Chapter 11
“Fire.” Garret ordered as he kept his eyes on the holo display in front of the blast-shuttered forward viewports. Beams of light streaked out from his ship and connected with the glowing representation of an old Republic battle cruiser. The remains of three destroyers already littered space around him, and as his two primary top-side lasers tore into the battle cruiser’s hull, he let himself grin just a little bit.
He’d been ever so relaxed since that time, almost two days ago, that Devin and Davin had seduced him with a massage using sarris oil.
“Damn, where’d he come from?” Petty Officer Lukas shouted from the secondary tactical station aft. Commander Harrington was on the main console, operating the primary systems while Lukas coordinated the point defenses, something he’d really shown an aptitude for doing. “Batteries two-eight and two-nine, lock and fire!”
“Too late!” Petty Officer Molena shouted from sensors.
“Two-six and two-seven, lock onto the incoming missiles!” Lukas shouted as the two batteries he’d directed a moment ago found the bomber and shredded it completely. The ship shook slightly as both of the dead bomber’s missiles hit the underbelly armor.
“We’ve lost the bottom aft primary laser!” Petty Officer Zerov shouted as Garret focused on the main holo display while more damage reports were shouted out. The battle cruiser’s armor was gone, but it was moving into position to launch torpedoes. Adamant’s bottom armor was shredded fairly badly, and any more hits on it would go into the ship, causing even more damage. One of the primary reactors was close to overheating already due to damage to a coolant line.
“Execute Gerry’s Folly.” Garret ordered and Westley’s fingers flew over his console, bringing the ship to half-speed, lifting up her bow, and skitting sideways. By the time the maneuver was done, the ship was far enough out of her original track that the enemy’s torpedoes missed by a wide margin. Harrington kept the forward two primary lasers on target throughout the maneuver, and when the bow of the ship tilted downwards at the end, four torpedoes sprang out of their forward tubes.
One of the battle cruiser’s engines had already been taken out by the steady bombardment of the lasers, and the wounded ship couldn’t get out of the way fast enough. All four torpedoes bore down on the wounded ship. The first two that hit tore open the ship’s hull, and the second two rammed into the wounded sections, setting off massive internal explosions that ripped the ship into many small pieces.
“Not bad.” Admiral Lumbardon said as the bridge erupted in cheers and the blue combat lights turned back to the ship’s normal lighting pattern. The holo display shimmered before resolving into a sensor display of the real space around them instead of the simulation. “This group was twice as strong as the one that jumped your brother, and you still made it out with a lot less damage. You depend too much on that mass driver of yours, especially since you only have two rounds left.”
“It proved to be just the diversion I needed.” Garret smiled. In the first moments of the simulated battle, he’d fired two mass driver rounds at an enemy battle cruiser (there had been two of them as well as three destroyers). He’d had one mass-driver shot go higher than the other while his lasers fired on either side of the ship. As a result, the enemy ship (simulated) had gone downwards, right into the path of the four torpedoes he had fired in stealth mode, not using their engines after the initial launch until they were within ten kilometers of their target. That battle cruiser had gone up in flames right away, less than ten minutes into the fight.
“Good job, crew.” Garret told his men and women, receiving beaming grins from all of them. Lukas caught his eyes again, as he’d had several times in the last forty hours or so. Davin and Devin’s seduction had not only relaxed him, but made him remember that he had needs too, and if one of them was enjoying the sight of a crewmember’s legs, then so be it. Lukas noticed him looking again, but unlike previous times, it was Lukas who blushed and looked away.
“Sir, we’re receiving the go-ahead signal from Shinawa Approach Control.” Petty Officer Markal reported and Garret nodded. It was time for the real fun to begin.
“Mr. Westley, prepare to jump.” Garret ordered. They’d been moving at speed now for two hours, waiting for the go ahead from Shinawa, and Garret had used the time to run a battle simulation created by Admiral Lumbardon. The retired admiral had been happy to observe, and had promised to provide Garret an in-depth analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of his ship’s crew and officers.
