The Last Praetorian (The Redemption Trilogy)

by Mike Smith

  Jon, however, put her mind at rest as he explained, “As you seem to have some proficiency with ships I will assign you to our flight deck. Report to Reynolds tomorrow at 0900 ship-time sharp, where you will follow all tasks assigned to him, do you understand?”

  Slightly taken back by the change of tone as Miranda felt that, only moments before, she was starting to finally understand the Commander, she nodded in agreement.

  Jon failed to add that Reynolds had been a Gunnery Sergeant in the Marine Corps during his time in the Imperial Navy and ran the flight deck in a similar fashion. Jon had complete confidence that he could manage their newest recruit.

  “Please see Paul in C&C and he will assign you some quarters,” Jon added in a clear dismissal. Again with a nod of her head she quickly departed his office. Staring out, once again, at the stars clearly shining though the space in the wall of the office, Jon did not fail to notice the pistol that was now missing from his desk.

  Smart girl, Jon thought with a smile, once again turning back to the stars and memories of his past.

  Chapter Six

  Present Day

  Terra Nova, Zeta Aquilae System

  The alert arrived at C&C while Jon was reviewing the latest crew rotation with Paul. It was common for Paul and Jon to frequently rotate the crew roster so as to avoid some crew always being stuck on the unsociable shifts and hence not having the opportunity to spend time with their families. It was also an opportunity to give some of the new shift leaders command experience, always valuable in Jon’s opinion.

  The duty officer caught the attention of Jon, explaining, “It seems that there is some sort of disturbance on the flight deck,” he reported.

  “Disturbance?” Jon inquired surprised, before exchanging glances with Paul. Jon could not remember the last time there had been a ‘disturbance’ on the station. Possibly a few years back when the annual station party got a little out of hand.

  “You don’t think it has anything to do with Miranda?” Paul proposed. “She has only been assigned to Gunny for a couple of days, how much trouble could she get into in that short amount of time?” Master Sergeant Patrick “Gunny” Reynolds was arguably one of the most capable crew chiefs on Terra Nova. At over six feet in height and weighing almost 200 pounds rumour had it that Gunny had once single-handedly led a marine boarding action against a pirate cutter, to have the pirates immediately abandon ship when faced by him.

  Once again exchanging concerned glances with Paul, Jon stated. “Paul, you have the C&C. I’ll be down on the flight deck investigating the… disturbance.”

  Paul nodded in agreement and added, “Let me know if you need a security detail down there?” Jon nodded his head in agreement before heading for the lift to take him to the flight deck.

  *****

  Arriving at the flight deck several minutes later Jon was surprised to find the deck deserted and instead followed the sound of the shouting and jeering to one end of the deck where he found a large crowd gathered. With some difficulty and a lot of pointed shoving and angry gazes Jon managed to push somewhat to the front and was disheartened, but not really surprised by the scene facing him.

  Surrounded by a large crowd of flight crew and deck hands, Reynolds was facing off against Miranda. It was obvious that this argument had been going on for sometime, as Gunny was already red faced. Almost miniscule compared to the bulk of the Marine, Jon was surprised to see Miranda standing her ground and even repeatedly jabbing her finger into the chest of the Marine sergeant!

  The crowd quickly quietened down upon catching sight of the Commander, with what could only be described as a thundercloud hanging over him. Meanwhile the antagonists had not seemed to notice the arrival of their Commander. With Miranda continuing to jab her fingers into Gunny’s chest, which was having much the same impact as trying to jab a pencil through a sheet of steel; however she continued determinedly.

  “I don’t give a rat’s ass what you used to do in the Imperial Navy, no wonder the entire thing was disbanded…” upon which Jon observed Gunny go an interesting shade of purple. “I keep telling you; by running the loading process in parallel you will be able to increase productivity by at least 20%. Whoever heard of the absurd idea of loading ships one after the other?”

