“Good Idea. I was planning on going back to my cabin later and doing that, but here is as good a place as any.”
Matt poured a cup of bug juice and they headed to a quiet table in the corner. Trina and Matt shared the data pad and poured over the background data trying to get a handle on their new job. It was quite late when they decided to call it quits and the room was nearly deserted.
“Looks like were the last dogs tail.” Matt said, stifling a yawn.
“Yeah. Well, we need to report in at zero seven hundred. I guess we better call it a night.”
“More like a morning.” Matt chuckled looking at his watch. “It’s already nearly one.”
“Night Molter.” Trina said standing and stretching. “See you in the Commanders’ office at 0700.”
“Night Forester.” Matt called after her as she walked away. Matt got up and walked stiffly to his cabin. He opened the door to his cabin and stepped in. As the door slid shut behind him it dropped him into near darkness as the passageway light was blotted out. His eyes adjusted slowly to the dim room, the only light coming from the data panel on the far wall. He made his way to his locker and stripped to his boxers, stuffing them and his jumpsuit in the bottom. He made his way to his bunk and hoisted himself up into it. Pulling the covers up he rolled over and was quickly asleep. The long trip and late hours had taken their toll.
Chapter 2 - First Leg
Matt slowly drug himself from the depths of sleep to the incessant beeping of his watch. He pushed the button silencing the annoying noise and then lay there a long time, letting the fog drain from his brain. Ever so slowly reality pushed its way into his thoughts. Today was the first day in his new home, a home that would prove to be a challenge at best. He looked around the room and saw the other three bunks still full. After sliding off the bunk as quietly as he could, he made his way to the end of the cabin, stopping by his locker to pull out a towel. He opened the door and stepped into the cabins small head. Once the door was closed he turned on the light and surveyed the tiny compartment. There was a shower tube in the corner of the two meter square room, and a head and sink on the far wall. ‘Not too different than the academy rooms,’ he thought to himself as he stripped off his boxers and stepped into the meter diameter shower tube. He slid the door closed and made sure it was sealed. Light from the room filtered in through the frosted plastic allowing him to locate the control panel and select the appropriate controls. The whole tube filled with a warm swirling mist that coalesced on his body into droplets The blower in the base of the unit continued to swirl the water mist around him until the designated time had elapsed. The blower shut off, leaving the mist to settle around him as he quickly soaped his body with soap from the dispenser in the tube. After soaping his whole body, including his nearly crew cut hair, he pressed the control again, restarting the swirling mist, only heavier this time. He quickly rubbed his body down, helping the swirling mist rinse the soap from his body and hair. Feeling that he had gotten all the soap from his body, he activated the next control, stopping the mist generator. As the mist died down he picked up the small nozzle on a flexible hose and flushed a stream of water through his hair to get the last of the soap out. Having finished that he stepped out of the shower tube and began drying himself off, vigorously toweling himself with the way too small towel. The compartment door slid open, and much to his surprise, Bounce stepped in, stark naked, closing the door behind her.
“Morning Matt.” she said with far too much brightness in her voice for the early hour. “You sure stayed out late.”
“A little.” Matt stammered, holding his towel to cover himself a little while trying not to stare at her incredibly shaped naked body.
“First time in a mixed billet?” She asked with a smile. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it,” She finished as she and hung her tiny towel on the hook by the shower tube. It was the first time Matt had to really see what she looked like. Her dark skin was a stark contrast to the white shower tube door. She had a slim well-toned body with dark, short, curly hair. Her chest was bigger than average and Matt suspected that her nickname may have more to do with the way her ample breasts moved than how she acted in zero g. After letting him have a good long look, she turned around and stepped into the tube, sliding the door closed with a crooked little grin and a wink.
Matt shook his head while he finished drying off, wondering about his new roommate before he started using the shaving lotion from the small dispenser over the sink. He had just about finished rinsing the lotion, and his stubble from his face about the time Bounce slid the shower tube door back open.
“Well, today is the big day. You ready?” She asked as she started drying off in the small confines of the cubicle, occasionally bumping into him in the process.
“Yeah. I think so.” Was all he could mumble out as he rinsed the last of the hair removal cream from his face, trying hard not to stare at her body in the mirror. She seemed to be enjoying positioning herself so she was always in his field of vision in the mirror. Finally rinsed, he retreated to the door, trying to cover his growing state of discomfort. He slid the door open and stepped out, sliding the door closed behind him. He swore he could hear her giggle as he closed the door.
He stepped over to his locker and started pulling out clothes as Sparks swung up out of her lower bunk.
Sparks smiled with a bit of a twinkle in her eye. “I see Bounce is up already?”
“Yeah. I guess you could say that,” Matt mumbled as he started pulling on his boxers.
“Don’t let her bother you, she’s harmless. She did that to Pete yesterday. Thought he was gonna die when she opened the door on him.”
