Fleet Academy

by M. Scott Cottrell

  “Well sir, I put this suit into a pressure tester, and its leaking like a sieve through the burned section. I don’t understand why it held pressure for you. By rights, sir, you should be dead.”

  “You’re telling me that it leaks now, but it didn’t while I was wearing it?”

  “That’s about the size of it sir.”

  “Any explanation at all? Even a guess?”

  “Not a one sir. I know of nothing that would cause it to fail like this and not loose pressure.”

  “Well, how much air is in the biopack?”

  “That’s just it sir. It’s almost dead empty. We were only out for less than thirty minutes; we didn’t even touch the capacity of the system. I checked a couple other suits, they’re almost full.”

  “Maybe it was leaking and the circuit failure didn’t show it?”

  “With this big of a leak you should have seen it.”

  Matt spent a long time examining the pieces and considering how it might have happened. “I should have seen the leak, if it was really this big. What would happen if you heated the air just as it was leaking out?”

  “Well sir. You might not see the vapor if it disperses out fast enough, but in deep space… I don’t think so.”

  “This far out, is it possible it was just in my shadow?”

  “Maybe sir. I can’t explain how you didn’t see it.”

  “What I’m thinking is that it made an ice plug. Are there any other leaks?”

  “I don’t see any other leaks. I suppose it’s possible it made an ice plug, but it would be a really long shot, and if it did, where did all the air go?”

  “Well, I don’t know, and I don’t see any reason to advertise this. It’s a one in a million long shot.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Ok. Thanks Master Chief.”

  “You’re welcome Sir. Oh, I also pulled the crates of those new suits up for you.”

  “Thanks. Do you know if they have been serviced up yet?”

  “It didn’t look like it to me sir.”

  “Crap. Can you get a team working on them? We have less than ten hours to test fit them and have them ready to go.”

  “Yes sir. I’ll take care of it.”

  “Thanks Master Chief. I owe you a cold one.”

  “I’ll be sure to collect on that one sir.” He said with a smile. “I’ll go get a couple suit techs and get to work on these.”

  “Ok. I better go take care of other business.”

  “Aye sir.” The chief replied, knowing full well that the other business was to chew out one each Ensign.

  Matt made his way down to the Armory office from the suit repair bay just as the announcement came that the thrust phase was about to initiate. “All hands prepare for thrust in ten seconds!” The intercom said in its somewhat tinny voice as Matt turned the corner of the office, and stepped in; finding Forester sitting slumped in the desk chair, her face in her hand, her body shaking as she cried.

  “Forester!” Matt said sharply.

  Immediately her head came up, looking at him with red eyes and tear stained cheeks. Recognition dawned on her slowly, but once she realized that it was Matt, she jumped to her feet and practically launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck like a vice. She showered him with kisses, half crying half apologizing for “killing him.”

  “Chill, Forester!” Matt said when he finally got her to stop kissing him long enough to lift her where he could see her face. “What’s gotten into you?”

  “I thought I killed you, you big dope!” She practically hollered at him, before collapsing against his chest, breaking down in huge sobs, her whole body shaking against his while she cried. Matt had intended on chewing her out, but all he could do now was to hold her tight while her sobbing ran its course. Picking her up, Matt carried her to the office chair and sat down with her on his lap, just holding her while the tears slowed and her crying reduced to sniffling. “I thought I killed you. I was trying to show you how good I was out there, and I almost killed you.”

  “Well, almost doesn’t count.”

  “A few more minutes and it wouldn’t have been almost. I read the repair report.” She sniffed, her head still lying on Matt’s shoulder, her arms holding him tight around the neck.

  “Well, it didn’t. So let it go. Accidents happen.”

  “Yeah, I happen.”

  “Come on Trina. Shit happens. You can’t dwell on it.” He said, using the cuff of his jump suit to wipe her face.

  “I’m sorry.” She said again, tears starting back down her face again.

  “Come on Trina. It’s not that bad. We all made it and the mission got done, so just don’t make the same mistake again and everything will be alright.”

  “You’re sure?” she snuffed.

  “I’m sure.” Matt said.

  She let go of his neck with one hand and turned his face to hers. She moved her face forward and kissed him sensuously on the lips, long and slow. When she finally broke the kiss she whispered “I want you to make love to me. Take me… please!?”

  Matt had to admit to himself that holding her had definitely started things to rise, but it most certainly wasn’t going to be appropriate. He also had to admit that he still had some feelings for her, and holding her while she was crying brought those feelings to the surface. Against his better judgment, he turned his face to hers and gently kissed her soft lips back. “Just this once.” He whispered as he unzipped her jump suit and slipped one hand inside.

