0457 January 12th, 1648 AC Batavian Standard Meridian Date TimeDSC-013 Bonaventure, Somewhere Midships, Crown Anchorage ship’s pub
Lorelai paused to catch her breath. She was practically wheezing as she finally reached the correct deck of the carrier. The Crown, the ship’s bar, was still a foreign concept to her. It was a more informal place, frequented by all of the officers of the ship and the air wing—and from what she found out now, also the contractors which Tony was with. To her, it still felt like a place she didn’t belong in.
She wasn’t exactly supposed to change, but Lorelai felt fear grip her body as she approached it the first time, making her run all the way back to her room. She even decided to re-braid her hair and tie a simple ribbon to hold the excess in a simple tail. When she finally felt more presentable, she looked at the time and began sprinting across the ship, bumping into bulkheads and people, apologizing all the while.
Every once in a while, her eyes would dart towards the street signs bolted to the walls of the corridors. Even though her Shine was more than capable of guiding her steps with a big yellow line, she still couldn’t help but notice the names of the corridors as she passed them by.
It was a bit amusing, really. For all that the media just loved to equate the deep space carriers to spacefaring cities with their own street names and stores, it really was the truth. There were so many amenities aboard Bonaventure, ranging from a newsagent’s shop, a barber shop, the ship’s store, a book retailer, a gym, a cinema, a small park, ship’s bakery and even a Co-Star Coffee shop, that at times, it really felt more like a village than a ship.
Of course, you also needed people to run all of these shops, and so this actually resulted in a small group of civilians aboard the ship. Their roles were pretty much the same as they would’ve been dirtside, so there were civilian franchise employees, NAAFI employees, technical representatives and embedded journalists, all going about their lives alongside the Navy personnel aboard the ship. Compared to dirtside, however, there were more regulations and security clearances. After all, the Navy was making sure there was as little operational risk as possible.
I miss working at a bakery sometimes… Lorelai thought, remembering her university days part-time job. Thanks to the owner I didn’t have to talk to many people and I could just focus on writing my second Masters…
She let out a breath as she looked up at the end of her guide-path. She had made it to her destination in the nick of time.
Spacefaring human nations had a large variety of alcohol policies. Some were more strict, outright banning alcohol outside of special occasions despite the advances in implant technology and blood cleaner drugs, while others were more relaxed, treating moderate alcohol consumption as acceptable within defined limits. The Commonwealth dated its traditions to high seas navies of Old Terra with a pub available to the ship’s company during stand down periods and even an officer's wardroom bar under the bridge area of the ship.
Aboard Bonaventure, the ‘Crown Anchorage’ pub even had its door covered in a thin layer of wood native to Corlain. It was meant to be a homely place at the heart of the ships, a place where the ship’s company and officers could freely socialize.
When she entered, the space still carried the clean, straight cut lines of naval efficiency, but there were efforts to make it a softer space, and to her amber eyes, it was successful. The lighting wasn’t quite as harsh in the rest of the ship, giving the entire space a more of an amber tint. The bulkheads themselves had softer colours, with the usual panels, displays and compartments broken up by the flag of the Commonwealth and other, subtle tones and decorations. The floor itself bore wooden panelling where it could. While the tables and seating was the same as in the carrier’s many mess halls, in the bar, the desks themselves had a thin wooden layer on top.
Small groups of sailors, officers and contractors sat at the many tables, discussing their lives and arguing over diagnostics in low voices, the space neatly breaking up the conversations into a low murmur, accomplished through the glory of modern engineering, and subtle white noise generators. Privacy, after all, always remained a thing the San Batavia Republic valued.
Lorelai always liked knowing facts and often repeated them in her head to calm herself down, but as she looked a bit closer… wait, where were the others…?
She looked around again in panic. It wouldn’t be the first time she got invited somewhere… just to arrive and find out that she got set up. One particularly painful time still aches in her memory…
But thanks to her Shine she spotted Tony Acevedo at the bar in the centre of the space, waving over to her to join him. Lorelai caught her breath, stumbling forwards with her hands gripped tightly over her chest as she tried to quell the incessant pounding of her heart. Urghh… I am out of shape… I should have asked for more time—But at the very least, Tony truly was a man of his word.
Now that she thought about it, that was the first time she saw Tony out of his suit, in what were essentially the ‘off duty’ contractor clothes aboard the ship. He was clean shaven, with hints of a five-o’-clock shadow, his face salted from years of labor. He had his dark brown hair cropped short,with highlights of his hair graying out.
It was hard to tell with advances in implant technology and the constantly lengthening life expectancy, but if she had to guess she would say that Tony was probably in his mid-thirties. The name patch on the simple off-duty jumpsuit read “Acevedo, Tony - Pipefitter - Acosta’s Crew”. He tapped his steel toed boot against the stool beside him and Lorelai realised she froze in place.
She exhaled and slowly walked across the bar. Even the feel of the floor was different when compared to the rest of the ship. That makes sense of course… She thought immediately. After all, the material properties of wood were different from the padding and metal used in the rest of the carrier.
“Hey, you okay there rocket jock? You look like you ran a marathon and then lagged there,” Tony said with a chuckle.
That might as well be true with how out of shape I am, Lorelai thought as she walked over, pushing herself up and onto the round bar stool beside him, her legs dangling in the air. The padding was quite nice…
“A-Ah… I got… Umm… Lost in thoughts,” she muttered out, one hand going up and brushing over one of her bangs idly. Ahhhh… Why am I so bad with people? Think Lorelai, think! You need to talk like a normal person.
