How could the morning feel so much brighter, so much clearer than any other day? He knew why, yet he couldn’t stop wondering at the answer. Was this what life was really all about? Perhaps it was.
Rather than announce their new status with a trumpet by walking together to the showers, Shaun elected to stay a few extra minutes in his quarters while she went on ahead. He was still deep in his joyful reverie when he heard a knock at the door.
“Shaun! You there?”
It was Kenny. Shaun tried desperately to put his face in neutral, and opened the door. “Hey, Kenny. How you doing?”
“She left me last night. That’s how I’m doing.”
“I’m so sorry. But I know you saw this coming, for a long time. Isn’t it kind of a relief now? The bandaid is off…”
Shaun tried to find words of encouragement, but his own sense of guilt was making that difficult. “What can I do for you, bud?”
Kenny shook his head. “I don’t know. I just need to talk to somebody. Can I come in and sit down?”
Shaun paused. “I don’t know about that, Kenny. I was just leaving for the showers -- “
“I won’t take long: I promise.”
“Maybe you should take a little time,” Shaun countered, “when we both have time to talk. It’s just -- not right now, okay?”
Kenny frowned. “What’s with you? Why are you acting like this? I just need someone to talk to for a minute, get my head together -- “
Kenny sniffled for a moment, wiping his nose. A sign of recognition crossed his face. “That’s her smell -- “
He shoved the door open and stepped in, glaring around until he spotted Alissa’s mostly-packed bags sitting open in the corner.
“I should have known.”
His eyes fell accusingly on the unmade bunk. “I don’t see another cot or a sleeping roll. I guess you didn’t feel the need for one.”
Shaun groaned. “Look, Kenny: Alissa is a very headstrong girl. She has a tendency to get what she wants -- “
“ -- and last night, what she wanted was you. So I can’t blame you for going along with her because ‘she’s headstrong’? You are so full of it!”
“Kenny: I tried talking to her, I tried talking to you -- “
“-- So that’s what you two were doing last night: ‘talking’? I oughta -- “
Kenny stood there speechless, hands clenching and unclenching as if trying to make up his mind whether to punch Shaun or not. Finally his hands unclenched.
“All this time… yeah. I should have seen it coming a long time ago. Guess I’ll have more smarts now, know when not to trust a backstabber.”
He moved for the door. Shaun wanted to speak up, but there was nothing he could say to refute Kenny’s accusation, and no apology seemed sufficient or appropriate. After Kenny left he sat down on the bunk and sighed. But there was really nothing he could do now for Kenny, so after a couple of minutes he stood and made the bunk. About then Alissa walked in, fresh from her shower, and she approached and kissed him. She smiled brightly. “Your turn, you lovely man.”
He smiled back as much as he could. “Kenny was here. He knows.”
Her smile dropped as well, and she sighed. “Wasn’t like we could keep it from him for long. I guess it’s better that he knows now rather than later.”
Shaun nodded. “I suppose you’re right. I just have to wonder how this is going to affect our working together.”
She frowned. “It had better not affect anything. We need to stay professional; we’re dealing with real human lives, now. This isn’t just a game we can walk away from anymore, say: ‘Screw it! Let’s do Monopoly instead.’ It’s literally life and death.”
“I know what you mean,” Shaun replied, “but I don’t see Kenny’s animosity dying down anytime soon.”
She gave him a quick hug. “He’ll come around in time. Meantime, you need to go take a shower. I’ll be here when you get back.”
He did as he was told, and upon his return found her tapping on her writing pad. “I’m applying to the quartermaster for us to receive larger quarters. I didn’t think you’d mind.”
He wasn’t quite sure if he minded or not. “Wow. That’s pretty quick. You think they’ll get that done, like, by tonight?”
“They’d better. If not, where am I supposed to sleep?”
He nodded. “You’re right, of course. Hey: does that mean Kenny’s going to get kicked down to some lesser quarters?”
