Redux - chapter 2

Chapter 2

An alarm blared into his room and Second Lieutenant Lawrence McCallister scrunched his eyes shut. He rolled his body away from it and settled further into his pillow. Alarms were never a sign of a good day for him.
         “Cally!”
         He screwed his face up at the nickname and grumbled, “Fuck off Nelson.” His Australian accent slipped through his still tired voice and he silently swore to give Nelson another warning about his nickname.
         “It’s for you. Get it.”
         “You get it.”
         There was the underlying sound of something jabbing at the floor before he jumped as something landed on his body with a light thump. He pried open his eyes and threw an arm over his body, his hand searching blindly for the item. What he retrieved was Nelson’s left boot. He rolled over and flicked his wrist, letting the item fly through the air and back to its owner.
         “Hey!” he heard through the dark, “Not the face.”
         “Shut up,” McCallister said with a growl before he pulled his covers back and swung his legs over the side of his bed. The alarm continued to ring and he stood, rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands and moved in the direction of the door. He reached out, let his hand fumble against the cool metal wall for a few seconds before he found the control panel.
         He searched in the dark for the off button and was welcomed with a “Finally!” from Nelson. McCallister threw a look in his direction before he searched for another button. He found it and the light was filled with a bright light. “You fucker,” Nelson said and McCallister chuckled as the other man pulled his cover over his head.
         He blinked through the pain of the sudden intrusion of light and let his eyes read the words that the Captain had left him. It took him several minutes to read the message four times to try to get his mind working. “Okay,” he said after three more minutes of processing the message.
         “What’s the verdict?”
         McCallister turned to see that Nelson’s position had changed. The Corporal now held his pillow scruffed between folded arms and his chin as his eyes looked up at him tiredly. “Same as yesterday,” McCallister said.
         “What time is it?”
         He dragged his eyes to the clock, “Eight.”
         When he looked back down at Nelson there was a look that told him the man was considering something, thinking it through before he said anything. McCallister waited. Nelson almost always spoke whatever was on his mind, it was just a case of waiting.
         “I ever tell you it sucks rooming with you at times?”
         He closed his eyes, let out a quiet sigh and moved to his wardrobe and foot locker to grab a towel and a change of clothes. “Well as your superior officer, be up by the time I’m done.”
         “Geez,” Nelson said, “please, pull rank some more.”
         “Shut up Corporal.”
         “Yes sir, Lieutenant Sir.”
         McCallister shook his head and moved into the bathroom. When he’d finished he came out to see Nelson sat on the edge of his bed, hands rubbing at his eyes with vigour. As McCallister started putting things away Nelson pulled things out and moved into the vacated bathroom. The Second Lieutenant left him to it and opened the door to their quarters. The corridor was warm and he smiled with the knowledge that it would be warm when he reached home too.          He hated the cold nights in the depths of space.
         He moved his eyes up and down the corridor, taking in the red lights and the two green lights that stood out. He already knew who they would be and started moving to the other doors, his fist banging away at the metal. He worked his way down, stopped just before the Captain’s room, turned, and knocked on all of the doors on his way back down the same path. All the Captain wanted him to do was get people up, get people in bed and in a few hours wake her up too. Everybody else just had to go about doing final checks.
         One door shot open and a dark haired, five foot eight woman stuck her head out. “We’re busy sleeping.”
         “Get up Hunter!”
         “Ugh,” she said before she disappeared back behind a locked door. If there was one person he would not miss on leave it was Sergeant Major Evelyn Hunter.
         “Hunter?”
         He turned to see Nelson emerge, the ends of his hair still damp. The shorter man ran a hand through short brown hair. McCallister nodded, “Of course is it.”
         Nelson smirked and said, “Hey Hunter! I bet your arse I could shoot better than you today!”
         McCallister let the corner of his mouth twitch as he counted the seconds. Six, five, four, three, two, one and the door that Hunter had disappeared behind opened again. The woman stepped out, her eyes drawn into a glare as she finished tying her hair. “You can’t shoot for shit tiny man. Let’s go.”
         “Final checks first,” McCallister said.
         “Come on Cally,” Hunter started as she threw a light punch to his arm, “what’s two minutes whilst I kick this punk’s ass?”
         Nelson laughed, “Bring it redneck.”
         “Hey,” she jabbed a finger into Nelson’s chest, punctuating her next words, “do not call me that.”
         McCallister put a hand on her shoulder and tugged her back. “Weapon stores. Now Hunter, then you two can do whatever you want. Nelson, to medical.”
         The woman curled her mouth into a snarl before she turned and stomped off towards the stairs. Nelson followed and McCallister ignored the banter that started to rise as other crew members began to appear. First Lieutenant Olivia Rhodes, their chief Medic, passed a bemused smile in his direction. She stopped next to him and looked up through dark eyes to say, “She stay up again?”
