The Chronicles of Benjamin Jamison: Call Sign Reaper

by Thomas Wright

  “I’ve got a few things to do in the shop,” Nick said. “But you can start with Val.”

  Nick left, and Ben started detailing his requirements to her. He listed his pay, armor, and records requirements; a main point was that Ben wanted to remain a ghost in the eyes of the government. Val’s eyes went wide with the revelation that the general would contact the Space Authority and push through the inspection to approve the ownership of Freighter SAF X-1064 to Nick Vamos and Benjamin Jamison. He added a few more things and let Val get started on it. Andrea messaged him that she was on her way.

  Andrea arrived and walked in the front door of the office. Val was working on Ben’s contract. Ben was in the back with Nick. Val had not met Andrea yet in person and had her standing at the customer counter when Ben and Nick walked in.

  Andrea had showered and was wearing a new sundress. Her hair was long, straight and a glossy jet black. She still had her sunglasses on, not sure what was going to happen. Ben walked around the counter and pulled her around to Val’s desk. Andrea took off her glasses and the couple just stared for a second. They had seen her face in the vid the other night, but now they knew that did her no justice.

  Even though Andrea knew of Nick and Val, Ben introduced them to each other to break the silence. He introduced her as Major Andrea Andersen and asked her to sit.

  “I want you to work with Val on this,” he said. The room immediately erupted in objections,. Ben held up a hand to quiet the three. “Andrea, you have totally deniability,” he said. “Nobody in this room says anything, and we’ll be just fine. I trust all three of you.”

  They looked at each other and all nodded slowly. Ben walked to the back of the shop, leaving them to work out the next few years of his life.

  A couple of hours later, Val paged Ben to come up front. Andrea handed him a memory chip and told him to read it and then sign if the contract was what he wanted. He took Nick’s vid-com and inserted the chip.

  Ben saw that not only was the contract in order, but his friends had added in a few benefits he hadn’t thought to include. Nick walked in and stood next to him. Ben electronically signed and removed it from the vid-com. He walked over and put it into Andrea’s hand.

  With that over, Andrea and Ben found a small office and sat there alone. Angela turned to her vid-pad and messaged the general. Ben knew he had a few seconds before he answered, and he leaned in and kissed her.

  She was about to say something when the generals face appeared on the vid.

  General Grey was smiling. He seemed in a good mood for a general, although his look turned to one of mild concern.

  “Major, your face is flushed. Are you feeling well?” the general asked.

  “I’m fine sir,” the major replied, while Ben held in his smirk. “It’s a small office and there seems to be a lot of hot air. I transmitted the contract proposal. Mr. Jamison has signed it and, having read it, I see no issues from an operations stand point. There is almost no fine print. It’s straightforward — like it was written by a marine, not a lawyer.”

  The general laughed at that. “ That will save a lot of time,” he said, turning slightly to look at Ben. “If I agree, how soon would you be ready to depart?” he asked.

  “ I don’t need a lot of time,” Ben answered. “But I would like 24 hours. I would like to say good-bye to my family and friends.”

  “That sounds reasonable,” General Grey said. “I do have a question for you though, Mr. Jamison. What made you decide to consider our offer after what happened to you before?”

  Ben looked him in the eye and smiled. ‘The major was very persuasive,” he said..” The general was trying not to smile.

  “Good job, Major. Now go get some air; it must be very hot in that room.” The vid went blank.

  Andrea was quiet. She got up quickly from her chair. She grabbed her com and made for the door. Ben beat her there, although not without some pain. He put his back against the door, blocking her way.

  “Get out of my way,” she said.

  “I will,” Ben replied, “but you will listen to me first.”

  “I will not,” she answered coldly. “Let me out.” He grabbed her arms and pressed her against the wall. She was furious. He looked her straight in her icy blue eyes.

  “I killed five men this weekend because of you,” he began. His shoulders and neck burned. She was the first to look away. He had to let her go.

