Tango
By Kerry McCommon
Part 3
Sometime in the early morning hours Kay Lazarus woke up. Once again she was pinned like a butterfly in a bug collection. Carter Laughlin’s leg was thrown over her own, her arm wrapped firmly around her waist, her head nestled on her shoulder. She lay in the dark of her quarters in the Tango, listening to her lover’s soft even breathing. She hadn’t meant to get this involved, this quickly, but she had no regrets. Nothing in her life experience compared to the last three days. She had gone from a loner who liked it that way to someone who was suddenly floundering and wondering how to reconcile these wild, wonderful feelings with the rest of her life. She sighed and attempted to extricate herself without waking Carter. She failed.
Carter opened her eyes and looked sleepily at Kay. "What time is it?" she asked.
"About 0400 hours, I think," she replied quietly.
"We just went to sleep. Why are you awake already?" Carter rolled over and sat up. Kay put her hand on Carter’s bare back and rubbed in circles.
"I don’t know. Something woke me up," Kay told her.
Carter was instantly more alert. "Maybe I’d better check in. I wonder if something has happened." She hopped out of the bunk and pulled on her coverall. "I’m going to use your terminal, okay?" She padded barefoot onto the bridge of the Tango and accessed her messages. There was only one but it was from Captain DeForest.
"All senior officers to the bridge immediately. We are under red alert," his image was calm but serious. Carter checked the time on the message and was relieved to discover it was only minutes old. Kay was watching over Carter’s shoulder and looked at her with concern.
"I’ve got to run. I’ve got to get to my quarters and change into my uniform. Please stay somewhere so I can get in touch with you," Carter turned to face Kay and her expression softened. "Last night was so wonderful."
"Yes, it was," Kay kissed her lightly. "You’d better go. Call me when you can." Carter nodded, grabbed her boots and ran out the door.
*
Carter appeared on the bridge a minute before XO Warren who glanced at her when she arrived and swept by to speak with the Captain. Carter was briefly relieved but soon caught up in the business of her job and had no more time to worry about her XO. An Ultharian battlestar had been detected only a couple of hours away and heading in their direction.
"We’re sure it’s just the one ship?" DeForest asked Carter.
Carter checked the scanner again. "Yes sir. That’s all I’m reading. I’m just now picking up the track of their warp drive from the probe that spotted them. I’ll get the analysis and feed it in. I’ll be sure in about a minute." She watched the data stream in and compared it to the information they already had. She walked over to where the captain was talking to the XO. "There’s just the one ship, sir," she reported.
"Are you sure?" Warren snapped at her.
Captain DeForest looked a little surprised. Carter maintained a neutral tone as she looked at her XO. "Yes ma’am. I’d bet my life on it."
"You’re betting all our lives on it, Lieutenant," she responded coldly. "Return to your station."
"Yes ma’am," Carter replied blandly, not failing to notice the shrewd look Captain DeForest was giving both of them.
*
After her usual obsessiveness about checking and rechecking the Tango, making sure she was ready to depart on a moment’s notice, Kay Lazarus was a third of the way back to her quarters in the station when she saw John Lyra. He was walking rapidly in the opposite direction with a younger man who seemed familiar to her. "Lazarus," John called to her. "Walk with us for a minute."
Kay turned and fell in step with the men. "You remember Ian Dunworthy, don’t you?" John asked gesturing toward the younger man.
Kay put a name on the familiar face. "Yes I do," she said. "Although you’ve changed in the last few years. I didn’t recognize you at first, Dunworthy. You were just a kid last time I saw you."
"It’s been a while, Major. I’m the leader of the fighter squadron now," he told her. "In fact, we’re flying out in few minutes, but I was hoping for a chance to talk to you while you’re on the station. I want to pick your brain about a few things. You’ll be around a while, won’t you?"
