“Sit down, Ensign,” Ben said, pulling out a chair for her. “I need some help with a few things.”
The ensign noticed the major sitting quietly, looking at her. Ensign Aok sat still. She knew something was very wrong.
“Ensign, do you know who I am?” Ben asked.
“No sir,” she replied.
“I work for Military Intelligence, Ensign Aok.” Andrea was staring at her, not blinking.
“Ensign, you have been lying to the Colonial Navy,” Ben said out loud. In his head, he thought, I wish I could see her naked. The ensign looked up at him, realization in her eyes, as she received the thought.
“What are you going to do with me and why does the major want a tiger to kill me” she said angrily.
“Don’t say anymore, Ensign,” Ben said, more gently. “Your secret is safe. Right now I want you to look over the specs in front of you. I would like to improve that rail gun, or build a better model. Can you do that while the major and I go for a walk?”
“Yes sir,” the ensign said.
The major got up and followed Ben out of his quarters.
“What the hell?” she said. “She is a telepath.”
“Yes she is,” Ben said, “and I want her on our team. I do not want her punished or threatened. You need to figure out a way to get her assigned to us without divulging that to anybody. Tell them we want to run probability scenarios prior to our missions and that we feel her help would be advantageous to the mission.”
“Ben, what if I don’t want a telepath on our team?” Andrea said. “Did you ever think of that? I don’t want someone reading my mind.”
“Andrea,” Ben said patiently, “let’s give it a trial run. If it doesn’t work out we can give her back and say nothing. I think she could increase our odds of success and save lives.”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m just not comfortable with this.”
“Could we try? What’s going to make our team special is thinking outside the box. I will take full responsibility and give you full deniability, Andrea.”
“Okay, Ben,” she whispered. “Let’s go talk to her.”
They walked back in to his quarters. Ensign Aok was making notes and studying drawings of the rail gun. Andrea took her seat and Ben sat across the table from the ensign. She stopped working and sat looking at Ben. He turned the papers so he could read her notes. She had already increased the velocity of the projectiles by 1000 fps. He smiled at her and turned the papers back.
“What’s your first name, Ensign?” Ben asked.
“E’Aria,” Aok answered.
“E’Aria, I’ll cut to the chase,” Ben told her. “We want you to work with our team. We feel you would be a huge asset to our mission.”
“You mean you want me to work with your team — isn’t that correct, Ben?” E’Aria said. Andrea’s eyes narrowed, but Ben just smiled.
“Yes I do,” he said, “very much. You have to understand that our commanders naturally would not be comfortable with your talents. But our missions are going to be very dangerous and we need every advantage we can have.”
“The major does not agree with you, Reaper,” she said.
“You’re correct, but she is willing to give this a try. If it doesn’t work we will try to get you back to an engineering department with no repercussions.”
The ensign’s thoughts appeared in Bens mind. She is your lover and is worried about this being discovered.
Yes, E’Aria, she is, Ben thought. Regardless of what you decide, you must keep that to yourself, do you understand?
Yes, she replied.
Andrea noticed the silence and cleared her throat.
“I would like your answer by 0900 tomorrow,” Ben said out loud. He turned to the abandoned papers. “Okay, now how about this rail gun?”
Ben let Ensign Aok leave a few minutes later and moved over to sit by Andrea.
“Ben, this is very risky,” she said.
“I know, but it will be worth the risk,” Ben answered. “The day you arrived on Anubis, Andrea, the wheel started turning. The risk got real. Our first kiss cemented another risk. She already knows about us. I don’t feel we are in any danger from her.”
Andrea nodded but still looked wary.
“Seeing as our rooms are next to each other, how about we take another risk?” he said, pulling her to him and wrapping his arms around her. He looked down into her icy blue eyes and kissed her — softly at first, then the passion grew fierce and they didn’t stop for two hours. Andrea set an alarm and stayed curled in Ben’s arms all night.
Andrea slipped out of Ben’s room at 0500. She cracked the door open to listen for footsteps and heard none. She was going to change into some exercise clothing and head for the gym.
Ben got up 15 minutes after Andrea had departed and got dressed. He headed to Medical to see Doctor Mathews, the ship’s Chief of Medicine. It was quiet in the Medical department. The nurse on duty looked up from her work and smiled.
“Good morning,” she said. “Can I help you?”
“Good morning,” Ben answered. “I need to get some stitches out and schedule some time in the regen tank.”
“Follow me and I will take at look and see what we can do,” she said. Ben stepped into the exam room and pulled off his shirt. The nurse walked around him and saw the wounds.
“How did this happen?” she asked, concerned.
“If you could get the doctor, I will tell you both at the same time,” Ben answered. The nurse left and came back a few minutes later with Dr. Mathews. He was a pleasant man with a professional demeanor. The nurse had a data pad to take notes with and she asked for his name while the doctor inspected the wounds.
“You can call me Reaper,” Ben said. “You cannot make any entry or note. I am not here as far as you and the doctor are concerned.”
The nurse thought he was just being difficult, so she said, “You will need to give me your name or I will call your commander.”
“Nurse Tanaka,” Ben said, “please feel free to call Major Andersen or Captain O’Shaughnessy. Either one will be happy to be of service to you.”