  Jon had known Gunny for over fifteen years and knew him to be honourable, if not more than a little blunt spoken; however Jon could see for the first time Gunny contemplating murder, and decided that he had better intervene before events got out of control.

  “Attention on deck!” snapped Jon. While none of the crew actually saluted he did observe a general stiffing in posture, more importantly he noticed that Reynolds and Miranda had backed off somewhat.

  Guess it’s true that you cannot fully take the Navy out of the person... Jon mused to himself. Deciding to quickly get to the bottom of the situation, Jon rounded on his deck Chief and demanded. “Gunny! What the hell is going on here?”

  Still red faced and obviously trying to control his temper he replied. “She!” Jabbing his finger in Miranda’s direction, obviously not even prepared to refer to her by name, “accused me of running an out-dated, inept, incompetent and poorly organised loading operation.” Jon winced internally, glad that he had arrived before things had gotten further out-of-hand.

  Rounding on Miranda he glared at her and stated. “I assigned you here under the direct supervision of Gunny with explicit orders to follow his every instruction, not for you to insult him!” Jon snapped angrily.

  “I don’t care what you think either!” Miranda snapped back. “I refuse to be a part of an operation that is so inefficiently run. Where I come from we haven’t loaded ships sequentially in years! You could increase productivity by at least 20% by implementing my recommendations!”

  By this point even Jon felt his ire increasing and was just about to let rip when Miranda turned her back on him and stalked towards Gunny jabbing him in the chest once again and insisting.

  “I’ll arm wrestle you over it! You win, I never set foot on this flight deck again. I win, you will at least try my recommendations!”

  The flight deck suddenly went very still and every eyeball in the room swivelled towards Gunny to see how he would respond to such an absurd proposition. He towered over the much smaller woman, weighing at least 75 pounds more than her. Meanwhile the Chief’s jaw had dropped open in disbelief. He was obviously about to dismiss the challenge when he realised that every eye was upon him. He turned to face Jon with an inquisitive gaze.

  “Don’t look at me chief,” Jon raised his hands in a defensive gesture. “This is your flight deck, it’s your call.”

  Thinking for a few short moments the Chief hollered, “Clear a space! Clear a space!” motioning to one of the heavy workbenches not far from them. With a loud whoop and cheer the crowd made a space around the large workbench and the two antagonists moved to either side, facing off warily.

  Slamming his powerful elbow onto the surface the chief offered with a leer. “You want to make it the best of three sweetheart?”

  Meanwhile, Miranda delicately glided around to the other side of the table, completely serene as if she was taking a walk in the park before laying her arm down, offering her hand to the huge Chief. “No, just once is perfectly fine with me,” she replied delicately with a sweet smile directed towards Reynolds.

  Her sudden shift in mood obviously threw the Chief off balance as he licked his lips glancing around at all of the intent observers, suddenly realising that emphatically beating a woman, who was barely half his weight, was not going to be a resounding victory that was going to echo down the ages. He relaxed his posture slightly and took her offered hand in his.

  Again, offering the Chief a delicate smile she asked. “On three?” The Chief nodded his agreement and started the count.

  “One” he began.

  “Two…”

  “Three!” he shouted.

  His hand did not move so much as an inch. Although he could feel her increas
ed pressure. Glancing up into her face he was distracted for an instant when instead of the look of strain he had been expecting she was still looking into his eyes serenely and wearing a slight smile. The Chief had a sudden premonition that this was going to be bad…really bad…when Miranda suddenly made her move…

  Not in the direction of his hand, as everybody observing expected, but in the direction of his face! Suddenly leaning forward Miranda kissed the stunned deck Chief on the lips. Not a chaste kiss, such as between brother and sister perhaps, but a full on kiss with lips and tongue! The Chief’s eyes went as wide as saucers the instant he felt her tongue enter his mouth all thoughts of the competition and his hand fled his mind…As soon as Miranda felt his muscles relax she pushed with all her strength and the Chief’s arm hit the desk!