“Passengers and crew, prepare to jump.” Harrington stated over the ship’s intercom.
“We’re ready, sir.” Westley reported five minutes later, and reality stretched for a very long moment after Garret gave the order. When reality re-exerted itself moments later, Garret frowned at the chaos on the tactical screen.
It may have been controlled chaos but that didn’t mean he had to like it at all. Then again, he wondered if he was getting slightly paranoid with all the conspiracies he was beginning to see in the news reports. He’d spent hours and hours poring over the reports arranged for him by his body guards/personal assistants, and they’d gotten him very worried, especially after discussing them with Admiral Lumbardon.
“We’re being hailed by Tokyo Station.” Markal reported. “They’re clearing traffic so we have a direct approach and approve us to move at full acceleration up to two hundred thousand kilometers per hour.”
“Very well, make it so.” Garret ordered and watched coolly as Westley and Markna both entered commands into their console. Ada was as nervous as he was at the number of ships around, actively scanning each ship that even came close to looking like its trajectory might intersect their flight path. Molena was doing the same thing at her console.
“Admiral, thank you for your help.” Garret told the older man who had stood up.
“My pleasure.” Lumbardon said with a nod of his head. “If you’ll excuse me, Captain, my wife and I need to finish packing our belongings and having them moved to our new quarters. She wasn’t happy about having to give up the best suite on the ship, but at least our new quarters are nearby, and fairly spacious.”
“I wish we could do better, but it’s going to be a tight fit.” Garret replied and the Admiral nodded once before leaving the bridge. Marjaan’s last transmission had indicated only three people had cancelled their reservations, and while they could accommodate the new passengers, it meant moving some ‘B’ class passengers to ‘C’ class, and putting some ‘C’ class parties in cabins with other ‘C’ class passengers. They’d even opened one staff berthing compartment to the security retinue of the two additional Speakers, leaving forty of his crew in ‘hot-bunking’ situations where they’d share bunks with other crew members who were on opposite shifts.
“Final passenger manifests are coming in now.” Arjol reported and Garret nodded as the figures came up on the computer screen located in his left-side console. Not much had changed, except one more cancellation that would allow the booking of eight last-minute additions. His cargo hull would now be full as well, and his eyebrows lifted at the manifest showing twelve mass-driver explosive rounds would be loaded as well.
How that had happened he didn’t know, but he was glad it had. If they had to go into combat, those rounds would be especially useful. His crew, already pushed to massive exertions to get all the work done that needed done, would be ready to collapse from exhaustion by the time they pulled into Peladon, but at least their early arrival would allow them a much-needed rest.
“Civilian freighter Lamont, this is the Adamant.” Markal’s voice grabbed his attention at the same time Ada shot him a mental warning. “You are on a course that takes you within our defense perimeter. Change your course immediately.”
“Just who do you think you are, Adamant?” A scratchy voice guffawed in response. Markal had turned on the bridge speakers. “You ain’t a military ship according to your transponder.”
“Adamant, this is Tokyo Station.” A new voice came on the line. “You have permission from Speaker Ito to open fire on any vessel that violates your defense perimeter.”
Charging weapons. Ada’s mental voice was smug as the tactical boards came to life and the primary systems charged, as well as the point defenses.
“You’re dollin’ me!” The freighter captain’s voice was edged with panic. “Just who the fuck do you think you are? Changing course now! Don’t shoot! I’m just trying to cut an hour off my trip, not be blown to dust!”
“Thank you, Lamont.” Markal said before cutting off the transmission. Garret looked at the display and noticed several other ships moving to give them just a little bit more room as they headed straight towards Shinawa and Tokyo station.
