Steel Walls and Dirt Drops (23 page)

A second voice shouted out, "And Forrester?"

Misha looked out over the unit. "Quite a group of gossips we have here. I’ll be as transparent as I can about this. I am not, nor have I ever had, a sexual relationship with either Colonel Britaine or Sergeant Forrester. I am trying very hard to maintain a working relationship with our transportation’s commander. Such a relationship is not easy, nor is it made easier by rumors and gossip. I like Forrester, as do many of you. I understand Second Takki-Homi had Sergeant Forrester over for lunch. Taks, are you sleeping with Gan?"

Takki-Homi
laughed, "Not on your life, Trey. He ain't my style."

Moraft continued.
"But, you've spent time alone with Colonel Britaine. Also, Sergeant Forrester moved into your private bedroom."

Misha nodded. "
That’s true enough on both counts. But, I haven't had sex with everyone I’ve ever been alone with, Second Moraft. And neither have you. The Colonel is in command the spacecraft that we need to get to Altec. We can't walk through the vacuum of space to reach the enemy. We need him, whether we like him or not. As for the other, well… Sergeant Forrester is a nice man. I offered him the use of the bedroom adjoining my office. That is all I have offered and all he has taken. You may believe it or not." Misha looked on as the unit fell silent. She thought she could have handled the question better, but didn't know what else to say. How can anyone prove something didn't happen? "Other questions?" she asked.

"Sir, Troop
er Three Beaudry, Joker Squad. How come you're spending so much time in spacer intelligence rather than getting ready for Altec? I mean we’re down here bustin' our nuts and you’re setting up there chatting and having coffee with your vacuum sucker buddies."

Second-Level Caution of Kilo Squad shouted, "That's enough,
Beaudry."

Misha held up a hand, "It's okay, Deuce. Trooper
Beaudry was a bit crude in his presentation, but he does have a valid question. As a matter of fact, he is not the first one to ask that exact question." There were a few surprised looks around as she continued. "To answer this question, let me ask you a few questions first. I see Na'aranna our senior weapons technician has just joined us. Trooper Na'aranna, I understand you’ve been working very hard getting our weapons up to speed. Is that correct?"

Na'aranna said, with a touch of pride, "Damn right,
sir. I just did a down check of the systems and we’re ten points above standard. We are ready to rock and I will take on the first yahoo who says different." She looked around defiantly.

Misha hid a smile. "
That’s superior work, Trooper Na'aranna. I’m very pleased to hear it. Convey my thanks for a very good job done to Trooper Juarez and the rest of your team."

"Juarez,
sir?" Na'aranna said. "I haven't seen him all day. I checked Able's weapons myself. Where the hell do you think I’ve been?"

Misha smiled coldly, "I see. Hence the question on the table
: why am I not here to know that Juarez wasn't where he was supposed to be?" She noticed Second Aardmricksdottir hustle into the room through the main hatchway. Misha nodded and smiled at the woman. "My next question is for Deuce Vark. What have you been doing for the upcoming Altec dirt drop?"

Vark nodded. "Working every pair of hands I could get to bring our armor up to snuff. I can't say we will exceed standards by the time we get to Altec, but we
will meet those standards and be ready to kick ass."

A ragged shout
led by Second Jackson rippled through the crowd. Misha was pleased to see the unit reaction. It may have been a ragged shout, but it was definitely the beginning of good combat morale. She was also pleased to note Aardmricksdottir had been following the question and answer session on her comm unit. Her response showed she heard Trooper Na’aranna’s answer about weapons repair exceeding standards. Misha knew a lot of commanders kept running tabs on their units through open communication links on their glass-packs. Personally, she agreed with those commanders who thought it was a serious violation of privacy in a service that was already too short on privacy.

She kept her own squad communications link open through Trooper
DeLaPax. She would have preferred to keep a link to her Trooper One, but she wasn't ready to tackle Singletary yet. She knew she would have to announce to the unit she would be recording, not for compliance to any APES regulation, but for her own sense of ethics. So if, as she suspected, Singletary was back in the contraband business, she would have to give him notice she suspected him.

