Dialene Page 10

  "Any idea of which hub we'll be going to sir?"

  "No, sorry. Dismissed."

  We got up and filed out.

  "Well this sucks," I sighed to a male Zebra I had gotten to know on the trip out. I'd never seen a Zebra before and his stripes kind of reminded me of the tigers so we'd become casual acquaintances. "I was really looking forward to all the stick time I'd get out here."

  "Stick time?" he grinned.

  "Oh give it a rest!" I said whacking his butt, "Is that all you males ever think about? I meant flying time. I'm a pretty good shuttle pilot and flying mines is tricky stuff. I was looking forward to the challenge again."

  "Never thought of a mine as a plum job." He said.

  "This one was, I've seen the other end of the spectrum, so I know what I'm talking about." I sighed.

  "Well, only thing we can do is pack and catch the shuttle to the Lux, and see what happens when we get to where ever it is they're sending us."

  "I guess."

  The Luxembourg was crowded. There were quite a few people being re-routed and there were also a large number of wounded. Because of the crowding we were four to a room, and we were all assigned to help care for the wounded. The most serious patients were tended only by those with real medical training however.

  I did my best to help cheer up the patients I worked with. I was sorely tempted to resort to the methods of cheer from my Club days on a few of the really bad cases. Losing a limb or three is something that can be repaired, same for many other serious injuries, but it takes time in a hospital. Until then there was a lot of mental anguish, and I really felt sorry for many of them.

  Quite a few did not survive the trip either, though all of those were among the most serious cases. I came across a doctor one night who was sobbing in the cafeteria well after everything had closed. He'd lost yet another patient I found out, and wasn't able to deal with it. I took him back to his room and spent the night there. Yeah I could have gotten fined for it, after all he was one of the human doctors, but at my originating company I never saw a human cry about an animorphic once. And this poor soul was devastated. He deserved some solace if ever anyone did.

  When we finally got to where we were going it was definitely one of the company's larger installations. It was a fairly earth normal type planet with a large settled population and quite a respectable defense force. A good place for the injured to convalesce.

  I made my way to the personal office and waited in line like everyone else. There were about three hundred of us suddenly dumped on the place, so I expected them to take a while to get to me. About five days later I got to finally see a counselor.

  "Let's see Dialene," he said looking over my records, he was an elderly wolf. Probably been with the company longer then I'd been alive I guessed.

  "You don't really have a lot of experience with us, do you?"

  I sighed, "I'm an expert pilot, primarily shuttle but I'm licensed up to fifty thousand tons and I'm qualified in all aircraft and air cars."

  "But you've only been doing that for the last year really."

  I looked up at him and he was looking over the top of the screen at me.

  "So I've got more time on my back then on my butt with Tri-Star. After my last assignment I think it's safe to say my loyalties aren't questionable. At my previous employer though I spent eight years as a pilot, and my licensing data backs that up.

  "So Sir," I said ignoring his name plaque, "What appears to be the issue?"

  "The issue, is that I don't have any regular shuttle pilot jobs." He stated flatly.

  "What? You're kidding me! There were openings all over the sector when I was assigned to the nickel mine. What happened?"

  "What happened was that a lot more senior pilots from the mine, who came in on that ship got those positions. That's what happened."

  I thought about that, I suppose he could be telling the truth.

  "And even though I may be more experienced, they have the tenure," I sighed then remembered something, "You said regular shuttle pilot jobs." I leaned closer, "What exactly did you mean by that?"

  "Well, we do have a number of combat positions open. Now I don't think I can get you one as a combat shuttle pilot, company policy is not to stick people from your situation into those."

  I didn't say anything, on the one hand I felt more loyalty to this company then the previous one, but on the other hand I wasn't sure I wanted to fly combat anymore.

  "But those frigates they're running around in take two pilots. Which means they crew two helmsmen and you could definitely fill the number two slot if you're interested."

  I thought about it and shrugged, it was closer to combat then I might want to be, but perversely it was probably a lot safer.

