Crineal Chronicles 1: In Hera's Service (15 page)

Chuckling,
Feldea looked at Cyndora once more. “Good to meet you, too, Cyndora. It’s
always nice to see a new face. Isn’t this your down day, Sir?”

The
general shrugged self-deprecatingly. “You know me. I have too much spare time
so I thought I’d come and bore you instead. Cyndora came along to try and keep
the conversation interesting. I’m sure her fashion sense is better than mine.”

The
lieutenant took in Cyndora’s short stature and perked up. “You’re from Earth?”
Cyndora nodded. “What sort of things do they wear down there? Young women like
us, I mean?”

Sitting
back and watching as the two ladies discussed clothes, fashion and cosmetics,
Crineal reflected that bringing Cyndora along had been good for both her and
Feldea. The junior officer seemed to be more relaxed chatting to Cyndora than
she was with him. It took Feldea nearly ten minutes to realize that Crineal
wasn’t adding anything to the conversation. She looked mortified and blushed,
her face turning almost the same color as her hair. “I’m so sorry, Sir. I was…”

Waving
her apology off with a smile, Crineal tried to reassure his anxious
subordinate. “You’re fine, Lieutenant. I’m glad you two have something to talk
about.” He spotted Doctor Marrash talking to a med tech. “I’ll check in with
the doc and you two can carry on with your discussion of haute couture.”
Leaving them to it, Crineal cornered Marrash to get a more accurate appraisal
of Feldea’s likely recovery time. The doctor was more upbeat about Feldea’s
recovery than Crineal expected which left the general feeling much better.
Sauntering back over to her bedside, he saw that the ladies were still
chattering away. They looked up as he approached.

“Sir,
is there any chance I might get a little bit of leave before we pull out from
Earth Orbital? Cyndora has been telling me about some really intriguing
sounding ethnic fashions. I’d love to get a chance to try them out.” Feldea
looked ready to check herself out of medical there and then.

Crineal
smiled understandingly. “Doctor Marrash says if you keep up your current
progress you might be out in ten days. That would leave you perhaps five days
to do some shopping.”

“Oh
great. Ummm... Sir?” she hesitated and then rushed on. “Could I borrow Cyndora
to visit me again? I have lots more I want to know.”

Sparing
a glance at his friend told the general that this wouldn’t be an unwelcome
idea. “I think that would be acceptable. I’m sure she gets bored when I’m on
duty.” Crineal spotted Marrash advancing on them. “Looks like the doc wants you
again, Lieutenant, so I think we’ll make a retreat. See you tomorrow, Fel.”
Cyndora gave her a little wave, too, as they headed out of medical section.

“She
seems nice. Is it really ok for me to visit her without you?” she asked.

“Sure,
I’ll set you up with permission. Keep it official.”

“Sir?
Could I visit a friend in the Rec dorm, too? I was hauled out of there without
any warning and she’s probably wondering if I’m ok.” Jaydea was probably
frantic by now, Cyndora thought.

“I
don’t have a problem with it. Just make sure that you’re not interfering with
her work schedule, though. That will cause problems. Why don’t you go there
after visiting Feldea tomorrow?” Crineal suggested.

“Really?
Oh that would be so good.” Beaming at the thought she happily walked with the
general back to his quarters.

Once
there Crineal stripped out of his uniform jacket and checked his messages once
more. Cyndora, now feeling a little hungrier, fixed herself a small snack
without bothering to change and watched the man she had known for years as he
waded through some memos. He was the same but different, harder in a lot of
places. The changes he’d gone through had certainly been good for his physique
though, not muscle bound but very nicely fit. Cyndora blushed as she caught
herself thinking that way and concentrated on finishing her food. Yawning as
she cleared her plate away, she felt like she needed a nap. It had been an emotional
day and sleep had been in short supply this last week due to her frustrations
and anger. He looks tired too, she thought.

“Crin?
I thought I might take a nap. It looks like you could use one, too.” She moved
to stand by where he was seated working on his data pad. “Is there anything
that can’t wait?” motioning with her hand towards it.

Shaking
his head, he turned it off. “No, and you’re right, I could use some more
sleep.” The data pad went onto the table and he followed her into the bedroom.
They changed into their sleep wear and settled into their respective beds.
Crineal killed the lights and started to relax into sleep. He could hear
Cyndora moving restlessly. Just as he was about to drift off he felt the bed
cover move and the air mattress shift under extra weight. An arm snaked over
his waist and Cyndora cuddled up to his back. Gently, so as not to alarm her,
he placed his hand over the arm wrapped around him to comfort her. Within
minutes they were both asleep.

Crineal
woke up before the alarm went off, having slept himself out. Something was
draped over him and a warm body was nicely pressed up against his back. He
tried to move carefully to avoid disturbing the young woman in his bed.

“Mumppphh,”
came from behind him. Followed by “uuuuh… wha time isit?”

Checking
the display, Crineal replied softly. “Oh five hundred. It’s early.”

The
response was first an “uuuh” followed by Cyndora stiffening against him as she
suddenly realized where she was.

Smiling
to himself in the dark, Crineal greeted her without turning and palmed the
lights to very dim. “Good morning. You must have slept well?”

“Ummm,
I guess.” She seemed at a loss for how to react to finding herself sharing his
bed. Crineal gently peeled her arm from around him, rose and headed to the
bathroom without looking at her to give Cyndora a chance to regain her
composure. When he returned she was still lying there, looking embarrassed. He
sat on the bed next to her and stroked her hair.

“It’s
ok. You were still pretty upset last night. I know I have nights like that
after a bad mission sometimes,” he tried to reassure her.

Her
head turned to look up at him, the blush fading a little. “Who do you get to
cuddle up to, to make it feel better?”