  “You think I’m stupid because I’m living here on this planet?” he said, releasing his hold. “You sent them to the bar. I know you had no way of knowing the captain would get such a hard-on to kill me, but you are still responsible for the fallout.” She couldn’t look at him.

  “I’m sorry if I embarrassed you and made you show some emotion in front of the general. But look at what you have done. You hit me with a repulsor, throw me out of a hover car, knock me on my ass any chance you get. What did I do to you? I show your boss you have a fucking emotion or two inside you. Hell, I think he’s happy about it ”

  Ben took a breath and continued. “You’re mad at me and my plan backfired. Everything in the past three days has backfired. I can’t even plan a walk in a park without it backfiring and almost getting eaten. But you get to be the one that is mad.” He stepped back. “Go wait in the car, I’ll be out in a minute.”

  She walked out to the car. Ben came out of the office; everyone was looking busy and acting like they hadn’t heard a thing.

  Ben kissed Val on the cheek and shook Nick’s hand, thanking them for the help. He told Nick they would be the proud owners of a freighter soon.

  Ben walked out and got into the hover car. Andrea didn’t say anything. Her eyes were blue and red.

  “Would you like to stop and get a beer?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she answered, her voice a little softer than usual. “I will need to bring the vid-com in case the general calls, though.”

  “Can I buy you a cheeseburger?” Ben asked, smiling.

  “Don’t lie to me Benjamin,” she said with a small smirk. “I know you get your food there for free.”

  Ben felt bad he had made her cry, but he thought it was good for her. He might not know everything about her but he knew the type: the single career officer who lived and breathed the Corp, turning into an emotionless robot with each day, week, month and year that passed. Being a beautiful woman didn’t make it any easier. She probably had to fight harder than any two male officers climbing the same ladder.

  Andrea didn’t disagree with Ben, she thought as she drove to Gus’s. She just wished he hadn’t tried to get back at her in front of the general. Her career was the most important thing in her world. She respected the general so much. He had taken a chance on the second lieutenant they called an ice princess. She had thought she didn’t care about things like that, but it was tiresome after so many years.

  They arrived at Gus’s and went inside. Ben was enjoying the view as he walked in behind her. Andrea glanced in one of the mirrors hanging on the wall and saw the smile on his face as he walked behind her. The first booth by the kitchen was empty and they sat down.

  “So did you like the view?” she said.

  “It was breathtaking,” he replied, hiding a smirk. Gus walked over a little sheepishly. He had vanished the other morning after interrupting something important between them.

  “Hey buddy, can we get two beers and two cheeseburgers with fries?” Ben heard the cook yell his assent from the kitchen.

  Gus shrugged. “No need to write a ticket, apparently,” he said.

  “Hey, would you be interested in taking somebody else on as a waitress or bartender?” Ben asked him, thinking of Jen.

  “I have been thinking about it,” Gus said slowly. “It would give me and Cindy a break more often.”

  “Her name is Jen. You might recognize her when you see her, but don’t jump to conclusions.”

  “I’ll keep an open mind,” Gus answered drily, wondering who this Jen was. He walked away to check on some ot
her customers.

  “So tell me about Sunday morning, when hurricane Andrea swept through this bar,” Ben said.

  Andrea looked at him. “I would rather not talk about it.”

  “It might do you some good to talk about it. Get it off your chest, so to speak.”

  “It doesn’t matter now,” Andrea said. I’m sorry I acted like that okay? Can we drop it?”

  “So it’s been awhile?” Ben said, not dropping it. He had an idea what was wrong. Now she was mad again.

  “Yes, it’s been awhile, like five years!” she hissed like a viper. “Now shut up about it!” She was still looking at him. “I know you want to say something else but don’t. I lost the love of my life, I immersed myself in my work for five years not wanting to feel like that again and then you come along. You think Friday night on the road was weird when we talked for the first time, but I had been watching you for two days. Watch you walk to work and walk home. Stop at this bar for just a little while and walk home. Watch you help the Vander Hoyts like a loving grandson would do. I knew your record. Here in the middle of nowhere is a warrior a soldier, trained in martial arts and combat weapons. And yet you are gentle and kind to people. So I decided to meet you face to face, but I wanted you shaken up first. You could have torn those spacers limb from limb.”