She shrugged. “Don’t know, don’t care. He will get by.”
This callousness on her part was really giving Shaun pause. He couldn’t help but imagine what would happen if he were to fall from her grace, how she might treat him in turn. It wasn’t a pleasant thought. But for the moment he was in her graces, and those were sweet indeed.
He nodded. “Okay. I guess we’ll see what they come up with for us. I don’t see us fitting all of yours and all of mine in here.”
She smiled and linked her arm through his. “So, now: what to do today?” she asked.
“I know I have to report to get our next assignment. Beyond that, I’m not sure. It would be lovely if we had the rest of the day free after that, but somehow I doubt it.”
She sighed and pouted for just a moment. “Oh, well. I’ll have you tonight. If they give us some big assignment, I am sure you will let us all know.”
“Of course.” He kissed her, then gently pulled away. “I’ll give you a call soon.”
A few minutes later he had arrived at Theresa’s office and been ushered in. Theresa was seated at her desk with a tablet in front of her. Shaun laid his own down on the desk, anticipating whatever she would share on it. She looked up with a brief smile.
“Lt Commander Matthews: congratulations on your most recent mission. How does the new Spitfire handle? I am sure in particular Lt Winston is most delighted and grateful for his new Qi-shi.”
Shaun sighed. “The Spitfire’s great. But Lt Winston: pleased with the new Jug, I imagine, but not really grateful right now. Some personal issues have come up, and I think I’m on his naughty list right about now.”
Theresa focused on him intently. “I see. Anything that could be cause for concern?”
Shaun shrugged. “I really don’t know. He might be pissed enough to do something insubordinate, but who knows? We haven’t been in a command situation since everything went south, so there’s really no telling.”
Theresa nodded. “If there were time, I would suggest a ‘Capture the Flag’ training scenario with you two on opposite sides, to see if letting off a little steam might ease the tension. But right now, we do not have time.”
She tapped an icon on her tablet, and one popped up on his screen. He tapped it and the file opened up with a map of a large planetary system.
“The Bandersnatch system: thirty-seven planets, most completely inhospitable, but three that are in the green range. There is a hyperjump gate at number 28.
“Interesting thing about hyperjump gates: if you analyze their data just right, you can detect other jumps within a system. We have an engineer who was working on the gate for some standard maintenance who discovered that there have been perhaps a dozen recent jumps from much deeper in the star’s gravity well. We have been able to trace these to planet 14: a royal hellhole, average 180 degrees in the shade, not technically inhabitable except for under strict environmental controls.
“We want to know what’s going on there. Our intent is to environmentally seal your Jugs and set you down on the planet to investigate. You will have to be careful: damage to the environmental seals can disable your jug and/or kill you quick. The good news: no one would be able to carry live ammo for cannon or missiles, and laser hits would do minimal damage because they are heat based. Your main concern would be PPCs or railguns.”
Shaun laughed. “Great! Just what Kenny has on the Qi-shi! Perfect: trap me on a hell planet with a jealous ex-boyfriend, and give him the very weapons he would need to kill me!”
Theresa remained serious. “Do you really think it could go that far? You two have been friends for a long time; would he really consider killing you?”
Shaun shook his head. “No. He may shoot an enemy on the battlefield, but I don’t think he could shoot at anyone whose face he’d seen. It’s just not in his nature.”
“Are you prepared to bet your life on that?”
“Maybe not,” Shaun admitted, “but what are our other options? I don’t think going back to playtime is gonna do it: if it’s just a game he’d gladly cap me off at a moment’s notice and it wouldn’t mean anything or resolve anything. I think we have to take the risk, and hope he doesn’t do anything stupid.”
“You understand that if he does, there could be severe repercussions. Depending on how far he goes, we could be talking court-martial.”
Shaun considered. “I suppose we have to take that chance. Please go ahead, fill me in on the particulars of the mission.”
