Lacuna: Demons of the Void (20 page)

“Soooooo... Captain! Hey! What a surprise seeing
you
here!”

“I’m surprised to
be
here, myself, but more surprised at seeing the two of you... well... creating an unsanitary condition in my armoury.”

Apparently unconcerned by his nudity, Alex gave Liao a wide grin, his hands on his hips. “Sorry, Captain. Just enjoying a little recreational time between shifts. A little social networking...”

“Oh, you’re
networked alright.
I can see
that
.”

Summer absently picked up her shirt, holding it in front of her, frowning at the two. “Hey, if you’re going to chew us out, could you at least – you know – close the door?”

Liao motioned to Cheung who turned and sealed the hatchway.

“Before you start,” Summer accused, pointing her finger towards Liao with her free hand, “don’t get all hypocritical on us just because we’re having a little fun when we’re off duty. We
know
you’re fucking Captain Grégoire.”

“Oh,
do you now
?” she questioned, a distinctive edge to her tone. She turned to Alex. “You know my policy about rumours aboard my ship, but... we’re not talking about me, are we, Mister Aharoni?”

“No, Captain. Can I put on some pants?” A sly grin formed on the man’s face. “Or are you just enjoying the view?”

Summer elbowed him in the ribs. “Shut up,” she hissed, “Can’t you see she’s
pissed
?”

Liao reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes a moment. “Okay, the bottom line is... you’re both off duty at the moment, you’re both consenting adults, and you’re both... young and stupid enough to do something as crazy as shagging in an ammo locker in lieu of getting a good night’s sleep only a few days before the launch of one of the most important operations mankind has ever embarked on.”

“It’s good for my morale, Captain,” Alex argued. “And besides, it’s not that late that we’re missing out on sleep...” he coughed. “...Not that we do a lot of sleeping when we’re in bed together anyway.”

Liao held up her hands to get him to stop. “Your shared nocturnal activities are, unfortunately,
not
none of my business... but I
really
don’t need specifics. How long has this been going on?”

Summer shrugged, glancing at Alex. “I’m not sure, Jazz – when did you come on board again? The day after that?”

Liao wrinkled her nose at Summer calling her best pilot by his remarkably juvenile call sign, but said nothing.

“Something like that,” Alex answered. “Or maybe it was that same day... I think it was after that boring-as-hell briefing. Yeah... it was. I asked you for a drink, and you said something flirty, and that was when we broke into the mess hall and-”

“Enough!” Liao blinked a few times, shaking her head. “What the hell am I going to do with you two?”

A moment of silence as Liao pinched her nose again. Then she just threw her hands in the air helplessly. “Well, look. It’s not harming anyone, and as long as you two keep it discrete I don’t really care what the hell you two kids do instead of rack time.”

Summer looked to be about to speak, but Liao cut her off. “-but...
no
more shagging in public places. In your bunks only, and certainly not while you’re on duty.”

“Aye, Captain.”

“Okey-dokey.”

Shaking her head at Rowe’s informality, but feeling unable to chide her about it since the redhead was stark naked, Liao beat a swift retreat out of the room. She let Cheung step out first, began to close the door, then stopped.

“Oh, and about that view?” Liao winked slyly as she shut the hatchway. “...James is bigger.”

“Hah! I
KNEW
you were fu-”

*****

Later

“So, how long have you known about those two clowns?”

Liao walked down the corridor with Cheung who just gave a low chuckle. “A few days, Captain. I sprung them together in a nuke tube when the engineers were doing maintenance on it.”

Liao’s eyebrow shot up at that, shooting the marine an incredulous glance. “In a
missile launch tube
?” They rounded a corner and Liao gave a nod as some of the junior enlisted crew jumped out of her way. “Are those things even
pressurized
?”

“Not during normal operations, no, but since we had work crew doing a maintenance run before the big operation, we temporarily pressurized them. It takes about an hour to check each missile, so... they just slipped in when they saw the others being worked on.”

“The fuck? What if we had to open the launch bay doors?”

Cheung shrugged absently as the two worked towards the stern of the vessel. “They would probably get flushed out to space, die, and we would never know what happened to them. I mean, this ship is a closed system, so
eventually
we’d just have to assume they somehow got away from the ship. But I mean... the radar’s not configured to look for objects of that density so they’d probably be automatically filtered out.”

Liao digested that for a moment. “Those stupid... Ugh, I can’t believe it. I guess I’ll have to let them know not to bump uglies anywhere where they might be flushed out into space at a moment’s notice.”

“I thought you already did that.”

Liao shrugged. “Technically, I told them not to bang on duty, and not to do it in a public place. I’m not sure a missile launch tube is classified as a public place, but... I did specify that they should do it only in their rack, though. I can always fall back on that.”

“That’s true.”

Liao sighed. “It seems like everyone’s just getting busy...” she waved a hand at the marine absently. “I’m guessing
you’re
seeing one of the men on the side, too...”

“...Uh, no.” Cheung grinned a lopsided grin. “I like girls, sir.”

“...Oh.” Liao felt slightly flustered, shaking her head. Cheung just gave her a playful nudge.

“I thought that was fairly common knowledge, Captain.”

Liao made a confused face. “Actually, I’d heard occasional whispers to that effect, but I just assumed they were the standard jokes. You know, female head of the marines... Well, she’s
gotta
be a lesbian if she chose that position... I guess I just didn’t expect something so, um, cliché to be accurate… Sorry.”

Cheung didn’t seem offended, and she just smiled. “Don’t worry about it, Captain. It’s an honest mistake. It’s happened before and it’ll happen again.”

