“Sure, you don’t need to ask.” He waved her to the main replicator as he lay there with his eyes half-closed. Crineal could hear her humming to herself as she made choices.
“What do you think?” he heard her ask. Prying his eyes open Crineal found Cyndora standing in front of him holding up a spaghetti-strap shortie top made of cream-colored silk. It was about as long as her uniform top. Dangling from one hand was a pair of matching shorts.
“Looks like they’ll be a lot more comfortable,” he said, trying to picture her in them. Down boy, Crineal thought.
Cyndora nodded in agreement. “I’ll order up a couple more sets in different colors.” She went back to the replicator and, once done, disappeared into the bedroom. She came back to find him half asleep. “Come on, Hon, nap time for you,” she said helping him up off the couch.
When they got into the bedroom it took Crineal a moment to realize that something was missing. Then he saw that Cyndora’s bed had been packed away. She gave him an embarrassed little shrug.
“My old pajamas were going to be way too warm sleeping next to you,” she explained.
Crineal turned to face Cyndora. Pushing an errant strand of her hair to one side he pulled her gently against him and, after a moment’s hesitation, he kissed her very softly on the lips. Cyndora responded and put her arms carefully around his neck. After a minute or so, Crineal broke the kiss. “Cuddle with me?” he asked.
Cyndora nodded. “That sounds perfect.” She felt a surge of happiness because she knew he was trying to be slow and gentle with her. He took off his jacket and top whilst Cyndora helped remove his boots. She was still wearing her assistant’s outfit so only needed to kick off her sandals before they settled down to kiss and cuddle, enjoying the closeness. Soon they were both asleep, wrapped around each other.
The next day started as usual with a visit to the gym. Although Crineal still wasn’t allowed to exercise he accompanied Cyndora, anyway. He figured he needed to do some walking at least. He rested on a bench and watched her work out. There were worse ways to pass the time, he mused, studying her figure appreciatively. After breakfast Crineal made his way to his office whilst leaving Cyndora to plan a visit to the rec dorm. It felt like months since he had last been in here as he settled behind his desk. Crineal worked through the backlog of messages to start with and then took a look at the information on the replacement pilots. Too many rookies, he thought. They would have to be spread between the other squadrons so as not to leave the reformed Ares Squadron too inexperienced. He could take two pilots fresh from the academy into Hera to replace Bannerman and Rochelle, but that would still leave others needing a home. He sent a message to the other squadron leaders and Major Strieger requesting their attendance at a midafternoon meeting. He wasn’t looking forward to facing Major Jolienze. A reminder alarm went off on his data pad and he realized that it was already eleven hundred hours and he was due to address the new pilots. Stiffly, he made his way to the Hera ready room where they were gathered. The door slid open and he hobbled in. Someone called for attention as he headed to the stand at the front of the room. Once there he turned, faced the assembled men and women and returned their salutes.
“At ease, and please be seated.” He looked over the room and picked out a lieutenant in the front row who was sitting next to an empty chair. “Lieutenant? Would you do an old general a favor and bring me the chair next to you please?” The woman rushed to place the chair so that Crineal could sit down, which he did with a huge sigh of relief. “Thank you, Lieutenant…?’
“Gallanz, Sir,” she replied.
