by M. D. Cooper
Connie said after a few more minutes of silence.
Tanis ran a hand through her hair, taking a seat on high stool positioned at the outer edge of the boardwalk, the view before her nothing but space.
The engineer groaned.
Tanis asked, trying to think of where it could be.
Tanis wanted to give herself some time to enjoy a breakfast and another walk around the lake in the ‘daylight’, so she suggested 1100, and Connie replied that she’d be there with bells on.
<’Bells on’?> Darla asked, after Connie had closed the connection.
“A drink?” came a voice from behind her.
Tanis turned to see a man in hotel livery. He held a tray with a glass of water on it, which he set before Tanis, on the narrow ledge that ran along the wall.
“Uhh…sure,” she replied with a shrug. “What’s good here?”
She regretted asking it—that sort of question tended to annoy servers—but these past few days had been all about trying new things.
“What are you in the mood for?” the man asked, not missing a beat.
“Something…chocolatey,” Tanis replied. “But with a punch.”
“I have just the thing.” The server turned and walked to the bar stationed a few meters down the boardwalk, and began mixing a drink.
Tanis turned to the glass of water, sparkling—just like the water in Chez Maison. She took a sip while staring out into the vast expanse of space.
One thing was certain: the Grand Éire liked to remind people that they were in space at every opportunity. The walls of the dome were utterly transparent and came down to the boardwalk, ending just beyond Tanis’s feet.
As a result, it appeared as though space started right on the other side of the narrow ledge that held Tanis’s water. She imagined just stepping out into the darkness and swimming through the starlight beyond.
Tanis snorted.
The AI chuckled.
Unable to think of a reply, Tanis stared out into the darkness, which was partially manufactured by a tint in the glass. Right now, Sol was behind her, and everything was lit in its brilliant light.
She watched as a trio of fighters swept past, the light of their fusion engines blotting out the rest of the view, until Tanis altered her vision to mute their glow, watching as the oblong ovals swept past the lake, and up toward the ring.
Hotshots, she thought with a shake of her head. There was no way they were supposed to run fusion burners so close to Vesta. Though I bet it’s quite the rush.
Her gaze alighted on the ring above, and caught on a majestic sight. Thirty kilometers away, spinward on the ring, a ship was easing out of drydock.
Tanis whistled. She’d flown faster, a few times—stars, the Kirby Jones could make thirty percent c, if she ran the engines on max for twenty AU, but the Normandy probably had escape pods the size of her little Jones.
Tanis couldn’t help but whistle again.
Tanis glanced toward the dim, distant light that was Jupiter, and its glowing assortment of stations and moons. At her current viewing angle, the Cho—the massive habitat built around Callisto—was the brightest thing in the ‘sky’. Except for all the fusion burners lighting up nearspace.
Tanis was glad she’d already swallowed her sip of water, or she’d’ve spat it out on the dome wall.
Still silently shaking her head, Tanis replied,
“Here you are, ma’am,” the server said from Tanis’s side as he set down the drink. “My own concoction. I call it a ‘chocolate rum-tini with an extra kick’.”
“Thank you,” Tanis smiled at the man as she accepted the drink.
He paused with an expectant look in his eyes, and she took a polite sip.
“Oh, wow!” she exclaimed honestly. “That’s a lot of kick!”
The server winked. “You said you wanted a punch.”
“So I did.” Tanis chuckled, enjoying the warm feeling that spread through her body. “Well done.”
“Thank you,” the server said and turned, returning to the bar.
“Deceptive, is it?”
The question came from her right, and Tanis turned to see a man leaning against the ledge of the boardwalk, a knowing smile on his face.
She took him in with a quick sweep of her eyes. Tall, just over one hundred and ninety-two centimeters, with hazel eyes and dirty blond hair. He wore a dark red suit jacket with matching fitted pants and a white shirt.
No neon for this guy, Tanis thought.
Tanis kept a grimace from showing on her face. She thought she was managing to keep her thoughts from Darla.
“I suppose it is,” she said to the man, lifting her drink in salute.
“I saw you admiring the Normandy,” the man said in response, gesturing with his chin at the ship
as it continued to drift away from Vesta.
“Hard not to,” Tanis replied. “She’s gorgeous.”
To his credit, the man didn’t make a weak attempt at a compliment by comparing her beauty to the starship’s. “Sure is. My firm supplied some of the components, so we got invited for the send-off.”
“But you’re not up there celebrating?”
The man shrugged. “I’m not huge on crowds and endless back-patting. Besides the view down here is better.”
As he said the last, his gaze shifted from the ship to Tanis, and a smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
“I suppose it is,” Tanis said to the man, turning to look at the Normandy once more, subtly telling him that while his appreciation was nice, it was not going to get him anywhere. To Darla, she said,
One word stood out, and Tanis latched onto it.
Tanis didn’t have a chance to pursue that line of thought further, as the man spoke again.
“So, what are you here for?” the man asked. “You a contractor? You don’t have the stick-up-the-ass look of TSF brass.”
Tanis looked at the man through narrowed eyes, then sighed and held out her hand. “Commander Tanis Richards. TSF. Not quite brass yet, but I will be someday—once they install the stick in my ass.”
The man’s face reddened, contrasting against his white shirt, but coming close to matching his jacket, and Tanis resisted a smirk at his expense.
“A commander staying at the Grand Éire?” he asked, a smile masking his embarrassment. “O-3, or O-5?”
Tanis shrugged. “O-3.”
“Damn…I’m working for the wrong people—had no idea the TSF paid O-3s that well.”
“All in who you know,” Tanis replied before taking another sip of her drink. “Who knows, though. I could also be some rich heir, just putting in some time on the force before working for my family’s important military-tech firm.”
