Casserine (9 page)

“He ordered me to take this movie disc over to the Tennyson, and to give a speech after it ends,” Jake replied, enfolding Adrian in his arms. “I will relay what he has told me then. He sent a disc for you to see.”

Jake disengaged from Adrian gently, guiding her into the chair, and extracted the first tape. He put the one meant for Adrian in. With the other discs in hand, Jake turned towards the door to their bedroom.

“I’ll finish getting dressed while you view what Risling has to say toyou.”

Adrian caught his hand, stopping him. She drew it back to her face with both of her hands, caressing her cheek against it. “I love you, Jake.”

Jake knelt down next to her. He kissed her gently on the mouth, as he cradled her face in his hands. He pulled back after a time, smiling at her. “I love you too, Honey.”

“You’re scaring me, you know?”

“Tea, I know,” Jake answered wearily. “See what he has to say, while I get ready to go.”

“Okay, but don’t go anywhere,” Adrian ordered.

“I’ll be waiting for you.”

Adrian started the viewer with a shaky hand. Risling’s face appeared as she slipped on the audio headset.

“Hello Lieutenant,” Risling greeted her brightly. “I will get right to it. You may have noticed Jake’s assimilation time from gravity to gravity appears nonexistent.”

“I noticed, you pompous.”

“He was ordered by me to say nothing of it to you.” Risling went into a detailed explanation of what information they had gathered on Jake’s physical changes since beginning their audit of his condition. Risling explained the differences from Jake’s profile as a new recruit to the readings taken on their last visit to base.

“You have adapted to Casserine as well as any human being could, Lieutenant, but you have experienced none of Jake’s changes in physiology. Something has come up, which will require Jake’s expertise. He will explain that part of it after he talks with me. Remind him to call me right after the movie I sent for all of you to watch on the Tennyson. Jake’s physical condition will remain top-secret, Lieutenant. You are to tell no one. Risling out.”

Adrian switched off the viewer and went into the bedroom. Jake had finished putting on his dress uniform. She watched him fumble the top snap closed. Putting her arms around him from behind, Adrian rested her face against his back. Jake put his hands over hers where they lie on his chest. They stood without moving for a few moments before Jake spoke.

“Anything bad?”

“Risling decided to let me in on your secret, so it was mostly a rehash of what you had already told me. He said to remind you to call him after the movie we have to show on the Tennyson. You will talk to me later, won’t you? I mean after you talk to him.”

“You betcha,” Jake replied quietly. “Are you ready?”

“As I will ever be, my love.”

Chapter 8 

Bugs Again

Adrian led Jake through the space lock into the normal gravity of the Tennyson. The lighter than air feeling buoyed her spirits as she saluted the colors smartly, and requested permission to come aboard from the Duty Officer. Jake followed suit, and shook hands with Tim, who had come to escort them to the chow hall.

“It’s good seeing you, Sir,” Tim said.

“What’s with the Sir. oh yeah, I heard about the new directives, Tim, sorry.”

“No problem, Jake,” Tim said quietly. “I just don’t want to forget in front of Stedman.”

“I understand.”

“She’s really confused about this movie deal, Jake. Your call in request for an all ship’s company screening of some lamo old movie raised her blood pressure a little. When you tagged on the reference from General Risling, it really got her going.”

“Why would she be so upset about it, Tim?” Adrian asked, as they walked along the corridors, pausing as Jake returned salutes from ship’s crew, who saw his Medal of Honor.

“Ah…well…you see.” Tim stammered uncomfortably.

“Spit it out, Tim,” Adrian demanded.

Tim shrugged. “She knows a little about the on going legend concerning Casserine’s guardians.”

Jake began laughing, as Adrian poked Tim with mock anger. “What do you mean legend, Mister?”

“Ah…Captain Malcolm may have mentioned an incident which took place in one of the storage rooms…” Tim paused as he glanced over at the sudden gasp from Adrian. She had blushed crimson, and was standing stock still in the corridor with Jake’s arm around her shoulder in commiseration.

“Oh…my…God,” Adrian said in a hushed voice.

“Easy Dear,” Jake said in a whisper. “You are calling more attention to this by zoning out here in the passageway like a malfunctioning food cart.”

Realizing Jake was right, Adrian snapped out of her stunned state and began moving again. Tim noticed her color did not pale any.

“Sorry, Ma’am,” Tim apologized. “She knows a bit about the old movies and tapes Jake has had shipped in since the beginning. I think the Major believes this to be a quirk on Jake’s part, he wishes to draw her into. She knows Risling cares a lot about you two, and he’d go along with anything Jake came up with.”

“She underestimates the General then,” Jake replied. “I want you and the other Omaha vets at our table, Tim. Will you take care of that for me?”

“Yes Sir, but I don’t think Major Stedman will like having enlisted pukes at her dining table.”

“Then she can find another table,” Jake said grimly.