Kay smiled at him, awash in conflicting feelings. "Yes, I think so. I’ll talk to you when you have more time." Johnny peered over at her. Just last night she hadn’t known whether she was staying or not. Of course, she was temporarily trapped here like everyone until the immediate danger was over. Whatever the reason, and he had his suspicions, he was glad she was here. They walked into the ready room where the pilots were pulling on their flight gear and boarding their fighters. The room came to a hush as the older fighters recognized Lazarus. Then it erupted. "Well, I’ll be damned!" "Welcome back, Major." "You remember hearing about Lazarus," this to a younger pilot she didn’t recognize.
"Hello everyone," she spoke quietly. "It’s nice to see you all."
Dunworthy cut in. "Everybody ready? We’re flying a double 3-2-1, North to South and East to West. I’ve got A team, Nkwanda, you’ll lead B team. Everyone know their position?" A couple of the younger pilots looked nervous, Kay noticed. Probably their first real combat mission, she thought. Simulations weren’t quite the same thing as having an enemy actually trying to obliterate you. She glanced over to see Captain DeForest walking in.
"I want to wish you luck. They’re closing in quickly, so get going and do us proud," DeForest clapped a young woman on the shoulder as they all turned and headed to their fighters.
"Bridge to Captain," XO Warren’s disembodied voice came through his communicator. "They’re coming in. They’re on us."
At that moment, there was a loud whump and the floor shook beneath them. Before anyone could even react, there was another whump, followed immediately by a blinding flash of light as the ready room was hit by a firestorm.
*
Carter stared at the screen unbelieving. "Ma’am, they’ve picked up speed. They’re closing in."
Warren hit her comm button. "Bridge to Captain. They’re coming in. They’re on us." She spun around. "Battlestations everyone. Brace yourselves. Shields at full strength. Get ready to return fire.
Lieutenant, try hailing…" She broke off as the first volley rocked the station.
"Shields are holding," reported one of the bridge engineers, just as the station was hit by the second round of proton fire. "Damage to the third deck, section three. Looks like the fighter bays. We’ve got it sealed. We’re getting reports of injuries and fire."
"Send all available emergency personnel to that section. Did the fighters get out?"
Carter looked out into space through the large viewscreen. She didn’t see any of their fighters and knew they were all in trouble. Thank the gods Kay isn’t in that section, she thought, as she turned back to her task.
*
Kay felt the blast before it hit her and knocked her back against the wall. She slid to the floor, momentarily stunned, but then as her senses returned she took a quick personal inventory. Her head hurt from the impact with the wall, but she was thinking clearly and didn’t think she had a concussion. Her arms and legs were intact and moving. Good enough. She got to her feet and began looking around for the others. She spotted Captain DeForest struggling up from the floor and pulled him up to his feet. It was chaos. Sirens were blaring and firefighting foam was being blown out by bots, while other bots were sealing breaches and picking up debris. Medical personnel were entering, along with armed security forces in case of an invasion.
"Are you all right?" she hollered at DeForest over the din. He nodded. He pointed in one direction, and then at her. "Okay," she said. "I’ll go see what I can do." She had seen battles before, but they had always been in space from the ship that was doing the firing. This was a mess. The young woman DeForest had clapped on the shoulder was dead, her neck twisted in an unnatural position. Kay left her and moved on to the next body. A groaning man whose face been badly burned by the blast sat rocking. She squatted next to him and said, "I’m here with you. You’ll be okay. Help is on the way." She waved at a medic who hurried over. Thank the gods burn victims were usually grafted back together quickly from the biobank, and not forced to suffer like in the past. Even his eyes were replaceable if necessary. He’d never be a pilot again, but he’d be alive and whole.
Kay let the medic take over and moved to the next victim. It was Ian Dunworthy. He was dead. She didn’t need to look any further to know that. Her stomach did a flip and she quickly suppressed the urge to get sick. As the smoke cleared, she looked around the room and saw that at least a dozen were dead or seriously wounded, still more standing or sitting in shock. A few were moving around helping. Her anger honed to a keen edge.