He left the meeting later with a sense of foreboding, but fully aware there was nothing he could do about it. Rather than call and inform each person privately he texted the basics in a group message to all squad members, requesting a meeting in one hour.
The meeting went as expected: some of the pilots asked questions, most did not, and Kenny sat in the back of the room with his arms folded and scowling. When the briefing was over he was the first one to leave. The others chatted for a bit, then left by ones and twos until it was just him and Alissa in the room. She approached and linked hands with him, smiling.
“So: how did we get to be so lucky? You would think they would want some kind of specialist on this: someone used to this kind of environment.”
He shrugged. “I don’t think they have anyone accustomed to going into this kind of place. Our number just came up in the rotation, is all. And I don’t know that this is going to turn into anything at all. We have no idea who might be traveling to this planet or why. The likelihood they even have Jugs seems pretty slim. They just want us more because a Jug will be a lot more maneuverable and survivable than any other vehicle there.”
She nodded. “That all makes sense. I guess we should suit up and head out, hey?”
Soon they were underway, a crew working on the Jugs to add the environmental sealing while they were in transit. As Bandersnatch 28 had a hyperjump gate they jumped there first. The jump to B14 would be using the much less powerful ship’s hyperjump gate, but within the system would be well within its tolerances.
For the second jump they were all strapped in place in their Jug cockpits, ready to disembark as soon as the ship landed. Shaun tried to keep his focus set with a little meditation, but he didn’t really have the patience for it. His thoughts kept running back to Kenny and the fiasco between them. It was a relief to hear the pilot announcing countdown for the jump.
And the jump appeared to have been accomplished without incident. The pilot came on again.
“We have arrived. Give us a few minutes to scan for landing zones in use, and ones close to them.”
The suspense of radio silence was killing him. He probably wouldn’t have noticed except for his concerns about Kenny’s state of mind.
“We have a destination. It looks like you’ll have to walk your Jugs about two klicks, but there isn’t a safer way to go.”
Shaun sighed and settled into the cockpit chair for a long drop. The Close Quarters would not be dropping precipitously like their pods; it would be coming in for a landing like the shuttle.
At last he felt the ship land. It was still a few minutes before the doors opened and the straps holding his Jug in place were released. He stepped out of the Jug bay and into Hell itself.
At least, that’s how he interpreted all the jagged, broken rock formations and fires coming up from holes in the ground. He couldn’t imagine what kind of planetary dynamics it would take to create a world like this, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to find out. But they had a mission here, and he was going to accomplish it.
“Alright, squad: we’ve got no north pole, no visibility to follow stars, so all we can do is set the sensors to track the Close Quarters and keep the ship behind us while we’re going, ahead of us coming back. They will track us and direct us right or left as needed to get to the destination.”
The squad set off at a slow walking pace, assuring that all eight Jugs could keep up. As it was, the pace was still fast for Kenny’s new Jug, and he had to push it up. Li Min took the rear point, assuring that Kenny was not the last Jug in the formation.
“Just my luck,” he muttered over the radio, “I gotta get the slowest Jug on the squad.”
“Buck up, Boyo,” Michael replied in an even tone: “Ye’ve got a fine, powerful Jug there wit’ lots o’ weapons weighin’ her down. I’d not be complainin’ if I were ye.”
Shaun took a breath. “Don’t worry, Kenny. We’ll keep it down for you, not run too far ahead.”
No response came over the radio. He wasn’t surprised by that, but he was discouraged. If they came into a combat situation, this did not bode well.
“Close Quarters to Gold Squad: veer slightly to your left to reach the target zone. Please let us know what you are seeing.”
What he was seeing was firepits and smoke, now turning from light grey to pitch black. If they entered that, they wouldn’t be able to see obstacles right at their feet, let alone anything in the distance. Turning on the search beams on the Jug didn’t seem to do much good: the light was simply reflected by the smoke. He turned the lights back off and tread forward cautiously.
