The Last Praetorian (18 page)

Not in the direction of his hand, as everybody observing
expected, but in the direction of his face!  Suddenly leaning forward Miranda
kissed the stunned deck Chief on the lips.  Not a chaste kiss, such as between
brother and sister perhaps, but a full on kiss with lips and tongue!  The
Chief’s eyes went as wide as saucers the instant he felt her tongue enter his
mouth all thoughts of the competition and his hand fled his mind…As soon as
Miranda felt his muscles relax she pushed with all her strength and the Chief’s
arm hit the desk! 

Leaning back Miranda gave the completely astonished Chief an
impish smile followed by a quick kiss on the cheek.  “Thanks Chief!” she
smiled.  “Looks like I won.  Would you like any help implementing my
recommendations?”  Miranda’s voice could barely be heard above all of the
cheers and whistles coming from the assembled crowd.

Taking pity on his deck Chief and trying to fight down his
own surge of jealousy at the Chief for being the recipient of such a kiss.  Jon
called out, “Ok people!  Back to work!  The show is over!”  With some
good-humoured pat on the backs and congratulations to Miranda the crowd finally
dispersed back to their jobs. 

“Chief, I look forward to seeing your progress report
regarding these new procedures,” Jon offered as a parting comment to Chief
Reynolds, gently reminding him that he expected the deck Chief to uphold his
part of the agreement.

Arriving back in C&C Paul looked up in some
consternation inquiring. “How are things down on the flight deck?” 

Biting back a laugh, Jon replied.  “They are fine.  Miranda
has everything under control down there, although I will be looking forward to
the next few reports from Gunny,” Jon laughed.

*****

It was several days later, after the incident on the flight
deck, when Paul & Jon finally had a chance to put their feet up and relax. 
Paul and Jon usually alternated shift patterns so one of the experienced
command staff was always on hand in case of an emergency.  However, this
evening there were no inbound or outbound ships scheduled, so one of the more
junior members of the command staff was in-charge of the C&C with
instructions to call if there were any problems.  They had finally managed to
put Paul’s kids to sleep, which had involved complex negotiations, followed by
a round of ‘Good Cop, Bad Cop’ with Jon as the more senior having to threaten
the kids that if they did not go to sleep he was going to space their teddy
bear; they had quickly agreed and settled down to sleep.

“So where is Carol tonight?” Jon inquired leaning back in
the Harrington’s living room with a beer.  Carol was Paul’s long-suffering wife
of over ten years and was usually in charge of putting the kids to sleep.

“She mentioned something about Miranda having been here over
a week and nobody having shown her a good time,” Paul replied opening his own
beer. “So she and a couple of the other women have taken her out for a ‘Girls
Night Out’,” Paul added, putting particular emphasis on the last three words. 
The story of Miranda’s run-in with Reynolds had spread like wildfire throughout
the station dispelling any resentment that might have been harboured by some
crewmembers when the story had also got around of how she came to be aboard the
station.

“Perhaps we should forewarn security now,” Jon murmured.
“Sounds like a group that should be identified as ‘dangerous, handle with
extreme caution’.  Talking of which,” Jon inquired, “how are Reynolds and
Miranda getting on?” he asked with some concern, worrying that Gunny might
harbour some resentment about the way that Miranda had bested him.  

“Last I heard, fantastically,” Paul replied without any
concern.  “Productivity seems to have increased by at least 40% following
Miranda’s recommendations.  I heard that, on seeing the results, Reynolds
picked the girl up, straight off the ground and some of the crew had to rescue
her before the Chief suffocated her by accident.  Ever since then the Chief has
been putty in her hands, I hear that they are discussing ways to improve
productivity further,” Paul added.

“Glad that she is fitting in with the rest of the crew,” Jon
replied.  “I have moved her across to work with security during the next crew
rotation,” Jon added reclining in his chair, relaxing after the busy day.  “I
didn’t want to assign her there initially as you know how McNeill felt when we
first revived her.  A clear threat to my personal safety and the station,” Jon
parroted trying his best to imitate the British accent of their security
chief. 

