Uncommon Loyalty

by Toby Neighbors

  The next day, they ran the course again and again, flying through space, calculating each change of trajectory. By the end of their session, Nick had just been able to safely navigate the course within the time limit set by Master Sergeant Cane. He felt a sense of pride, since Ember, Kal, and Ty still hadn’t completed the course in time.

  “Don’t get too cocky,” Sergeant Tveit said to him. “Things never get easier with Master Sergeant Cane.”

  She was proven correct when, the following day, there were targets to fire at while moving through the course. Nick spent his mornings training in orbital maneuvers, the afternoon in combat training, and most evenings in the gun range simulators. It was a grueling schedule, but Nick and his friends saw progress on all fronts. Their bodies were growing lean and strong. The work they engaged in was slowly becoming easier, and their confidence grew each day.

  Everyone had their own strengths. Ember was the best marksman of the group. Even on the move, she could hit almost any target. Ty was physically the strongest, and grappling with him required the use of leverage and deceit. Jules was a natural at hand-to-hand fighting. She wasn’t as strong as Ty, but her mind was adept at finding the weaknesses of her opponents. Kal excelled at close combat, especially with bladed weapons, and Nick’s forte was movement, especially in zero gravity. He had learned to maneuver through the obstacle course faster than anyone, even Gunnery Sergeant Tveit.

  When they finished at the gun range on their fifth day of orbital training, they were all pleasantly surprised by the announcement that they all had thirty-six hours of liberty beginning at 0600.

  “You can go to the entertainment wing,” Gunny Tveit explained, but don’t wander too far. The Proxy don’t like it when we cross over to their side of the station.”

  “You mean, we can sleep in?” Kal asked.

  “If you want to,” Tveit said.

  “What’s in the entertainment wing?” Ember asked.

  “Exactly what you’d expect,” the gunnery sergeant explained. “Bars, dance clubs, movie theaters, restaurants. There’s even a video messaging system that you can use to send news back to your family if you want. It’s expensive and only works one way, but you can do it.”

  “Hot damn,” Kal said. “Now I’m excited.”

  “Just don’t get into trouble,” Gunny Tveit warned them. “Fighting isn’t tolerated by the Proxy.”

  “Where will you be?” Jules asked.

  “I’ve some reports to file in the morning, but I’ll be around. Get some food, then hit the rack. I still want a rotating watch set tonight. No excuses.”

  “Yes, Sergeant,” they all said in unison.

  When they reached the mess hall, they all opted for traditional meals. Nick, Ember, and Jules all had chicken and rice, with green beans and dinner rolls. Kal and Ty had lamb kabobs, with jalapeño yogurt, rice, olives, and figs.

  That night, they stood watch in pairs. Nick and Ember had the last shift, from 0400 until 0600. When they officially went on liberty, both of them went back to bed for a nap. Four hours later, they were up and showered along with Jules, Kal, and Ty, ready to explore the entertainment wing. No one had any clothes other than their fatigues, but they didn’t wear their BIO-suits underneath, and made their way toward the corridor known as the entertainment wing.

  “Oh no,” Nick said. “I forgot my bank chip.”

  “Better go get it,” Kal said. “You know the Proxy don’t give anything away for free.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Ember said.

  “No, don’t worry about it,” Nick said. “Go have fun. This was my mistake. I’ll catch up.”

  “Don’t get lost, bro,” Ty said.

  Nick waved and then hurried back to their quarters. Since arriving at the Foundry, he hadn’t needed access to his money, and the bank chip was hidden away in his meager collection of personal belongings. He got the chip, secured it in his pocket, then hurried back to catch up with his friends. Unfortunately, Donny Calloway and his oafish companions found him first.

  “Look at this,” Donny said, stepping out of a room and right into Nick’s path. “How you doing, kid?”

  “Fine,” Nick said starting to go around the shorter man, whose nose looked fine to Nick.

  “Hey, where are you headed in such a hurry?” Donny said, stepping into his path.

