It was a small cabin, though compared to the crew quarters the eight foot cube was luxurious. The door, more of a hatch with a wheel in the middle instead of a knob, was set into the north wall (if north was to be considered the front of the ship) and let out onto the bridge of the transport. Attached to the west wall was a bunk that was covered by a disheveled blanket. Sticking out of the blanket and hanging off the side of the bed was an arm. At the head of the bunk and in the corner created by the west and south walls intersecting was a night stand with an alarm clock. The south wall was predominated by a combination dresser/desk, a mess of papers strewn over it. The east wall was empty, except for the window that afforded a splendid view - had the shade not been active. On the floor was an empty bottle of whiskey.
All was quiet. Until the alarm went off. The arm slowly rose, only to flop onto the alarm, putting it into 'sleep' mode. Nine minutes passed, then the alarm went off again, this time combined with the shade on the window deactivating. The east side of the ship was coincidentally facing a bright sun, and this time Karly Richter had no choice but to get up. The blanket moved, then slowly fell to the ground. A semi-naked woman in her early thirties was revealed, groaning at the light; she smelled like a brewery. Even so, she picked up the empty bottle, showing open disappointment when it produced no liquid magic.
Getting up, the first thing she did was activate the window's shade. She almost forgot to get dressed, but struggled into the white T-shirt, green vest and khaki jeans that passed for uniform on Daumann transports. Not like her crew of three (two men and a woman) hadn't seen her naked before. Hell, she'd woken up with all of them in her bed at one time or another, with no memory of the night before.
Groaning, she went to the bridge. She could tell it was going to be a bad day.
The bridge was a fifteen-feet square with rows of windows set into the front. The door to Karly's room was on the south wall to the extreme right, and on the extreme left of the same wall was a metal staircase that led down to a hallway that spanned the entire backbone of the ship and gave access to all other rooms. In the middle of the bridge was the worn swivel chair for Karly - the captain. She flopped into it, cushions sighing lightly. Behind her and to either side were two consoles, unmanned at the moment. Directly in front of her was a console that controlled the helms of the ship, and seated at it was sixteen year old Abel Ebert, who had been born on a transport and had lived on one or another his whole life. All she knew was she must've been pretty drunk the night she woke up staring into his eyes. Karly almost wondered if the crew had bets going on who she would sleep with next. Not her problem, she wasn't in her right mind when it happened...
At the end of the long corridor that ran the length of the ship was the engine room, with two huge cylindrical machines set on their side and welded in place. In between both cylinders (which housed the engine components, and ran all the way out of the ship to emit the exhaust) was a space of about ten feet, with consoles set against the cylinders and against the far wall, the room running for about twenty feet along the height (if they were standing on the circles) of the cylinders. In the engine room was Sabiene Heiser, a girl in her mid-twenties who was in green coveralls and covered in grease, working on the panels and occasionally sticking the entire upper-part of her body inside various parts of machinery to take a wrench to them. She may not be a technical genius, but she was good enough. Down the hallway were four doors on each side: four of them (the two on each side closest to the front) were crews quarters, of which one was vacant. The next two were storage. The last one on the left side was the galley (fully stocked with protein and nutrient packs) and to the right was the personal gym. In space, the lack of gravity could sometimes mess with muscles and bones, so it was always wise to work out.
The last crew member was the first mate, Manfred Schnowzer. He was about forty, short, stocky, and looked to be made of old roots. He had a growl of a voice, though beyond the rough exterior he's not that bad a guy. Sabiene looks up to him as a father, and has on more than one occasion called him a 'teddy bear'.
This is Daumann transport Zeta-Niner-Five, inbound on Oder Shipyard, requesting clearance to moor.
Roger Daumann Zeta-Niner-Five, clearance granted.
Manfred sat back from the microphone, looking through the windows as they went the rest of the way in on autopilot. This was the fourth time he had had to command the ship for the entire run up to Yukawa Shipyard in Honshu, heavy with some dangerous stuff: MOX. Since the Bretonia/Kusari war, Kusari had lost out on a large amount of the MOX trade, since Bretonia is the largest supplier from their LD-14 base in Leeds. This had given the second largest producer, Daumann's Oder Shipyard, the rights to corner that trade, and they had with ruthlessness.
Karly was currently passed out in her cabin, and he'd have to think of something to do pretty soon. This was getting out of control; if it was alcohol, she had it and would drink it. Abel and Sabiene were more amused than anything, but that was them being young and not having the knowledge that time had given Manfred.
He pondered what course of action to take as the deck crews offloaded the Superconductors.
The lights were dim to simulate night, even though just outside the ship a sun was burning with utmost vigor, powerful enough to blind the unwary and unprotected human eye. The transport creaked every once in a while, gravitational eddies playing with the decades-old structural enforcement plating. A shiver went down Manfred's spine as he stood in the main hall, having recently stepped out of his quarters. Something would not let him sleep, though he couldn't put his finger on it. Deciding to go to the bridge, he walked down the hall and climbed the rickety spiral stairs. At the top, he saw that no one was there.
Sighing, Manfred checked to see if at least had the course set in and was operational. Satisfied, he entered Karly's room to see what was going on, as she had the graveyard shift currently. What he saw cannot be described to anyone below the age of consent, but to give you an idea, Sabiene was in there with Karly, and they were both on the floor, naked. It also smelled like a winepress.
Manfred pulled a "ye olde facepalm", then walked out, closing the door. He really had to do something about this. Maybe her family could help? She was his friend, and friends look out for eachother. He kept telling himself that as he walked to the communication panel.
The image of Mrs. Richter, Karly's mom, was on the screen that Manfred was looking at. She looked nice enough, grandmotherly even, a generously fleshed out face containing two pearls that gleamed boisterous exuberance and a mouth with an easy, warm smile. Apparently Karly's father had had a drinking problem too, before leaving his wife and two kids, then running afoul of some Unioners and ending up floating in the Bering asteroid field. Her brother had enlisted with the military.
"So Mrs. Richter," Manfred said, after delicately outlining the problem, "can you help?"
"Oh my," she said, concern clear on her face, "Umm... ask her brother, Wesley. They were always close. She left home a few years before he did, and they haven't talked since, to my knowledge."
Manfred thanked her before closing the channel. However, the Military completely ignored him, and after a brief search he learned why. Headlines such as "Military defector holds vendetta" played across his screen, some emphasizing the extreme possibility of Nomad-infection. Whistling under his breath, Manfred decided to show Karly what her brother had become.
Unfortunately, it was some time before she was sober enough to take the news. That's what Manfred told himself, at least. One day, trying to get over his trepidation concerning telling Karly about her brother, he simply hid all her bottles in his room. Once the alcohol excreted from her system and she went looking for the booze, he knew eventually she'd search every nook and cranny of the ship.
So he sat on his bed and waited for her.
Then she came, and the look in his eyes told her that he had hidden them. In a deathly quiet voice, she commanded him to give her what was hers.
"I am sorry, Karly, but I need to talk to you and I need you to be sober."
"I'm sober, great, talk fast."
"It's your brother. I saw a news article about him that said he defected from the Military and is possibly infected by the Nomads."
"Nomads?" she asked, obviously not familiar with the term. She didn't keep up with the news much.
"The things that caused all the trouble around 800."
Karly sunk onto the bed and rested her head in her hands, shocked. Once the full impact of what she had heard sunk in, as well as the rumors she was now recalling, a tear fell from her face.