Fleet Academy

by M. Scott Cottrell

  “It’s Jenks sir.”

  “Ok Jenks. I need a favor.”

  “Anything you need sir.”

  “Ensign Light is taking the afternoon class. I have other duty the Captain assigned. Would you mind going out with them and keep an eye on things. I know your good with a thruster suit and Ensign Light doesn’t have much experience yet.”

  “Sure thing sir. But from what I heard, you didn’t either when you snatched Ensign Tempe back.”

  “You’re right. But I’m pretty sure that while I was playing hero, the Commander was praying he didn’t lose two Ensigns instead of just one.”

  “Somehow I don’t think so sir.”

  “I think your wrong on that one.”

  “I think I’m right sir. You’re a natural with the thruster pack. You not getting where you intend to go is just not something that anyone watching you would ever consider. You aim it straight and ram it hard. Pretty obvious you have a lot of confidence.”

  “Well, I guess I know which part of the magazine you like now.” He said to her jokingly. “Now if you would be so kind as to keep an eye on Light for me?”

  She reached behind her and pulled the shoulders of her jump suit off as she pulled the sleeves down her arms, leaving her exposed from the waist up. “After the show those two Ensigns put on. I got a bit steamed up. You want to help me solve that problem?”

  Matt shook his head. “Not that I don’t think you would be hot in the sack, I don’t think it would be appropriate.”

  “Probably not sir, but I know you thought about it.” She said reaching out to take the magazine back as she stepped toward him. Once she had the magazine she used it to gently pat the bulge in the front of his jump suit.

  “What is it with the women on this ship? Are all of you so horny?”

  “Didn’t they tell you at the academy sir? She said smiling.

  “Tell me what?” He asked

  “It’s the high v sir. Turns us all into a bunch of nymphos.” She said with a huge grin.

  “I’m not sure if you’re serious or not Jenks, there’s sure as hell something going on.”

  “Trust me sir. I can tell you that whatever the cause, these long high velocity transits seems to make women horny as hell.”

  “It would seem so.” Matt said starting to leave.

  “Sir?” She called.

  “Yes Jenks?” He said turning back.

  She pushed the waist of her jump suit over her hips and let it slide down her body, exposing all her freckled skin and red hair. “If you change your mind… you know where I’ll be.” She said with a wicked grin.

  “I certainly do.” Matt said as he turned and left. Matt made his way through the growing crowd of Ensigns and ratings that had arrived for suit training. In the equipment bay he collected the three suits and made his way back to the maintenance office. Jenks was already gone, so he continued through into the maintenance room, where he found plenty of bench space to lay out the suits. He worked for nearly half an hour before he felt like he had the suit controls and connections memorized. The next step was to put it on. The suit was designed to be put on by one person in zero g. That made it a bit awkward in the 1g work area. Finally he stripped down to his briefs and climbed onto the table. He worked his legs into the suit bottom, and then bent himself in half, sticking his arms into the suit and his head out of the neck hole. He reached behind him and found the long zipper pull hanging at his knees and pulled it up over his head, dragging the stiff zipper up the back of the suit until it stopped. He separated the strap into its two parts and pulled them down the front of the suit one on each side of the neck hole, snapping them on the clips on the top of the front mount. In theory this helped seal the suit.

  The main problem with the suit was that a single person couldn’t seal the top of the zipper well, which caused a number of suit failures. As a result they didn’t get used very much. Two people worked much better. The suit also didn’t do a very good job of temperature control, having no cool suit. It was intended to be used in an emergency, not for long operations. He slid off the table and stood up. Making sure the biopack was turned on and operating, he engaged the helmet in the locking ring and twisted it into place. The suit was not in the least bit comfortable, and walking was difficult to say the least. The suit was one size fits all, and had a myriad of straps to pull the suit down to fit a smaller person. In many ways he felt like a balloon person with a bunch of belts and ropes holding him together. He made his way out of the shop to the airlock. He cycled the door open and stepped inside. As the lock cycled down to lower g’s the suit felt a lot better, and he could easily walk across the cage room to the air locks on the ships outer hull. He keyed the short range radio in the suit to talk to the room controller.

  “This is Lieutenant Molter. I’m going to take lock three down to zero pressure to test this suit out.”

  “Aye sir. Lock three is clear and cameras are on.” The controller responded. His job was to keep track of everyone and everything going in and out of the airlocks. Airlock three was a small single lock used to lock out just one or two people. It didn’t have the size or complexity of the double locks used for work crews, but was more than adequate for this task.

  “Thank you. Please cycle the inner door for me and safety lock the outer door.”

  “Aye sir. Inner door coming open.”