“Yes Sir,” Tim acknowledged, recognizing the look on Jake’s face.

Adrian stayed silent as they followed Tim into the mess hall, and into the back of the room where Major Stedman, and her Executive Officer, Captain Brian Jennings, waited to greet them. Jennings snapped a salute to Jake, who he knew well, and in respect for the Medal of Honor. Stedman looked a little put out as she also saluted.

“Welcome aboard Major, Lieutenant,” Stedman acknowledged them. “I had not heard you were a Medal of Honor recipient, Major. Where did you earn it, if I might ask?”

“He earned it at Omaha, Ma’am,” Tim put in.

Stedman glared at Tim for a moment. “Yes, thank you Chief, that will be all.”

Tim saluted and turned smartly to leave.

“Major,” Jake interrupted, as he gestured for Tim to stick around a moment. “I would like Tim and the three other Omaha vets to join us after dinner while we watch the movie if you will allow it.”

“And if I don’t, Major?” Stedman asked irritably.

“Then I will join them at another table. The importance of this will be made clear after the movie,” Jake answered politely.

“Very well,” Stedman relented. “Please sit down and join us. Chief, do you know the other crewmembers Major Matthews indicated?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Tim replied. “I served with them on Omaha.”

“You were on Omaha?” Stedman asked incredulously. “You don’t hardly look old enough to have been out of school when Omaha Mining Colony was attacked.”

“True enough, Ma’am,” Tim admitted. “I was only sixteen when I shipped out for Omaha.”

“There must have been some special talent you showed to be put in such a situation at so young an age,” Stedman commented.

“Only that he could fire a deck gun on a Drop Ship,” Jake smiled, “and he was too dumb to be scared.”

“Yes Sir,” Tim replied smartly. “As the Major says, Ma’am, they really didn’t need geniuses, only bodies.”

“Assemble the other crewmembers after dinner then, and join us, Chief,” Stedman directed.

“Aye, aye, Ma’am,” Tim saluted, and after Stedman returned it, Tim turned on his heel and left.

Adrian sighed in relief as she took a seat next to Jake, facing Stedman and Jennings. Jake shook hands with Jennings before sitting down.

“Nice to see you, Brian,” Jake said affably. “Hard to believe you would get the XO’s post after Malcolm was transferred, you pirate.”

Jennings laughed appreciatively, as Adrian watched Stedman for any clue of displeasure, but the Major merely sipped from her beverage as she followed the conversation.

“He took Claymoore with him, Jake,” Jennings explained.

Jake nodded. “Makes sense. Those two have been together a long time. Did they ever get married?”

“Nope, they’re still pretending their mutual admiration society is strictly platonic,” Jennings answered with a laugh. “I guess the only thing that’ll bring that relationship out in the open is if Claymoore gets pregnant. The General allows it, despite the rule against fraternization between command officers on the same ship.”

“As it should be,” Stedman commented. “It can be very dangerous to have the two people responsible for the entire ship to be involved intimately, especially if some mishap occurred, incapacitating or killing one or the other.”

Jake nodded. “You make a very good point, Ma’am.”

Adrian glared at him as he continued. “It has been my experience the chain of command is the first casualty in such a mishap.”

Jennings burst into laughter, and even Stedman smiled appreciatively at the obvious jibe at Byers. Adrian jammed an elbow into Jake’s ribs, as she smiled menacingly up at him.

“Please call me Jan,” Stedman requested. “We can be a bit more informal here at dinner. It takes real perseverance to remain on Casserine. I can understand why General Risling sees fit to relax the rules here.”

The Command table was served dinner as the Tennyson’s crew filed in and out of the mess hall, and selected what they wanted to eat. After eating, the crew returned to their duties to await the showing of the tape Jake had brought on board. Tim led the other Omaha Vets over to the Command table, as a hologram projector was set up in the middle of the mess hall. All of them saluted Jake, who stood and returned their salutes, before shaking hands with the new arrivals with enthusiasm.

Chief Warrant Officer Bill Russell looked to Adrian to be the oldest, and the closest to Jake’s size. She had only met him once, because he worked in Engineering. His friends, including Jake, called him Salt, short for old Salt as in ancient seafaring days. The nickname fit Russell despite his almost ebony color. Chief Harvey Stassinas projected a distinct contrast to his commander in Engineering. Slim to the point of emaciation, Stassinas stood a full head shorter than Russell. The two of them, Adrian knew from Jake, had been together ever since Omaha.

Adrian knew Captain Sara Corey the best, because she had met her numerous times during the Captain’s periodic physical exams for flying. As with all the military transports and supply ships as huge as the Tennyson, they each had a small squadron of fighter craft, along with one Drop Ship. Corey flew both craft. Although attractive enough, with short cut brown hair, the intenseness of purpose she gave off inspired respect. She was Adrian’s double physically, except for strength, and she worshiped Jake.