“Lieutenant Gallanz. If you could all move forward so I can see you all better it would be appreciated.“
“I want to welcome you all to the Annihilator. I’m sure that I don’t need to tell you that we think she’s the best ship in the fleet, every ship thinks that. Of course, in this case it’s true.” That got some polite laughter. “I was just working through your files but hadn’t got around to finishing them yet, so perhaps I could have a show of hands from those of you that have seen combat before?” Crineal thought about half of them had raised their hands. “The Annihilator gets the toughest missions. So, by the time we reach our next stopover, I expect that all of you will be raising your hands when asked that question. I know some of you have been assigned here from other ships and others are here straight from the academy. I’m concerned with how you perform on this ship, not your past. I don’t care if you were the darling of your last squadron leader or the worst pilot to graduate from the academy. What matters is what you do here and now. Take the opportunity to talk to the other pilots on board, they’ll tell you what a hard ass I am and how I’ll have you thrown off the ship if you incur my displeasure.” He could see a few smiles here and there. “They are absolutely right. If you screw around and endanger your fellow pilots you’ll be gone so fast you won’t even have time to collect your gear.” The smiles disappeared. “If you’re thinking that because you’re on board the Annihilator, you are now considered the best of the best, then you should think again. You’ll see the best when you start flying patrols and I expect you all to live up to that standard. If any of you think you aren’t up to the challenge or want an easy life then stay behind afterwards and put in a transfer request. I’ll approve them and you’ll be gone to a ship that doesn’t care as much.” The pilots in the room were all sitting up straight now. “Some of you are probably wondering why I’m half-crippled at the moment. During the last patrol I flew, the squadron I was leading was ambushed by two full squadrons of rebel fighters. They were blacked out and we didn’t see them until they lit up their engines. Out of forty pilots, fifteen of us made it back. There were no rebel survivors. That’s the kind of pilots you’ll be alongside.” He let them look around at each other for a moment. “I’ll be arranging your assignments with the squadron leaders this afternoon. You’ll be notified of them by oh eight hundred tomorrow morning. We’re going to be doing a sweep around the edges of the Sol system for the next few days so you’ll all get some flight time in. Now, does anyone have any questions?” No one moved and Crineal smiled to himself; he knew they were about to be told the most horrific stories about him by the other pilots. No doubt the legend of Commander Del’Tarim was about to be added to that list. “Then you’re dismissed to quarters.” The pilots all stood to attention and saluted him. He returned the salute from his chair and watched as they filed out of the room. No one stayed to put in a transfer request. He gave them all a few minutes to clear the corridor outside before pushing himself up out of the chair and slowly making his way back to his office.
Crineal skipped lunch mostly because he wasn’t hungry due to the discomfort he was in and at thirteen hundred hours he dragged himself along to the conference room to get there in time for the meeting he had set for fourteen hundred hours. He hoped to arrive before anyone else so they wouldn’t see the condition he was in, but Strieger was already there studying the files when he entered. She leapt to her feet to help him to a chair.
Once she had him seated, she saluted him “Good afternoon, Sir. Permission to speak freely, Sir?” She didn’t wait for his approval. “With all due respect, Sir, the general is an idiot. You should be in your quarters resting.”
Crineal looked up at her and chuckled. “It’s a good job I’ve already filled my week’s quota of court martialing people.”
Strieger fetched him a drink. “Have you taken any painkillers?”
Crineal shook his head. “No, I haven’t had anything to eat to take them with. Was hurting too much.” She gave him an exasperated look and got up again. Strieger came back with a couple of ham sandwiches and a tablet. “Thank you, Major. Remind me to put you in for another commendation.”
“Just eat, Sir, and take the tablet. I’ll call Cyndora and get her to take you back to your quarters.”
“I appreciate your concern, Major, but I need to get these assignments sorted out and brief everyone. I’m going to leave Hera in your h
ands for a week or two whilst I get some more rest. I promise I’ll stay in my quarters and work from there. Will that satisfy you?”
Strieger sighed. “No, but I’m not going to get a better offer, am I?”
“Sorry, Major, but no, you’re not.” Crineal started on the sandwiches whilst they waited for the others.
Major Jolienze was the first to arrive. She stood at attention in front of Crineal and saluted.
“Please, Major, at ease. I want to tell you how sorry I am about Ares.”
Jolienze sat down. “Sir, I’ve seen the reports and talked to my pilots. I’m amazed that any of you got back. None of my pilots blame you for what happened and neither do I. We’ll all be proud to fly with you again at any time, Sir.”
“Thank you, Major. We’ll see if we can find you some good replacements.” Crineal was touched by her loyalty and confidence in him.
“I’m sure we can, Sir. If some of them survive lunch.” Jolienze looked amused.
“Oh?” Crineal raised an eyebrow quizzically.
