Courier Down
by Melanie Brown
Copyright  © 2020 Melanie Brown

Lieutenant Morris thought all he had to lose was his life.

 

---

 

Captain Holstein, commander of the Alliance Space Defense blockade runner Amagi turned to the three of us designated couriers. “You need to get on the tables. We expect the upload any minute now.”

We all nodded without emotion and climbed up on the three cold slabs. As we did so, we all knew our odds of surviving to return to Alliance HQ dropped precipitously. Not from the largely non-invasive procedure but by the fact that all of us will have a holographic overlay on our minds. We instantly become primary CoDom targets because of the highly sensitive data that will be stored in our heads.

Captain Holstein said, “You guys need to hurry. Get into position.”

I frowned. “Cut us some slack, captain. We still need to recover after reconstitution.”

Wilson, the courier next to me said, “I hate those damned sanders.”

Sander is a slang term for what is essentially dehydration system used mainly on small crewed ships for deep space operations. It reduces a person to their weight in silica gel and water. Your mental state is digitized and placed in computer memory. This saves a tremendous amount of space and weight in keeping life-support and creature comforts to a minimum. When needed a crew member is reconstituted. Every one I’ve talked to who has used it absolutely hates the process. Every member of the Alliance Space Defense has their template on file that gets updated on an irregular schedule.

The threat to our lives is actually from Alliance forces. If we look like we’re about to fall into CoDom hands, there are standing orders to blow our heads apart to keep the CoDom Empire from learning what military secrets we’re carrying.

A tech started to fit the holographic transfer headset to my skull. “What if the team is down?”

Captain Holstein shook his head. “Morris, their sub-ether transponders are still sending a status pulse. Their task isn’t an easy one.”

Jackson, another courier frowned. “I hope they’re ready to transmit. Otherwise we’ll lose the window.”

The Amagi is one of the fastest ships in our fleet. Half of the ship is taken up with fuel cells for rocket power and the other half is made up of batteries so it can make multiple jumps without waiting for the jump coils to recharge. Our mission was critical to a successful conclusion of the war with the CoDom Empire.

The planet we were approaching was *the* CoDom command hive, deep in CoDom space. It had been discovered almost by accident by one of our one man Deep RADAR probe ships. For such an important planet, it was largely unguarded so it wouldn’t attract attention. That’s how we almost missed it.

The Alliance managed to successfully infiltrate with a small team that was inserted into the relief crew of a supply ship. I shuddered thinking of how many of our people died trying to accomplish that. Using the low-power sub-ether communications devices they had, which are undetectable by the CoDom military, they’ve been sending out status messages in short bursts. After months of analyzing CoDom research, they found plans for a massive military buildup near the CoDom frontier with the largest warships ever built along with a support fleet. It included the technical drawings for these massive ships that can wield more firepower than a half dozen of their dreadnaught class ships. These ships will form the tip of the phalanx to penetrate Alliance space as well as serve to protect the flanks.

Intelligence has been scratching their heads as to why the CoDom Empire has been so quiet. Now we know they’re building this fleet outside of our detection. Best estimate from what data the team was able to transmit show we have a year before their fleet is ready. If we had the exact locations of where the fleet is being built and the specs for these massive ships, we could launch a pre-emptive strike.

And that’s where I and the two other couriers come in. Our ship will come in hot, pause just long enough to retrieve the holographic data from our team on the planet over sub-either. And then we immediately jump to a random vector to avoid detection. While in transit, the holographic data will be transferred into our brains for extraction later. The data is too intricate to be sent through sub-ether, so they will have to expose themselves in order to transmit. A second jump will take us to where three heavily armed cruisers are waiting to each take one of us and take separate paths back to Alliance headquarters.

The Amagi isn’t armored and has no defense systems. Our path back to Alliance Space takes us right through the heart of the CoDom Empire. The Alliance needs the data ASAP so taking a longer, safer route was rejected. Besides, once the CoDom forces finally manage to detect the small energy trail, even though we modulate it to reduce detection, they can quickly zero in on us. So we take the direct approach.

The navigator turned to look at Captain Holstein. “Thirty seconds to intersect. Stand by.”

Captain Holstein turned to face the three of us wired up on the tables. “Jackson, Wilson, and Morris, God Speed. We only need one of you, but I hope all of you make it back to Alliance space.

The navigator said simply, “Intersect.”

Our ship dropped out of the sub-ether. We were completely exposed at this point. Even though the data is complex, it should take less than a minute to load into the computer.

Captain Holstein shouted, “Navigator! Now!”

In a calm voice, the navigator said, “Initiating random, near vector jump.” We didn’t care where. We just had to exit the area. We had to trust the navigation software wouldn’t drop us inside a star or a planet.

The captain turned to the tech who had hooked us up. Without waiting for the captain’s question, the tech said, “All three checksums are good. It was a clean transfer.”

While in transit, the data stream was set to enter our brains. There was a pause, and then suddenly I felt my head getting warm as the data streamed onto my brain. As couriers, we can’t access the data being stored in our brains. It takes a special device to retrieve. If it’s not set up correctly, the courier’s brain gets fried. As they liked to say at the Henry Cabot Henhouse Academy, “You knew the job was dangerous when you took it.”

I was building a massive headache when the tech announced, “Transmission complete.”

If they had time, the team that sent the transmission will have set charges throughout the CoDom data center to detonate immediately after transmission. They were supposed to melt back into the facility’s staff. If they were caught, they would be executed as spies. If they managed to escape capture, they were still doomed to spend the rest of their lives on the CoDom planet. If they lived, they would continue to send out status messages. They were all volunteers.

The navigator announced, “Now jumping to rendezvous with the cruisers.”:

The captain nodded. Turning to us, as we slid from the tables, “Prepare for transfer to your cruiser as soon as we exit the sub-ether. I don’t want to be stopped for longer than five minutes.”

Jackson nodded. “Aye, sir.”

I rubbed my forehead. “Does the process always cause a massive headache?”

Wilson chuckled. “Oh yeah. You don’t get used to it either. This is my third courier assignment. I plan to retire after this one.”

Jackson gave Wilson a curious look. “Most people only volunteer once for this. Almost never do all three couriers make it back.”

Wilson laughed. “You can’t beat the pay, though.”

I shook my head. “If you can live long enough to spend it. Maybe I can afford a girlfriend after this. I hate living alone.”

Wilson shrugged. “I think the odds are in our favor. We’re on the fastest ship in the fleet and we’ll each be transferring to the fastest cruiser class ships in the fleet. What could go wrong?”

I laughed. “Sounds like famous last words to me.”

Wilson looked over the evacuation tubes we were going to get into. “Hey. At least we don’t have to get in the sander again.”

I nodded. I hated that thing the same as Wilson.

The calm voice of the navigator said, “Five minutes to drop. Helmets on, everyone. The drop vector is going to be tight. I’m popping the pressure the moment we drop.”

We all put on our helmets and sealed them. Checking the comm. links, Captain Holstein said, “This is it, gentlemen. I’ll see you all at Alliance Headquarters. Good luck.”

I chuckled. “Don’t forget, captain. You promised us each dancing girls when we all got back.”

Captain Holstein grinned. “Did I? I must have been drunk.”

The navigator said, “Thirty seconds. Going in hot.”

We each entered our evacuation tube and hooked onto the cable. There was a brief wave of nausea as we dropped back into normal space. A hatch opened under my feet. Holy shit! The navigator wasn’t kidding when he said it was a tight vector. This was the type of drop navigators hated. Close proximity to the vessel you’re rendezvousing with, at flank speed. But here we had three vessels to link with. One tiny miscalculation and we’d drop out inside one of the ships. That’s how close we were.

The last transmission from the Amagi was the navigator’s droning voice, “Couriers away.”