Suddenly a change in the direction of the howling wind drew all the black smoke away, and he could suddenly see its source. There was an incinerated ship just ahead on a flat space that looked large enough to have been used as an airfield. And standing next to it was a massive Gray Manta Jug, but painted in a wild, psychedelic pattern.
The Gray Manta opened fire. Two PPC rays shot by just on either side of Shaun’s Jug, and a sizeable slug smashed into the rise of rocks just behind him. Shaun yelped in surprise, not having spotted the Manta until a second before it fired, and stepped sideways, trying to get out of the way of the shots. But the Manta followed suit with a sideways step, then a few forward steps that brought him closer to Shaun. Before he could move, the Manta had a gun right up to his head.
“Anybody moves, this guy’s an inkblot on the hillside.” The voice came over the open channel on the radio.
Nobody opened fire. That was a good start, Shaun decided. “What do you want?” he asked.
“Off this rock. You blew up everything, I got three hours of air here before I’m toast. Get me gone, I’ll forget you plugged my friends. For now, anyways.”
“Wait a minute!” Shaun was confused. “We just got here! We haven’t fired a shot at anyone or anything! What are you talking about?”
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
“I’m talking about my squad, and the miners we came here to defend. Do you deny you blew up their dome and their ship, stole their Jugs and vehicles and left them to fry?”
As useless a gesture as it was, Shaun shook his head. “If we had done all that, then why are we still around? And why walking in your direction instead of away?”
The Manta stood motionless for a moment. “Guess I look pretty silly standing here threatening you nice folks with egg all over my face, huh?
“So, what do you say?” The Manta withdrew the gun at Shaun’s head. “What will it take for you guys to get me off this cinder?”
Shaun sighed in relief. “I think we can handle that. You say you have three hours of air left? If you don’t mind, we’d like to take a look around before we leave.”
“I was stationed here for three months. What do you need to know? I can tell you, most likely.”
Shaun considered. “What were people doing here, on such a hell planet? What was worth coming here?”
“Mining operation. Nobody ever talked about it, but rumors were for a metal that could make a new kind of armor.”
Now Shaun’s interest was piqued. “And how did they store it? Raw ore, ingots, what?”
“Couldn’t say. We were the muscle, just in case anybody came along to mess with the place. They didn’t share any details with us. You want to snoop around their mines, check out the tailings, whatever: they’re gone, so my contract with them has expired.”
Shaun grinned. “So, you’re a mercenary. No pay, no play, is that it?”
“Only way to fly. I’ve been a grunt, did my time, got out, made it with the right folks, done pretty good for myself until now. I know: stuck here it don’t look like much, but until these assholes blew us to kingdom come, it was a sweet gig.
“So, what are you asking for to take me out of this?”
Shaun shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. We wouldn’t leave a man stranded in a place like this, ever. I’m sure we can work out how you repay us once we’ve talked to our Captain.”
“Hoo boy, is that the way it’s gonna be? ‘Re-up or die?’ Just might take my chances with the flame pits instead.”
Shaun was a little stung by that. “Hey! We’re going to save your life, you know? All I ask is that you have a little patience, maybe give us a debriefing on this place once we’re out of here, and listen to whatever Theresa Calvert has to say.”
“A lady Captain, huh? Well, maybe she won’t be such a ball buster. Then again, Ramirez would hand you your head on a platter if you crossed her. Sure, I’ll lend her an ear.”
“Captain Calvert is a good, fair person,” interjected Alissa, “and yes, you should listen to her. She might have an offer for you that you could appreciate.”
The psychedelic Jug raised both arms in the air. “Roger. We’ll work something out. Meantime, what do you want to see?”
“How about you give us the nickel tour?” asked Shaun. “You know better than we do what’s here, what to look at.”
“Right. This way, then: we’ll start at the quarters and work our way around.”
“By the way,” asked Shaun, “This is Lt Commander Mathews of the Hokliss 34th. Who am I addressing, please?”
