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Chapter 3
Time: Time: CY 9816 AugustLocation DSC Forged in Flame near the Tizona slippoint
Theo was sitting in the forward junior enlisted lounge trying, and failing, to concentrate on the vid he had asked Seraphina, the ship's AI, to display. The lounge was deserted. the chairs and the game tables abandoned except for him. He didn't mind the solitude he wasn't really in the mood for company. He kept telling himself that he wasn't worried about the upcoming drop but his stomach still felt as if he had swallowed a colony of flutterbys.
"Nervous, Theo?" came a voice from beside him.
Theo literally jumped out of his seat and assumed a defensive hand to hand combat position before he realized who the voice belonged to. Standing before him was a statuesque woman with red hair wearing a Lancer uniform. Seraphina's holographic self had materialized beside him.
"What makes you think I'm nervous, Sera?" he asked straightening up from his fighting crouch. "I'm not nervous at all."
The holographic image rolled her eyes heavenwards. "So I suppose your leap from the chair was because you were practicing for the sitting high jump event at the next Commonwealth Olympics. I hate to break this to you but there's no such event. But if there ever is you'll be a galaxy class contender."
Theo sat back in his chair and tried to slouch nonchalantly. "I'm just a little edgy from boredom is all," he said.
Seraphina gave him a look that said 'If you think I'll buy that you must think I've had a total systems failure' but declined to do anything more than shake her head in annoyance, which set her holographic hair flying like flames. Instead of contradicting him though she said, "Sergeant Rhinegold asked me if I knew where you where. Should I tell her?"
Theo thought it over. He wasn't too keen on Cat seeing how nervous he was but he realized that he didn't really want to be alone. "Please," he said.
A few moments later Cat entered the lounge. "Hi Theo," she said as she sat down in the chair beside him. "I thought you might want some company."
"Theo's a bit nervous about the upcoming slipstream transit," said Sera.
Theo shot her a dirty look which she ignored. As she had been speaking Seraphina had checked Cat's vitals. The girls heartbeat, respiration and perspiration levels were elevated even more than Theo's were. She was probably even more nervous about the upcoming drop than Theo was, she was just better about hiding her nervousness.
"Hey there's nothing to be worried about," said Cat trying and almost succeeding to sound relaxed. "I've done plenty."
"A training mission to Gungnir," said Theo sarcasm dripping from his voice. "One transit. Yeah, I guess that makes you a real expert on slipstream travel."
"Two," answered Cat, "Or did you think I walked back from Gungnir."
"What are they teaching you about slipstream theory in school?" asked Seraphina interrupting the quarrel before it started.
"Not much," answered Cat. "Something about opening a hole in space using gravity focusing and exotic matter and crawling into the hole then expanding space behind the hole while contracting space in front of it. The ship in the hole doesn't move faster than light but since space itself can move faster than light you can travel faster than light by riding the wave of moving space if you make the space move faster than light."
A pained look came over Sera'phina's face as she listened to Cat's description. "Not much is right," she said. "But the important thing right now is that statistically the two of you are more likely to be killed or injured once you arrive on planet than you are during the slipstream transit."
Realizing that she might have just done more harm than good with her attempts to sooth the young peoples' apprehension Seraphina took a different tactic. She had done this so many times over the years with so many new Lancers that it had become second nature to her. At this moment she was holding variations of this conversation with 32 other new Lancers scattered throughout her ship body while she was speaking to Theo and Cat.
"It's perfectly normal to be frightened before and during combat. Theo, did your father ever tell you that when he made his first combat drop he lost control of his bowels?"
"You're kidding," said Theo forgetting his apprehension. "Dad crapped his pants?"
"He was just about your age. It was on Abaddon IV. The Kalderans were engaging in one of their periodic uprisings and the 814th was part of the task force assigned to suppress the rebellion. He never mentioned it but I'm the one who handles the laundry so I knew. I get a lot of dirty laundry after a combat drop.
"I'm not going to lie and tell you that I know for certain that you will both be coming back, but the odds are in your favor. I've seen the battle plan and it's a good one. The Lundmarkians aren't going to use strategic weaponry because our targets are going to be in heavily populated areas. We'll have established space control before you ever go in and the local military garrisons won't have time to get organized and on scene before we pick you up so you'll be dealing mostly with the local police forces. Just remember your training and pay attention to what's going on around you."
"You sound like Top," said Cat.
"Actually he sounds like me," corrected Seraphina. "I gave him the same speech I just gave the two of you prior to his first drop."
"Did he crap his pants too?" asked Theo.
"Why don't you ask him," said Seraphina. "I'm sure his response would be... educational."
Expressions of horror crossed both Theo and Cat's faces as they imagined the Sergeant Major's reaction to the question.
Seeing that she had relieved some of their fears Seraphina decided to let them do the rest of the work themselves. "You still have five hours till suit up time. The 22-147-4 fan room is deserted right now. If the two of you would like to spend some time in it I can secure it so no one can enter. I'll alert you 90 minutes before suit up time." With that she vanished.
Cat got up from her chair and took Theo's hand pulling him out of his chair.
"Where are we going ?"asked Theo. He was pretty sure he knew but he wanted to hear it from Cat.
"To the fan room," was her reply.
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