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Posted on Mon Oct 25th, 2021 @ 12:57pm by Lieutenant Mila Lynn & Sublieutenant Miles Lynn & Uhlan Ezra Perez
1,064 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Chapter V: The Calm Before The Storm
Timeline: 238703.04
Miles smiled to himself as he checked the navigation readings. "Right, eleven hours to our destination, time to get comfortable," he called out to his passengers, who were sat in the back of the shuttle, playing chess. "You guys want something to eat? We still have those bento that Shizune gave us."
"Please," Perez replied, their voice tense. A glance at the board told Miles why - Perez was losing. Again. It had been two hours since Mila found the old board tucked away in one of the containers on the shuttle, and they were using various spare parts as the pieces. Since then, Mila had defeated the Terran nine times. Carefully, Perez picked up the screw that represented their queen, and moved it forward, taking one of the nuts that Mila used as pawns. The young scientist chuckled. "You sure about that one?" She grabbed her own queen, and swiftly took that of her opponent. "Check."
Her grin grew even wider when Perez looked over the board and realized what position they were now in. It had been a valiant fight, but there was no way out. With a sigh, they knocked over their king - one of the few actual chess pieces on the board. "I'm tired of Chess."
Mila shook her head. "You need to think ahead. Brute force rarely works in this game." She nodded her thanks to her brother, who handed her a small box with rice, some fish, and vegetables. "You were doing well, but when you should have used the ignored that pawn. Then your queen would still have been able to defend. Thought you did tactical training, you should know better than to fall for such a trick."
Perez shrugged. "Or maybe I just wanted the game to be over. You would just have toyed with me for a few more moves. You're quite sadistic when you get into this, you know that?"
Miles laughed. "Oh, trust me, she can get a lot worse. Do you know Risk, that old world conquest game? She'd intentionally let her opponents retreat just to be able to hit them harder and inflict even worse losses."
"You sure you're not Terran?", Perez asked with a raised eyebrow, receiving only a giggle as a reply. "You know," they added. "I could get used to this. Just hanging out, relaxing, playing games. It's nice."
"What, enjoying getting your ass whooped?" Mila laughed. "I always thought Terrans hated losing. We can always play a bit more after we eat. Miles, you still have that deck of cards? How about some poker?"
Not only did Miles have a deck of cards, but he also had two bottles of whisky, and so, the game of poker had quickly turned into a drinking game, lasting a good few hours, until everyone decided to get some sleep. Perez, who thanks to their genetic modifications had a somewhat bigger tolerance to alcohol, had volunteered to watch over the navigation controls while the twins slept off their buzz, and was sat by the controls, buried in a book.
"Alice in Wonderland? Going for the old classics, eh? And in actual physical print, didn't know you were such a connoiseur!" Perez looked up to see Mila sat in the co-pilot's chair. She had changed into an oversized t-shirt that she usually wore to bed when other people were around, and was sat on her bare legs, trying to make herself as comfortable as she could. "Yeah, it was a gift from Dr. Perez back in the day. No idea how he got it. Check the imprint." They handed the book to Mila, who flipped to the first page.
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carrol, with forty-two illustrations by John Tenniel. London, Macmillan and Co., 1865," she read out, before looking up in awe. "Is this...?"
Perez nodded. "First edition. From this universe, too. I have no idea how he got it. It's incredibly rare." They gazed at the distorted field of stars outside the window as the shuttle carried on at warp speeds. "I can relate to Alice. I'm in this strange world completely different to the one I came from, and yet, many things are similar. Like, my family's teahouse, it exists here. Most people do, too. It's a bizarre experience. And one full of philosophical mysteries, too. Like, what would you call it if someone slept with their counterpart from an alternate timeline?"
Mila gasped. "You did not. No. No way."
"Yep." Perez chuckled. "It was her idea. I think. I dunno. It was a one-time thing. She has a girlfriend, although they are in an open relationship, apparently. I don't know why I did it."
Mila shook her head. "Tsk tsk. Didn't know you were the type." Then, she burst out laughing. "Oh, I will never let you live that one down, I promise you that much. Now I get why she was so weird about you leaving! Especially the emotional send-off!"
"Whatever." The Terran shrugged. "I'm sure you have done things in your life as well."
"Oi, wake up you useless drunk!" Mila, once again in full uniform, shook her brother, who simply mumbled something incomprehensible and turnd around. She sighed, and turned back to Perez, who was still sat at the controls. "Guess you'll have to fly us into dock, then."
Perez chuckled as they dropped the shuttle out of warp, and then instantly frowned. "What the hell?" Instead of the familiar Nova-class, a large battleship was ahead of them. The confusion became even stronger when they read the ship's registry - it was the Amelia. "Okay, we obviously missed something." Shrugging, they opened a comm channel. "Shuttlecraft three to Amelia, requesting docking permission. We're back."
Miles had finally got to his feet, and was also staring at the cruiser. "Now that is what I call a ship. Someone got an upgrade while we were away!"
Finally, the comm came to life, with the voice of the Captain herself coming through the speaker. "Welcome back. You didn't bring Major Rogers, did you?"
"No, she went to see her family on Terr- I mean, Earth, she'll be coming soon, though. Why, what happened?"
"Quite a lot, actually. Docking permission granted. Once you've landed, come see me in my ready room. All of you."
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