"Okay, listen up!" she shouted. "Listen!" Heads turned towards her. "Those who can, help those who are hurt first. Let’s clear the room as quickly as possible. We have wounded to take care of and then the rest of us have a battle to fight. I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to let them get away with this."
The pilots, still reeling, didn’t move for a few seconds and then her words and attitude seemed to get through. The ones left unharmed began moving purposefully. DeForest picked his way through the wreckage to where Lazarus was standing.
"I can’t let a civilian take a fighter out. You know that," he said in a low voice.
"Then consider me militia. I’ll take the Tango," she said, daring him to contradict her.
"You’ll get killed in a cargo ship, even one rigged like her. She’s not made for this kind of close fighting," he said. "I can’t allow it." She stared at him. "Take a fighter," he decided. "If there are consequences, I’ll take the blame. But don’t get killed, damn it."
"Not on your watch, huh?" she asked.
"It’s always my watch," he said grimly, looking around the wreckage of the room.
*
A few minutes later Captain DeForest strode back onto the bridge as the hatches opened and the first of the flyers shot out. The station had taken a couple of more hits, but none as deadly as the one that hit the ready room. "Status?" he inquired as he entered.
"Shields are holding. We have injuries on three decks, minor hull damage, the only breach in third deck, section three, which has been contained. We have returned fire, but only done minimal damage. They have not, needless to say, answered our hails," Warren appraised him of the current situation. "Was the damage to the fighters bad?" Everyone on the bridge looked at him for his answer.
"Bad enough," he told them. No point in hiding the news. "We’ve lost eight pilots. Six more are injured but will probably recover. Two fighters were damaged and we lost the squadron leader." The bridge fell silent as the full weight of the information seeped in. "But we’ve still got a battle to fight," he said, nodding at the viewscreen. The remaining fighters were getting in wing formation.
" Who’s leading if we lost Dunworthy?" Warren asked.
DeForest hesitated, knowing the XO would not be happy. "Major Lazarus," he said, biting the bullet. Warren stared at him.
"But she’s a civilian," she objected, attempting to fight back her fury.
"We’re in trouble, Joan. I had to make a decision and I made it," he cut her off, his expression stopping any
protest she may have made. For the moment anyway, he thought.
Neither of them noticed the look of total shock on Lieutenant Carter Laughlin’s face as she watched the fighters race off after the Ultharian battlestar.
*
Carter, as the senior communications officer, was the person responsible for maintaining contact with the fighters while they were away from the station. This was not her first experience as a communications officer in a war situation, but it was her first with her lover as the squadron leader.
"Zebra to squadron leader. Report," she sent the message out into space. There was a hesitation, so she repeated, "Report, squadron leader." Come on Kay. Let me hear you.
"Squadron leader to Zebra. We are in pursuit," Lazarus’s voice came through.
"Acknowledged." Carter looked at DeForest. "Orders, sir?"
"She knows what to do," he replied. "Just tell her to stay in contact."
"Yes sir." Carter turned back to the screen. "Captain requests that you stay in contact, squadron leader." And so do I, was the unspoken addition.
Which Lazarus heard. "Acknowledged, Zebra. We’re closing in and flanking." The battlestar was large and not very maneuverable, but its destructive powers were legendary. "Captain, I’m sending the others out to distract them from me. I’m going to attempt to fire a shot in their primary warp core." This was an incredibly dangerous maneuver. If she could get into position, she was in an extremely vulnerable place, and if she got the shot off exactly right, then the warp core could blow and destroy everything in its path, including her. Kay Lazarus announced this plan as casually as if she had said she was going for a walk on the concourse.
"That’s too dangerous, Lazarus. Try targeting their weapons array instead. Let’s just cripple them and send them home," DeForest leaned over Carter at the comm center. "Lazarus? Lazarus, damn it. Acknowledge." There was silence from the fighter. Come on Kay. Answer us, thought Carter. The silence continued.
After what seemed like hours to Carter, but was actually only minutes, a whoop came through the comm center. A voice DeForest recognized as Nkwanda Johnson’s said excitedly, "She did it. She blew their warp core. They’re dead in the water."
