The Ninth: Invasion (28 page)

“Well, you certainly are energetic this morning,” he said as she pulled him along.

“Cain might be right about you.”

“How so?”

“You’re no doubt a Casanova.”

“Should that worry me?” he asked with a grin.

“Not at all.  You’re all mine.  I don’t mind being sweet talked every now and then.”

Brent started laughing as they entered the mess room.

“Well, you two look well rested,” Rhea greeted the pair with obvious tiredness in her voice.

“Guess Brent struck out again last night,” Marie said with a snicker.

Tyra thumped Marie on the head with her fist.  Liz chuckled as Marie rubbed the sore spot.

“Did anyone else see the nebula?” Cassandra asked excitedly.

“When?” Cain asked groggily.

“I don’t know, half an hour ago?”  She looked at Brent.

He nodded in the affirmative.

“Are you kidding?  Tyra practically had to drag us here,” Doug said with a yawn.

“The 3P
was
four hours long.”  Kindra was resting her head on the table, completely ignoring her meal.

Cassandra chuckled as the pair sat down and started on their breakfast.  Brent noticed that, save for Tyra, Ronald, and Sanderson, the squad looked like a pack of zombies.

“Sanderson, is it possible for you to
not
look like you’re ready for a parade?” he asked, pointing his fork at the neatly dressed trooper.

“What do you mean?”

“Look around you.  If I didn’t know better, I’d think the Vampire pirate in last night’s 3P had sucked out all their energy.”

Tyra let out a snickering laugh.  The tired troopers pretended not to hear them.

“I have to admit I’m impressed,” Ronald said.  “Besides a few occasional wrinkles, you are always immaculate in your appearance and the performance of your duties.”

“Better be careful, Sanderson,” Kindra said with a slight slur.  “You’re starting to slip.  The stuffed shirt I used to know wouldn’t let a single wrinkle get past him.”

Sanderson groaned at the use of his nickname.

“Seeing everyone like this, it’s hard to believe we are the squad that set the new record in the Gauntlet.”  Tyra shook her head disapprovingly.

Brent smiled to himself as he took another bite out of his meal.  For the first time, Tyra hadn’t passed off credit for the Gauntlet.

“So, how long until the next jump?” Cassandra asked.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Sanderson said with a shrug.

“What time is it now?” Cain asked slowly with a slight wobble.

“Just a bit after nine.”  Ronald raised an eyebrow, watching the half sleeping trooper wobble.

“Then we won’t have to worry about a jump until around eleven.”  Cain gave up and rested his head on the table like Kindra.

“You’ve been timing them?” Sanderson asked.

Cain weakly nodded his head on the table.

“This is just sad,” Tyra said as she poked the nearest half dead trooper.  “I want all of you rested by the time we arrive at Eos.  Is that clear?”

Despite the authority in her voice, the troopers merely grumbled back.  Her let out a long sigh as she finished the last bite of her meal.  Breakfast was relaxing but a bit on the boring side.  Brent found himself missing the bickering between Cain and Angela.  He even missed Penny and Marie asking questions about Cassandra and himself.  After they had all finished, or given up on eating, Tyra ordered the troopers back to bed again.  Together with Ronald and Sanderson, Brent helped get the half dead troopers back to their bunks.  After their first trip to the crew quarters, he had lost track of both Cassandra and Tyra.  He was amazed how quickly the troopers fell back asleep in the uncomfortable bunks.

“Well, that’s the last of them,” Ronald said, dropping Doug in his alcove.

“Looks like it.  So what now?” Sanderson asked.

“Tyra didn’t give us any additional orders, so I guess we are free to do as we please.”  Ronald looked disturbed.

“Something wrong?” Brent asked.

“I can’t stand this ship,” he said as he eyed the walls.  “Ever since we boarded it, we’ve been in limbo.  For the last two days, we haven’t had anything to do or anything even similar to training.”

“We did have a workout in the 3P before I fell unconscious.”

“That’s true,” Sanderson nodded in agreement, “we did have that.”

“Don’t be silly; that’s not what’s bothering you,” Kindra said with a sleepy slur.

“What are you talking about?” Sanderson asked, kneeling beside her bunk.

“Isn’t it obvious?  What am I saying?  You are all guys; you wouldn’t notice something until it ran you over.  Tyra’s been acting differently, and he’s not sure how to react.”

Ronald took a step back.

“See?”  A wide grin spread over Kindra’s tired face.  “Marie and Penny don’t own the market when it comes to women’s intuition.”

“It’s probably best if we let the others sleep,” Brent said, putting a reassuring hand on Ronald’s shoulder.

“You two go ahead.”  Sanderson took a seat on the ground near Kindra.  “I’m going to wait here.”

“Hoping I’ll let you in on some more secrets?” she asked, sounding exhausted.

“Something like that,” Sanderson said with a grin.

Brent followed Ronald out of the crew quarters.  They walked for a while until Ronald abruptly came to a stop in the middle of the corridor a fair distance from the bunks.

“Do you think she’s right?” Ronald asked as he turned to face Brent.

“You’re asking me?”

“You’ve always amazed me with your powers of observation.  I thought you’d have some insight.”

“Isn’t this the kind of thing you should already know the answer to?  Seems kind of odd to ask
me
how
you
feel.”

“I suppose, but I don’t know what’s wrong with me.  I thought I was just anxious about how laid-back the squad had gotten, or maybe about the war . . .”

“But when Kindra said that, she struck a nerve.”

“What do you think it means?”

“Well, has Tyra changed?”

