Dan pulled on his white naval uniform. He looked at the bag packed on his bunk. He couldn't believe how fast the last week had flown by. Part of it was how busy he'd been. He'd essentially been working two jobs, finishing up his community service work and increasingly being a naval officer again.
The consortium crew had been even busier. They were making the ship ready for an extended docking for repair and decontamination. Bakala was working double shifts getting things inventoried and prepared. They'd barely had any time to see each other this last week.
Oh well, we have five days leave to spend with each other. And then... he shook his head. He wasn't ready to think beyond this next leave. Not yet.
"Five to secure," the overheard said. "Five to secure."
"Come on, get back here," Kleppie's voice called out.
Dan went to the back of the room and slid in with the other crew.
"Display front of ship," Kleppie said. The videoscreen showed the front of the ship and beyond...
"Is that?"
"Yup, the base ship. We are coming in nice and smooth," Kleppie said. "Rohana is in the pilot's seat, with Tellki backing her up."
Madsen snorted. "Since that tour you act like you are on first name basis with them."
Kleppie shrugged. "Kind of am," he said.
"Remember take off," Jensen said, interrupting the fight. "We stared out the window, cuz we didn't know how to make the display work?"
"Didn't even know we had a display," Dan said. "Your right. Seems like years ago now. Hard to think it's only been what? Two months."
"Secure," the overhead said. Moments later Dan felt himself grow weightless as the gravity cut off. They floated in place most of the morning, watching the base ship creep closer and swallow their ship. After some time gravity cut in again.
They were released from "secure" and allowed to roam their bunk while the airlock checks and the exterior decontamination were done. After another nearly forty five minutes they were finally told to gather their bags and make their way towards the forward bay to disembark.
#######
Cheyenne followed Janda and Lana out into the main bay. The hatch was open and the ramp down. Captain Sherman Lannister entered the bay from the opposite side and they met in the middle.
"I feel like a that rich cartoon guy from monopoly," he quipped. His left eye sported a round metallic cylinder with a glass front. The cylinder encased an eyeball, floating in it's own miniature medi-tank, protecting it while the eyelid and skin could regrow.
"Oh, really," Cheyenne said. "I remember this kid in elementary school with these massive coke bottle glasses. All the other kids teased him relentlessly. That's how I feel. Still it's good to look out of real eyes." Cheyenne had both eyes encased in their own miniature tanks. She blinked, a tiny shield sliding across the front of the glass in response to her nerve impulse. "I can't wait to blink for real, though. That's too trippy."
He laughed and ushered her down the ramp. The Corelean had landed in an airlock that was several hundred yards across and at least twice that deep. For as big as the ship was, it looked small. The large main doors at the back of the airlock were closed.
Small side doors on the airlock were already standing open and workers in civil engineering uniforms were pushing large carts filled with an incredible assortment of tools and machinery into the airlock. They lined the carts up along the wall but made no move towards the ship yet.
Members of both crew were pouring out of the bay and into the wide airlock. They were gathering separately, with their own command. The munitions crew, the gunner crew, communications, all lined up in parade formation. Cheyenne saw Dan and their crew and made for them.
To their right, the Corelean crew was gathering in its own formation, lines of healers in the front. Lana gave Cheyenne a quick peck on the cheek and made for her side of the assembly, Janda right behind her.
Captain Shana Dowlings came last, accompanied by two pilots. Both crews stood side by side at attention. Captain Lannister solemnly thanked Captain Dowlings for the rescue and the captains exchanged salutes. They took turns giving short speeches to their crews, praising their conduct under trying times.
Cheyenne couldn't help but give a short glance at the two rapist, standing between security. They were the only exceptions to good conduct, as far as she knew. They would be heading to Africa and the growing penal colony, where they'd bunk with rebel soldiers from the Congo, insurgents from Somalia and whatever other refuse had ran afoul the Consortium.
After both speeches, Captain Lannister called the crew to attention one last time, saluted them and announced, "company, dismissed."
They broke and made for the large interior doors. A tiny figure stood in front of them. As they got closer they could see he was an earth sider, American. He couldn't have been much older than his mid twenties, one of the more junior diplomats. He was broad and slightly stocky, an athlete going to seed. He had short blond hair and friendly face.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the USS Cambridge," he greeted them. "You are about to see something that up until now, only a handful of diplomats have ever seen. For the next few days you are to be guests of the Consortium base ship. We are docked on Bottom, as the name implies, the lowest level of the ship and the largest civilian court onboard.
The doors behind him slid open. It was a vast open space. The court was almost thirty meters high and it stretch away into the distance. Cheyenne remembered what someone had told her once, that the three civilian courts onboard this ship housed over thirty thousand people. She hadn't believed it until now.
To the right, some fifty meters away, the court and ship ended in a series of giant windows, angled to give a stunning view of the Earth below. Fifty yards to the left, a wall rose. Numerous doors and business fronted along the wall.