Carter took back her place at the comm center. "Squadron leader, respond." She waited a moment. "Kay, are you there?" Oblivious to the looks of surprise from the rest of the bridge, she heaved a huge sigh of relief when her lover’s voice came back.
"Yes Carter, I’m here. We’ve put them out of commission Captain. Now would be a good time to send a nuclear missile their way. We’re on our way home."
"Mark and fire when all fighters are safely back," DeForest nodded to the weapons engineer. The CO grinned broadly looking at the viewscreen, counting the fighters as they came back into view. He rested his hand on the shoulder of Carter who was struggling to maintain her composure as she watched Kay Lazarus leading the fighters safely home.
*
Lazarus was a little disappointed not to find Carter Laughlin among the crowds of admiring people who came to greet the returning heroes, and then chided herself for expecting anything. Carter was still on duty, no doubt. Captain DeForest did show up however, as they were putting the ships to bed. "I gave you an order you deliberately disobeyed, Lazarus," he spoke privately.
"Yes sir. I was wrong," she replied, knowing full well that she would do it again.
He stared at her. He laughed. "Forget it. I lost my head and forgot who I was talking to for a moment. You did a great job out there. All of you," he amplified his voice to include the rest of the pilots. "I’m proud of how well you came together after the tragedy earlier this morning. I know it was difficult for you." He looked around the room allowing his emotions to show. "We’re all proud of you." He threw them a light salute and left the room. A silence followed his departure as the pilots got back to the business of stowing away and checking their ships for damage.
Lazarus completed her work and walked alone back to her rented quarters near the concourse. She submitted to the retinal scan that allowed her to enter her room, pulled her boots off and fell instantly and deeply asleep. When she awoke, it was night. She glanced at the chronometer and was surprised to learn she had slept for eight hours. She got up and got a cup of coffee from the replicator, stripped off her clothes and took a long shower. She was toweling her hair dry when she heard a knock on the door. Pulling on her robe she said, "Open," wondering where Carter had been.
The door whooshed open to Joan Warren who didn’t move. Kay Lazarus froze for a moment while the situation registered. She grinned at Joan Warren, but it was not a pleasant look. "Hello Joan," she said.
"What are doing here?" Joan Warren stepped partway into the room although not enough to allow the door to close. "Why have you come back?"
"I know this is hard for you to believe Joan, but it has nothing to do with you," Lazarus bit off the words. "And I don’t believe I owe you an explanation of what I do or why."
"You’ve never believed you owed anybody anything, Lazarus," Warren snapped.
"No, just you, Joan. I owe a lot to a lot of people, but you aren’t one of them," Lazarus replied. She saw Carter walk cautiously to the door behind Joan Warren.
"You had your fun today Lazarus, but the show’s over. I want you out of here now," Warren hissed. She suddenly noticed that Carter was standing there. She stared at Carter. "And leave my officers alone. I won’t allow you to corrupt them." She spun on her heel and stalked off.
Carter looked sympathetically at Kay who was struggling to control her anger. Carter walked the rest of the way in so the door closed behind her. She tentatively put her arms around Kay and felt her relax at the gentle touch. "It’s okay," Carter whispered. "You can corrupt me if you want to. I’d probably like it."
Kay laughed and held her tighter.
They held each other for a long time before Carter pulled back enough to look up into Kay’s eyes. "So what’s her problem with you, Kay?"
Kay held on a moment longer then walked over and picked up her coffee cup. Carter, recognizing a delaying tactic when she saw one, remained silent. Kay turned back to face Carter and said, "When I was first stationed here, Joan Warren was my immediate superior." Kay paused, obviously uncomfortable telling the story. "She was attracted to me. She made no secret of it and it was flattering in a way. She wasn’t really someone that I…well, I allowed myself to be attracted to her attraction, if you know what I mean. One night we went out and had a few drinks and one thing led to another. We ended up sleeping together." Kay glanced at Carter to gauge her reaction, but Carter remained impassive. Gathering her courage she continued. "It just didn’t do anything for me. I told her I didn’t want to be involved with her like that, that I liked working with her but that was all I wanted from her. She went kind of crazy. She started sending me letters and gifts. She wouldn’t leave me alone and other people were noticing. I finally had to tell her in no uncertain terms that I just didn’t want her as my lover."