“I will be right back,” Nurse Tanaka said. The doctor continued to examine Ben’s wounds.
“So how did this happen?” Mathews asked. “It looks like your wounds are from an animal attack.”
“A long-fanged tiger, to be exact, doctor,” Ben answered. “She was about to take a little girl home for dinner. I got between her and her meal. We fought and she lost. She had claws and teeth and I had a knife.”
The doctor walked around and stood in front of him, looking at him with a little disbelief at first but then admiration. “I would like to speed up the healing process, doc,” Ben said.
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” the doctor answered. “I am going to inject you with the healing stimulants and some more antibiotics. I want you to come back this evening and I will take out the stitches, cover the wounds in synth skin and put you in the tank for a couple hours. I would like for you to come back every day for a week and spend at least two hours in the tank.” Ben nodded.
The doctor left to get the injections. Nurse Tanaka came back, just missing him. She didn’t look like she wanted to talk to him.
The doctor came back with 10 small glass bottles of liquid and two syringes. He injected antibiotics into each wound, followed by the healing stimulant. Ben squirmed and complained until he was done. He instructed Nurse Tanaka to rub all the bruising not associated with the wounds with a healing salve.
“You have a lot of bruising that doesn’t look like it was done at the same time as that fight with the tiger,” the doctor said.
“It was a busy weekend,” Ben responded, laughing. Nurse Tanaka had him lie down while she worked on his back and then his chest. She rubbed some on his face where he had taken the punch in the bar. They set a time for his first session in the tank.
Ben got dressed and made his way back to his quarters. He had a message on the com
unit in his quarters from Ensign Aok. She would meet him at his quarters at 0900. Ben sent the major a message about the meeting.
The major arrived at 845 with two cups of coffee. Ben thanked her; he had not had any yet. It smelled good and so did she.
“I am going to trust you about the ensign, Benjamin,” Andrea told him as she set down the coffee. “I think we will have to place some restrictions on her, but even at that she will be on the honor system. We can’t have her reading everyone’s private thoughts.”
“I know,” Ben said, “but she has been on this ship for a while and there has been no problem that I am aware of. My thought is to put her in charge of our tech and intelligence analysis. I want us to have the best tech and it doesn’t have to be Colonial Military. The Trillond have some great tech and they don’t share it all with the rest of the galaxy.”
Ensign Aok hadn’t slept much. Her mind was trying to cover all the scenarios and angles. The whole thing could be a trap, she thought, but decided in the end that she had been found out. There would be no reason to trap her. They just needed to report her. The job offer was intriguing. She would see new worlds and species. She would be faced with adventure and danger.
Her current position was safe and boring. It was a great ship. It was old enough that the initial design flaws had all been repaired or refit. The chief was conservative and never tweaked anything. When she first arrived on the ship, she had made recommendations to improve efficiency and none were ever considered. Now she would have a position where she was needed and her recommendations would be listened to.
It was 0900 when she pressed the door chime and requested admittance.
“Good morning Ensign,” Ben said.
“Good morning Reaper,” she replied, making sure not to use his name. “Good morning, Major.”
“Ensign,” Andrea said, “you look tired, did you sleep last night?”
“No Major,” Aok answered. “I had a lot on my mind.”
She continued. “I have given it much thought and I do wish to join you.”
Ben was very happy and the ensign could tell. No one had seemed happy when she joined the crew of the Warhammer.
“That’s great!” Ben exclaimed. “The major and I have some work to do now. This is not without risk for the major and I. We are not going to reveal your gift and therefore will be conspirators in this deception. But I believe the rewards will be worth the risk. Go on about your duty for now. Once we have approval we will sit down and explain what is expected of you.”
Ensign Aok walked down the corridor feeling good about the situation. Even though Ben had put her in this situation of exposure, he and the major were willing to take the risk with her. She had never had anyone willing to do something like that for her before. She hoped they were successful in getting her transferred.
The major got up and stood in front of Ben.
“You are in the shit now,” she said. “And to top it off you have dragged me along with you. I hope this will be worth it because the only thing in my future is a court martial if this goes to hell.”
“Well that’s not so bad,” Ben said. “Then we would go back to Anubis and grow some crops and have a house full of kids.”
She looked at him like he had a third eye. “Kids?” she said. “Oh no, that’s not happening.”
“We will see,” he said. “Can you check with the captain and see if we can use her conference room? Let’s get this over with.”
“I think we should talk to the captain first out of courtesy before we just try and take one of her officers,” the major said.
“Okay, but you do the talking,” Ben said. “I don’t want to get in trouble again.”
They were early enough that the officers’ mess was still serving breakfast. Ben grabbed eggs, bacon and two biscuits. He took the tray to their table and went back for juice and more coffee. By the time he got back Andrea was happily munching on the bacon as Ben sat a cup of coffee in front of her.
“How do you think she will react when we ask her?” Ben asked.
“It’s hard to say,” Andrea said thoughtfully. “Some officers get bent when someone starts cherry picking their team or crew. I can guarantee the captain knows some history on every member of her crew. You can see why she got upset when she wasn’t allowed any information about you, even your name. I guess we just lay our cards on the table and see what happens.”
