Chapter 2
1587 Words
Chapter Two
Well, that was a rude reminder of how things went in the Force.
Tina had been dumb to start by asking questions. Asking questions was a thing you did when you were on an equal footing. When she was still at Project Charon, she would do it in the lab because everyone there was motivated by science and asking questions was what scientists did. Of course she wouldn’t do it with the general station hands. You just told them what they needed to do, and they did it.
Somehow she’d forgotten how officers used to joke at each other to never let the troops lead the way, because you’d end up at the nearest watering hole.
She didn’t know why she’d forgotten. Because people outside the military weren’t continuously looking for ways to do less, get laid or get drunk?
This was a crash course in reminding her why she left. Or why she never signed up for a position of active duty, but stayed in Research instead.
Well, this was a brilliant start.
She steeled her voice.
“Before we decide what our next step is going to be, we will do a full inventory of all our skills to see how we can make best use of them. I would like you to state your specialty and your name and the function you had on the ship. I’ll make notes and compare this against the ship’s crew records.”
“Why not just get it from the crew records?” Sarina asked.
“Because if you possess any unofficial skills, I want to know about those, too.”
“Like knit jumpers or run a marathon?”
“Anything. Please don’t be smart.”
“I think she means operate machinery we’re not licensed to,” Zafira whispered loud enough for Tina to hear.
“And then report us to headquarters?” Sarina scoffed.
“If you’re doing something that doesn’t pass muster, it should be reported,” Tina said. “If you spent a bit of time thinking about it, you might figure out why.”
Heavens, she’d heard morale had sunk pretty low in the Federacy Force, but hadn’t quite thought it was this low. Save their mates so that they could protect each other. Not against an enemy, but against the bureaucracy.
Evelle took out her pad to make notes.
When no one volunteered to start their introduction, Tina pointed to a random person in the group, a young woman with blonde hair and lots of freckles.
“Starting with you. State your name, your function, and any skills you have.”
“Are we meant to give rank?” the woman said. Boy, she sounded really young and terrified.
“You can, but it’s not going to do us any good. We’re all in this together, so we might as well forget about ranks for the time being, providing everyone can act like adults.”
Yonta glared at her. She had obviously already decided to make Tina’s life as hard as possible.
The young woman said, “I’m Gisele Dubois. I’m a kitchen hand. I do the washing up and stuff. I don’t have any special skills. I just signed up because I needed a job.”
Next came Zafira. “I already introduced myself. My name is Zafira Calhoun. I work in IT. I run engine diagnostics all day. I’m unbeatable in 3D pool.”
A few women chuckled. It was like they still didn’t realise how serious their predicament was.
Another dark-haired woman said, “I am Miriam Abadi, Junior Technical Officer. I work in logistics operations, mainly recycling.” She was quite short and sturdy, with a thick mop of curly hair that escaped her bun on all sides.
The next woman said, “I’m Rae Yang. I’m a doctor.” She was by far the oldest of the ship crew, tough and wiry. Her black hair was peppered with grey. She met Tina’s eyes and nodded. She was going to be useful. Tina would ask her to check out the men.
“I’m Clodine Vermont, I work in weapon systems.”
“I’m Margot Ford. Cook.” Tina was already familiar with Margot, a dark-skinned woman with a smiling face and broad hips.
“Sarina DeLeon, port comms. I know about communication.”
“Cally Bennardo. Supply Officer.” She was also older. Her voice sounded very sure. “That means I do lots of puzzles of how things fit together.”
“Lisette Mann, admin officer, as I said.”
That left the three men, who had barely said anything since entering the room.
“What about you?” Tina asked, looking at the first man.
This man held onto the post next to Miriam, and Tina remembered Miriam getting upset about him lying in a pirate’s stasis pod. He was sturdy and had dark hair.
“Vito Pellegrini. Health Officer.”
“You’re a nurse?”
He grinned, showing uneven teeth with a corner broken off one of his front teeth. “Oh, I wish. I could have my hands on these beautiful women all the time.”
Everyone seemed to think that was funny.
“I see you’ve recovered quite well,” Tina said, remembering the sarcastic tone that many officers took when someone tried to make fun of them.