“Commander Tommy McGuire, last of the Chaos Kids. Good to meet you.”
“Likewise,” Shaun replied. He followed McGuire as the Manta led the way across the flats. Soon they came across another smoldering pile: one that had obviously been a containment dome before its destruction.
“Billets for the miners. The pilots’ dome is further along, but the bastards did the same thing there. Me, I was out on long patrol or I would have been fried, too. Found another guard’s Jug blasted to smithereens not too far from here. He would have been the other patrol pilot, Lt Jefferson; we go out two at a time.”
The Manta continued along the edge of the flats until they came to another obliterated dome. The Manta paused. “These were my buddies. Someone’s gonna pay for what they did here. Come on: next stop is the mines.”
Shaun felt awful for the new man. He kept imagining what it would be like to have to push through if, god forbid, someone should happen to murder Kenny or Alissa. But wasn’t that the nature of war? Why had he signed on so blithely, willing to kill others who were also someone else’s friends? Was group approval that strong of a force? Maybe so.
He followed the Manta until the terrain became much rougher, and showed clear signs of recent disturbance. Piles of rock had until now been routinely no higher than 20 feet tall: here they were piled up to around 70 feet. Finally they reached a pit carved out of the ground, with a slanted floor they could walk down easily. But the other side of the hole was collapsed, and they couldn’t continue.
“Damn! They blew the mine shut! Somebody didn’t want anyone else finding this place, that’s for sure!”
Shaun sighed, walking around the hole for a minute, checking the ground carefully. He saw nothing that screamed “secret metal” at him, so he came back around to the Manta and the rest of the group who had been following without comment.
“Anything else?” he asked McGuire.
“Just the processing plant and the staging docks. Haven’t had a chance to see if they did anything to those yet.”
They followed a broad path from the collapsed mine to what had been a much larger building, but found it as devastated as the rest. “Here’s where they processed the ore. Looks like that’s a shambles, too. This was a major slash and burn operation, I’m telling ya. No doubt they got the docks, too.”
“I’m sure you’re right,” admitted Shaun, “but we should take a look just in case they missed anything.”
“Roger. Coming up on the depot in about three minutes.”
Shaun was getting slightly perplexed. “So, these guys obviously knew every aspect of your operation; how did they miss you? I mean, they must have known there would be two pilots patrolling. Why didn’t they stop to finish you off?”
The Manta kept walking. “That makes sense. Maybe they just figured I was doomed here anyway, and no sense wasting a shell on me. I doubt it had anything to do with my sterling reputation.”
Shaun wasn’t sure what to say to that. But in a moment they came across the trashed remains of a loading dock, such as would have serviced spaceships like their own. Shaun pushed forward in silence, scanning the area for anything that might give him insight on what the facility had processed. McGuire’s Manta stood by in silence.
Shaun sighed. “Hope we’re not going to come across any bodies here. I don’t know how we’d handle that.”
“No bodies here. The attack came around 0200 this morning: everybody in bed in the domes except us two patrollers.”
It seemed to Shaun that represented the ultimate in cowardice: not even allowing these men the courtesy of being awake and able to defend themselves was just heinous. He couldn’t imagine what this McGuire fellow was feeling.
“Been a long haul here. Sure looking forward to a shower.”
Not exactly what Shaun was anticipating, but understandable. The man might be in shock, for that matter.
Shaun finished scanning the area with nothing to show for it. “Is this everything?” he asked McGuire.
“This is it: the whole shish-kebob. Shall we go now?”
Shaun felt he must be missing something, but he didn’t know what. “Yes, we can go. How much air are you down to?”
“About 80 minutes. Hope your ship isn’t too far off.”
“It’s manageable,” Shaun replied: “should be less than 30 minutes, even at slow speed.”
“That’s the trouble with the really big Jugs,” McGuire commented. “You can never get them anywhere on time. They’re always gonna be late to the party.”
“That may be so,” interjected Kenny, “but we’ve got all the party favors!”
