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The door shut behind me.
“Have a seat Loneway!” the Captain said. His voice was rough and sounded angry. This wasn't the first time. He paced across his office a few times. It was a nice office. Chairs in front of his desk and a couch with book shelves and a wide viewing pane behind his desk. I noticed several of his books had come off the shelf. Oops.
“Interesting maneuver Loneway. Is that the one they call the Twist?”
I shook my head.
“No sir, not completely,” I said. “The Twist would not have worked in that situation. It is called the...” I hesitated but I had committed myself. Someday I would remember to not open my mouth. “It is called the Tornado Twist, although I changed it somewhat because I was afraid they would still be a few who could target us when we blew through them.”
“Ah yes, if I remember right that has never been tried before, has it?” Oops again. I did not know he kept up on pilots, navigational manuals and simulation tests.
“Not in real time sir, only simulations, I did not see any other way out,” I told him honestly.
“That is because you think in extremes. Did it occur to you that if you had merely dropped us down and shot behind them with our superior speed we could have circled around and made it here with less stress and muss.”
I nodded.
“Yes sir.”
He was still looking out at the asteroids that were drifting past and then I saw his shoulders shaking slightly followed quickly by him laughing. I had never seen him laugh so completely and freely. I smiled but kept myself from laughing. I still was not sure how much trouble I was in. When he calmed down he turned, and caught his breath smiling.
“Ah, much better,” he said. “I could not hold it in any longer. You should have seen the look on Chief Labrowski's face when you flipped us back up. I will remember that for a long time.” I allowed myself a grin as he sat at his desk.
“Ok then Loneway, I did not really bring you in here to chew you out. I would prefer, however, if you let me know before we do something like that again please.” I agreed since I was not in trouble.
“As I mentioned I have to go visit our resident Diplomat and I want you to come with me.”
The sudden, complete shift in topics threw me for a second.
“Me sir? Why me?” I said. He sighed and began going over his desk, looking over notes.
“I noticed at the reception we had for the christening of the Star Light that the Ambassador is, at least a little bit, smitten with you. I need a distraction for him. Despite our situation, he will be able to cause some problems for all of us.”
I was startled to say the least. The Captain looked embarrassed. He continued. “I do not like using these tactics but Ambassador Churlish is a man who firmly believes in his own righteousness and also believes our duties are overly violent and a waste of resources. I would not ask you to do this, but I need some breathing space. Especially with this situation.”
I sat silently thinking about it. The Captain had not given a direct order, he was asking for my help and that was a whole other thing. I was touched he would trust me with something as diplomatic as this, but I was not sure what I was supposed to do. As I thought about it he went to the food dispenser and had some coffee made. He got me a cup and gestured to the viewing pane. I got up and joined him. I accepted the coffee and began sipping it. The Captain always had the best coffee. We stood side by side and gazed out at the stars and asteroids together. It felt comfortable, calming and right. The warm fuzzies were building in me and I shoved them aside for a minute.
“What exactly would you like me to do sir?” I said.
He looked startled.
“Nothing but accompany me to his quarters to speak to him. You do not have to act like you are attracted to him. Just be yourself and let him do the distracting in his head. Unless of course there is something about him that you do like...”
My eyes widened.
“With respect, sir; give me some credit. No I am not interested in him in that way. Jeez.” He broke out laughing again and this time I did join him. Our shoulders touched as we almost leaned into each other. I cherished that moment.
“So, just tag along, even take notes if you want. I often have other officers with me when I talk to him so he won't find it strange.”
OK, I thought, that I could do. We finished our coffee and were on our way. I missed that closeness, but felt we would have it again.
We walked the corridors to the Diplomat suite. The Captain smiled and said hello to everyone. He knew every person's name, rank and department. With over three hundred people serving under him that was a feat I could not match. I saw the two guards at Churlish's room. We stopped in front of them.
“Did you gentlemen find out how he broke into a silent communication system.”
One of them nodded.
