Missing In Action

[Melanie Tyler]

Hartman shirked away from the contact, irritated. "I said I was fine." She rounded on Sius, keeping her voice low to conceal the exchange from a passing tide of crewmen. "This is a Liberty ship, your ship. If I can't walk through it, I'll make right sure that you're the first to know, but until I can't, I'll carry myself." She paused briefly. "Sir."

She'd been too harsh. She knew it before she'd finished speaking. Sius had been only been trying to help. Common courtesy dictated a far warmer reception then what she'd given him. Yet, she still couldn't help but take the image of a pair of Junior Command Officers waltzing down the hallway as a stab at her pride. It wasn't a matter of friendship, or comradeship. If Remus were bleeding out, Hartman would've been sure to grab him and get him away from whatever was out to do it as quickly as possible. She was sure that he would do the same for her. Hell, she already had the evidence for that all around her.

Everything was seemingly catching up with her at once. On board the Order ship, the possibility of interrogation, death, or flight had all been real and immediate. Now, finally safe, all the other little products of a week's worth of shattered sleep and minimal food and water were creeping to the fore. The slightest annoyances were intolerable. To add to it, the light from the MacArthur's hazard lights felt like it had grabbed the dormant headache loitering in the back of her skull and twisted.

She turned back to the now-empty corridor. "Where to now?" It was a stupid question, spoken more to fill the gap then anything. The sooner she could get something to drink, and somewhere to sleep, the sooner she could start straightening out her thoughts.

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This character is retired.

[rainth345]

Sius was a bit shocked when Hartman shrugged her off. But then he realized what she'd been through. It must have been a tough time inside that Order ship... but the questions would have to wait... This time Remus' voice sounded less confident than before.

"I understand... Jane. Its just the end of this corridor. Everything's been prepared...", he pauses for awhile,"Look I'll have to leave you for awhile... We aren't exactly clear yet. Don't go wandering off now...", and then he added.
"Oh, and try not to touch any of my stuff...", suddenly Remus disappears without another word.


~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few minutes later... Remus appears on the bridge, apparently having discarded the marine-suit and now wearing the standard officer flight suit.

"Barnes, patch me through that Order ship..."
"I'll patch you in a second, sir."

"Thank you for rescuing her... We'll take it from here... Lieutenant Commander Remus Sius out."

Just as Remus finishes his last transmission, the docking tubes have finished unfolding and the two ships were now separated.

"Charge cruise."

Without another word, Barnes nods in acknowledgement. And the ship prepares to move.

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[Melanie Tyler]

Jane had to duck to fit through the hatch.The room was blissfully bare, a plateful of food and a jug of water sat sat on a small table, a few feet from a bare-metal bunk. Considering the size of the gunboat, even that much spare space was surprising. There were no windows here. Instead a screen projected the video feed from the ship's exterior to the room, a flickering collage of stars and planets hovering on the wall. At least, it would have been normally. Here, in the junk fields, there was little to see beyond the sea of scrap. Tactically, the feed made sense. Despite all the advances of sensor technology, it couldn't match the versatility of a human being for spotting the unnatural.

Hartman tapped a command, and the screen swelled to fill the wall. Pieces of ships that had long since defied the attention of even the most vigilant owners drifted past her bunk before vanishing into the floor. That could have easily been her. Out there, there was nothing to distinguish one piece from another. She wondered how many people were sealed out there in their derelict ships, by mistake or design, following their machines to the grave. It would have been a horrible experience, trapped in the dark for weeks, your own body growing weaker and weaker as supplies dwindled, with little to do but wait to see what vital substance you ran out of first. Hartman had spent days convinced that she was condemned to the same fate, to be standing her on a moving ship again, alive... The odds against it were astronomical. Perhaps it simply wasn't time yet.

She took a sip of the water, treasuring each drop of moisture that fell on her parched throat. When she had drunk her fill, she turned to the food. Remus' chef had been generous, although it was impossible to complete hide the taste of rations. Ship's rations were leagues ahead of the field rations she had had on Marine ground operations. Not that that was much in itself, there wasn't much someone could have put on a plate that wasn't. By the time she had finished, there was still plenty left on the plate.

Hartman collapsed into the bunk, finally, full for the first time in... She wasn't sure how long. Five days? Six? It didn't matter. She was going home. She lay sprawled on the top sheet, still-booted feet half hanging off the rack as she watched the junk flash by. To her credit, she nearly lifted her head off the pillow to untie them before sleep took hold of her.

Outside, Manhattan loomed large in the gunboat's scopes.

----------End-----------

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This character is retired.