Misha
could set her comm unit to search for certain words and phrases used on any of the 1392nd’s open comms. All related signals would download to her glass-pack for analysis, allowing her to check specific conversations without having to review hundreds of hours of casual chatter. She could also gather any conversation spoken within the sound range of any glass-pack that might be open. Most troopers and even a few commanders would be surprised at the audio pickup range of the average glass-pack. However, any trooper could shut down his glass-pack at any time. Many troopers, herself included, never bothered to shut their glass-pack off. It made a very handy recording of everything for future reference. She was impressed early on in her APES career that the old military adage of CYA was important. You never know when, what, or which piece of information could Cover Your Ass. Plus, as a commander, leaving her comms open would allow anyone in the unit to call her at any time of any day. She believed that open comms of some kind was a necessity of command. She could, for privacy, shut off any out-going transmission.

"Thank you, Deuce Vark. The word I hear has been very favorable. I
’m told you are doing an excellent job and I couldn't be more pleased."

Vark smiled and nodded her thanks.

"My next question," Misha said. "Has everyone here read the pre-op briefings on the Altec System, the dirt drop and the updated info on Binder actions that your squad's intel specialist put together?"

A
nother chorus of 'roger that' rang out.

Misha said, "Where does that information come from? I
’ll tell you. Your squad’s intelligence specialist collected, analyzed and collated the raw data. Some of the information comes to us through channels from APES command, as well as from the Marshal Service, the AMSF and any other place we can get information. A lot of raw data is gathered during our dirt drops. Information your squad’s intelligence specialist gathers in this upcoming dirt drop may shorten the Binders war. It may even save your life in the dirt drop after this one.

"I can't share with you exactly what has gone on in the AMSF
intelligence shack, but it was important information that APES command needed to know. I don't say this to brag, but without our APES support this very significant piece of information might not have been found. And I say our support, emphasis on ‘our’ because I couldn't be free to take time as an intelligence specialist without APES like Trooper Na’aranna and Second Vark doing their jobs so well." Misha looked around as the crowd grew silent again. She thought she could have handled that answer better, but she hoped everyone got the point that it was all about teamwork

She
saw Troopers Singletary, Park and Juarez slide in through a side hatch and it interrupted her thoughts. She pointed her index finger at Singletary causing every head to swivel toward the trio. She locked into eye contact with Singletary refusing to break contact until he looked away. The three tardy troopers sat on the deck at the rear of the crowd.

Misha said coldly, "
Do we have any other questions? Now is the time, Troopers."

A tall trooper stood up slowly.
The woman glanced at Singletary, cleared her throat and said, "Yeah, well...um...why give a Marshal Service sergeant the only single bedroom in APES country unless something extra is going on? Shouldn't it be ours to use? Maybe we could share it on a rotating basis."

Misha recognized the woman both from her files and from training.
Before she could speak, Second Vark shouted, "Putinova, that question has been answered. Do you have crap in your ears or were you just not paying attention? Sit down."

Misha smiled and held up her hand. "Thanks
, Deuce Vark." She gave Putinova a hard stare "I think there might be a real question in there somewhere."

Putinova shot a questioning glance at Singletary. Singletary refused to meet her look, but
made a very slight shake of his head.

Misha saw the message pass between the two. "Trooper Singletary, get on your feet
," she ordered. Putinova started to squat on the deck, but Misha shook her head, pointed a finger at the woman and gave the combat hand signal for 'stand in place.' Putinova froze. "Trooper Singletary, do you have something to add to this question?" she asked.

"No
, sir."

"No? It seems
to me that Putinova thinks you have a particular interest here," Misha said.

"No,
sir, I am just trying to pay attention. I don't know what Greggoria, um Trooper Putinova is getting at, except that…well, we could all use a private bedroom every now and then. It would be nicer than, um, you know, doubling up behind blast shutters that are in the same room as everybody else," Singletary said.