  "It also pays a bonus," he smiled, "Not as much as a combat shuttle pilot, but nothing to turn your nose up at."

  "I'm on a fixed length contract," I said, "so the bonus bit really isn't important."

  "Actually it is," he smiled, "You get your time reduced."

  I nodded, "Well sign me up I guess. When do I leave?"

  "Immediately. It's the frigate Hawk and they're in port until this last position is filled. Here's your orders," he pulled a card out of a writer on his desktop. "Good luck with your assignment."

  "Thanks," I said taking the card and heading off to my room to get my gear.

  I found the Hawk's shuttle waiting at the local spaceport. The ship was riding in orbit getting ready to get underway. I rode up in the troop/cargo bay with a number of other last minute appointments. From what the shuttle pilot told me the ship was only half manned when they made port, only the combat teams onboard were fully effective, but they were short shipboard crew and were sent here to fill out the rest of their billets. Now that the last of us were aboard we'd be breaking orbit soon.

  The shuttle pilot directed us all to the Captain's office. I knocked and went in first.

  "Pilot Dialene reporting for duty Sir," I said saluting. I wasn't exactly used to military.

  "At ease Dialene." He said looking up from my folder.

  "I see that your military training could use some work. I'll have someone assigned to help you with that."

  "Yes Sir."

  "Now going through your records I must admit I'm a bit concerned over your origins. However Ms. Harten's recommendations are rather sterling, and the company does seem to feel that you're rather trustworthy. However I'd like to hear it from you as to why you feel I should trust you to be a member of my crew Pilot Dialene." He steepled his fingers on his desk and waited for me to speak.

  "Well Sir, I have no love for the company that spawned me, especially given what they left me to. I'm sure you're probably familiar with the way they treat their employees as well. Yet this company has treated me fairly, far better than I think I deserve all things considered."

  I shrugged, "But I can't give you any reason to trust me Sir, I'll have to earn that."

  "Fair enough Dialene. For now I am assigning you the rank of Warrant Officer 3rd Class. That puts you over the enlisted, but at the bottom of everyone else. Do a good job though and I'll advance you quickly, normally someone of your experience would be 1st Class by now."

  "Thank you Sir."

  "You're welcome. I run a fairly easy ship as far as rank and protocol's go. However you'll find the Block Commander is a bit tougher with his troops, so make sure you respect that. Do a good job and we'll get along fine. Do an excellent job for me Dialene and I will personally see that you are rewarded. Dismissed."

  I saluted again, "Thank you Sir and I promise to do my best." I turned and went out the door to find my new quarters and get settled.

  The Hawk was a bit smaller then Samantha's yacht, but then her yacht was an old converted destroyer. It was one hundred yards in length and just twenty yards across at its widest point. There was only one bay, and it was barely large enough to fit a shuttle. There were two shuttles which rode on external mounts, access being through the shuttle's dorsa
l hatch. There were another four external mounts for drop ships, and with the full compliment of troops on board all four drop ships were currently attached.

  It didn't take me long to get situated. I found that I was rooming with the other pilot, which wasn't bad as we'd normally be on opposite shifts. The room wasn't that big, but for a ship this small I wasn't going to complain.

  I found the bridge easily enough, and made my way to the second helmsman position. We were already underway, I'd felt us break orbit as we'd disembarked from the shuttle. I looked over the controls, there wasn't anything out of the usual.

  I turned and looked at the other pilot, the lead pilot, he was a possum. I'd never seen a possum before, he was kind of different looking.

  "Hi, I'm Roeson," he said, "You must be Dialene."

  I reached over the console to shake hands, "Yes, I just came onboard."

  He nodded and checked his console, "We're accelerating outbound on a fairly constant vector, no course corrections for a while. I don't know how familiar you are with the ship, so take a few hours to review the spec's and after I make the final vector changes we can go over ops together. Sound good?"