  Leaning back Miranda gave the completely astonished Chief an impish smile followed by a quick kiss on the cheek. “Thanks Chief!” she smiled. “Looks like I won. Would you like any help implementing my recommendations?” Miranda’s voice could barely be heard above all of the cheers and whistles coming from the assembled crowd.

  Taking pity on his deck Chief and trying to fight down his own surge of jealousy at the Chief for being the recipient of such a kiss. Jon called out, “Ok people! Back to work! The show is over!” With some good-humoured pat on the backs and congratulations to Miranda the crowd finally dispersed back to their jobs.

  “Chief, I look forward to seeing your progress report regarding these new procedures,” Jon offered as a parting comment to Chief Reynolds, gently reminding him that he expected the deck Chief to uphold his part of the agreement.

  Arriving back in C&C Paul looked up in some consternation inquiring. “How are things down on the flight deck?”

  Biting back a laugh, Jon replied. “They are fine. Miranda has everything under control down there, although I will be looking forward to the next few reports from Gunny,” Jon laughed.

  *****

  It was several days later, after the incident on the flight deck, when Paul & Jon finally had a chance to put their feet up and relax. Paul and Jon usually alternated shift patterns so one of the experienced command staff was always on hand in case of an emergency. However, this evening there were no inbound or outbound ships scheduled, so one of the more junior members of the command staff was in-charge of the C&C with instructions to call if there were any problems. They had finally managed to put Paul’s kids to sleep, which had involved complex negotiations, followed by a round of ‘Good Cop, Bad Cop’ with Jon as the more senior having to threaten the kids that if they did not go to sleep he was going to space their teddy bear; they had quickly agreed and settled down to sleep.

  “So where is Carol tonight?” Jon inquired leaning back in the Harrington’s living room with a beer. Carol was Paul’s long-suffering wife of over ten years and was usually in charge of putting the kids to sleep.

  “She mentioned something about Miranda having been here over a week and nobody having shown her a good time,” Paul replied opening his own beer. “So she and a couple of the other women have taken her out for a ‘Girls Night Out’,” Paul added, putting particular emphasis on the last three words. The story of Miranda’s run-in with Reynolds had spread like wildfire throughout the station dispelling any resentment that might have been harboured by some crewmembers when the story had also got around of how she came to be aboard the station.

  “Perhaps we should forewarn security now,” Jon murmured. “Sounds like a group that should be identified as ‘dangerous, handle with extreme caution’. Talking of which,” Jon inquired, “how are Reynolds and Miranda getting on?” he asked with some concern, worrying that Gunny might harbour some resentment about the way that Miranda had bested him.

  “Last I heard, fantastically,” Paul replied without any concern. “Productivity seems to have increased by at least 40% following Miranda’s recommendations. I heard that, on seeing the results, Reynolds picked the girl up, straight off the ground and some of the crew had to rescue her before the Chief suffocated her by accident. Ever since then the Chief has been putty in her hands, I hear that they are discussing ways to improve productivity further,” Paul added.

  “Glad that she is fitting in with the rest of the crew,” Jon replied. “I have moved her across to work with security during the next crew rotation,” Jon added reclining in his chair, relaxing after the busy day. “I didn’t want to assign her there initially as you know how McNeill felt when we first revived her. A clear threat to my personal safety and the station,” Jon parroted trying his best to imitate the British accent of their security chief.

  Paul smiled at the poor impression before frowning and commenting, “You sure that is a good idea? She will have access to the station armoury,” Paul replied with some concern. With a laugh Jon recounted the face-to-face meeting in his office several days earlier. Paul just listened in growing disbelief and his face grew pale when Jon reached the point about tossing her the live weapon.

  “What the hell were you playing at?” Paul demanded, keeping his voice down so as not to wake the kids. “She could have just as easily shot you and made for the nearest ship!” Paul exclaimed.

