by Dave Bara
“Commander Cochrane, may I introduce Colonel Lena Babayan, commander of our Carinthian Marine detachment here on Starbound,” said Maclintock. I stood and stuck out a hand and she took it, looking at me with sharp, piercing green eyes.
“A pleasure,” she said in a husky voice. Her grip on my hand was as firm as any man’s.
“I’ve asked Colonel Babayan here to review the status of our marine detachment,” said Maclintock. “Colonel, if you please.” Colonel Babayan stood and faced the other officers, a plasma pad with notes on it in her hand.
“We’re staffed with sixty marines for this mission, in four squads of fifteen each, half Carinthian and half Quantar The Quantar teams are commanded by your man, Sergeant Marker,” she said, nodding to me. “But I retain overall command of the detachment. Each of these units is equipped with upgraded heavy weapons: double-barrel coil rifles, shoulder mounted RPGs, heavy grenades, and the latest EVA suits. We’ve swapped out our Downship and light shuttle for two heavy bulwark shuttles, which means we’ve also had to discard the individual dropships. This means we will carry a higher risk by putting all our marines in just two ships, but the bulwarks are much better suited for this type of scenario than the dropships. Based on your experience with the HD displacement wave weapons, Commander Cochrane, would you agree with my assessment?” I looked up, surprised to be asked a question, but recovered quickly. Dobrina shifted in her seat as I started to speak.
“The bulwark shuttles are more durable at close range against any conventional weapon, no question,” I said, then continued. “Their ablative plating makes them less vulnerable to energy weapons and concussion mines. But nothing will stand up well to a hyperdimensional displacement wave or the anti-graviton plasma we faced, especially without a Hoagland Field at least as large as Starbound’s. And quite frankly, sir,” I said, turning to Maclintock, “those are the weapons of choice we saw in both incidents here at Levant.”
Colonel Babayan pondered this a bit. I used this pause as an opening to get more information. “Colonel, under what scenarios are we planning on deploying the marines?” Babayan looked around the table, and others returned her look of surprise.
“I thought you had been briefed?” she said.
“No,” I said, embarrassed. But I wasn’t about to admit I’d been out drinking and hadn’t read my reports. She frowned and then continued.
“Three scenarios. One is a rescue aboard Impulse. Second, a defense of Starbound, and third,” she paused at this, “an attack on an Imperial ship, Cruiser class or higher.”
“With marines? Is this something we’re expecting?” I asked. “Has anyone here besides Commander Kierkopf and I actually seen an Imperial ship in the last hundred and fifty years? Do we even know if they’re still functional?”
“No one knows,” cut in Maclintock. “But based on your encounter with the unmanned HuK, we have to be prepared for any eventuality.”
“I’ll forward you the scenarios again,” said Colonel Babayan, pressing commands on the pad with a stylus.
“One last thing before we move on, Mr. Cochrane,” said Maclintock, “I’m making you responsible for the marine teams, specifically for their integration and joint training. I expect any two marines, Quantar and Carinthian, to be able to operate as a unit with no breakdowns in communication or performance. Colonel Babayan will be your go-to for how to get this done, but I’m making you responsible for the outcome.”
“Yes, sir,” I said. He was giving me a bone to prove I belonged, but he couldn’t have failed to notice my lack of preparation. My first staff meeting and already I was showing the command crew of Starbound that I wasn’t ready.
The rest of the meeting was taken up by general orders about staffing, shifts, and the like. He told us all to be prepared for departure from Artemis on one hour’s notice.
“Thank you all,” he said, “Dismissed.” Then he turned to Dobrina and me as the staff filed out. “Please stay, Commanders,” he said. We sat back down. When the room had cleared he swiveled in his chair to face me.
“I wanted to apologize for our introduction yesterday, Mr. Cochrane. It was inappropriate of me and insulting to you,” said Maclintock.
“Understood, sir,” I said. He nodded and then looked to Dobrina.
“I also want to apologize for the circumstances you’ve been put in, Commander Kierkopf. The crew aboard Starbound have had the same XO for the last two years, and most of them feel losing Devin Tannace to the First Contact mission is just navy brass playing politics to make an opening for you. I don’t agree. I’ve checked your record with the Carinthian Navy and it’s a damned fine one.”
“Thank you, sir,” she said.
“And don’t grieve for Commander Tannace,” continued Maclintock. “He’s up for command of one of the new Lightships launching next year.”
“I’m sure he’ll make a great captain,” I said, not really knowing if he would or not. Maclintock nodded again and moved on.
“That being said, neither of you can expect to be accepted here until you’ve earned it. The Impulse rescue mission should give you both plenty of opportunity to do so. Specifically, Admiral Wesley has given me personal orders to get that jump gate above Levant B operating. Mr. Cochrane, I understand you have some experience with this thing?”
“I’ve been in the control room, yes, sir, but I’ve never operated the machine,” I said honestly.
“So my question to you both is this, then,” said Maclintock, “can you get this thing operational?” I looked to Dobrina and she answered for us both.
“We damn well can, sir,” she said. Maclintock nodded.