"She took it badly, huh?" Carter asked, vaguely sympathizing with her XO.
"Worse than bad," Kay replied. "She started sending me out on really dangerous, pointless missions. She would insult me and criticize me in front of the other pilots. Then she started talking bad about me to the CO. He called me in and told me to be more respectful to her, but I think he realized something was left out of the story she was telling."
"Why didn’t you tell him what happened? She was your superior. You wouldn’t have gotten in trouble," Carter asked.
"It was a personal matter," Kay said proudly. "I thought I could handle it without dragging all the sordid details into it. And anyway, she was up for a promotion at the time and I thought once she was promoted the whole thing would blow over. She did get promoted and I was booted up to squadron leader. She fought that too, but DeForest stood by me. She was still my immediate superior but she didn’t have as much time to make my life miserable anymore."
Kay stopped talking. Carter said, "And then the whole thing happened with the Ultharian attack?"
But Kay had reached the end of her ability to talk about it. She just nodded.
"Are you okay?" Carter took her hand.
"I’m fine," Kay assured her. She hastened to change the subject. "I missed you. When I woke up I realized I’d been asleep for hours."
Carter let her off the hook for now. "Yes, you had," she replied. "This is the fourth time I’ve been by to check on you. I knocked, but you didn’t wake up. I had the station computer look for you to make sure you were here." She reached down and tugged gently on the belt of the robe Kay was wearing. "I like this. Whatcha got on underneath it?"
Kay smiled and her eyes took on a smoky quality. "Come here. I’ll show you." She untied the belt.
*
"So tell me everything again," Carter said later, as they snuggled together in bed.
"How many ways can I tell it, sweetheart?" Kay was amused by Carter’s insistence on knowing every detail of the battle. "We caught up to them, the other fighters flanked them to distract them from me, I cut up from underneath and behind them and as soon as I fired the shot at their reactor, I veered straight up out of their path so the fallout wouldn’t catch me."
"So how come you make it sound so easy if the Captain thinks it’s so dangerous?" Carter inquired. "No, don’t laugh. It’s not funny. I need to know if I’m getting…um, involved with a reckless nut or a tactical genius."
"Probably a bit of both, though I’d prefer to think genius," Kay smiled at her. "The mistake that most people make when they try to shoot at a reactor is to wait and see if the shot reaches its target. If you see that it did, you’re dead. You’ve waited too long to cut and run. You have to have a feel for these things. It is risky. He’s right. But it was the right thing to do today in that situation."
Carter looked down and didn’t reply.
"What?" said Kay.
"I thought…today when you were out there…I was afraid you were going to get hurt," Carter blurted out. Tears welled in her eyes, much to Kay’s dismay. "I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you. I know we haven’t known each other that long, but everything has changed for me."
Kay listened, stroking her hair, slightly rocking as she held her. Carter’s tears slowed. Finally Kay said, "I know. Everything has changed. I don’t know what to do about it."
Carter peered up at her. "What do you mean?"
Kay wiped the tears off Carter’s face as she gazed at her. "I don’t know what to do about the fact that you live and work here, and I don’t. I don’t know what to do about the fact that I’m hauling cargo in deep space eleven months out of the year. I don’t know how to reconcile what I want, and what I hope you want, with the realities of our lives."
Carter listened to the words that were both said and unsaid. "We’ll work it out. Something will come up." She wrapped her arms around Kay. "Thank you."
"For what?" Kay asked.
"For talking about it. Sometimes it takes more courage to say how you feel than it does to fight a battle." Carter shrewdly hit the nail on the head.
"Yes, I suppose sometimes it does," Kay stroked Carter’s soft hair.