Paul smiled at the poor impression before frowning and
commenting, “You sure that is a good idea?  She will have access to the station
armoury,” Paul replied with some concern.  With a laugh Jon recounted the
face-to-face meeting in his office several days earlier.  Paul just listened in
growing disbelief and his face grew pale when Jon reached the point about
tossing her the live weapon.

“What the hell were you playing at?” Paul demanded, keeping
his voice down so as not to wake the kids.  “She could have just as easily shot
you and made for the nearest ship!” Paul exclaimed. 

Jon acknowledged the point with a short nod of his head but
insisted, “It was my judgement call.  No way could we confine her to the brig
or her quarters for that duration of time, we could not spare the people and I
assume that you did not support McNeill’s less than subtle suggestion of just
sticking her out the nearest airlock?” Jon inquired mildly.

“Of course not!”

“So instead, you would have some unknown loose cannon
running around the station,” Jon continued. “Perhaps we catch her tampering
with the magnetic shielding around the fusion reactor,” Jon suggested with a
slight nod of his head towards the children’s bedroom.  Paul went as white as a
sheet, obviously not having thought through the damage that a person loose on
the station with malicious intent could cause.

“Better that I just put one life at risk, than risk the
lives of everybody on the station,” Jon insisted making it clear that the topic
of conversation was closed.

Looking to change the topic, Paul inquired, “So when are you
planning to put Miranda on rotation in the C&C?” 

Relaxing in the comfortable chair with the beer, Jon replied
without thinking, “I was planning on waiting a few more crew rotations before I
put her on duty in the C&C.  She needs some more experience with the
various departments and to become familiar with the department heads before she
is ready,” Jon explained.  Suddenly realising what he had just admitted to he
opened his eyes to focus on his second-in-command, who was wearing a smirk on
his face.

“You knew!” Jon insisted, realising that he had just been
set-up.

“Yep!” Paul replied with a grin.  “It has been a long time,
but I still recognise an Imperial Navy fast-tracked command training program
when I see one!” Paul confirmed. 

Anxious to reassure his old friend Jon explained, “I have no
plans to replace you.”

“Glad to hear it.  So when do you plan on informing Miranda
of this?”  Paul inquired curiously.

“Hell, not for a while yet!”  Jon insisted, settling back
down.  “She would probably laugh in my face if I suggested the idea to her now…
but she has so much potential!” Jon said.  “Look at the way she has got Gunny
wrapped around her finger and the rest of the command staff are already warming
to her.  She is smart, clever, and intuitive and has a natural leadership
ability,” Jon insisted.

“As long as you have thought this through carefully,” Paul
suggested. 

“What do you mean?”

“Well...” choosing his words carefully, Paul explained. “We
still don’t know much about her, beyond what you have already told me, that she
is an outstanding pilot.  Now you have started her on a fast track training
program for command.  We could be handing her right back to the Syndicate, not
just as an ace pilot but with the sort of command skills that would help mould
them into a far more effective threat to this system.”  Having voiced his
concerns Paul fell quiet.  He decided not to also voice his concerns that Jon
was becoming infatuated with her and was losing his perspective.  Paul had been
surprised that Jon viewed the talented young pilot much more as his protégée
than potential romantic interest.  Paul had observed the young woman catch the
eye of more than one male member of the crew, however Jon had not seemed to
make any advances.

“So what time does Carol get back tonight?” Jon asked,
leaning back in his comfortable chair after deciding to give Paul’s concerns
further thought… but not tonight.

“She warned me she could be back quite late.  Seems that she
and the other women are going to try and set Miranda up with that young
communications officer from 3
^rd
shift, according to the women he is
eye-candy…” Paul watched with a smirk as Jon spat beer everywhere.

Yep maybe not totally disinterested…
Paul thought
with a grin.

*****

A few weeks later Jon was reviewing the latest company
shipping reports, noting the worrying rise in the number and severity of the
attacks on Vanguard ships, when a chime interrupted his reading, notifying him
of somebody requesting permission to enter.

