Spike said, “Thank you, Chief Polar, you may go now. Koa, what’s your assessment, as far as her being a threat to the security of this unit?”
“Well…” Koa wiped his left hand over his face from top to bottom. “She’s supply. Logistics, whatever you call it. That’s not the most sensitive area for work, and also, everything she deals with is accounted for with checks and balances. Any funny business from that side of the house gets caught and dealt with immediately, so it’s an area where high-level clearance is simply unnecessary. There’s nothing from my side of the house that would exclude Karen from being the Brigade Logistics Officer.”
“Thank you. Dismissed.”
Koa shrugged, stood up and as he left the room he gave Galen an apologetic grin.
Spike said, “Well, I don’t see grounds for cashing her out of the unit. I’d suggest your relationship with her has changed, and you’ll have to make that clear. And if you can’t, as your XO, I’ll have to unofficially stand you with your nose in the corner and unofficially take command for the rest of this contract.”
“Thank you. You may go.”
Spike stood and left. Galen sat and thought, stood and paced the floor, then sat back down. A knock came at the door. “Enter.”
Karen came in and closed the door behind her. She stood across the table in front of Galen at attention and gave a proper hand salute. “Master Sergeant Mitchell reports.”
“Relax, take a seat. Can I call you Karen?”
She sat. “Can I call you Galen?”
“Sure. On the advice of my staff, I’m not going to cash you out. That is, if you wish to remain a member of this Brigade.”
“I like my job.” She flexed her fingers.
“Good. I have been told, you are one hell of an outstanding logistician, by someone who knows. I felt that way before, but as you well know, my judgment was clouded by our relationship.”
She looked up, her eyes bright for a moment, then narrow. “Our relationship…”
“It’s over. I can’t pay full price for leftovers.”
Karen slammed her fists onto the table. “That’s all I am to you? That’s what you think of me now?”
“You…” Galen couldn’t speak, a lump in his throat. Then he found his voice, weak, a bit of a tremble to it. “It can’t go on, not here. I’m—”
“Okay.” Karen nodded.
Galen’s voice was back to normal. “I’m the commander here, for this whole Brigade. I can’t do anything to break the confidence the troops have in me. Morale, you know.”
“Okay. What’s your plan?”
“Until this contract ends, this relationship is on hold. It’s over, really. If you want to pursue Mike, go right ahead. If you want to cash yourself out and go home, that’s acceptable too.”
Karen said, “That’s not going to happen. I’m not the same girl who made those vids. It seems like it was a million years ago. During the jump I had time to really think and sort things out. I really do love you.”
Galen looked into her eyes. She meant it.
She stood and said, “We’ll put things on hold until this contract ends, I understand that. But I need to know. Did you—”
Galen cut her off. “Yes I did, and I do. But in light of these circumstances, I need time to think.”
Karen thrust out her hand and said, “Friends, then?”
Galen stood and walked toward her and gripped her hand and shook it. “We’re friends now.”
He opened the door of the conference room for her and she left. A moment later, Galen realized her hand felt like that of a co-worker, that he hadn’t bothered to look at her backside as she walked away. He realized she was now just another member of his staff, a professional serving under his command. He sighed with relief.
Chapter Twelve
Sergeant Major Stone caught up with Galen and walked on his left as he went from breakfast at the chow hall to staff call at his hooch. “Hey, Smaj.”
Galen looked to his left and said, “That’s Command Smaj to you, Smaj.”
“Whatever. I’m just glad all those indigs are done going through my manual gunnery training, now I can get into a routine more befitting a battalion commander.” Being barely a hundred and sixty centimeters tall, Stone was a good fit for the cramped interior space of the Hellcat tanks. His uniform had a few lingering oil and grease stains the laundry couldn’t get out and his amber face had a couple of darker patches on the jowls from a decade spent crewing the organically-fueled vehicles. The scent of vegetable-oil exhaust was faint but noticeable, something that could take years to work its way out of a Hellcat crewmember’s system.
“Manual gunnery is important.” Galen valued the Hellcats more for their indirect fire capability more than anything else, capable of lobbing shells out of this crater and onto the open ground beyond. But in a pinch they could be decent tanks. If nothing else were available, they could add some serious direct fire support to some infantry, if the infantry were already dominating their fight and wanted to use the Hellcats as a way to reduce their own casualties. But as a stand-alone weapons system, even in unit formations, the Hellcat was… was venerable, slow, a tinderbox full of flammable fuel and explosive ammunition.
Stone said, “Well I’m glad we’re leaving them here for the indigs. They’re a hard tank to fight, and the amount of maintenance, it’s a hell of a lot of work keeping those things going. But I must admit I’ve gotten used to it. I might even miss the damned things.”
Galen said, “I’m not sure why they’re on the books, but we’re taking care of that now. EugeneX is paying us top dollar for them, so I’m not complaining. Next week we’ll run your people through training on the Hornet and the Hercules tanks. I’m planning to expand the heavy tank company to a battalion, and the Brigade HHC will convert over to a light tank company.”
Stone said, “I was going to retire, but if you’re giving me Hercules tanks, I might just stick around for another five years.”
Galen reached forward and opened the door for Stone, who strode in and sat on the right side of the conference room table. Tad, Spike, Sevin, Karen, Koa and Mr. Pedimore were there, already seated. Galen sat at the head of the table and said, “Okay, today should be a boring day. At least, I hope so.”
“Well, if I may,” said Pedimore. “We’ve received complaints from GasAir Corporation. The town around Air Factory Eight is being harassed by the mercenaries hired by the Seventh City rebellion.”
Galen said, “I don’t mean to sound cruel and heartless, John, but the terms of the Brigade’s contract are pretty clear. We are here to defend this crater, train your security and combat units, and oversee the construction of fixed defenses.”
John said, “Isn’t it standard practice to have a clause in unit contracts that includes any other actions as deemed necessary by the employer, in the spirit of the original agreement?”
Galen leaned back in his chair. “Oh, it’s standard practice to put that in the first draft of a contract before negotiations. But I’d never sign anything like that because it would be kind of stupid. But I guarantee you this, that Twelfth Legion of Doom commander was stupid enough to agree to something like that. That’s probably why his employer was able to send him to mess with Factory Eight.”