“I’m as good as new,” Vito said. “It’s amazing what a long sleep can do to you.”
“Glad that you enjoyed it.”
Tina met his eyes squarely. If he was going to joke, she had an endless supply of lame comments she’d perfected on Janusz and other stickybeaks at Dickson’s Creek.
But he seemed to shrink.
That reply hit home.
She said, “Our group appears to include a medical officer, so if you experience any lingering issues, I suggest you see her.”
He glanced at Rae while remaining silent.
“I’m serious,” Tina said, now also looking at the other men in turn.
Out of the three, Vito seemed to have recovered the best.
It gave her hope that they had stopped the transformation process early enough and all of them would recover from having been infected with the alien parasite DNA dust.
“But I repeat, you’re a nurse?” Because that would be handy.
Everyone laughed. Miriam put an arm around Vito’s waist and patted his chest with her other hand.
Yonta gave her a sharp glance. Most of the ships of the Federacy Force had a non-fraternisation policy. When Tina and Dexter married, they had to ask for special consideration. These two were pushing the boundaries, and some clearly didn’t appreciate it.
But Tina had neither the authority nor the inclination to say anything about it. If it helped Vito recover, let him be with his girlfriend.
“He’s a cleaner,” Yonta said. She didn’t actually roll her eyes, but her voice sounded like she wanted to.
“Yo, I keep your mess tidy.”
“I don’t make any mess.”
A tense silence followed.
Did Yonta get along with anyone?
“What about you two?” Tina asked the remaining two men. Neither of them had said anything. They hung back from the group, as if they didn’t want to be here.
She nodded at the first man. He was thin and tall, as was typical for people who had grown up in space. His sparse hair was grey-blond and stood out at odd angles.
“Stan. IT.” He sounded as disengaged as Tina remembered IT people to be. They mostly didn’t want you to bother them because they seemed to think that general users of computer systems were stupid.
“Do you have a last name, Stan?”
“Sankowki.”
“Well, welcome, Stan.”
He didn’t reply.
Then only one man remained who hadn’t said anything yet.
Tina asked, “What is your name? What skills do you possess?”
“Gerry Scott,” the man said.
He looked kind of burly and scruffy, with too-long hair and unshaven cheeks. He held himself in place by crossing his arms in front of his chest and around one of the holdfast bars across the cabin.
“What is your field of work?” Tina asked.
“I work in the docks. I do stuff when ships are arriving. You wouldn’t understand.”
Oh, here we had the “dumb woman” trope.
“I might ask you to try me at some point.”
He gave her a wary look.
“Do you have any extra skills that might be useful to us?”
“Not that I can think of.”
Great. The group represented one of the most sorry collections of flotsam that she could imagine.
While Tina and the others had spoken, Evelle had been taking notes. She had created a table of names and skills.
Tina looked at her notes, as if something she didn’t already know would spring up. The situation was depressing. The group didn’t include anywhere near enough people to undertake any activity at all. They didn’t even have any of the right people.
“So what is this plan, if I may ask?” Yonta asked.
“I don’t know yet. We have to assess the options,” Tina said.
Talk it over with Aliz, discuss what they possibly could do.
“The choices are not that difficult, are they? Go back for the rest of the crew or forget about them and carry on?”
“We will assess the options,” Tina repeated. “We’ll consider the feasibility of each. I’ll present the conclusions. Then we’ll decide.”
But expressions hardened and brows furrowed. Tina hated her own wishy-washy words, but didn’t know what else she could say that didn’t sound like “we’re doomed.”
“The decision will be made with the safety of the crew in mind,” Aliz said. “As Tina says, we’ll first consider all the options.”
There was little reaction from the group. Clearly, it was a matter of wait and see for them. If they liked the proposal, they might cooperate. It was time to end the meeting.
“Thank you for coming. I think we all need some rest and a little time for deliberation.”
“Yeah, I better do some cooking, I bet you’re all hungry,” Margot said.
One by one, the group members left the room.
Miriam hung back until the others had gone. She said, “I’m sorry about what Gerry said. I don’t understand why he’s so cranky. He’s normally a very helpful fellow, a friend of Vito’s.”
Tina hadn’t noticed troublesome behaviour from Gerry. She was worried about Yonta.
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