ParaDiv Ops: Earthbound Spirits by Jaxon Reed

Author:Jaxon Reed [Reed, Jaxon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-03-15T16:00:00+00:00

22

Darkness settled across G Deck, with faint starlight and even Earth’s moonlight piped in via electronics.

Joiner glanced up at the lunar glow with an introspective look.

“So, if the light from Sol and Luna are sent here via quantum transmissions . . . it’s in real time, right? But we’re experiencing time dilation as the ship approaches the speed of light. But . . . this is light . . . sent in real time. To our time?”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it,” Ardell said. “They use algorithms to line things up with the matter transfers. It probably works the same way with natural light.”

“Okay. Okay, I can accept that.”

Hudson called from the other side of the wagon.

“Is the PASS set up, you two?”

Ardell said, “Working on it, D.”

In a softer voice she said, “Quit staring at the moon and help me, you big dummy.”

Joiner frowned.

“Need I remind you, I outrank you, C Ardell?”

She snorted and said, “By one level.”

“C5 is C5. And you are a C4 Until you get promoted, I am a higher ranking dummy than you.”

When he turned his back she stuck her tongue out at him.

McKenzie, sitting by Keller and facing the two unconscious men on the ground, laughed at their interplay.

She whispered softly, “I think she likes him.”

Keller smiled and lifted her eyebrows.

She responded in a quiet voice.

“Maybe. I think they’ve worked together a long time. You can grow fond of somebody when that happens. But they’ll remain professional. It’s a rule in the Navy and the Marines. You can’t date someone of a lower rank. Or higher rank. So, they may like each other, but they won’t do anything about it right now.”

“Oh.”

McKenzie thought about that a while and looked over at Hudson. He stood on the other side of the wagon quietly cursing the netting, colonial ships, and colonists appropriating infernal objects as makeshift weapons.

“Mr. Hudson is a D rank?” she said. “That’s higher than C.”

“That’s right.”

“And you’re a Q rank, but I’ve seen him tell you what to do.”

“Well . . . the Q rank is usually reserved for desk officers. We do bookwork and things. Occasionally we do fieldwork, like this. But, we’re not combat officers.”

“I thought everybody in the military was trained for combat. You have a gun.”

“Yes, you’re right. We are all trained in combat. But . . . some of us have job descriptions involving combat-like things, and those people are specially trained for fighting. The rest of us don’t. There’s lots of jobs in the Navy, but not all of them involve fighting.”

“And you don’t fight?”

“That’s right. Ordinarily, I spend my days behind a desk. But D Hudson his team are Marines specially trained to go in and solve problems by force.”

“So, he gets to order you around.”

Keller’s voice became more thoughtful.

“A D rank is kind of like the old sergeants, back when we called them that. The sergeant is the one in charge of the soldiers on the ground. So in a four-person team like a MERTA, there will be one D whose job it is to run the operation.

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