  Jon acknowledged the point with a short nod of his head but insisted, “It was my judgement call. No way could we confine her to the brig or her quarters for that duration of time, we could not spare the people and I assume that you did not support McNeill’s less than subtle suggestion of just sticking her out the nearest airlock?” Jon inquired mildly.

  “Of course not!”

  “So instead, you would have some unknown loose cannon running around the station,” Jon continued. “Perhaps we catch her tampering with the magnetic shielding around the fusion reactor,” Jon suggested with a slight nod of his head towards the children’s bedroom. Paul went as white as a sheet, obviously not having thought through the damage that a person loose on the station with malicious intent could cause.

  “Better that I just put one life at risk, than risk the lives of everybody on the station,” Jon insisted making it clear that the topic of conversation was closed.

  Looking to change the topic, Paul inquired, “So when are you planning to put Miranda on rotation in the C&C?”

  Relaxing in the comfortable chair with the beer, Jon replied without thinking, “I was planning on waiting a few more crew rotations before I put her on duty in the C&C. She needs some more experience with the various departments and to become familiar with the department heads before she is ready,” Jon explained. Suddenly realising what he had just admitted to he opened his eyes to focus on his second-in-command, who was wearing a smirk on his face.

  “You knew!” Jon insisted, realising that he had just been set-up.

  “Yep!” Paul replied with a grin. “It has been a long time, but I still recognise an Imperial Navy fast-tracked command training program when I see one!” Paul confirmed.

  Anxious to reassure his old friend Jon explained, “I have no plans to replace you.”

  “Glad to hear it. So when do you plan on informing Miranda of this?” Paul inquired curiously.

  “Hell, not for a while yet!” Jon insisted, settling back down. “She would probably laugh in my face if I suggested the idea to her now… but she has so much potential!” Jon said. “Look at the way she has got Gunny wrapped around her finger and the rest of the command staff are already warming to her. She is smart, clever, and intuitive and has a natural leadership ability,” Jon insisted.

  “As long as you have thought this through carefully,” Paul suggested.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well...” choosing his words carefully, Paul explained. “We still don’t know much about her, beyond what you have already told me, that she is an outstanding pilot. Now you have started her on a fast track training program for command. We could be handing her right back to the Syndicate, not just as an ace pilot but with the sort of command skills that would help mould them into a far more effective threat to this system.” Havin
g voiced his concerns Paul fell quiet. He decided not to also voice his concerns that Jon was becoming infatuated with her and was losing his perspective. Paul had been surprised that Jon viewed the talented young pilot much more as his protégée than potential romantic interest. Paul had observed the young woman catch the eye of more than one male member of the crew, however Jon had not seemed to make any advances.

  “So what time does Carol get back tonight?” Jon asked, leaning back in his comfortable chair after deciding to give Paul’s concerns further thought… but not tonight.

  “She warned me she could be back quite late. Seems that she and the other women are going to try and set Miranda up with that young communications officer from 3rd shift, according to the women he is eye-candy…” Paul watched with a smirk as Jon spat beer everywhere.

  Yep maybe not totally disinterested… Paul thought with a grin.

  *****

  A few weeks later Jon was reviewing the latest company shipping reports, noting the worrying rise in the number and severity of the attacks on Vanguard ships, when a chime interrupted his reading, notifying him of somebody requesting permission to enter.

  “Come!” Jon called out and the door slid open to reveal the not unexpected face of Jason Edgar, Vanguard’s ‘Company Man’ as Jason jokingly referred to himself. The rest of the crew simply thought of him as their Intelligence Officer or ‘Chief Spy’.

  “Take a seat, I was expecting you, after reviewing your latest report,” Jon commented with another glance at the disturbing report sitting on his desk. “Do we have any more information explaining the increasing number of attacks on our ships?” Jon inquired.

  Shaking his head Jason replied. “Nothing concrete at the moment, just conjecture. We assume that the failed attempt on your life some weeks ago has thrown a spanner in the Syndicate plans for Vanguard. Hence we assume the increasing number of attacks is an attempt to push you to reconsider their initial proposal.”