A small rocket drone fired from each of our tubes and jerked us out of the tube by the attached cable. I guess it was less of a jerk and more of a hard tug. It was still uncomfortable and I thought my suit was going to be ripped off. The rocket made a B-line to an open hatch on the middle cruiser. Two figures in pressure suits waited just inside the hatch, ready to grab me. Relative to the cruiser, my velocity was rather slow.

About fifteen meters from the cruiser, the rocket drone jettisoned the cable it was towing me with and then shot away from the cruiser. I drifted into the waiting arms of the two who were inside the hatch. They grabbed me, but the inertia still sent me flying into the padded bulkhead. They closed the hatch before I could bounce back through it.

I could see one of the men who caught me, smile through his faceplate. “Welcome aboard the Alliance vessel Sampan Lieutenant Morris. I’m Officer of the Day Johansson. Please follow me to the bridge. The captain wishes to see you immediately upon boarding.” I felt some vibration from the vessel maneuvering. We had already broken formation and was about to make our first jump.

After processing through the airlock and removing our pressure suits, I followed my escort to the bridge. The corridors were low and tight. Warships weren’t big on creature comforts.

I saluted the captain when I entered the bridge. Returning the salute, the captain said, “Welcome aboard, lieutenant.” He pointed at a Marine sergeant standing next to the navigator. He turned and saluted as well.

The captain continued. “Sgt. Stein is your guardian angel. He will not leave your sight. Even when you take a shit, lieutenant. Are you clear on that?”

I nodded. “Aye captain.” I smiled nervously at Sgt. Stein. Actually, Sgt Stein isn’t here to protect me. He’s here to blow my head apart should I come into danger of being captured.

Sgt Stein grinned at me. “Don’t worry lieutenant. I don’t have an itchy trigger finger.”

I smiled again at him. “I’ll buy you a beer when we get to HQ.”

Stein chuckled. “You’ve got a deal.”

The captain smiled. “Well, that’s all I have. Office of the Day will show you to your cabin. As a VIP, you get the bridal suite.” A laugh rippled around the bridge. “Evening meal coming up at sixteen hundred in our luxurious five-star restaurant. Come early to get a window seat. Tie is optional. For your entertainment, the terminal in your cabin contains a huge library of entertainment modules. I hear from a reliable source that Sgt Stein is really big into romance modules. You’re dismissed.” He turned and walked over to the nav-con.

Johansson said, “I’ll show you to your cabin, lieutenant.”

While still small, the cabin I was assigned was most likely larger than the captain’s. Of course it was going to get a bit cramped with Sgt. Stein in there with me. At least the trip was only supposed to last five days. Unless it took six.

The next four days were pretty damn boring. A jump, a recharge cycle and then jump again. Even though we were jumping through the middle of CoDom space, we had deliberately selected a long path as far from planets and stations built on asteroids. But dull is good. I watched a lot of romance entertainment modules just to piss off the man who would have to put a hole in my head.

But now we were almost back into Alliance space. Our last jump will be a long one, from near the planet Nero-4, a frontier planet the Alliance has been colonizing.

*          *          *

“Proximity Alert! Proximity Alert,” came the announcement over the 1MC. “Rig for collision.” There was a loud explosion from the stern as we dropped into normal space. The lights flickered and then went off. Red emergency lighting instantly turned on.

The explosion knocked me from my rack. Sgt. Stein fell out of his chair to the floor. He immediately unholstered his side arm and trained it on my head. I held up my hand. “Whoa big fella. Let’s find out what’s going on.”

Sgt Stein took a deep breath. “It’s nothing personal, lieutenant.”

Another explosion rocked the ship, knocking Sgt. Stein and myself back to the floor. I could hear the distinct sound of air rushing out through a crack somewhere in the bulkhead. I grabbed the sergeant’s arm and lifted him up. The rushing turned into a scream as the crack widened. “We have to get out of this room.”

Sgt. Stein nodded and un-dogged the latches to the compartment. We stepped out into the companionway lit with a dim red light. A crewman ran past us.

“Hurry to the bridge! The captain is going to separate it from the rest of the ship,” called out the crewman.

As we fell in behind the crewmember, I shouted, “What the hell happened?” I could hear other crewmembers running up from behind us.

The crewmember turned briefly. “Don’t know. We just know that something that shouldn’t have been there was at our jump destination vector.”

We followed the crewmember to run inside the overcrowded bridge. Three more of the crew followed us.

The captain looked around quickly. “Is everyone accounted for?”

The crewmember we followed looked around. “This is everyone but the four that must have died when the coil room was vented to space.”

One of the crew looked up from his console. “Captain. Awaiting orders to separate the bridge.”

The ship rocked from another explosion.

The captain gritted his teeth. “Do it now, Ensign.”

A moment later, a ring of explosive bolts rocked the bridge and an instant later we were floating freely. The external skin of the bridge was abruptly pelted by the debris from the exploding remaining part of the ship.

The captain started punching buttons on the console. “Ensign. Can we get a visual on what’s going on outside?”

The ensign nodded. “Just a moment, sir. We seem to have lost most of our external cameras.”

As a monitor with the external view flickered on, the captain gasped. “What the fuck?” The view showed the twisted aft of the ship fused with the mid section of another vessel. We apparently dropped right into another ship.

The captain looked closer at the image. “Holy shit! What the fuck is a CoDom troop transport doing at this location? Navigator! This is the correct vector?”

Sweating, the navigator looked up from his console. “Aye, captain. We are in Nero-4 space.” He studied his console intently for a moment. “There are a dozen other CoDom vessels in the vicinity. There’re no sign of the Alliance vessels in place here for defense. Just debris.”

“What’s going on?” I asked, confused. “Why are CoDom forces this deep in Alliance space? Why isn’t the fleet here?”

Looking grim, the captain said, “This has yet to be established as Alliance space. It’s basically up for grabs.” He turned and tapped some keys on the communications console.

“State the nature of your emergency,” said a pleasant female voice over the console.

Looking at the console, the captain shouted, “Cruiser Sampan just dropped into a CoDom invasion force at planet Nero-4. Nero-4 is under attack. We collided with a CoDom vessel and we are out of commission.”

There were clanks and other metal-to-metal contact noises coming through the hull.

The navigator looked around nervously. “That didn’t take long. They’re about to breech our hull.”

The female voice stated calmly, “Understood. The base there went dark half an hour ago. Alliance Space Defense is being alerted. Status of VIP?”

The captain looked over at me and took a deep breath. “CoDom is about to breach. VIP is being terminated now.”

Holy shit! I’m about to die! I looked over at Sgt. Stein as he started to lift his pistol. He looked at me and shrugged. “Sorry sir. Orders.”

I squeezed my eyes closed. I couldn’t bear to watch my own execution.

Just as Stein fired, the ship rocked violently from an explosion on the exterior hull. His shot went wild, hitting me in the chest and blowing a hole out my back. He missed my head, but I definitely suffered a mortal wound that will kill me just as dead. I had collapsed onto the floor.

Sgt. Stein regained his feet and took aim again, wanting to make sure there was nothing left of my head. The bridge door burst open and several CoDom soldiers rushed through. They shot Stein and this time he hit the bulkhead instead of me. I looked over at Stein. He wasn’t going to get up again.

Before he could reach his sidearm, two CoDom soldiers grabbed the captain’s arm. One of the soldiers rushed up to me. He turned and shouted, “Sir! They shot one of their own men!”

The officer walked up to me. “He must be a courier. Is he alive?”

The soldier looking at me shook his head. “Not for much longer.”

The officer said, “Get this man to our base of operations for medical. He’s a very valuable prisoner. We’ll wait for another ship to take us back down.”

The soldier lifted me up and put me across his shoulders. “Aye sir.” I blacked out.

*          *          *

I drifted into consciousness. I was disoriented. I could see two blurry figures standing near me. I couldn’t recognize them.