*
Early the next morning, Kay awoke to the sensation of a mouth on her breast sending jolts of pleasure directly between her legs. "How long have you been awake?" she groaned.
"Long enough," Carter mumbled. She looked up at Kay’s face. Her eyes had narrowed with lust, her rumpled hair fell with abandon onto the pillow around her. "By God, you’re beautiful," Carter breathed.
Kay watched Carter with pure desire written on her face. Carter’s pulse quickened as her hands roamed the body of the woman she loved. She moved without hurry as she pushed aside the blanket and explored and kissed and caressed every inch of Kay Lazarus. Kay became more and more impatient as Carter took her time, until she heard a very sweet "Please," coming from her lover. She smiled at the thought of this gorgeous warrior begging for her touch and gave Kay exactly what she asked for.
*
"Want some more coffee?" Carter asked Kay, kissing her on top of her head as she walked to the replicator.
"I think I’ve had enough stimulation for this morning, thanks," Kay replied with deeply satisfied sigh. Carter smiled a little smugly and helped herself to another cup.
Settling at the small table across from Kay, Carter became more serious. "What are you going to do about Joan Warren?"
"Nothing," Kay replied. "Unless she forces the issue with me, or gives you trouble. She’s not my superior officer anymore. She can’t make me leave the station just because she doesn’t like me. I’m allowed a certain amount of time to make my ship space ready and she can’t change the regs just for me."
At Kay’s opinion that the XO may give her trouble, Carter frowned. "Wouldn’t it be better to go ahead and confront the situation? Maybe if you sat down and talked to her you could come to an understanding of sorts." Seeing the look on Kay’s face she amended, "Or not."
"You don’t know her like I do," Kay said. "She’s a whacko."
"Maybe she’s changed…"
"No. You saw her in here, Carter. She was furious at me for just being here. I’m a serious threat to her for some perverted reason in her brain."
"Maybe she’ll leave you alone now that she has me to harass," Carter joked, but with a slightly worried cast. "I didn’t tell you that we had words on the bridge yesterday in front of the entire senior staff."
One elegant eyebrow lifted as a dangerous expression crept onto Kay’s face. "About?"
"About whom I spend my off time with," Carter informed her. "I told her it was none of her business."
"Be careful, Carter. She’s more dangerous than you may realize," Kay said with practiced control. "I underestimated her a few years ago, but it won’t happen again." She managed a tight smile for her lover, knowing full well that if Joan Warren harmed a hair on this sweet woman’s head, she would be in for the fight of her life.
"I will. Speaking of senior staff, I have a meeting in an hour. I have to get ready to go," Carter told her reluctantly. "I miss you already."
"Call me when you have a break and I’ll meet you," Kay told her. "And I’m going to try and meet with DeForest today. I have an idea."
*
"I think we can reasonably expect retaliation," Captain DeForest announced at the senior staff meeting. "I don’t know how long it will take for Ulthar to respond to the destruction of their battlestar, but I imagine it will happen pretty quickly. We are in a bad spot here. We lost a significant amount of our pilots in the attack yesterday. We lost two fighters and had some damage done to several others. Hopefully they will be repaired by the time we need them. I’ve sent a message to the Federation asking for pilots, but the response I got was less than I hoped for. Every station and colony is preparing for the worst and are reluctant to spare anyone."
"So we’re sitting ducks?" asked the weapons engineer.
"Not exactly," DeForest responded. "We’re not going to be taken by surprise again and that’s something. I think if we’re prepared, we can reasonably expect to defend ourselves." The rest of the staff looked doubtfully back at him. "I’m open for suggestions," he snapped.
"I think we should evacuate all civilians and nonessential personnel," said Joan Warren. "If we can send them to the nearest colony that would be one less headache."
"That’s a possibility," DeForest responded. "What do you think, John?"
The warrant officer nodded. "I think it’s a good idea if we get started right away. The Ultharians aren’t going to bother small civilian ships. There’s no gain in it. I think they’d actually be safer in their ships or on the ground."
