She had come by to share her experiences at the hub for the day. There really wasn’t much to report. Of the HQ staff, Rev. Charles Rohn and Dr. Hilbert Sullivan as well as the three security personnel were accessible and visible in their daily duties.
Ambassador Rutledge, Dr. Derrick Helmer, and Colonel Eugene Memphis along with his three aids had been nowhere to be seen.
One of the surprising things about Dr. Schein is that she was very observant; as adept at it as some of the better security types I’d met over the years. Maybe that was a big help for a psychiatrist but at any rate she deduced my headache challenge pretty quickly—and I am very skilled at hiding it.
Somewhere during her report on the Reverend Dr. Charles Rohn she moved to stand behind my sofa chair and started massaging my temples. Before long she had me answering questions about the frequency and history of my headaches. Through my protests she had me lean my head back and she placed a damp cloth over my eyes. The slow rhythmic massaging motion was bliss.
Maybe it was the stress or maybe I hadn’t been sleeping well but I awoke early the next morning in that same chair. My back was a little stiff as I started to sit up when I noticed that Julie was curled-up asleep on the sofa. That’s when I remembered I was supposed to have a headache and realized that I didn’t. I’d caught it in time and I had to admit that Julie’s massage had probably helped.
I was at my small dining table eating a light breakfast when my door chime sounded and Julie woke. One of the Ito twins was at my door with who looked to be Major Mike Reynolds. I handed Julie a glass of orange juice as I walked past her to the door. I called for it to open and I stepped out onto the walkway at the same time that Captain Kamiko said, “Major, I think you’re going to want to see this.”
My platoon hub was full of people.
As Kamiko was starting to explain to me exactly who all the extra people were I saw her eyes uncharacteristically moving back and forth from me to someone else. I turned and saw that Julie, still holding her orange juice, had followed me out of the room.
There was nothing inappropriate about Julie’s and my actions and just because her, and I realized my, clothing and hair were rumpled was no reason to jump to conclusions—even if ‘Iron Jaw’ was grinning.
Sometimes in life if you try to stop and explain or set the record straight it just makes things worse. I figured that this was probably one of those times and besides, I’m not sure Julie was even fully awake yet because I don’t think she realized what was happening—and I sure didn’t see any reason to embarrass her.
As Captain Kamiko pointed out the hallway to the HQ Hub was sealed. Major Reynolds told me that very early this morning an aide had delivered orders from Colonel Memphis for himself, his staff, and his four squad leaders to immediately report to my hub in order to join our excursion today.
“At first I thought they just wanted some extra muscle assigned to you for the excursion,” Major Reynolds explained. “But they’d told us this was a friendly visit and I realized that one of my diplomats had also been assigned. So I really don’t know what to make of it.”
By this time Captain Hiromi had also joined us and was referencing a list she had apparently made on her smartpad. She informed us that sixteen extra scientists and one diplomat had been assigned to us but eight of our own scientists had apparently been ordered to stay behind—they weren’t here. This would give us a net gain of eight scientists, one diplomat, and nine military. Our platoon compliment was now up to fifty-one.
“Hiromi, have you tried to contact our missing personnel?” was my first thought and question.
When she told me she had and couldn’t, I ordered the Captains Ito to try and disperse the scientists throughout the various squad hubs so that our platoon hub wouldn’t be so crowded.
“Once you’ve done that please join the rest of us in the conference room,” I told them both.
“Major Reynolds, I would also like to invite you and your squad leaders to join us.
“Has anyone seen Captain Silva?” I asked the group as some started taking seats and others stood along the wall.
Hiromi spoke up, “I verified he was here with comms but I haven’t seen him.”
“Dr. Schein, would you be so kind as to invite Doctors Spencer, Spelini, and Andretti to join us? Thank you.
“It’s going to get a little crowded,” I said to no one in particular. “I hope this ship has good air conditioning.”
Once most of us were inside the conference room I took my usual seat and motioned for Iron Jaw Reynolds to sit beside me.
I reached up to my earpiece and tried to call Captain Silva but got no response. Not having time to be irritated I turned my attention to trying to raise Jaki. I didn’t know if she was with us or back on the main ship but I needed to speak to somebody. When she didn’t answer I tried to ask for any Noridian, only to be greeted with silence.
Ok, now I had time to be irritated.
As the stragglers started filling in I shared a look with Iron Jaw. What had been drilled into us since officer training school was that when there was absolutely nothing else to do, prepare and then prepare some more. The problem was, what were we preparing for?
“Ok everyone let’s summarize our situation,” I started off.
Green Squad’s leader, Captain Paula Morgan, jumped in first and said, “We’re in an auxiliary Noridian space ship heading towards a planet that is inhabited by a people that the Noridians befriended hundreds of years ago.”
“Supposedly heading there; at this point we only have the Noridian’s word on that,” someone added.
“In addition,” Major Reynolds said. “My staff and squad leaders have been given Temporary Duty Assignment (TDY) to your platoon for the duration of this excursion. Also, one of the 33 diplomats in my platoon was ordered to accompany us.”
“Why?” Kamiko interrupted; “Why that particular Dip?”
Major Reynolds raised an eyebrow at one of his Captains, presumably the diplomat’s squad leader. The Captain responded, “Dr. Cohen is a Political Science professor from Texas A&M. Extremely intelligent but somewhat rough around the edges; no one will confuse him for being a politician. For much of the trip he’s served as the diplomatic group’s devil’s advocate; always asking the ‘what if’ questions that not everyone wants to hear. Although he doesn’t always agree with them I think he has the respect of his peers.”
Julie interjected, “Maybe that’s why they want him with us; maybe they feel he’s a skeptic and want him to see firsthand how successful they’ve been with the culture we’re getting ready to visit.”
“What do we know about the other scientists that are assigned to us and what do we know about our people that didn’t make the trip?” I asked.
“Is Dr. Rasheed Bell with us?” Dr. Spencer wanted to know. “Because he’s definitely not a skeptic and can’t wait to work with the Noridians.”
Hiromi responded, “No, he’s not. He’s one of the eight that stayed behind.”
“That would support your theory Dr. Schein,” said Iron Jaw. “But I still don’t understand why they wanted my military group here.”
“Ok, let’s take it step at a time,” I suggested. “Dr. Schein, please work with Captain Hiromi and Captain Kamiko to see if there are any patterns for the rest of the team; that includes those that are with us and those that didn’t make the trip.
“Major Reynolds, I’d like to suggest that your squad leaders each attach themselves to one of my squads and second themselves to that squad leader. Your personal HQ staff can stay with you and serve in any fashion you desire, but you might want to think of them as a strategic reserve force.”