“Richards?” The man cocked his head to the side. “I think I’d know if there were any Richards families running major manufacturers. Unless you’re from out of Sol.”
“TSF doesn’t allow extra-solar enlistees,” Tanis said with a shrug. “I suppose you’ll just have to wonder about my wealth’s provenance.”
A frown settled on the man’s forehead. “Sorry, I’ve come off as a bit of an ass, I can see. I was just looking for a bit of company while watching the Normandy head out.”
Tanis sighed, knowing she was often a hair on the ‘too prickly’ side of things. “No, sometimes I just apply a bit too much force in personal dealings. I spend most of my time shoving back against people in command and sketchy types out in the black. It turns into my modus operandi after a while.”
“And I didn’t start with my name,” the blond man said. “Or give it after you gave yours. My mother would be ashamed of my manners. Jerry Kor, at your service.”
Tanis chuckled. “My service? Should I send you to fetch me another drink?”
“Would you like one?” Jerry offered, and Tanis’s estimation of the man fell a hair, but he finished with a wink. “The bar’s right over there.”
“Oh ho, Jerry,” Tanis shook her head as a laugh escaped her lips. “And so your attempt at manners ends. Your mother is going to call you any minute.”
Jerry shrugged, his own smile turning mischievous. “I try to be civilized, but in all honesty, I just wanted to watch you walk over to the bar—to check your ass for sticks, of course.”
Tanis was certain her mouth fell open for a moment as she wondered if she should be offended or entertained.
In the end, Tanis opted for mirth—directed at Jerry’s moxy, or the size of his ego, one of the two—and gave an honest laugh.
“Clearly I’ve spent far too much time out on patrol,” she replied. “I don’t think I know how to process that sort of comment directed at me.”
Jerry continued to grin. “I’m just glad you didn’t hit me. I hear you TSF O-3s get some serious mods.”
“I still might,” Tanis said, smiling over the rim of her drink. “Once I pull the stick out of my ass and—nevermind, this metaphor just went too far.”
“Here’s to changing the topic.” Jerry gave a mock salute with an imaginary glass. “I could move to your lips and eyes. I hear they’re far more acceptable to compliment than asses.”
Tanis decided not to honor Darla’s comment with a response, and used the opportunity to really change the subject with Jerry. “So, what did your firm make for the Normandy?”
“A bit of this, a bit of that. Mostly components for the AP drive. Antimatter is our specialty.”
Tanis glanced up at the Titan Class carrier, which was now three kilometers from Vesta’s ring. She realized it was going to pass only four kilometers from the Grand Éire’s lake, its massive hull like a steel leviathan, coasting through the deep.
“I suspect you’re right about the view.” Tanis could see vessels clearing a space behind the massive ship, a sign that Vesta’s Space Traffic Control had given the Normandy clearance to light its engines.
“No need to suspect. I knew they were going to let them kick on the drives as they passed the Éire. Should be any minute now.”
Jerry must have hit up the nearby bar for a drink over the Link, because the server came and set down a glass containing a light brown liquid before the man.
Bourbon, unless I miss my guess, Tanis thought as she watched the tugs break away from the carrier, and angle back toward the ring.
“Wait for it…” Jerry said expectantly, and Tanis found herself holding her breath as she waited for the drives to ignite.
The carrier drifted closer to the Éire’s spire and the lake at its end, close enough that Tanis could make out individual features on the ship, such as observation portholes and open bay doors—ES shields holding atmosphere in while crews stood and watched the resort slide past.
The aft end of the carrier was still obscured, but Tanis saw a dim glow coming from the rear of the vessel.
“Warming them up,” Jerry commented.
Tanis knew the drill. The casings around the fusion drives had to be warmed carefully before ignition, or the rapid change in temperature could cause them to crack.
From what she could tell, it was the Helium-3 drives that were heating up first, something that would be a real treat, so long as they could carefully direct the engine wash away from Vesta.
“Don’t worry,” Jerry said with a knowing smile. “They’re not going to hit them hard. I have it on good authority that it’s just going to be a light burst to make everyone feel good about the credit they pumped into this ship.”
> A few seconds later, just as the rear of the ship came into view, the four smaller engines came to life, a searing white light flaring behind them. The Éire’s lake-dome tinted instantly, as did Tanis’s vision, and she was able to see the ionized plasma plumes streaking out a hundred kilometers through space.
A tiny ripple formed on the surface of her drink, and Tanis turned to see whorl-like waves spreading across the surface of the lake behind them.
“Hoooolyyyyy shit,” she breathed. “You know your engines have a lot of power when the vibrations carry though space.”
In the time it had taken to make the observation, the Normandy had surged forward, already three kilometers beyond the Éire and its spire-tip lake.
“Well, it’s the plasma cloud that’s carrying the vibration,” Jerry corrected.
“Starship captain here,” Tanis replied, a slightly caustic tone replacing her prior wonderment as she tapped her chest. “I know it’s the plasma cloud transmitting the shockwave. Still impressive.”
Jerry shrugged. “Sorry, I should have asked what you did in the service. Yeah, engines like that are something else…it’s why I came down here.”
Tanis finished her drink and placed it on the ledge before rising from her stool and fighting her dress for a moment. “Thanks for the company.” She gave Jerry a perfunctory smile. “I have a busy day tomorrow, so I’d best head to bed.”
“Already?” he asked. “You certain I can’t buy you a drink?”
“I’m certain,” Tanis replied. “I’m already involved with someone, not looking to add anyone on the side.”
Jerry’s face fell, and he nodded silently before turning back to watch the Normandy continue to boost away from Vesta.