  "Sounds okay to me." I smiled and sat down at my control console. It wasn't that much different than the one I had trained on for Samantha's Yacht, only there was the shuttle mounting pylons and the engines looked a bit larger. I wasn't that surprised to see the fire control wasn't different than the yacht's though. But I didn't have much control over that on ship this large, there were weapons systems specialists for that.

  "Let me introduce you to the other person on the bridge," He continued after I'd sat down. "Over there at the communications and weapons systems panels is Clare,"

  I nodded to the fem otter.

  "The Captain’s still greeting the other new arrivals, and you've already met him anyway. I suspect there'll be an all hands meeting soon enough for you to meet the rest of the bridge crew, and the engineering crew."

  "I haven't met the First Officer, what're they like?"

  "Ben? He's okay. Just look for a large black bear and that should be him. I wouldn't address him by his first name while he's on duty however. He's Major Antara."

  "I'll try to keep that in mind."

  "Oh, he's not a bad sort, but I think he feels he needs to be a bit more strict as the Captain is fairly easy going."

  "What do you think?" I asked curious.

  "Well, this is a pretty small crew, and there isn't a lot of security on the boat, so I can understand his desire to let his exec take the heat," Roeson grinned, "But don't underestimate the Captain's ability to be a hard one either. He wouldn't be here if he didn't have a proven track record. The company doesn't just hand its weapons out to anybody."

  I nodded, "Good point."

  We didn't chat much more after that, I wanted to look over the specs and other operational stuff. The ship was pretty fast from what I could see, we could make twelve lights fully loaded, fifteen if we dumped the drop ships and the sixty troops we had onboard.

  I had no combat training at all myself, so I found the layout of the troop structure very interesting. The whole group of sixty was called a 'Block', which had the same name as the ship, so they were 'Hawk Block'. The breakdown was fairly uncomplicated: the block broke down into two platoons of thirty, the platoons broke down to five squads of six troops each, and the squads broke down further to two three person half squads. There were two officers, one in charge of each platoon, the ranking officer was in charge of the whole block as well. Each of the squads that didn't have an officer in charge had either a warrant or an NCO. So with ten squads that meant three Warrants and five NCO's.

  Looking a bit closer I saw there were a few more NCO's and Warrant's in the block. They were more junior, and in command of some of the half squads. I think they were also specialists of one sort or another.

  The first leg of our journey wasn't terribly exciting. The Captain held an all hands meeting in the ship's hold, I got to meet all the other members of the ship's crew, and a few of the members of the block as well. It was here where we were informed of the first target. We were going to attack a fuel and supply depot that had been discovered. It was a bit off the usual trade routes, and to cover where we were heading, we'd drop out of drive a few lights out of port, and make a heading change. The target wasn't expected to be too heavily defended, so this was thought to be a good first strike for the Hawk.

  We all settled down into our own routines for the next two weeks. For the most part we lived up in 'Officer's Country' where the troops weren't allowed to go. But on such a small ship I found myself mixing with the troops quite a bit. They were a tough looking group, most of them at least. But after hanging around Sabre and his family for a year, and my times at the mines before that, I actually felt more at home with them then with the crew.

  This of course didn't go unnoticed. As there were a lot more male troops then female, it was about a five to one ratio, they loved having me around. And even though I didn't suffer from the nightmares as badly as I used to, I still preferred not to sleep alone. Which of course didn't go unnoticed either.

  At first it was just comments from the other fem crewmembers about how I should be more careful around 'such dangerous characters'. Then it graduated to shocked questions of 'you're not sleeping with them, are you?' I didn't feel like sharing my past in the mines, nor elaborating on my now ex-boyfriend, I'd just smile and say they were pretty much nice guys and not to worry.

  I was only sleeping with a few of them actually, since I had left the mines I didn't really want that many lovers. But I did like to flirt with the men, and while they enjoyed it, I suspect some of the others may have gotten the wrong idea. When the Exec eventually got wind of it I was called into his office.

