Earth Core United Military Recruitment Facility, New Orleans, Louisiana…

As a wave of new recruits march up into the heavily active base, a tall young man with a short crop of blonde hair, casually walks past them all with his packed duffle bag slung over his shoulder. The drill sergeant, a formidable-looking black soldier, barked orders at the group ahead, notices the man going past and informs his new soldiers in training to keep marching while he heads over to intercept him.

“Hey! Scott! Yo! Robinson! Where ya going?”

Scott turned about for a second, gave the man a smirk, and continued heading away. “Oh, hey Durst… I’ll see you at the bar later.”

“Where ya going? What’s with the long face, man?”

Scott gave a long sigh and hoisted up his bag. Durst wasThe frustration on Scott’s face spoke volumes, and his friend quickly stepped in front of the dishevelled man.

“What’s going on?”

“I’m out,” Robinson sighed. “I broke the rules of the base.”

Durst looked confused for a second, then he laughed, “Ah, shit… did you go out with the Base Commander’s daughter again? I told you that girl was trouble, always looking to tick off her daddy something fierce…”

“Naw,” Robison snickered. He dropped his heavy tanned coloured bag to the ground and relaxed his back from hauling the weight. “Not with her, I learned my lesson the first time round. No, this was something different. Kind of similar… but, much worse.”

“What’s worst than that?” The man grinned. “You poop in his shoe or something?”

“I got caught sleeping with a superior officer…”

“Oh…” Durst replied, mildly shocked by that admittance. “Uh, well… who’s the lucky fella?”

“Har-dee-har-har…” Scott rolled his eyes in annoyance. “It was Billings… Major Tanya Billings.”

“Oh… my… god…” Durst replied. The look of concern now washed over as his smile subsided.

“Yeah…” Robinson nodded, eyeing the man back. “We were kind of in mid-coupling when her husband came in to the back of the barracks. Didn’t think he’d be doing inspections at that time, but, guess I kind of got caught up in the moment.”

“But, Billings?” Durst glared at him. “Isn’t she… uh… like… aren’t they just recently married?”

“Yep”

“Well, I’ll be…” The man disappointedly shook his head. “Not even two weeks, that woman is nothing but trouble.”

Scott agreed and picked up his duffle bag again. He resumed walking and pointed to the exit to the base.

“So, that’s where I’m going, and now I’m out of the military.” He gave his friend a pat not he shoulder as he joined along side. “I tell ya Durst, I’m a cursed man. No matter what, my pecker keeps getting me into the weirdest shit.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Dust glanced at him. “I remember when you got here, brand new officer of the recruitment office, always giving the good looking women the personal tours of the base. Mm-mm! I couldn’t figure out how or why all those women fell for your charm.”

“I don’t think it was my southernly charm they were interested in…”

Durst burst in laughter. “You got that right! Jesus, man! I swear you ushered in a whole new era in sexual misconduct laws.”

The two men laughed about it, giving each other a pat not he back and sharing the time as two good friends would.

* * *

The slow walk to the exit was enough time for them to continue talking and reminiscing about all their exploits. As they finally approached the main gate, Robinson stopped and gave his friend one last hug and a hearty handshake.

“Don’t do anything stupid out there, ya here me?” Durst coyly smirked.

“What do you mean?” Robinson cocked a brow. “Stupid is the only thing I’m good at.”

They laughed and hugged each other again. Durst pulled away, rubbing a tear from his cheek and gave a sharp sniffle. Scott looked at him with a perplexed glare and passively pushed on him.

“You ain’t crying, are you? Big man like you?”

“No…” He said, rubbing the tears again.

“Big ol’ Drill Sargent Amos Durst…” He smiled, giving his friend another soft push. “The meanest, loudest, and bad-assed man in the whole base. Shedding tears for the dumb recruitment hick he almost decked when we first met.”

“You had it coming…” The man sniffed with a glare and pointing a finger. “You took my spot at the canteen table… everyone there knew that was my spot, in fact they told you directly not to sit there.”

“I know…” Scott nodded. “But hell, the girl across from it was just too damn pretty to not sit close to.”

