Last Man Out (Poor Man's Fight Book 5)

by Elliott Kay

  “Oh come on, you think I don’t recognize that voice by now?” Veronica smirked.

  “There’s nothing wrong with—he’s got a nice voice,” said Lynette.

  “Sure, except for how I associate it with structure fires. Literally, now,” Veronica added.

  “Jesus Christ,” Lynette sighed.

  “And he’s rubbing off on you.”

  “He is not! And who are you to talk? You didn’t give a damn about poetry or theater until you started seeing Dave.”

  “Yes, because poetry and theater are on the same level as interstellar crises and blasphemy,” Elise put in. She held up her hands at Lynette’s glare. “No shame. I’ll leave you two alone.”

  Lynette rolled her eyes. “It’s fine. I knew you might hear. I’m not worried. You can stay.”

  “I know. But I’ve got things to do, anyway. We can pick up the simulation later.” She gave Lynette’s shoulder a squeeze before heading off the bridge.

  Veronica sat down against the shut-down console beside the captain’s chair. She covered the slight wince and the stiffness of her posture well, but Lynette caught it. “Your hip again?” asked Lynette.

  “Comes and goes,” said Veronica. “Better than the stomach issues, but Elise has me on some new meds to settle those down.”

  “We can make the Navy fix all that,” said Lynette. “They’re responsible. You’re entitled.”

  “I don’t want to go through re-growth and replacement again. Even after I get out of the hospital it’s three months of sitting at home like a baby while my insides ‘mature’ and all my guts ‘accept’ each other. Dave’s out on deployment, so I wouldn’t have him to spoil me, anyway. I’d rather work.”

  Veronica’s grumbling made Lynette smile. “Sanjay bitched up a storm for months after they put his arm back together, too,” she said.

  “Yeah, and I’ll bet you were a delight while you were in sick bay after the invasion.”

  “I was,” Lynette retorted. Her eyes drifted back to the frozen holo projection. The urge to joke faded. “Somebody thought I was, anyway.”

  “Then he’s got good taste. I’ll give him that much.”

  “He found me crying,” said Lynette. “Once it was all over and I couldn’t do anything but lay there in my bed, it all crashed in on me. Happened right when he came by. First chance he’d had to sleep since the fight and he sat there and held me instead.”

  “We all lost people,” said Veronica. “That was a shit day for everyone. Him, too.”

  “It kills me to think I might’ve gotten something good out of it.”

  “Meh. You two had something going before your infirmary cuddles or you’d have sent that third-class packing for presuming too much, Captain Kelly.”

  “Yeah, I guess. Anyway.” She shut off the projection.

  Veronica called up a screen from the astrogation systems. “He’s probably there by now.” Lynette watched her trace out a path from Fremantle to Qin Kai, the nearest world only a couple of light years to Minos. “Start looking for jobs to Minos, or maybe Qin Kai. We need another run, anyway.”

  Lynette blinked. “Veronica, we went all the way out to Fremantle to see him, I can’t—”

  “We went out to Fremantle on a profitable round-trip charter and came back with a profitable cargo. Nobody thinks you’re taking advantage. I’m not saying we drop everything and run out to Minos. I’m saying let’s find a job to pay our way. It’s a hell of a lot closer to here than Fremantle and God knows they import enough stuff that we’ll find some excuse.”

  “You think the others will be fine with it?”

  “The only people on this crew who wouldn’t be fine with it are the ones who’d ask why we aren’t in the air already.”

  “He said he’s okay.”

  “He said he was okay on Fremantle weeks ago. And he’s probably okay on Minos, too. But we need the work and he’s gonna be on your mind, so let’s take a look to be sure, y’know?”

  Lynette shook her head. Her shoulders sank. “You really are the best.”

  “What was it you said when we started recruiting for this ship? ‘We’re all gonna need to heal, so let’s look out for each other?’ You were right about the healing. We’re all messed up,” Veronica said, bumping her reconstructed hip with her fist. “So let’s do the other thing, too.”