  “Thank you.” Matt responded as he approached the opening inner door. Once inside he used the controls to cycle the inner door closed and slowly dial down the pressure. The suit seemed to hold pressure ok; the problem was that he felt like he was blowing up like a balloon. He stopped the depressurization at one half atmosphere and started adjusting the many straps, some located at the main joints and some to adjust the length of the arms and legs. Matt pulled and tugged straps until he had the suit squeezed back down to his proportions and then snugged the joint straps. The straps at the elbows and knees caused permanent creases in the suit to allow him to move his arms and legs better, and the now shortened sleeves and legs gave him some mobility. He continued the depressurization until he was at hard vacuum, the suit feeling much better now. He worked his arms and legs, bouncing some in the suit and getting a feel for it for a few minutes before he repressurized the lock and exited out.

  “Thank you Control, I’m done with the lock.” He radioed.

  “Aye sir. Lock cleared.”

  Matt could see that the training team had returned and was headed out of the cage room back into the locker room. Matt made his way to the lock, but chose to wait until they had cycled through. When the lock showed clear, he cycled it back open on his side and stepped in. It only took a few seconds and he was able to open the second door and step out, moving much less effectively in the now one full g gravity. Matt made his way to the equipment room and sat back on the table. He unlocked and twisted the helmet off, taking a deep breath of regular air again. He was about half way out of the suit when Jenks came back from the shower room, not wearing anything.

  “Well sir. Did you have fun playing with the old suit?” She asked, stepping around one of the work tables and levering herself up to sit on it, her legs hanging off the side.

  “The Captain wants me to train all the shuttle pilots. She wants class three’s back on the shuttles.” He said as he finished wiggling the top half off and starting to push the suit off the lower half of his body.

  “Here, let me help you.” She said, sliding off the table and stepping over to help him pull the suit off of his body. Together they laid the suit on the table and worked at pulling all the straps back out to their extended position.

  “One thing is for sure.” Matt said as they worked, “these things didn’t have much cooling system. I sweat like a pig in there.”

  “You do look like you could use a shower.” She said

  “Yeah. I thought I’d wait till the training was done before I went over.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to wait sir; we have our own tube in the back room f
or the maintenance techs.”

  “Oh, well, lead the way then.”

  “This way sir.” She said leading him between the tables, intentionally exaggerating the swing of her hips as he followed her. She led the way to a small door in the back of the maintenance area. She opened it and stepped inside. It was a larger room than he expected, with two benches to sit on and a shower tube in the corner. Jenks closed the door behind them and stepped behind Matt.

  “You want me help you with those?” She asked as she snapped the elastic waistband of his briefs.

  “Thank you Jenks, but I think I can manage.” Matt said as he pushed them down and stepped out of them on the way to the shower tube.

  “Just let me know if you want a hand… or anything else.” She said as she turned to head back out of the small room. “You know the nice thing about this room?” She asked him, pausing at the door.

  “What’s that?” Matt asked as he stepped into the shower tube.

  She put her finger to her lips and whispered. “No security cameras.”

  “I see.” he whispered back as he closed the shower tube door.

  It was only a few minutes later when he stepped from the shower, feeling refreshed and de-sweated. He had felt hot enough from the suit, but even more so after all Jenks innuendo. He headed back onto the suit repair room and collected his jump suit and pulled it on.

  “Have a nice shower sir?” Jenks called from the office space.

  “Yep, just fine Petty Officer.” He called back as he slipped his deck shoes on.

  “Well, let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you sir… anything at all, if you know what I mean.”

  “You are certifiable Jenks” he said as he turned to leave.

  The rest of the day went quietly. Matt and Joan worked on documentation for the training sessions the balance of the afternoon and then the two headed back to their quarters before dinner. Matt walked into his new quarters hoping to meet his new roommates. As he stepped in he was assaulted by blaring decades old rock music.

  “Hello?” he called.

  “Oh…Hello!” A short blond woman called from a lower bunk. “Can I help you?

  “Yeah. I’ve been assigned to this billet.” Matt said, holding out his hand “Matt Molter.”

  “OH GOD!” She cried out slipping out of the bunk to stand in front of him, gently taking his hand and shaking it, almost in a trance.

  “Is that a good ‘Oh God’ or a bad ‘Oh God’?” Matt asked.

  “Um… I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve heard so much about you.” She stammered.

  “About me?”

  “Yeah, from Jenny…I mean Lieutenant Sloan, one of my roommates… I mean our roommates.”

  “She’s said a lot about me?”

  “Oh yeah, ever since you were in the infirmary after that meteor shower. Oh God. She is just going to die!” She said, her face breaking into a huge smile.

  “I’m just going to die about what Pats?” Matt heard a very distinctive British accent ask from the head as the door opened.

  “Who our new roommate is!” Patty said, stepping aside so that both Matt and Jenny could see each other. Jenny squeaked loudly and quickly closed the door all but a crack. “What are you doing here?” She squeaked at least two octaves higher than her normal tone.