“Touche’, mon frere! All the best noisemakers, you are correct. But the little guys can whittle it down a bit before you show up, makes your big guns look so much better when the armor’s already a bit ragged.”
“That’s what they call ‘teamwork,’” replied Kenny: “everybody working together to make everybody look good, not stabbing each other in the back.”
Shaun groaned to himself, as Alissa called out. “Kenny! Wrong time, wrong place!”
McGuire whistled at that. “Sounds like a lover’s quarrel going on there. You two want to duke it out, you might pick a friendlier terrain than this.”
Kenny didn’t answer, and neither did Alissa or Shaun. The silence quickly became uncomfortable, but McGuire didn’t seem to notice. “So: for the ride back, your ship got a decent cook? Damn, I could really go for a good renth steak!”
Rather than leave the silence as it was, Shaun went ahead and asked: “Pardon: what’s a ‘renth?’”
McGuire laughed. “You city slicker, you! A renth is a fine piece of meat on four huge hooves, with two huge curved horns coming off its nose, big as an eight-seater van. They raise them on planets that grow grass, and they make the best cuts of red meat you’ll ever find.”
Shaun considered. “Sounds interesting. I’d love to try it sometime.”
“Yes, indeed! If you’ve got a good cook, he might have some stored away somewhere. Let’s go ask him.”
McGuire continued to walk forward, but for the first time Shaun noticed the Jug seemed to have a limp. That was okay: Shaun was already hobbling himself to a slower pace so as not to leave Kenny behind. Kenny was unmoved.
“I don’t need you babysitting me.”
Shaun sighed. “We’re not leaving you behind. You’re too valuable, that Jug is too valuable, and we don’t leave men behind ever.”
“How noble of you.”
The sarcasm practically dripped from his words. McGuire whistled again. “Sounds like someone needs an introduction to the manly art of fisticuffs. Two ways to solve that kind of rage, bud: beat ‘em up, or get beat down.”
“It’s none of your business!” hissed Kenny.
“That wasn’t me started airing your dirty laundry over the airways. You chose to make it everyone’s business on the channel. You want a little respect, a little privacy? Keep your yap shut.”
“E’s not wrong, me boyo,” chuckled Michael. “T’is yer own mouth on that shoe, there. Time to grow a set and man up.”
Shaun sighed. “Gentlemen: I appreciate you siding with me on this. But Kenny has cause to be pissed at me, and I don’t hold it against him. Please, leave it be.”
Michael did not speak again, but Tommy wasn’t through. “Your wish is commendable, Lt Commander, but if this squirt’s grudge were to spill over in the middle of combat, he could get us all killed. Even a little coddling could be a dangerous thing.”
Shaun had to admit the man was right. He stopped walking and stood waiting for Kenny to catch up.
“McGuire has a point. This is way the wrong time and wrong place for you to be grinding an axe, but here we are. I’m not gonna have it out with you right here and now, but once we get home you and me are going to work this out, period. What exactly that means, I don’t know. To some degree, I’ll leave it up to you. You need us to brawl, we’ll brawl. You need to talk, we’ll talk. But what you won’t be doing is moping along like a whipped puppy when we need you in combat mode. Am I clear?”
The Qi-shi came to a halt. It took a minute for Kenny to reply. When he did, there was still anger in his voice, but his reply was: “Sir! Yes, sir!”
It wasn’t what Shaun wanted, but it would have to do. “Good enough. Now let’s get off this rock and go home.”
As they continued on, the Manta’s limp seemed to grow worse. Now even Kenny was having to keep his speed down so that their new companion could keep up. Shaun was growing concerned.
“Any idea what’s causing your Jug to do that?” he asked. “You didn’t get shot at, so… any serious heat buildup going on, maybe a sealant failure on the foot?”
McGuire grunted. “Could be. No telling. But no, no heat spike. How far to your ship? I’m sure we can check it out there.”