  * * *

  “Now docking with Beowulf,” announced a voice over the shuttle PA. “Ship’s time is 1146 hours. We are in ready condition and bravo standby status with no shipwide drills underway.”

  Midshipman Alicia Wong didn’t have to fight back her grin while she was still on the shuttle. Nobody in the passenger cabin looked her way. No one would criticize her for a lack of military bearing. She had wanted to come back here again someday, but she didn’t think it would be this soon.

  The shuttle settled into the cavernous internal flight bay of the battleship. Alicia stayed in her seat as higher-ranking passengers rose to claim their baggage and shuffle out. Her spot in these minor matters of etiquette had changed significantly since her last shuttle trip. She still had to wait for civilians and officers to leave first, as she always had, but now she got up before any of the enlisted passengers.

  Technically—and only technically—academy midshipmen held seniority over enlisted. It was a point of etiquette and ceremony. But only an idiot midshipman would ever try to pull rank on anyone but a non-rate, and even most non-rates had more credibility than a first-year. At least Alicia had considerably more mileage than the usual first-year midshipmen.

  Out in the flight bay, she found a familiar pace of activity. Technicians and non-rates dominated the bay, working on everything from hydraulic systems to endless cleaning. A squad of marines ran shuttle sprints up and down the flight line. Beowulf’s own corvette was out on a flight, leaving its berth empty but for the couple of non-rates scrubbing away at the deck with ultrasonic scourers.

  It felt like home.

  “Ms. Wong?” asked a voice.

  She looked to her left to find a skinny Latino crewman standing right outside the safety lines. A holo screen full of text hovered at the young man’s side, presumably containing orders or some sort of checklist. Officers frequently had people sent out to greet them, but she didn’t think an academy midshipman rated an escort by a ship’s crewman. No, she corrected, looking over his clean and fresh vac suit—a crewman apprentice.

  “That’s me,” she said.

  He was practically at attention already, but he straightened and stiffened a bit more. He remembered not to salute, too. “Crewman Apprentice Mendez, ma’am. I’m here to show you to your quarters and help with your baggage. And to direct you to your billet to report in, ma’am.”

  “I lived here for three years, crewman.” A smile spread across her face, hopefully taking any sting out of her words. “I only left six months ago. Pretty sure I can find my way around.”

  “Y-yes, ma’am. No offense, ma’am. I’m, uh, still here to help with your things.”

  Her eyes narrowed in amusement. “Who sent you?”

  “Beg your pardon, ma’am?”

  “Who sent you to find me?”

  “That would be Bo’sun Chambers, ma’am. Officially. He’s my section supervisor. To be honest, I got this off the morning task list, so it wasn’t anything personal.”

  “As far as you know,” she said.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Crewman,” said Alicia. She glanced left and right and stepped a little closer. Her voice dropped. “As long as you’re with me, am I saving you from some shit job like those guys acid-scrubbing the deck plates over there?”

  Mendez hesitated. His stiff and nervous demeanor cracked under the influence of basic humanity. “Yes, ma’am. You’d be saving me from exactly that shit job.”

  Alicia tugged the larger of her two duffle bags from her shoulder and handed it off to him. “Here you go. Lead on.”

  “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “What’s with
the data screen, by the way?”

  “Oh. Standard stuff. Watch list, orders of the day. The first lieutenant wants us to have it out for new arrivals like it’s the ‘daily paper,’ he says. Ma’am.”

  “You don’t have to worry so much about the ‘ma’am,’ Mendez. It’s cool.”

  He opened his mouth but stopped himself from saying the predictable thing. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Let’s go.”

  With his data screen killed and her bag over his shoulder, Mendez led her across the flight bay. His path studiously took her around the marked-out safety lines of small craft berths and heavy machinery, whether such vehicles were present or not. It was all perfectly by the book.

  “How long have you been on board?” she asked.

  “I think it’s a full month as of tomorrow.”

  “So you’re fresh out of basic?”

  “Basic and then weapons and tactics, yeah.”

  “Mind if I ask how old you are?”

  “Eighteen, ma’am. I signed up as soon as I was legal.” He shrugged. “I started basic about three weeks before we heard the war was over.”