  “Well, the Captain assigned me to these quarters.” Matt said quietly. “If you don’t want me here just now, I can leave.” He finished, backing up toward the cabin door.

  “Don’t you dare!” Jenny said loudly as she pushed the door back open and stepped out, making a dash for her locker, quickly pulling out a fuzzy red robe, which she pulled on while she was turned away from Matt. He only had a few short moments to enjoy the nice view of the back half of her body, including her very shapely butt. Finally she turned around to greet him.

  “I’m Lieutenant Jenny Sloan. But you already knew that. You already met Patty Sinclair from engineering, and our last is Nurse Suzi Wong.” She rambled quickly.

  “God, Jenny!” Suzi said from where she had been lying unseen on one upper bunks. Matt briefly envisioned a panther lying in wait for its unsuspecting prey. “You sound like your introducing yourself to a total stranger.”

  “Well, it’s good to meet you outside of the infirmary.” Matt said taking the hand she was offering. He shook it gently and then pulled it up to his lips and gently kissed it.

  “What was that for?” She asked blushing.

  “That was to say thank you for the nice shower you gave me the other day.” He said quietly.

  “Ohhhh shower? Do tell!” Patty chimed in from her lower bunk.

  “Oh shush Pats!” Jenny said, never taking her eyes from Matt’s face. “I think this is going to work just fine.” She said quietly.

  “I think I’m going to head up to the mess and get some food.” Matt said letting go of her hand. “Would you like to go up to the mess with me?”

  “Oh, I’d really love to, but I’m just about to go on duty.” Jenny said. I’m taking a half shift for someone. I should be back by 2000 though.”

  “I’m looking forward to it.” Matt said as Patty jumped up from her bunk and took Matt’s arm.

  “Come on big boy. You can take me to dinner and let her get dressed for duty. I don’t think she wants the first time you see her to be stark naked.” Patty said turning Matt around and winking at Jenny, who smiled back at her.

  “Whatever you say.” Matt replied as he allowed himself to be led out the door, not taking his eyes off Jenny until the door closed between them.

  “Boy have you two got it bad!” She said as she looped her arm in his and walked him away from their door.

  “What?”

  “You know, you two are totally smitten.” She said with a giggle. “Come on now, you promised me dinner.”

  “Yes ma’am.” Matt said as he let himself be led toward the mess hall.

  “Can I ask you a personal question?” he asked Patty as they walked down the corridor.

  “Sure, what do you want to know?”

  “Someone was telling me that women get more sexually turned on in space travel because of high v. Do you buy that?”

  There was as long silence, before Matt looked down at her.

  “The evidence suggests that at extremely high velocities, there is some unknown effect that tends to mess with female testosterone levels. This does seem to make women a bit more aggressive in their sexual appetite. As far as being more sexually turned on… All I can tell you is that when we’re doing a high v transit, I tend to need…release… a lot more.”

  “So that would be a yes?” Matt queried with an innocent look on his face.

  Patty slugged him in the arm, but not too hard, before laughing. “Yes that would be a yes.”

  “I just wondered. I seem to be getting a lot of… um… passes made at me? I mean I’m not an Adonis by any means, so I don’t quite understand. I don’t think all the guys are getting hit on that much.”

  “Don’t kid yourself. You’re a pretty hot hunk. But there is something that makes us much more attracted to sex. And it seems to be just that. It’s not an emotional attachment, it’s just plain physical lust.” She said as she stopped in the middle of the corridor and looked up at him. “Hell, right now I’d jump on you in a hot second. And it’s not that I want a relationship or anything. I just NEED to be… well… screwed.” She looked at him a long time, the two of them staring at each other, Patty trying to decide how he took it and Matt trying to figure out if she was serious. Finally she broke down laughing. “God you should see your face right now. Talk about a deer in the headlights look!”

  Finally shaken from his trance he laughed with her. “Well I don’t know what it is either. And I’m not exactly complaining, I just don’t understand it.”

  “Well, take it from me… Just go with it and enjoy.” She said starting back toward the mess hall, “Now, how about that dinner?”

  “Good idea.” He said as they walked i
nto the mess hall. They picked up trays and gathered what food they wanted, both of them seeming to have fairly large appetites.

  Matt saw Sparks was sitting with Lieutenant Cowens, and headed that way; Patty following close behind.

  “May we?” Matt asked as he stopped at the table they were sitting at.

  “Sure. Have a seat Matt.” Cynthia said.

  “Hey Matt, where have you been keeping yourself today?” Sparks asked.

  “You two will find out sooner or later, since your both on the docket for tomorrow morning.” Matt said mysteriously as he sat down. “I’ve been getting ready to give all you pilot types some much needed suit training. By the way, this is Lieutenant Patty Sinclair, one of my new roommates.”