“Then I’ll issue the formal orders putting Commander Kierkopf in charge, along with a requisition for any equipment or personnel you need,” Maclintock said. “You’ll be her Number Two on this, Mr. Cochrane. The marine teams will escort you down to B. Anyone else you think you’ll be needing?”
Dobrina opened her mouth, about to say no, I suspected, so I piped up with, “Just access to Historian Serosian.” Maclintock nodded.
“He’ll be available to you as time permits,” said the captain. Now I nodded. “I’ll give you until tomorrow to assemble your team, Commander,” he said to Dobrina. “Then I expect to see you on the surface of B. And remember, much of your reputation on this ship will rest on your success or failure on this mission.”
“Understood, Captain,” said Dobrina.
“Now if you’ll excuse us, Commander, I have some personal business to discuss with Mr. Cochrane,” he said. I tensed at this, expecting a chewing out about my preparation, or lack thereof. Dobrina saluted and left, off to plan the mission. I turned to my new commanding officer.
“Now, son, as to expectations,” he started. “You’re new here. You’re very young, and you’re also the likely heir of the would-be Director of Quantar. None of that is lost on me. But we all take our chances equally out here. You’ll have to prove yourself to me and to those men you just met, all of whom are experienced spacers.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And it would help if you didn’t come to the morning staff smelling of brothels and the bazaar,” he said.
I nodded without making eye contact. “Understood, sir. It won’t happen again.”
“Good,” he replied in a matter-of-fact tone. “So we’ve both made one mistake already. Let’s make sure we don’t repeat them.”
“Aye, sir,” I said, stiffening in my resolve.
“Now, onto more serious matters. I reviewed your training record aboard Starbound before I took command, and it’s a good one. Top five overall, number one on the longscope in the entire service, and your friend Serosian raves about your potential. But this is not about potential, son. This is about performance.” He stopped there to let his words sink in.
“You’ve been given the rank of senior lieutenant commander aboard. Whether that’s d
eserved or not isn’t my problem. I expect you to act the part. Keep this ship running, carry out my orders, rely on your experience from this Levant incident. Hell, that experience is something you have over all of us. I’ll be relying on you to provide leadership. Don’t hesitate, or you will lose the confidence of those men who just left the room.”
“Also understood, sir,” I said. He pushed back from the table, as if to get up and leave, but stopped and turned toward me instead.
“There is one more thing,” he said. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. “It’s been brought to my attention that you lost a very close personal friend in the first attack on Impulse.”
I didn’t hesitate. “I did, sir.”
“I want you to know that all the senior staff are aware of that fact, and you have their sincerest condolences, and mine.”
“Yes, sir.”
Maclintock eyed me with his steel blue eyes, taking my measure. His next question surprised me.
“Was she your first?”
“My first?” I stumbled. What the hell was he asking?
“Your first love, Commander?”
My mind whirled with how to answer that one. I decided to go with honesty. Maclintock seemed like the no-nonsense type anyway.
“Yes, sir, but . . . we hadn’t had an ongoing relationship since she’d gotten her assignment to Impulse a few months back,” I said. Maclintock contemplated me, hands tapping gently on the table.
“Son,” he finally said, “I just want to make you aware, most of us in the service have lost someone we cared about, friend, family, even more than that. I just wanted to warn you, she won’t be the last one you lose out here.”
I nodded acknowledgment. “Thank you for the insight, sir,” I said. Maclintock nodded back.
“You’re welcome, Commander,” he said. “You’re dismissed.”
And with that I stood and saluted and made for the door, my head spinning from more than just the previous night’s drinking.
Dobrina came by my cabin at 1800 for dinner and a mission planning session. We needed to talk, since we had no real idea what we were going to do to try and activate the jump gate on B. We reviewed the digital records that Marker and I had taken from our trip down to the control room, looking for clues. After forty-five minutes of review I set my plasma tablet down on the table in frustration.
“What?” she asked. “You’re not giving up already?” I sat back in my chair, the table between us. My mind was on other things, and it showed.
“Without Serosian to help us we’ll never crack this code,” I said. “It’s pointless.”
“I’ve already checked with Maclintock. Serosian won’t be available until sometime tomorrow. He’s pulling double duty with the First Contact team and working for the Church.”
“Which reiterates my point. Anything we do here could be rendered completely irrelevant in the first fifteen minutes that he looks at this. Trying to figure out how to activate this thing is way beyond our pay grade. We’re not scientists and we don’t have access to the private knowledge of the Historians,” I said. Now she sat back.
“I think we should order dinner, then take another crack at it,” she said. I agreed and ordered down to the galley, choosing an old Earth dish, beef Wellington, for us both. It arrived a few minutes later, along with a bottle of Quantar shiraz that Dobrina had ordered. After eating and small talk we resumed our planning with just our glasses of shiraz as companions.
“Longwave scans show there are seven levels to the base,” she said. “On your first venture you and Marker only explored one, two, and seven through the freight lifter. Seven is the level with the cavern and the cannon in it. I suggest we take our full detachment of marines down in the bulwark shuttles, give them some practice at deploying out of them, then have them do a full reconnoiter of all the levels while our technical team proceeds down to the control room via the freight lifter.”