“I assume you gave them the usual welcome speech, Sir?” she inquired.
“Yes, the ‘I’ll eat you for breakfast and you really need to transfer out now’ routine.”
“Muscovy and Staller cornered the pilot officers and some of the younger lieutenants in the pilots mess.” Strieger groaned. “I didn’t hear what they were saying, but I’ve never seen pilots look more scared.”
“Are you sure we can’t transfer that pair, Sir?” Strieger asked plaintively.
“Sorry, Major, but apart from being damned good pilots, and I’ll deny I said that if you tell them, they also give me an easy starting point when something shady is going on in the flight group. I can almost always guarantee they have a hand in it somewhere. And they are brave beyond belief. Who else would have the guts to start a pool on how many times a day I was getting laid?” Crineal chuckled.
Jolienze looked startled. “Oh, you heard about that then?”
“Nothing gets past my faithful XO here,” he nodded at Strieger. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re here early, Major. I was thinking that the best way to reform Ares is to keep your existing pilots in place and then use a mix of the replacement pilots and pilots from our existing squadrons to make up the numbers. That way we can spread the real rookies out across the wings without leaving you with an overly large number of untested pilots. If there’s anyone you need moved out of Ares, just let me know.”
“Sounds like a good way to move forward, Sir, and no, there’s no one I want transferred,” Jolienze replied. At this point the other squadron leaders started to arrive.
Once everyone was settled, Crineal started. “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s good to see you all safely back from leave and looking ready to tackle our next assignments.” That brought a few groans from around the table and he smiled. “First up we need to get Ares Squadron to the point where Major Jolienze can start molding it into shape again.” Several officers gave sympathetic nods to Jolienze. “About half of our replacements are either straight from the academy or have no combat experience. I’d like to spread these pilots amongst the other eleven Squadrons. Hera Squadron will take two of them, and we’ll allocate the rest amongst you all. Major Jolienze? How many flight leaders will you need?”
“I think four, Sir. I’d like to give Lieutenant Morana a try in one of those slots,” Jolienze replied after a moment’s consideration.
Crineal nodded. “Alright, let’s see who we have from the replacements that might fit and then the rest of you can figure out who you’re prepared to give up,” he said with a smile.
Two hours later Crineal felt that they had made the best assignments they could but he would have to see how it panned out. “Ok, now that’s done let me bring you up to date on the next week’s operations. We’ve been ordered to hold here at Sol. We’re waiting on some scouting reports. The admiral has decided that rather than sit on our butts and be bored, the strike force will do an outer system sweep. We’ll be running patrols and seeing what we can find. What happens after that will depend on those reports. Major Jolienze, Ares Squadron will be off the patrol roster until you tell me you think you’re ready. I’m still on restricted duties, so Hera will be flying with one pilot short for a week or so. Major Strieger will take over the squadron in my enforced absence. You should all have the sweep plan on your data pads. Hera will take the first patrol tomorrow. Colonel Effarian, I’d like you to relieve the major with Athena.” The colonel nodded. “I’ll post the rest of the assignments to your in-boxes. We’re not expecting trouble, but being in Earth orbit has proven that the rebels still want to contest it. So make sure your pilots are ready for anything. That’s it for the moment. Does anyone have any issues they want to raise?”
Major Quenna spoke up. “Do we have any idea what those rebels were doing when they ambushed you, Sir?”
“Not so far, Major. I’ve talked it over with the admiral and we’ve not managed to come up with anything sensible. As soon as we have something I’ll let you all know. Anything else? No? Then I’ll let you people go and round up your newbies. Major Strieger? If you’ll stay we may as well have our two fledglings in here for a chat.”
“Yes, Sir. I’ll message them now,” she told him as the others left.
“I was thinking. Put Saphya in charge of Delta whilst I’m out. See how she does.” Strieger nodded her acceptance of his suggestion.