“Come!” Jon called out and the door slid open to reveal the
not unexpected face of Jason Edgar, Vanguard’s ‘Company Man’ as Jason jokingly
referred to himself.  The rest of the crew simply thought of him as their Intelligence
Officer or ‘Chief Spy’.

“Take a seat, I was expecting you, after reviewing your
latest report,” Jon commented with another glance at the disturbing report
sitting on his desk.  “Do we have any more information explaining the
increasing number of attacks on our ships?” Jon inquired. 

Shaking his head Jason replied.  “Nothing concrete at the
moment, just conjecture.  We assume that the failed attempt on your life some
weeks ago has thrown a spanner in the Syndicate plans for Vanguard.  Hence we
assume the increasing number of attacks is an attempt to push you to reconsider
their initial proposal.”

“When hell freezes over!”  Jon replied grimly.  “Any idea
what they might attempt next?”

“Intelligence are guessing that they will continue to ramp
up their attacks on our ships to increase the pressure on Vanguard and our
customers.  If that fails to work we assume either another attempt on your life
or some sort of direct assault on Vanguard.  As we have little presence off the
station, we assume this will take the form of some sort of sabotage or assault
on
Terra Nova
directly.” 

Thinking for a moment Jon replied. “Ok, please let David
know about the possible threat to station security and ask him to increase
internal security.  I will discuss the possible outside threat with Paul and
come-up with a suitable response.  Is there anything else?”

“Just one other thing, sir,” Jason continued.  “You asked me
to investigate the background of Miss Miranda.”  So far nobody had managed to
get her to divulge her last name.  Hence the crew had simply become use to
referring to her as Miranda or Miss Miranda.

“Has intelligence had any success determining her last name
yet?”  Jon replied in a rather ironic tone of voice. 

Ignoring the perceived insult to his intelligence team,
Jason continued. “Perhaps.  With your permission we requested a sample of her
DNA from the Doctor.  It took us a long time but we finally found an exact
match in some old records from one of the adjoining systems.” Jason handed a
copy of the data to Jon who reviewed the results with interest.

“I notice that this is a very old record,” Jon commented checking
the last update, which was dated almost 20 years earlier. 

“That was why it took us so long to find the match,” Jason
explained.  “The record had long since been archived to long term storage,
hence took a lot of time to access.  I also draw your attention to the last
update.”  Jon flicked to the last update of the record, which detailed that the
person had been legally declared dead for almost 20 years.

“I must confess that I find Miranda in remarkably good
health for a person that was declared dead 20 years previously,” Jon commented
sarcastically.

“According to the information from the records her parents
were part of a crew of an inter-system deep space freighter.  The freighter
disappeared on a routine trip in the Aquila constellation.  The ship was
declared lost, with all hands a few years later.  According to the records
Miranda would have been approximately six years old when the ship was declared
lost.”

“So…” Jon mused, “we have the mystery of a ship that has
been missing for over 20 years, lost with all hands, or at least was so assumed,
and now we find one of the crew, who would have only been six at the time,
alive and well 20 years later working for the Syndicate.  Would intelligence
like to draw any conclusions from these facts?” Jon asked dryly.

“No sir,” Jason replied, realising that it would not be a
good idea to speculate any further. 

“Thank you for the information.  It will be put to good use. 
Please pass on my thanks to the rest of your team.”  Hearing the dismissal in
Jon’s voice, Jason nodded his head in thanks and made quickly for the exit.

Meanwhile Jon turned back to the data pad that intelligence
had supplied and started to review the information carefully.

*****

Sometime later Jon stepped into Security looking for
Miranda. He had decided that it was time to have a face-to-face with their
newest crewmember, to discuss - the past.  Hence with data pad in hand, Jon
decided to go hunting.  Miranda had recently been assigned to Security during
the last crew rotation and Jon had been carefully monitoring the security
reports to try and guess whom Miranda was going to shoot… or kiss next.  He noticed
that security was almost empty except for McNeill, the station head of security
reviewing a tactical map of the station with a frown.