  “That’s gotta be some frustrating timing. Think you’d have still enlisted?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Absolutely. I wanted to do my part. Even if the war’s over, it’s…well, I can’t beat myself up for being too young. But I didn’t want to look back and say we were invaded and I didn’t step up. Even if we’ve kicked NorthStar out, Archangel still needs a navy, right?”

  “Fair enough. It’s funny. While the war was going on, I felt like it was stretching out to forever. Now that it’s over I can’t believe I only enlisted six years ago, and we were hardly even shouting at the Big Three back then.” Mendez sighed, but he covered it well. She grinned. “You were twelve at the time, weren’t you?”

  “That’s how math works, yes ma’am.”

  “On board for a month and you’re salty already,” Alicia chuckled.

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, I didn’t mean—”

  “It’s fine, Mendez. Necessary survival skill in this job. I know how they hammer respect and etiquette over and over, but you either return fire or you die inside. Just gotta know how to pick your targets.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He hesitated. “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “Had any trouble there?”

  He looked over his shoulder before answering. “It gets to me sometimes. Feels like I get a lot of extra shit for being one of the relative few on this ship who came in after the war. Lotta people around here like to remind me of it, too. I don’t feel like there’s much I can say to that.”

  “There probably isn’t. But you’re a member of the crew and you paid all the dues to get here, right? Not your fault you were too young before, and it’s not like anyone in their right mind should want to get shot at. Anyway, people like to use whatever they’ve got to puff themselves up and feel special. If they drove the monorail for twenty years, they’d throw that around, too. Being combat vets doesn’t make them better than you. Might not want to throw that at some chief, but remember it.”

  “Thanks, ma’am. That means a lot. Especially coming from someone like you.”

  Alicia looked around. They weren’t far from the open corridor hatch, but they had plenty of space between them and any eavesdroppers here. “Okay, hold up, Mendez.” He stopped as instructed. “What does that mean?”

  “I’ve heard about what you did on this ship, ma’am,” said Mendez. “Heard you were here from the moment we got this ship.”

  “Yeah, I figured. From whom?” she asked, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. “Mendez, who sent you out to meet me?”

  “Uh…” Mendez hesitated. His eyes darted to the nearby exit.

  Movement in the corridor saved him from having to answer. Alicia spotted a tall marine sergeant’s vac suit, filled out by a man with regulation-cut red hair and a smile she had wanted to see in person for months. Her face split into a grin. She all but forgot her question.

  “Miss Wong,” said a woman behind her.

  She froze. She recognized the voice instantly. Alicia turned around. “How do you do that, gunny?” she asked. “I just got off the shuttle. I’ve had my eyes open the whole time. I looked around not five seconds ago. Do you have a secret tunnel under the deck plates?”

  “Perhaps you’ll discover the answer after some rigorous self-examination,” said Gunnery Sergeant Janeka. She stood tall in her blue marine vac suit, with dark eyes set into a darker brown face that seemed as intense as ever. “I have no such secrets to reveal about myself.”

  “No, you only have the secrets you’re not revealing.”

  “That’s how one keeps a secret,” said Janeka. She didn’t smile. The gunny’s smiles were for private company on special occasions, like exactly the stroke of midnight on Christmas and only if no one was watching. But Alicia could recognize the lack of disapproval in Janeka’s eyes. “It’s good to see you, ma’am.”

  “Oh god.” Alicia winced. “Not that. I’m not ready for that.”

  “Not ready for what?”

  “’Ma’am.’ I’m not. Oof.”

  “I’m sure you knew what you were getting into when you accepted your appointment to the academy, ma’am,” said Janeka.

  “Yeah, but I’m not ready to hear that from you.”

  “I’ve seen you bear greater hardships, Miss Wong. You’ll endure this one.” Janeka gave no reaction to Alicia’s second wince, but the gunny would surely savor it. “Bravo company’s personnel charts were updated this morning. You’re with First Platoon.”

  “So I’m told.”

  Janeka glanced only once at Alicia’s guide, who stood by silently like a man who knew what was good for him. “And were you told anything else about your orders before you left the academy?”

