Gall Force Fan Fiction ❯ Another Journey, Another Story ❯ Chapter 3

Gall Force: Another Journey, Another Story

Part Three

Captain Gail sat down in her command chair, feeling the bridge crew's eyes on her. Taking a steadying breath, she activated the shipwide broadcast system. "This is the Captain speaking," she said crisply "the Lady Grace will be moving out in two days. We have determined that our best course of action is to engage the surviving Paranoid force in a running fight."

For a moment Gail wondered how the crew would be taking this. They knew the devastation the Solenoid fleet had suffered out here, and that their chances of survival were slim. 'But there is a chance,' the redhead reminded herself firmly.

"While we prepare, and once we move out, I will need to rely on your skills and on your professionalism more than ever before," Gail continued. "But I know that this crew is some of the best in the fleet, and we will get the job done," she said passionately. A short breath, "That is all."

Once the Captain shut the communication's system down Commander Allaine spoke up, "You heard the boss, let's go!" The dark brown haired smiled slightly, "We've got two days to finish up repairs and get ready to go!"

Gail had to smile slightly, "I'll leave this in your capable hands. I'll be in the ready room in needed." She slipped out of the bridge as quickly as she could, letting the connecting door slide shut behind her. Sitting down at the conference table she rested her head in shaking hands.

It was a few minutes later that the door slid open, and Allaine came in. "You all right?" she asked her friend softly.

Gail smiled a bit weakly, "Just a few second thoughts, is all."

"You've made the best call you could," Allaine said firmly. She sat in the chair beside her, reaching out to gently squeeze Gail's shoulder.

The two women had been good friends even before their battlefield promotions, and shared a strong bond. Speculation among the crew was that the two had shared a romantic relationship, but that was merely due to the intimacy of their friendship. Not that Allaine hadn't thought about it once or twice, but falling in love with your commanding officer could be a problem.

"Thanks," Gail smiled a bit more naturally.

"You might want to do one of your famous 'ship walkabouts' too," Allaine offered, "I think the crew could use seeing you right now."

"You're probably right," Gail agreed, getting up and then stretching out. She gave Allaine a grin, "Keep an eye on the bridge for me."

"You got it," Allaine grinned back.

On a level far below the ship's bridge Lieutenant-Commander Karin surveyed the ship's engine room and felt a bit of satisfaction. It was still chaotic as the crew rushed to ready the ship for a possible long voyage, but it was all well organized chaos.

The massive engines occupied much of the chamber, stretching off out into the void of space. Monitor consoles, repair stations, and other crew workstations were scattered all over the room. Along with that the entire ship was the staff's domain, repairing and maintaining all the primary systems.

'Makes me glad most of my crew made it,' Karin thought a bit grimly, pushing her short, silver hair back casually.

The door swished open and one of her new replacements jogged in. Jame had been over in life sciences, before the last big blowup. Reassigned to engineering, Karin hadn't been expecting much from her, but the lady had proven willing to get her hands dirty when needed.

"Ma'am," Jame saluted.

"Take it easy," Karin said with a slight smile. From what she understood the manager of the old life sciences division had been a real stickler for proper military procedure. "We engineering types don't go with all that formality," she reminded her.

Jame blushed a bit, her short brown hair falling into her dark eyes, "Sorry." She took a quick breath, "Salvage is ahead of schedule, though I noticed that the list of priority items for salvage has been changed."

"You caught the Captain's announcement?" Karin asked her, and once Jame nodded she continued on, "If this ends up being a long run, we're going to need all of the additional supplies we can carry." She looked over at Jame curiously, "Who's on salvage now that you're here?"

"Katrine," Jame sighed softly.

Karin made a face, "Better check on her once you're shift's over."

"I was planning to," Jame smiled slightly.

'Love is blind,' Karin mused, 'not to mention stupid.' She really didn't understand what Jame saw in that piece of blonde fluff, but she kept her mouth firmly shut. "I just wish we had more people on salvage," she sighed.

Jame opened her mouth to say something, then she shut it firmly.

"What?" Karin asked.

"I..." Jame blushed. Gathering her confidence she blurted out, "Why don't we try asking the fighter pilots for assistance? They have more EVA experience then any of us."

Karin looked down blankly at Jame a moment, then she grinned. "Of course," she clapped the girl on the shoulder, nearly knocking her over. She looked around for her second, and not seeing her bellowed, "Davies!"

"Yo," the sandy haired girl slid out from under the piece of machinery she was working on.

"Keep an eye on the store while I'm gone," Karin shot over her shoulder as the Lieutenant-Commander bolted out the door.

"Wha..." Jame blinked.

Davies smiled as she wiped off her hands with a rag, "The boss tends to be a pretty hands on person. She probably just went to ask the fighter captain herself." The tall young woman tilted her head, "She leave you a job before she left?"

"No," Jame admitted.

"C'mon," Davies lead her towards the device she had been working on, "I'll show you what a flux capacitor looks like from the inside."

Jame paled slightly as she followed, "Ah, right."

In a room on the residential level Major Tanya paced her rooms impatiently. The green haired pilot scowled as she looked at the clock, "Where is she?" The door chimed, and she hit the switch to open it, scowling when she saw Karin there. "What do you want?"

The engineer stood up straight, meeting her eyes. "I was hoping I could borrow a few of your pilots," Karin asked, "to help with the EVA operations."

Tanya frowned slightly, "My people are used to operating in zero gee." She thought for a moment, "I'll make you a deal."

"Yes?" Karin asked suspiciously.

"It ain't that bad," Tanya grinned at her, "I just want you to give my fighters a repair priority whenever possible."

Karin nodded slightly, "I can do that."

"Then we've got ourselves a deal," Tanya grinned, quickly calling up her pilot's barracks to let them know. Privately she knew that her people had been going so stir crazy between fights that they'd probably volunteer for something to do, but Karin didn't really need to know that. "They can help for the next day or so," she added as she disconnected, "but I want my people to have twelve hours of rest before we move out."

"Got it," Karin jogged off with a smile.

"About time she left," a grumpy voice came from up the hallway. The dark haired woman quickly slipped into Tanya's suite, enfolding the other woman in a hug. Lieutenant Danielle sighed softly, "Did you have to talk to her so long?"

"If you hadn't been late," Tanya chided her gently, "we wouldn't even be having this conversation." She gently walked the two of them towards the bed, "What held you up?"

"Allaine wanted to talk to me," Danielle sat down beside Tanya on the bed. As she was tugging a boot off she added, "I don't think she's buying our little feud."

Tanya paused in her own stripping to admire Danielle, then got back to it. "Allaine's a sharp officer," she admitted. She frowned, "She have any problems with it?"

"She casually mentioned relationships between officers are permitted as long as they don't interfere with shipboard duties," Danielle smirked.

Tanya chuckled softly, "I think we've shown there's no danger of that happening."

Danielle grabbed the mostly nude Tanya, gently tugging her down to the bed beside her. "Less talking," she smiled at her impishly, "more kissing."

To be continued...