Powering down. Ada’s voice now held a hint of disappointment. She’d tasted blood now, and was the killer she’d always been meant to be by the military. Garret knew the thought was putting a smirk on his face, but he didn’t care. A look back showed a look of disappointment on Lukas’s face as well. Garret’s crotch grew tighter for a moment, and he purposely looked away before a blush could stain his pale cheeks.
The rest of the trip into Tokyo Station was without further incident, and Garret breathed a sigh of relief as they pulled into the massive station’s military docking bays. They’d unload half their cargo here, as well as all of their passengers (who would be closely watched as they were escorted to the civilian areas of the station). Then they’d load the mass driver rounds, several tons of flechette ammo for their point defenses, and their government passengers. After that was done, and O’Malley had completed his maintenance operations, they’d leave the docking bay for a civilian docking bay where they’d load the rest of their outgoing cargo and passengers.
“Would you look at that?” Harrington said as she moved to stand by Garret and they looked out the open forward viewports. A humongous silver ship occupied half of the docking bay they were entering. Their docking station was actually located right below the behemoth.
“That must be the Lexington.” Garret murmured softly as he stared at the huge battle carrier. She was another O’Leary design, of similar lines as the Adamant.
Lexie says hello. Ada murmured softly along Garret’s transceiver. She likes seeing her little sister, that’s me by the way. Lexie also says my scars look good, and that she’s proud of me for winning combat with pirates. She’s big, isn’t she?
“The most powerful ship in any fleet.” Garret murmured aloud in answer to her question and the looks of wonder from his bridge crew. It was half the size of the Federation Mother Ship they’d defeated, but Adamant would never have stood a chance against this super carrier. She’d been designed to take the fight to Earth itself, and had only been in commission for two months before the war ended.
“My lord, you need to get ready.” Davin’s voice from behind him reminded Garret he had a number of duties to attend to, including a planned conference call with his parents and Billy. That had been difficult to arrange, but Billy’s ship was docked with Oberlin station, beginning its retrofit, and so he had access to the communications net there. His mother had paid for a temporary communications drone to be launched at the expense of nearly two hundred thousand credits, all just for this call.
“Commander, you have the conn.” Garret said with a sigh as he got up to follow Davin off of the bridge. Sometimes these two were almost too good. This conference call was a formal House affair, and the clone twins (as Garret often thought of Davin and Devin) had insisted he prepare for it formally. Considering that most likely his mother would be in her white and silver dress, father would be in the white pants and brown tunic, showing his relation to Lars by marriage, but his origination from House Johnson, and Billy would be wearing white pants and a silver tunic, it was a good thing that the twins were insisting he dress properly instead of in his ship’s captain uniform.
“All ready for you, milord.” Devin said as he entered his cabin behind Davin. They walked him to the fresher first, and Garret let them clean him instead of doing it himself. They’d all but begged him after that night of sex to let them do what they were trained to do, and while it made him feel lazy, to have others do this for him, he let it happen. In a way, it was relaxing, allowing him to think of other things besides just getting clean. After rinsing him, they dried him and began to fix his hair and his nails. He had to admit, they were good at brushing his wavy blond hair so that it fell just right, and set off his features to their best.
He drew the line at dressing, putting on the silver pants and white tunic they’d laid out without any further help from them. He absent-mindedly followed the ship-wide announcements of docking being completed, of shore power being established, and his reactors being idled down before being turned off. The speaker in his cabin stopped carrying the announcements when it switched to instructions for debarking passengers.
“You’re just about ready.” Davin said with a taut smile as he stepped back from fixing a single stray hair on Garret’s head.
“You sure about that?” Garret’s voice was edged with sarcasm. “What about some make-up? Maybe some eyeliner to make my eyes stand out?
“Nope.” Davin said lightly. “You’re not going on camera for some news broadcast, and eyeliner would just ruin your beautiful lashes.”
“Most definitely no eyeliner.” Devin shuddered. “I just can’t stand seeing a 10 model like us all made up with that junk.”