“Another half a klick or less. Don’t worry: you’ll get there even if we have to carry you.”
“Good man. Let’s hit it.”
McGuire did his best to keep up, and Li Min continued to take rear point. Shaun considered how she had remained quiet throughout the exchange with Kenny. He had expected her to jump to Kenny’s defense, but perhaps she, too, understood the importance of keeping him in line.
Soon enough they could see the ship ahead of them, and they limped the rest of the way in.
“Okay, squad,” Shaun spoke up. “We have eight Jug bays and nine Jugs. Li Min: your Jug has a low profile and you don’t need any reloads or maintenance. I’m going to ask you to park in the cargo bay so we can give the Commander an open bay to repair his foot. Everyone else, mount up in your bays. Remember to wait in your cockpits fifteen minutes before you get out: otherwise, the heat radiating from your Jug will fry you.”
The fifteen minutes started with radio silence, everyone apparently consumed with their own thoughts as the Close Quarters took off and returned to orbit. But McGuire was apparently not a man used to radio silence.
“So, Lt Commander: you say you’re with the Hokliss 34th? What’s that like?”
Shaun explained. “Border patrol, mostly: trying to discourage border bandits from attacking small settlements. This assignment was a bit unusual: we don’t often march into hell’s gates like this.
“What about you? You said you were a merc with, who? Did you say ‘Chaos Kids?’”
“Affirmative. A fine company of lads and ladies from all over, gathered together for the noble purpose of earning a few credits. A few had families. I’ll be needing to make some arrangements sometime soon.”
Shaun considered. “Certainly. Once we’re done with the debriefing and got you a place to stay, you can have a chat with our comm guys and send out whatever messages you need to.”
“Thank you. That’ll be a big help.”
In time the signal was given, crews approached and helped break the environmental seals, and everyone was able to step out of their Jugs. Shaun climbed out carefully, very much aware of the continued heat still radiating off the armor. Over across the bays he could see the psychedelic Manta sitting open, and a large, barrel-chested gentleman climbing down: obviously Tommy McGuire. While Shaun climbed down he saw Tommy introduce himself to the two techs who had approached. Tommy waved at the Jug’s foot, which he had balanced on tiptoe, and they approached. Tommy immediately went around the backside to see the bottom of the foot, and was pointing out some detail as Shaun reached the ground.
Curious about what could have gone wrong, Shaun strode over to Tommy’s bay. One of the techs had picked out a pair of crowbars, and the tech and Tommy were prying at something on the sole of the foot. As he approached, he could hear Tommy making a joke about Androcles and the lion. Even not catching the whole joke, Shaun laughed as did the techs.
When he came around the foot, he could see a large rectangle of very dark metal firmly wedged between the grinders of the foot, the ones that routinely broke up large rocks when the Jug would inadvertently step on one.
“That’s really strange,” Shaun remarked: “I thought those grinders were triple-carbide tungsten steel, or something like that: that they would cut through just about anything. But that hunk of metal looks pretty much unscathed. How does that happen?”
“You Mathews? Good to meet ya. Yep: think I can say, welcome to one ingot of our supermetal. Now, if we can just get it out of my grinders we’ll be good.”
Tommy turned back to the techs. “Okay, guys, I’m going to climb back up and flex that foot. That should loosen that chunk to where you can pry it loose.”
Shaun examined the ingot with great interest. Other than minor scratches across the surface, the lump seemed unmarked by the powerful grinders. If this effect could be duplicated in Jug armor, there was no telling how much damage that Jug might be able to take.
The three big toes on the Manta splayed out, and the techs used the moment to dig their crowbars further down next to the ingot. Then the toes closed and splayed out again, and the techs repeated the process. On the third splaying they pulled at the same time and the ingot fell loose from the grinders.
“Got it!” Shaun called out towards the cockpit. He knelt on the ground next to the ingot, resisting the temptation to touch the still-fiery-hot metal.
