The Merrimack Event (Shieldclads Book 1)

by David Tatum

  Rachel fumed at the question, but inwardly smiled. He was in a playful mood, and that realization brightened her own spirits, as well. She couldn’t remember him this relaxed since... well, it would have been before their project for Tactics was assigned. Apparently, he really needed all the rest she’d forced him to take.

  “Not you, too!” she mock-groaned. “You, especially, aren’t getting any favors from me! Not for a long while, at least, after that schedule you set everyone for the refit! I think I’m going to be working harder for this than I did during the physical training section of Academy Boot Camp.”

  Chris grinned. “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. You tell me who I’m bunking with, and I’ll get you your pick of assignments on the Chihuahua.”

  Rachel just sputtered, and everyone else laughed. Burkhard grinned. “Hmm, I don’t know if you’re in a very good position, Mr. Desaix. She hasn’t submitted to the political influence of Ms. Mumford, what makes you think she’ll take your bribes?”

  It’s not like he doesn’t already know who he’s bunking with, Rachel thought. He has to realize I’d know better than to separate him and Wolf. Maybe he just wants to see my nose wrinkle again.

  She tested that theory, and the sparkle in his eyes convinced her that was the case. Wrinkling her nose again, she said, “It’ll take a lot more than that to get me to violate my own rules, buster,” she snapped playfully.

  “Oh, well. Guess I’ll have to think of something else,” Chris mused. “I have to wonder what the Colonel did to get you to tell him who he’s bunking with.”

  “Might have something to do with him saving her from some drunk thugs the other day,” Cohen suggested mildly.

  “Please stop,” the normally soft-spoken chief surgeon assigned to the ship, Doctor June Erhlich (whose rank of Lieutenant Commander was a courtesy, as she was actually a member of the civilian auxiliary) said, a twinkle in her eye as well. “It took a team of several doctors, myself included, just to reconstruct Mr. Kobe’s nose. I’d hate to have to treat the lot of you by myself, should you push her too far.”

  Chris flinched slightly at the reminder of what he saw as a personal failure, but didn’t lose his humor. “Oh, well, guess I’ll just have to wait.”

  Rachel patted his leg. “Don’t worry,” she said in the same patronizing tone one would use to comfort a child. “It won’t be much longer.”

  “Well,” Chris said. “You told me you wouldn’t tell me who my roommate is. Would you tell me who someone else’s roommate is, then?”

  Everyone knew the answer would be no – even Chris – but Rachel wanted to keep the conversation going. Besides, she was curious. “Whose?”

  “Hmm, good question,” Chris said. “Now, we already all know about Colonel Beccera and Linda Flint. I have a couple ideas for who might be my roommate, too. So, maybe I should just ask who your roommate is, then.”

  “Mine?” Rachel squawked.

  “Yeah,” Chris replied. “Yours. You did remember to assign yourself a room, didn’t you?”

  “Of course I did!” she cried in outrage, and the others in the shuttle started chuckling at the bickering couple. “But why do you want to know who else is in my room?”

  “Simple curiosity, of course,” Chris said. “I’d just like to know.”

  Rachel grinned. “Okay, Chris, I’ll tell you,” she cooed.

  “You will?” he said, a bit surprised.

  “Sure I will! But you’ll have to wait until we get to the ship. It’s not public knowledge yet, after all.”

  “Prepare to dock, everyone. We’re here,” Weber’s voice interrupted.

  “Well, looks like I’ll be finding out soon enough,” Chris said. “And remember to turn on your magnetic boots before you unstrap – there’s no gravity at the moment.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Cohen said, reaching down to flip the switch. “I’d forgotten about that.”

  A soft “thoom” of energy indicated the activation of the magnetic lock which sealed the shuttle to the Chihuahua. It took a moment before they could finally board the ship, but everyone, even the Captain, rushed to the door once the airlock indicated it was secure.

  Most went straight to the nearby computer to look up their cabin assignments. Captain Burkhard was in the lead, of course – no-one wanted to deny him the first glance. “Hmm... looks like I have to bunk with my exec. Well, that makes sense,” Burkhard said.

