Mark “Coop” Cooper
Location: Savannah City, New Savannah, United Commonwealth of Colonies
“So, now that I’m a part of this new super-secret Splitstream Rapid Response Team, does that mean I’m off voting booth guard duty?” Coop asked as he rode back up the subterranean lift with the rest of the team.
“Fat chance…” SSG Hightower muttered under his breath.
“Negative,” LT Wentworth confirmed. “We do not start our duties with SRRT-Two until the rest of the team arrives in thirty-six hours. Until then, you will continue with your normal assignments.”
“But…” Coop stated lamely, but then snapped his mouth shut, because his PAD vibrated in his leg pocket.
The electronic lifeline to the world had gone silent when they descended into the shielded underground sections of the research center, but now it reconnected to MILNET, and he had an email waiting for him…from Aiko.
As they exited the big elevator, Coop made sure to angle his body so no one could read the screen from him. He didn’t know what he was hoping for, although a naked pic would have been nice. His balls looked like two, rounds smurfs since guard duty started, coupled with the general lack of interest from the local females.
Aiko’s email wasn’t as provocative as Coop hoped, but it was an address and time to meet up. To Coop, that was good enough. Now, he just needed to figure out how to sneak away from the rest of his team. By the time he returned to his post, in his slightly singed Dragonscale armor, he had a plan.
The bright yellow ball of New Savannah’s yellow dwarf star started to set after the first half of the planet’s twenty-two hour day when Coop trudged back up the stairs to the rec center. Unlike before, the park in front of the building was empty and deathly silent. Even the local critters could feel the tension in the air. The center itself now had duro-steel barricades to either side of the front door. To one side was Stern, happily engaging in conversation with a member of the planetary police force. Since the Savannah City cops were blowing holes in each other and trying to put holes in soldiers like Coop, the planetary governor thought it was a better idea to get his people more directly involved.
The slight bulge of the cop’s chest and roundness of her backside didn’t escape Coop’s eye, and he felt a stab of envy for Stern. That was something he never thought he’d feel toward the bumbling, yet good-hearted, idiot, so he shook it off.
“Five-Oh, can you hold down the fort out here while I brief my people?” he didn’t stop walking as he asked the question.
“Sure,” the cop frowned, but didn’t say anything. She noticed the battle damage to Coop’s armor, and put two and two together.
“What’s up, Corporal…I mean, Sergeant.” Stern’s face was hidden by his helmet, but Coop could practically see the grin splitting the guy’s face. “Congratulations on the promotion.”
“Thanks, but it ain’t all good news.” Coop sent a quick ping to the other team members and gave them a waypoint to meet in the entryway at the front of the building.
Coop surveyed the scene as he waited for the guys. It had already been processed and cleaned. The blood, and the body it had been leaking from, were already gone. The bullet holes in the door behind the receptionist desk were patched, and a fresh pane of polyplast-glass was back in place where Coop had crashed through it. He could hear the sounds of the crew still at work in the actual voting area, because it was much easier to clean up a shooting scene than a bombing one, but they had time. The primary, despite the interruptions, was completed, and the general election would be taking place in a few days. For the life of him, Coop couldn’t name a single person who’d won and was advancing.
“Listen up, guys,” Coop announced once everyone was gathered, and had finished congratulating him on his third chevron. “Mike and I are being pulled for another detail, so the schedule is going to change.” They had been doing two eleven-hour shifts, but with Coop’s extracurricular activities, that needed to change. “We’re going to tone it down to nine hours shifts for the next thirty-six hours. Right now, you’re in the middle of your shift.” With a few taps, Coop sent the schedule to the rest of the soldiers.
What that schedule did was optimize the time Coop was going to be able to spent with Aiko. He was scheduled to meet her in an hour, and he’s have four hours with her after that. He’d figure that would be enough time to empty his balls, and for Aiko to have whatever fun she wanted with him.
“Any questions?” There weren’t any, so Coop left Mike in charge for the rest of this shift.
“Sergeant?” Nickelbaucher walked up to Coop as he left the building.
Coop could tell the word was a question not a statement. The PFC had been working his ass off to make CPL. He knew Coop was a newish CPL when he started leading their team, and now Coop was a SGT. It didn’t meet any of the time-in-grade or schooling requirements for the NCO-level rank.
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“Don’t ask, because I can’t tell.” Coop headed off any further questions. “If you want, you can put in a request with the LT, but she’s going to shut you down too. Even the rear admiral is going to tell you to go pound sand.”
Nichelbaucher physically hesitated on the steps of the rec center before replying. “Are you still going to recommend me for corporal?”
“Sure,” Coop’s mind was already on his opening line with Aiko, but he’d still give Nichelbaucher what the guy was due. “And now that it’s coming from a Sergeant, it might have more weight.” He gave the PFC a thumbs up as he headed for one of the two vehicles the team had at their disposal. Nichelbaucher hopped in the passenger seat a moment later for the drive back to the barracks. He didn’t have anything to say, and Coop wasn’t sure if he was still pissed about Coop’s rapid rank ascension, or if he was pumped that he was likely going to get his second chevron soon. Either way, he didn’t say a word on the short drive back.