One looked over at me. “Colonel, I can’t understand why you didn’t just leave this Alliance dog to die? When their ship collided with ours, we lost over one thousand men.”

The colonel waved his hand dismissively. “That collisions tells me they weren’t expecting us to be there. And why keep this one alive? He’s a courier. We need to know what data is in his head. What has been compromised. They never just have one courier, so if one gets through, we need to know what secrets have been lost.”

The other man shrugged. “Well, he’s stable for now, but he’ll never survive a trip back to the home world for interrogation. If we attempt to put him in a cryo tube, it will probably kill him.”

The colonel paced a moment. “How complete is this hospital?”

The other man looked smug and said, “It’s full featured facility, sir. We intend to stay here awhile.”

Looking back at me, the colonel asked, “Does it include the brain transfer technology?”

The other man chuckled. “Of course. We could probably do that procedure in our sleep. In fact, we’re preparing authorization forms for you today to swap the brains of two Alliance prisoners to infiltrate the Alliance command on this rock.”

The colonel nodded. “I’ll sign it right away. What other prisoners do we have?”

The other man looked down as if he was examining a list. “Just two. A rather old man who would never survive the transfer and a teen girl.”

The colonel took the list and looked at it. “What did these two do?”

The other man shrugged. “Well, this base is using the old man’s farm. He shot and killed a couple of our men when we moved to take the farm. The girl is his granddaughter.”

The colonel pointed at me. “Use the girl and then bring him to my office once he’s recovered.”

The other man saluted. “Right away, sir.”

*          *          *

I was floating.

I was no longer in pain. I no longer felt anything. I was staring into the blackest, black abyss I’ve ever… well not seen. Is this death? I’m thinking, so it can’t be. Slowly, little pin-pricks of feeling started to return. What the hell? Sounds, but not sounds. Far away echoes. Voices. All the time floating. No sense of up or down. I wanted to scream. But there was no mouth or tongue or even any air to breathe. I faded out…

*          *          *

I slowly started to regain consciousness. Awareness finally returning. I couldn’t open my eyes. I couldn’t move my arms, but I didn’t feel any restraints. Faint voices echoing in the distance. I didn’t feel right. I didn’t feel bad. I wasn’t in pain. I was breathing normally as far as I could tell, despite last remembering having a sucking chest wound.

Finally I started to detect light through my closed eyelids. A flick. A movement. Feeling started to return. But no pain. I could tell I was lying on a bed. I could start to hear sounds around me.

In the distance, or it could have been next to me, I heard a gruff male voice. “As soon as she’s conscious, send for me.”

A female voice, further away. “Yes, sir.”

Silence.

I managed to get one eye opened somewhat. I could make out a blurry room with blurry objects all around. I could hear sounds like you hear from medical equipment. I experimented a bit. I could move all my fingers and wiggle my feet. I could feel sensation being slowly restored. My whole body had a wave of numbness. It was the weirdest feeling.

My vision finally cleared and it was obvious I was in some kind of hospital room. A woman who had to be a nurse from her uniform, checked my pulse and then shone a bright light into my eyes. I winced and tried to turn away. She made a few notes in a handheld device.

And then full sensation hit me like a bucket of ice water. I sat bolt upright, gasping for air. Nothing felt right. It wasn’t bad. It was just wrong. There were strands of dark brown hair hanging in my face. My hair isn’t long and it was never that color. I reached up to brush it away. I froze.

That wasn’t my hand.

“What the fuck?!” I shouted. It wasn’t my voice.

The nurse came up to me. “Just be calm, miss.”

“Calm? Are you shitting me? You called me miss!” I looked wildly about the room, dislodging more hair to fall across my face and shoulders. I started to feel my body. “What happened to me?”

I felt two firm, budding breasts on my chest. What the fucking hell?

The nurse spoke into a communications device she had clipped to her uniform at the shoulder. “Captain. Patient is awake.”

A tinny male voice came out of a small speaker on the device. “Thank you. I’ll be there shortly.”

I wiggled my fingers and flexed my arms. How could I possibly be in a different body? Such things just aren’t medically possible. Right?

A few minutes later, an officer arrived at my room accompanied by an officer wearing a white lab coat.

The officer addressed the nurse. “Has the prisoner made any attempt to escape?”

Shaking her head, the nurse said, “No captain. She probably won’t be able to stand up until tomorrow.” The officer nodded.

Turning to the lab coat guy, the captain said, “So doc. What’s your opinion on the prisoner’s condition?”

The doc shrugged. “The surgery was flawless. The technology is now so advanced, like I said yesterday, we could do this in our sleep. We’ve already replaced a couple dozen Alliance brains that we’ve managed deep infiltration into the Alliance command structure. That’s how we knew about this courier in the first place.”

The captain nodded. “True. We know one courier is dead, one is completely missing and then we have this one here.” He grimaced.

A radio the captain was wearing clicked into life. “Captain Kozlov.”

The captain unclipped his radio from its hip holster. “Captain Kozlov here, Colonel. The prisoner is awake but not able to walk yet.”

The colonel over the radio said, “I want that bitch on that transport arriving tomorrow along with the rest of the fleet to take her to the home world, even if you have to drag her.”

Captain Kozlov said, “Yes, sir.” He looked over at the doc. “The colonel is getting nervous. The Alliance fleet might just be less than twenty-four hours away. When that dreadnaught arrives with the fleet, we’ll finally be able to blast that last Alliance defense and claim this planet for the empire.”

The doc looked over at me. “Should you be discussing this in front of the prisoner?”

Captain Kozlov laughed. “I hope it gnaws at her craw. She’s a little girl who can’t even walk. What’s she going to do about it?”

They both started to turn to leave. The doc said, “True. I do hope they have a better way to extract the data from a courier’s brain. Most of the time they wind up frying the brain before getting anything useful.”

Kozlov laughed again. “At least the Alliance won’t get it.” The two of them along with the nurse left my room. I noticed a guard outside my room salute the captain. Even if I could stand up, there was no way I could just run out the door.

A dreadnaught class ship heading this way. Damn! They’ll be able to then pulverize what defense we have left without leaving orbit. This was valuable intel and I couldn’t tell anyone!

I sat up in my bed and took a personal assessment. Long dark brown hair fell across my shoulders. How could they move a brain and not have to shave the head at least? How could they possess such technology? They don’t even have sanders for deep space operations. They still rely on cryotech.

I looked down at myself. They had just left me naked on the bed. I was definitely a girl. I think they said about fifteen years old. She was a farm girl, so I suspected her muscles might be stronger than a typical teen girl. I moved my legs. Everything seemed to be working. I brought my legs up and pushed them down on the bed. Strength seemed to be returning. I looked up towards the door. With the guard, escape seemed impossible.

I pulled the sheet over me. Not that I was cold, but I was uncomfortable lying there exposed. I slid my hand to my crotch. Not for any type of stimulation. This wasn’t the time or place for that kind of exploration. I just had to verify by touch that I no longer possessed a penis. It just seemed strange. It’s not like it was removed. This body had never had one. I mused that I probably wouldn’t live long enough to be too concerned about now having a vagina anyway.

I lie back down and fell to sleep.

*          *          *

I awoke to the sound of scuffling feet and whispered male voices. The room was darkened, but I could see figures moving.

“Is that the girl?” asked one of the shapes.

Another shape said, “Roger. Let’s get her in the buggy.”

A third shape whispered harshly, “Woah, guys. She has a catheter. Remove it. Gently.”

Someone, I couldn’t tell who said, “Okay. Take her. Let’s get out of here.”

My eyes had adjusted to the light well enough that I could see they were wearing the uniform of Alliance Marine Ground Forces. One of the men picked me up as if I weighed nothing.

The man lifting me from the bed asked, “Can you walk?”

In a dry, raspy voice, I said, “I don’t think so.”

