by Lucas Marcum
Considering this, Elizabeth replied, “Well. It’s not really classified. It’s not even sensitive. I don’t know why the recruiters wouldn’t tell you the purpose of it. It’s to rebuild the Elai home world when the war is over.”
Fatima raised an eyebrow and replied in a sardonic tone, “So they’re planning to rebuild an alien world, are they? How…thoughtful.”
Flushing, Elizabeth replied, “I…”
The older woman sighed. “I apologize. I don’t mean to put this on you. You’re doing your job, like we all are.” She paused and added, “Hamid runs this shop for his uncle. I work as an internist for the time being, though I trained in infectious disease. Most of this here isn’t ours.” She gestured around her. “We want Aliya to grow up not wanting for anything, but so far…Well. Some things children shouldn’t have to experience.” Both of the women looked at Aliya, who was quietly nibbling on a date and sipping her tea.
Seeing them looking at her, the child said, “Like the cold spaceship. I didn’t like that.”
“Yes, darling. Like the cold spaceship.” With a smile at the child, Fatima looked at Elizabeth and explained, “The evacuation shuttle.” She looked fondly back at the child and added, “We’re poor here, but we have each other, and we have our faith.”
Elizabeth looked at the woman for a moment, then looked at her hands. “Knowing your loved ones are safe is a blessing in and of itself.”
“Indeed, it is.” Fatima regarded Elizabeth closely for a moment, then asked, “Husband?”
Shaking her head, Elizabeth replied quietly, “No. Not even boyfriend, really. The war got in the way. We met at war, spent our short time together at war, and got sent our separate ways at war.” She paused and added reflectively, “We’ve never even seen each other out of uniform, now that I think about it…” Her voice trailed off.
Fatima nodded and said briefly, “I’m sorry. I will pray for his safe return.”
Aliya looked up at Elizabeth and asked, “Will you go back to the war?”
Elizabeth smiled at the girl briefly and said, “If I have to.”
“Well, I want you to stay. Mama, can she stay?” The child looked pleadingly at her mother.
Smiling at her daughter again, Fatima responded, “Aliya, our friend is only visiting. She must go back to work soon.”
Hamid appeared in the door to the kitchen and spoke for a moment in the flowing, singsong language. Fatima nodded and said to Elizabeth, “The riot has died down. There’s an ambulance on the way. I’ll ride with you and your friend to the hospital, as I need to get to work anyway, and it’s safer than walking.” She stood and collected the teacups, then turned to go into the kitchen, and paused, “Elizabeth.” Elizabeth looked up as Fatima continued, “I must confess, I was angry when Aliya told me her father had rescued someone who needed help. I felt he was taking a foolish risk, but I was wrong. I’m glad he follows his heart. He’s a kind man, and I’m fortunate to have him. He isn’t perfect, but he is a good man.” She paused, seemingly searching for the right words, then said, “I hope your young man comes back to you.”
Elizabeth looked down and nodded. After a pause she replied, “Me, too.” After another moment, Fatima turned and vanished into the tiny kitchen.
Thirty minutes later they arrived at the hospital. Fatima climbed out and spoke rapidly to the medical technician in Arabic as they unloaded the now conscious but woozy young naval officer and moved him into the emergency room. She turned to Elizabeth.
“They will take your friend in. If you ask at the front desk of the emergency room, you can call your supervisor.” She stopped, then said, “I do not say this often, but it was a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Colonel. I hope one day we can meet again.” She opened her mouth as if to say something else, then closed it abruptly, turned, and walked rapidly away.
Elizabeth watched her go, then sighed, turned, and went to go find a telephone.
****
The next day Elizabeth arrived in the admiralty building in Huxley City. She was exhausted and irritated, not having slept well the previous night. Arriving in her office, she unlocked the door and sat down at her desk. Tapping the power up button, she saw the dozens of emails awaiting responses, and sighed again. In the upper right-hand corner of the screen, the news alert was flashing. Curious, she tapped the icon, opening the alert into a stream displaying the news, which played as she took items out of her handbag and got ready for the day’s work.