“Don’t forget he’s not really a 10 model.” Davin shot back and Garret growled.
“That’s supposed to be a secret, not a cocktail party joke.”
“Cocktail party?” Devin asked with a patently false quizzical look on his face. “Dev my love, do you think anyone on this bucket would…arrrgh!”
“What’s the matter?” Garret asked with a worried look as Devin clasped his head.
“This fucking ship!” Devin growled, and then yelped in pain as Davin started laughing.
“What’s going on here?” Garret growled.
How dare he call me a bucket! Ada growled and Garret’s scowl deepened.
“Okay, he insulted the ship, but what’s wrong with his head?” Garret asked as he really began to worry.
“Oh, the ship sent a shock pulse down his transmitter.” Davin explained as Devin picked himself up off the ground and shook his head as if he was trying to shake something loose.
“You are equipped with transmitters?” Garret asked in shock. Sure, the common term was to call the implant a transmitter, mostly to distinguish it from the receiver only implant, but the transmitter was also a receiver all in one piece.
“Yes.” Devin said in a shaky voice as he finished standing up. “They’re not military grade, which means Ada can not only use them, but she can overload at will, and she’s a bit touchy at times. I forgot about that milord, sorry.”
“Sorry my ass.” Garret fumed. “Why am I just finding out about this and why haven’t I heard about a civilian version of the implant transmitter?”
“They’re expensive.” Davin said with a shrug. “As for not telling you, milord, we thought you knew already. It wasn’t until just now we realized you didn’t know.”
“Very well.” Garret said and then another thought occurred to him. Ada, have you been feeding me your wants and disguising them as my own?
I can’t help it if you can’t tell your wants from mine. Ada responded and Garret started to curse quietly.
“Five minutes, milord, before your call begins.” Devin said as he regained his composure. They moved as a group into the office area, with the two new desks and he sat down at his own desk.
“That’s how you’ve been so efficient at organizing the data files and messages.” Garret said as the thought occurred to him. “You’ve been pulling them down through your implants and processing them before loading them into the queue for me to go through.”
“Damn, now we’ll have to work twice as hard to make him think we’re miracle workers.” Davin pouted, and Garret laughed. These two always left him unsure of how they were going to act. Sometimes they were super-serious killers ready to start mayhem, and other times like now they were slightly mature teenagers having a good time with a friend. Now, if he could just get them to stop this ‘lord’ crap, he would have to send Marko Blashame another thank you letter.
“Booting up the encryption now.” Devin said with a sly grin. These two had been gestated in the same chamber, and unlike most clones they knew that fact. They’d been raised together all their lives, and were the only clones he’d ever known that actually considered each other to be family in the same way that True Borns did. Many times they’d commented how in their eyes they felt they were twins, and Garret had accepted days ago that it was the best way to think of them.
“I’ve never heard of this type of encryption security before.” Davin said softly while Garret watched Devin install the one-use encryption program. A matching program was being booted up on Peladon and on Oberlin at this exact moment. This would ensure that even the military would take years to decrypt this message. Garret and Billy carried ten such programs with them, and when they pulled into Peladon orbit, they’d replace any that had been used.
“It’s the most advanced encryption system ever developed by the Republic.” Garret said softly, turning off his transmitter and enabling a total privacy mode in his cabin. After long hours of discussion with the clone twins, he’d accepted they could be really trusted with even Great House secrets like this, but Ada was a computer program. No matter how intelligent she was, she could always be infected with a powerful enough virus that the information could be stolen from her.
Davin and Devin had mental triggers put in them that would activate and kill them before they broke under torture.
“How’d you get it?” Devin asked.
“Easy, every Great House has an encrypter that establishes a set of one-use programs that the House can distribute.” Garret explained. “All parties must put in the right program for the encryption to be handled, and we have our own secret way of determining which program to use. In House Lars, only the four of us know the system for that.”