         He nodded at the reference to the Captain and tilted his head to the door at the end, “Zach and Torres were up too.”
         Rhodes’ eyebrows narrowed an inch and she said, “More glitches?”
         “That would be my guess.”
         She nodded and sunk her hands into her pockets. Her head turned to look at the doors with red lights, “Just a few more hours right?”
         A smile curled his mouth. “Yeah, then we can forget each other for three months.”
         A door opened and McCallister moved his gaze to watch Eliot appear. The Kenyan man gave them a wide smile and started towards them. “Torres and Zach were up. More glitches.”
         McCallister shook his head, “Maybe Command will finally give us that upgrade we deserve.”
         “Unlikely,” Eliot said.
         Another door opened and Warrant Officer Class 2 James Garrison appeared. The dark skinned man gave the three of them a nod before he moved towards the mess.
         McCallister frowned and said to Eliot, “Is he okay?”
         Eliot shrugged, glancing in Garrison’s direction, “I had to wake him this morning and he said he didn’t have a good feeling about today.”
         Rhodes said, “Another one?”
         Eliot nodded and said, “He’s been saying for days that he can feel something bad is coming, something terrible.”
         “Right,” McCallister said, “that bodes well.”
         Garrison somehow had a sixth sense for danger and his sixth sense had saved everybody’s lives on a few occasions. The only thing the man had to say for his strange feelings was, “Gut instincts. You should have one too.” The Captain often called the cook their good luck charm.
         Eliot slapped his hand on McCallister’s shoulder and started towards the engine room. Rhodes thumbed a hand over her shoulder, muttered something about keeping an eye on Nelson and left McCallister alone. He eyed the two last red dots, the Captain and Corporal Natasha Sokoloff. The Russian co-pilot was always the last to exit and he left the corridor in the direction of the bridge. He had orders to make sure Torres and Zach made it to bed.
         He passed through the mess hall and gave Garrison a passing glance. He was already busy preparing breakfast for when everybody had finished their morning checks. McCallister carried on walking and entered the bridge with silent steps. He quirked one brow at the sight in front of him. Zach was sat in his usual position, feet propped on the console with a few cereal bar wrappers scattered around him whilst Torres was slumped in the co-pilot’s seat, arms folded across his chest with his feet stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankles.
         “How long’s he been asleep for?”
         Zach turned his seat to stare over his shoulder, eyes looking over McCallister before they fell to Torres. “Couple of hours.”
         McCallister nodded and propped himself on the railing, “Wake him up, then you’re both to get to bed.”
         Zach sighed and McCallister watched the man drop his booted feet to the floor. Torres jumped at the sound and he had to hide the smile. “What?” Torres said.
         Zach tilted his head in McCallister’s direction, “We’ve got orders to sleep in a bed.”
         Torres shuffled in his seat until he was looking at McCallister, eyes squinting through the sleep. “Sure,” the smaller man said. “Sounds good.”
         McCallister straightened up and turned towards the exit. He stopped when he spotted Soko stood there, one brow arched with a silent expression of ‘what?’ He gave her a tight smile and stepped around her, letting the three of them settle into their duties themselves. He had his own duty to take care of, which included-
         “Erm Cally?” Zach said.
         He stopped in the doorway to the mess and turned. Torres was on the top tier whilst Zach’s head hovered just in sight. McCallister stepped back into the bridge and stopped one foot into the room. “What?”
         Soko was the one who spoke, “Incoming call from Command. They’re requesting the Captain.”
         He eyed the four large viewing screens that covered most of the furthest wall. True enough in the centre of all four screens was the icon that represented Command. “Tell them they’ll be patched through in a few seconds, we’ve been having trouble with some of the systems.” Soko nodded. McCallister looked to Torres and said, “Make something up to back it up.”
         Torres groaned and latched his hands onto the railing, “What does a man have to do to get some sleep around here?”
         McCallister shook his head and started at a quick walk towards the Captain’s quarters.

         Charlie sighed when she eyed the clock. She’d been asleep for just a little more than four hours. The banging on her door continued and she pulled herself out of bed, slipping her feet into her shoes as she went. When she opened the door McCallister stood there, a look of urgency across his features. “Yes?”
         "Command wanna talk to you.”
         “Dammit,” she muttered and she grabbed her standard issue grey jacket, threaded her arms through the sleeves and started towards her office, McCallister close behind. “Any idea what it’s about?”
         McCallister shook his head. “None. I’ve got Torres complaining about equipment to stall them.”
         Charlie smiled. “Good call. Give me two minutes then send Torres to my office.”