As she did, the beautiful Hindi newscaster said in a precise English accent, “The War Department reports additional fighting today in the Periphery, with multiple engagements scattered across dozens of systems. Our sources stationed with the Third Fleet are now saying that the Fifth Marine Division has now landed in Draconis 329 to seize vital infrastructure and cut Elai supply lines. For more, we go to a previously taped report from our correspondent, Tamera Keely, who’s embedded with the First Battalion, Fifth Marines.”
Elizabeth’s heart skipped a beat at the mention of the Marines. Tony! She turned her full attention to the screen.
The scene switched from the perfectly made-up anchor to a slender woman wearing a bulky armored vest and a helmet, with a vacuum mask hanging from its straps around her neck. Her hair was hastily thrown back, and the red ring of the mask could be seen outlining her nose and mouth. Behind her was the busy hanger deck of a massive warship. Enthralled, Elizabeth sat down on the edge of her office chair and stared at the screen.
The woman began to speak in a clear voice, “I’m Tamera Keely reporting for the Colonial News Network, on the hangar deck of the UEAN Cobra. The Cobra and her sister ship the Dynamo are the backbone of the massive operation to drop the Fifth Marine Division onto the planet.” The view switched to a space view of a sparkling, blue-green planet. The woman’s voice continued, “The planet itself is beautiful, but has no official name in the charts. It has a numerical designation, but the Marines have been calling it ‘Topaz’, as both its operational code name and for the appearance of much of the planet’s surface.” The view switched back to the reporter, who gestured at the hangar behind her. “The Marines are telling me that this is a massive operation, one of the biggest in history, involving tens of thousands of Marines, mechs, tanks, and equipment. The men are telling me no matter what happens, the Fifth Marines can handle it.”
The camera view switched to two young Marines. One of them said, “Yeah. Probably not going to be pretty down there, but the Fifth Marines are here now. We got this.”
The reporter’s voice asked, “Are you worried?”
“About what?” The young man looked amused.
“About the prospect of fighting on an enemy planet full of the best infantry the Elai have?”
The two Marines traded a look, and one of them chuckled and replied, “Ma’am, these Elai are tough, but they ain’t Marines. This fight is already over. They just don’t know it yet.”
The camera view switched back to the reporter, who said calmly, “They have the tools, the training, and the resources, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned in the long years of this war, it’s that you can’t count the enemy out. I’m Tamera Keely, reporting for the Colonial News Network, from the Third Fleet.”
The view switched back to the perfectly made-up news anchor. She continued in her professional, dispassionate tone, “Meanwhile in Draconis 327, the fighting continues into its third week on the airless moons of the fifth planet. The First Marine Division is engaged in heavy combat for control of the system. The Alliance Naval Command reports that the Elai navy has launched several counterattacks, and the First Marine division is temporarily cut off. The UEA spokesman has stated on record that they will be relieved soon but will not comment on a timetable for reinforcement of the Marines on the moon’s surface. The Navy reports, despite the temporary setback in the system, the Marines are continuing to make steady progress in clearing the Elai forces on the moon’s surface.” The woman looked down at her datapad, and then back up.
“In local news, street protests erupted into violent clashes with riot police today in several cities in the Southern Provinces on Mars…”
Elizabeth sat back in her chair, staring at the screen. She pressed her hands to her mouth and stared at the screen, her eyes wide. After a moment, she took a deep breath, placed her hands flat on the desk, took several breaths, nodded, and said to herself, “Nothing you can do about it now, Lizzy. He’s going to be fine. Focus on the task at hand.” She remembered an old mentor of hers, an older nurse corps officer named Michael, telling her a long time ago: ‘First, you check your OWN pulse. Once you have that under control, everything else is cake.’ She muttered under her breath, “Everything else is cake…”
She blew out a hard breath, then pulled her keyboard out and went to work.
Several hours later Elizabeth again caught herself staring out the window. Her mind kept wandering to the young woman and her family in Hellas City. With a sigh, she turned her attention back to the document in front of her. It was entitled ‘Prevention of Food and Waterborne Disease in an Urban Population Center with Degraded Civil Infrastructure’. She frowned and tabbed to the team structure to determine who in the office was going to be handling diseases, and to her surprise, found the lead epidemiologist position empty.
After a moment she tapped the control to transfer the document to her datapad, then stood and walked across the hall, stepping to the door with the sign that said, ‘Task Force Mercy: Staffing and Personnel’. Stepping inside, she moved past the front desk and stepped into the first office.