“That would have to be one of the most secure systems I’ve ever heard of.” Davin said with a grunt. “It doesn’t answer how you got it though.”
“The Great Houses are the government.” Garret said softly as the time came for the transmissions to be connected. “Do you think we wouldn’t make use of this secure system for communicating with each other?”
“I guess not.” Davin said with a grin as Devin finished his work and the two of them moved to stand just outside the range of the holo-camera.
“Beginning synchronization.” Garret said, mostly for their benefit as he pushed the controls on his desk. This station was the only one on the ship that could use the ship’s communication array without going through the controls on the bridge or auxiliary control center. From his ship it synched up with a drone in close orbit, and from there it went to Peladon. Within moments his board was green and two distinct holos appeared on his desktop. Billy was in his uniform, sitting in a small room on Oberlin station while their parents were in the familiar office of his mother on Peladon. All of them were dressed as formally as Garret was dressed.
“Is everyone secure?” Marja asked as the holo signals firmed up. “Twelve.”
“Twenty.” Billy answered.
“Four.” Garret answered and paused before continuing. “I have the two bodyguards gifted to me by Blashame in the room. They are trustworthy.”
“Six.” Timat said with a nod. “I’ve heard about them. Have them step forward and widen your focus, if you would, son.”
“Devin, Davin, step forward.” Garret ordered and the two moved until they stood directly behind his chair.
“Impressive.” Timat said as he looked them over. Garret could feel them beaming at the praise without a need to look.
“How is everyone doing?” Marja asked with a touch of impatience in her voice. The time lag was almost imperceptible between all of them.
“Fairly well.” Billy spoke first. He was the oldest son, after all. “My squadron commander filed a favorable report after a fairly quick investigation. The bad news is that I’ve received transfer orders. I’m to report to Peladon Headquarters for assignment to Deployments Oversight division.”
“I’m sorry to hear that son, although we will enjoy having you closer to home.” Marja said with a kind smile.
“I’m sure you will, mom.” He said with a smile that almost broke Garret’s heart. Part of him still longed for his brother, but it was growing smaller every day now, and was being replaced by a more brotherly love. He’d never stop loving Billy, though, in one way or another. “I’ve talked with Imaline about my reassignment. Since I’m going to be on Peladon, she’s suggested we move up the actual wedding date. Mom, I know you want a big wedding, but she’s asking for a short, simple ceremony with just family in attendance.”
“If you’re fine with that son, I’ll contain my disappointment.” Marja Lars said in a voice that told all of them that she really did not mind. “As long as you’re happy, both of you, everything else is secondary.”
“She’s a nice woman.” Billy said with a smile that told Garret he really was smitten by his… fiancée. “She’s taking a shuttle out here and traveling with me back to Peladon in two days. The super-carrier Indomitable is heading back into the Peladon system with her escorts, so we’ll be returning on her. We should be arriving a few hours after you do, Garret.”
“Sounds good.” Garret said with a grin.
“How are you doing, son?” Timat asked with a concerned look.
“We’ve arrived at Shinawa and are in dock right now.” Garret said quickly. “Nothing really major to report so far. Speaker Ito will be boarding in about six hours, and we’ll be underway within the expected twelve hour window.”
“That’s good.” Marja said with a frown. “Sons, you’re going to be coming home to a very different Peladon than the one you left.”
“What do you mean?” Billy asked as she paused to let her words sink into their minds.
“Are the two of you current on events within the last day?” Timat asked and both Garret and Billy shook their heads.
“There were riots yesterday in Newhaven and in New Prejat.” Marja informed them and Garret gasped while Billy blinked twice. “Nearly two hundred are dead between the two cities, and hundreds more were injured when overzealous riot police opened fire on the rioters.”
“What was the cause of the riots?” Billy asked in a slightly hoarse voice. The Republic’s capitol hadn’t had riots since the early days of the war.
