by HR Ringer
Yuán touched the door lock to actuate the entrance request chime; the virtual lock changed from red to green within seconds, allowing her to open the door. Cautiously entering, she paused just inside the door threshold to take a quick look around.
General Park was seated at a small desk that formed the separation between the living and dining section of the large room; sleeping quarters and bathroom were beyond. “Come in, Ms Yuán, do come in. Welcome.” Rising from her desk, she asked as she came forward to shake her hand, “Can I get you something? Water?… or coffee, or tea, perhaps?”
A bit taken aback, Xiùlán moved to greet her and said, “Tea would be nice, thank you Ma’am.”
Park smiled as she shook Xiùlán’s hand, but winced ever so slightly at the strength of Xiùlán’s grip; Xiùlán noticed this and let go immediately as Park commented, “It’s been some time since I’ve done any field work, Yuán… you have an incredibly strong grip for a woman. I take it your physical exercise work ethic is every bit as strong.” She had moved to the small kitchen area, where she set a kettle on the compact two-burner stove to boil water and busied herself getting cups and saucers ready for her guests.
“I’ve been involved in martial arts since I was five or six, Ma’am. Learned most of what I know from my mom, in Shanghai.” Xiùlán looked down as she spoke of her mother.
Park looked at her sharply. “Your mom not approving of your career choice?”
Xiùlán looked up quickly as she responded, “Oh no, nothing like that. She was always very supportive… whatever I chose to do. My dad…,” she trailed off, leaving the rest of her thought unsaid. “I always believed my personal style of fighting is enhanced by exceptionally strong arms and legs… strength training is an important part of my daily routine.”
Park looked at the door as the lock chimed to indicate someone requesting entry. “I wager that’ll be your friends,” she said. “Hold that thought… I’ll come back to it.”
She released the lock, allowing the door to open to admit Heather and Samantha, both of whom looked around shyly as they entered the small apartment.
“Ms Gonzales, Ms Traynor… welcome. I’m glad you’re both here… come in, I was just going to make some tea for Ms Yuán and myself… either of you…?”
Sam and Heather each agreed that tea sounded good.
“Very well, then! I’ll make a pot for the four of us,” Park said enthusiastically.
Coming over to shake hands with each of them, she noticed Traynor’s hesitation and smiled warmly as she asked, “Hands still sore from your unfortunate encounter with Mr. Joesiar’s face, Traynor?”
Holding up her index finger, she replied shyly “Actually, I had a cybernetic accelerometer installed in this fingertip first week of the month, plus two fingertips on the left… still tender, I guess. I’m going to have three more done on the 28th or 29th. They’ll save me from having to use the special gloves needed for Haptic interfaces.”
“Good for you! Makes sense to augment yourself for whatever specialty you’re studying, but it appears…” Park paused to look intently at Sam’s forearms, bare from the elbows down in her short-sleeve standard duty uniform, “…you’ve been seriously exercising more than your brain since arriving here.” Looking back at Yuán, Park experienced an epiphany. “If I were to take a wild guess, it’d be that you two ladies spend a lot of time in each other’s company. Have you always been so… well developed, Ms Traynor?” Her eyes bored holes in both of them as she waited for one or the other to respond.
“Meeting Yuán was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Sam answered shyly with a loving look at her friend. “I had an average build when I arrived in January. When she began training me in Jing Quan Dao, I realized I needed to increase my muscle mass if I was ever to have any chance of pulling off some of the more challenging moves in which she was demanding proficiency.” Sam’s head came up and she looked directly at General Park. “I started hacking the computers controlling the gravity generators, Ma’am; jacked the grav up in whatever room I was using to do my work outs. You’d be amazed how fast one can build muscle when the gravity is 1.5 to 1.9 times greater than Earth normal.”
“And your assessment is correct, Ma’am,” Yuán added as she put an affectionate arm around Sam’s waist and pulled her in close to her side. “Sammy and I are the very best of friends. I teach her how to fight, she teaches me how to deal effectively with electronics… mutually beneficial relationship, one that’s grown quite serious over time.”
