“What did you get, Slak?” said Jada, “I have to decide whether or not to shoot an old lady if my Flight Sergeant tells me to.”
“Wow,” Slak said, with barely disguised mock concern, “what are you gonna do?”
“Don’t be a jerk, Slak,” Dav said. “Seriously, which one did you get?”
“I’ll look at it later. Hey, Eccles, what’re you up on for sports today?”
“Watching you sweat buckets again when Solo catches you messing up. Seriously, you think he’s ever gonna let up on you?”
“Not if I don’t keep my nose clean,” Slak said with a smile, “and I never do.”
Bondo looked at Slak with concern, and then pulled a cloth from his belt and offered it to Slak. “What’s this for?” Slak said.
“To...help you, keep your nose...clean.” Bondo said.
There was a pause, and a few chuckles. The small white handkerchief looked comically small and stark in Bondo’s large hand and against their black uniforms. “Thanks, Bondo,” Slak said, “but that’s a...a funny say, for I’m trying to stay out of trouble. Hey, speaking of trouble, anyone know duty roster for tomorrow?” Slak said.
“It’s listed right on your datapad,” Dav answered, trying to keep an even walking pace. Slak always seemed to have to walk a half-ace faster when Dav was around. “Front page. Daggart, do you even read the thing?”
“How about I’ll mind my business, Cityboy,” Slak said, “and you mind yours. Unless your rich daddy wants to hire me to shine your boots or something, that is.”
Dav was starting to get annoyed with Slak. He never seemed to do a lick of work, and yet was never chastised for low grades, his sloppy uniform, or poorly polished boots. Not by anyone except Lieutenant Solo, anyway.
Still, there were other things to think about.
Like Jada.
“Hey, um, Jada?” Dav said, trying to shift the conversation as the hallway opened up to a large courtyard, “are you gonna play any more gravball?”
“You kidding? Lieutenant Hublin’s cousin is still giving me dirty looks about my bonking her on the head by accident.”
Dav smiled. “Accident, huh?”
“Yes!” Jada said, stopping her walk in the middle of the wide open space, lined by walls, windows and holographic statues of various generals, officers and pilots who had died gloriously in the service of the Emperor. Her voice carried far, making folks far off look at her and Dav. Some smiled, believing they were watching a couple-fight.
Jada didn’t care. She was suddenly angry without knowing why. “Eccles, Madea came out of the grey room with a black eye, a fat lip, a full-bore hate-on for me, and who knows what else! I’m just glad there’s hardly any other girls here for her to start rumors against me with! But everyone seems to think I gave her a smack upside the head on purpose!”
“Didn’t you?”
“No! But I keep getting looks from people like I did! They seem happy about it, but I don’t want any trouble, Dav! None! I just want to fly a ship and send my money home. And getting into a feud with a cadet as well-connected as Medea is just the kind of trouble I don’t need right now!”
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She stormed down the hallway. Dav waited a second, looking around at the few onlookers, and then followed.
“You know,” he said as he caught up to her, “you actually played gravball pretty well. There was just one bit you could have done differently.”
Jada looked at Dav. “What do you know about it? I thought you were a boxer?”
“Tie-Jitsu. That’s my sport. But my dad played Slingball back home. It’s a lot like Gravball, and he was pretty good. If you want to know how to avoid an accident like that in future, let’s just pretend you’ve got the ball...”
Dav put his datapad onto his magnetic belt, then held his hands up, holding an imaginary gravball. “C’mon,” he said, “this’ll only take a second. Trust me.”
Jada looked at him for a very, very long second. Then, eyes half-closed with a smirk, she put her datapad on her own belt and stood beside him, her hands held up like his.
“See,” he said, looking forward but sneaking looks at her from the side, “you have to keep looking out of the corner of your eye, not just at the player you’re shooting to. Also, if you launch it on a curve instead of a straightaway, you’ll give someone like Medea time to get out of the way, since they’ll see it coming easier. Now...”
Jada smiled. She’d had boys try to get her attention before, but on Tatooine it usually was by doing something phenomenally risky to the point of stupidity, or saying something horribly vulgar. While that worked with most of the girls, Jada had been raised differently and to value different things. Dav’s more subtle attempt to hold her hand and impress her with his knowledge made her feel...different somehow.
And Dav was having no small amount of enjoyment in the short lesson, either. In fact, both were so absorbed in one another while trying to seem un-absorbed,, neither noticed Medea round the corner and see them from the other end of the hall.
Medea stopped and watched them both for the few minutes the lesson took. Her face was calm, but her eyes were pure, black pools of anger. The few people who walked near her saw the look on her face and found a reason to stay out of her field of vision.
High up from the courtyard where Medea was watching Jada receive her lesson from Dav, Second Lieutenant Solo and Lieutenant Hublin watching them from the balcony of their junior officer’s apartment.
“Do you see what’s happening?” Hublin asked with a slight smile.
“Yep.”
“Another barracks-clearing brawl, all but fated in the stars. Has to happen at least once with each group,” Hublin said, leaning on the balcony bar while sipping blue liquid out of a disposable cup. “This time it seems a One-Flight girl will be fighting with a Four-Flight girl over a Four-Flight boy. Unusual, but not unheard of.”
“Uh-huh,” Solo said. “My odds are on our flight this time. I think that little redheaded sandflea’ll send your cousin running home to mommy, not to mention the damage that oversized wookie Crasna could cause. What do you think?”
“Han, knowing my evil little cousin, she’ll try to manipulate some high-status chap in One-Flight to pick a fight with Eccles. Perhaps that weaselet Freddik. Or maybe one of his toadies. If Four Flight can pull together as a group when One Flight explodes, they might stand a chance. Otherwise, One Flight might clean our chronometers.”
“We’ll see. What’s that stuff you’re drinking, anyway? I’m seeing more and more of it around.”
“Bluedrink, it’s called. From Eccles’ world. Some enterprising fellow finally tried selling it offworld, and now it’s making the rounds. Most folks there drink it before supper, but I like it pretty much anytime. Cheers.”
Solo pretended to clink an imaginary cup against Hublin’s, and then watched the two young people from his group flirt some more as Hublin finished his drink and left to do other business. After a minute Medea left, presumably to plot something nefarious. After another few second the two potential lovebirds moved on to the next bit on their schedule. Watching them leave, a far away look came to Solo’s face, and he stood at the balcony for a long time after they were all gone.
#
Slak looked at the datapad, his eyes looking more and more strained as his lips moved.
“Do you...need help?” said a voice behind him.
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TO BE CONTINUED...