“Well I was ready for a mixed billet, just not that small of a mixed head.”
“She says that it’s her way of making sure there isn’t any mystery. She says her idea is that now everything is out in the open we can all focus on business. Personally I think she just likes to see what kind of a reaction she gets.”
“Kind of a hard way to do it,” he said as he zipped his blue jump suit up, “but effective. I have to admit there’s not much left to show her now.”
“I think she’s a bit of an exhibitionist too.” Sparks mock whispered as she stepped past Matt, heading for the head herself.
“I am not!” Bounce said in protest as she stepped out of the small cubicle, still naked to the world. “Well, maybe a little,” she said with a giggle.
Matt tried not to stare as she stepped to her locker while he was bending down and pulling on his deck shoes, her body only inches from his face. He straightened up as he finished and turned to go out the door, his face still blush red.
“Hey Molter!” Bounce called.
Matt stopped just short of hitting the door switch and looked back over his shoulder at her.
“Good luck.” She said with a smile.
“Yeah, you too. Try not to steer us through any planets or anything.”
“You got it.” She laughed. As he hit the door switch and stepped out. The door slid closed behind him and he headed to the officers’ mess for some breakfast.
Matt stepped through the hatchway into the officers’ mess and made his way across the half full room to the food table. He picked up a plate and heaped it with eggs, sausage and toast. Picking up some utensils and a glass of juice, he turned and looked across the tables. He spotted a familiar face eating alone and headed over. “Hey Kevin!”
“Matt!” he replied before shoving a fork full of food into his mouth. “Take a load off buddy,” he mumbled, pointing to a seat across from him, his mouth full of food.
“Thanks.” Matt said sitting down. “I haven’t seen you since we embarked. What did you pull for a duty slot?”
“Well, I got assigned to Security.” He drawled with a bright look in his eyes. “Ya know there ain’t no better place to be. There ain’t nothin' that goes on that Security don’t know about.” He continued before stuffing his mouth full again.
Matt finished
chewing his mouthful. “I have a roommate that’s posted to Security. He seems to think that it’s the end of the world.”
“Heck no! Everything that goes on has to have Security along. I don’t think there’s a better place to get posted. Now that said,” He drawled, “I understand you got posted to the Armorer shack.”
“How did you know that?”
“Well after I read my posting I went through all the ships documentation I could lay my hands on. I figured out how to look at the postings and assignments for everyone on the ship.”
“It looks like you’re going to have your hands full.”
“Not if I don’t get a move on.” Kevin said standing up. “See you around Matt. I gotta mosey on.”
“See you later.” Matt shot over his shoulder at Kevin as he walked away.
Matt finished his food and wandered out of the mess, headed to the armorers shack toward the stern of the ship. Most of the quarters were on the upper decks, with the bridge being at the forward end of the seventh and highest deck. From his studies of the ships layout the night before, Matt remembered that the engine room and engineering spaces were mostly located on the lower two decks, along with the armory, weapons bays, suit bays and air locks. He made his way toward the engineering spaces, weaving back and forth across the ship and down ladders. The layout seemed a bit odd to him at first, until he remembered reading in the space structures courses that the shorter the distance between walls, the better the inertial dampers worked, and since the long axis was the highest g force load, it made sense to keep the longitudinal corridors short. Matt soon found himself standing in front of the door marked “ARMORY”. He put his thumb to the panel and the door slid open. He stepped in and saw Trina sitting in a chair. “Hey Trina. I see you’re early too.”
“Yeah, I’ve been here a little while. I just couldn’t wait. Pull up a chair. I suspect the Commander will show up right on the dot, that’s his reputation anyway.”
Matt sat down to wait. They were both silent as they watched the display panel approach 0700. Just as the number flipped the door slid open and a massive blue jump suit filled the doorway. Both Ensigns jumped to attention.
“As you were.” Commander Walter Haskel barked as he walked around the single desk and sat down in the chair just vacated by Trina.
Matt spoke first “Ensign Matt Molter and Ensign Trina Forester reporting for duty.”
“Very well. Have a seat, both of you.”
Matt and Trina sat down stiffly.
“Ok here’s the skinny. The armorer position is critical to ships ops. We handle all the weapons platforms and EVA equipment. We have a staff of twenty NCO’s that actually do the maintenance of equipment, but it’s up to you to know how it all works and be able to use or maintain any of it. In addition to that we man the bridge weapons station in rotation with Security when we're underway. By now I expect you have read the ops orders for the position. What you don’t read there is how vital this shop is to keeping the ship and crew alive. Any questions so far?”
Both Matt and Trina answered “No sir” at the same time.
“Good. Now there are only five people that can issue weapons, and three of them are in this room. Let’s go to the armory for starters,” he said as he stood up. He moved over to an unmarked side door, pressing his thumb on the pad and speaking to the voice pickup. “Commander Walter Haskel, authenticate!”
A female voice responded, “Authenticated.”