  “I’m trying to catch up with my friends,” Nick said. “Please move.”

  “Aren’t we friends, Nick?” Donny said his name like it was an insult. “I mean, we got history, you and me. Some might say unfinished business.”

  “Look, I got a little carried away when we sparred,” Nick admitted. “I’m sorry. Okay?”

  “No, it’s not okay,” Donny said. “I spent two days in the med bay because of you, kid. I’d say that entitles me to some payback.”

  “I won’t fight you,” Nick said.

  “Oh, I never dreamed you would,” the shorter man said. “Get him.”

  Gorman and Hicks were both corporals, and at least fifty years older than Nick. They grabbed his arms, and Nick struggled to get free, hoping he could run back the way he’d come and find another way to the entertainment wing. But before he could get free, Donny punched him hard in the stomach. The blow knocked the wind from Nick’s lungs and left him barely able to stand.

  “I took it easy on you when we were sparring,” Donny claimed. “And you went wild on me. Things are a bit different now.”

  “Sure,” Nick said between gasps for breath. “You’ve got your friends holding me.”

  “They’re just helping you,” Donny lied. “I mean, you can barely stand.”

  He drove another fist into Nick’s stomach. The pain was blinding. Nick had been hit before, but never from a helpless position by an opponent who put all their weight into the blow. Nick’s knees buckled, and he nearly threw up. Bright sparks floated in his vision, and he struggled to draw breath.

  “Come on, I know what to do with him,” Donny said.

  They dragged Nick down the corridor, then into a maintenance corridor. The floor was a grid of hard metal, and the walls were lined with conduits and pipes. There was a large junction box on one wall and a series of gauges on another. Tools and cleaning supplies were all neatly stowed in labeled bins, although Nick couldn’t read the writing.

  “Put him in there,” Donny said, opening a hatch that led to a small compartment. There was an opening in the floor that led down, and a huge round pipe rose up into the ceiling. A loud hum rose up from the darkness below.

  “I wouldn’t go down there, kid,” Donny said, patting Nick hard on the side of the face. “The Proxy don’t like us wandering around the station, you know.”

  They closed the door, and the safety light in the little compartment went off. Nick put his hand on the door latch, but before he could open it, Donny wedged a broom handle under the latch on the outside. Nick tried to open the door but couldn’t. He pounded on the thick metal door, but the hum from below and the thickness of the metal made his efforts fall short. With his stomach aching and his lungs burning for more air, Nick slumped down onto the floor beside the opening. It made him nervous to be so close to the hole in the floor. He feared that he might fall through the opening, so he sat still until he caught his breath. Surely, he thought, his friends would come looking for him at some point. But how long would that take, he wondered. And would they ever find him in the maintenance room? He doubted it.

  He searched the metal door until he found the lever. It still wouldn’t budge. He pounded on the door with the heel of his hand, but there was no response from the other side. Nick knew he would have to wait for help, so he used his data-link to type out a message. It would ping his friends, but they might not see it if they were in a loud club or bar. And he still didn’t know exactly where he was. They could search for him for hours, but it was his best bet. For as long as they had been on the Foundry, they had operated out of only one level, except when they were dropped down into the pit. Nick thought that,
if he could go down the hatch, he might find an alternative way up, but he had no light source. It was too dangerous, both physically and in regard to running afoul of the Proxy. The last thing he wanted was to waste his liberty locked in the maintenance hatch, but sitting tight was his best option, so he settled down on the hard floor and waited.

  Chapter 6

  Ember and Jules’ first stop was a café. It was too early to drink, and they were excited to finally have some girl time. Music was pumping through a small but loud speaker system, and while the girls sipped their coffee confections, neither noticed the message chime on their data-links.

  Ty and Kal were playing billiards in a tavern with large screens on every wall that showed replays of Earth’s sports teams.

  “I didn’t know the Proxy kept up with sports,” Ty said. “That’s good.”

  “No doubt,” Kal said. “I wonder if it’s available everywhere or just on the big space stations.”