“Somewhat.  Since we left Deriso she’s been more like herself from the old days.  Before her division started dropping grades.  She has that fire in her eyes again.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“I don’t know.  I haven’t seen her like this for a long time.  For her to change so quickly . . . I guess Kindra was right.  I don’t know what I should think about all of it.  I
really
don’t like this ship.”

“Well, you said you were attracted to Tyra from the first moment you saw her, right?”

“Attracted?”

“Okay, poor choice in words.  But you noticed her, right?”

“Right.”

“You said it was her determination that you noticed, right?”

“That’s right.  Where are you going with this?”

“If she’s changing back to how she used to be, I don’t see a problem.  If her determination is returning, I’d think it would be a good thing.”

“But it’s so sudden.”

“Well, she’d obviously been worried about seeing her parents again.  Maybe the fact the universe didn’t end was enough to make her rethink things.”

“I suppose.”

“Plus, from what I gather, you were pretty fond of her back then.”

“Fond of Tyra?”

“Sorry, poor choice of words again.  But whatever you call it, you did delay your graduation because of it.”

Ronald raised an eyebrow as he studied Brent carefully.

“How long have you known?” Ronald asked hesitantly.

“Not all that long, really.  When Tyra mentioned Cassandra’s age, I went through the personnel files again.  At first I just wanted to check her age.  Although, after I woke up in sickbay I started to ask myself questions about what else I’d missed, so I went through them a little more thoroughly.  I noticed at the end of your file was a notice that you had requested additional training.  Training that would delay your graduation for at least a year, if not longer.

“You’re not going to tell Tyra, are you?” he sounded desperate.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.  Whatever your reasons were, they are
your
reasons.  It’s none of my business to tell anyone about them.”

“Cain would probably berate you for missing an opportunity to blackmail me.”  The hint of a smile pulled at Ronald’s lip.

“He has his way of doing things, and I have mine.  I do have one question, though.”

“What’s that?”

“Angela said your feelings for Tyra weren’t romantic, so why have you gone to such lengths to assist her over the years?”

“You heard that?”

“I wasn’t there in person, but Cassandra told me about it later, along with all the secrets they’d made her confess.”

“Tyra’s told me about how the girls pressure Cassandra for details on your relationship.”  He shook his head in obvious disapproval.  “Makes me glad to have been born male.”

“Tell me about it,” Brent said with a grin.  “So how about it?  Why the devotion to Tyra?  If you don’t mind my asking.”

“I don’t know if I have an answer for you.  I noticed Tyra as soon as I laid eyes on her.  I knew I wanted to help her, but that was it.  Perhaps I saw an interesting challenge.”  He shrugged.  “At the time, I didn’t even think of her as a member of the opposite sex.  She was just a person I wanted to succeed.”

“So, why put off graduation?”

“I had started at the academy at the same time as the division leader of the SF.  Technically speaking, I should have graduated along side him.”

“So, what went wrong?”

“Well, as the division leader was getting ready to graduate, he started giving more command duties to the squad leaders.  Tyra performed the best by any measure.”

“But the troopers didn’t respond well to her.”

“I don’t know if it was the fact she was so young, or that she was related to a politician, or that she had joined the division as a fresh recruit, but whatever the reason the troopers just never listened to her.  Her command decisions were inspired, and her strategies were unmatched, but it all meant nothing if no one would listen to them.”

“So, you requested additional training to extend your stay on the academy to try and help her out.”

“One night, about a month before graduation, the division leader confided in me his choice to hand over the division to Tyra.  I knew she’d never be able to get the division to follow her.  I hoped with my assistance we could keep the division in the top grades, but I wasn’t able to make a difference.”

“Sounds like it was a huge sacrifice on your part.”

“Really?  I’d never given it much thought.  It seemed like something I had to do.”

“Ever regretted your decision?”

“Nope.  I can’t explain it, but I feel most at ease when I’m giving out Tyra’s orders.  It just feels right to be at her side.  Perhaps I was just born to be a second.”

“Hang on a second; something just occurred to me.”

“What?” Ronald asked with peaked interest.

“You said you hadn’t thought about her as a girl when you first saw her.  You said it like that was no longer the case.  When did that change?”

“I hadn’t really thought about it.”  Ronald paused as he thought it over.  “I’d have to say the first time I
really
noticed was during the trial against you.”

“You’re kidding!” Brent said in shock.

“I mean it.  She swung me around in some kind of fancy waltz.  It was the first time I’d really thought about her as a girl.  Before that, she was just the division leader.”

“Unbelievable.”  Brent started laughing.

“What?”

“I’ll tell you why you’re uncertain and filled with anxiety.  For the first time, after five years of serving with her, you are starting to think about her as a woman.  There’s your source of conflict.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Ronald, you’re twenty-three, right?”

“Of course, why?”

“Good, then there won’t be any legal considerations.”

“Legal considerations?  What are you scheming?”

“A surefire test.  After this you’ll know, without any doubt, what’s bothering you.”

“Brent . . .” Ronald cast a concerned glance at the Weaver.

“Trust me.  You head to the recreation room.  I’ll meet you there shortly.”

Ronald gave him an uncertain look before reluctantly heading down the corridor.  As soon as Ronald was out of sight, Brent rushed in the opposite direction toward the mess room.  He had to ask at least a dozen crewmembers before he tracked Cassandra and Tyra down.  The two were chatting and chuckling in an unused side room when he finally found them.

“Are you all right?”  Cassandra asked him.  “You’re out of breath.”