LAST DAY OF TRAINING
DAVE BARA
It was hot in the cadet theater hall deep inside High Station Quantar, and we were all still sweating from our end of the day training shift. But we were almost there, almost done. Just one last day of training and we’d all officially be Lieutenants in the Unified Space Navy. Not Ensigns, not middies, not enlisted grunts. Graduates, even if the official ceremony wasn’t for two more months. Lieutenant Peter Cochrane. I liked the sound of that.
There were twenty-two of us who had made it through the three-year set of classes to become junior officers, slated for our world’s first faster than light ship in more than a century, H.M.S. Starbound. I was proud of that accomplishment, even more so as I hadn’t enlisted or even thought about Navy service until the accident that had claimed my older brother Derrick’s life almost three years ago. I was doing this for him, for his memory, as much as for myself.
Gunnery Sergeant Lukic was talking again, and I decided I had to at least tune into what he was saying out of courtesy.
“So, this final semester has been a bitch, eh, cadets?” he said. “Tomorrow will be your last day under my command, and I bet you’re glad of that.” There were grunts of acknowledgement all around the room. This final semester had been very physically taxing; EVAs, survival tests, lots of shuttle flying and plenty of just plain-assed hauling of materiel, in space and on the ground. The kind of stuff we’d never likely do on our permanent assignments, but that we had to be crossed-trained for anyway. Every one of us in this room was destined to be a Command Deck specialist, the best of the best, but that didn’t mean it would always be easy.
My specialty was the longscope, the premier assignment that was up for grabs aboard Starbound, and since I was top of the class, that plum position would be mine. By chance and partly by design, my girlfriend for the last year, Natalie Decker, was getting the Astrogator’s seat, and we’d be working closely together. A lot. And that was just fine with me.
Natalie was a dishwater blonde, very pretty with green eyes and a ready smile. She was also my first lover, and I hers. I felt that we were a particularly good match, but it was hard to think about the long-term future of our relationship when we were both still so young and not even full spacers yet. She held my hand now as she sat next to me, listening to Lukic speak.
“Your assignments for tomorrow will be ansible support. The Historian network is out on the rim, by High Station Candle, and that’s quite a run from here, so it’s going to be a long day. You’ll be paired in twos for the maintenance work, one pilot and one EVA technician to do the actual repairs. Four ansible satellites each. You’ll be heading out at 0700, so get your sleep,” he said, glancing up at me and Natalie. “You had a good day today, now three hours of R&R and then hit your bunks. Understood, cadets?” Lukic finished, putting us in our place one last time.
“Understood, sir!” we all replied in unison, and with vigor.
“Good. Now get the hell out of here,” he said, and that was that.
* * *
We’d agreed to pose for pictures as a group on our last day, so we all gathered in our dress Quantar blues in front of the main atrium windows, with the spectacular view of our blue-green home world hanging above us. Duane Longer had volunteered to do the picture taking, as it was a hobby of his and he’d even put together a book for all of us to take with us of our favorite memories from the last three years together.
We were all there except for Natalie, and that had me concerned. I checked my watch and noted she was already ten minutes late. That wasn’t like her. When I finally saw her walking up to the group my concerns were affirmed.
Her face was pale, as if she had just received some very bad news. I waited while she hugged many of the others. When she finally came to me I reached out and offered her my arms, and she hugged me gently before whispering in my ear.
“Is there someplace we can talk?” she said.
“After,” I replied, then we shared a silent moment together, and I could tell from the red in her eyes that she had been crying. A lot. She smiled wanly at me but then turned on her usual charm for the pictures. She looked very prim and proper in her dress blues and cap, hair cut to regulation hanging just above her shoulders. She held a black leather case tucked under one arm. I wondered if what was inside that case was at the core of her upset. She blinked back tears as she politely continued to converse, and then we all started posing for pictures.
I had the chance to watch her in several groups and I admired her poise under the circumstances. We had become close, perhaps closer than we should have allowed during our training, but being with her had been the best experience of my life, so far.
Duane Longer insisted that Natalie and I stand together for a picture, which was awkward. We both smiled as he took the shot three times. Finally, Natalie had enough.
“Thank you, Duane, no more please,” she said testily. It was the first real crack of composure that I had seen from her.
“Aw c’mon, Nat! Just a few more!” Longer was nice enough, just not quick on the uptake.
“No, Duane. Really, no more.” She waved a hand in front of the camera and started to walk away. He made the mistake of reaching out for her and catching her arm.
“C’mon, Nat! We’re all heading over to the officer’s lounge—”
“I said enough!” She swung her arm free and knocked his camera to the floor, where it bounced, then she stormed off in frustration.
“Hey! My camera! That cost me a week’s cadet crowns!” he started after her. I had to step in with a firm hand to his chest.
“She said enough, Duane. I have to insist you give her some space,” I said. He stiffened.
“Since when are you her watchdog?” I liked Duane, but I wasn’t going to allow his overbearing good-naturedness to hurt Natalie. We were about the same height and he was two years older than me, but I had the better of him plenty of times in the gym.
