by F. E. Arliss
They could think what they wanted about Major Bergstrom, but he was giving her equal work and respect. More so even then Lieutenant McCormick. So, she was backing him all the way. He may not know how to treat the other women, but he was treating her right. That was what matter to Johanna. She’d help him figure it out with the others. If she could.
Returning to the bridge a quarter of an hour later, she set down her tool kit and got to work repairing the overhead bulkhead and interior safety framing. It really hadn’t been very safe, if it gave the crewman sitting beneath it a head injury, she thought ironically. Maybe she could improve on the design of this stuff. Cutting away a small piece as a sample, she dropped it into her bag for later analysis.
It took her an hour to get it all back into working order. She left a small repair robot to monitor the repair and make sure no fissures developed as the polymer she was using to seal it cured over the next few hours. Dropping down from her portable ladder, she pressed the button on the top and watched as it shrank down and folded in on itself. Then picked up the now flashlight sized item and shoved it into her tool kit. Straightening she turned to face the Major.
“Anything else, sir?” She asked.
“No, thank you, Corpsman. That is all for today. Check on your Bay Two repair and report back via comms,” the Major said. Then smiled at her and turned back to his work.
He has a nice smile, Johanna thought to herself. Then turned and left the bridge.
Several hours later she was in her room resting. Katyia was fast asleep on the lower bunk. They’d talked over their days, and to say that Katyia was distressed would be putting it lightly. She’d called Hiro Donji, the Major back at Orbit Guard Frontier Station, and he was coming out to replace Major Bergstrom on the platform. Johanna felt awful that Katyia had been in such a difficult position with the masked swordsman. She also felt bad for Major Bergstrom and his confusion about the Corpsmen and having that lead to his losing command of the platform. Slipping off the side of her bunk, she quietly left the room and headed for the mess. Maybe a cup of tea would settle her thoughts.
Chapter Thirteen
Meeting
Johanna slipped into the observatory room onboard Frontier Station. They’d returned from the supply platform after the last of the mines and laser turrets had been installed. Her roommate Katyia was still out there with Major Donji’s Razorback Guard. It had been a troubling week. She’d had no luck in getting any of the women to cut Major Bergstrom some slack. They just saw him as an oversized man-ape.
No matter how many times she told them that he was treating her as an equal and giving her better jobs than any of the other members of Orbit Guard, none of them seemed to be willing to give him any quarter. Katyia’s sword-fighting encounter had gone viral and everyone knew that the bridge hadn’t responded. It had been a mistake. She knew that. Major Bergstrom knew that. He was also paying for it.
Laying on her back and gazing out at space always made things seem better. She’d always wanted to live among the stars as a child. Now she was. Fifteen minutes later, she heard the door whoosh open and heavy footsteps enter. She couldn’t see who it was, but they’d obviously taken a seat in one of the reclining chairs that faced outward. Johanna was hidden because she was laying on the floor one tier down on what was basically an empty landing.
She supposed she should show herself. Sitting up slowly to peek over the top of the landing, she saw a dejected Major Bergstrom sunk into one of the loungers. Speak of the devil, she thought to herself.
He was sitting forward with his head in his bear-like paws. As he scrubbed his fingers over his face and through his hair, his eyes raised and encountered her dark curls, then her eyes.
He cleared his throat. “Uhmmh, hi,” he mumbled.
“Hi,” she murmured back. “You ok?”
“No, not really,” he said quietly, then leaned back into the lounger and heaved an enormous sigh. “I’ve screwed up my first space command. All the Corpsman think I’m a complete idiot, and I’ve lost quite a bit of respect among my fellow Guardsmen. No, I’m not great. It’s been a crap first month,” he added dryly, then turned his head to meet her eyes and smiled slightly. “Very crap. Except for you,” he added with a wink. Then turned back to look out at the stars.
Johanna didn’t quite know what to say. Since it wasn’t her way to be bashful, she just went ahead and blurted out, “I think you’re fine. You’ll get back the respect. Just steer clear of the other Corpsmen for a while. Give yourself a chance to observe how other Guardsmen interact with them.”