  Matt headed back to his quarters half an hour later for a fresh jump suit, the shoulder of his still soggy with Foresters tears. He hit the door control and the door slid open. The lights were down and he could make out at least one body sleeping in a top bunk. Matt quietly stripped off his jump suit and underwear and headed for the bathroom for a quick shower. The water felt refreshing as he overrode the temperature control and got cold water. It only took a couple minutes to rinse off the sweat he worked up with Trina, dry off quickly, and step out to dress.

  “Well, it’s good to see someone got laid.” Patty said from her upper bunk.

  “What do you mean?” Matt asked in the dark.

  “Come on. You don’t expect a woman not to smell sex on a guy, do you?” she asked, sliding out of the bunk, her bare feet making a small splat noise in the otherwise quiet room. She stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “When are you going to give me a chance?”

  “A chance for what?”

  “To get laid by you silly.”

  “Oh? I didn’t know I was in demand.”

  “Ohhhh, you really are slow aren’t you.” She said moving one hand between them. “This particular part of you is always in demand.”

  “Well, it’s going to have to wait.” Matt said, taking her hand from him and putting it back around his neck. “Right now I just don’t have the time.”

  “Ok, but if you don’t come sleep with me soon, I’m going to hunt you down and take advantage of you.” She said, wiggling her chest so that her hard nipples rubbed back and forth across his chest.

  “I’ll see what I can do.” He said, pushing her away so he could dress. “Right now I have a lot on my mind and I need to get ready for the intercept.”

  “You really are a spoil sport aren’t you?”

  “It would seem so.”

  “Well, don’t forget about me, ok?” she asked, levering herself up into the bunk and sitting on the edge with her legs spread as wide as she could make them go. “I mean a girl gets lonely out here.”

  “And a tad horny… I know.”

  “Good, just so you don’t forget.”

  “I won’t.” Matt said as he headed toward the door. He stopped outside his quarters and hit the button on the intercom box. “Lieutenant Molter to Communications.”

  “Communications.”

  “Would you page Commander Emerson, Lieutenant Brody, Lieutenant Yang and Chief Hillard to the suit repair bay please?”

  “Affirmat
ive.”

  “Thank you. Molter out.” Matt clicked off the intercom and headed down to the suit repair bay. He didn’t have to wait long for the rest of the team to arrive.

  “Well Lieutenant, here I am.” Lieutenant Yang said as she came in. “It’s always nice to be invited to get naked with a good looking male officer.”

  “I thought you might want to do a test fit on your new suit.”

  “Sure. Besides… maybe there’s time after for a quick shower together?”

  “I doubt it Lieutenant.” Commander Emerson said as she walked through the door.

  “Can’t blame me for trying, ma’am.” Lieutenant Yang said.

  “Not at all Lieutenant. But let’s get business done first. Playtime comes second.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Here I am!” Lieutenant Brody said breathlessly as she walked into the room. “I was working down in Engineering when I got the call.”

  “No problem Lieutenant.” Matt said to her. “We’re still waiting for Chief Hillard.”

  “Not any longer sir.” The Chief said, stepping in through the door in a sweaty t-shirt and shorts. “I apologize for my appearance; I was working out in the gym.”

  “No problem. Chief. Ok team. The new suits are here and I wanted to make sure we did a test fit. We're only about seven hours to intercept and a couple more after that to EVA. I had all the suits laid out. It looks like they put names on them for us, so we don’t have to sort out whose is whose. Let’s get to donning. Remember that the helmet design is different on these.”

  “Hey the cool suit is different too. It’s even thinner.” Lieutenant Yang said.

  “They said they were going to send the latest stuff.” Matt told the group as he unzipped his jump suit. The group got to work, stripping down naked and slipping on the new one piece cool suit. Matt couldn’t help but notice that Commander Emerson still looked naked, standing just a few feet away in the skin tight shimmery material. In fact if it weren’t for the reinforced patch on the shoulder with the two tubes coming out, and the narrow opaque closure running up the front center of the suit, it would be easy to think that she was naked, which seemed to be what Matt’s body was thinking. He did his best to hide his growing problem as he went about getting ready to put on the new space suit, but the Commander seemed to notice it in spite of his efforts.

  “I see you are enjoying the view!” She said, intentionally turning her body to give him her best view.

  “Um… Yes ma’am.”

  “It’s Lynn, remember? And when we get done here, why don’t we go someplace a bit more private and I can take care of that for you.”

  “That really won’t be necessary.”

  “Oh, I know that, but trust me, it will be my pleasure.” She said in a very sultry voice, only increasing his problem. “We have a few hours to kill yet, I’m sure we can find some way to pass that time usefully, once our work is done that is.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “If you’re going to insist on calling me ma’am all the time, I may just have to order you to let me take care of that.”