The man nodded. “Don’t worry, miss. I’ve got you.” I put my arm around his neck and held on tight. I had a grim thought as I lay my head on his shoulder. They weren’t rescuing me because I was some cute farm girl in the CoDom’s evil clutches. They’re extracting me because I’m a valuable military asset they can’t allow to fall into enemy hands. As much as the Alliance needs the data in my head, if I couldn’t be extracted, I’d just get shot in the head.

The two dead guards at my room entrance and the four dead guards in the guard room were grim reminders of the high stakes at play.

Trying to clear my voice, I asked in a whisper to the soldier carrying me, “How did you know I was here? Or even who I was?”

The man chuckled as we rushed down the hall, He wasn’t even breathing hard. “We monitor their communications pretty closely. They don’t have sub-ether and we broke their latest encryption weeks ago.”

One of the men asked just before we went through the exit door. “Are the charges set?”

A voice behind me said, “Yes, Sarge. Set to make this hospital cease to exist in fifteen minutes.”

Sarge looked out the exit door, then motioned everyone through. “Bring the buggy around. Come on, ladies. We can’t stand around dilly-dallying.”

Four more dead CoDom soldiers just outside the door told a story of lax discipline. None had even unshouldered their weapons. They were taken completely by surprise.

An electric ground vehicle pulled up in our midst. The vehicle was silent, lightly armored and very fast. Its only defense was a roof mounted, high-speed microwave cannon.

The soldier carrying me set me down gently into the buggy, in a middle seat. He strapped me in so I wouldn’t fall out. The rest of the men climbed quickly into the vehicle.

Sarge whispered in a hoarse voice, “Kowalski. Hit it!” The buggy lurched forward, throwing a rooster-tail of dirt and gravel into the air behind us.

The vehicle apparently took the same route to go out as they did to go in. The hospital was nestled in a grove of trees on what used to be a farm yard. A few random dead Co-Dom soldiers littered our path.

I shook my head. “With such non-existent discipline, why don’t you just attack and take them out?”

The one called Sarge said, “Even at night they can detect a large force moving in. They have about a thousand troops on the ground here. We just have a garrison to defend the Alliance outpost. We’d be slaughtered if we attacked.”

In a small voice, I asked, “Is the fleet on their way?”

The sergeant turned from his front seat to look at me. “Yes. The last transmission from the cruiser Sampan alerted Alliance Space Defense. They’re on their way. They’re just so damned far away.”

I looked at the sergeant. “You know the CoDom fleet will be here sometime tomorrow. With a dreadnaught class ship.”

He turned back to look out the windscreen and nodded gravely.

A moment later, the sky behind us was lit up brightly as explosives destroyed the CoDom hospital.

Sarge looked back at us in the back of the buggy and grinned. “Well that ought to get their attention.”

As we pulled up to the gate at the outpost entrance, the sentry said to us, “Admiral’s orders are the girl needs to be taken directly to the bunker.”

The sergeant waved acknowledgment to the sentry. “That’s what I expected.”

I looked at the first line of defense for the outpost and thought why are they even bothering with a gate. A large section of the wall was blown away.

The buggy parked in front of the headquarters building which had taken a lot of hits. The marine that had carried me out of the hospital unbuckled me and lifted me effortlessly from the buggy.

As I put my arm around his neck again, he grinned at me. “We need to stop meeting like this.” I smiled at his joke.

As I was carried into the bowels of the headquarters building, I hated the CoDom commander for putting me into this small, girls body. Even if I could stand on my own right now, I wouldn’t be expected to stand with these marines to help defend. Yeah, even as a male, I’d be an asset to be protected, but if push came to shove, I’d still be expected to lift a rifle and help out even though my brain held the key to bringing the war to a swift conclusion.

But not now. Nobody would expect me to do anything but hide. Despite what they may know about me intellectually, outwardly I was just a helpless farm girl. And while I’m sure this farm girl I was now inside was probably stronger than other girls her age, I knew there was no way I could ever lift a microwave rifle, even if I had all my strength back.

The admiral of the Alliance outpost stood up from his desk as I was brought into the bunker, deep below the surface. The marine carrying me started to set me down in a chair.

In his ear, I said, “I want to try to stand. But stay beside me just in case.”

On wobbly legs, I saluted the admiral. “Lieutenant Morris reporting, admiral.”

The admiral returned my salute. “Welcome to the Alliance command center for Nero-4, lieutenant. Please have a seat.”

The admiral pulled a chair up next to me. He studied me for several moments before pulling a device from his pocket and punched a few buttons. He then asked me a series of questions. The questions are designed to prove my identity. Not that they expected me to swap bodies, but the CoDom has been known to make clever disguises. The questions are unique to each courier.

After the questions, the admiral sighed heavily. “I’m satisfied you are who you say you are. What I can’t fathom is why I’m looking at a fifteen year old girl?”

I then reported the conversation I’d heard between the CoDom captain and the doctor. I told him how this advanced technology the CoDom possesses has been used to infiltrate the Alliance and that there are two men at this outpost who are actually CoDom spies. That definitely got the admiral’s attention.

The admiral pulled a microphone that was attached to a radio clipped to his belt. “Security. I need a report of every man who has gone missing for twenty-four hours or more and have shown signs of excessive tiredness when they returned since the CoDom’s arrival.”

Over the radio a voice said, “Aye, sir.”

The admiral turned his attention back to me. “Other than your physical status, are you otherwise fit for duty, lieutenant?”

I nodded. “I’m feeling my strength returning. I should be able to walk on my own in an hour or two.”

The admiral nodded. “Good. You know CoDom forces will be entering Nero-4 space in a few hours. The dreadnaught vessel they’re bringing will be able to destroy this outpost from orbit. We’re going to have to get you off this rock and quickly.”

Looking puzzled, I asked, “How can we accomplish that, admiral? There are no serviceable Alliance ships left in orbit and we have no way to attain orbit.”

“Security to Admiral Halsey. We’ve located three men that fit the criteria you provided. Wainright, Nichols and Smith.”

The marine who had carried me in said, “Smith a drunk, admiral.”

Admiral Halsey said over the microphone, “Scan Wainright and Nichols.”

There was a moment or two of silence. Then over the radio a voice said, “Wainright and Nichols have abnormal scans.”

Admiral Halsey’s face turned red. “I will not tolerate spies and saboteurs. Security, deal with them per protocol.”

“Aye aye, admiral.” And without unkeying his microphone, came the sound of two reports from a microwave pistol and bodies hitting the floor.”

A man I hadn’t noticed before sitting at a monitoring console, with urgency in his voice said, “Tactical reports the emergence of the CoDom fleet near the orbit of Nero-7. Their heading is set to Nero-4 and they are ramping up to flank speed.”

The admiral stood up. “Damnation. Lieutenant, we need to get you off planet immediately.”

I looked wilding around the bunker. “How, admiral?”

Admiral Halsey gave me a wry smile. “The Admiral’s yacht. It’s stored down here. It has the same specs are a blockade runner. Half the vessel is rocket fuel and the other half is batteries. The Alliance fleet will soon be at the last jump zone to recharge. You can rendezvous with them there. We’ll message them through sub-ether to wait for you.”

I stood up on less wobbly legs. “But sir. The fleet will arrive too late to defend this outpost. The CoDom will take this planet and all of you will be killed.”

The admiral pointed at me angrily. “But you, courier, will be safe. You are more important than this planet and all our lives. You must survive to get back to Alliance space.”

I felt awful. How dare he place this burden on me. While it’s true, I felt it was incredibly unfair. There are still almost a hundred men in this garrison. A valuable asset to the Alliance in the form of Nero-4, the colonists and the lives off all these marines in exchange for my safety was a too much for me to bear. There had to be another solution.

The admiral spoke into his microphone again. “Prepare my yacht for immediately launch. Have the pilot report to the bunker.”