She continued, “You’ll be fine. I think it’s just a matter of treating them almost exactly as you would a man. Just with a little bit of polite manners thrown in. But not in a sexual way. Then it’ll all be fine,” she stated matter-of-factly.
He rolled his head again to look at her. “Sage advice, oh wise one,” he said quietly. “Why don’t I bother you?” He asked, curious now.
“Uhmmm, because you haven’t done anything like…not assist me when I was about to be killed by a masked assailant?” She asked, grinning at him.
He belly-laughed. “Yeah, ok, there was that,” he agreed, sighing again. “What a dumb-shit move. It did look like she had it covered though. But, fair enough, if she’d been a man, and not the woman who tried to hand me my jugular on a platter the week before, I probably would have opened the door and shot the shithead she was fighting with,” he agreed dryly.
“I let my perception of her as a ball-buster color my judgement on whether or not to help her. It was stupid,” he admitted, without even a hint of self-derision.
“Good, you’re not beating yourself up for it anymore,” Johanna said with a sardonic lift of one eyebrow. “You’re just feeling sorry for yourself that you’ve let that incident color how others see you. Time to stop playing the tiny violin and get back to barking orders at people and being your usual gregarious self. It’s the only way to get back into the groove of things,” she added with emphasis on the ‘only way’ part.
“In all fairness though, I let the two of them knock me down that day in the gym. If I’d moved on them as I would on an enemy soldier, I’d have snapped their necks with one strike. I’ve got a strike velocity that’s off the charts. I just couldn’t think of what to do when Captain Sedgwick kept baiting me,” he sighed rubbing the back of his neck.
“I didn’t know what to do to be honest. When I was younger I broke a young woman’s arm. It was a severe break and never healed correctly. I’m pretty much the scourge of my home town’s male society. Or, at least, that’s how the women see it.” He rubbed at his face again, hiding his eyes. Johanna suspected that he was hiding his emotions. “They’re all afraid of me. I’m afraid if I touch a woman I’ll break her in half,” he admitted, with a heavy sigh.
“So, no, I’m not going to treat them the same as man. I even pull my punches when I train with my Guard unit. I’ve hurt people in the past because I didn’t know my own strength. I don’t want to do that again,” he whispered, sadly.
Johann didn’t know what to say. Shrugging her shoulders at him, she said, “Well it’s good that you are a gentleman about things. It is their loss if they never get to know you well enough to understand that they’d backed you into a corner. You took the only way out that you could think of that was diplomatic. It was very sweet of you,” she added, smiling at him gently.
He laughed again. “You’re probably right,” he acknowledged with a sidelong look at her. “Though that’s not something anyone has ever accredited me with before! No, sweet is not how most people think of me. Large, scary, loud, hairy, all those things, but not sweet,” the Major said quietly.
“What would you think of being the chief engineer for Tiger Guard?” He asked with a serious gaze leveled at her. “We work well together, and we also don’t seem to have the gender weirdness thing going on like I do with the other Corpsmen. Why do you suppose that is?” Bergstrom asked her softly.
“Uhmmm, I don�
�t know, sir,” she answered back, holding his gaze steadily.
“I think it’s because we already know our roles,” the Major said crisply.
“And what roles would that be, sir?” Johanna asked hesitantly.
“That would be that you’re a beautiful woman and a talented engineer. And that I’m crazy about the first, and respect the second,” he added with a mischievous grin. “You’re like my mother…gorgeous, but grounded. It keeps me clear on what I should do and say.”
Johanna was stunned. “Sir!” She exclaimed. “Should you be saying that?”
“Probably not. But it’s the truth. I’ve learned that it’s always best to tell the truth when dealing with strong women that you have a personal relationship with,” he added straightforwardly.
“We don’t have a personal relationship, sir,” Johanna debated hotly.
“Not yet, Johanna. Not yet,” the Major emphasized, casting her another dashing grin.
