, too...”
“...Uh, no.” Cheung grinned a lopsided grin. “I like girls, sir.”
“...Oh.” Liao felt slightly flustered, shaking her head. Cheung just gave her a playful nudge.
“I thought that was fairly common knowledge, Captain.”
Liao made a confused face. “Actually, I’d heard occasional whispers to that effect, but I just assumed they were the standard jokes. You know, female head of the marines... Well, she’s gotta be a lesbian if she chose that position... I guess I just didn’t expect something so, um, cliché to be accurate… Sorry.”
Cheung didn’t seem offended, and she just smiled. “Don’t worry about it, Captain. It’s an honest mistake. It’s happened before and it’ll happen again.”
“Alright.”
Liao and Cheung turned, then began walking back towards the Operations room at the heart of the ship.
“So,” began Liao, “you didn’t answer my question.”
“Am I seeing anyone on the crew?”
“That’s the one.”
Cheung smiled, shaking her head. “No, Captain. Not at this time. I actually have someone back home...”
“Hmm, that’s unusual. I thought the Task Force preferred single people - less chance of homesickness on long voyages...”
“That’s technically true, but the form only specified ‘husband or boyfriend’. Since I have neither, I ticked none.”
Liao chuckled. “Cunning. I like that.” Seeing Cheung’s strange look, she playfully held up a hand. “Not like like, marine... Relax.”
“I was going to say...” Cheung laughed, and as they turned a corner she continued. “But, you know, well.... you said before that it’s strange that everyone’s hooking up at this critical juncture. It doesn’t seem strange to me.”
“Really?” Liao raised an eyebrow, regarding the taller, stronger woman. “You don’t think they should be focused on their duty?”
“Are you?”
That caught Liao by surprise. Stopping in the corridor, she closed her eyes a moment and then sighed. “Are James and I really that obvious?”
“Fairly obvious, yes, and it’s normal. Don’t worry about it, Captain.” Cheung beckoned her to continue and the two resumed their walk. “Soldiers all throughout history have gone to war - have stood on the precipice of strife, of battle, of unimaginable chaos and death and misery - knowing that when dawn came they could lose it all.
“It was in those times, Captain, that their minds turned not to the conflict ahead of them, but to their families. Their friends in their hometown... the people they loved, the people they were fighting to protect.”
Cheung gave a wry smile, holding open a door for the Captain and then the two stepped through into the final corridor before Operations.
“... and if they’re like Summer, or Alex, who don’t have anyone – then they manufacture someone.”
Liao stopped her before they could get into eavesdropping range of Operations. “That’s what you think James is to me? More than just a warm body, he’s... I need him because I need someone worth fighting for? That’s all he is?”
“Is he?” Cheung paused, regarding her Captain, who seemed oddly disturbed by what she was saying.
“... I don’t know. Not yet,” Liao clarified, reaching out and touching the taller woman’s arm. “But... I- I don’t know...”
“We’re young women and men, Captain, but we’re standing in the shoes of our ancestors. Humans of all nations, of all ethnicities, of a
ll faiths and colours and creeds have stood where we are standing now – on the brink of war. The reasons behind every struggle may change, Captain, and these may seem like new and fascinating times... but all wars are old wars.”
Liao remembered something her mother told her once. “...And in war it is the youth who suffer.” She bit her lower lip, suddenly unable to walk into the Operations room, her eyes falling to the steel hatchway that lead there. “Not everyone is going to survive this trip out, are they?”
“No,” came Cheung’s answer, her voice soft. “But we all know the risks.”
“That’s an old soldier’s answer if I ever heard one.”
“I’m not old,” Cheung protested, giving her Captain a playful pat on the arm, “but I will be one day. Mark my words; I intend to get as old as possible.”
With a final glance towards her marine head, Liao nodded and stepped towards Operations.
“So do I.”
*****
Operations Room
TFR Beijing
With Cheung’s words echoing in her mind, Liao stepped through the threshold into the Operations room. Whenever she came here it was like stepping into another world. This was the ship’s brain, but Liao preferred to think of it as his beating heart – the pulsating, organic, living centre of the vessel. It was from here that his lifeblood, information, was pumped along the ship’s length to every part of its body.
She was relieved to see that most of the Operations crew had taken her advice to sleep well, which was not orders, to heart; the room was staffed by a skeleton crew and the night shift who had started early.
Melissa herself had slept during the swing shift; she wanted to be awake and alert for both the engagement and its prelude, even as she advised her crew against the same course of action. The hypocrisy, although made with good intentions, still weighed upon her.
Of course, it had nothing to do with the fact that this was the only shift James could visit...
And so it was with some trepidation that she picked up her digital pad and reviewed the ship’s status. It was, as it had been for several days now, at the absolute peak of its readiness.