A shit, shower, and shave after their return, Coop was in an auto-cab and zooming through the city streets toward his rendezvous with Aiko. It didn’t take long for Coop to figure out they were heading into the sketchier part of the city. After nearly getting shot and blown up, a rough bar didn’t worry Coop, but he didn’t want to walk into a gathering of anarchist asswipes that he’d have to fight off relatively unarmed. He thought “relatively” because he had a few knifes concealed on his person. It was the least he could do when going out into a hostile environment.
The cab chimed when they reached the location, and Coop inserted a chip to pay the bill. He only had one chip on him with five hundred bucks for the evening. He was planning to lose it all on the ride, booze, and maybe a room he could rent by the hour, but it wasn’t enough to raise anyone’s suspicions. He was just a new NCO out looking to blow his paycheck on booze and women.
Coop would describe the look the place had as “sweaty”. Condensation seemed to build on most things, despite the AC, and that gave everything an unpleasant sheen. Coop’s enhanced eyes caught the glare off those sheens from the too-bright lights, and he grimaced as he squinted to find his date. He finally spotted her in the back, where the lighting was a little less intense. He didn’t pay any of the patrons a second glance as he walked to Aiko and ignored their stares. He wasn’t sure if they were staring more and him or her when he plopped down in the seat across from her.
Aiko was dressed to inspire erections in something low-cut that showed off her tattoos. She already had one empty drink in front of her, and was not nursing a second. She threw it back without a care in the world and smiled at Coop.
“Hey there, big guy.”
“Come here often?” Coop grinned back as a worn-out-looking waitress appeared to take his order.
“Only when I need a stiff drink and something else that’s stiff.” She looked disappointed that she didn’t have another drink, so Coop waved down another tired-looking server and ordered her one.
“So what’s a bad woman like you doing in a nice place like this?” Coop asked when their drinks arrived and they both took healthy sips.
“It’s pretty far out isn’t it?” Aiko shrugged. “The problem is that with this,” she made circular motions around her face, “no place within ten miles of the R&D facilities, that frequently serves the place’s personnel, is going to let me in.”
Coop frowned for a moment before the truth hit him. Aiko had the features of her Asian ancestors, and on a planet where the main source of revenue was developing technology to fight people that looked like her, it made sense that she would be discriminated against. The excuse of operational security could be used by the uninformed, but Aiko was a Fleet spacer who was actually a part of the top-secret SRRT teams. Of course, she couldn’t tell anyone that, so she would still get denied service at certain establishments.
Coop knew the feeling. He’d been a PHA Rat, and anyone outside a half-kilometer bubble around the massive welfare cities wouldn’t take people who looked like him. So, he did the only thing he could think of to comfort her. “Hey, I think you’re hot.” He reached under the table and caressed the inside of her thigh.
Aiko grinned, but then snapped her legs closed. Coop’s hand got caught and pinched between the two boney parts of her knees, and he winced in pain.
“Business before pleasure,” she pulled out a PAD that wasn’t military-issued and slid it over to Coop. “I’ve been tapped into a certain network of entrepreneurial individuals for a while now. Sometimes they send out messages asking for anything from information to get-your-hands-dirty work. This one came in a week ago, and I held onto it so you could see.”
Coop scanned the message. There wasn’t a lot to go off of. It was an anonymous account plainly asking for information on York Sector, specifically Cobalt Station. If the information was credible, and Coop had no way to know how they would determine that, the sender was willing to pay up to ten grand.
It had been over three months since the royal fuckwads ruined the perfect gig Coop had set up on New Lancashire. The money he’d earned went a long way, coupled with his injured stay in the hospital, but it was shrinking fast. Coop spent his money like he liked his women: hard and fast. He could use an extra source of income, and he could work with ten grand, especially since Aiko was back in his life. Girl had expensive tastes, which was probably why she was tapped into this network in the first place.
“Is it reliable?” Coop asked as he re-read the message a few more times and tried to read between the lines of the request.
“Should be.” Aiko shrugged. “If you get on the network administrator’s shit list you end up banned or dead, so people try to be honest.”
“Honor among thieves and all that bullshit.” Coop slid the PAD back across the table. “Sure. I can give them some intel for fifteen grand, but nothing that’s going to implicate me.”
“I didn’t expect anything less, and I charge a ten percent middle-woman fee.” Aiko grinned, and this time her hand was the one on the inside of his thigh.
“Umm…yeah, ok.” Her hand went higher, and Coop would have agreed to twenty if she pushed it, but nothing more. He had principles.
“Good,” now she leaned forward across the table, showing off considerable cleavage, and continued to snake her hand up till she reached the prize.
“Check please,” Coop squeaked.
The look on Aiko’s face said she didn’t want to wait. Coop paid, and tipped the waitress more than he should have, but he didn’t care. His mind was on one thing right now.
As she led the way out, Aiko grabbed a bottle of water and tossed a few-dollar chip to the waitress, and the bottle to Coop. “You’re going to need to hydrate.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Coop immediately unscrewed the lid and started chugging. He remembered the last time with Aiko, and hoped the motel had a vending machine.
He was going to make the most of every second.