Yen placed his hands over hers and gently pulled them away from his face. “I wish it were that easy, Iana. With everything else going on, I can’t seem to get her out of my head. Every time I let my mind wander, it naturally wanders to her.”
“Then you need something to take your mind off of her,” she said coyly, stepping close so that her firm breasts pressed against his arm. “And I don’t mean another hobby, you need something that will match the ferocity with which she got into your head the first time.”
Yen didn’t have to be psychic to understand what she meant. It also wasn’t hard for him to see that she was offering herself as his distraction. He felt his eyes wandering past her face and toward the exposed cleavage, more pronounced by her loose sleeveless shirt hanging open in the front. Though he couldn’t deny that Iana was attractive and possessed a very well endowed body, he just didn’t feel the yearning that he expected when he looked at her so clearly throwing herself at him.
“You’re probably right,” Yen began. “But…”
“But,” Iana stated, smiling at the irony but appearing crestfallen nonetheless.
“But I just don’t think I’m ready to grab a woman, especially one that I care about and have known for so long, just to appease my physical desires. I think there should be a deeper commitment.”
“You’re a strange man, Yen,” Iana said as she turned to leave. “But I’m not wrong. You need to find someone, and soon. Overcome your need to make sex more than what it is and get it out of your system. If you can’t get your head in the game, you’re useless to us as a Squadron Commander. Just think about it.”
Yen watched her leave, her hips swaying in an obvious taunt toward his decision. Though the thought of Iana’s ample breasts pressing against his body did cause a stirring in his loins, his ideations were quickly interrupted as his transponder crackled to life.
“Squadron Commander Xiao,” the stern male voice stated. “This is Eminent Merric.”
“This is Yen,” he replied as he continued to watch Iana walk away.
“Yen, I need you to report with me to the aft weapons bay,” Merric called over the radio. “Captain Hodge has tasked us both with ensuring that all weapons bays are in perfect order during the next inspection.”
“Roger,” Yen said curtly into the radio. Unless provoked, Yen often chose to remain in the hangar as opposed to traipsing through the stuffy halls of the ship and examining weapon systems that had no bearing on his tactics within the Squadron.
“I will meet you there,” Merric replied, his tone as emotionless as usual. “Eminent Merric, out.”
Yen collected his equipment and, buttoning the top button on his dress uniform to ensure compliance with uniform regulations on the ship, left the hangar and made his way toward the aft weapons bay. The walk was long, having to go from midship to the elevators that would take him to the upper floor where the weapon systems were housed. He used that time to think about what Iana had said. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps he did need something to distract him from his thoughts of Keryn. However, Yen knew he was right to not accept Iana’s offer in the hangar bay. Building a relationship, even for only one night, with a subordinate was a recipe for disaster, especially when he was required to make decisions that toyed with the lives of all his pilots, including Iana’s. Emotions would be a hindrance in such a situation. Still, he couldn’t help but agree that a distraction would serve him well. Distracted as he was, Yen barely noticed when he arrived at the large metal doors that led into the aft weapons bay, having traversed the entire ship while lost in thought.
As the doors slid open, Yen stepped inside the busy weapons bay. The silence of the Revolution’s corridors was quickly overwhelmed by the oppressive noise within the room. Vehicles drove across the open floor, some carrying plasma rockets delicately in their padded claws while still others bowed under the weight of tons of the dense slugs for the rail guns positioned throughout the room. In the midst of the chaos, Merric stood beside Warrant Scyant, her dark hair tied back in a professional and practical bun and her uniform immaculately maintained. As he approached, he was able to admirer her Wyndgaart features, including her body tattoos of blue and green which complimented her deep green eyes.
Both Merric and Scyant turned as Yen approached, their conversation halting. Scyant struck a stiff salute as he reached the pair, her stern military bearing unwavering even in the course of working in the weapons bay. He returned her salute, ignoring Merric’s inquisitive looks as he expected his own salute. He cleared his throat, a nervous tick Yen had noticed whenever he felt an awkward silence spread, and returned to perusing his reports.
“During the last exercise involving your weapons bay,” Merric continued, picking up his conversation where they had left off before Yen’s arrival, “your section did not maintain the high standards expected by the weaponeers of this ship.” He looked down, consulting the series of numbers that scrolled across his screen. “The return fire by the rail guns was inaccurate and would not have maintained a proper field of suppression against any pursuing ships.”
Scyant’s face appeared carved from stone, only the slightly rosy patches of color on her cheeks belied the frustration she felt. “Sir, with all due respect, I explained previously that we have been waiting for the proper instruments in order to fully calibrate the rail guns, instruments that have been on order for over four months. The fault here lies with Logistics. If you would kindly ask them when I can get my instrumentation, I’ll ensure that my weapons bay is compliant next exercise.”
Yen smiled, appreciating the fire he heard barely masked behind her calm demeanor. Though she addressed the fault as being that of the Logistics cell, Yen knew as well as Scyant did that it was Eminent Merric who oversaw that section. Her own thoughts, clearly imprinted in the front of her mind, told Yen what she really thought: any fault in the Logistics cell was a direct reflection of its piss-poor leadership. Merric, thankfully, seemed oblivious to her subtle berating, and continued his rant.
“This ship cannot operate if everyone simply wants to point fingers at one another,” he said. “We want results, not excuses. Fix the issue before the next exercise.” Merric turned toward the missile tubes and loading racks for the rail guns, confident that the issue was at a close. He didn’t notice the glare he received as he stepped toward the first missile battery. “Now walk me through the weapon systems themselves.”
As the trio stepped off toward the four missile batteries located in the rear of the ship, Warrant Scyant explained at great length the inner workings of the missile tubes and collections of plasma rockets. She maintained the same stoic facial expression, even while fielding numerous inane questions from Merric, who seemed eager to catch her at a fault or cause her to stumble over an answer. Yen frowned as he watched the exchange. His powers reached out toward Merric, probing as the officer talked. He could sense the concealed glee in Merric’s mind, a happiness that came at the expense of the confidence of others.
As Yen focused once more on the conversation and less on Merric’s thoughts, he caught the tail end of a mundane description. “…furthermore, that’s exactly why it’s important to maintain good order and discipline within your missile crews. Without your leadership, this entire rear half of the ship, as well as the engines located below you, could disappear into a cloud of…”
Yen reached out with his powers, a fine blue filament of power emerged from the gently shimmering air around Yen, striking Merric’s mind like a scorpion sting. Merric paused in mid sentence, his eyes cloudy and his jaw slack. Slowly, Merric closed his mouth and blinked heavily, turning slowly toward the ten rail guns further toward the aft of the ship.