Tapping lightly on the doorframe, she said, “Captain Naga? Question for you.”
The Navy officer in the office sighed irritably and replied in an icy tone, “What can I do for you, Colonel?”
Suppressing the surge of irritation at the woman’s response, Elizabeth replied, “Ma’am, I’m working on the disease response and control team. I was wondering what kind of leads we have on finding someone to head up the section. The planning is getting to a point where we need a subject matter expert to move on.”
The other woman regarded her and responded, “If we get someone for the role, you’ll see it populate onto the staffing documents. Until then, there’s no point in asking me.”
Elizabeth replied, “I was just asking if…”
The woman interrupted her in an acidic tone, “I know what you think you were doing. Listen, Colonel. Some of us have work to do. I’m doing mine. You should do yours. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” She went back to her computer, clearly dismissing Elizabeth.
Elizabeth’s face flushed and she angrily turned to walk away. From behind her a voice said, “Colonel Suarez.”
She turned and saw a plain-faced woman in an Army uniform with a major’s oak leaves on the collar leaning out of an office further down the hall, beckoning to her. Elizabeth turned and moved to the woman, following her into the office.
The woman closed the door behind her, and said in an apologetic tone, “Sorry about that. She’s like that to everyone. People around here attribute it to her having a rough time out in the fleet. I personally think she’s just a bitch.” The woman sat down behind her computer and continued, “I’m Karen. Sorry. Major Karen Carson. Did you need a hand with something?”
Elizabeth crossed her arms, glared at the wall in the direction of the woman, and declared hotly, “What’s her fucking problem?”
With a wry smile, Karen responded, “No idea. She probably thinks she should have your job. JTFCRMED was a hot billet, and she’s the most senior officer here.” The Joint Task Force, Capitol Region Medical was the planned future command of the region surrounding the Elai capital city that Elizabeth had been selected for. The plain-faced woman continued, “She’s probably also bitter because she didn’t get breveted to Rear Admiral.”
Rolling her eyes, Elizabeth replied, “With an attitude like that, it’s not surprising. I can’t imagine what it’s like working for her.” She looked at the woman across from her and grimaced. “Sorry. I’m Elizabeth.”
Karen grinned. “Nice to meet you, Elizabeth. And I don’t have any trouble with Captain Naga. She leaves me alone.”
Elizabeth cocked her head and replied, “Why? She doesn’t seem the type to leave people alone…”
The woman shrugged calmly. “No, but I’m from Iowa. We’re not particularly excitable people. She doesn’t see getting under my skin as getting her any results, and I’m too junior to play politics with, so she leaves me alone.”
Despite her irritation, Elizabeth laughed. “Well, scratch me for that. I’m way too open with my emotions for that to ever work.”
The woman smiled briefly. “Do tell, ma’am. So, what can I help you with?”
“I need to know if we have anyone lined up for infectious disease lead.”
Karen turned to her computer, tapped on the keyboard, and squinted at the screen. She shook her head. “Nope. We have a couple of offers out to the civilian side, but it doesn’t look like anyone’s biting. We might have to offer more money.” The woman sighed and looked at Elizabeth, who sat back in her chair absently chewing a thumbnail.
After a moment she asked, “What about Dr. al-Tamimi? I think she works at Hellas Station Hospital. Her first name is Fatima.”
After a few taps on the computer, Karen replied, “It looks like we offered twice, but she wants an expedited colonial pass to Andromeda 9 in return.”
“So why not give it to her? We’ve given other people colonial pass preference in return for a term of service.”
With a frown, Karen replied, “Good question. Hang on.” She read for a moment, then raised an eyebrow. “Interesting. Well, that explains a lot.” She looked at Elizabeth, who was impatiently waiting, and explained, “It seems the UEA Internal Security put a hold on her pass. She’s apparently being investigated for being a member of a pretty radical pro-independence organization out on A-Nine, something called the Green Mujahideen.” She paused again, reading, and then commented, “Interesting. Apparently they’re a pro-independence joint Catholic-Muslim resistance group that committed a bunch of terrorist attacks against the UEA.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “We’re facing an interspecies war and we’re still hung up on stupid border spats?”