Five minutes later the door comm chimed, announcing the arrival of the two pilot officers. Crineal did a quick calculation about the distance from either their quarters or the mess hall and the time taken to arrive here. My, they are enthusiastic, he thought, having calculated an impressive turn of speed. Major Strieger activated the door panel using her data-pad and the two pilot officers marched in as if they were on the parade ground. They stood to attention in front of the two senior officers and saluted crisply.
“Pilot Officer Hartmann reporting as ordered, Sir, Ma’am,” said the male pilot. Hartmann was almost painfully thin, with close cropped black hair and a long, pointed nose which dominated his face. In contrast, his fellow pilot was better proportioned with straight mid-length dark brown hair. Gyrenne’s face looked like she was always fighting to keep a smile from appearing and it made her look continually happy
“Pilot Officer Gyrenne reporting as ordered,” the young woman’s high-pitched voice almost breaking as she finished.
Crineal returned their salutes. “At ease, Pilot Officers.” If they relaxed at all then Crineal couldn’t tell. “Take a seat both of you.” He waited whilst they each took a chair and managed to still be at attention whilst seated. “I see you were at the academy together. Same class?”
“Yes, Sir,” the two replied in chorus.
“Well, welcome to Hera Squadron. You’ll find it’s somewhat different from the academy. Major Strieger here is my second in command, although she really does all the hard work of running the squadron.” Strieger snorted softly. “So tell me a little about yourselves. Who was the best out of you at the Academy?”
They both looked straight ahead for a moment before Hartmann shifted a little and spoke. “Pilot Officer Gyrenne was three places ahead of me, Sir. She had me beat hands down in the tactical class.”
Crineal looked at Gyrenne. “Is that so? How good were you, Pilot Officer?”
Gyrenne sat for a moment before replying. “The tutors thought I showed some promise, Sir.”
Hartmann gathered his courage. “With respect, Sir, Gyrenne finished top of the class. Hers was the third highest score in Academy history. Just behind you and Lord Sar’Clax, Sir.”
Crineal laughed. “I’m surprised that no one has beaten us yet. I’m sure we weren’t that good.”
“Sir, several of your engagements whilst flying with Lord Sar’Clax are required reading,” Gyrenne protested at his modesty.
“I hope to see you put your talents into action, Pilot Officer. And what was Pilot Officer Hartmann good at?”
“He’s
a pretty good pilot, Sir. I couldn’t stay on his tail long enough to kill him most times,” she replied without hesitation.
Crineal nodded. “I’m sure you’re both aware that you have a lot to learn. We’ll try to hone your strengths and fix your weaknesses. If you have any concerns about either professional or personal matters, then please talk to your flight leaders, Major Strieger or me. Don’t let a problem get out of hand because you’re sure you can deal with it. I’m pretty certain that the major and I have heard almost every way a pilot can get into a mess by now.” He gave them both stern looks.
“Yes, Sir,” they chorused again.
“Good. Hartmann, you’re assigned to Alpha Flight under Captain Naralat. Gyrenne you’re headed to Gamma Flight, Captain Olinini is your flight leader. Any questions?”
“No, Sir,” came the immediate dual reply.
“Then you’re both dismissed. I suggest you go and report to your flight leaders.” The two stood and saluted before marching out in unison.
“Major, were we ever that young?” he asked with a sigh.
“I certainly hope not, Sir. Now let’s get you back to your quarters so that I can organize tomorrow’s patrol without having to worry about getting a report that you’ve been found collapsed in a corridor somewhere.” Strieger looked at him sternly and assisted Crineal to his feet.
They arrived back at his quarters where Strieger insisted on helping him through the door. Cyndora jumped up as they entered, concern showing on her face.
“Cyndora, could you help me with him. He’s far too heavy.” Strieger said, a little out of breath.
“Yes, Ma’am. May I ask what he’s been doing,” she said, giving Crineal both stern and worried looks.
“Oh, the usual, not following the doctors’ orders, overdoing things. You know.”
“Yes, Ma’am, all too well,” she replied as they got him onto the sofa. “Don’t worry, Ma’am, I’ll see to him now.” To Crineal the last bit sounded more like a threat.
Crineal Chronicles 1: In Hera's Service Page 24