  Rachel noticed Chris just standing behind the others, not bothering to head to the computers. “Chris? Don’t you want to know where you’re bunking?”

  Chris nodded. “Yeah, but I met Wolf on his way out to the shuttle. I know who I’m bunking with, already, so I’ll let the others go first.”

  Rachel grinned back. “I thought you wanted to know who was bunking with me, though.”

  Chris chuckled. “I do... but I also want you to tell me who it is, like you said you would. I figure that’s a good enough way to learn.”

  “But the computer’s right over there!” she exclaimed. “Why do you need me to tell you?”

  Chris shrugged, winking at her. “You said you’d tell me, so I’m waiting to hear the name of the person straight from your mouth. You aren’t going to back out of a promise, are you?”

  Rachel fumed, wrinkling her nose at him to show that she was still having fun with the argument. “It’s no trouble to check the computer. Just look it up!”

  “It’s even less trouble than looking it up on the computer.”

  “Oh, just drop it,” Weber huffed, stepping between them on her way to the corridor. “She’s bunking with me. Quit your bellyaching and move on.”

  Chris blinked, then looked at Rachel. “What’s her problem?” he asked in a whisper.

  “Not sure,” Rachel answered, her voice also hushed. “Maybe I’ll find out tonight. Wanna join me for dinner at 1900 hours?”

  “Sure thing,” Chris said. “I’ll comm you to confirm.”

  “See you later, then,” she said, waving as he ran off.

  “So you finally quit your flirting,” Weber growled as she stepped back into the entryway. “Come on – I want to head on over to our cabin.”

  “Nothing’s stopping you, you know,” Rachel shot back. “You don’t need me to go with you.”

  “Yeah, well, since you two were so discreet when you were talking about what’s wrong with me,” Weber said sarcastically, “I figured I might as well wait around so you can interrogate me.”

  Rachel winced. “Sorry about that. You just aren’t acting like yourself, though.” She paused, and grabbed the cord attached to her footlocker.

  Weber started leading her out of the waiting room and down one of the corridors. She’d been to the cabin a couple times on previous transport jobs, so Rachel trusted she knew where she was going. “There’s really nothing you can do anything about. It’s a personal matter.”

  “Try me,” Rachel said. “I’m a better listener than I look.”

  Weber sighed. “I suppose you’re going to keep bugging me until I do, aren’t you?”

  “Of course. And I’m pretty persistent, too.”

  Weber gave a half-hearted chuckle. “Yeah, I noticed.’”

  “Well, since you admit that, you know you have no choice but to ‘fess up!” Rachel teased.

  “All right,” Weber sighed. “It isn’t like it was something you wouldn’t be able to find out through the grapevine, anyway. And you just might understand – after all, pretty much everyone around here knows how much trouble you and Chris have had.”

  Rachel blinked. “What about Chris and I?”

  “You think no-one else has noticed the crush you two’ve had on each other for the past several months?”

  The other woman almost choked. “What are you talking about? Yeah, there’s been a bunch of silly rumors, but they were utterly groundless! Really!”

  Weber smirked. “Really. Then what was that dinner invitation about?”

  Rachel flushed slightly. “That’
s a fairly recent development. The rumors have been going on pretty much since we met, though – and they have been groundless, up until a few days ago.”

  “If you say so,” Weber said doubtfully. “Even your friends have been saying you two’ve flirted with each other for months. I heard it started when you were assigned to be partners for some tactics project....”

  “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear,” Rachel said.

  “Not everything, no. But there’s often some basis in truth behind these kinds of rumors....”

  Rachel flushed, and decided to just let that argument stand where it was. “Um, are you going to explain what your problem is, or am I going to have to get ‘persistent?’”

  Weber sobered up instantly. “Well, maybe I’d better tell you, after all, considering what the rumor mill is like. Better that you know what’s fact and what’s fiction.”

  “Good choice,” Rachel said.

  “Essentially, I made a move on Wolfie,” she sighed. “It was at the party. We’d been dancing. I was just about to suggest we find someplace a bit more private when he practically ran away from me! Claimed he had to use the bathroom, and I never saw him again until clean-up.”