"I see
," Misha said. "What about using Kiirkegaard's comfort suites?"

Second Moraft stood up, "Sir, by order of Colonel Britaine, we can use the suites on a
space-available basis. That means we can get one if the AMSF isn't using it. That doesn't seem to happen. Ever."

Misha nodded. "Second Moraft, do you know what our contract with the AMSF says about our use of those suites? No? Find out and report
back to me. I would suggest you read section nineteen, paragraph a213. Still, that does bring us back to the situation with Colonel Britaine, doesn't it?"

Putinova
emboldened by Singletary's repeat of her question and Moraft's reinforcement said enthusiastically, "Yeah, I mean, if you don't want to use the bedroom in the day office, maybe we could raffle it off or maybe rent it out on a rotating basis…" Her voice trailed off when she realized Singletary was frowning at her.

Misha nodded. Anytime money changed
hands, there was a possibility someone could skim or siphon some of it away. Any lottery or game of chance could be rigged. She could see Singletary was looking for new sources of extracurricular funds and had been looking at Putinova to front his question. It appeared that the woman cut a corner too fast and did not time her question in sync with Singletary's plans. Misha said, "Shall we hear your question again, Trooper….?" She let the name dangle in front of the woman.

"Oh sorry
, sir. I forgot. I am Joker Squad Trooper Four Greggoria Putinova. I only asked about using the day office bedroom for APES use."

"
You really only asked one question?" Misha smiled coldly. "I heard three questions. Suppose we hear them again." She pulled her glass-pack out of her breast pocket, waved it pointedly and ordered, "Repeat and broadcast to all 1392nd members the question at hand."

Her glass-pack and
one hundred and twenty-one other glass-packs blasted out Putinova's voice. "Yeah, well. Why give a Marshal Sergeant a bedroom in APES country, unless something extra is going on? Shouldn't it be ours to use? Maybe we could share it on a rotating basis?"

Misha let the question
s hang. She thought, "There. That will serve as a warning to Singletary and everybody else that they might be recorded. It may cause him to drive his conversations under wraps." Still, she knew many people didn't realize that as much information could be gathered from what is not said as there is from what is spoken aloud. "Question one: why did I give our only private bedroom to someone other than an APE…unless something is going on between Sergeant Forrester and me? Is that correct, Trooper Four Putinova?"

Putinova stuttered, "No, no
…um…I didn't mean to imply something, I mean, nothing improper between you and him. I mean…" Her voice trailed off.

Misha let the silence stand for a moment. "Yes.
I believe that is exactly what you meant to imply, Trooper. That question was asked and answered already." Misha now had positive proof she hadn't done a good job of answering the same question earlier. Now she had to deal with it again. She stared into the upturned faces. "Look, people. I can't control what you think of me. I have no way to prove nothing is going on between Sergeant Forrester and me. I offered him the use of the room as a kindness. It is a kindness that someday may come back to us with dividends. Sergeant Forrester’s billet is with a pair of AMSF second lieutenants. That is a fate I would not wish upon anyone, so I invested that room as a favor."

She
suddenly grew angry. "Think what you will of me, but do not think of me as an idiot." She knew her face was now flushed. To many people, it might look like she was blushing, but it was a rush of anger that fed hot, oxygenated blood to every muscle in her body. Misha slowed her breathing and tried to calm down. She held her hand up for everyone to 'freeze.' The 1329
th
froze, not a muscle moved.

Finally, she calmed herself enough to trust speaking without hearing her voice break with emotion. "If you believe Forrester and I are
lovers, then think on this: only an idiot would place a higher value on a relationship with a lover than with her squad. We go into combat together. I depend on each of you to protect my back as I will protect yours. Do you honestly think I would put a higher value on any man whose sole contribution is shoving his penis between my legs? Dammit, I may be desperate, but I’m not that bad off."