He
shook his head sadly. “No one, I just end up with a sleepless night.”

Cyndora’s
hand covered his. “Let me know if I can return the favor.”

“That’s
the best offer I’ve had in ages,” Crineal smiled at her.

“Really?
You’re hardly ugly. I’d have thought that you’d have them queuing up at your
door?” She propped her head up on her hand to look at him.

“Not
allowed. Regs say that fraternization of that kind between crew members of
different ranks in the same command chain is strictly forbidden. And
technically, if anything happens to the admiral and captain, I’m next in
command. So that makes the entire strike force off limits to me.”

“Wow,
that’s gotta make it hard,” she offered sympathetically.

Grinning,
Crineal looked at her. “I’m not even going to think about touching that line.”
She smacked him with a pillow in good-humored disgust. “Hey, no assaulting a
senior officer.”

“You
wish!” Cyndora teased him.

“Anyway,
I thought I’d head to the gym early and get started on the day. Are you going
to join me or just lay there, testing my self-control?”

“Better
get you to the gym and work off that energy you have this morning,” she
grumbled.

Two
hours later they were finishing up breakfast and Cyndora was considering her
planned visit to the Rec dorm. She was thinking that she’d like to take
something to Jay, but she didn’t have anything to give. Then she remembered
about what that woman had said on her first, and only, night in the dorm.

“Crin?”
He looked up from his data pad as he sipped his tea. “One of the other women
said that we shouldn’t steal from each other and I saw a few of the other
people there seemed to have a few things. I thought as prisoners we weren’t
allowed possessions?”

Putting
his cup down Crineal looked thoughtful. “Yes and no. Technically, the
recreation staff are no longer prisoners; you all signed on for the Space Corps.
Therefore, you have some of the rights that any crew member does. However, you
don’t get paid and have no authority to request goods. So it’s pretty hard for
you to get anything. I understand that some of the regular crew do give
presents to their favorites once in a while. That’s the stuff you likely saw
and what the woman was talking about.”

Cyndora
mulled this over for a while. “But you gave me money and I bought clothes and a
few personal items with it. What about those?”

“Ah,
well, I didn’t actually give you any money. I just allocated a portion of my
money for you to buy things for yourself on my behalf. Technically, it’s still
all my stuff unless I actually give it to you.”

“Oh…
So I still don’t own anything then?”

“Afraid
not. I guess that officers who have personal recreation assistants recycle any
clothes back to the stores once they return the person to the dorm. They might
let them take a few trinkets, like make-up, I guess. Why? What’s the curiosity
for?” Crineal laid his data pad on the table to give her his full attention.

“I
was wondering if I could take something as a present to Jaydea. I’m sure she’s
been worrying about me and I wanted to give her something to show her I’m sorry
and that everything is alright.” Cyndora felt a little down now she knew that
she didn’t have anything.

“What
does she like?” he asked, as he sat back in his chair to consider the problem.

“All
kinds of things, I guess. I used to buy her little boxes of chocolates for her
birthday and holidays, or maybe take her out for a meal or go shopping for
something.” The memories of those shopping trips felt very distant to her now.

“Punch
up some chocolate bars from the food replicator. They’re consumables and no one
would mind you taking those to her. If anyone asks, you can tell them that you
have my permission. Do they have them available in the dorm?” He was totally
unaware of what was allowed the people there but he guessed it wasn’t much, if
anything, above the basics.

“No,
it was just standard subsistence foods I guess, still better than the prison
though. I haven’t even seen chocolate since we were arrested.” She picked up
the breakfast trays and took them to the recycler before looking through the
food replicator menu to find some chocolate. She came back to the table with
five medium sized bars. “Would it be ok to take these?” Uncertainty colored her
question.

“Sure,
wrap them in something, though, or they’ll get a bit icky carrying them
around.” They would still get in a mess carrying them by hand, Crineal
realized. He stood up and went to the main replicator and produced some foil to
cover the bars in. Crineal handed the sheet to Cyndora, who went to wrap up the
chocolate. He turned back to the replicator whilst she was busy and scrolled
through some items until he found something that fitted his requirements and
punched in the request.

Returning
to the table where Cyndora had just finished wrapping the bars up he looked
over at the small pile. “Hmmm… you could use something to carry them in.”

Cyndora
studied the foil covered bars and then looked around. “A bag would be a good
idea.”

From
behind his back, Crineal produced a small rectangular ladies’ purse complete
with a carry strap to go over a shoulder. It was white with gold trim and, to
his inexpert eye, he thought it might go well with her toga dress as an
accessory without causing too much comment. “Now you own something.”

She
stood there looking at it for a moment and then gave a little squeal whilst
throwing her arms around Crineal and giving him a huge hug. “It’s perfect.” She
thought it would have been a nice present to receive even when she was back on
Earth. “Thank you.” Her eyes misted up.

“And
here’s your access card for the Rec dorm and med bay.” Crineal held up a grey
plastic card with her name and picture on it. “It’s registered to you so don’t
lose it and if you do, report it straight away.” He checked the time. “I need
to get going. You have fun and try not to give anything away about us.”

Cyndora
stood clutching the precious purse. “I’ll be careful. Thank you so much. You’re
a real sweetie.” The general left the room shaking his head in amusement.

When
he reached his office he found a message had been left for him to call the admiral.
Crineal punched the office comm link and Ken’Rathel’s face appeared.

“Good
morning, General. Another early start I see?” the admiral said in a friendly
tone.

“Good
morning, Sir. As you’re answering my call I guess the same applies to you.”

The
admiral chuckled. “Can’t argue with you there. Now, I see you’re scheduled to
go out with Ares in four days’ time on a standard local patrol?”

Crineal
nodded. “Yes, Sir. A short tour around the back yard.”