“That was my sister!”

“And I said I was sorry…”

“You slept with her!”

“Again… had I known…”

“You are a stupid hick, you bastard!” Durst laughed, giving him a slight (yet playfully gentle) fist to his jaw. “It’s a good thing she dumped your ass first, or I really would have taken you down.”

“I’m glad we got to know each other from that point on.” Robinson smiled. “You’ve been a good buddy all these years, man. I’m going to miss you.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Same…” The man slowly shook his hand again. “Keep in touch, will ya? Huh? For my sake?”

“And your sister’s too, right?”

They laughed again. Both wanted the moment to last as long as they could, but, Durst had a squad to whip into shape, and Robinson was now officially out. They parted ways and Durst headed off to his unit. Robinson gave a long sigh, looked around the area one last time and proceed to exit out. Suddenly, he was stopped by the two MPs by the gate. They blocked his path and it caught him off guard.

“Yo! What’s the deal fellas? I am I under arrest or something?”

The two men said nothing. Then one pointed to the vehicle heading their way. Scott glanced behind and cursed as he saw it. The small hovering squad ATV pulled up and a beautiful uniformed red-haired woman stepped out. The guards saluted her and she reflexively saluted back.

“Thank you, gentlemen…” She said to the MPs. “As you were.”

The two men stepped back into their small booths and monitored the gates. The woman stepped up and grinned at Scott.

“Aren’t you going to salute your superior, Scotty?”

Robinson scowled with a frown and dodged her intense gaze.

“I’m not a soldier anymore. I don’t have to give you anything.”

“Not even a kiss, lover?”

“Listen, Tanya,” Robinson glared back, emphasizing on her name. “We’re done. You didn’t do a thing to help the situation. Instead, you acted as if I was the one who tricked you into sleeping with me. You were the ranking officer, hell, even you your husband was slightly below you…”

“Yeah,” She smirked. “But he wasn’t completely under and in me like you where.”

Robinson didn’t care for that comment and turned away. She quickly stopped him from walking away, and forced him to look back at her.

“Scotty, wait. please…”

“The hell with you woman!” He snarled. “You took advantage of me. In my books, that’s hard pass on giving it another go. I’m going to walk out of here, with no career and no job. So, pardon me if I’m a tad sour on giving you any kind of kiss or…whatever you want… a goodbye.”

The woman let go of his arm and dropped the smile. She saw how upset he was, and, it was very understandable. She sided with her husband, in placing the blame all on him. She would pay for it later herself, but, for now, she was persistent in talking with Robison about another matter.

“You’re not out of the military yet. I made sure that you didn’t suffer because of what I did to you.”

“The hell you say…” He eyed at her.

“I managed to convince my husband on not ousting you completely. He knew I was partly to blame, but, made me promise I wouldn’t have any more contact with you. So I… transferred you.”

“What?” Scott scowled again. “What do you mean I’m not out? Transferred? Where? How?”

“Look, it took me a lot to get this…” She started to nervously fret. “I had to call in a lot of favours from some old friends…”

“Ex-lovers you mean…” Scott snorted.

“Whatever,” She rolled her eyes. “The point is, you’re still in, okay? Albeit in a different place and a lower rank…”

“You demoted me?” He shouted in anger.

“Yes,” She sternly glared at him. “Would you rather take your chances being unemployed, out there, on this miserable planet? Let’s not forget just how bad it is for those that don’t have a solid career… let alone, a military pension in the long run.”

Robinson thew up his arms in frustration. He wanted to chuck is bag to the furtherest reaches of the universe in anger. She had basically ruined him, career wise and reputation. But, as he thought the matter over, simmering down sone, he realized that he also had a hand in that anyway. He was too promiscuous on the base. It would have been only a matter of time before he would have been caught anyway. The irony was not lost on him in that moment. He took a few short sniffs while curbing his anger, and turned back to face her with a straight face.

“Fine.” He stated. “What rank and where am I going?”

“Don’t be mad…” She said, giving a worried stare.

“Don’t be mad…” He scoffed at the words. “For Pete’s sake, just tell me already!”

