Jerry waits quietly in his office as the hour draws near. There'd been a rash of promotions before they went operational with their embarked unit being formally labeled as a Marine battalion so Jerry was looking forward to properly getting his entire command team in one room. It didn't hurt that a fair few of the individuals involved were late arrivals or in the case of Ghorza had been in training till more or less the last moment.
With Jerry in the room is Syl, in her role as civilian director of operations, and his newly arrived Command Master Chief.
Master Chief Eduardo Daclan was a powerfully built Filipino man with a broad, easy going smile and a full beard that gave him something of a piratical swagger even in dress whites. With surface warfare (SW) Special Warfare Combatant Craft (SWCC) and the Eagle Globe and Anchor Fleet Marine Force (FMF) badges on his working uniform, the only warfare badge related chest candy of any serious note the highly experienced special warfare operative was missing was because he
"Wanted to roll with the Jarheads at MARSOC instead of go to BUD/S. My novel writing skills aren't up to their level any way."
The Master Chief looks up from his golden pocket watch, perfectly timed to ship's time... but already a running joke around the ship was that the only time that mattered was the time on the Master Chief's watch.
"It's a quarter to the hour sir."
"Thanks Master Chief, let's see who shows up first."
First to show was also first... in order of one type of seniority, even if they were outside of the normal chain of command. Lieutenant Colonel Sir David Forsythe, VC MC KCB was the newly appointed head of Joint Special Operations Company - Crimson Tear.
His Sergeant Major was hot on his heels.
Top Gurung had indeed finally accepted a promotion along with the responsibility for the men and women of the JSOC and the uniformed members of the intelligence directorate.
Speaking of the spooks, the head of the Intelligence division on the ship, Commander Diana Lawson, walked in next. a casual and charming redhead who liked to joke about her brunette video game counterpart... and had allegedly walked away with nearly ten thousand credits after ‘someone’ had started a betting pool about if her back side looked better than Miranda's in spandex.
She'd likely played both sides... and after a convenient photo showed up in a few places of Diana in her work out togs, had pocketed much of the pot.
Jerry believed she'd been several of the more passionate posters for the pro Miranda camp on the ship's forums, but, unsurprisingly for one of Sir Philip's agents, he couldn't prove it.
Next into the room is the military second in command of the ship, Ghorza looking very crisp in the fatigues that were daily wear for the ship's company. Her Undaunted Marine Corps sigil shown proudly on her left collar with her rank on the right. The newly created power armor master badge making a gleaming debut on the proud warrior woman's breast. All the prouder now for the knowledge that she was pregnant with a pair of healthy twins. It was a banner year for Ghorza Bridger, that much was for sure.
With her is Major Reynolds, her new XO. A jovial man who fit the Dobermann definition of the two types of Marine according to some historical flag rank officer. Marines came in two varieties, Dobermans or Rottweilers. They're either skinny and mean or big and mean. They're relentless on the attack, tenacious on the defense and they always go for the throat. True enough. Reynolds had been hand picked by Jerry for the job, a Marine's Marine... and not about to let something like most of his Marines being over six foot tall green women slow him down.
Third was Captain Nikita Dertann, another Horchka, and Ghorza's former second in command. She too wore the golden device of a power armor master, as befit the commander of his power armored infantry. Jerry knew Nikita to be a far more subdued woman than her boisterous commander. She'd also recently married the ship's provost marshal, Captain Wilhelm Dertann, with ten other Horchka that Jerry understood to mostly be her sisters and half sisters... and one Seramali oddly. Nikita had easily won top billing as first wife, with the Seramali huntress taking the second slot. So clearly her combat skills were no slouch despite her far more easy going personality.
The last Marines of the group were a familiar sight to Jerry now. The freshly promoted Sergeant Major John Hightower had a high and tight that looked like it could, itself, be used to shave. The man was thriving in his new role, one he'd almost clearly been born for. Thriving also in his marriage to a pair of Seramali huntresses. The proud warrior women were slowly integrating with the crew after clearly spending time finding the most worthy of warriors to offer the chance to bond with.
Another odd couple addition rounded out the growing Hightower clan with a Panseros, a panther-like alien that could prowl on all fours as comfortably as they could walk on two legs and an Agela, an alien not unlike a minotaur with a humanoid face and a distinct lack of fur anywhere but their limbs. They had been yard engineers and apparently stumbled on the Hightowers in a delicate state.
While Jerry of course believed the Sergeant Major's story, he wondered how an Agela could sneak up on any one, even the rather petite for the species, Martia Hightower, who was merely 8'5" and surprisingly meek, even for the comparatively gentle Agela.