Alissa and other members of the squad were approaching now, and Shaun fended off questions until everyone had gathered so he could explain once and make introductions once. Even Kenny seemed civil as he explained about the ingot and made the round of introductions for Tommy.
“So, what’s a new pilot gotta do to get a beer around here?” Tommy asked.
Michael laughed. “I’ll get ye yer first, right after the debriefing. Ye can return the favor oncst ye have a chip fer yer credits.”
“Sounds like a plan, my man!”
Michael nodded towards the door. “Lemme show ye to the briefing room. Then we’ll do me quarters: this ship’s nae got a bar.”
And now a tension settled over the group as Kenny stood to one side but facing Shaun. Shaun cleared his throat. “Okay, everyone. Debriefing in one hour. Catch you all soon.”
Most of the group dispersed: all but Shaun, Kenny, Alissa and the two techs working on McGuire’s foot. Apparently the grinders had suffered severe damage when trying to crush the ingot. Shaun gave Kenny a look, then turned and walked away from the techs. Kenny followed, and then Alissa. Kenny glared back at Alissa.
“This doesn’t concern you!”
Alissa snapped right back at him. “You damned bet it does! You don’t get to wrangle over me like some damn piece of meat and not hear from me about it!”
Kenny was a little taken aback by the vehemence of her tone. For that matter, so was Shaun. Kenny shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
Together they walked to one corner of the bay where Shaun took a seat on a tool box, Alissa took a chair and Kenny stood irresolutely between them. Shaun felt embarrassed for him, but his attitude had provoked these issues, and this was not going to go well for him. But if he could, Shaun would make this easier for him.
“Kenny: I know we’ve been friends a long time. I know you feel betrayed. I am sorry that our actions have caused you pain. That’s the last thing either of us wanted, I can assure you. But sometimes relationships change. Sometimes people change. I think Alissa has been changing, growing, and she grew into a different person than the one you originally met and fell in love with, and who fell in love with you. And the new person she is has different goals and desires. As for me, I don’t know if I changed. I have always cared about Alissa. Just, now I realize that I love her, and probably have for a while now.
“I really wish this didn’t hurt you, but I can’t walk away from my feelings for her, and I am sure she would say the same. Please understand. I know someday you will find someone else, and I hope your experience with Alissa or me doesn’t sabotage that relationship, too. But if it does, that will have been up to you. You have to choose to move on, because there is no going back.”
Kenny continued to glare at Shaun as Shaun started to speak, but his gaze fell gradually to the floor as Shaun continued. When Shaun stopped, Kenny remained silent for a time. Finally he spoke.
“I guess if your feelings have changed that much, Alissa, that there is nothing I could do to get you back. But still, it really hurts that you would jump into bed with Shaun or anybody the very night you left me. That’s just adding insult to injury, don’t you know?
“Maybe you did change. But I didn’t. I still loved you: still wanted this to work. I guess we can’t get everything we want, can we?”
Alissa shook her head. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I was carried away by my emotions, and I didn’t stop to think what it would mean to you.
“I have been changing; Shaun is right. This has been a long time coming, because I kept trying not to hurt you. I should have made a clean break earlier; I don’t know why I didn’t. But while my feelings for you were fading, my feelings for Shaun grew. I’m sorry it was such an insult. I just couldn’t hold it in any longer.”
Kenny continued to study the floor. “I guess that’s it. Nothing more to do or say. We have a job to do: being heroes. I guess we’ve got to call this where it is, and move on.”
Shaun let out a breath in relief. “Thank you for understanding, Kenny. You take care; we’ll see you soon.”
Kenny nodded silently, then walked away. Shaun and Alissa each stood up, then Alissa walked over to Shaun and hugged him.
“Thank you. You defused that beautifully. I was afraid we were in for a real shouting match.”
“That’s what I was afraid of, too. But maybe not: maybe he really did get it, and everything will be alright.”
“We can hope.” Alissa stood up. “Okay: time for debriefing…”