  “As long as we’re Recon, we’ll always come back to the Foundry,” Ty said. “We should be able to keep tabs.”

  “Unless we’re on a long assignment.”

  “What do you know about it?” Ty argued.

  “I’ve heard things,” Kal said.

  “Oh yeah? From whom?”

  “I have my sources.”

  “You’re full of it, dude,” Ty said. “Now call your shot. No dog shots in this game.”

  “Billiards is a game of skill and patience, my friend,” Kal said. “Watch and learn.”

  Neither heard the chime on the wrist links. The truth was they rarely got messages on the devices. Occasionally, Gunny Tveit sent them reminders, but for the most part, the interactive data device was mostly ignored. They didn’t expect to get a message from Nick, and no one checked on the data-link for nearly two hours.

  The girls found Kal and Ty when they finished their coffee. The group waited patiently for Nick, thinking that he either got lost along the way or just hadn’t found them yet. It was Ember who finally thought to message him and noticed the message.

  “He sent a message,” she declared, seeing the notification.

  “Let me guess, he decided to stay in the barracks,” Kal said. “I’ve seen him getting friendly with Gunny Tveit.”

  “What?” Ember said, looking up from her wrist link.

  “Ignore him,” Jules said. “He’s just running off at the mouth.”

  “Yeah, he’s full of crap,” Ty said.

  “Would it matter if he did?” Kal pressed. “I mean, he’s a free man, right.”

  “It wouldn’t be right on a lot of levels,” Jules said. “Gunny Tveit is our superior.”

  “But she’s fine,” Ty said. “No doubt about that.”

  “Desirable and deadly,” Kal added. “There is no hotter combination than that.”

  “You’re both sick,” Ember said, looking down to hide the fact that her face was flushing. She missed her long hair suddenly.

  “And you’re jealous,” Kal replied.

  “Let it go, Kal,” Jules said.

  “Hey, I don’t judge. I’m sure Nick is a real catch.”

  Ember turned around on the bar stool she had settled on and tapped the screen on her data-link. Nick’s message came up, and Ember felt suddenly sick. She whirled back to her friends.

  “Nick’s in trouble,” she said.

  “What’d he do?” Ty asked.

  “Sergeant Donny Calloway and his friends locked him in a maintenance room,” Ember said, skimming the message Nick had sent.

  “Calloway? Isn’t that the guy Nick pummeled when we sparred with Dragon Team Thirteen?” Jules asked.

  “Yeah, short guy,” Kal said. “I guess he’s out of the medical bay.”

  “We have to find him,” Ember said. “He says he can’t get out.”

  “You don’t think he’d trick us, do you?” Kal asked.

  “No,” Ember said.

  “That would be kinda funny,” Ty said. “Get us to waste our liberty looking for him when he’s not really in trouble at all.”

  “He wouldn’t do that,” Ember said.

  “So where is he?” Jules asked.

  “He doesn’t know. He was coming to meet up, and they ambushed him.”

  “So we have to go looking for him. Great,” Kal said.

  “You don’t have to,” Ember said. “But I’m going.”

  “We’re all going,” Ty said, situating his pool cue onto the wall rack. “Come on, Kal.”

  “Hey, I never said I wasn’t going,” Kal said. “Just that I wasn’t happy about it.”

  “I’m sure he’s not happy about being locked in a maintenance room either,” Ember said.

  “Hey, if it’s a maintenance room, shouldn’t there be tools and stuff?” Jules asked.

  “He said he’s in a small compartment at the back of the maintenance room,” Ember replied. “No light and the door is thick metal. They must have jammed the lock from the outside.”

  They hurried back down the passage that led away from the entertainment wing. Most of the doors were unmarked. They began trying a few, only to find that most were locked. Another hour passed as they searched the long corridor with no results.

  Nick had felt a surge of hope when Ember had replied to his message, but the longer he sat in the cramped space, the more hopeless he felt. Banging on the thick metal door didn’t help, and the temptation to go down the ladder into the depths of the space station grew stronger with every passing moment.