"Okay. What else?" DeForest cast a keen eye around the room.
John Lyra spoke again. "Sir, if I may suggest…" he paused and looked over at the XO. "We have a very valuable resource here on the station right now. Major Lazarus is the best battle tactician we’ve ever had and it seems to me…"
"No," XO Warren interrupted him. "In the first place, she’s not a Major. She resigned her commission. In the second place, she’s a civilian and that breaks every reg in the book. In the third place, she went out there yesterday and disobeyed a direct order from the captain. In the fourth place, she…"
"We get the picture," the CO said. He took a deep breath and appeared to steel himself. "I’ll take it under consideration."
"Sir, you can’t," Warren protested.
James DeForest met Warren’s eyes and whatever she saw there caused her drop her protest for the moment. During this exchange, Carter felt torn between rejoicing that her lover might be staying on the station and despair that she would be both in danger from the Ultharians and from her XO. Reeling from the suddenly very personal turn the discussion had taken, she failed to notice for a moment that all eyes were on her. Realizing the CO had spoken, she was forced to ask, "I beg your pardon, sir?"
"I asked if you had any input into this discussion, Lieutenant?" the Captain repeated.
"Me, sir?" Carter stalled. DeForest continued to watch her. "All I know about Major Lazarus’s performance as a pilot is from yesterday’s results. I was impressed." She ignored the snort of disgust coming from her XO. "I think we should use every asset available to us, Captain. If she’s willing to stay, and frankly that may be a big if." Carter glanced at her XO then back at the CO.
"I also think that patrols should be doubled, Captain," John Lyra turned the conversation. The meeting continued, Carter’s head full of Kay Lazarus. Every time she glanced Joan Warren’s way, she found her XO’s eyes coldly looking back at her.
Finally the meeting was called to an end and as Carter started to rise she heard the CO ask her to stay for a moment. The room emptied out and Carter was slightly dismayed to find herself alone with the Captain and XO Warren. DeForest waited for a moment watching the two of them. "Was there something else?" he asked the XO.
"No sir. I thought if you had a problem with someone under my command I should stay," she told him.
"That won’t be necessary this time. Thank you," he said, dismissing her. After a last quick glance at Carter she left the room.
Captain DeForest waited until the door had closed behind Joan Warren before turning to Carter. "So, Lt. Laughlin," he said. "What’s going on with you and the XO?"
Carter blushed at his forthrightness. "What do you mean, sir?"
"You’ve always been an excellent officer, lieutenant. But the XO tells me you’ve been slacking off the last few days."
Carter was shocked, but forced herself to remain calm. "Not that I’m aware of, sir. She hasn’t said anything to me. I’ve been working the same shifts as all senior staff." She tried very hard to keep any defensive tone out of her voice.
DeForest looked carefully at her. "I have never had any complaints about you, Lt. Laughlin. Let’s keep it that way. Don’t give the XO any ammunition to use against you.’" He paused. "I’m aware of her animosity toward Major Lazarus. I won’t have another power struggle going on here in the midst of everything else. I’m just asking you to stay out of her way as much as possible until we’re through this."
Carter nodded. "Yes sir. I understand, but I’m not looking for trouble. It seems to have come looking for me."
"I am aware of the problem, Lieutenant. I’m asking you to help me help you." He turned to the viewscreen and looked out at the stars. "That’s all, Lieutenant. Carry on."
"Yes sir." Carter turned to walk out the door.
*
After Carter left for her meeting, Kay showered, dressed and put in a call to James DeForest. She left a message requesting a meeting with him at his earliest convenience. She picked up her PIChip and headed to the concourse for breakfast. After ordering food, she allowed the vid screen to feed her the news. There was still no word from Gamma colony, which did not bode well at all. In this case, no news was probably bad news. There had been no new attacks from the enemy either. That meant they were probably regrouping to focus a more concereted attack on one target. That’s what I’d do, Kay thought. And that target could very well be DSSZebra. If they Ultharians were to attack Zebra, she thought, then it would be to utterly destroy it as a military base. They wouldn’t bother with an invasion in all likelihood. Too much risk for too little gain. This sort of commerce was of little interest to them. Therefore it would be essential to remove all civilians from the station as soon as possible.