My mind raced furiously. There had to be another way. I looked at the marine who had carried me from the hospital. How could I let him die. For me. I’m sure if asked, he’d march straight through the gates of hell. But not if I could help it.

I looked again at the man who carried me from the hospital. “I’m not leaving all of you here to die.”

The admiral frowned at me. “Lieutenant, you will get on that yacht and head for where the Alliance fleet is waiting. With the dreadnaught here, they will not enter this system. They will be slaughtered. We are expendable. You are not. We’ll buy you as much time as you need.”

I looked curiously at the admiral. “Sir. Is your yacht equipped with a sander?”

I had a kernel of an idea, but it was for nothing if the yacht didn’t have a sander. Every sander system comes loaded with extra profiles and protocols. The most notorious is the Lola protocol, which is illegal to have in the Alliance but is on every ship equipped with a sander, regardless. Developed for espionage, it’s used mainly for entertainment as the profile is based on a famous prostitute. Hey, it gets lonely in deep space. It requires a crewmember to use the template.

However, there is one protocol that most people forget about as it is almost never needed any longer. The technical name for the protocol is MAJ-I and no one knows what the acronym stands for anymore. It’s popularly known, if at all, as the Spare Crewmember. It’s attached to the vessels’ computer and is its own construct so it can operate independently from any other crew member.

I repeated the question. “Admiral. Is your yacht equipped with a sander?”

Admiral Halsey looked at me as if to ask why I’m bothering him. “Yes, actually. All vessels designed for a crew of ten or less has a sander.”

I grinned at the admiral. “Sir. I have an idea. It’ll sound crazy, but hear me out. We can cripple the dreadnaught, and slow down the CoDom fleet to give the Alliance fleet time to arrive to engage the CoDom fleet.”

Still frowning, Admiral Halsey said, “You have five minutes, then I order you to get on that yacht.”

I motioned for everyone to come towards me. “Listen up, everyone. This is doable. And we need to do it now.

“Here’s my idea. Every ship with a sander has a seldom used protocol. It’s the extra crewmember protocol. It looks human, but it’s a construct controlled by the ship’s computer. We’ll call the CoDom planet-side commander and tell them I will surrender myself to the dreadnaught… now wait. Hear me out. I will say I will fly the yacht to the dreadnaught to surrender saying I don’t trust any of his men stationed on the planet to not harm me. But he has to promise to take you guys prisoner. No one is to be killed. All of you will lay down your weapons. I know I know. We all know what a CoDom officer’s word is worth. But… and this is the big but.

“I’ll be right here in the bunker. We’ll transmit me talking up to the yacht via sub-either and it will be transmitted back out over standard space-chat. They scan the yacht and see just one human on board, the construct, not me. They’ll drop their guard but the dreadnaught will be getting into orbit to bomb the shit out of our base.

“That’s when I give the order to the spare crewmember who throws the batteries into overload since it requires manually throwing a switch and jumps the yacht into the reactor room of the dreadnaught. It might not destroy them, but they’re going to feel it. Then the fleet is free to enter Nero-4 space and take on the CoDom navy. What do you think?”

One of the men looked at me. “I’m confused.”

One marine grumbled, “Too convoluted. Sounds like something a teen girl would come up with.”

I waved my arms. “I tell you. This will work.”

The admiral frowned. “It might work. Depends on how gullible the CoDom command is.”

I grinned sourly. “They think very highly of themselves, Admiral.”

The admiral nodded. “Go program the MAJ-I on the yacht and then contact the CoDom commander. We’ll tell the fleet to come in closer and hold at the Nero Heliopause.”

As I stepped inside the yacht, part of me feared the admiral would double-cross me and just send the yacht out into space. But that didn’t happen. I typed into the computer to reconstitute the spare crewmember protocol. I wasn’t prepared for what happened next.

After a flash and stench of ozone, before me stood a naked and most gorgeous and well muscled man I’ve ever seen. Being a girl was definitely changing my perceptions. I stood there stupidly with my mouth hanging open, He smiled at me and I melted.

“Good morning, miss,” said the construct. “I am Adam. How may I assist you today?” Several things ran through my mind. Adam is based on an actual human being who lived a few hundred years ago. He must have been quite a man.

I stepped closer to Adam, drinking in his raw masculinity. “I have a suicide mission for you Adam. A one-way ticket to hell.”

Adam grinned at me. “Sounds like fun. Miss, please remember I’m a construct. I have no regrets and no fear. I have no concept of suicide other than the definition.”

I smiled at him. God, he’s gorgeous. “Good man. Here’s what I need you to do.” I explained the plan in detail as quickly as I could. He nodded and seemed to understand. After I finished explaining, I asked, “Think you can do that, Adam?”

Adam pointed at me and winked. “Piece of cake.”

On impulse, I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him briefly on his lips. “You’re my hero, Adam.”

He gave me a thumbs up. “I will not fail you, miss.”

I stepped out of the yacht and hurried back to the bunker. I walked in front of the comm.-center and picked up the microphone that the communications folks had set up while I was inside the yacht. I nodded to the communications guy. “Connect me to the CoDom base commander routing the transmission through the yacht’s radio.”

The comm-guy nodded. “Aye, sir…er um ma’am?”

The CoDom colonel shouted, “Bitch! Where the fuck are you? You killed a lot of men last night.”

I took a deep breath. “I had nothing to do with the extraction. But to answer your question, you may be detecting a small ship leaving the Alliance command post. It’s the admiral’s yacht and I’m on board. The only one on board. Please do not fire upon it.”

The colonel laughed. “Of course I’m going to fire on the vessel. I can’t let you escape.”

I sighed. “Colonel, this conversation is being directed at your incoming fleet as well as your base. I’m offering my surrender…the surrender of an official Alliance courier, but on these conditions.”

Again the colonel laughed. “You’re in no position to demand conditions, little girl.”

Trying to sound grim, I said, “Then I will detonate this vessel. I cannot escape as there is no way this small vessel can outrun the mighty CoDom navy.” I grinned at myself. Actually, there was no way they could catch me. But then, I’m still in the bunker and not in the ship. “Either meet my demands, colonel or the CoDom gets nothing but this stupid rock.”

The colonel had no idea we were intercepting communications from the newly arrived CoDom fleet. The dreadnaught commander said to the colonel, “Agree to the courier’s demands you twit. We must know what data the Alliance has retrieved. There is still one last courier who has yet to be found.”

The colonel sighed. “What are your demands, Alliance bitch?”

The comm.-guy said, “Yacht has achieved orbit. It’s moving now towards the incoming fleet.”

Smiling, but he couldn’t see it, I said, “I will only surrender to the commander of the dreadnaught vessel. I don’t trust your men, colonel to protect me. You will stand down and not attack the garrison still defending the Alliance outpost. Under a flag of truce, they will lay down their weapons and surrender to you. You will treat them under the treaties regarding the treatment of prisoners of war.” I almost snorted at that. The CoDom have never honored a treaty.

The colonel said, “Of course, little girl. You have my word as an officer and a gentleman. We will not attack if your men lay down their weapons.”

Over the sub-ether comm.-link I heard someone say, “Sensors indicate troop movement coming up from CoDom base including light armored vehicles. They are encircling our position.”

Not hiding a tinge of anger at the colonel’s blatant disrespect, I said, “Colonel, please use my proper title of Lieutenant Morris. I’m not giving you pet names.”

The colonel said, “My apologies lieutenant. But we do expect full surrender of Alliance forces at your outpost the moment you have docked with the CoDom ship.”

I sighed. “Understood, colonel. I am maneuvering to dock now.” Of course, if we actually surrendered, the CoDom forces would kill every Alliance colonist on the planet as well as execute every Alliance marine that surrendered. We learned our lesson at the Battle for Clovis-5.

Over the sub-ether, Adam said, “Vector to dreadnaught reactor locked.”

