First Command (3 page)

Hera, after all, which had risen with the rest of the Olympia system in the Secession Wars against the rapidly decaying Terran Federal Union, was no more. In the closing days of the war, the Unionists had dropped an asteroid on Hera big enough to cause full planetary extinction. To add insult to injury, after the dust cloud shrouded Hera’s atmosphere, blinding the planetary defense grid, the Unionist nuked most of Hera’s main cities scattering radioactive fallout over most of the planet's arable land. Nearly three billion people starved to death, undoing four centuries of delicate terraforming in the space of a few days. Jonathan's father, and what was left of his regiment, had hijacked the
Wanderer
after the rump of the Secessionist army started to mutiny, and fled off world leaving their home burning behind them. Today, Hera was a barren radioactive wasteland. Its population having gone from four billion to a few hundred, made up mostly of scavengers and treasure hunters, picking the corpse of a dead world.

Next to his father and his military unit portrait was Jonathan's mother Sun-Fan Jung.  The picture showed her as she’d been at 19 years old sitting alone in her silk debutante dress. Her jet-black hair was arranged in a perfect bun, and she was holding two splayed paper fans.  One fan was bearing the Chinglish characters for hope and the other the character for love. Her eyes were full of grace and happiness, and she had no way of knowing that less than two years after that picture was taken the Ceti Commonwealth would overrun the Xi Confederation, her home country. Sun’s own home world of Hengi would fall early in the five year war, and she would escape on board a small freighter called
Wanderer,
serving as a refugee transport, and fall in love with its captain, Alexander Pavel. Jonathan finally glanced down at the final row of pictures. The far left image showed his younger sister Julia, seventeen at the time the picture was taken, though she would be 23 this year. She was in ship utilities proudly displaying her United Spacers Union card as she leaned against the hull of
FSS Mombasa Hauler,
the New Nairobi flagged heavy freighter she’d signed aboard six years ago. The far right picture was Jonathan’s older brother by a year Jaroed. The photo was from last Holi, Jonathan had taken the picture just after temple but before everyone had changed into white to be splattered in colorful paint. The picture showed Jaroed in his red and white New Perth Police uniform next to his petite raven-haired wife Alena, and their four children- Sunya, Moya, Sara, and the sole male child Alexander II. Jonathan looked at these photos every morning and always felt a twinge of sadness. The photos, holos, and vids captured a fleeting moment of happiness freezing it forever while time moved on and replaced that moment of happiness with heartache.  The photo of
Wanderer,
Jonathan’s beloved childhood home showed it less than a year before a maintenance inspection had discovered a crack in the main fuel intake, a fatal flaw brought on by age as well as general wear and tear. The flaw would have cost more to fix than the ship was worth. Jonathan's father had sold
Wanderer
to the breakers, and taken the family to Solaria, converting to the refugee status they had received after the Xi war into Provisional citizenship. They’d settled in New Perth, where Jonathan's father took a job as a harbormaster coordinating the movement, loading, and unloading of ocean going vessels that frequented New Perth’s busy port.

The change in circumstance had been hard on all the kids especially Julia. All of 11 at the time, she was old enough to know she'd lost her home but too young to understand why. Mother and father had done their best, but she became sullen and resentful. The cruelty of other children hadn’t helped. They were quick to bully the strange newcomers at their school and playgrounds, though Julia had been spared the worst due to the presence of two older brothers who could out-fight anyone twice their age. Nevertheless, she never forgave any of them for, as she put it, ‘taking away the stars.’ The photo of Julia was the last time Jonathan had heard from her in six years. She had emailed it to the whole family with the caption ‘Hello, and Goodbye’. Julia had always been one for classic literature.  They knew she was alive because the USU kept receiving her dues and would alert her next of kin if she were killed. The USU didn’t cover burial or corpse retrieval expenses after all.