  “You let me knock you down,” Andrea continued, “but then you kissed me. No one has kissed me in five years! I am just a frustrated woman, Benjamin, and you are going to have to live with it for a while.”

  Ben smiled and said, “I can deal.”

  Ben excused himself to go wash up before the food arrived. He got about ten steps from the booth and turned around. Andrea was taking in the scenery too as she smiled at him.

  He got back to the booth a few minutes later to find her on the vid. She had it facing her but could hear the general’s voice. He heard the general pause and Andrea looked over at him.

  “Your contract is approved on all points except one.” She explained. “The general needs more time with the Space Authority. He’s asking for two weeks.”

  “Done,” Ben said.

  “Good,” he heard the general say, adding something too soft for Ben to hear. Andrea turned the vid-com towards Ben.

  “Welcome aboard, Mr. Jamison,” the general said. “I will forward a small advance to the major for you until we get our accounts set up. You have 24 hours; then I expect you and the major’s team to be en route from Anubis to Ares.”

  “ Yes sir!” Ben responded. The general smiled at Ben and winked. “I notice it’s not as hot there in that room.”

  “No sir,” Ben answered wryly. “It cooled off, but I’m learning the temperature can change at any time.”

  “You are so right, Mr. Jamison,” the general said. The vid went blank.

  “What was that all about?” Andrea demanded.

  “Nothing,” Ben said.

  “Nothing my ass,” she hissed. “Don’t lie to me Benjamin.”

  The food arrived just in time. Ben smiled to himself, thinking he’d escaped having to explain. She saw the look on his face and informed him they would finish that conversation later.

  As he ate, Ben thought he would need to savor the rest of his meals. Food on a starship was usually something that was dehydrated, packaged in bags and had no taste no matter what you did to it. He would be eating it for two weeks while in transit to Ares.

  Andrea’s vid was flashing; she had an incoming message. She accepted the call, and the screen showed Val sitting at her desk with Nick standing behind her. Andrea held the com so Ben could see it.

  “We need to talk about the freighter before you two head off to save the galaxy,” Nick said, smiling. “We have two choices. We can sell it, which would set us up for a long time, or put it to work. If we put it to work we will need to form a company, hire a crew, register it, supply it — I think you get where I’m coming from. I can put a proposal together of initial startup costs and get back to you.”

  “Can you have it ready tomorrow?” Ben asked. “I want to have a small get-together here at Gus’s, so we can go over it then.”

  “We have to be at the shuttle by noon,” Andrea added. “The Corvette will be back in orbit over the space port around 1300.”

  “How does 10 in the morning sound to everyone?” Ben asked. They all nodded in unison. “Okay, see you tomorrow.”

  He hung up and asked Andrea if she would like to go to the Vander Hoyts with him. The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. At the farm, they all talked about whatever came to mind. Janet forgave Andrea for the deception when she was trying to locate Ben. Everyone listened quietly as Ben told them about the freighter and what he and Nick had planned. He kept to himself his thoughts of giving the Vander Hoyts a share in the profits regardless of what they did with the ship.

  His back and shoulders were still hurting. He lay on the couch with his head in Andrea’s lap. She was running her fingers through his hair. Ben dozed in and out, only catching portions of the idle chatter. He woke as he felt Andrea tense and move but then settle down. The sergeants had just come in the front door.

  Andrea felt like a girl, busted by her father for kissing a boy. They smiled and walked to the kitchen to sit. Janet had just brewed a fresh pot of coffee. Andrea eased up off the couch and put a pillow under Ben’s head. She joined them in the kitchen. The captain of the Corvette had sent a message that the ship was on schedule, they told her.

