Kovar stepped out of the shower, towel wrapped around his waist, and walked toward the sink. He stood in front of it, staring into the eyes on the display screen staring back at him. There were deep purple bags under them, Kovar still had not slept since returning from the mission and it showed on his face. He reached up, pressing the bottom left corner of the display that caused it to frost over, hiding his reflection.
“I don’t want to see how tired I look, either,” a voice from behind him said. Kovar jumped at the sound and spun on the voice. Standing in the doorway was Sarah Haskins, in jogging shorts and a tank top, her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail.
“Damnit, Sarah, you scared the shit out of me,” Kovar said, letting out a breath.
“My bad, sir, I was just coming to see if you wanted to get your ass kicked again,” Haskins said, grinning.
Kovar smirked, “Eight days on mission, over 36 hours of it without sleep, and your first thought is ‘I wonder if the commander wants to play basketball?’”
“You tired enough for sleep, sir? I can always come back later.”
“No, I’m definitely not. Sure, Sarah, a game sounds good. You want to go into the common room so I can put some clothes on?”
Haskins’ lip twitched up in a smirk, and she winked, “Yes, sir.”
Kovar watched the retreating form of Sarah Haskins and shook his head, “You’d think an officer would have more decorum,” he whispered, grinning.
***
Kovar feinted left, then crossed the ball over and lunged right, Haskins stayed with him and swiped her right hand at the ball. Kovar planted his foot, pulled up, and shot. The ball struck the back of the rim, rebounding straight up, and Haskins shoved off him. She jumped and snagged the ball out of the air and held it.
“Okay, sir, now I know something is wrong. You don’t miss 15-foot jumpers. Is this exhaustion? Or are you not here?”
Kovar swiped his hand across his forehead, wiping the thin sheen of sweat onto his shorts, “I might be a little distracted. My meeting with General Wills wasn’t our best interaction. I just don’t understand, Sarah, how the hell is he so damn good?”
“Who, Ecthelion? He’s a warrior, Kov, and a damn good one. All it took to see us coming was for him to not dismiss the idea out of hand. It isn’t difficult to think that he’s capable of that,” Haskins said.
“Seeing us coming is the least of it. What about that exfil? Or the ingress for that matter? A squad of Elites was not exactly what I pictured for resistance in the High Council Chamber. I expected a small army to be waiting for us. And then, we just walked out without seeing another soul in the whole compound?” Kovar shook his head, “It just doesn’t track. Even if Ecthelion was-” he broke off suddenly.
“Was what?” Haskins frowned.
“Sorry, nothing. Well, it’s something but I can’t talk about it. Anyway, the ease of that mission bothers me. Two KIA, various other injuries, Jensen is going to be in pain for a while but he'll live, and Griffon is never going to win another beauty contest, but that mission should have been a wipe for Charlie Team.”
Haskins stared at him for a long moment, then sighed, “It bothered me too. What I can’t wrap my head around is what Vestenor meant. Take it all back, take what back? And how?”
“Why don’t you want to be my XO, Sarah?” Kovar asked.
Haskins’ eyes narrowed, “I’ll choose to ignore the abrupt change of topic. But I told you, that conversation requires a drink.” Haskins searched Kovar’s face for a long moment, “Tell you what, sir, give me five minutes and I’ll meet you downstairs. I know a little place not too far outside of the main gate. You buy me a beer, and I’ll explain why you don’t want me to be your XO.” She casually lobbed the ball at the basket, the net whispering as the ball slid through it, “That counts.”
***
The only word Kovar could think of to describe the “little place” Haskins took him to, was dive. It was cluttered, smelled of stale liquor, and the three pool tables had seen far better days. The place wasn’t dirty, the bar and tables meticulously wiped down by the bartender, but it was obvious the bar was old and frequently visited by the base’s enlisted. Ancient signs for beer that didn’t even exist anymore shared space on the walls with pictures of fresh-faced soldiers looking for a good time. The bartender, a short, balding man in his mid-fifties with a slight paunch that did little to cover what was obviously once an athletic physique, waved at Haskins as she entered, a warm smile on his lips.
“Hey ya, Sarah, how’s your night goin’?” The bartender said, a northeastern drawl dragging out his words.
“Pretty good, Derek, how about you?” Haskins returned the smile.
Derek panned his gaze around the bar, empty except for two young men sitting in a corner booth, “I can’t complain. Who’s your friend?”
“This is Colonel Kovar Alcorn, my commanding officer. Kovar, this is Derek Chambers.”
“Good to meet you, Derek.”
“What can I get you two?” Derek asked.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
“I will have the lager, and whatever the lieutenant here wants,” Kovar said, grinning at Haskins, who rolled her eyes.
“Can it, Kovar, this is a no-rank zone. I’ll have a lager as well please, Derek.”
Derek turned and began filling pint glasses with a rich amber lager from the draught. He brought the two glasses to the bar and Kovar pressed the thumb of his right hand against the scanner Derek extended toward him. The scanner beeped and Derek looked up, “Would you like me to finalize, or will you be running a tab?”
“May as well be a tab, I have the feeling we are going to be here a while,” Kovar said, looking over at Haskins, who nodded.
The picked up their beers and headed toward the corner booth on the opposite side of the bar from the two young men, Kovar standing until Haskins had sat and settled in. He slid into the booth across from her and waited for her to speak. Seconds turned to minutes, as Haskins stared at the foam on top of her beer, a slight flush darkening her cheeks.
“The thing is, Kovar, I do want to be your XO,” Haskins said, not looking up from her glass, “but you almost certainly don’t want me to be. You think you do, because I’m confident, competent, and we get along.”