“Alright.”

Liao and Cheung turned, then began walking back towards the Operations room at the heart of the ship.

“So,” began Liao, “you didn’t answer my question.”

“Am I seeing anyone on the crew?”

“That’s the one.”

Cheung smiled, shaking her head. “No, Captain. Not at this time. I actually have someone back home...”

“Hmm, that’s unusual. I thought the Task Force preferred single people - less chance of homesickness on long voyages...”

“That’s technically true, but the form only specified ‘husband or boyfriend’. Since I have neither, I ticked none.”

Liao chuckled. “Cunning. I like that.” Seeing Cheung’s strange look, she playfully held up a hand. “Not
like
like, marine... Relax.”

“I was going to
say
...” Cheung laughed, and as they turned a corner she continued. “But, you know, well.... you said before that it’s strange that everyone’s hooking up at this critical juncture. It doesn’t seem strange to me.”

“Really?” Liao raised an eyebrow, regarding the taller, stronger woman. “You don’t think they should be focused on their duty?”

“Are
you
?”

That caught Liao by surprise. Stopping in the corridor, she closed her eyes a moment and then sighed. “Are James and I really that obvious?”

“Fairly obvious, yes, and it’s normal. Don’t worry about it, Captain.” Cheung beckoned her to continue and the two resumed their walk. “Soldiers all throughout history have gone to war - have stood on the precipice of strife, of battle, of unimaginable chaos and death and misery - knowing that when dawn came they could lose it all.

“It was in those times, Captain, that their minds turned not to the conflict ahead of them, but to their families. Their friends in their hometown... the people they loved, the people they were fighting to protect.”

Cheung gave a wry smile, holding open a door for the Captain and then the two stepped through into the final corridor before Operations.

“... and if they’re like Summer, or Alex, who don’t have anyone – then they
manufacture
someone.”

Liao stopped her before they could get into eavesdropping range of Operations. “That’s what you think James is to me? More than just a warm body, he’s... I need him because I need someone worth fighting for? That’s all he is?”

“
Is
he?” Cheung paused, regarding her Captain, who seemed oddly disturbed by what she was saying.

“... I don’t know. Not yet,” Liao clarified, reaching out and touching the taller woman’s arm. “But... I- I don’t know...”

“We’re young women and men, Captain, but we’re standing in the shoes of our ancestors. Humans of all nations, of all ethnicities, of all faiths and colours and creeds have stood where we are standing now – on the brink of war. The reasons behind every struggle may change, Captain, and these may seem like new and fascinating times... but
all
wars are old wars.”

Liao remembered something her mother told her once. “...And in war it is the youth who suffer.” She bit her lower lip, suddenly unable to walk into the Operations room, her eyes falling to the steel hatchway that lead there. “Not everyone is going to survive this trip out, are they?”

“No,” came Cheung’s answer, her voice soft. “But we all know the risks.”

“That’s an old soldier’s answer if I ever heard one.”

“I’m not old,” Cheung protested, giving her Captain a playful pat on the arm, “but I will be one day. Mark my words; I intend to get as old as possible.”

With a final glance towards her marine head, Liao nodded and stepped towards Operations.

“So do I.”

*****

Operations Room

TFR
Beijing

With Cheung’s words echoing in her mind, Liao stepped through the threshold into the Operations room. Whenever she came here it was like stepping into another world. This was the ship’s brain, but Liao preferred to think of it as his beating heart – the pulsating, organic, living centre of the vessel. It was from here that his lifeblood, information, was pumped along the ship’s length to every part of its body.

She was relieved to see that most of the Operations crew had taken her advice to sleep well, which was not orders, to heart; the room was staffed by a skeleton crew and the night shift who had started early.

Melissa herself had slept during the swing shift; she wanted to be awake and alert for both the engagement and its prelude, even as she advised her crew against the same course of action. The hypocrisy, although made with good intentions, still weighed upon her.

Of course, it had
nothing
to do with the fact that this was the only shift James could visit...

And so it was with some trepidation that she picked up her digital pad and reviewed the ship’s status. It was, as it had been for several days now, at the absolute peak of its readiness.

Liao went to call Summer to Operations, but as she reached for the intercom she realized that she was already there, sitting in the corner and reading. Melissa walked up to where she was, her curiosity getting the better of her. She hoped it was a technical manual... or something work related.

“You got here fast.”

“Mmm?” The redhead looked up, regarding her Captain. “Oh, yeah, well...”

“I know you’re not meant to be on duty now, but you are meant to be sleeping if you’re not.” A pause. “What are you reading?”

Summer handed the paperback to Liao. "It's called
The Touch of Tears
," she explained.

"Oh, that?" Liao chuckled, "From what I hear it's more popular than Harry-fucking-Potter these days. Just don't read it when you're on the job."

Summer gave a dramatic sigh, tucking the voluminous book under her arm. "...
Fine
. Anyway, technically speaking aren’t you meant to be in bed too, Captain?"

“I couldn’t sleep. I never can before the big operations.” Liao gave a wry grin. “Or before Chinese New Year for that matter... I’d stay awake, trying to count down the hours until midnight... just like I am now, I suppose.”

Rowe regarded her, raising a red-haired eyebrow. “That’s not good,” she observed, “since it means you’ll get tired... Tired Captains make mistakes.”

“I don’t make mistakes,” Liao proclaimed, grinning down at the redhead. “That’s just one of the advantages of being Captain. You’re never wrong; in the event you say or do something incorrect it’s actually the universe,
itself
, which is wrong.”