To Adam, I said over the sub-ether, “Stand by”

I looked over at the Admiral who was also in the bunker and said, “Admiral. Tell the Alliance fleet to jump from their failsafe positions at the Heliopause to enter Nero-4 space now!”

To the colonel I said, “Starting docking procedure now.”

Over the sub-ether to Adam I shouted, “Now, Adam, Now!” I don’t care he’s just a computer. I fought back tears at the thought of sending Adam to his death.

Adam said in a calm, every day voice, “Yes miss. Jumping now.” In the background, I could hear the whine of the jump coils heading to overload.

We couldn’t see from our bunker below the surface, but the resultant explosion vaporized the entire aft section of the dreadnaught and blew apart the rest of the ship. Shrapnel and other debris exploded through the CoDom fleet, ripping other ships to pieces.

Over the sub-ether someone announced, “Here they come!” Suddenly top-side was ablaze with small arms fire. Marines returned to their battle stations, the ruse now over. They began firing their weapons into the charging CoDom forces.

Someone shouted, “The tunnels! They’re in the tunnels!”

The admiral looked around the bunker at the few officers and marines waiting. “Saddle up, boys. Let’s go kick some ass.” When I started to move, he turned to face me. “Girl. You stay here in the bunker.” He then pointed at the same marine who had carried me from the hospital. “Your only purpose right now is to keep that girl alive.” Everyone but me and the designated marine left the bunker.

The marine turned to me and grinned. “We really do need to stop meeting like this.” He tossed me a microwave pistol. “Here. You’re an Alliance officer. I’m sure you know how to use it.”

I hefted the pistol in my hand. It seemed so much heavier than I remember them.

The marine pushed a heavy desk in front of the door to make it harder to open. From the other side of the door we heard screams, shouts and weapons discharging. A few explosions caused dust to rain down on us. A few shots came through the door to impact on the far wall.

The marine motioned to me. “Get away from the door, honey. Hunker down behind these cabinets.” I got behind him and kneeled behind a couple of massive steel cabinets. I sighted my pistol onto the door.

More shouts and yells. “Get this door open! Find the girl! But don’t kill her!”

The door suddenly exploded open, victim of a breach charge. A couple of CoDom soldiers tried to rush through the opening. The marine and I took them down immediately.

Someone outside the door shouted, “We found the girl! We need back up!” More shouts and weapons fire.

The marine stood up from behind his cover and ran for the door. “They’re not going to be stupid enough to try that again.” He stood in front of the opened doorway and fired several shots through it. He then dropped to the floor just as tremendously bright light flashed through the open doorway followed by a loud explosion that caused several chunks of the ceiling to fall on me. The marine rushed to the door and fired on the dazed and confused troops who were disoriented by their own flashbang that was dropped before it was tossed through the door,

The marine held out his hand for me to take. “Come! They know where we are. We’ll head to the hanger where the yacht was stored.”

He practically pulled me through the darkened hallways, strewn with the dead and dying and chunks of wall.

He pushed me through the open doorway of the hanger just as he took two hits in the back. He grunted and I saw the spray of blood. As he took a deep breath and closed the door, I heard more shouts. “The girl is here!”

The marine then knocked over some crates so we could hide behind them. He then collapsed on the floor, blood pooling under him. There was pounding on the door. Someone behind the door said, “Do we have a breach pack? Find one, dammit!”

Glancing from the door to the fallen marine, I said, “Talk to me, marine.”

He coughed. “About what, miss?”

He closed his eyes and grimaced. He must be in a lot of pain.

“What’s your name, marine?” I asked, trying to keep him engaged.

He chuckled, then coughed. “You’ll just laugh.”

Some random shots came through the door and hit the wall just behind us.

“I want to know. Tell me.”

“Rupert. Rupert McGillicuddy. The guys just call me Dog.” He coughed a few more times. He tried to sit up.

Raising himself up on one arm, he looked at me. “What’s your name, girl?”

I thought a moment. Of course I don’t have a girl’s name. And I hated my name of Ralph which doesn’t really sound like much of a girl’s name. I looked down at Dog as few more shots came through the door. “What’s your mother’s name?”

He looked confused for a moment. He shrugged. “It’s Arianna.”

I smiled at him. “What a bizarre coincidence. That’s my name too.”

Dog raised himself to a sitting position just as the door burst opened. They apparently found something to ram it open. Several men dived in and rolled to one side where we couldn’t shoot at them. Shots came through the crates which didn’t offer much cover. I heard Dog take another hit. I stood up and fired my pistol multiple times. I heard one shot hit its mark.

I don’t know how, but Dog managed to get to his feet and looked behind the crates and took out the men hiding behind them. Several more came through the door. I took a hit in my leg, screamed and fell. Dog stepped in front of me to shield me from more shots.

He kept firing through the door and we could hear some grunts as whoever was on the other side took hits.

Finally, three CoDom soldiers rushed through the door, firing their projectile weapons. Dog took another hit and fell. He can’t just keep taking hits, I thought. Sure, he’s wearing armor, but shit man. The body can only take so much.

I yelled and managed to get up on my good leg and fired my pistol. I took the time to aim while the CoDom soldiers fired wildly, striking the wall behind me. I know it was stupid to stand there in the open, but I took out my targets while taking another hit in my already damaged leg. I fell to the floor.

I crawled over to Dog. His breathing was shallow. He wasn’t moving. I grabbed his shirt and shouted, “Don’t you dare leave me, marine!”

Then I noticed it was oddly quiet outside the doorway. There were a few more shots and shouts. Then a distant voice over a radio said, “Cease fire, cease fire, cease fire. Outpost secure.” And then silence.

I heard some shuffling outside the door. I raised my pistol to make my last stand. An Alliance Space Defense marine stepped through the door raising his hands up. He said calmly, “Stand down girl.”

The marine and several others entered the hangar. What appeared to be a medic knelt beside me. “You’re hurt, girl. And you’re getting blood all over this marine.” He then said into a communications device, “I need two stretchers stat. I have a critical marine and a wounded civilian.”

I felt suddenly weak. “I’m a lieutenant…” I passed out.

*          *          *

I finally made it back to the Alliance Space Defense Headquarters on the home world. My wounds had been stabilized on the trip back from Nero-4. Once on the home world, instead of treating my wounds I was rushed in for extraction of the data stored holographically in my brain. Thankfully, transferring my brain to another host didn’t do any damage to the data.

I was the only courier to make it in with my data in a timely manner. One of the courier’s cruiser had been destroyed and Jackson was killed. Wilson was found finally. His cruiser blew out its jump engine, taking out a third of the ship. With the hull breached, the crew sanded themselves before they ran out of life support. The ship sent a sub-ether distress beacon. Unfortunately, they were deep in CoDom space so it took a while to retrieve the crew.

And as for the Battle for Nero-4, which I understand will be made into a drama, went from near defeat to total victory. The Alliance fleet fell from jump space just moments after the dreadnaught was destroyed. Drop ships brought in fresh troops. The CoDom soldiers fought like devils and had to be taken out down to the last man. Well, except for the colonel. He surrendered.

The garrison lost thirty men in that final battle. That’s a lot, but it could have been all of them. The admiral was wounded several times as he led his men to blunt the final assault against the outpost. And Dog lived! But at a cost. He lost a leg and most of the use of his left arm. His combat days are over.

I’ve been told several times to not feel any remorse for having Adam destroy himself in the assault on the dreadnaught. That he’s just a construct and can be found on almost any Alliance vessel. But I still can’t help but cry when I think of what I did to that beautiful, gorgeous man, construct or not. It may have come eventually as my brain is bathed constantly in female hormones, but he awoke in me a desire for guys. I never gave guys a thought before.

The information I carried had been downloaded from my brain. They were still deciphering it. It could take another week to decode it all.