“You’re an ensign, in the ECUF…”

“Naturally,” He scoffed again. “Earth Core Untied Forces… now that we’re all inclusive, I can be put anywhere they decide. Alright… fine…” He breathlessly sighed. “Where am I being stationed?”

“You’ve been assigned to the Deep Contact mission.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Deep Contact,” She restated. “It’s all I could give you on such short notice. Plus, they were in need of a crew and…”

“I don’t believe you.” Scott gawked at her in disbelief. “You had me transferred to a ship heading out into deep space? Wow! You really did want me out of the way, huh?”

“Scott, Please…”

“It all makes sense now…” He said, pacing back and forth around her. “What’s the best way to keep me quiet about that infraction, and… and…” He stressed, “To make sure your husband knows I’m out of your life for good. Bravo… wonderful… must have been hard for to find such a perfect position for me.”

“It’s not like I did this on purpose.” Tanya retorted quickly. “I love you, damnit! I loved you the minute we met. But…”

“But you’re married, right?” He finished for her. “Cause, hey, god forbid you loose that gravy train too. Oh yeah, I know all about him and his connected family…” Scott picked up his bag and flung it back over his shoulder. “And you know what? I’m glad you made that call and sent me on that ship bound for nowhere. Cause let me tell you, I’ve had it being around here, with you, and all this drama. I’ll be sure to send you a thank you card later in the middle of the god-damned universe, ya fuckin’ bitch!”

And with that, Scott Robinson stormed out of the base, kicking the arm barrier out of his way. Tanya wanted to say more, but hesitated, she saw he was beyond reason and let him go. The man she loved was now free. She had her own career to think about, her husband and whatever discipline she would now face as a result of their forbidden affair. She looked on longingly to the young blonde Southern-American bitterly walking out of sight, she blew a kiss to him and returned to her awning hovering vehicle.

“Goodbye, Scotty…” She glanced back. “Good luck out there.”

She tapped onto the flat screened console and the small, well armoured ATV flew off into the base.

* * *

Scott continued on down the road, complaining about Tanya, his life and untying else he could blame for his predicament. And as he came to a local transport terminal, where a good number of people were waiting in the shelter outcropping, he flung his duffle bag down, sat on it and sulked.

“This is some really messed up situation you got yourself in now, Scotty-boy.” He inwardly complained. “Transferred into deep space. Well, shit… that’s just great.”

The transport arrived. It was a slender, almost pill-shaped vehicle, with large windows to look out of and was completely driven autonomously. The AI welcomed the passengers as they entered one at a time. They each proclaimed to the AI driver of where they wanted to go, giving a high pitched ping as it acknowledged back. Scott, being the last one to board, greeted the pleasant female voiced AI and threw his bag onto a vacant seat close by.

“Destination, please…” It said, showing a holographic map with all of the other passenger’s marked destinations.

Scott glared at it with half interested eyes and gave response in a passive statement.

“ECUF Headquarters…”

“Please be more specific…” It said as the image displayed the moon with several dots. “There are eight locations allocated for that branch.”

Scott seemed frustrated by that. He waved a hand haphazardly to the hologram and raised his voice.

“Aw, hell, I don’t know! Where ever the recruitment station is for the Deep Contact mission.”

“One moment…” It pleasantly responded.

The map shifted along the moon as it searched for the location. It stopped on an orbital platform that hung over it’s largest crater, South Pole-Aitken basin.

“ECUF Headquarters, one-one-five Walker Space-yard station. Thank you… please take a seat. We will arrive at your desired destination in five-point-two-point-zero hours.”

Scott flopped into his seat and got comfortable. He looked at the other passengers, as they stared at him. They were all localized to Earth destinations, but he was the only one heading for the moon. He waved them away, shooing them from their prolong glances, and closed his eyes.

“Five hours... maybe I can get a good nap in just before going heading out of orbit, I’d hate to be stuck using the zero-g toilet on the way there.”

As he eased back into the seat and placed his feet up onto the opposite empty chair, the transport whisked away, down the road and then, shot up into the sky. This would be a long journey, just enough time to have a nap, as the transport headed towards the moon.