  Rachel frowned. “Hmm, that doesn’t sound like him.”

  “Anyway, that’s all that’s bothering me. I just wanted to get out of that airlock without having to meet up with him again.”

  Rachel nodded. “Well, I don’t know what’s going through Wolf’s head, so I don’t know what to say. It might not be as bad as you think – he might really have had to use the bathroom, for all you know.”

  “He might have,” Weber said. “And if you really believe that, I’ve got a planet to sell you. We’re here.”

  That last comment was followed with a wave to the door marking their cabin. Rachel grinned slightly and keyed in her own password, opening the door and heading on in. She found that most of her heavier pieces of luggage had already made it down there. She quickly locked her footlocker down by the unused bed with magnetic seals and started to unpack.

  “Hey, Rache,” Weber said softly. Rachel blinked – she couldn’t remember that she’d ever heard the other girl speak so quietly before. Turning around, she saw that Weber was fidgeting around nervously, unable to meet her eyes.

  “Yes, Lauren?”

  “When he comes over tonight, could you... could you ask Chris if he knows why Wolfie....” Weber begged.

  “Ran off?” Rachel suggested. When Weber nodded, she grinned. “Not a problem.”

  ——————————

  “He ran off?” Chris laughed. They were in the Chihuahua’s mess hall. With the gravity off, the only things to eat were the rather unappetizing dehydrated chunks of what claimed it was beef stroganoff, which had to be eaten by hand. They were trying to ignore the flavor through conversation. “Oh, that’s rich.”

  Rachel restrained herself from smacking him. “Hey, this is serious – Lauren’s really hurt by this.”

  “I’m sure she is,” Chris said, still smiling. “But I think she completely misunderstood what happened.”

  “Well then, enlighten me, oh knowledgeable one,” Rachel huffed, annoyed.

  “Simple,” Chris answered. “Wolf isn’t against the idea, trust me. In fact, I get the impression he’s rather attracted to her. That isn’t the problem at all.”

  “Then what is?”

  “He’s absolutely terrified of her. In fact, he’s never been so scared of anyone in his life. I suspect what happened was that he was going to suggest the same thing, realized who it was he was talking to, and got out of there because he thought she’d kill him if she knew what he was thinking.”

  Rachel blinked, then laughed. “Oh, that is funny. I never would have thought Wolf was afraid of her. He strikes me as a pretty fearless person.”

  “He is, usually,” Chris explained. “I think, though, he’s in awe of her fighting skills. According to him, she ‘descended like an avenging angel’ upon those idiots who attacked him.”

  “Heh. I’ll let Lauren know that,” Rachel chuckled. “I suspect she’ll decide to descend on him like an avenging angel, too, once she knows. And she won’t take any prisoners, either.”

  Chris nodded, but then decided to change the topic. “So, what job did you get?”

  Rachel glared at him. “Don’t you know? I thought you were in charge of that.”

  “Well, I would have been if I hadn’t been drugged up at the time,” he said, glaring right back at her playfully. “Instead, Rappaport took the job. He just pulled down the list of assignments and wrote a random name generator program to match people with jobs.”

  “Oh,” Rachel said. “Well, that explains the assignment I got. For a while there I was convinced you were playing a bad practical joke on me.”

  Chris frowned. “How bad is it?”

  “I was assigned to the ‘waste recycling team.’ I hope that isn’t what I think it is....”

  “No,” Chris chuckled. “It has nothing to do with any aspect of the janitorial program. Waste recycling is typically just driving a big cart around, picking up whatever parts are left over when one job is complete and re-filing them into storage.”

  “Oh,” Rachel said. “Well, that’s a lot better than I feared. Still, it sounds kind of dull.”

  “Well, I’m afraid most of the jobs you ignorant non-engineers can do are rather dull,” Chris teased. “If it gets too boring for you, let me know. I’d asked to get an assistant, but I wasn’t assigned one. It’ll still be boring work – all you’ll be doing is taking notes when I tell you to, or maybe holding some tools or something. Still, we could chat as we worked, and I might even be able to teach you a few things to make it more interesting.”