Karen shrugged. “It wasn’t a border spat to them, nor the UEA. It got really nasty at the end. I was there a couple years ago right as it got bad. Those people take that place seriously.”
With a sigh, Elizabeth shook her head. “Yeah, I was there too, but it was still pretty nice when I was there. I remember the Grand Bazaar was really something.” She tapped the arm of the chair, thinking, then asked, “Well, when will it get cleared? Is the investigation still open?”
A few more taps, then the woman shook her head. “No, it looks like all investigations have been suspended indefinitely. Not closed, but they aren’t working on them. Probably related to the war effort, since most of the investigators are Navy.”
“So. They’re stuck.”
With a shrug, Karen responded, “For the foreseeable future.”
“Damn. That’s rough.” Elizabeth thought about it for a moment, then asked, “Can we get an investigator reassigned? If we justify it through staffing the task force?”
Karen tilted her head, and then said slowly, “You know, I don’t know. Maybe. We have a lot of pull to get staff.” She picked up a pen and pad and scrawled a fast note. “Tell you what. Let me make a few calls to FleetCom’s Investigative Division. My brother’s husband works over there. I bet he can tell us.” She looked at Elizabeth and said, “No promises, but let me see what I can do.” Glancing at the screen, she asked as she wrote, “Why this lady?”
Elizabeth smiled and responded, “She and her husband pulled a friend and I out of a bad situation and were very kind to me. It’s the least I can do.”
Karen regarded her for a moment, then smiled. “One good turn, huh? Well, let me make a few calls, and I’ll get back to you in a couple days. That work for you
, Colonel?”
Elizabeth grinned and stuck her hand out. “Thank you. And please, call me Liz. ‘Colonel’ makes me feel old!”
With a return smile and shake, Karen responded, “Well, Liz. We can’t have that, now can we?”
“No, we cannot! Thanks, Karen.” Elizabeth stood and returned to her office, oddly cheered by the encounter with the kind woman.
The next day Elizabeth was sitting at her desk, preparing a summary of the equipment requirements for the ground component of the relief mission, when her phone rang. She picked it up and answered, “Plans and Operations, Colonel Suarez.”
“Colonel Suarez, it’s Major Carson. I have some answers for you regarding the personnel issue we spoke about.”
“Great!” Elizabeth glanced at the clock on her computer and said, “It’s about lunchtime. Meet me downstairs and we can get a bite and talk about it?”
The woman replied, “Sure. See you downstairs in ten.”
Shortly after, Elizabeth saw the older woman getting off the elevator. She was frowning slightly but nodded in recognition.
Elizabeth asked, “What’s up?”
Karen sighed, “I pissed off Captain Naga. Again.”
The two women started walking toward the door of the big building as Elizabeth laughed and replied, “Oh? What now? You use too many staples? Not collate your copies properly? Breathe too much air for the day?”
The woman chuckled and replied, “No, she just found out we’re asking about this doctor. She wasn’t happy. Spent twenty minutes screaming at me and threatening to ‘transfer me back to the Army’.” She smiled slightly. “Like it’s a threat to not work for her! I’d prefer to get back out with the field forces!”
Elizabeth laughed. “Tell me about it!” She added in a more serious tone, “I hope I didn’t get you in trouble.”
The woman shrugged. “Meh. Like I said, what’s she going to do? Fire me? Big whoop.” She indicated a restaurant. “Kebabs ok?”
Elizabeth nodded, and they entered the restaurant and were quickly seated. Karen pulled a pad out of her uniform pocket and glanced at it, then commented, “So your friend was being investigated for some pretty serious stuff. Apparently the UEA Naval Investigations section suspected she was part of an insurgent cell that helped smuggle a mining nuke into a docked destroyer during the uprising.” She glanced up at Liz. “The UEAN Akron. I’m sure you remember that. Losing a destroyer was a pretty big deal back before the war. Anyway.” She looked back down at the pad again. “They can’t prove it, of course, or else she’d be in jail, but they still slapped an administrative hold on it.” She set the pad down and remarked, “It’s not exactly legal, ‘cause if they aren’t able to charge, they’re supposed to lift the hold on it. My brother-in-law got us the forms and said it’s just a matter of getting it filed. He also said the colonists are supposed to be able to do it themselves, but no one ever tells them the process even exists.”