When around anyone else, Corey could act as hardnosed, and off the cuff as anyone. Around Jake, Adrian saw something, which went far deeper than respect. At first, she figured Corey had a crush on him, but she had come to the realization it was adoration. Jake always made sure he spent a few minutes with her whenever they came on board, and Adrian had always wondered what was behind Corey’s intense feelings toward Jake.

Corey came over and sat down on the other side of Adrian, after saluting the Tennyson’s Command Officers. “Hey Byers, how the hell are ya?”

“Same old, same old,” Adrian deadpanned. “You know how it is to be with one of these, one syllable, Neanderthal cretins everyday on the frontier.”

Corey busted up into the pleasant tittering laugh Adrian loved to hear, and clapped her on the shoulders. “That’s not what I heard, Lieutenant.”

Adrian froze, sneaking a glance out of the corner of her eyes, looking to see if Stedman was following their conversation, but the Major appeared engulfed in a conversation with her Executive Officer. She turned back to her friend, blushing again furiously. “Not you too, Sara.”

“Not me too what,” Corey said, pretending innocence. “I would have hauled Jake’s coals in the storeroom any day, and intercom be damned.”

As Adrian again buried her face in her hands, Corey put an arm around her shoulders, laughing uproariously. “Geeze Byers, loosen up. No one will remember the incident in another thirty or forty years.”

“Oh thanks.”

“Anything to help an old friend,” Corey added. “Now tell me, what the hell’s all this movie business about?”

“I don’t know Sara, but it’s serious. Something about the movie and Omaha are related. Jake will be giving some kind of talk afterwards.” Adrian paused for a moment before going on. “Sara, how did you come to meet Jake?”

A shadow crossed Corey’s face, and her familiar smile disappeared. “I started to freak out on Omaha. I was piloting a Drop Ship, and we only had half of Third Platoon back on board when the Bugs surfaced only fifty yards from our LZ. We had learned the hard way to only put down on solid rock. This happened on my second mission, and I had not seen the damn things before. I started to take off with men still on the ground, and others hanging in the hatch. All of a sudden this armored Marine Sergeant came pounding into the cockpit. He ran right over my Navigator, and pulled back the throttle, yanking me with it. It was Jake.”

“Not the first meeting I had envisioned,” Adrian said in a hushedvoice.

‘Tea, I know what you mean,” Corey replied, running both hands through her cropped hair. “He stabilized the rig and leaned around so he was staring in my face, with this big shit eatin’ grin. He says, ‘Hey Corey, I got to kill some Bugs. Can you hang here for a few more minutes?’ I nodded like a big dummy, and he tore out of the hatch and hit the ground with a few others from his squad. Chief Dougherty was my gunner. He was already raking the surfacing Bugs. Jake’s squad opened up with mortars and the new particle beam blasters. They wasted the bastards until the rest of Third Platoon could board.”

Corey laughed, and shook her head as she looked over at Jake, talking animatedly with Tim, and the two men from Engineering. “Right in the middle of all that, with the Bugs still vomiting out of the ground, the big Jarhead turns around and waves at me like we were back at the chow hall on the ship. We get everyone on, and Jake comes running up front. ‘Time to go Corey, let the Cruisers have the rest.’ I lifted off just before the Cruiser swept down for its first pass. They vaporized about a zillion of the damn things. Of course that was before we knew the Queen cranked them out as fast as we were killing them.”

“I piloted the Drop Ship later on, with Jake and his men, when they went into the nest to get the Queen. They were dead silent in the back. I don’t think any of those guys ever thought they’d come back.”

“And they still went in,” Adrian whispered, “into a bottomless pit, filled with monsters.”

Corey nodded in agreement. “The Cruisers flamed everything around the nest, and then we set down on the only rock surface near the nest, about a hundred yards away. The Bugs poured out of the entrance, drawn to Jake’s men. The Cruisers did everything they could, but a bunch of Marines died horribly between our Drop Ship and the entrance. I never thought I’d see Jake or any of the others again. They were all just kids.”

“About an hour later, the Bugs which had been coming up out of the ground in waves, suddenly just wandered around while the Cruisers flamed them. Jake, and four others came staggering out of the nest only moments later. They had to mostly drag Jake. He had only pieces of clothing on. Even one of his boots had been sliced off. I visited him on the Med Ship when I transported some of the other casualties. One look at him, and I never figured he’d live, but then I gave up on him at the nest too.”

“I’m sorry I brought it up,” Adrian replied. “Jake explained some of what happened when I first met him, but it’s a whole different thing hearing about it from someone else who was there. Thanks Sara.”

“No big deal,” Corey shrugged. “Omaha, the skirmishes at the Tarawa Jump Gate, and the two attacks here on Casserine have made Jake into a legend. We were the ones who came in to transport him to base after the fuel pirates attacked here the first time. The Force Cruiser transferred him to us because they had to stay to guard the fuel cells, and the Doc on board their ship thought he was a goner. He never regained consciousness on our way back to the base.”