“Knock, knock,” called an attractive woman in her early thirties from my dorm room door which she opened without knocking. I was living in the dormitory where children of deployed parents can live rent free. Because of the age of the girl I now inhabit, the powers that be didn’t want to put me in the women’s barracks. At least they gave me a private room.

I looked up from the couch I was lounging on, watching an alleged comedy on a video screen. I sat up straight. “Hello?”

The woman entered my room, extending her hand towards me. “Hi. I’m Olivia Carter. You must be Arianna Morris! I’ve heard so much about you.” In her other hand, she held a plastic bag with clothes inside. She looked around the room. “Oh! Nice flowers!” I had received several bouquets of flowers from Admiral Halsey as well as from Dog and a few others. It was nice. I’d never gotten flowers before.

I gave her a somewhat limp handshake. “I know nothing of you. Like, why are you in my room?”

She giggled. “Sorry. May I sit down?” I nodded. “I’ve been sent by High Command to get you prepared for the inquiry tomorrow on the Battle of Nero-4. I’m not in the Navy, actually. I’m a consultant.” She pointed at me and frowned. “Just look at you. I mean, you can’t go into a meeting with admirals and generals dressed like that, now can you?”

I looked down at my t-shirt and jeans. “I don’t see why not?”

Olivia laughed. “I don’t think so!” She held up the bag. “I’ve brought you a women’s officers uniform and I’ve already attached your rank and service ribbons. You’ve been awfully busy for a fifteen year old!” She pulled the uniform from the bag and held it up so I could read the ribbons. There was a new one for Nero-4.

I said, “Well, I wasn’t fifteen when I earned those.”

She smiled. “I bet. So, when was the last time you shaved?”

I rubbed my chin. “I don’t shave at all anymore.”

She laughed. “No silly. I mean your legs and underarms.”

I shrugged. “Never, I guess.”

Olivia shook her head. “Well, that’s something we’ll have to take care of.” She dug through her purse and removed a brand new pink safety razor in its plastic wrap and shaving soap. “This is for you. You don’t want to look like a mountain woman.”

I looked at the pink plastic razor. “Thanks, I guess. Do I have to do this right now?”

Olivia waved her hand dismissively. “No, silly. You can do it when you take your bath or shower or whatever. I need to go, but I wanted to introduce myself and bring some things over for you. I’ll be back here tomorrow morning around seven to get you ready and fix your hair and do your make-up for the ten o’clock inquiry.”

I twirled the razor in my hand. “I don’t get it. Why even have an inquiry? I filed my report.”

Olivia shrugged. “Like I said, I’m not in the Navy, but you know. Whenever space ships explode or soldiers die, the brass requires an inquiry.”

I just looked at her. “Am I in trouble?”

Olivia stood up. “I don’t know. Did you kill anyone?”

I grunted. “Kinda sorta.”

She pointed at me. “Well, there you go. I gotta run. See you in the morning. I’ll let myself out.” She picked up her purse and left. I just looked at the door for a minute after she’d left. Well shit.

I normally take a shower and still find myself taking “Navy showers” even though I have plenty of water in the dorm room. However, the night before the inquiry, I decided to take a bath so I could shave my legs. What a pain. Fortunately for me, the farm girl didn’t let herself get too shaggy, so I didn’t to get out the scissors and machete.

While shaving, I took a few moments to reflect, now that I could relax, on the girl whose life was stolen when the CoDom doctor put my brain into it. They just discarded her brain, which effectively killed her. I knew nothing about her. I didn’t know what kind of person she was. All the docs could tell me was that this body was healthy and the wounds I had suffered won’t prevent me from bearing children.

I really felt sorry for the girl. I’m sure she had hopes and dreams like everyone else. We won’t be getting the brain transfer technology from the CoDom doc who performed the surgery. The CoDom captain shot the doc in the head to prevent capture.

I went to bed early that night.

Speaking of early, seven o’clock came way too early for me. Promptly at seven, there was a knock on my door. This time I had the door locked so Olivia couldn’t just barge in.

Rubbing sleep from my eyes, I opened the door. Olivia grinned wide at me. “Good morning Lieutenant Morris. Is it okay if I call you Arianna?”

I shrugged. “Sure. Come on in.”

As she entered my room, she pulled some clothing items from her purse. “I forgot to leave you with underwear yesterday. Go put these on real quick.”

I held the bra, panties and pantyhose and wrinkled my nose at them. “I’ve never worn a bra before.”

Olivia raised her eyebrows. “Do you want me to help you?”

I started to turn back to my bedroom. “Nah, I can probably figure it out.” After I closed my door I took a closer look at the bra. I thought maybe I did need some help.

After several minutes of fumbling with the bra, I finally had it and the panties on. I stepped out of my bedroom. I held up the pantyhose. “Are these really necessary? I have trouble putting these on.”

Olivia smiled at me. “Sorry. It’s a uniform requirement. Just roll them up and then stick your toe in and then pull them up. It’s easy. We’ll put your make-up on next. We don’t want to accidently get any on your uniform.”

I looked with disgust at the bottles of cosmetics Olivia was spreading out on my table. “Make-up? You can’t be serious.”

Olivia looked at me with disbelief. “You want to look your best in front of all that top brass. Don’t worry. Well take it pretty conservative.” I really didn’t like the idea of wearing make-up at all. “So sit down here and let’s get started. We don’t have much time.”

First she started fussing with my hair. Ever since getting into this body, I really haven’t given my hair much thought. I’m still amazed the CoDom can transplant a brain without shaving the person’s head. But I guess that would be a dead giveaway on trying to infiltrate.

Olivia didn’t do a lot. She said she was just giving my hair more body and some large curls. She then plucked out some wayward eyebrow hair. She said since I was fifteen, I could forego getting my eyebrows shaped for now.

I balked at first with the make-up. I didn’t like the smell or how it felt when she started to apply foundation. “Just relax girl. I’m not going to go crazy here. You’ll like how you look. I promise. When she was done with the mascara, liner, shadow and lip gloss, she held up a mirror.

I was shocked at what I saw. I had always thought the girl whose body I took over was pretty. But when I looked in the mirror… I couldn’t believe what I saw. “Oh my God! Is that me?” A very pretty… dare I say beautiful teen girl stared back at me.

Olivia grinned. “It sure is, gorgeous. I told you! Let’s get your uniform on. It’s a twenty minute drive to the head quarters building, so we need to get going.”

I never realized how much there was to the women’s uniform. The skirt, the blouse, the jacket and the stupid, useless tie. Well, ties are always useless, but the women’s tie was even more so. Then there was the silly hat. The shoes were patent leather with a one inch heel, so they weren’t too hard to walk in. I also had a black leather purse with a shoulder strap that was actually part of the uniform. Olivia advised me not to actually put anything in the purse as it might cause unsightly bulges in the side of the bag.

Olivia stepped back and grinned at her handiwork. “Well, Lieutenant Gorgeous, I think you’re ready to go get interrogated by generals.”

I frowned. “Gee. I can’t wait.”

As we walked down the hallway towards the dormitory’s exit, I have to say I felt extremely silly dressed the way I was. Yes, I’m a woman. Yes, this is a woman’s uniform. Still, wearing the skirt and the goofy hat and carrying the useless purse and my heels clicking on the hard floor just seemed more like I was going to a costume party rather than a serious military inquiry.

We rode over to the head quarters building in silence. The building is huge with lots of impressive stone steps. The exterior is all highly reflective steel and glass. A dozen armed sentries were posted at the entrances. My nerves were starting to fray. Olivia walked confidently to the center elevator. It only went to one floor. The top.

Apparently we were the last ones to enter the large hearing room. A guard directed me to my seat. I was seated on a row by myself. Olivia fell back to the audience seating. I looked around the room, nervous as hell.

At the center was a raised dais, with a long table. Seated at the table were three high ranking admirals and two generals. Behind them on stands were the flags of the Alliance and of the Alliance Space Defense Force. In the center on the floor, was a single chair.