Then came First Sergeant Isabella "Top" Ramos, now SNCOIC for the Power Armor Company. She was also settling into her new role easily enough. Her recruits remembered her for one, no need to establish dominance there at all. She was sporting a brand new left hand ring. Jerry had performed the ceremony to wed her to her long time boyfriend, one of the Marines in the Special Operations Company. The first marriage Jerry had performed as skipper. It would not be the last.
Johnny had happily taken Isabella’s surname, finally excising his hated last name. Isabella had made it known that they were accepting applications to their marriage. First requirement? Be able to look her in the eye while asking.
No one had cleared the first hurdle to date to learn what the next one was.
Finally, Commander Tyler Sarkin, Commander, Aerospace Combat Element (ACE), trots through the door, his newly grown beard disguising some of his boyish charm compared to when he was clean shaven. He looked very comfortable in his flight suit, and Jerry briefly envied Tyler his comfort as his mandarin collar dug into his neck. With Tyler was of course Cassie Sarkin, and Tyler's new XO, an Apuk woman by the name of Masha'Nelindra. Another 6' plus amazon, though her comparatively lean and slender build stood out among the sheer volume of Horchka on the ship. As did her tan skin, dark red hair, green scaled tail and the surprisingly delicate horns on her head. Her green eyes burned like recordings Jerry had seen of Apuk warfire, and said eyes tended to rest on him often.
Masha was an interesting case for the Apuk. While not a battle princess, she was a well known hand to hand combatant in the Serbow circuits. Instead of training for a Crown though, Masha had found her true calling as a pilot for small combatant craft. Her unruly and wild attitude was very... human.
Which, mixed with a little political pressure had meant she'd ended up quietly drummed out of the fairly regimented and formal Apuk military.
Her sister, a senior Apuk official in the ambassador's office had personally asked Jerry to invite her to the Tear and the Undaunted. Pride wouldn't let Masha come begging, but out of uniform and without an option to fly anything but tugs in her future unless she went outlaw, Masha had apparently been miserable, and she'd leapt on a chance to fly again like Mikasa pouncing on an unattended steak.
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The Lieutenant Commander was a superior pilot and, for all her cowboy attitude, was a surprisingly level headed officer. Prone to action? Yes. Aggressive? Extremely. Going off half cocked? No. Her behavior had earned her the callsign ‘Gaucha’, after a Brazilian sergeant in the embarked maintenance company for the various ships that belonged to the Tear's Aerospace section had called her one after a rough landing from a training sortie.
The name had stuck immediately, and some wags had gotten together and left a black Stetson on Masha's desk... which she now wore constantly around the ship and in the cockpit until the time came to stick her flight helmet on. Rumor had it she even slept in it.
A little research and some spaghetti Westerns later and she was hooking a thumb in her belt loops and had gotten a pair of the new .454 revolvers that were going around the ship. Jerry had originally thought that her adoption of the pistols, one of which was riding in a shoulder holster and the other on a gun belt with a pile of speed loaders, at present, had meant she was going after the designer of said pistols. However, except for learning the finer points of fighting a revolver from the man, Masha had been entirely uninterested by all reports. Based on the fiery eye contact he got from the woman on the regular, Jerry flattered himself to think that she wasn't uninterested in men in general... it was more that she already had her sights on someone. Him.
He sets the mysteries of Masha'Nelindra aside and rises from his chair as the final members of the senior staff arrive.
Captain McCoy, Cascka, and his new Chief Engineer, an unremarkable looking man by the name of Al Gray. No nickname needed, he was such a gray man that your eyes slid right over him. Despite that plainness he'd somehow amassed a collection of some thirty wives while on Centris, mostly from the Dockyard's engineers and technicians, all of whom clearly adored their husband considering the ever present lipstick stains on his collar.
They quickly take their seats just in time to rise again as Jerry hits the door of his office.
"Captain on deck!"
The military portion of the room snaps to, as Jerry enters with Master Chief and Syl in his wake.
"Carry on!" His heels click perfectly as he takes his place at the head of the table. He was looking forward to wearing a duty uniform like everyone else, but he'd had a meeting with another ambassador coordinating a visit and the "delivery" of one of the diplomats and a few tons of Earth delicacies, as it was a "first contact", formal wear had been required. Besides, it did set a tone for the day, and the immaculate dress whites made him look good.
"Ladies, gentlemen, thank you for coming, and thank you for your hard work these past few months of hard effort. However now that we're finally out of port and back "at sea", I know I for one am looking forward to being a bit more relaxed than we can be under the Admiral's eye. This is technically a civilian vessel first and foremost... hence why Lieutenant Bridger... err."
There's a group chuckle as Jerry tries to figure out how best to refer to a specific wife.