Heather’s jaw fell as she stared at the pair, as if seeing them with new eyes. “Damn! Traynor… you never mentioned…”
“…it never came up, Heather,” Sam responded easily. “Sorry… I just assumed everybody, well, certainly all the women here, knew of my sexual preference,” Samantha answered. “It’s obvious Joesiar and his kind didn’t know… I can’t even begin to imagine the level of harassment that would have caused me… or Xiùlán. Anyway, I didn’t think it mattered to anyone… or does it?”
She looked from Heather to General Park, who responded, “It makes no difference to me, Ms Traynor, and shouldn’t make any difference to anyone else.” She looked at Sam and Xiùlán before looking at Gonzales. “Does their love for each other make a difference in your opinion of them, Ms Gonzales?”
Heather looked straight at General Park and answered, “No Ma’am. It’s just… a surprise to learn…” looking back at Traynor, she continued, “I mean, damn, Traynor! You guys really kept this under the radar.
General Park listened as she poured a round of tea and bade her guests sit.
“We weren’t actively trying to hide our feelings for each other, Heather,” Xiùlán said as she released Sam and took a cup of tea. “I mean, it’s a work in progress, I guess.”
Pointing to Xiùlán’s arms, Park returned to her earlier inquiry. “Going back to our discussion before your friends joined us, Yuán. Your arms? Judging from their appearance, I’d bet the rest of your body is every bit as toned. Not to be nosy, but how long have you been honing your physique?”
My mom kept me from weight training until a year past the onset of my yuèjīng zhōuqí [月經週期]… my menses. She was always careful… wanted to make sure I wasn’t putting undue stress on my organs. I’ve been actively doing strength training for almost ten years.
“And what’re your plans once you leave the program?” Park asked. “Going to stay in the Military, or take your skills into civilian life?”
“We’d like to spend the rest of our lives together, Ma’am. Don’t expect the ‘together’ part will happen as long as we’re in the Navy,” Xiùlán said bluntly. She continued as Park nodded her head in… what?… agreement?… or understanding?… Xiùlán wasn’t sure which, “I’m training to ultimately command a warship; Sammy here is going to be a shore-based electronics tech, probably working in quantum communications. I don’t expect we’ll ever serve together on a ship, but who knows?” Xiùlán looked at Sam and felt the familiar warmth spreading outwards from her core, just from being in the same room with her.
Park nodded again, sipped her tea and said, “It would be most unusual for the two of you to remain together after this program has concluded. But,” Park sat back in her chair, crossed her legs and changed the subject, “discussing your companionship preferences wasn’t the reason I asked,” Park waved a hand to indicate Heather as well as Traynor and Yuán, “the three of you here tonight.
Picking up a datapad, she continued with, “You three are at the top of your class here, despite the sideshow antics of Mr. Joesiar and his admirers. Traynor, you and Gonzales are each slated for promotions to SC1 when you leave here for Mars… congratulations, by the way.” Park scrolled through the info on her datapad. “SC1 Yuán, I expect your next step after Mars will be Service Chief. Ms Gonzales, your skills may prove quite useful on the vessels we send in support of our agents on the ground… agents like… well, these two here,” she finished as she indicated Traynor an
d Yuán with a nod of her head.
Traynor wasn’t sure she had heard correctly. “You mean Alliance Command already has plans for us?”
“Should be no surprise, Traynor. Your electronics intrusion skills are scary good. Get a good grasp of alien technology during your time on Mars, batarian technology in particular, and you will be a tremendous asset to us.” Park looked at Yuán and added, “Your skills as an unarmed fighter here are being talked about back home. You and Traynor together on a small team should be very effective at carrying out covert operations.”
Xiùlán was puzzled. “General, if I may ask, you’re attached to the AG’s office… how is it that you know so much about the three of us… I mean, besides the fact we all filed complaints about Joesiar?”