  They were beginning to think they would never find their friend, when Ty opened a door to a storage room full of supplies. At the back of the room was a cleaning cart with a variety of solvents and long handled instruments. Nothing seemed out of place and he started to close the door to look elsewhere, but there was something odd about the cleaning cart. It was the only thing he’d ever seen on the station that wasn’t neatly stowed. The cart was just sitting in the room, waiting for a maintenance worker to put it to use. Still, the oddity of seeing those materials not stowed made Ty hesitate.

  He walked into the room and looked around. There were items missing from the walls, and it didn’t take long to realize that those items had been dumped on the cleaning cart. Moving closer, he saw that one of the long handles was actually wedged under the handle of a door on the back wall.

  “Guys!” Ty called out. “In here.”

  He moved the cart, which made the sabotage obvious. The cart had been a clever ruse, and Ty had almost missed seeing what the devious marines from Team Thirteen had done. Ember and Jules stepped into the room just as Ty pulled the long dowel rod from under the lever.

  “What’d you find?” Kal asked, coming in behind the girls.

  Ty opened the door, and Nick stumbled out, squinting in the glare from the light overhead.

  “Are you okay?” Ember asked.

  “Fine,” Nick said. “Donny sucker punched me a couple of times while his goons held me, but no permanent damage.”

  “Man, that’s cold,” Ty said, looking into the small compartment. “Glad you didn’t fall down that hole.”

  “I can’t believe they locked you in there,” Jules said. “We should report them.”

  “No,” Nick said. “We can’t do that.”

  “So we find them,” Kal said. “Show them what happens when they mess with us.”

  “That will just escalate the situation,” Nick said.

  “So what? You want to just act like it didn’t happen?” Ty said.

  “Maybe there will come a time when we can get even, but for now, our free time is being wasted. Let’s go have some fun.”

  “I’m down with that,” Kal said.

  “Me too,” Jules said. “There’s an automated spa I want to check out.”

  “I’m hungry,” Ty added.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Nick said.

  They left the storage closet, but it didn’t take long for Nick and Ember to fall back from the others. Nick’s stomach was hurting, and he felt hor
rible. Not just from getting hit, but being in the cramped compartment for hours and the humiliation of it all. In truth, his nerves were shot.

  “Want to just get some food and relax a while?” Ember asked.

  “That sounds good to me,” Nick said.

  “I’m really sorry they got to you. I should have gone back with you to get your bank chip,” she said.

  “We’d probably still be locked up in that dark compartment if you had.”

  “I can think of worse ways to spend the day,” she said with a wink.

  Nick felt his face flush, and giddy, fluttery feeling rushed through him. The truth was, his feelings for Ember were growing, and hearing her flirt made him feel really good. But he reminded himself that nothing more than harmless flirting could happen between them. They were friends, and they needed to stay friends. The Proxy were always watching, and they might split them up if the two of them became a couple.

  Lunch was purchased at a small restaurant that served deep dish pizza and a variety of drinks. The pizza was so thick it had to be eaten with a fork and a knife, but the flavor was delicious. Nick couldn’t believe how creamy the thick layer of mozzarella cheese was. The sauce was tangy with just a touch of sweetness, and the toppings were all fresh. Best of all, the crust was thick and perfectly baked. Cheese had hardened along the edge to form a crispy layer of toasted goodness.

  Ember had a cold drink, while Nick and Jules had hard apple cider. Kal and Ty both had Codnam punch with frozen fruit added in tropical chunks instead of ice. The food helped almost as much as laughing with his friends. By the end of the meal, Nick felt almost normal again.

  Chapter 7

  After their meal, the group split up again. Ember and Jules went to the spa, while Kal, Ty, and Nick took in a movie at the holo-theater. It was a small theater, but the entire room was filled with visuals and the actors were in bright, high-resolution holograms.

  After the movie, the guys were met by Gunny Tveit, who had a grim look on her face.

  “What’s wrong?” Nick asked, worried that his run-in with Donny had gotten them into trouble.