The court itself was a maze, dotted with small open air shops. Flowering bushes and small trees grew in giant pots. Benches and tables were positioned between stalls. Every so often, in an arrangement that hinted at a pattern Cheyenne couldn't fully detect, were open areas. Many were raised slightly and could serve as stages. In fact many were in use by groups of musicians, dancers, people doing what looked like yoga or a variety of martial arts.
People were everywhere. Most were human, or at least simian. Broad shouldered Neanderthals, hairy Hanuman and regular looking humans mingled freely. Behind the counter at some shop, Cheyenne saw a seven foot blue skinned humanoid with dark eyes and long conical head that ended in a brushy "hair" of tentacles; a C'thon.
A huge beast shuffled through the crowd. It looked like an oversized Saint Bernard, hairy and four legged. But it's head was higher and sported two smaller arm-like appendages. It's eyes were bright and it paused and conversed with a passerby. Cheyenne made a mental note to ask Lana what sort of alien it was.
Cheyenne's attention was drawn closer by the sounds of music. A small crowd had gathered to greet them. To one side, behind a rope, was a group of dignitaries. There was a small contingent of Americans, many with glowing outlines to show they were not physically present. There were a couple military commanders, a few state department types and a small army of reporters. Next to them was a group of consortium officials, including one easily recognizable figure, Holi of the base ship news. On the far side was a group of Taiwanese officials. The music was Taiwanese and the group of school girls performed an intricate dance for them.
Afterwards there were speeches. None long, thank god. Cheyenne stood awkwardly to one side as the Taiwanese official thanked her for sparing their country from a nuclear blast. The Base Ship's Chief Navigator, Chandra, was there to greet them and to offer his apologies that Captain Ganaka was unable to be there in person. Cheyenne suspect his absence was intentional. He was a hated figure in America due to the early rocky days of first contact.
Beyond was a fair sized crowd of civilians, drawn by the spectacle. Cheyenne found her the center of numerous staring eyes and she didn't know quite how to deal with that.
Before long the greeting ceremony was over and the crowd began to mingle.
"Most of your crew is being put up in a hotel just over there," Lana said, appearing at Cheyenne's side.
"But we found one a little further down," Janda said at her other side.
"You did?"
"It has medical facilities on site," Lana explained. "It will be the best for all of us."
"It's a fair walk," Janda warned. "Let us know if you get tired."
"This is amazing," Cheyenne gushed staring at the market around her. "I don't know what I expected of a space ship, but it wasn't this, this, openness. Will the station be like this?"
"Yeah, pretty much. Quarters, you will discover, are smaller that what I've seen of your Earth houses," Janda said. "Not as small as the Corelean, though. We make up for it by having these big open communal spaces."
Cheyenne continued to marvel. The people wore a wide variety of clothing, from shirt and pant combinations that would be unremarkable back home to long flowing dresses and robes. Colors overall, tended to be bright. The markets sold a huge variety of goods as well. One stall sold the most beautiful silk scarves Cheyenne had ever seen. Another sold Quicksilver cookware, metallic pots and pans that could morph into a dozen or more shapes and sizes at the touch of a button and provided their own heat. There will time later to explore, she told herself as she followed Lana and Janda towards the hotel.
######
As soon as the reception was finished the crews began to split apart. Some of the Corelean's crew, those that hadn't formed close friendships with the others, simply scattered, disappearing into the crowd and heading back to other lives. Some of the American crew moved almost as swiftly to the right, where the diplomat had locals ready to escort them to hotels and see them settled.
The rest of the crews stayed and mingled. The diplomats, the press and the civilians were slowly filtering into the crowd to offer personal thanks or greetings.
Fox looked around the crowd, not ready to simply leave. He looked instead for a familiar face and form.
Nara appeared as if on cue at his side. "Well, this is it," she said with a sly smile. She shook her head. "It's nice to get off the ship after so long, but..."
"It's strange, too," Fox finished. "To think, it's over. Won't be seeing my ugly mug every day."
She snorted. "I'll miss it, even. Then again if I were to see your ugly mug, maybe sometime...wouldn't be fraternizing?"
A smile ripped through him and he met her halfway to a kiss. They stood, toe to toe and kissed, as though they were trying to push every molecule of air out between them. His arms went around her. He felt a toned, strong back and it only fueled his desire and made this kiss hotter. He forgot everything in that kiss, until the cheering of the crowd brought him back to the present. The press was taking pictures and people were clapping. Several of the sailors cat called him. He didn't care and apparently neither did Nara.
"You're off duty now? Come on," she said.
"Where?" he asked as he followed her through the crowd.
"I've an apartment, close by," she said.
"Can't be close enough," he muttered.
She spun on him, a smirk on her face. She shoved him into the back of a juice stand, hard enough to make the stand shake and kissed him again.
He responded in kind. They kissed and wrestled with each other until the stand's employees looked around the back to see what the fuss was and suggested they find a room.
"Yes, a room," Nara said, panting. "I've a room." She broke off and started through the crowd again, Fox close on her heels.