  Janet had cooked enough for ten people, or so she thought. She had prepared roast chicken, roast beef, potatoes, carrots, salad, and two pies. The two marine sergeants were not about to act like they were picky eaters. Andrea gave them a run for their money, eating two plates of food and dessert. They were all in a food coma for over an hour after dinner. Andrea used the time to check messages on her vid. She had one “Eyes Only” message from the general. She walked out to the barn to listen to it. The message was recorded, so she would listen to it quickly now and review it again later.

  “Andrea, the Allith have stepped up their raids on some of the smaller, less protected worlds. We are not sure yet why they have grown so bold. Most of the planets were able to recover quickly, but extensive damage was done by then. Once you arrive on planet you will have a week to get your team ready. We are going to send your team out to eliminate the raiders. It has not been decided yet if you will be taking any prisoners, but we are thinking about it. I will message your ship any new details as they arise. God Speed, and see you in two weeks.”

  The general could have waited until she got to Ares to brief her, Andrea thought. But he was good about giving his officers as much time as he could to plan. Ben already knew his team and their strengths. They would get internal details worked out on the trip.

  Andrea knew she would need to get Ben in the gym and conditioning. He would be healed by the time they had their orders. She went back to the house. Jen had cleaned the kitchen for Janet. Ben was back on the couch. Everyone else was in the kitchen.

  Andrea knew Ben would want her to stay the night, but she felt she might be losing the respect of her men if she kept spending all her time with him. The last ten years had been all about her career. She had earned her promotions. She did the job and did it better than anyone else. She had earned their respect.

  Matt sat at the kitchen table thinking about the events of the weekend. This was just a recruiting trip. Even though they had accomplished what they came to do, five people were dead, the recruit had been mauled by a tiger, and the major had gotten in touch with some emotions she had shelved years ago. As her long-time friend and mentor he was happy for her., but as her top ranking NCO he wasn’t sure he liked the situation. Even the general could tell something was different. He had sent Matt an “Eyes Only” message asking him to keep an eye on the situation. Matt was not going to spy, but he would make a mental note if something happened right in front of him. He knew Gunny thought the situation was great. He hoped things worked out for the lovers. There was no easy r
oad ahead for them.

  Matt decided that he and Gunny would slip out the back door and leave the major. This would give them one more night together before they left Matt saw Andrea come in the house and sit down on the edge of the couch. He motioned toward the back door with his head. Bill took the hint. They waved to everyone, not saying anything. The Vander Hoyts and Jen waved back, smiling as the two men slipped out the back door.

  Andrea sat on the edge of the couch and put her hand on Ben’s chest, waking him. She told him she was going to leave for the evening and come back in the morning to pick him up. Ben took her hand in his. He didn’t want everyone to hear their conversation, so he spoke softly.

  “Why don’t you stay?” Ben asked. “We can set a alarm and get you back to your hotel to pack and check out.”

  Andrea had known this would happen. She turned to the kitchen to get support from her sergeants and didn’t see them. She walked into the kitchen looking for them and noticed no one would make eye contact.

  “Ok,” she said, “where are they?”

  “They left a long time ago,” Janet said.

  “They said goodbye, you must not have heard it.” Harold added. Jen kept her eyes on the table. The oldsters may have immunity, but she didn’t think that was extended to her.

  Andrea came back into the living room and picked up her vid-com. She pushed the voice button. “Sergeant Major, get your ass back here,” she ordered. There was no answer. She said it again, with the same result. She started to speak again when Ben spoke up.

  “Don’t,” he said with some force. He sat up then stood. “Come.” He took her by the hand and led her upstairs. She didn’t offer any resistance.

  In the room, Andrea helped Ben get his shirt off. She watched him take off the rest of clothes. He pulled back the blankets and lay down on his side, looking at her. She looked at him and smiled.

  She stepped out of her shoes and sat on the bed next to him.

  “Unzip me.” He leaned slightly and pulled the zipper down. She stood and slid her dress off her shoulders, falling to the floor. She smiled a mischievous smile then said, “I hope you can handle this because if I can’t be too hard on them for abandoning me, I’ll have to take it out on you.”