Chapter 31
Sergeant First Class Jennet Ming woke to the insistent beep of an incoming pers-e-comm video call request. She cracked her eyes open a tiny fraction and immediately had to shield them from the bright light. She closed her eyes again and gave herself a few moments to collect her thoughts, insistent beeping relegated to the background for the time being.
The events of the previous 48 hours came rushing back. No wonder she felt so exhausted. Her increased constitution would repair her body quickly enough, but without the intelligence and wisdom to match, she’d still feel tired after that kind of emotional roller coaster. She squinted again, reaching for a bathrobe and feeling for her pers-e-comm.
A miniature version of Lieutenant Soto’s face fuzzed into view after Jennet accepted the call.
“Sergeant, This is the XO. The First Sergeant and I are checking in on the company. Have you seen the information packet sent to you from base HQ?” Soto asked
“No, ma’am, I haven’t. In all honesty, you woke me up. Aren’t we supposed to be on recovery today?” Jennet mumbled.
“That was the plan, but things have changed somewhat. There will be a ceremony honoring the fallen on Tuesday at 0800 hours. Until then we are on R&R pending further direct action from the enemy, which we don’t expect. If you missed the message, we have a system store on base now, so that’s likely worth you checking out. After Tuesday’s ceremony, we’ll be kitting up and heading on what will probably be a fairly long deployment. The whole world is basically an active war zone at this point. CAMEIN said you had some traffic from home, so you may want to check that as well. It’s been forwarded to your pers-e-comm as a data file.” the XO droned on
“I see, ma’am. I’ll read up on everything while I make my morning tea. And thanks for the call.” she replied.
“No Problem, Sergeant. The Command Team as a whole wants you to know, if you need anything, reach out via appropriate channels. The Chaplin staff will be working overtime for the next couple of days if you just want to talk.” Soto continued.
“Roger ma’am. I’m tracking.” Jennet replied. She didn’t really want to think about any of that right now. She needed time to get her brain functional for the morning before she started processing anything.
“Okay, but Sergeant Ming, do give it some thought.” the XO finished, face flickering for a second before cutting out as the call ended.
Jennet fell backward, letting herself relish the feeling of her mattress for a moment. Then it was time to get up and put the tea on. While she waited for it to boil, she found herself entering a meditative state, and somehow it seemed natural to practice the same motions and forms she’d practiced mentally while forming her core. Perhaps that would be a part of her life now. Morning meditation combat sessions. The thought seemed right somehow.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Her concentration broke when the teapot started whistling. She had drawn the line at electric teapots that boiled the water in seconds. She would have much preferred the Zisha clay teapot her mother had always used. But a steel stovetop kettle would have to do. The tea didn’t taste quite as good, but it was the best she was going to get in America.
Meditation and morning warm-up complete, Jennet poured a cup of tea and allowed the memories of the past couple of days to resurface. She allowed herself to be swept up in the emotions and feelings she’d had to shove down during the fight. This was her way of dealing with emotionally taxing events, and she’d picked it up from her father, who’d learned it from his father. She secretly suspected it was part of the family sword technique, but she’d never dare make that accusation aloud.
As she briefly relived the memories, she found herself wondering about Specialist Wallace. He seemed to be in the right place at the right time during multiple phases of the fight. Like he was somehow keeping an eye on her. But that could only be her perspective of events. She let that too flow down the river of emotions, resolving to balance any possible karmic debt by learning a bit about the Specialist. It was good to know the history of your brothers and sisters in arms.
With the second item on her task list for the day checked off, Ming finished sipping her second cup of tea and went to retrieve her pers-e-comm. She found the files that Soto had mentioned, as well as the comms package that CAMEIN had forwarded. She opened the memo from base command first, and read through the packet. She skipped over the names of the dead for now, resolving to read them tomorrow morning.
Next came the data packet from the PLA, with a video message from her mother. She struggled momentarily, wanting desperately to watch that message first. Instead, she followed protocol and viewed the encoded message from her PLA commanders.
“Shang wei Ming, by the time this message reaches you, it is likely this position will be overrun. This is likely to be the last message we can send. The PLA forces that are under Shao xiao Mao are leveling at a decent rate. When you are able to make contact again, seek him out. He has been made aware of you and your true mission. We’ve included the latest information from your family with this message as a reward for a job done well thus far. That is all.” the audio-only file ended after that, and Jennet took a deep breath. The message within the message was clear. Her mother would be protected as much as possible by being placed under the protection of the highest level soldier her government had managed to produce thus far.
Jennet decided to hold that information’s significance for tomorrow as well. She would make a trip to the system store as soon as she was able. There had never been anything quite as enjoyable for her as spending money, and it’d prove the perfect distraction from everything else wrong with the world.
She found herself outside of base CIF just before noon. The warehouse-like structure seemed unchanged at first glance. It wasn’t until Jennet walked through the entrance that she noticed the faint white glow emanating from the center of the building. A few guide ropes had been set up, and a supply worker sat at the long desk, glancing up briefly before returning to playing a game on their pers-e-comm.
Jennet followed the guide ropes back to the warehouse and gawked momentarily at the car-sized white cube floating slightly off the ground. The cube seemed to be made from some kind of white rubber material that glowed softly. After recovering, she walked closer, and a person-sized sheet of the material fuzzed away, becoming more cloudy. The opening seemed to beckon her somehow, and without realizing it, Jennet had stepped through the cloudy doorway.