Authors: Jessica Miller
“I was ordered to get us out of there and I did.”
The Captain broke in here, thankfully, and said, “Indeed you did, Lieutenant and well done, even if it made for a rough ride. Ambassador, I promise you when I hear back from HQ I will be having a staff meeting and you will be the first one with an invitation.”
The Ambassador nodded and then my stomach interrupted by rumbling hungrily. There was a humorous look in the Ambassador’s eyes and the Captain looked vaguely startled.
“That reminds me, none of my staff has had a break in several days. I have to schedule that immediately. If you will excuse us please.” The Ambassador did graciously, although as we left I could feel his eyes on my ass. I had to change clothes, I decided. As we walked down the corridor the Captain stopped a few halls down.
“My apologies Jayne. I should not have put you in that position. The man was positively leering at you. It will not happen again.” I had never heard of the Captain ever apologizing to anyone! Much less a subordinate. I was both overjoyed with his concern and calling me by my first name, but also thought the man needed some sleep
“It was not a problem sir. I was a distraction and honestly I have been leered at by better men.”
The Captain grinned and my stomach rumbled again. Just then, before we started laughing again, his aide came running up.
“Sir, Commander Tello reports that the enemy armada has stopped and sits quietly on the other side of the asteroid belt. They have powered down and appear to be just sitting there. We are maintaining our position with no problem and there is no word back yet from HQ.” He nodded and thanked the junior officer who then went to report back to Tello.
“Well that gives us all some breathing room. Go get some food and some rest if we are allowed the time, Loneway. Thank you for your support and I will try not to let that happen again.” He reached out and squeezed my shoulder companionably. Our eyes met and for an instant I saw his feelings. He began blushing and turned walking away down the corridor. I stood there stunned, wondering if I was the one who needed the sleep or if I had really seen that. The warm fuzzies were back as I went to my quarters.
*****
The second try at dinner in the lounge went better. I had thrown on a blouse, long and mostly concealing over my top and jeans so I did not feel so exposed. Something about being on duty for so long in civvies had begun to feel weird. Tara gave me crap for the maneuver, but admitted it did work. Fortunately Labrowski was not there. I would never have heard the end of it.
Tara and I both ate a big meal, had desert that was decadent and amazingly sweet. It was something Tara had found called chocolate mousse. It was fantastic and with the drinks we both got drowsy fairly quickly and went back to our quarters.
The Captain had sent out orders for everyone to take advantage of the break in the action and get some rest, so I waved goodnight to Tara and entered my cabin. I stood looking at the bed covered in my suitcases and decided not to unpack tonight. I shoved them off to the floor and pulled back the blankets, stripped down to my underwear and crawled in. I would be willing to bet it was less than five seconds later I was asleep.
I found myself standing with the Captain in my living space with our arms around each other. It was odd because I was wearing a green, very small, bikini. The captain was dressed in an equally small bathing suit. Diplomat Churlish was standing before us ordering the Captain to take his hands off of me, because I was for him! The Diplomat was dressed in formal robes. Captain Merlock moved forward to shut the man up.
“I must protect your honor,” he told me.
“Captain, I can kick his ass myself, it wouldn't be hard,” I replied. He smiled his wonderful smile.
“Of course Jayne, but the point is for me to do it.” I crossed my arms as he walked toward the waiting Churlish and the room dissolved and we were then in a field with a crowd of people around us. The crew was on one side and the Mucusto and their allies were on the other. The new aliens were blurry and I could not really see what they looked like. I did notice that the Captain and I were the only ones dressed in next to nothing and the warm and fuzzies I was feeling began changing to the warmth of embarrassed blushing. The fighting started and I was rushed by the blurry aliens as soon as the Captain was occupied defending my honor. I stood with my arms folded watching them approach, unsure exactly what was going on. And then I awoke.
I sat up in the silence of my quarters in the dark. I glanced at the clock and lay back down. I had only been asleep for two hours and there was no alarm going off, so I allowed myself to try to get back to sleep. It had been the strangest dream I had ever had and more than a little silly. I giggled softly and yawned, thinking the Captain looked good in a little bathing suit. Soon I was asleep again and this time it stretched for an uninterrupted ten more hours.
I went into the staff meeting rested and refreshed. I had had enough time after waking to take a long bath and dismiss my weird dream as nothing more than a weird dream. My quarters were organized and I had been able to get in another good meal. I was ready for anything I thought. That should have been my first warning.
We were all in our places and even the Captain looked rested with Ambassador Churlish sitting on his right and Tello on his left. He stood and looked us over for a moment.
“Ok everyone, I hope you are rested. Our mission has changed somewhat. I heard back from HQ. The incident with the aliens has been labeled a misunderstanding. These new aliens, who call themselves the Jarban, are gypsies of a sort. They lost their world generations ago and have been traveling through space ever since. Not all the ships we saw are war ships; many are carrying civilians.
“The Mucusto encountered them in a similar way that the
Star Light
did. After the initial confrontation they came to an understanding. The Jarban are looking for a place to call home but the Mucusto do not have any room for them. However, the Mucusto offered to negotiate with the Alliance on behalf of the Jarban to find them a new homeworld. The Jarban have similar requirements as we do, you see, so the uninhabited terraformed worlds not far from here are being requested for the Jarban to use as their own.”
Captain Merlock looked around the room for reaction, but he did not get any.
I was not sure what to think. If all of what the captain said was true, I felt bad for the Jarban but a little suspicious of the Mucusto’s motives. In either case it had now become a diplomatic mission and that meant I was a pilot only for shuttling duties if needed. I foresaw a nice allotment of time off in my future and wondered if Tara would be up for getting a poker game together.