  “Not particularly. I didn’t think I’d get a ‘cadet cruise’ in my first year. Everyone I talked to figured it was luck.” Alicia hesitated. “Why?”

  “Command chose this ship for the first joint deployment with the Union Fleet since before the war. Perhaps the Fleet specifically asked for a battleship, but this is the one that was chosen. Sergeant Ravenell is here. His orders to the tactical integration course were canceled at the last minute. And now you’re here on a cadet cruise during your first academy summer.”

  “Are there other personnel changes that caught your eye?” asked Alicia.

  “Yes. This is supposed to be a team-building exercise with the Fleet. Reconciliation with the broader Union and such. Only someone wants us ready for real trouble.”

  Alicia bit her lip. The gunny surely had other data points. Janeka was only dropping the most recognizable for her. “You wouldn’t have it any other way, would you?”

  “No. No, I would not,” said Janeka. “But it tells me someone else is paying attention and feels the same way. I’ll let you get on with it. Welcome back, Miss Wong. Good to have you aboard.”

  “Thank you, gunny.”

  Janeka turned away with a parting shot: “Ma’am.”

  Alicia winced again. She turned back to Mendez. “That’s so weird,” she muttered, only to be stopped cold once more—this time by the wide-eyed and pale look on his face. “What? Oh. I take it you know the gunny?”

  “No,” he breathed. “I don’t know her at all. I’ve heard. I’ve seen her around.”

  “Yeah, she has that effect on people. Don’t worry, if you do your job and let her get to know you she’ll be friendly with you, too.”

  “That was friendly?”

  Alicia chuckled. “Anyway, where are we going? Oh. Bravo Company. Right. Let’s go.”

  A second glance at the sergeant in the passageway leading out of the flight bay pulled Alicia out of her thoughts about Janeka’s subtle warning. Whatever lay ahead, they’d handle it. This ship had all the right people. Alicia glanced over her shoulder and noticed Mendez stepping up his pace to get beside her. More importantly, she saw no one else watching her.

&n
bsp; “Hey, Mendez. Do they really give you that much shit over being the new guy?”

  “Allegedly the new guy always gets shit, ma’am,” said Mendez.

  “Sure. But you seem a little awestruck by all the bloodstripes around here is what I’m saying. Is the line between combat vets and newbies that thick?”

  “It seems like it, ma’am.”

  “You want to be one of the cool kids?” Alicia grinned. They were right at the flight bay exit now, the corridor only two steps ahead.

  “Sure. It’d be nice.”

  “First things first,” she said, leaning in with a conspiratorial whisper while never slackening her pace. “Everybody appreciates discretion.”

  “…okay?” Mendez blinked.

  Immediately past the open hatch, they were joined by the tall, ginger-haired sergeant. “Welcome aboard, Miss Wong,” said Sergeant Brent Collins.

  “Oh fuck you,” Alicia retorted, grinning ear to ear. She dropped her remaining bag and shoved him against the bulkhead. Brent was more than a head taller, but it didn’t matter. He knew when to lean in. Alicia planted a hungry kiss on his mouth and let his arms encircle her.

  The kiss wasn’t brief. Mendez said nothing. Quietly, he scooped up her other bag and looked down the passageway ahead for anyone who might be coming. Then he looked back to the flight bay. With only a month on his first ship, the young crewman apprentice knew what to do in the face of a gross violation of the rules against fraternization.

  He stood lookout and kept his mouth shut.

  Chapter Twelve:

  Digging

  “We’re out of FTL in the system now and should touch down on Minos in a few hours. I want a tactical recon platoon ready to go as soon as I land. It’s been three days since he got here. He could be anywhere by now. I should’ve come back from Qin Kai as soon as I got word.”

  --Major Kayla Dylan

  Priority Message Traffic, Precision Solutions, Minos Division, June 2280

  They came for him at dawn, before he even got out of bed. Tanner awoke to uniforms in the shadows. He didn’t recognize their faces. These weren’t people he knew, but he recognized their uniforms. He knew exactly what they were about.