Seated several rows ahead of me and to my right were several officers and marines who had been part of the outpost defense. Dog was there and looked over at me. He winked and then pointed at his shoulder, which was now sporting sergeant chevrons.

The admiral seated at the center of the table looked up. “Now that we’re all here…” He cleared his throat and looked at me. “Let’s commence with this inquiry.”

One by one, starting with Admiral Halsey, the officers and men were called upon to sit in the single chair before the dais. We learned how, without any warning, CoDom vessels dropped out of jump space dangerously close to the planet Nero-4 which was under Alliance protection and had been colonizing for almost ten years. It was mostly a farming planet. The CoDom had been claiming it was in their space. The Alliance defenders were taken completely by surprise.

Before the CoDom could finish deploying their troops, the cruiser Sampan, the one carrying me, dropped out of jump space partially inside a CoDom troop transport, killing all thousand men on the transport. That put a kink in their invasion plans. The CoDom boarded the Sampan and captured me. They covered the advance of the CoDom fleet with the dreadnaught and their plan to obliterate the Alliance outpost from the map. They covered my daring rescue. Sadly several of the men involved in that were killed in the last of the fighting. This all went on in great detail for almost two hours.

Finally, after many in the room had sat in that single chair and been grilled before the table of admirals, the center admiral looked up. “Will Lieutenant Arianna Morris come forward?” I had my name officially changed.

I started to sit in the chair. The admiral looked at me. “Please remain standing.”

One of the admirals looked up from his notes to look at me. “Lieutenant. Did you refuse a direct order from Admiral Halsey to take his yacht and return as soon as you could to Alliance space, knowing you had information vital to the Alliance in your head?”

I could feel sweat trickling down my back. I just looked forward. “Yes sir.”

The admiral leaned forward and clasped his hands together. “Why would you do such a thing?”

I didn’t look at the admiral. I just looked straight ahead. “I just couldn’t leave all those marines to die.”

Blinking in disbelief at me, the admiral said, “Those men were of no concern of yours, lieutenant. You had one and only one priority and that was to get that data in your head back to Alliance space. The risk to yourself was extraordinarily foolhardy, lieutenant. Many good people lost their lives to get that data into your head.”

I could tell that my panties and pantyhose were getting soaked in sweat. “Yes sir. I understand that sir. But I just couldn’t see leaving these men to be slaughtered.”

The admiral frowned at me. “That is their job, lieutenant. They buy you time to get safely off-planet.” He studied some papers in front of him. “Lieutenant Morris, could it be possible that you had developed feelings for one of the men and that influenced your decision to disobey a direct order?”

“I… no… I mean maybe?” I stammered around. Are they trying to blame something on me?

Dog shouted, “Give the kid a break!”

The middle admiral pointed at Dog. “Sergeant, you’re out of order. Not another outburst from you.”

I looked angrily at the officers sitting at the table. “Yes. I admit that I had developed a crush on Dog. But with all due respect, sirs, I’d only been a girl for a little over a day. I’m not making excuses because of my new gender, but rather my inability to control the emotions of a fifteen year old girl! Everyone treated me differently. Everyone talked to me differently. Even the CoDom talked to and treated me differently.”

The admiral continued. “So you’re saying you jeopardized your entire mission for a school girl crush?”

I shouted, “Yes! I didn’t ask to be a teenage girl, admiral.”

The center admiral banged a gavel. “You’re out of order, miss.”

I felt tears rolling down my cheeks. Oh God. That’s all I need is to cry.

A different admiral looked up. “So, Lieutenant Morris. Now that we have a clearer view of your motivation, you came up with a plan that you felt would win the fight and save your boyfriend?”

I raised my arms in frustration. “Geez! He’s not my boyfriend! He’s like thirty years older than me!”

Dog said, “I’m only twenty-six.”

The center admiral banged his gavel. “Lieutenant, please refrain from such outbursts. And sergeant, not another word or I’ll have you removed.” The admiral paused a moment. “Answer the question, Lieutenant Morris.”

I took a deep breath. “Yes. I thought of a plan that I thought would weaken the CoDom fleet, buying time for the Alliance fleet to arrive and clear the CoDom forces from the planet.” I then went over my entire plan to use the yacht under Adam’s control to destroy the dreadnaught.

When I had finished, the admiral asked, “And you were certain this plan would work?”

I sighed. “Admiral, there is one sentence that is beaten into every one at the academy. That is no plan ever survives contact with the enemy. But I think mine came close.”

One of the generals spoke up. “Your solution to use the spare crewmember to pilot the craft may seem obvious now, but it’s a concept no one has ever thought of before. That was excellent thinking, lieutenant.”

Was I just praised? I couldn’t believe it.

The first admiral looked at me. “And according to Admiral Halsey, you and this particular marine, defended the lowest point of the base, taking out over a dozen of the enemy by yourselves. Both of you were wounded.”

I gritted my teeth. “Our escape was cut off. We made a last stand.”

The admiral nodded. “You had no way of knowing, but your distracting the enemy because of your value as a target, gave Admiral Halsey the time he needed to fall back and regroup and launch a new assault against the CoDom forces.”

I felt confused. I thought I was about to be hanged from the highest yardarm in the fleet and now they’re commending me? What the hell?

The first admiral said, “We needed your testimony on what happened and verification on why you disobeyed a direct order. This body finds you guilty of disobeying a lawful order by a superior officer. However, circumstances, resulting in preserving the defending garrison on Nero-4, the destruction of the CoDom fleet that kept the colony planet Nero-4 from falling into CoDom hands, we move to mitigate the charge. Will Lieutenant Arianna Morris approach the panel?” The admiral stepped from the dais. He carried a box with him. I was confused as hell.

The admiral stood directly in front of me. He opened the box. He looked directly at me. “For meritorious service to the Alliance and valor under extreme duress, I am proud to present you with this, the Navy Cross.” He pulled a ribbon with a medal hanging from it. I bowed my head and he slipped it around my neck.

The men from the Nero-4 garrison erupted into cheers and applause.

The admiral smiled. “Congratulations, Captain Morris.” He then pinned captain bars to my uniform. He stepped back and saluted me. I returned the salute.

The admiral said, “I have one more announcement. It’s one I wish I didn’t have to make. Due to the rules and regulations of the Alliance Space Defense, Captain Morris is actually under age to be in the ASD. While we know her true age is not fifteen, the service would be raked over the coals if we allowed someone underage to remain in active service. Captain Morris, should you choose to re-enlist when you turn eighteen, you return to your current rank. Thank you for your service.” He saluted me again and walked away.

As Dog stood up with his prosthetic leg, I ran over to him and almost knocked him over with a big hug. “Dog! I’m so happy you didn’t die.”

Dog laughed. “Me too. It was great to work with you. And look at you! So pretty. You’re going to break a lot of hearts, that’s for sure. And now a captain. Well, sort of.”

I hugged him again. “I’m going to miss you.”

He laughed again. “We really do need to stop meeting like this, captain.”

I looked at Dog solemnly. “Take care of yourself, marine.”

He smiled. “You too, girl.”

As Olivia and I walked out of the head quarters building, I said, “I guess this is good-bye to you. I’ll just catch a ride back to my dorm.”

Olivia grinned at me. “Actually, I have another idea. I asked and they said yes. I’m your new guardian. At least until you’re eighteen. Then you’re on your own. I think it’ll be fun to help shape you into being the best woman you can be.”

I looked at Olivia with disbelief. “You want to take care of me?”

She nodded. “We’ll make a great team.”

I hugged her. “Thanks. I think so too.”

Well, this certainly wasn’t how I expected my decision to volunteer to be a courier would wind up. I had nothing to lose and I gained everything.

Olivia took my hand and we walked down the wide steps to get a ride to her living quarters.

*          *          *

The End