“The riots grew out of pro-democracy demonstrations.” The distaste in their mother’s voice was clear. “Reports have come in over the last few hours of more riots on six of the other Republic planets. These things are too well-coordinated to just be coincidences, and this so-called Democracy movement has too much funding and operates to smoothly to be something new. Planetary Security Director Michaelmas was going to look into them a lot more closely, but he was killed on the same day as Fleet Admiral Richardson. The Director supposedly suffered gravitic failure in his hover-car and plunged a thousand feet to his death on his way to work.”
“That’s… it’s…” Garret stuttered looking for the right word.
“I’ve never seen so many Speakers walking around in a wall of private security since we thought Earth might push through the lines and hit Peladon.” Timat said with a shake of his head. That had been when Timat and Marja were both little children.
“There’s more.” Garret said, figuring that from the way Timat was looking off-screen and biting his lower lip. A single finger twirled his brown hair in a gesture Garret knew was from nervousness.
“The pro-democrats were only part of the problem.” Marja admitted, giving her husband a stern, and yet sympathetic look.
“The other part has to do with me, and indirectly with you, Garret.” Timat said softly and Garret knew now why Speaker Ito had used ‘Atrix’ as part of Garret’s name. “The fact that I broke the law and created you as a replacement clone for the original Garret Atrix, directly from his preserved DNA has become common knowledge.”
“Someone in the Deliberatorium released that information to the public.” Marja explained with a sour grimace. “It has caused a… backlash against not only our House but every Great House. The pro-democratic organizers are laying claims against us of using our positions for our own self-interests above those of the Republic.”
“What about your plea agreement and the requirement of the trial to remain secret?” Billy asked in a worried tone.
“It’s clear that we did not release the information, and so no violation of the plea agreement has been lodged.” Timat said with a deep breath. “Under Republic law, the verdict can’t be changed, and I cannot be retried for the laws I broke and was punished under.”
“That’s the good news.” Marja said softly. “Our security chief has locked down the compound and already nearly twenty activists have been arrested. That’s apparently putting more fuel on the fire. With everyone already on edge over that so-called accident that killed Admiral Richardson, the entire planet is like a powder keg.”
“What can we do?” Garret asked without hesitation.
“Son, I’m sorry, I know you’ve just started up your business and that you enjoy it a lot, but we need you here for the foreseeable future.” Marja said softly, and with sympathy in her expression. Garret sat back for a moment and thought things through. Adamant was coming into Peladon over a week early, actually nearly two weeks. If things took longer, as much as he hated to admit it, Harrington could take the ship out on its next few runs. They’d be back inside of six weeks from those runs.
“I’ll be there for as long as you need me.” Garret told them and all of them nodded.
“Now for the real reason why we’re using the encryption.” Marja stated with her most serious tone. “The Great Houses have a lot of damage control to do now. Not since the founding of the Republic has there been this much turmoil. I for one never thought peace might bring about what the Sol Empire failed to achieve by war. We’re on the verge of collapse, and it’s almost inconceivable that it was brought about in just a few weeks. Garret, you’ve got to use your contacts in the commercial world to trace the funding of this democracy movement. Billy, we’re quite aware of the changing situation in the military. If you’re at the HQ here, you can use that position to find out where the real loyalties of the senior officers lie. We’ll need that in the Deliberatorium as we select a replacement for Richardson.”
“One thing I know is that it better not be Leonev.” Billy said sourly. “He’s of the same ilk as Leran, Garret.”
“Then definitely not him.” Garret’s stomach felt sour. He had a few contacts, mostly through Blashame, but Marjaan had many other contacts as well that he could use.
“Garret, there’s going to be more for you, but Speaker Ito will be briefing you on that.” Timat said and Garret had a damn good idea what that would be about.
“Understood.” Garret said aloud.
“Billy, we look forward to seeing Imaline and you when you arrive.” Marja said to her natural son, who grinned sheepishly. “Both of you should make plans to come to the Estates as soon as possible after your arrival.”