The screen beeped to alert her to an incoming message. "Good morning," Captain DeForest’s image appeared. "What a coincidence to get your message. I was just going to request a minute of your time this morning."
"Good morning," Kay responded. "I have a couple of ideas I’d like to kick around with you, if I may. When would be a good time for you?"
"Actually, now," he replied. "Are you busy?"
"No, I’m not," she replied with a grin.
"Meet me in my office in ten minutes then," he signed off.
Lazarus pulled her PIChip shutting down the terminal, and headed off to the CO’s office. Arriving at his doorway at the same time as he did, they walked in together and the door swooshed shut behind them. The office was a typical space station office, except a little larger than the rest. It contained a neat desk, a couple of uncomfortable chairs on the visitor’s side of the desk and a better on one the CO’s side. Only one of the three terminals available to him was active.
"I had an idea…" they both began, then laughed.
"You first," said Lazarus.
"Okay. There was some discussion in the staff meeting this morning about our lack of resources at the moment, and your name was brought up. It seemed to some people there that you are a valuable source of information right now when we need it the most," he watched her carefully.
"May I ask who brought my name up?" Kay asked neutrally.
"I believe it was John Lyra. The general concensus was that you are the best battle tactician that this station has even had on board, although there was one exception to this concensus," he continued. "One rather vehement exception. The truth of the matter is that while I would love to figure out a way for you to come back on board for the duration of this situation, there are a few things I have concerns about. The first, of course, is whether or not you’d even be interested."
"Yes, sir, I would be interested," Lazarus responded without hesitation. "What other concerns do you have?" She was pretty sure she knew what those concerns would be, but it was better for him to voice them.
"My second concern is how to legally bring you into a military matter," he said.
"I have an idea about that," Lazarus told him. "That was what I wanted to see you about. I think it is not unheard of for the Federation to hire civilian consultants. From there, it’s just a small step to getting me on a fighter, especially if I have an officer on board with me."
DeForest looked interested. "Go on."
"I figured if the Federation took me on as a civilian consultant, and you told the poweres that be that I was supervised at all times by an officer you trust that it might work. Especially since we… I mean, you’re so short on pilots right now. Assign a liason officer to me," Lazarus met his eyes with confidence.
"I have requested more pilots and have been notified that they are not forthcoming anytime soon," he said thoughtfully. "Let me mull this over, but I think it might work. I can flesh out the details with the brass. Meanwhile, consider yourself on staff. My third concern is Warren. She is not happy about the idea of you working here in any capacity. I will deal with her, but I would ask you to sidestep her as much as possible. I just had this same conversation with our senior communications engineer. Maybe I should assign her to you as liason officer and kill two birds with one stone."
Kay stared at him. "Lt. Laughlin?" she asked.
"Yes," he replied. "Oh, that’s right. You know her, don’t you? I heard her call you by your first name when you were out yesterday. I didn’t even know you had a first name," he joked. His smile faded as the look on her face registered. "Is something wrong?"
Kay hesitated. "No, sir. It’s just that I think someone with more battle experience would be a better choice," she hedged, not wanting to put Carter in any more danger than they were all already in.
"Frankly, she’s probably safer out there in a fighter with the best pilot than she is stuck on the station. And anyone with more battle experience is going to be more useful elsewhere. She’s a trained officer, and a darn good one, Lazarus."
"Yes, sir, I’m sure she is," Kay abruptly changed her mind. It was better to have Carter with her where she could protect her than to watch from a distance as the station was attacked. Of course, none of them may survive this no matter where they were.
"Then it’s settled. I’ll talk to Carter and Warren about having her reassigned to you," he told her, and they moved on to discussing the logistics and tactics they would employ in the upcoming days.
*