         McCallister nodded, turned and left. Charlie continued through the ship until she came to office. Once inside she sat at her desk, loaded up the screen, logged in and sent a silent message to Soko to patch her through. A few seconds passed before the face of a man with dark hair, that was turning silver at the roots, appeared on screen. Dark brown eyes surrounded by years of wrinkles locked onto her and he gave her a tight smile. She didn’t recognise the man and her brows knitted together a fraction of an inch. His uniform told her he was a General and she said, “Sir?”
         He nodded to her and said, “Captain O’Donnell, I’m General Montagne. System malfunctions according to Staff Sergeant Torres aside, I understand you have some leave coming up.”
         “Yes Sir. We’re due home today. Everybody’s excited.”
         Montagne gave another tight smile and moved his eyes down to his desk. His arms moved off screen for four seconds before he came back with a file. He opened it up and Charlie felt her day take a turn for the worse. “Thirty weeks of active duty,” he started, “followed by three months of leave. Impressive.”
         “Thank you. May I ask what’s with the call?”
         “I was told you were straight to the point and I like that in a Captain.” Her frown stayed in place but Montagne’s smile only faltered slightly. “Now, there is a new training exercise that Command wants testing.” Charlie felt her left leg begin to bounce. “They want you to test it.”
         The door to her office opened then and Torres slinked in. He shut the door behind himself and Charlie lifted her eyes to the screen. The General was looking at her with knitted brows. She tested the words in her head before she opened her mouth, “General we’re due home today. There must be somebody else on active duty who has the time-”
         “Captain,” she stopped talking and waited for Montagne to continue. Torres moved into the chair on the other side of her desk, his brows furrowed in confusion, “these are direct orders from above you and me.”
         “Excuse me for speaking freely Sir, but this exercise is going to compromise my crew’s much deserved shore leave.”
         “Which is why you and your crew will be granted an extra two weeks leave.” Charlie could see Torres’ brows jump at that. They never received extra leave, ever. “The exercise is said to take no longer than a four days at the most. I believe two weeks is more than sufficient to make up for this borrowed time.”
         Charlie wanted to decline, wanted to tell him that they weren’t doing it, but orders were orders and this seemed like something she couldn’t get out of. “What kind of training exercise are talking about here?”
         Montagne moved in his seat, his hands moving just below the periphery of the screen. “I’m sending you the file with the all of the finer details.”
         Charlie nodded, noting the icon that blinked in the bottom right hand corner of screen. She met Montagne’s gaze and said, “Sir, I understand that these are orders, but my crew won’t take too kindly to the interruption to their leave.”
         “We know that Captain and that was why we gave you an extended shore leave, as a gesture of goodwill.” She nodded. “Admiral Matthias has given this exercise a go ahead. You’re to report to station Vanguard within twenty four hours.”
         She nodded again, “Yes Sir.”
         “Good luck Captain,” and he cut the transmission.
         The small icon in the corner of the screen blinked up at her and Charlie adverted her eyes to Torres. He eyed her with curious confusion. Charlie sighed and leaned back in her seat. “What did you find in the glitches?”
         “What about-”
         “Torres,” she said.
         The engineer hesitated before he sighed and said, “Still being scrubbed. There isn’t a lot I mean, trying to clean up the noise is not gonna be easy. It’ll take a while.”
         “How long’s a while?”
         Torres yawned and stretched, “A few hours. So far they’re about sixty five percent done.” She nodded and rubbed a hand over her face. A training exercise. With a curious frown she reached forward and pressed the blinking icon. Before she had a chance to read the file Torres spoke again, “So err, this training exercise. Are we really gonna?” Charlie looked at him and let her look do all the talking. “I thought so.”
         “Do not tell anybody yet, I’ll hold a meeting with the crew. Get me McCallister and Rhodes.”
         “Sure thing.”
         “Once we’ve had that meeting you’ll be getting in bed until we arrive.”
         Torres waved a hand over his shoulder as he left and Charlie sunk in her seat. She ran her hands over her face, the urge to groan strong. She let the groan go, listened to it echo in her office before she removed her hands and eyes the screen in front of her. There wasn’t much in the way of information. When she searched the screen with her eyes to find the next page, she couldn’t find one. It was a single page of information and she scoffed with a shake of her head.
         After a few minutes she decided to quickly read through the information she had on hand. A lot of it was the usual jargon about who was giving orders, who the orders addressed. She skipped down to the part about the exercise and frowned.

The Science Research Station Vanguard have been working on a new combat system and require two teams to test out this new combat system in a training exercise. The exercise itself will require two teams to use crowd suppression rounds. Live rounds are not permitted.