Johanna flopped back out of sight onto her back, and looked up at the stars. Silence reigned for a while in the observatory.
“What’s your first name?” Johanna asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Carlo. Carlo Antonio Bergstrom. Named after my mother’s father,” he continued. “Born in Italy from a German father, hence the Bergstrom part,” he added. “We have a vineyard and make the best white wines you’ve ever tasted. My father was raised in the Mosel Valley in Germany. He met my mom at a wine convention. I miss the sunshine and the smell of the vines. I miss it very much.”
“Why did you join Orbit Guard then?” Johanna muttered.
“Because I’m the youngest son. Because I’m twice the size of anyone else in my family. My older brothers run the vineyard. I just seemed in the way, or else I was just a back to do heavy work,” he said solemnly. “Then there was the familial embarrassment of the ‘broken arm’ thing.”
“I often felt as though I didn’t belong, and honestly, my family made me feel that way too. Not my mom, but everyone else. Local women I dated were mostly terrified of me and more interested in me as a way to meet my brothers. They were after what the prestige of the family vineyard would do for them, not in what I had to offer personally,” he added with brutal honesty.
“I wanted more. More respect. More options. I’m a good leader. It brought on tensions in the family, and I didn’t want that. So here I am,” he added with another sigh. “Such a great leader,” he said with dry sarcasm.
“Actually, you are a good leader. The women were the only hiccup. I take it women where you’re from aren’t very demanding, or what?” Johanna asked.
“Oh, they’re demanding all right!” the Major said with a bark of laughter. “Just not for equal rights at work! They want new clothes, a big house, thousand-dollar handbags, high-priced make-up and a fancy car. Oh, they’re demanding for sure,” he crowed.
“They sound stupid and silly,” she answered back pithily. “No wonder you don’t know diddly about how to treat real women.”
“Thank you for that resounding approval rating. And could you please call me Carlo?” He asked firmly.
“Only when we’re alone. If we’re in public or at work, I have to call you Major,” she acknowledged.
“Oh, that’s acceptable, as it means you’re planning to have ‘alone time’ with me,” he laughed and popped his head over the edge of the platform to look down at her. She hadn’t heard him move from his chair. His stealth was amazing.
“Maybe,” she agreed. “We’ll see.” Then sat up, coming even with his head. “Maybe.”
“Does that mean you’ll kiss me now?” Carlo asked hopefully.
Johanna cocked her head and observed him with narrowed eyes. “One kiss. No grabbing,” she stated evenly.
“Ok. Yes!” He grinned enthusiastically at her, flashing even white teeth. “Now, please!”
Johanna couldn’t help grinning back, then scooched forward to gain closer proximity. Gently, she brushed her lush lips over his full ones. Then again. Carlo easily captured the back of her head with one hand, and let his lips soften and lock over hers. He was a very good kisser, she thought absently. Really nice. Slowly she pulled back. He smelled good too. Sort of like wood and rain. Honest and straightforward. Just like him.
“I’m not sure being the engineer attached to your Guard unit would be a good thing if that kept happening,” she said thoughtfully.
“I think it’s the only way we’ll get to see each other,” Carlo said. “They’re going to start sending me out on a lot of forward missions to ‘prove’ myself,” he stated making quote marks in the air and rolling his large, brown, expressive eyes. “Say yes. Because I want to see you often, not just whenever I have the luxury of being back on the Station. I want you assigned to me, so that I always know you’re there.”
“Why me?” Johanna asked him quietly.
“You’re kidding, right?” He asked, with a raise of his eyebrows. “You’re drop dead gorgeous, long legs, great bottom, delicate collar bones and a long elegant neck,” he leered at her expressively, then continued. “I love those little lacy things that peak out of the top of your uniform. They make you look so feminine and fragile. Though I know you’re not. Donji told me you have unusually dense bone. Probably couldn’t break your arm if I tried. Thank God!” He exclaimed.
“On top of that, you’re smart, confident, not afraid of me, and extremely capable. You remind me of my mom, except way sexier!” He grinned at her and waggled his eyebrows.