With that in mind, Ben walked back up to the serving line and got a giant cinnamon roll and a coffee to go.
The captain was waiting when they arrived. Ben walked over to the captain and put the roll and coffee down in front of her. This scored him a big smile the captain and a smirk from the major. The captain started pulling the roll apart and eating. She had skipped breakfast.
“So what did you want to talk about?” she asked.
“We were going through our team roster and Reaper identified a position he would like to create. He also identified a member of your crew he would like to see fill it,” the major explained.
“Oh really?” the captain said. Ben could tell there were hundreds of things going through her head at the moment.
“Which member of my crew would that be?” she asked.
“Ensign E’Aria Aok,” the major replied.
“The Trillond from engineering,” the captain said, surprised. “How odd, Major. I would have thought you wanted one of my marines or a pilot.”
“No, Reaper has some things in mind that we can’t discuss with you,” the major said.
“Have you discussed this with General Grey?” the captain asked.
“No we haven’t,” Andrea said, “that’s our next call. We wanted to discuss it with you first. We thought it was only right. If we can get this worked out there is enough time to have a replacement waiting at Ares for you when we arrive.”
“Have you spoken to the ensign about this?” the captain asked.
“Yes, we spoke with her. We wanted to see if she had any interest in joining us. We had no intention of forcing it on her. She told us both earlier that she would like join us.”
The captain took that news a little hard. She could not think why the ensign would want to leave the ship. Ben could see her trying to work out something in her head. Her brow was creased and she was staring at him.
“Captain, you have a loyal crew,” he said, feeling like he should jump in. “I approached the ensign, or she would have never thought of leaving the Warhammer. The major and I have talked and if I have chosen wrong or the ensign changes her mind we will do our best to get her back to an engineering post. I hope you will consider giving her this opportunity.”
The captain sat lost in thought for a few moments. She had known Major Andersen for a long time. She trusted her. But she had only known this strange man for a little over a day. Even though it seemed like chaos followed him, things always seemed to work out. He seemed sincere and she felt he would keep his word. She made her decision.
“Major, I will process the transfer as soon as you have the general’s approval,” she said.
“Thank you, Captain,” the major and Reaper said at the same time. The bridge announced that General Grey was on the com. Everyone looked at each other.
“We haven’t called him yet,” Andrea said, “so it must be something else.”
“We have it, bridge,” the captain said.
The general’s face appeared on the screen.
“ I will get right to it,” the general said. “I have put the rest of the team on the Colonial Frigate Falchion. They are on an intercept course and will meet you in five days. Within the next day I will have your orders and the destination coordinates. Captain, you will be taking the team and the Falchion will depart to pick up a platoon of Marines and rendezvous with you in orbit over the target. That is all I have for now. Reaper, how are you doing?”
“I am doing fine, General,” Ben said. “Do you have just a minute sir?”
“Yes, but that is all I have,” the gen
eral answered.
“There is a crewmember on the Warhammer that I would like to bring on the team,” Ben told him. “I have talked the captain, the major and the ensign and they are all on board. Now I would like to get your okay, and the captain will issue transfer orders. Ensign Aok is a genius with tech and mathematics. Without going into too much detail, I feel she will fill a weak spot on the team.
“Captain,” Grey answered, “if you are ok with this then I see no reason not to transfer the ensign. I have a few minor concerns but we can get to them later. Make it happen if you would.” He disappeared from the com.
“You know she is green, and I don’t mean her skin,” the captain said. “She is less than a year out of the academy. She has no battlefield experience.”
Ben raised his hand to stop her. “We will protect her and give her a chance to learn,” he said. “Now, what I want to know is who will protect me from the chief when you tell him we took his ensign.”
After some cussing, and more than a little pacing, the chief was convinced. As it turned out, he was also ready to show Ben his new material.
The chief walked to a wall locker and took out a piece of armor. It was the chest piece; it was a dull grey color of ten paper-thin layers, starting with Waspaloy and ending with tungsten. The thickness and shape were identical to the plating for the light combat suit. There wasn’t going to be enough time to make a totally new armor inside and out, so they would fabricate all the plates and use existing inner suits. The chief put the plate into a laser punch in the fab shop. Ben ask the chief if he could do a series of tests that would simulate strikes by non-powered weapons. The chief said he could and would have test results by the end of his watch.
Ben had set up a meeting between the sergeants and the ensign, as well as a room change for Aok. Fifteen minutes later, they all met in a conference room. The ensign was carrying a garment bag, a duffle bag and a small box. She sat her things down and the major introduced her.
“ The ensign will be joining our team effective today. Her primary duties will be tech specialist and intelligence analysis. Reaper feels we should have the best tech available. We feel she will have no problems with the tech aspect of her position. As our intelligence officer, she lacks any formal training. However her analytical skills are far superior to any human. It will be a matter of giving her as much data and intel as possible. What we want to accomplish is getting the scenario that will give us the highest probability of success. It is understood there is a learning curve involved and we will initially operate within our normal protocols.”
The Chronicles of Benjamin Jamison: Call Sign Reaper Page 12