“Yes Captain, he had a small device he claims is handed out to diplomats for personal use. As far as we could tell it is a listening device that he switched the wiring on to talk onto our systems. The Chief has it now and we shut down all but minimal power to his room.” The Captain nodded and we went in. I pulled out my pocket tablet and pretended to be busy.
“Has the situation been explained to you Ambassador Churlish?” said the Captain. “We were not in a position to explain things when it broke loose.”
The Ambassador was a big man. Not necessarily fat, but on the edge. He wore expensive clothing as befitted his station and his short, steel-gray hair was swept back from his forehead. He wore a small mustache of the kind that I found vaguely annoying. I looked up from my tablet and gave him a professional smile. Upon our entrance he surged to his feet as if to begin haranguing the Captain. But when he spotted me, he blustered.
“I understand it was a difficult situation Captain, but these are the sort of situations I am on board for. You could have at least sent someone to inform me more thoroughly.”
The Captain paid complete attention to the man and nodded thoughtfully.
“Yes, you are correct,” said the Captain. “That was a mistake on my part, but I was in a hurry. I will try and not to let that happen again. I wanted to let you know we have notified command about what is going on and I imagine we both will be getting orders soon.” I noticed the Ambassador's gaze did keep shifting over to me. Not necessarily my face either. I then remembered I was still in civilian clothes and showing more than I usually do on duty. Not to mention my hair was a wild mess. I sighed inwardly, doing my bit for my ship and crew.
“Indeed Captain. Do you have any idea what those orders might be?”
The Captain shook his head.
“I can honestly say I have a very hard time gauging what command may want in situations such as this. I try hard to exercise patience.” The Ambassador smiled at the Captain’s answer, then turned to me.
“And you, Lieutenant Loneway? What do you think about our situation?” His voice was toned differently than it had been for talking to the Captain. Smoother and gentler, almost charming
“Well Ambassador it could go several different ways. It is a bit above my pay grade though so I don't worry about it much. I just fly where I am told.”
The man smiled warmly and nodded.
“Like a little while ago? That was some flying my dear.” I raised an eyebrow and shrugged. I noticed his eyes flicked down to my chest when I did and back up. I looked him the eyes.
“I was ordered to get us out of there and I did.”
The Captain broke in here, thankfully, and said, “Indeed you did, Lieutenant and well done, even if it made for a rough ride. Ambassador, I promise you when I hear back from HQ I will be having a staff meeting and you will be the first one with an invitation.”
The Ambassador nodded and then my stomach interrupted by rumbling hungrily. There was a humorous look in the Ambassador’s eyes and the Captain looked vaguely startled.
“That reminds me, none of my staff has had a break in several days. I have to schedule that immediately. If you will excuse us please.” The Ambassador did graciously, although as we left I could feel his eyes on my ass. I had to change clothes, I decided. As we walked down the corridor the Captain stopped a few halls down.
“My apologies Jayne. I should not have put you in that position. The man was positively leering at you. It will not happen again.” I had never heard of the Captain ever apologizing to anyone! Much less a subordinate. I was both overjoyed with his concern and calling me by my first name, but also thought the man needed some sleep
“It was not a problem sir. I was a distraction and honestly I have been leered at by better men.”
The Captain grinned and my stomach rumbled again. Just then, before we started laughing again, his aide came running up.
“Sir, Commander Tello reports that the enemy armada has stopped and sits quietly on the other side of the asteroid belt. They have powered down and appear to be just sitting there. We are maintaining our position with no problem and there is no word back yet from HQ.” He nodded and thanked the junior officer who then went to report back to Tello.
“Well that gives us all some breathing room. Go get some food and some rest if we are allowed the time, Loneway. Thank you for your support and I will try not to let that happen again.” He reached out and squeezed my shoulder companionably. Our eyes met and for an instant I saw his feelings. He began blushing and turned walking away down the corridor. I stood there stunned, wondering if I was the one who needed the sleep or if I had really seen that. The warm fuzzies were back as I went to my quarters.