that a number of Flag Officers complained about her and this board is just a way to move her out. You may be famous for being the last officer she cast aside.”
“Send me a message and let me know how you are doing. I miss you watching my six.”
As she signed off, she backed up from the camera, turned around, and was wearing something less than she had ever worn around him on the Bolivar. It was a shame she was several hundred light years away.
Kelly sent Angie a quick synopsis of his current situation, cut and pasted the earlier video of him in his mess dress uniform, and sent it off. He finished clearing out his message queue, looked at his watch, and realized he was going to be late for the party, if he didn’t get a move on. He closed out his terminal and went out to catch the nearest shuttle.
He got lucky again and found a shuttle waiting for him at the nearest lot. He climbed in, punched in his destination, and headed off.
When Kelly arrived at the junior officer’s bar, the party was already going strong. He walked in and Ensign Nielsen called out to him almost immediately. Young male officers surrounded her, but she shrugged them off and came over to Kelly.
She flashed that dazzling smile. “It’s about time you got here. I thought I was going to have to hold off all those guys by myself. Here, let me wrap my arm around yours and maybe they’ll take a hint. It’s a real zoo in here tonight. I forgot that the landing ship crews had arrived to take their ships out of the yard. There must be ten guys to one girl in there. Come on, let me buy you a drink.”
They walked over to the bar, Tammy never letting loose of his arm. Several landing ship officers looked at him with a mix of envy and anger. He wondered how long it would be healthy for him to be here. Tammy asked him what he wanted with a mischievous look in her eyes. He disappointed her by saying, “Just a beer.”
She got them each a beer and they retired to a table away from some of the more boisterous landing ship officers. The gators, as they called themselves, were engaging in some bar games that had the potential to cause major mayhem. One, called Assault Landing, involved two officers each carrying as many other officers as they could the distance of the bar. Two of the bigger male lieutenants were carrying five officers each and waddling to the end of the bar. This was accompanied by yells of encouragement, or derision for the opponents.
The junior officers’ bar was designed to survive such festivities. The bar itself was heavy plasteel. All the alcohol was stored in cabinets under the bar. The fixtures around the room were heavy and washable. The tables were fixed to the floor and the chairs were heavy and hard to lift. Even the gators couldn’t harm this place, designed so officers back from long patrols would have a place to cut loose far away from senior officers’ eyes.
The two large gators that had just done the heavy lifting exhibition saw Kelly and Tammy sitting by themselves and came over.
“Well, look at this. This fellow is hogging the prettiest woman in here.”
Kelly looked up at the two of them and asked, “What can I do for you fellows?” It looked like it was about to get ugly. Kelly figured he might get lucky and take out one of this pair, but not both.
Other gators came over to watch the show. One of them, a Lieutenant JG, seeing the fighter wings on Kelly’s windbreaker shouted out, “Hey Mahoney, Drew, leave this guy alone. I remember him from the Bolivar. He’s like me. He pissed off Old Bugger Off and wound up here.”
The bigger of the two, Drew, asked, “Is what he said true?”
“Yeah, it’s true.”
Drew slapped him on the back, nearly knocking him out of his chair, and said, “Well, let me buy you a beer. Anybody that Old Bugger Off hates is a friend of mine.” A round of further back-slapping ensued.
As the crowd fell away, Tammy asked, “What was that all about?”
Kelly took a sip of his beer and said, “General Bugarov is a senior officer in Fighter Force. She has a penchant for discarding officers. It seems I’m in a rather large and storied group of officers.”
“So tell me. What did you do to get a general pissed off at you?”
“It’s a short story. The general thought she was Napoleon re-born, and I was impolitic to show that she wasn’t.”
“Short story, huh? I bet that’s quite a short story.”
“Yeah, but that’s all I’m saying. I’m tired of telling the story.”
“So tell me something else about yourself. I’m all ears.” She reached up and pulled her blonde hair behind her ears.
“Not much to tell, I grew up on Earth in North America near the Great Lakes, I went to a good school, followed in my parents’ footsteps, and got an Electronic Engineering degree. EE bored me, so I applied for the Academy, went into the Fighter Force, and now I’m here.”
“I get the feeling there is more to tell than just that. I saw your ribbons when you got on my shuttle. You did an awful lot in just a short time in Fighter Force. I’ve seen senior officers without your ribbons.”
“I know. That’s one of the things that so endeared me to the general.”
Tammy laughed an honest laugh. Kelly enjoyed that about her. She was easy to be around.
A shadow fell over the table. Kelly looked up and saw LT Casimirski standing in the light.
He swayed a little bit as he stood and said, “Tammy, who’s your friend? Oh, I know you. You’re the ensign that’s hard of hearing.”
Tammy said, “Stop it Cas. Kelly is my friend.”
“It’s all right Tammy, the ensign and I have met.”
“Yes, we’ve met. What can I do for you, Lieutenant?
“You can leave.”
“Why would I want to do that, Lieutenant?”
“Because you are messing around with something I have a prior claim on.”
Tammy flew out of her chair. “A prior claim! What are you talking about, Cas? I have never given you the slightest bit of encouragement. If you keep this up, I am going to the Detachment Commander and reporting you for harassment.”
Cas recoiled from her anger, backed up, and found LT Drew standing there in his path. Drew grabbed Cas by both arms and said, “Mister, you are upsetting this lady and insulting a friend of mine. I think you’ve had a bit too much to drink. We’re going to help you to a shuttle and send you to your quarters.”
“You can’t do this to me. I’ve got just as much right to be here as you.”
Ten gator lieutenants came and stood around LT Casimirski.
LT Drew said, “We’re not as impressed by your rank as these ensigns might be. Now, you don’t want to argue with all of us. You probably don’t even want to argue with me.”
Drew picked up LT Casimirski by the arms and frog marched him out of the club. The party resumed. Kelly and Tammy sat back down and finished their beers.
“So, Kelly, what have you planned for tomorrow? You do get tomorrow off, don’t you?”
“I don’t have any plans. Are you going to suggest something?”
“There is a pretty good sized lake to the west of here. I was going to rent a skimmer and go out to one of the islands and bake in the sun, splash around, have a picnic. Are you interested?
“Sure, that sounds like fun. Who else will be going along?”
“Just us.” She said with a beguiling smile on her face.
“With such pleasant company, how can I refuse?”
“We’ll leave from the Q at 0800. Just bring yourself and some sunscreen. If they didn’t explain the orbital dynamics of Armstrong, I should fill you in. Armstrong doesn’t wobble on its axis like Earth. There are no changing seasons here. The angle of the planet to the sun is constant. Here in the northern hemisphere it is always Summer. There is no northern polar icecap. In the south it’s always springlike. The sun can burn you pretty quickly here if you don’t use a strong screen. It's especially bad for folks coming off a long patrol. They go from pasty white to cherry red in a fraction of an afternoon.”
She tipped her bottle back and said, “I think it’s your turn to buy the beer.”
Kelly ordered another round, they spent the rest of the night talking and drinking. Periodically, one of the gators would buy a round for the house. As things wound down in the bar, she suggested they should go back to the Q and turn in. 0800 would come awfully early.
They shared a shuttle back to the Q. Tammy lay back in Kelly’s arms. She looked up at him, gave him a slow