Johanna was stunned to silence. No one had ever said these things about her. She’d heard the great tushy thing before, but not any of the other things. Those things were way more important to her.
Johanna considered this silently. “Fine, but we take it slow. I’m not going to let my work and career suffer just because you want to snog me at every turn,” she said defensively.
“I promise to only snog you, when you want me to,” he returned with a grin, holding his hands up at the sides of his broad shoulders. “I’ve got to sit up now, this tipping my head back is starting to hurt,” he said heaving himself over onto his back then sitting up and swinging his legs around to dangle down over the edge of the platform. Holding out one huge hand, he took her smaller one in his and heaved her up onto the ledge beside him. They sat quietly for a while staring out at space.
“Tell me about your family,” he demanded a moment later.
“My dad died when I was young. I don’t really remember much about him. Only that he was big and very physical. He was beaten to death by a mob that resented his half-white mulatto-ness in the all-black slum where I grew up in South Africa,” Johanna stated calmly.
“Mom did laundry at a Catholic girl’s school in Pretoria. It was quite a long way from the slum we lived in called Diepsloot. So, I spent a lot of time at the local mission school where it was safer than on the streets. I started working at a garage when I was nine for an old man named Joseph Abay. He basically saved my life. He gave me a direction to go and learning from him prepped me for the later events in my life,” she added. “I owe him a lot.”
“Is he still alive?” Carlo asked.
“Yes. Yes, he is. He and my mom both work for Pierre Roux at his house outside Paris. He’s the man I helped when I was twelve. He got attacked on the road near the school. His sister, Sophie, was a student at St. Mary’s where my mom worked.”
“I stepped out and helped scare the men off. In return, he paid for me to be his sister’s companion. I got a great education at the school and a great friend in Sophie. It was the second great gift in my life,” she added thoughtfully. “The third was getting to go to school in Paris and get my degrees in aeronautics.”
“When things went really bad in Pretoria and Johannesburg. Pierre flew us to a private airport outside Diepsloot and we pulled Joseph Abay out of his burning garage. I’m never going back there,” she stated emphatically. “I hate the place. It’s a study in misery.”
“I think all childhoods are st
udies in misery,” Carlo joked, but with grief in his eyes. “I’m sorry you had to experience any of that,” he added grimly. “You shouldn’t have had to.”
“That’s life,” Johanna said with a shrug. “Now life is much better. That last time in South Africa sealed the deal for me in joining Orbit Guard. Sophie went to Orbit Guard Academy and is learning to be a space diplomat, or whatever the technical term is. I hope she’ll be here soon,” she added glumly. “I miss her.”
He slipped an arm around her and hugged her to him. “I hope so too. Thanks for giving me a chance to show you what I’m made of. I won’t let you down.”
“We’ll see,” Johanna said. “We’ll see. We go at my pace, not yours,” she added with a glare.
“Agreed,” he stated firmly.
Chapter Fourteen
Nailed, and Not in a Good Way
Things had gone well between Johanna and Carlo Bergstrom over the last few weeks. They were slowly getting to know each other and had deployed on a couple of missions and had worked well together. They were also getting along well in private and spent a lot of time on the observation deck where they had relative privacy.
It had been hectic around the station as news of the new species, the Soclaued, ran wild through the gossip mill. Ensign Toby Cook kept Johanna up to date on all the latest tongue waggings, including the news that her roommate Katyia and Major Hiro Donji were an item.
That news Johanna already knew. Katyia had never been so mellow. Major Donji seemed to have a calming influence on her! Just as the relationship between Colonel Reinegaard and Captain Chloe Sedgewick had made Chloe even more of a live-wire than before, Katyia was now a bit calmer. It was strange how personalities worked together. She didn’t think her relationship with Carlo had changed her much. She also didn’t think anyone else was aware of it. Mostly because the women onboard the station couldn’t imagine anyone finding the colossus that was Carlo Bergstrom, attractive. Silly girls, Johanna thought.