  “Um. Ok, Lynn.” Matt said nervously. Somehow even as good as she looked, having someone of that much higher rank talking to him this way was a bit disconcerting. He realized that the high velocities had this effect on women, and there weren’t a lot of other equivalently ranked men on the ship, but it still made him a bit nervous, even as good looking as she was. Matt went to work stepping into the bottom of the new suit and pulling it up his body, partly to get the job done and partly to hide his now raging erection, made only worse by the commander bending over, her behind intentionally aimed at him to show off her flowery charms inside the cool suit. Matt continued donning the suit, pushing his arms into the upper half and pulling it over his shoulders as he watched the commander do the same.

  “I think I’m going to need some help again.” The commander said as she stepped over to him, her practically naked breasts stuck out the front of her suit. “Would you mind tucking them in for me?”

  “Um. Sure.” Matt said as he pulled the front of the suit out as far as it could go and gently flattened one of her huge breasts with his hand, pressing it tight to her chest as he pulled the material over it. She let out a slight moan as he slid his hand out from between the material and her breast. He began to repeat the process on the other breast when he felt her hand slide into the still open front of his suit and find its way down to his hardness. As he pressed her breast against her chest and pulled the material over his hand, he felt her rubbing her hand up and down on him.

  “You know that when we’re done here you are definitely going to have to put that someplace useful.” She said huskily.

  “Yes ma’am.” He said sliding his hand out of her suit to pull the front closure up. Her touch and the sensations of working her breasts into her suit were starting to take their toll. Even having had sex with Forester a little while before he was getting terribly horny, and what he really wanted was to be undressing Jenny just now, rather than dressing a senior officer.

  She withdrew her hand from his suit after giving him a few gentle squeezes. “Let me.” She said pulling the closure tab up his front. By the time she finished and Matt turned to see the rest of the team, it was obvious they were way behind. Most of the rest of the team had the collar ring in place and were pulling the straps of the biopack into place on their shoulders.

  “I think we’re a bit behind now.” He said quietly.

  “Not a problem. We don’t have anywhere to go just yet.”

  “True.” Matt said as he worked the material of the suit collar into the metallic helmet ring. It only took a few more minutes for Matt and Commander Emerson to complete their suit assembly. “Ok. As you can see, this suit is a lot thinner. I haven’t tried it yet, but there are supposed to be field coils laced into the suit. This will provide support for the suit as the pressure is lowered. You can adjust it with this control on your arm pad. So, let’s go get some vacuum and see how it feels.”

  “After you.” Lieutenant Brody said with a grin on her face.

  “Ok. Helmets on.” Matt said as he turned and headed toward the door. The new suit was much easier to walk in, weighing less than half of the suit they trained in only a few days ago.

  “Hey, this isn’t bad at all.” Matt heard one of the women say over the radio circuit.

  “I know. It’s much easier to move around in.”

  “Yeah, and you can still see his cute butt.”

  “OK. Let’s get professional here.”

  “It was a professional assessment.” The female voice that Matt now identified as Lieutenant Yang responded.

  “At ease Kim. You know the Commander has first dibs.”

  “I know. But that doesn’t mean I can’t hope for a turn too.”

  “I know. He has a really nice one, but it’s still not nice to horn in.

  “I’m not horning in. I’m perfectly willing to wait for my turn. Just as long as it means I get filled up by that big dick.”

  “God Kim. You’re terrible.”

  “No I’m not. I’m just horny as hell. You saw how hard he got watching the Commander. My tits are just as pretty, and they like being touched just as much.”

  “I know. And he does such a nice job of touching them.”

  “Ok let’s get back to work here. Make sure all connections are set and tested.” Matt said, keying the intersuit frequencies that were set to connect all the suits together as they stepped into the air lock. “We’re going to take it down to full vacuum. Before we do that, I think I need to mention a few things. The first seven frequency buttons on your suit are pre-programmed for each of the suits, which I see some of you have found. You can select multiple suits by selecting more than one button at a time. There are also two others programmed. One is the command frequency, and the other is this intersuit frequency. Oh, one more thing. As the EVA Commander, I automatically receive all channels, even private ones unless I mute them.
” Matt heard an ‘oh shit’ muttered as his helmet display dutifully lit an indicator, showing that the frequency designated to Lieutenant Yang had activated. “So, shall we get down to business?”

  “Ready any time you are Lieutenant.” Commander Emerson said over the open frequency.

  “Very well. Here we go.” Matt responded as he selected zero atmosphere on the control panel. As the pressure dropped Matt felt his suit start to grow and fill like a balloon. He worked his controls until the suit shrunk back down to a reasonable size. He continued to adjust the suit field coils until the suit fit more like a normal jump suit.