“Since we are now on a diplomatic mission I will turn it over to our diplomat at large, Tulley Churlish,” said the Captain.
Churlish thanked the Captain, who sat down and leaned back in his chair.
“Very well then,” He began rubbing his hands together eagerly. “We have the possibility of making an historic agreement in peace and charity that will shine the galaxy over. The Alliance has given me authority to negotiate with the Jarban and Mucusto and bringing this tragic situation to a satisfactory conclusion for all concerned and the
Star Light
is a part of this.” He smiled expansively gesturing with his hands to include us all. He looked especially at me with a bigger smile before going on.
“Tomorrow night we will be hosting the first meeting with the all parties on the terraformed planet, Powar. After the reception we will get down to the business of finding an acceptable answer to the Jarbans’ homelessness.” He looked over his tablet for a moment.
“So we will require cooperation from many of you for setting up quarters and helping to arrange things in a satisfactory manner for a diplomatic mission. There are a few requirements that need to be followed and they have been sent to all of your consoles for you to go over between now and then. There are a few, however, that need to be mentioned now however.”
“The number two is important to the Jarban, so there will be two of them in the negotiations and two of us. Normally the Captain would be the logical choice but because he is the Captain of the ship that had the misunderstanding, they will not allow that. For this reason the Mucusto are not going to be involved in that way either. It has been decided by myself, several on the council and the Fleet brass that you, Lieutenant Loneway, will be the negotiator at my side.”
I choked on my coffee and several of my fellow officers could barely stifle a laugh. Chief Engineer Labrowski was the loudest. Churlish looked confused.
“I do not understand the humor. Why do you find this funny?” Everyone looked down and I looked at the Chief. He opened his mouth and then shrugged. I grinned calmly at Churlish.
“They were laughing sir, because they know me. I am a pilot and other than flying the ship I do not particularly care about anything else. I am reliably informed by every commanding officer I have had that outside of my piloting skills I am a huge pain in the... I’m a huge
annoyance
. If I wasn't such a good pilot I would have been drummed out of the service ten years ago. Which is, coincidentally, six months after I joined the fleet.”
I glanced at the Captain and realized he was furious with Churlish. His face was blank but his eyes spoke volumes to me. I glanced back at the Chief in the silence following my speech and smiled at him.
“Were those the words you were searching for Chief?” I could see the smile in his eyes and was glad he was no longer mad at me.
“They will do,” said the Chief. He was still struggling with laughter.
Churlish was not deterred however.
“These are the very qualities we need in the negotiating team,” he said. “You are forthright and speak plainly, regardless of who you may irritate. You are smart and talented and will make a perfect adviser to me. All you will be required to do is tell me, not the people we are negotiating with and it will go smoothly. You realize when this goes through it will be a feather in the cap of everyone on board and you specifically could be looking at a promotion.” He said that part as if conveying a favor. I smiled at him, and shook my head.
“That is not the best incentive for me, Ambassador Churlish. I had one dream when I joined the fleet. I have achieved it. I am the lead pilot on the best ship, with the best Captain and crew in the fleet. I desire nothing more for my career other than to remain where I am. As I pointed out before. I am a very good pilot but not to good at much else. Now if it is written in stone that I have to take on this responsibility I will do my best. I will not, however, promise it will work out for the best.” I took another look at the Captain and he was still angry, but I thought I saw pride as he returned my gaze. Churlish had reached the end of his tether.
“Then consider it written in stone, Lieutenant. You and I are going to make this work and I expect your best efforts. I do not require promises, I require results. All of you have been sent you instructions. I expect you to carry them out.”
He turned and left in a huff. The Captain stood.
“I will go calm him down,” he said. “I did warn him though. I hope you will look over your orders and if you have any problems I will see what I can do.” He turned and followed the Diplomat’s path out of the room. I sat back in my seat and thought about the strangeness of the universe. Tara stood and patted my shoulder.
“Try not to hit him too hard,” she said. I laughed and everyone filed out with sympathetic glances my way. Chief Labrowski however remained. As much as we always gave each other grief, he was a good friend.
“You going to be ok, Jayne?” he said. I sighed and nodded.
“Yeah, I’ll keep my mouth shut and try to make it through. How bad can it be?”
He did not answer such an obvious question. Instead he said, “When you are off duty, come see me. I have a new batch I made up and you can test drink a few with me.”
“Count on it Mac. I will be there.” He nodded and made his way out of the room. I was only sitting a few minutes going over my orders and trying not to scream at them when my name came over the speaker. It was time to fly to the planet Powar, and I jumped up to go do what I do best.
*****
I had a few drinks with Mac after the
Star Light
was in orbit around the Powar. It was truly nasty stuff which meant it was a good brew for him. Fortunately I had the foresight to eat first so I got a good buzz without getting drunk. We laughed about the assignment and I promised to let him know the funniest aspects of what I ended up doing. I knew he appreciated the humor in it, but also had no doubt that I would get it done. It was nice to get his support.
I walked down the corridors back to my cabin planning on calling it a night. Then my name came over the speakers.
“Lieutenant Jayne to see the Captain. Lieutenant Jayne to see the Captain.” The voice of his aide always sounded too high-pitched over the speakers. I changed my course and headed to the Captain’s office. I wondered what it was about and hoped I was not too buzzed. I tapped on his door and it opened. He was sitting on the couch and had a drink. I immediately felt better about my state. He gestured me to a seat as he stood.
“Do you want a drink, Loneway?” I shook my head.
“No thank you Captain. I just left Mac’s back office.” His eyebrows went up.