“That makes sense, but what do we do when we get there?” I said. “Knock on the windows? That console is not likely to let us mess around with it. And if I owned that valuable a piece of equipment I wouldn’t allow just anybody to go strolling around the cavern.”
“So you’re presuming there will be some kind of defensive mechanisms in place?” she asked.
“That’s what I’d do,” I replied. She picked up her wineglass, sniffing and swirling the liquid before taking a drink. She was getting low so I refilled her glass, then topped off mine.
“The bottle’s empty,” she said. I took a drink of my wine, then looked at her over the top of my glass. “Should I order another?” She smiled.
“That’s very tempting,” she said, then drank again. “I think we have a solid plan for now. I’ll tell Marker and Colonel Babayan to have their marines ready at 0800. We’ll drop in, do the reconnoiter, then set up in the control room and wait for Serosian. There’s really nothing much else to do.”
“Agreed,” I said. She eyed me, as if wanting to ask a question, which she presently did.
“Are you worried about the marine teams? How they’ll work together, react under pressure? Maclintock did make you responsible for their performance, you know,” she said. I shook my head.
“I’m not worried. Marker is a professional and from what I’ve seen of Colonel Babayan she doesn’t seem the type to allow much leeway. I expect they’ll all do their jobs properly.”
“You seem very confident,” she said.
“I usually am,” I replied. I looked at my watch. It was 2130 hours, and we were basically done, but she was lingering in my cabin. I looked up at Dobrina. She seemed to be waiting for something, so I prompted her.
“Dobrina, is there something you want to say?” I asked.
She looked away and stayed silent for a moment, then volunteered, “There’s something that’s been on my mind, yes.” She had another drink while I waited patiently.
“We won’t get anywhere if you don’t talk,” I said. She gave me an annoyed glance, then stared at the bulkhead of my cabin, wineglass in hand, as if making a decision. She took a deep breath and exhaled.
“When I told you about the fire that killed your brother, Derrick, I wasn’t entirely forthcoming about all the pertinent details,” she finally said. This jolted me.
“What . . . details?” I asked. She took in another deep breath before continuing, still staring at my bulkhead wall.
“There was a report on the incident that stated that it was an accident. That was the official report. There was also an unofficial report,” she said.
I was surprised by this. “Which said what?” I asked.
She shifted on the couch before continuing, then turned to me. “It said that there was a forty percent probability of sabotage.”
“Sabotage?” I said. I was shocked. “You mean—”
“It wasn’t conclusive, Peter. Nothing in the report was. No smoking gun. But yes, there is a possibility your brother was killed intentionally.”
I was stunned. “By whom? For what purpose?” I asked. She shook her head.
“All unknown, and the report does not speculate. I’m telling you all of this to give you a warning, Peter. There may be forces out there that could be targeting you as well. Be careful.”
“Always,” I replied. This news had shaken me and I wanted time to digest it. “If that’s all—”
“There’s more,” she said, interrupting. “On a personal note, when I told you that I was on fire control, I wasn’t actually telling the truth. I was officer of the deck that day. When the accident happened I went rushing down to the Propulsion room, because . . . you see . . .” she trailed off.
“Dobrina—”
“Just let me get this out!” she snapped. I shut up. She had turned back to the bulkhead now as though to avoid looking at me. “I went down there because I had . . . more than a casual relationship with yo
ur brother.”
It wasn’t like I hadn’t expected that, I realized. Something had been wrong about her story, and now I knew what it was.
“So, you’re saying you and my brother were lovers?” I said as gently as I could. She had another drink from her wineglass.
“Yes, in violation of the navy’s policy on fraternization—”
“Which has never been enforced on long-duration space missions,” I said. “Don’t punish yourself, Dobrina. It happens all the time and it’s something we all accept in the navy. Deep-space missions are difficult, at best. We all know that. We’re only human. It’s hard to keep our emotions bottled up for months at a time. To be honest, I for one am happy to know that someone like you gave him comfort, even in his last moments.”
At this she started to openly cry, and I automatically went to the couch to comfort her, putting my arms around her and pulling her in close. She cried for a few seconds, then stopped herself. “Damn wine,” she muttered. I pushed back a lock of hair from her face. “I thought those feelings were behind me. And then you show up, and you look so much like him, so proud, so strong in defending your country’s honor. Those were so many of the traits that I loved about Derrick. And now I see them in you,” she said.
“And I can see what he saw in you too,” I said. “Honor, duty to your friends, facing danger with such bravery. I can see why he fell for you.”
“Stop it,” she said, waving me off with a hand and smiling a bit. “You’re just being nice. I’m the homely girl who never gets to dance with the prince, I know that.”
“Dobrina . . .” I said, and then words escaped me. I leaned in and kissed her, and immediately realized I’d been wanting to do it for a very long time. She didn’t hesitate. Her lips met mine and it was a warm and inviting kiss, full of promise and affection. She started to pull back but I kept her close for a minute longer as we exchanged small kisses. Then I released her, but stayed close, our foreheads touching.