15
It was never really as bad after being shown up by the karnan as Rev had feared. Sure, he had to endure ribbing—a lot of ribbing—but for the most part, it seemed good-natured. A significant number of people even gave him props for trying. And if Kvat and the other MDS troopers seemed to lord it over him, well, Rev could live with that.
And plan a revenge. He didn’t know what it would be yet, but he could take his time and make it good.
It wasn’t as if he had a lot of free time to work on something. Second Battalion was one of the first to get companies slated for a shipboard deployment, and the workups were non-stop.
There was pressure from some quarters not to deploy at all. They were the Home Guard, after all, there to protect Mother Earth and the home system. But with the war over, the Counsel General himself had his fingers in the pie. With most of humanity united, he didn’t want to see it splinter into the squabbling factions that had plagued humankind for centuries, not to mention outright war breaking out.
So, the Home Guard was going to show the flag of a united humanity, and if the opportunity presented itself, it would slap the hands of whoever was breaking the peace. And that meant that in three short weeks the battalion’s companies would be embarked upon various ships for a six-month pump.
One of their main missions would be to show the flag. Consequently, there were four port calls scheduled, which had the troopers pretty hyped. Unless you were rich, it was rare for the average citizen to visit much of humanity. Rev had been on seven different worlds, not including Enceladus and Titan, but fighting Centaurs was not quite the same as being a tourist. And for him, Barclay would be the highlight. The ship would represent the CoH at the planet’s landing day celebration, and if Sergeant Crocker in Second Platoon could be believed, his home planet knew how to party.
“OK, we’re up,” Sergeant First Class Gamay said, snapping Rev out of his thoughts and back to the present. “Let’s see if we can’t beat Third’s time.”
Rev stood and moved to the starting line. They may be scheduled to embark, but there was a lot of training left to do. Showing the flag was only one mission—the easiest mission. The fact remained that they were still a combat unit, so they had to be ready for any number of contingencies.
The obstacle course they faced now, set up in 1.5 Earth Normal, might not have much practical training, but it would help with forging teamwork. And, of course, Gamay had paired him with Kvat.
“You ready?” he asked the karnan.
“Born ready, oner.”
Rev rolled his eyes, but he knew the MDS trooper was going to do his best. It wasn’t just the squad leader who wanted to beat Third Squad’s time.
“Are you ready?” the course NCOIC asked.
“Hoey-hoey!” everyone shouted, the Home Guard equivalent of “ooh-rah.”
“On your marks . . . get set . . . go!”
* * *
“Finally, I got you,” Rev said.
“Oh, yeah, sorry, Rev. It’s just been crazy here lately. I’ve got my new job, you know, and I’m still learning. Putting in the extra time,” Malaika said.
“How is that, anyway? Going good?”
“Yeah. I like it. I get done every afternoon in time to go to play volleyball.”
Which didn’t jibe with what she had just said about putting in extra time, but Rev ignored that.
“Volleyball? I didn’t know you played.”
“I didn’t. Ten got me into it.”
“Ten? How is she?” Rev asked, perking up.
“She’s doing fine. Still in the regen chamber. I try and see her a couple of times a week, you know, for moral support. She hooked me up with one of the amateur teams, and I’m learning the game.
Ten had been a volleyball player before she’d been conscripted. Rev thought it must kill her to be stuck in a regen chamber for two or more years, so evidently, she was getting a vicarious fix with pushing Malaika into the sport.
It was good to hear that Ten was doing well and that Malaika was doing all she could for her. He knew the two had hit it off when they first met, but taking this much effort to help her was above and beyond. He should try and give Ten a call for a chat, but it was hard enough to find time to call his family and now Malaika.
Malaika was supposed to call him from the USO, but she’d told him that with her job, it was hard to get all the way to the USO, so he’d agreed to call her on her personal line. It wasn’t as if he was short on funds, after all, and at the Fort Nkomo USO, there were discounted outbound calls.
But she’d missed the last two scheduled calls. He’d expected her to miss this one, too, but she’d picked up on the second ring.
“Heard from anyone else? Bundy? Yancey? Tomiko?”
“Them? No. I don’t get together much with those who’re still in, and they were more your friends. Only Ten from your posse, as you called it. You didn’t know Lacey Moran, right?”
“No.”
“She was with Orpho and me in Alpha. Anyway, she’s already got a baby.”
Rev frowned and did the math in his head. “When did she get out?”
“Same as me,” Malaika said, the glee evident in her voice.
“But—”
“Yeah. The implant failed.”
All female Marines had been given anti-pregnancy implants for the duration of the war. All males had been given sperm blockers. So, if this Moran woman had gotten out only three months before, something had gone really, really wrong.
“Everybody’s talking about it. Some say she should sue the Corps, you know for messing that up.”
Rev wasn’t too sure that was a viable option, but Malaika was obviously into the story, so he just held his tongue. As he continued to hold his tongue for the next thirteen minutes as Malaika went down a list of gossip, most of which didn’t interest him in the least. Maybe he’d feel different if he’d gotten out, but as a Marine, they really didn’t seem like they were important at all. And that made him feel a little disjointed.
Am I that out of touch with civilian life?
As she went on, Rev wondered if she’d always been so interested in what others were saying or doing. He had to think back. Malaika was a fun, strong woman, and that was what had attracted him to her. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that she’d always been somewhat of a gossip. He just hadn’t noticed it before, too caught up as he was in her other qualities. Maybe he only now noticed it because the first blush of the rose was fading.
Not a particularly good look on you, Reverent, letting hormones cloud the picture.
He tried to be a better friend and pay more attention to what she was saying, but at eighteen minutes into the call, he had to interrupt her. “Hey, I’ve only got two more minutes before the next trooper has the line. I needed to tell you that I may be hard to reach for the next six months.”
Malaika was silent for a full fifteen seconds before she asked in a subdued voice, “Why?”
“We’re deploying. Part of the CoH’s show the flag initiative. I’m sure you’ve seen it in the news.”
Normally, military movements were classified. But for this, the command had encouraged them to spread the word as a means to drum up support. There had been quite a bit of news coverage, at least here in the home system. He had to think that the New Hope news covered it as well.
“I don’t remember it. So, you won’t be in the home system?”
Rev could swear she sounded disappointed, and he didn’t understand why.
“Yeah. I’ll be all over. Is there something wrong?”
“No. Of course not. I just like knowing where you are.”
Which was a weird statement, as far as Rev was concerned. He wasn’t on New Hope, so why should it matter if he was on Enceladus or a Mezame ship?
“I don’t know yet what the comms are like on the ship, but I’ll try and touch base when I hit a planet. And I can always send messages and cam clips.”
“I guess so.”
Uh . . . it’s not like I have a choice, Mala.
“Anyway, I’m on the thirty-second countdown. So, I’ve got to go. You take care, you hear?”
“Yeah, you too, Rev.”
“Miss you.”
“Me, too.”
Rev cut the connection with ten seconds left. He sat there for a moment, not quite understanding the scope of the call. Most of it had been him listening to gossip that didn’t concern nor interest him at all. Even when he made the attempt to be better at listening to her, it had been a little bit of a slog.
<Should I set a reminder for next week?>
Rev got up so the next trooper could take the line.
“Nah. I told her I might not be able to call much, and since we’ll be embarking the next day, it will probably be pretty hectic the entire day.”
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