“Aren’t those the most important things in an executive officer?” Kovar frowned.
“Not even close,” Haskins shook her head, still not looking at Kovar, “Tell me something, Kovar, when you make a decision and run it by Jensen, what does he say? Does he briefly look at the circumstances, weigh the decision you’ve made momentarily, then nod his assent? Or does he question your thought process and offer alternative solutions? Does he dive deeper into the planning process, into your thought process, or does he just do whatever you want him to?”
Kovar opened his mouth to answer, then closed it. His brow furrowed and a pensive look crossed his features.
“That’s what I thought,” Haskins said, “This mission was a shit show, but not because of anything within our control.”
“That’s true, there was absolutely no way to predict what happened,” Kovar said.
“See, that’s where you’re wrong. There definitely was, up to a certain point. We could have guessed everything would go almost exactly as it did, assuming the Orlesians really weren’t expecting us. Right up until it went pear shaped and we were allowed to walk out of there.”
“Well, yeah bu-”
“But this mission was unique,” Haskins said, cutting the young commander off, “But, Kovar, how many tactical infiltrations have we done that went wonky because of things we could control? How many times have we just trusted your plan and things went to shit? I’m not blaming you, Kovar, I’m blaming your process.”
Kovar’s eyes narrowed, “My process?”
“Yes, you look at a problem from a hundred different perspectives, then you decide a plan of action and that’s what we do. You run it by Jensen and, I assume, Baxter, but no one questions it because they know how diligent you’ve been in the planning,” Haskins let out a deep breath and took a huge gulp of her beer, “The problem, Kovar, is you run it by a yes-man and your godfather. One will never contradict you because he’s a good little soldier, and the other shares your bias and thought process almost completely.”
“So, what you’re saying is that I’ve locked myself behind a sounding board that only gives the illusion that I’m getting input, when it’s really just me getting someone else to say what I want to hear?” Kovar took a drink of his beer, “And what, you think I’m so self-absorbed and confident that I couldn’t handle a truly different perspective? I’ll be honest, Sarah, that hurts a little. Jensen isn’t a yes-man; he looks at my decision and sees if he can find fault in them. If he can’t he tells me that we should move forward. That is what an executive officer does.”
“No, Kovar, it isn’t. Is that what you did as an XO? You just made sure the commander’s plan wasn’t totally fucked then nodded your approval? I call bullshit. A good XO steps back and takes in the whole problem, works it from start to finish, and has options ready. That way, when you present your plan, they can offer alternative paths, or shore up weaknesses. That is what an executive officer does, Kovar. And I don’t want to be yours because I like you, we get along so well, and it isn’t strained in any way. I’m not sure that doesn’t change the first time I contradict you,” Haskins drained her glass and stood, “You want another beer?”
Kovar nodded absently, his face twisted in thought. Was he really that kind of leader? The kind that thought his way was the only right way? Had he really surrounded himself with people who wouldn’t challenge his point of view? Kovar thought back over the years he had commanded Charlie Team and tried to think of a time when his mission plan had not been immediately implemented. He couldn’t, though he could think of a half dozen times that plan had gone straight to shit, and that was sobering. Would a challenge to his ideas have changed that? Would some of the young men and women he’d buried over the years still be alive if he wasn’t so, well, arrogant?
“I know what you’re thinking, Kovar,” Haskins said as she sat down, snapping Kovar from his thoughts, “Stop it. You didn’t get anyone killed. This is a dangerous job and people die even when everything goes right. Don’t second guess yourself.”
“I’ll be honest, Sarah, this is not how I thought this conversation would go. I really wish now that this had been about some latent attraction or some other flippant reason,” Kovar grinned and winked.
“Don’t flatter yourself, Kovar. I mean, don’t get me wrong you’re definitely hot. But, you have the wrong set of equipment to be anywhere near my type,” Haskins said, one eyebrow arched.
“How did I not know that?” Kovar asked.
“Beats me, I can’t imagine you have never seen me leaving Lieutenant Salas’s quarters in the middle of the night, especially since you’re usually in the common area reading.”
“Hmm,” Kovar said, a smirk on his face, “Salas, huh? Is it serious?”
“It’s definitely getting there, but Michelle has some issues she needs to work out before we really get serious.”
“Well, good for you, Sarah. It actually makes me feel relieved to know you have someone to unwind with besides when your crotchety old commander crushes you on the basketball court.”
“You’re three years older than me and I think that if you look into that nearly perfect memory of yours, you’ll find you don’t beat me that often.”
“Well, that is neither here nor-” Kovar’s communicator trilled loudly in the otherwise quiet bar. He put his thumb and forefinger to his right earlobe, activating the receiver, “This is Alcorn.”
“Sir, this is Sergeant Arias at command. General Wills and Colonel Baxter need you here immediately. There has been a communication from the Titan settlement defense command. General Wills has ordered you and your executive officer come to his office immediately.”
“We’re on our way,” Kovar said, and looked at Haskins, “Well, Haskins? You coming?”
“Coming where?” Haskins asked.
“General Wills’ office, he ordered me to bring my XO and head straight there.”
“Kovar, you can’t fire just Jensen, on a whim, from a bar, and replace him with me, who has not accepted your offer to be XO. You need to take him with you.”
“Call it your first day of training to be the new XO of Charlie Team. Jensen is going to be down for weeks. If you want in on whatever is about to happen, you need to stand up right now and come with me. I think they’ve found Ecthelion.”
Haskins practically jumped to her feet, “Let’s go, then.”