That was it. She scanned the page again and found herself shaking her head once more. No matter how many times she read it no more information presented itself. McCallister and Rhodes shuffled in then, curiosity spread across their features. She gestured to the two chairs in front of her desk and waded through the thoughts in her mind, looking for a place to start. She settled for the worst part of the news first and said, “We’re not going home today.”
         Silence made itself known in the room and Charlie flicked her eyes from her First Officer, McCallister, whose expression darkened, to her Second Officer Rhodes whose face was harder to read. Charlie had always struggled to read Rhodes’ expression.
         “Why?” McCallister started.
         “A new training exercise they want testing out.”
         “And they couldn’t pick a different crew?” McCallister asked.
         Charlie shrugged her shoulders. That question had crossed her mind plenty of time that night. “I queried it and I told General Montagne that it wasn’t fair.”
         “It doesn’t make sense,” Rhodes said.
         McCallister nodded, “There’s plenty of other ships with plenty of duty time left.”
         “Not to mention we’re unfavourable,” Rhodes added.
         Charlie pointed a finger at Rhodes and said, “My thoughts too. Matthias green lighted it for us though, along with two extra weeks of leave.”
         “It’s still crap,” McCallister said as he jumped to his feet. Charlie shared a look with Rhodes and turned her eyes back to the man who began a slow pace, his hands rubbing at his face, through his hair and over the back of his neck.
         “Take a walk,” she said to him. His eyes jumped to hers, his hands dropping to his sides in a defeated look and she held a hand up, “You can have my office once you’ve taken a walk.” It took a few seconds for him to nod before he turned and left, his face furrowed into quit displeasure.
         Once they were alone Rhodes stood and perched herself on the corner of Charlie’s desk. “Matthias approved.”
         Charlie lifted her eyes up to the other woman and gave a single nod, “Yeah.”
         “He’s always had it out for you.”
         A smile started on her face, “Yeah but, even he wouldn’t sink this low.”
         Rhodes reached out for the screen that had the information for their new mission on and turned it in her direction. Charlie watched the woman’s eyes scan the screen, re-scan and frown. “This all?”
         “Yeah.”
         “Montagne not mention the second team?”
         Charlie shook her head. “Nope.” She pulled the screen back in her direction and tapped at it until the search directive appeared. The search directive held information on ships, crews, captain’s and last known location. Depending upon a person’s clearance level and rank, they could access more sensitive information. Charlie wasted no time in typing Vanguard into the search box. She waited, Rhodes’ hovering body in the periphery of her vision, when another box appeared with the words Clearance code required. Charlie obliged and waited. Large red letters glared at her, telling her: Access Denied and she sighed, falling back into her seat. She held a hand out to Rhodes and said, “You fancy a go?”
         Despite Charlie’s higher rank, Rhodes held a significantly higher access code and Charlie took advantage of it when she could. “One of these days they’ll take my access code away,” the doctor said. After a moment the same red letters glared at Rhodes and she shook her head, “No good. This doesn’t bode well does it?”
         Charlie let out a breath and shook her head. “No it doesn’t.” She flicked her eyes up to meet a pair of dark ones and sighed, “I’ll call for a meeting once everybody’s had breakfast. Break the news to them then.”
         Rhodes nodded. “They’re not going to be happy about it.”
         “Unless they want to be kicked out of the Military they have no choice.”
         “Hunter will kick up a fuss.”
         Charlie eyed the small smile on the other woman’s face and said, “Hunter always kicks up a fuss.”
         Rhodes gave her a lazy look before she stood, her hands the pockets of her pants. “What time did you get to bed?”
         Charlie looked up at the other woman, the smile slipping from her face before she said, “About half three. Maybe quarter to four.”
         “It shows you know.”
         She shared a look and held it, trying to out stare the doctor. Charlie caved first, dropped her eyes back to her screen and feigned reading the file once more. “A Captain always suffers for her crew.”
         “You can take a break you know.”
         “I’ll rest when we’re home.”
         Rhodes shook her head. “Charlie,” she said, all sense of authority dropped from her voice.
         “Olivia,” Charlie said back to her.
         Rhodes sighed before she shook her head and said, “Decaf after ten.”
         “The problem isn’t the coffee.”
         “Then what is?”
         Charlie looked away from the screen and settled a firm expression into her face before she said, “There were more glitches last night. Torres found out that they’re not glitches but distress calls, distress calls which are being jammed and coming through as glitches.”
         Silence swam through the air.
         Eventually Rhodes managed to shift her way to her left foot and said, “Give us pirates any day of the week.”
         Charlie smiled tightly at the comment. It was a statement they’d acquired over the years with many meanings for the right situations. This was one of those times and Charlie nodded her head. “Yeah.”