“Billy, if you want, meet me at the BGL docks in orbit.” Garret offered. “I’ll be happy to take you down in one of my shuttles.”
“That sounds good, bro.” Billy said with a grin. “I can’t wait for you to meet my fiancée. You will be my best man, right?”
“Of course.” Garret said and there were almost tears in his eyes at the thought of the honor his brother was giving him.
“Both of you need to stay on your toes.” Timat said slowly. “Don’t go anywhere without some form of security.”
“Understood.” Garret said immediately, but a burst of lag delayed his brother’s response.
“The transmission has gone on long enough.” Marja said with a frown. “There’s more to discuss, but we’ll do that when you’re here.”
“Goodbye, and my love to you all.” Garret said, breaking the connection first as the person furthest away. Marja had been right, the longer the transmission, the easier the encryption program would be to break. Still, he’d learned a lot and there was a lot more to think about.
“Petty Officer Luka is waiting outside with the Tactical Analysis of the simulation.” Devin said with a sly grin.
“Why is he bringing it instead of just uploading it to the ship’s net?” Garret asked with a frown.
“We told him to do it this way.” Davin said with a sly grin of his own and Garret felt a stirring in his crotch.
“He’s an enlisted man… it would be… inappropriate.” Garret said slowly as an image appeared in his mind’s eye of Lukas’s legs.
“So make him a warrant officer.” Davin suggested.
“And lose sight of those legs?” Garret taunted back.
“There’s no reason a Warrant Officer couldn’t wear shorts.” Devin suggested with a shrug. “It’s not like he’s a regular officer.”
“That’s true.” Garret said with a smile as he recalled all the regulations on commissioning warrant officers in the Space Merchants Guild. While not advised, the Guild did not forbid relationships between commanding officers and subordinate officers. It did forbid relationships between officers and enlisted personnel. Neither Davin nor Devin was officially ship’s company so they fell outside those regulations. Gary was effectively a Lieutenant Commander, and so his sleeping in Garret’s bed wasn’t an offense either, although his temper tantrum at finding out Garret had had sex with the twins had been insubordination Garret had chosen to overlook.
“So should we let him in?” Davin asked and Garret nodded, adjusting his crotch so that it was less tight. Being in that pleasure house, he’d forgotten how enjoyable sex could be when it wasn’t something he was forced to do.
“Sir!” Lukas said with aplomb as he entered the cabin at attention and marched up to Garret’s desk, holding out his data pad and returning to attention while Garret looked it over. Just a brief skimming showed Lukas had done a good job.
“Sit down.” Garret ordered and Lukas barely hesitated before sitting in the nearest chair. That gave Garret a good look at his legs. Damn, they were nice, and Garret was wondering what it would feel like to have them wrapped around him. “You know, Petty Officer Lukas, you’ve done an excellent job at tactical, and this report is well-written.”
“It’s what I was trained to do, sir.” Lukas said, barely restraining a shrug.
“Yes, well it’s work of a much higher quality than I expect from an enlisted crew member.” Garret said with a wry grin. “That is why effective immediately I am promoting you to Warrant Officer First Class.”
“Really?” Lukas squeaked and Garret felt his pants jump a bit.
“Absolutely.” Garret said with a smile. “Congratulations. Now, I was about to order a light lunch. Would you care to join me?”
“I… uh, yes sir!” Lukas had a twinkle in his eyes and a broad smile on his face as Davin winked at Garret over the young clone’s head. Lukas was an 07 model, with the black hair of all the clones of the type. He kept it military short, and it gave his face this muscular grace that wasn’t anything like the 09 model, or like Billy either. Yes, this was going to be fun, Garret thought to himself as Lukas stood and he got another glimpse of those legs.
Very fun, indeed.
As with all my stories, E provides immeasurable input, grammar checking, and all those other lovely editing thingies that make the story so much better!
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