Less than a month after she left, Jonathan's father dropped dead of a stroke, leaving his mother heart broken. Three years after her husband's death she was diagnosed with Calbert’s Syndrome, a degenerative disease that robbed those afflicted of their motor functions. She lived with Jaroed now surrounded by grandchildren, and well cared for by Alena who had been a Registered Medic before she’d resigned to care for her children. Jaroed made sufficient income to support his family. He had just been promoted to Sergeant and assigned to the Vice Squad. He and Jonathan's mother's medical expenses were fully covered by the state, and by the virtue of both her sons being in government service. The Republic could skimp on creature comforts sometimes, but it rewarded the loyalty of those who served it. Shaking himself from the brief whimsy of glancing at his family photos, Jonathan began to dress himself for work. He pulled on his khaki trousers and white undershirt, buckled his regulation brown leather belt, before being at a loss for where his hat and jacket where. The jacket also khaki was found at the foot of the bed under some blankets, and Jonathan's peaked cap with the Solarian Navy Sunburst affixed to it was on top of his dresser. Jonathan sighed as he adjusted the single solid circle, which denoted him the rank of Commander Solarian Navy. The smart fabric from which the uniform was made eliminated any unseemly wrinkles so long as it was given a daily dose of static charge. Something Jonathan never forgot to do. Through his brother's incessant teasing, Jonathan knew himself to be vain in his personal appearance, but he really couldn’t help it he was, after all, a commissioned naval officer. No reason for him not to look his best. Glancing at the clock, Jonathan saw it was 8:00 and more than enough time for him to grab a bite before leaving for the office.  Before closing his door, Jonathan stopped at the small cabinet next to his bed and opened the top drawer. He withdrew the small bottle of Oxitanie, unscrewing the cap he let one of the small white pills fall into his hand before putting it into his mouth and swallowing as fast as possible. The Oxitanie was supposed to be tasteless but Jonathan always found it had a bitter bubble gum flavor on the way down. Oxitanie was an anxiety suppressant, something Jonathan needed, any time he was outside.  Growing up in the close confines of a ship had left him with a mild case of Terraphobia. Unlike more common agoraphobia, which was easily treatable with chemical readjustment therapy, he wasn’t anxious about being outside in general just in un-crowded, uncivilized places. Rather than this being a chemical imbalance, it was the by-product of a psychological affliction, thus manageable but untreatable.  At least that’s what the doctors said, but who listened to quacks? In the city he took one pill in the morning and another as needed, which most days he didn’t.  Singking was after all a city of over ten million. But in open fields or forests far from cities, he usually needed three a day. Placing the bottle in his pocket Jonathan picked up his boots and maneuvered down the steep staircase to the ground floor.

The staircase led into the main parlor, which had the plush adornments one would expect in a Riverfront brothel. It had overstuffed sofas and ottomans around a bar, and several low coffee tables that held hookah pipes. Nathanael the bartender-cum-bouncer was already at work tidying the place up for the midday rush. Seeing Jonathan emerge from the staircase, Nathaniel smiled and nodded. An ex-Army Lance Corporal, he and Jonathan maintained a cordial if contentious relationship. Army and Navy men after all had the same natural relationship as cats and dogs. In contrast to the vulgar parlor, the kitchen was quite homey containing all the amenities one would find in any house, including a large and welcoming kitchen table. Ms. Dufrey had already set seven places and was distributing toast to accompany the eggs, coffee, sausage, waffles, falafel, homemade bagels and assorted spreads. The old gal did love to cook. Jonathan sat on the right side of the round table where Ms. Dufrey had laid out his morning newssheet. Sumi, Jonathan’s third downstairs neighbor, was already at the table, bleary-eyed sipping coffee. She nodded a good morning to Jonathan which he returned as he flipped through the news sheet downloading stories that interested him onto his sleeve display to read on his way to the office.