“Since she asked you to let her go. Now please be smart and let her go.” He hesitated as I pushed just a bit harder.
“What about my camera?”
“If it’s broken I’ll make sure it gets paid for. Good enough?” He eyed me hard, then turned back to his other friends.
“I guess so.”
“Good.” He leaned down to pick up the camera.
“You two sure got touchy enough,” he said to my back as I strode away from him. A second later and I was out of hearing range and moving through the rapidly dissipating crowd. I knew where Natalie was headed, and I was going there as well.
* * *
A quick lifter ride, and I was in the forward lounge in the dorm tower. It was a place we’d spent many quiet nights looking out on Quantar and dreaming of the stars. I came off the lifter and saw her in the front row of the small lounge, head bowed. The lounge had been a warm place for us as lovers, but now it seemed empty as space and nearly as cold.
I set the door code for privacy and then took off my cap and walked to the sofa, sitting down silently next to her. I knew her well enough to know that talking first wasn’t the answer. She would let me know when she was ready. After a few moments she composed herself and turned to face me but didn’t say anything.
“What’s wrong?” I finally ventured. She handed me the leather case she’d been carrying without a word. I wasn’t stupid. I knew what it was; assignment orders. I opened it. It indicated her new assignment request had been approved… to H.M.S. Impulse, the Carinthian Lightship that had been in service for six months.
“What’s this?” I said. We were supposed to be together on Starbound, at least that was what I thought the plan was.
“I was approached by Captain Bergovic about a month ago,” she said. Bergovic was the Headmaster of the Cadet Academy. “He asked me to consider an assignment aboard Impulse, as part of a Quantar technical team of twelve that would be assigned there. Something about mixing the Lightship crews to create more fraternity among the Navy. I told him I would c
onsider it. Then this came last night.”
“Can’t you refuse?” I said. She took the case back from me.
“Did you read it, Peter? Those are my assignment orders. I leave in less than a week.”
“I can get this undone,” I said confidently. She frowned.
“Be realistic, Peter. You may be the Grand Admiral’s son but you don’t have that kind of power.” I had no answer for that, so I stayed silent. She stood up quickly and started pacing.
“This is all your father’s doing. And that goddamned Wesley,” she said.
“You don’t know that,” I said, even though I knew she was probably right.
“I know enough, Peter. I know that we’ve been put as far away from each other as possible. I know that the daughters of military men aren’t good enough for royal families, Union or not. And I know what ship the Feilberg family runs, and who the Astrogator is that will be swapped out with me to Starbound.” That caught my attention. It was something that hadn’t even occurred to me.
“You think my father and Admiral Wesley plan to put Karina Feilberg and me together?”
She sighed in frustration. “It’s obvious, Peter. They want you to be in close quarters so that you’ll be attracted to each other. She’s an Astrogator, and you’re a Longscope officer. Just like you and me. So the two of us had to be split up so that the two of you could be together. That’s just the way things are.” Now she was angry.
“Is that what you think?” I said. She turned and faced me.
“Yes, it’s damned well what I think!” she said, almost yelling. “Are you really that naïve?”
“Natalie—”
“Answer my question. Do you really think hooking you up with a Carinthian princess isn’t part of the overall agenda? You are the son of a royal, you know.”
I took a deep breath and looked into her angry face, flushed red with emotion. “I suppose it could be,” I admitted, looking away from her. Quantar’s links to the old royal peerage system were weak, but I was still the only surviving son of the nominal Director, with my own titles and privileges bestowed on me by historical right.
“Uh-huh,” she said, then walked off to stand alone at the view window. I waited only a moment, then followed her. I put my arms around her waist and spoke as softly and honestly as I could.
“Natalie, please. Let’s not have this, not now. Besides, there was a chance we both wouldn’t have made Starbound’s roster anyway.” That wasn’t really a lie, but I knew it was implausible. She turned back to me, face clear of tears even if her makeup was smudged beyond repair.
“How long do we have?” she asked. I looked at my watch.
“An hour of R&R left and eight more after that until we start our assignment,” I said. She smiled bravely.
“Then let’s not waste another moment fighting. Can you get George to vacate your dorm room?” she asked.
“I think so,” I replied. She smiled again.
Now I smiled, then kissed her softly and took her by the hand to the lifter.
* * *
I was able to get George Layton out of my bunk for the night, so I would owe him one. Natalie and I spent the night together making love, in the very real sense of the word. I finally fell asleep with her cradled in my arms, as much of her flesh pressed against mine as we both could manage. I wanted to remember her; her smell, touch, taste. It could be months before we saw each other again. Or years.
When I woke up she was already gone, back to her own room. There was a simple note stuck on my mirror:
Peter,
Please forgive me for leaving this way. I think it’s better for us both if we don’t try to see each other again after today until we find a way to meet as friends, however long from now that might be. Take care, and be safe.
I love you,
Natalie
And with that the first love affair of my life was over. I was taken aback by the finality of it. I had thought she would need me every moment until her departure time came. But I found myself admiring her strength to walk away of her own accord. Again I had underestimated her. I hung my head and sighed, then gave in and lay back down on my bed, pulling the sheets and covers back over my head, begging for my alarm not to go off.