  “I’ll consider it,” Rachel replied doubtfully. “But I know how obsessed you get working on these projects, and from what I’ve seen I’m not sure you’d even remember I was there.”

  Chris laughed. “That’s just what Rappaport said when he told me he couldn’t give me an assistant.”

  “See? I’m not the only one who thinks you’re too obsessed.”

  “Maybe, but I wouldn’t forget about you – honest!” Chris protested.

  “Well, I’ll consider it... but not right away. As boring as waste recycling sounds, I think I’ll give it a shot.” Rachel grinned ruefully. “I don’t want anyone accusing me of shirking my responsibilities. So, what job did Wolf get?”

  “Well,” Chris said. “He’s a special case. He’s the primary pilot for the work shuttle. When we don’t need a shuttle in service, though, he’s got a nice cushy job testing certain pieces of software for functionality.”

  Rachel bit into a particularly crunchy piece of her beef stroganoff and nearly gagged. “I can’t wait until you guys get the gravity generator functioning, if for no other reason than that means the kitchens will become functional. I hate this freeze-dried stuff.”

  “Not part of my job – that’s environmental’s task. Talk to Linda – she seems to be doing better with it than Wayne. He’s so obsessed with the small details he’s letting the big jobs go.” Chris shook his head. “I think that we’re finding that some of our more highly-touted people aren’t as good as they were marketed to be.”

  “That’s to be expected,” Rachel said. “We are just students, after all. A lot of people who do well in school do poorly on the job; a lot of people who do poorly in school are incredibly good when it comes to real-life situations. Figuring out which is which is the whole point of this exercise.”

  “Still, I’m afraid of what’s going to happen when one Cadet Ensign Wayne Evans is given a time-critical assignment, like restoring life support before we all run out of air.” He shook his head. “On the plus side, he does understand the artificial gravity system unlike anyone else in the fleet. By the time he’s done, we’ll probably have the safest antigrav ever built.”

  “This is going to be one of the best ships ever built, period, by the time you’re done
with her,” Rachel said. “I’ve heard about some of the modifications you’re making. Quantum wheels on the sides to create shields and increase maneuverability? We’ll be able to outrun anything in space, at a minimum, and we might even be protect ourselves if we do get caught.”

  Chris shrugged. “It isn’t that great. We can’t fire through the shield, ourselves, and we’ve got some holes in our coverage. Furthermore, these quantum wheels probably won’t be strong enough to completely shield us – the best we can do is weaken the blow if someone shoots a particle cannon at us.”

  “We’re still safe from rail guns. And our armor is adequate to keep those weakened particle cannons from doing serious damage.”

  “Maybe,” Chris shrugged. “We won’t know until she’s been tested. And I hope to get her ready to test before the three weeks are up... which means we’ll have to finish ahead of schedule.”

  “Oh, no,” Rachel said, her face falling. “Don’t tell me you’re going to be going without sleep, again?”

  Chris shook his head. “No, I probably won’t. I’ll pull more than my fair share of shifts, but Rappaport’s going to be doing the same so I’ll have time to rest.” He sighed. “Well, I’ll have time to rest if I don’t have to spend all of it in fabrication.”

  “What’s wrong?” Rachel asked. If there was anything she could do she would, she would – she wasn’t going to let him get into a position where he’d self-destruct if she could do anything about it.

  “We’ve sent a number of requisitions in to the tenders. The equipment is vital to our refit plans, and there’s sufficient stores for them to easily provide supplies to every ship, but the question is whether the Commodore will let us have it or not. If he hadn’t arrived to the system late, we wouldn’t have been permitted the supplies to make the ship airtight.”

  Rachel nodded. “Yeah. He seems to be so concerned about getting those battleships functional he’s going to make it impossible for us smaller ships to get fitted.”

  “Not impossible,” Chris said. “Just difficult. If we don’t get those supplies... well, we’ll have to fabricate them ourselves. We can do that, but it’ll take more time than we can afford.”