  "Warrant Dialene," he started, sitting behind his desk and looking up slightly at me. I guess he realized that trying to stand and look intimidating wouldn't work as even though he was larger then me, I'd been hanging out with people on my off time that made him look small.

  "Yes Major?" I asked keeping my eyes straight ahead. I still wasn't perfect on the military stuff, but I had been getting better.

  "What's this I hear about you fraternizing with the members of Hawk block?"

  I blinked and looked down at him, "Excuse me Sir?" I asked surprised.

  "You heard me Warrant. I want to know what this is all about!"

  "Begging the Major's pardon Sir, but what I do when I'm off shift isn't any of the Major's business if I'm not violating any of the company's rules." I paused a second, "Sir."

  "Don't go giving me any of that," He growled, "I have full access to your files and I know what you did before coming onboard this ship."

  I looked at him feeling rather confused. "I have absolutely no idea what you're trying to say. As second in command I'd expect you to have access to my files. What has that got to do with anything?"

  "I know about what you did in the mines Warrant!" He growled.

  "So?"

  "I will not have you doing 'Business' on my ship!"

  I froze, I couldn't believe what I had just heard him say.

  "I don't know where you got the idea that I am selling myself, or my favors," I said through clenched teeth, "I would suggest that maybe you have a talk with the ship's doctor about the parts of my file that are obviously not open to you. And if you ever accuse me of such a thing again, I'll rip your balls off and stick them down your throat, Major or NOT!" and I turned on my heel and stamped out of his office not waiting to be dismissed.

  I was still seething an hour later when I reported to the bridge for my shift.

  "You don't look very happy." Observed Roeson as I took my station.

  "That damn Antara butting in where he's not wanted and jumping to wrong conclusions!" I growled.

  "He accused you of something, didn't he?" Roeson asked quietly. Only Tina was on duty, so it was pretty empty here which was normal under drive conditions.

  "He sure
did," I growled back softly. "He thinks I'm whoring myself to the troops for money! Can you believe that crap?"

  He blinked and looked shocked, "You're kidding!"

  "No, and I got so pissed off I threatened to rip his balls off if he ever did that again." I sighed, "Probably not the wisest thing I could have said."

  He laughed softly. "I can't say I blame you though. But rumors abound as to just why you, such a pretty little fox, spends so much time with the troops and so little with your crewmates."

  I sighed, "Not you too?"

  "Me?" He shrugged, "I'm curious, I'll admit it, but I wouldn't believe what he suggested."

  "Well, truth of the matter is, I've hung around people who make most of these guys look tame, so I'm not prejudiced like the rest of you all seem to be."

  "Ouch!" He said and grinned.

  "Well it's true."

  "I'll keep that in mind. So that leaves one other question."

  I nodded, "Let's just say I don't like to sleep alone, and I enjoy making people happy. And" I blushed, ears flat in embarrassment, "I have a thing for cats."

  "Oh!" he said grinning. "Yes there are quite a few cats among the troops."

  I nodded quickly, still embarrassed, "Yes, yes there are."

  He got up, "Well, I think things will settle down. Ben is overly paranoid about some things, but he's not stupid."

  "Well if he doesn't I just might ask my friends to tell him that they're not paying me," I sighed, "I would have already, but I'm afraid they'd be more than a little upset themselves."

  "And that would be a bad idea. Trust me."

  "Yeah, I know. Well, enjoy your off time."

  "Quiet shift to you Dialene!" he smiled and headed out.

  Standing watch when we were under drive wasn't that big of a deal really. Only one person had to be on the bridge, and as there were two people assigned we could trade off to take care of other jobs, whatever. With the shifts being twelve hours long you'd think it would get dull, but it rarely did. There was always something to check, or fix, or reports to write, and training courses to take. I could also lock out my control panel and run simulations on any number of things, and was required to do just that for at least one hour during my watch. Tina, or Clare if she was on watch, would normally take part in these exercises so we could work on teamwork and other things.