* * *
But go off it did, at precisely 0600. I showered quickly and made my way down to the Landing Deck. As I arrived, I gathered my EVA suit and helmet from the quartermaster and then was greeted by Starbound’s Earth Historian, Serosian, a tall dark-haired man who had served as my mentor during my time here at the Lightship Academy. He shook my hand as I came up.
“Good luck today, Peter. Almost done,” he said with a smile. The Historians were known for their ruthless adherence to rules on sharing information with the developing star systems of the Union and rarely did I find them friendly or outgoing. Serosian was the uncommon exception to that rule.
“Almost done with training,” I agreed. “But some other things have already ended,” I said with a nod toward my repair pod. Natalie was already suited and inside our two-person maintenance craft, waiting for me. Serosian turned her way and then back to me with a look of sympathy on his face.
“Not all endings can be good endings, Peter,” he said.
“This one is tougher than most,” I replied. He smiled a bit.
“There will be other girls for a young man of your standing,” he said. I thought about that. It didn’t comfort me.
“I’m sure you’re right. But for now there’s only the one girl for me, and she’s being sent away,” I said.
Serosian shrugged. “I know this was Admiral Wesley’s doing, but I hope in time you’ll see it’s for the best.”
I just shook my head at that, then I raised my suit and helmet. “I’ve got to get in my gear,” I said.
He nodded. “We’ll talk again later. And be careful out there today, Peter. Don’t let your emotions get in the way of doing your job.”
“I’ll try not to,” I said, and with that he was gone and I got into my EVA suit.
Because I was doing the EVAs and Natalie was doing the piloting, we would be separated by an environmental barrier and we could only communicate by com. Natalie had a skin-tight survival suit, designed for non-EVA work inside a ship while mine was quite a bit bulkier and used for extended missions outside the ship. After passing flight check I got into my side of our repair pod and activated my com.
“Ready when you are, Nat,” I said.
There was a pause, and then she said, “Can we keep it as professional as possible today, please?”
That pissed me off. “Of course, Lieutenant,” I said sarcastically. “You’ve made your wishes clear in that regard, in more ways than one, and I will try and adhere to them.”
“Good,” she said, then fired up our pod and we queued up for lift off. A few minutes later and we were well on our way out to the ansible ring near High Station Candle. The flight took us nearly three hours, which passed in silence. I even turned my com off and slept. Her job, after all, was flying the repair pod. Mine didn’t start until we had something to repair.
I was sound asleep when she used the priority override to wake me up. “We’re here,” she said loudly into my com. I looked up and checked my telemetry. We were four hundred meters from the first ansible on our list.
“You couldn’t get us any closer than that?” I said, grumpy after being wakened from a sound sleep.
“It’s within the guidelines,” she snapped back.
“You know how crappy I am with free EVAs,” I said back. It was true, free-floating EVAs, maneuvering with cone jets using small bursts of propellant, wasn’t one of my specialties.
I ran the repair scan and everything came out nominal, so my only job was to swap out the data card and then recalibrate the longwave receptor nodes, but those were things that had to be done from the ansible itself. I collected the new data card and the key codes for the calibration, then started venting my cabin pressure. When the pressure hit zero I reache
d for the hatch release.
“Popping the hatch in 5… 4… 3…”
“No need to be so dramatic, Lieutenant,” came Natalie’s voice in my ear, so I shut up and just popped the thing before releasing my restraint straps.
“Anything we need at the grocery store, honey?” I said as I rose out of the pod. That got no response. She was really pissing me off now.
I aligned myself with the ansible and set my navigation mark.
“Don’t blow your first burst, it’s the most important,” came her unwelcome advice in my ear. “And you know your propensity for getting too excited about things.”
I tried to ignore that barb. “It will be easier to concentrate without you nagging in my ear,” I said back, then hit the pre-calibrated jet burst. Within about a hundred meters it was clear I was off course.
“You need to correct,” she said in my ear.
“I’m aware,” I replied. “It wouldn’t have been a problem if you could have got us closer.” I re-ran my flight path and took the suit’s recommended correction of a .45 second microburst from the right cone jet only. I loaded the correction and hit it. My course changed very subtly as I watched, a passenger on a very slow guided missile.
“Now you’ve over-corrected,” came my ever-present critic’s voice.
“I took the suit guide’s recommended action,” I snapped back.
“Yes, but you waited too long to execute. Next time don’t hesitate. I’ll feed the fix directly into your suit jet controls.” She did, and now I was even more the passenger and my ego was bruised.
Once I was at the ansible, I started in on the recalibration work for the longwave receptor nodes. I entered in the key codes on the LED plasma panel and the system slowly chugged through its protocols, aligning itself with the other ansibles both up and down the line of communication. Then I started in on the data card. It was hard to get to and I struggled with my tools, trying to get the cover plate off, securing it to the ansible’s hull, and then picking out the card that needed replacing. It took time, almost forty minutes, but I got it done.
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