'No. I haven't heard back from her, yet.'
'Hmmm.' Jen lounged backward and rubbed her eyes. 'Talk about dealing with the devil.'
'Jen, Captain Herdez is a very tough officer, but she respects you as an officer. You know that.' Jen made a noncommittal sound, frowning toward one corner of the room. 'I believe she'll do her best. Unfortunately, she's not very political.'
'I'll give you that. Herdez worked us to death but she never played political games.' Jen shook her head. 'Four years. It's like I'm seeing you being sent to prison, with no visiting privileges.'
'I'm not there, yet.'
'No.' She took a deep breath, her face hardening. 'Excuse me. I need to make a phone call. In private. Can we meet somewhere? Fogarty's. I'll come there when I'm done.'
Paul nodded, knowing that she meant to call her father. Paul had been present during earlier blow ups between Jen and her father and hadn't enjoyed the experiences, so he had no objection at all to taking a hike this time. 'I'll be there. Jen, don't burn any bridges.'
'I-' She glared at him. 'Thank you. Go away.'
'Yes, ma'am. Right away, ma'am.'
Fogarty's hadn't changed, but then Fogarty's never changed. The bar that tried its best to mimic an old neighborhood pub somehow magically transported amid the metal and carbon fiber composites of Franklin Naval Station also tried its best to avoid redecorating so that crews returning from long cruises in space would find a familiar place to celebrate their return and drown accumulated sorrows.
Paul chose a small table and sat nursing a drink, imagining the conversation going on between Jen and her father, and more than a little relieved that he wasn't listening in personally.
'Hey, Sinclair! Aren't you the guy who used to have a career?'
Paul looked up, frowning at a short, heavy-set officer standing at the bar. The crowd around the short officer laughed, hoisting drinks in mock-salute toward Paul. He knew the man, knew him well enough not to want to talk to him, so he pretended to ignore him
But the short officer sauntered over to Paul. 'So, what's it like?'
Paul controlled his voice, trying to keep it even and calm. 'What's what like, Kramer?'
Kramer grinned. 'That sucking feeling as your career goes down the flush. Anything like a catastrophic reentry?'
'I wouldn't know. I've never had one. How many catastrophic reentries have you had?'
Kramer's audience chuckled a bit at Paul's reply. Kramer himself kept his wide smile, though his eyes hardened. 'None like yours, pal. Come on! Tell us how it feels!'
Paul just gazed back at Kramer, trying to keep his expression totally bland, as if nothing the other officer was saying mattered. 'Go away. I'm not interested in talking to you.'
'Aw, you're gonna hurt my feelings. What're you gonna do next? Everybody knows you're gonna screw up again.'
Paul smiled humorlessly. 'I won't bother telling you what everyone knows about you.'
Kramer stopped smiling. 'You'd better hope we're never on the same ship.'
'I've been hoping that since the first minute I met you at the Academy.'
The audience laughed a bit again and Kramer curled his lip. 'I hear that girl of yours has finally left the Maury. They get tired of trying to keep her from getting anywhere near the engineering plant again?'
Paul's left hand, safely under the table, clenched into a fist and made an abortive jerk upward, but Paul managed to kill the urge to slug Kramer before the move was visible. Before he could say anything, one of the other officers with Kramer stepped forward and pulled on Kramer's arm. 'Hey, that's enough. Not funny.'
'It's true!' Kramer insisted. 'Would any of you want her on your ship?'
An uncomfortable silence fell, while Paul sought for something he could say that wouldn't sound like he was defending Jen against something she never should've been accused of doing.
Finally, one of the officers with Kramer poked her finger at him. 'Yeah. I would.'
'Me, too,' another muttered defiantly.
The officer who'd poked Kramer turned to Paul. 'Sorry. He's a jerk.' Kramer reddened.
Paul nodded, letting his gratitude show. 'I know. Thanks.'
Kramer raised his arm and started to speak but two of his comrades started guiding him out of the bar. The officer speaking to Paul shrugged helplessly. 'Yeah. I had a friend on the Maury.' Paul stiffened again. 'I followed the court-martial real close, so I know what happened. Most people don't. They just remember the news of your girl being charged and stuff. Sorry,' she repeated.
Paul rose and reached to shake her hand. 'No. You don't have anything to be sorry about. Thanks. I mean that.'
'S'okay.' The officer followed her friends out of the bar, leaving Paul alone again. Very alone.
His data pad chirped, announcing an incoming call. 'Captain Herdez? Ma'am, I need your help…'
Jen came in half an hour later, her face still flushed. 'My father claims to be utterly shocked, shocked that I would think he had anything to do with this. Naturally, he says there's not a thing that can be done and he really thinks you should be happy at the opportunity to serve in such a cutting edge assignment.'
'Happy. That's one emotion that hasn't come up yet.' Paul hesitated. 'I just talked with Herdez. Turns out she got my message earlier and has been discreetly checking out options.'
'Huh.' Jen took a big drink from Paul's glass. 'Do you mind?' she asked as she sat it down again.
'No, dear. Of course not.'
'Very funny. So what'd Herdez say?'
'It's hopeless.' Paul held up a hand to keep Jen from exploding again. 'She didn't put it quite that bluntly, but that's what it comes down to. The orders are set in stone and nobody with the power to change them is going to change them.' He paused, knowing Jen wouldn't like the rest. 'But there is one possible option.'
Jen gave him a suspicious look. 'What?'
'You know Herdez is going to command of a newly commissioned ship after her current tour is up. They always let captains of newly commissioned ships get their pick of any officers they want-'
'No!' Jen slammed her palm onto the table, drawing looks from others in Fogarty's. 'Back to ship duty?'
'Jen. She can get me off Mars after only two years. She's sure of it. She can slip the orders in without anybody noticing. Yeah, it'll mean coming back here to another ship, but I'll be coming back here.'
Jen hid her face in her hands. 'Two years gone and then back here on ship duty where I may see you four months out of the year if I'm lucky.'
'That's worst case, Jen. New ships need a lot of break-in. It should be spending a lot of time around Franklin.'
'I hate this option, Paul Sinclair.' She reached over and finished his drink. 'But I hate the alternatives even worse. God! You're selling your soul to Herdez! And I'm agreeing to it! I'm letting that woman who hates me Shanghai my husband for her ship!'
'She doesn't hate you.'
'I notice you're not disagreeing with the rest of what I said.'
Paul ordered more drinks. Did I ever think I'd get to a point where two years of hell on Mars followed by two more years of hell on a ship commanded by Herdez was the best option available to me?
The next morning, Commander Moraine gave another little speech. She kept fumbling with her data pad and several other items as she spoke, and Paul found himself paying more attention to that than to her words. Then Moraine singled out Paul. 'I need to see all of your training records.'
'Yes, ma'am.'
'I want them on file to me, with a dynamic link to any updates.'
'Ma'am?' Paul tried not let his disbelief show. Was Moraine actually planning on constantly checking the progress of his division's training?
'You heard me. The same applies to you two,' she ordered Taylor and Denaldo. 'Maintenance records, too. For all equipment. I want continuous updates.'
Taylor held out her data pad. 'Maybe you just oughta take this, ma'am.'
Moraine glared at Taylor. 'You do your jobs right and there won't be any problems.'