Park chuckled as she answered, “Let’s forget all about rank and Naval protocol for a few minutes, Xiùlán. Just forget I’m a bloody general… we’re just… acquaintances… having a discussion regarding our future… humankind’s future… in the galaxy. Alliance HQ is getting crazier by the day… people are so damned concerned about getting promoted they’re willing to climb all over their peers, ride them right into the dirt if it’ll gain them any advantage at all.”
Park’s use of her given name surprised her. “Okaaaayyyyy. I don’t see how, or why that affects us out here, Ma’am… we’re pretty far down that food chain, correct?”
Traynor interrupted the pair with, “The Alliance is known for using people up and discarding them when their usefulness has come to an end… been that way ever since 2149.” Sam glanced at Xiùlán before returning her full attention to Park and continuing. “Joining the nations of the Earth into an ‘alliance’ actually did nothing to unify any of them. Every member nation has its own agenda; being in an ‘alliance’ means it’s just that much easier for them to subvert the system, use the rules of the charter to their advantage.”
General Park was impressed with Traynor’s opinion on the state of the Alliance political system. “Keeping up with current events, Samantha?”
Traynor smiled and replied, “Not as much as I’d like. I was following the stories about Torfan last December, but all the course work here sorta sidetracked that effort. I’ve occasionally wondered what ultimately happened to the lieutenant that led that operation.”
Park smiled. “You’re talking about Rachaél Anne Shepard. Lost nearly three-quarters of her squad in the tunnels on that moon. Batarians despise her – call her the ‘Butcher of Torfan’ – they claim she even killed those that surrendered, or tried to; corroborating evidence was never offered in support of that. She is brutally efficient; gets the job done no matter the cost. Still Navy, even though she fights as well as any Marine, and I believe she received a quiet promotion to First Lieutenant after all the hue and cry died down.”
Heather joined in with, “Sounds almost like a female version of Joesiar… probably not the best example of an officer and a lady, eh?”
“Quite the contrary, Heather,” Park replied. “Shepard is no racist, and despite Torfan, she’s not a xenophobe… she just really, really detests slavers and pirates, no matter their planet of origin. Unfortunately, the Hegemony seems to produce the vast majority of both.” Park’s smile turned into a frown. “Shepard was a colony kid – Mindoir… sixteen years old when batarian slavers attacked in 2170. Not many survivors…” Park trailed off as she thought back. “Bastards gang-raped her mom, then sliced her throat while her dad was forced to watch; after Hannah Shepard bled out, they murdered her father. She was hiding nearby, witnessed the whole thing. Brutal introduction to the batarian race.” Park finished her tea, leaning back in her chair as she cupped both hands around the mug and continued in a tone suggesting a sadness deeply felt. “Understandably, she never talks about that time in her life, but it’s always just below the surface when she’s dealing with batarians on any level.”
Park sighed, then looked up. “As for you two,” indicating Xiùlán and Sam, “what we have in mind for you will involve pirates, so yeah, batarians. Can’t say anymore until you get through Mars training, but I really want to impress on you the importance of knowing everything you can about them. You’ll have to know how they think, how they react, what motivates them. You’re in for a very intense seven months of training, but I’m confident you’ll make it through just fine.”
Turning her attention to Gonzales, she continued with, “Heather, I’ve seen the results of your native language studies. You seem to have a real aptitude for non-galactic languages.” Studying her ever-present datapad, she added, “In addition to studying native batarian speech, your next six months of training will be spent learning all that’s available on the language of the ancient Protheans. The Alliance is continuing to study the treasure trove at the southern pole… there is so much more buried there than has ever been revealed publicly. Some of the records discovered hint at the cause of the cataclysmic event that not only destroyed their entire civilization, but virtually eradicated any trace of it ever existing. Your interest in ancient language and culture will be a real asset to the Alliance as we continue this research.”
Park paused as she continued to scroll through information. “It will be a difficult choice for the brass in charge of mission assignments, I think. All three of you have talents in multiple areas. I plan on monitoring your progress once you leave here.”