The Commander keyed a sequence into the keypad and stood away from the door. “Ok, Mr. Molter, your turn.”
“Ensign Matt Molter, authenticate.”
The female voice responded, “please repeat.”
Matt again gave his name “Ensign Matt Molter, authenticate.”
The computer generated female voice replied, “Authenticated!”
The Commander again keyed a sequence into the keypad and stood aside.
“Ok Mr. Forester.”
Trina stepped to the pickup repeated the process of creating her voice print.
“Ok now that both of you have an authenticated voice print we can enter. In the event you can’t speak, you can’t get in. The sequence to enter is one-five-zero. We change it every cruise. Mr. Forester why don’t you open it up for us.”
“Yes sir.” She replied, stepping back to the door. She keyed the sequence into the tiny keypad and waited.
The computer generated female voice stated "Authenticate".
“Ensign Trina Forester, authenticate!”
There was a slight pause and the obviously massive door slid open with a quiet whir. The inside lights popped on as soon as the door was open. The commander stepped through the hatchway and walked toward the back of the long slender chamber. Matt and Trina followed past the racks of weapons mounted down each wall. When the Commander got to the end he stopped and turned. “We have a variety of weapons at our disposal, from energy discharge units to projectile units. The far wall are the marines weapons.” He said, pointing to a wall heavily laden with all sorts of weapons. “Those we don’t play with, all we do is store them. These are the ship crew weapons. The only people that carry, are the security detail and the duty armorer. Each one of you select a class 2 Bolter energy weapon and a belt holster.”
Matt and Trina each walked over to the gun rack. The class 2 Bolter series energy weapons were stored in special electronic cradles. In order to release it the user had to program it to his or her hand. Matt grabbed the handle and waited for the green light on the holder to light. As soon as it did he pulled, the cradle clicking the release open and allowing the weapon to slip out. The unit would now only fire if he gripped it. Trina had done the same with her weapon, both of them now holding the weapon yet not sure what to do with it.
“Good. It’s nice to see that you either remembered your weapons training or you did a good job of reading up. Either way security will be down later to check out their weapons. Since we will be busy in the suit room, the first officer will sign them out for them. Now holster them and let’s head down to the suit room.”
Matt picked up a soft holster that fit the small pistol and clipped it to the belt of his coveralls, sticking the small pistol in as he did so. Then he followed Trina and Commander Haskel out of the armory. As he stepped through the door the commander called over his shoulder. “Triple zero Mr. Molter.”
“Thank you sir!” Matt shouted as he keyed in the door close command. As soon as the door sealed he turned and trotted out of the office and down the passageway to catch up.
About half way down the length of the ship and one more deck down, they came to a large door marked “SUIT ROOM”. The commander touched the pad and the door, nearly as thick as the armory door, whirred quietly open. As they stepped through they found themselves in a large bay filled with rows of lockers, not unlike the changing rooms leading to the gyms at the academy. Commander Haskel stepped over to a panel and keyed in a sequence. In a moment two numbers flashed up on the small display mounted above the pad.
“Mr. Molter, locker eighteen, and Mr. Forester, nineteen. Are you both familiar with the echo class hard suit?”
“Yes sir.” They replied in unison.
“Good. Let’s suit up. Put your cool suit on and meet me at the airlock at the end of the bay.”
Matt and Trina walked down the row of lockers until they found the two lockers the commander had indicated. Matt opened his locker and found what looked like a pair of mesh long underwear with spaghetti glued to it. He pulled it out and set it on a bench, immediately starting pulling his jump suit off. Trina was a bit faster than he was, down to a pair of extremely tiny panties and a bra that was so thin that he could almost see through it. She sat on the bench working the snug fitting mesh suit up her smooth legs. Matt sat down and was about to do the same.
“Hey Molter. You know the rules, no loose clothing that can cause a wrinkle.” Trina said with a bit of a sparkle in her eye.
“Yeah I know.” He said standing up again and sl
ipping his boxer shorts off. “If I had known I was going to have to suit up I would have worn briefs.”
“Your loss, my gain.” She kidded him with a smile. “I guessed we might suit so that’s why I wore a this, no metal, see?” She said as she stood up and spun around for him wearing only her cool suit bottoms, so he could see that there were no metal clips on the back of her bra.
Matt continued working the mesh suit onto his body while Trina finished and waited for him to finish fastening the suit parts together and slip the booties on. They locked their weapons in their lockers and walked to the end of the row to find Commander Haskel talking with a chief inside a glassed in control room next a large air lock.
“Well, glad to see you could join me. Hopefully in an emergency you can do that a bit quicker. Now, the chief in the control room will pull a suit based on your dimensions. Armorers get special privilege here. We get an assigned suit. Once you suit today, that suit will be yours for the duration of the cruise. Make sure it fits properly and everything works. Ok Mr. Forester, if you please.”
Fleet Academy Page 3