"You know what? I'm just going to use first names for my spouses... and with all the family names changing, I'd encourage you all to do the same in appropriate situations. We all know who I'm talking about. What they do. And the rank they hold. Anyone complains, I'll figure out a way to set up a plank for them to walk out of one of the airlocks. Ahem. Sharon's obviously been wearing a modified uniform for quite some time now. We can relax a bit... but Marines in particular had best be looking sharp when they are in uniform. To that end, fatigues, cover alls or flight suits are uniform of the day for all personnel unless we're coming into port. Now... we do have a decent docket to cover, but does anyone have any pressing business?"
McCoy clears her throat.
"Captain McCoy?"
"I have discovered a massive, goddamn terrifying flaw in our recent training methods, and I wanted to address it. I have to raise a major issue with our recent use of null in training our new complement of Marines."
Ghorza snorts. "With all due respect ma'am, I believe my girls went through null training just fine."
"Your Marines are not the ones I'm worried about Major."
"Who is then, Doctor?" Cascka peers at the other woman, concern overwriting her usual intimidation in the face of the wrath of Bones McCoy.
"I'd have thought it was obvious. Colonel Bridger is pregnant. She went through multiple severe null exposures while in a very delicate phase of that pregnancy. Based on my analysis it's very possible that extended null exposure could have triggered a miscarriage! Hellspawn, sneezing wrong can practically trigger a minor miscarriage early enough. We wouldn't have even known the Colonel was pregnant if that was the case. Thankfully the pregnancy is proceeding normally so far as I can tell at this early stage, two strong heart beats, early sparks of brain activity. While I can't say I know how everything is happening considering I haven't attended a Human hybrid pregnancy before, I am generally optimistic that the exposure did not cause lasting damage. I have however found signs of extreme strain or damage that is slowly healing in the rest of her body during her post boot physical. It's minor remnants at this point, hence why I didn't mention it at the time. My theory is that Colonel Bridger’s body actively sacrificed parts of herself to protect her children. Admirable, even if it was subconscious."
Ghorza is suddenly as pale as Jerry's uniform, her mind clearly going through the process.
"I... I thought null exposure had been getting harder for me while we were going through the training. I figured you'd been increasing the amount we were being exposed to Sergeant Major Hightower."
"No ma'am, consistent the whole way through. It would have been dangerous to both recruits and equipment to use more than minute amounts of null."
Ghorza goes from terrified to boiling with anger in a blink, lashing out at Bones in an accusatory tone.
"Why the hell didn't you say anything about this during my exam? You just told me I was pregnant and that they were healthy!"
"Because it was useless information and would only upset you. I'm raising it now, not to chastise you, and knowing it may upset you in this circumstance, because we are here to set policy for this ship, its crew, and to pass that information back to our parent organization for the betterment and safety of all." Bones pounds a fist on the conference table for emphasis. "I will not have my patients recklessly endangered. Any of them."
Jerry's about as white in the face as Ghorza. The good news had indeed been very good when they got it... but how close had they been to that pregnancy never being? It gave him an incredible anxiety in the pit of his stomach, and he quietly slid his hand over to take Ghorza's for mutual reassurance now that they were faced with the specter of a nightmare that had apparently briefly stalked their growing family without them even knowing it.
"You're absolutely correct Doctor... we'll have to prepare detailed notes on this if possible, and make recommendations to command. At the very least extensive screening needs to be made immediately prior to null training. Gods forbid we terminate a pregnancy just for the sake of training. If anyone's got any bright ideas on some sort of life support we can issue to pregnant women at risk of null exposure I'm open to ideas. It sounds like Ghorza's body at least has natural defenses, but..."
"But we can always help nature along, and others might not have natural defenses as Ghorza does. Indeed husband." Syl nods, already making a note about the research.
"Is there anything else Doctor McCoy?"
"Other than a very brief exposure window putting some of my patients at risk, the crew is at present almost insufferably healthy. We don't have a single crew member over the biological age of thirty five besides myself at this time, and even I am considering a healing coma as much as I loathe the idea. However, in extreme environments like wild space, I can't afford to slip, so I suppose I'll just have to continue learning to put up with various forms of space magic instead of proper medicine. We've had a few injuries but no major signs of illness."
Bones adjusts the collar of her shirt slightly. "I can also report that some 5% of the female military staff are pregnant, and a further 20% of the female civilian staff. Many have multiple children on the way. I've put in a request to convert one of the currently empty facilities near the main hospital in sector one to a full on maternity ward instead of just expanding our current facility. Doctor Nadi Bridger has been assisting with this process to ensure things like incubation are provided for that we mammals might not immediately think of."
"Approved."
Jerry nods, writing a note on his scratch pad to follow up on that conversion with Bones and the engineering team.
"That concludes the medical report for the entire ship."
"Seems we've finished the first order of business for the day then. Next subject?"