Xiùlán boldly asked, “Ma’am, if you’re not actually attached to the AG’s department, why did they send you to adjudicate our complaints?”
“Time for your classes on this rock is drawing to a close. Kicking Joesiar out of the Alliance?… foregone conclusion. The AG didn’t need an official adjudicator to waste time with this case.” Park chuckled as she continued, “I was sworn in for this one trip. I didn’t have to see or hear any of the evidence presented… I know General Bradley Joesiar, talked to him before I left Vancouver. Brad’s not the smartest person I’ve ever known, but he’s certainly no fool. He told me to do whatever was needed to fix the problem here before it became his problem down there, and he didn’t have any trouble with me booting his nephew out of the Alliance.”
The door lock chimed; as Park stood and moved to answer it, she said, “I took the liberty of ordering dinner for us. I’d be afraid of poisoning you with my own cooking…”
She allowed the door to open, revealing several base personnel bearing trays of food from the nearby officer’s mess. “Come in, gentlemen.” Park directed them to place the trays on the counter between the kitchen and dining/office area; after they had done so and left, the three students and the general sat down together over a sumptuous meal, after which they continued to talk long into the evening about everything Alliance, Navy, friends and enemies near and far.
* * *
* ALLIANCE BASE, MARS • MONDAY, 2179/11/01, 0830–1145 *
The MSV Tarrus IV, a mixed passenger and freight transport vessel of medium size leased to the Alliance Navy by ExSolar Shipping, grounded its landing gear on the pad outside the main entrance to the Naval and Marine base near the south pole, just a few klicks from the Prothean dig site. As unseen flight crew secured engines and idled the small eezo core, base personnel extended a passenger transfer bridge and sealed it to the outer hull at the exit hatch; the small airlock at that end was then pressurized, allowing the transport’s hatch to be opened and the passengers within to walk the short distance to the main entrance of the large reception area.
As the ship’s passengers left, workers in environmental suits labored to remove the cargo from within the Tarrus IV, all of which was destined for this base; the ship would then be loaded with cargo and passengers for its return trip to Earth.
Yuán Xiùlán, along with newly promoted Samantha Traynor and Heather Gonzales, paused in the middle of the vast ‘bubble’ to look around – this had been the first habitat built on the Martian surface after the discovery of the Prothean cache. All the habitats subsequently constructed shared the design, if not the size, of this one; the appearance
of the outpost from a few hundred meters above somewhat resembled a flower. Additionally, this large central habitat was connected directly to two others of similar size, with their own smaller modules radiating outward at the ends of connecting tubes; a few of the smaller satellite modules were also connected directly with each other, giving the appearance from above of a spoked wheel.
They stopped at a display terminal presenting information about their environments, inside and outside. They learned that each tube (connecting tunnel) was fitted with emergency hatches every 15 meters – these would automatically close in the event of air pressure loss within any of the sections. Those unfortunate enough to be caught in a section experiencing catastrophic decompression would most likely not survive – the Martian atmosphere’s CO2 volume of 96% and pressure of about 0.6% of Earth’s mean sea level pressure was well beyond human survivability for more than about one to two minutes of exposure. A pressure suit with breathable air was an absolute necessity outside the habitats, which were kept pressurized to an equivalent of 2200 meters altitude on Earth.
Sam looked at Xiùlán with a sly smile as the terminal relayed the fact that Mars gravity was a third that of Earth; apparent gravity within the habitats was computer controlled to an apparent difference of 85% that of Earth. Xiùlán grinned back at her student, knowing full well Sam’s exercise program would most likely be performed at 1.75 G's.
Xiùlán and Sam had applied for and been granted a shared compartment with a full bath. Sam had a hunch that General Park had been involved with approval of their request, even without any obvious evidence. Their room assignment had been sent to their omni-tools; Heather Gonzales had a compartment just down the hall. As they headed for their assigned quarters, Xiùlán downloaded a copy of the menu from the closest cafeteria in order to see what garlic-loaded surprises she could spring on Sam.