Certain people, perhaps those who disguised their own insecurities with moral superiority, would have commented on the unusualness of Jonathan’s living arrangements.  Even by Solaria’s easygoing, moral standards they were a bit peculiar. Jonathan was after all a commissioned officer in the Republic of Solaria Navy, which theoretically made him a “gentleman” in social circles. However, the arrangement Jonathan had with Ms. Dufrey suited both of them nicely. Ever since its earliest days the Solarian government had been marked by a pragmatic streak. As part of that, the founders of the original Solarian law code laid down during the first constitutional convention three hundred and twenty years ago, recognized that human vices could never be fully suppressed. Therefore, it was in everyone's interest -the state, the citizenry and the providers of said vices- if such things were regulated and taxed. On Solaria or any of her daughter colonies, prostitution, gambling, assorted liquor, various uppers, downers, and a whole myriad of substances were legal and more importantly from the state’s perspective taxable. Ms. Dufrey’s establishment was a fully licensed bordello, and boarding house and all of the sex workers who lived there or rented cubicles downstairs were fully paid-up Union members. Ms. Dufrey’s license as a boarding house let her take on residents as she wished. About a year ago, a very drunk Jonathan had been availing himself of the Blue Moon’s services when Ms. Dufrey overheard Jonathan complaining about the state of the City Garrison. Naval Officers not assigned ship duty were put on half pay, and expected to find private lodgings until they were assigned a space posting. A housing allowance was provided if an officer was assigned a groundside post only if the officer in question couldn’t find or more likely not afford private housing. Even with a service housing allowance the only place in Singking Jonathan could afford was the City Garrison. The old Army base in the south west of the city, which once had been a very active facility, was now mostly decommissioned, either converted into a museum, or warehouse space for civilian agencies. Though part of it was still an active military base and used to house the, mostly ceremonial, but still extremely well armed Premières Own, and Senate Guard regiments. The Garrison also contained a few dilapidated barracks for transient officers, who had to reimburse the government the cost of housing, and feeding them, because the part of the complex they lived in was not technically military property. It belonged to the Government Administration Service, the civilian agency who managed the decommissioned parts of the base. Ms. Dufrey, a widower whose husband was a warrant officer who had perished aboard the RSS
Virtue
during the battle of Skellion Reach twenty years before, had offered Jonathan her recently vacated top floor room on a trial basis.

Jonathan had proved to be a considerate and pleasant boarder. He was unbothered by the nightly ruckus, was cordial with customers and prostitutes alike, and even helped with the cleaning and shopping on weekends. The arrangement was highly convenient for Jonathan as Ms. Dufrey rented him the room by the week rather than forcing him into any kind of lease or contract. This was perfect should he be given an assignment and need to vacate. The price was unbeatable too, because she owned the building free and clear and had more than an ample income from the 20% she charged her other renters on their business. She only charged Jonathan 10 Solars a week, 300 a month in a city where a room the same size in a much less pleasant neighborhood started at 900 a month. Jonathan’s rent also included two meals a day for which he was eternally grateful. Finishing off his coffee, Jonathan rose and made an exaggerated bow to Ms. Dufrey doffing his cap.

“Superior as always most exalted lady.”

Ms. Dufrey mouth, full of waffles, inclined her head before swallowing and replying.

“We are pleased our boarder appreciates the finer things, now go forth and earn us our rent.”

Sumi burst into giggles, just avoiding spilling her coffee. Jonathan grinned and somewhat less dramatically tipped his cap as he strode out the door. Ms. Dufrey returned the grin and called out “Have a pleasant day dear” before returning to her waffles.

Jonathan shook his head as he emerged onto the street. He enjoyed his morning by-play with Ms. Dufrey. She was a sharp witted and pleasant lady, and a better landlord one could not ask for. She had also recently been cast as Isabel the Queen Mother in a production of
O Delay O Delay
that the hospitality workers were putting on as part of the First Planting Festival, hence this morning's somewhat dramatic banter. Altogether Jonathan thought it was shaping up to be a pleasant day. The morning was cool and clear with bright blue skies.

Singking laid on the edge Aboreia highlands. It was roughly three hundred miles from the coast along the Serentine and Agora rivers, in the southwest corner of the continent of Tiananmen, the largest of Solaria five principal landmasses. The original colonists had been somewhat surprised, pleasantly so to find the seasons in Solaria’s northern hemisphere followed the same pattern as those in Old Earth’s southern hemisphere. Solaria’s 400 day year also made it easy to use the old Julian calendar still used on Earth, by simply adding and subtracting days from months as needed.  In Singking, January was the middle of summer while June heralded the coming of winter. Singking in summer was as pleasant as one could get. The Aboriea highlands remained a cool 76 degrees Fahrenheit most days, rarely climbing above the mid 80’s. Heat waves were often offset by a gentle breeze that rolled off the Great Tanah Besar steppe from the north, particularly in the mild autumn. Of course Singking’s pleasant summer, spring and autumn climate gave way to a truly harsh and uncomfortable winter. The highland absorbed the moisture from the Sea of Vikaran to the south, and the cool Tanah winds became freezing cold fronts. In Singking, snow and ice began in May and did not cease till September.