Gall Force Fan Fiction ❯ Another Journey, Another Story ❯ Chapter 4

Gall Force: Another Journey, Another Story

Part Four

Lynn smiled to herself slightly, looking out into the void of space, the stars off in the distance. It had been a very long time since the fighter jock had been able to get outside of the ship, and it felt awfully good to her. Laid up in the sickbay she had been kept out of the last battle, almost going stir crazy in there while the battle raged on outside.

"Ack!" Lynn cried out as she was thumped hard on the back of her helmet. Whirling around she saw who had thumped her and quickly swallowed her angry words.

Major Tanya gave her a wry smile, "I know it's a nice view, but there's work to be done." The green haired woman pushed off, drifting towards the transport containers, grabbing one and moving out into the debris field from the battle.

Lynn smiled to herself wryly, moving over to grab a recovery container herself. It was bad enough to be caught dozing, but being caught by the Major made it feel twice as bad! The lady was one of the best, most of her pilots firmly agreed, and all of them fought to live up to her standard. Hers, and the captain's.

A blush brightly colored Lynn's cheeks as she thought of the redheaded Captain Gail. Trying to banish those thoughts she gathered up salvageable components as she worked forward slowly, the armor gauntlets of the suit shielding her hands from the toxic radiation and the damaged edges of the parts she was collecting.

Only a few short weeks ago it looked like the ship was going to be destroyed and the ship's tactical officer Lieutenant Danielle had ordered the abandoning of the fighter wings. No one out in the battle could have blamed her, they all knew in the larger scheme of things the fighters were considered expendable. But the Captain countermanded that order, laying down waves of weapons fire to get as many fighters as possible back into the ship before they warped out.

Lynn had defied orders and left the sickbay, limping down to the fighter bays. Working with anyone who was available they pulled pilots out of battered, wrecked fighters. Meris had followed her down from the sickbay, the blonde lecturing her about taking care of her injury even as they worked together to help all the injured.

Major Tanya was pulling a pilot out of a wrecked cockpit when she froze, then finished off what she was doing. The green haired woman gently set the girl down to the deck, completely ignoring the blood that was still trickling down from her forehead as she walked towards where Captain Gail was helping another pilot.

"Why?" Major Tanya's voice was raspy, and she cleared her throat before continuing, "Why didn't you just leave us behind?"

"Because we've lost too damn many people already," Captain Gail's answer was soft. She smiled to herself grimly as she looked over the battered fighters filling up the launch bay, "No one gets left behind."

Lynn nodded to herself slightly as she finished filling the container. 'No one gets left behind,' she mused, 'there were worse battle cries.' She floated back towards the ship even as she heard a communication come over the suit's systems.

"It's exactly twelve hours before we move out," Major Tanya said crisply, "so head in and get some rest." A pause and her voice carried some amusement, "And whatever you do for the next twelve hours, don't be hung over when it's time to go." A certain amount of laughter came over the com. system at that, and Lynn just had to grin.

'She knows us pretty well,' Lynn mused as she made her way back to the ship.

In the vessel's sickbay Meris puffed out a breath in a sigh. The tall blonde looked around her nearly deserted domain, for a moment wishing there was something more to do.

'Of course,' Meris firmly reminded herself, 'when I'm busy the ship's usually under fire.'

As the head surviving officer of the Medical division Meris had worked hard the past few days to prepare the medical bays for the voyage ahead. Supplies were stocked up, the diagnostic equipment fully checked and the emergency stations around the ship carefully maintained. She thought they were as ready as she could make them..

The door to the sickbay swished open, and Meris' eyes widened as she saw the redhead walk inside, looking around casually in her uniform. 'What's the captain doing here?' she wondered.

Captain Gail strode across the sickbay, offering Meris a little smile. "Doctor Meris, it's good to see you," she said.

"Captain," Meris found herself saluting reflexedly.

Captain Gail smiled wryly, "I wanted to speak with you."

Meris gulped, wondering what she might have done wrong. "Come into my office," she gestured to the enclosed area usually belonging to the chief medical officer. With her dead along with the second in command, it had fallen to Meris to attempt to fill those shoes.

"You've done good work down here," Gail said gently, seeming to catch on to her apprehension as they walked inside. She smiled at her slightly, "You're no longer acting CMO."

Meris pushed her blonde hair back, feeling a moment of relief, then she realized the captain wasn't finished just yet.

"I'm promoting you to lieutenant-commander," Gail continued on crisply, "and officially making you the ship's CMO, effective immediately."

Meris gaped at her, trying to absorb the information. "I can't," she finally managed weakly, "I'm not qualified to be the chief!"

Gail gave her a measuring look, then she nodded towards the desk. "Take a seat," her tone of voice not making it a request. Meris went around the desk and settled into the seat. still feeling vaguely uncomfortable about sitting in what she still thought of the boss' chair. Gail continued on, "We only have one nurse and a doctor, you, left. We need a CMO, both officially and for ship morale."

Meris clenched her jaw. "You know why I was transferred off my last ship." she said softly, "you know about my problem, and you still want me to be CMO?"

Gail smiled grimly, "You haven't had a relapse since you transferred aboard, Meris." She pushed a hand through her hair, "I have a staff meeting in an hour, our last before we take off, and I need to have you there, doctor."

Meris met the captain's eyes, realizing how tired the woman was. She was fighting to prepare the ship for battle, and she needed her. A deep breath, "All right, I'll be there."

"Thank you," Gail smiled as she moved to leave the office. She paused in the doorway, "Requisition a new uniform, there's an authorization already in the ship's computer."

"You knew I'd accept," Meris murmured.

"No," Gail shrugged slightly, "but I had high hopes."

Commander Allaine sat in the command chair, looking out the viewscreen at the massive debris field, and just beyond that the three paranoid ships. The dark brown haired woman looked calmly confident, as if she were certain that they were going to succeed.

Almost her opposite was Lieutenant Lauren, who looked as tightly wound up as a spring as she sat there at her helmwoman's position. The slim blonde softly muttered to herself, "Why don't they do something!"

"Lieutenant," Allaine's voice had a certain chill to it, "if they were doing something, it would mean out electronic counter measures had failed." She gentled her voice a bit, "I can understand a bit of impatience, but we're moving out soon enough."

"Yes, ma'am," Lauren sounded sheepish.

'How the captain got messed up with that one I'll never understand,' Allaine thought to herself, keeping any of her thoughts from showing on her face. She had a very good poker face, the only officer she knew who could see through it was Gail herself.

Lieutenant Danielle slid from her position at the tactical station, the cool and capable young woman walking to her side. The black haired officer smiled slightly, "I just received a report from the salvage crews." At Allaine's inquiring look she continued, "There's been no luck in salvaging a bank of the targeting computers."

"Which means manual targeting," Allaine sighed. "The fighter pilots are not going to be happy," she added grimly. The targeting computers helped prevent them from shooting their own fighters, and with only a partially effective system the fighters were far more at risk.

"We'll do all that we can to protect the pilots," Danielle said seriously.

A soft chime over the bridge, "Senior officers to the briefing room."

"Let's go," Allaine climbed out of her seat, quickly collaring Lauren and Danielle with her eyes. All three walked into the briefing room, as the other members of the senior staff trickled in from different parts of the ship.

To be continued....