“U-Uh… T-Thank you for the drink,” she said, as awkward and shy as ever.
“Hey, I am a man of my word. You shot down something and you deserve that victory. Calm down,” Tony chuckled and nodded over to the spacer handling the bar.
“Hey! Hey barkeep! Two of the ship beer you guys have! What did you call it… Crown Maple Brown Ale?” Tony asked, waving over to the bartender dressed in a junior officer’s uniform.
“Two Amber Anchors, understood!” the brown haired man said in a cheery voice, setting aside the glasses he was cleaning, grabbing two clean glasses and walking over to the tap.
The ‘Amber Anchor’ was navy’s own beer. It was popular in Caerleon itself, grown from local crops on Corlain, with a subtle taste of maple syrup sweetening the usual pale ale taste. Lorelai wasn’t much of a beer drinker, admittedly. It was a good drink for hydration, that was for sure, but it tended to dull one’s senses, which was one of her biggest fears. What if I mess up in a state like that? Nono… I can’t do that… Arghh… but I cannot refuse a drink.
And so Lorelai sat there, her knees pressed together, feet dangling in the air, wondering what she should talk about, wishing that Cassandra was besides her. There has to be something, anything—
She said, thankful that Tony was distracted by making smalltalk with the barkeep as the officer tending to the bar poured the two tall beerglasses.
“Oh, Lorelai? Is that you? Cześć!” she heard a melodic female voice say behind her. Lorelai jolted again, gripping onto the base of the bar stool she was sitting at as she looked around.
Wojak walked right beside her, sitting down on the stool next to her, while Lorelai mentally thanked her Ghost for offering her a dose of meds due to elevated heart rate and onset of panic. Ahhh… I am so sorry… I am sorry! I didn’t choose to be like this… Calm down heart… I shouldn’t worry my Ghost too much—
“I never saw you at the Crown Anchorage. Thought you were… Uhhh… How do I say it, fucking—” The ginger said, idly tapping onto the surface of the bar. Lorelai knew that English was her second language and even more impressive was that she decided to figure it out the traditional way rather than relying on her implants. “Uh… Unikasz… Ah! Avoiding. Avoiding bars?” she snapped her fingers in triumph as she figured it out, before waving past Lorelai at the bartender and ordering a beer as well.
“Another one of you rocket jocks from Green Squadron?” Tony asked, setting down an intimidatingly large beer in front of Lorelai.
She immediately panicked. “E-Eeeeh? B-But… It was… Half a kill? And uh… Is this to reg—” she began muttering, shrinking in her seat while looking over to the bartender.
“First kill of the sortie. We broke out the big glasses, just don’t tell the watch officer,” the bartender said with a wide grin and a smirk, picking up another empty glass to clean. Lorelai paled.
“Oliwia-Maria Skalska. Or Wojak if you prefer that.” The ginger said, raising her glass. “To our newest battle-tested pilot! You’re one of the few with a victory on the carrier, Lorelai,” she then followed up with a chuckle. “Na zdrowie!”
“That’s cheers, right?” said Tony. “Well said sister! Now drink up, you deserved it!” he said with a loud chuckle and raised his own glass.
Lorelai slowly raised her own glass with her trembling hands.
“U-Uh… C-Cheers…!” she managed to get out after a moment, the clinking of glasses filling the space for a moment. But it was only half a kill? Uuuu… We shouldn’t be drinking this much anyways… Can I even handle this? Guhh… I heard bloodcleaner meds feel awful… not to mention that with me being smaller the alcohol will have greater effect, right?
She brought the glass over to her lips, hoping that the amber liquid would calm her down. It was an interesting taste. Lorelai hadn’t really drank much before, so this kind of taste was quite new to her. The bitterness was prominent and in the forefront, hiding most of the maple sweetness with hints of earthy, herbal tastes at the end.
She needed to admit that it wasn’t quite bad. Better than she expected at the very least.
“Hey, this shit is quite good. I’ll need to have another one before we leave the ship. Think they’ll let me take a few bottles?” Tony said after taking a few good chugs from his own glass.
“Officially… No. Buuut…” Oliwia began with a grin. “You’ll probably be able to convince a supply officer. I’ll flick you a contact of a lad that is quite chill.”
It really was technically against the regulations, but, just like many other small, customary transgressions, navy beer and aviator patches were commonly taken off-ship by civilian contractors.
I wouldn’t be able to…
Lorelai thought to herself.
There was a brief lull in the conversation while both aviators and contractor enjoyed a few more sips of their drink, before Tony spoke up. “So, you guys know what this deployment is all about? Seems like the navy really wanted to rush you out.”
“Well… The news talked about increased pirate activity,” Wojak carefully said, looking onto the foamy surface of the amber liquid in her glass.
But it was true that no one on the ship quite believed it was just pirates. It just didn’t add up. Yes, the pirate attack frequency has increased, but if Lorelai looked at the graphs of the ship losses the pirates suffered, the amount of equipment it would cost… the dreadfully impoverished Spacer Clans and Lost Colonies which usually supported piracy as a way to make ends meet wouldn’t be able to fund something like that. And it wasn’t like they were all that much more successful in Republic territory.
Either someone is funding them or they were very successful elsewhere… but no other nations reported this kind of increase in pirate presence… except for a few single or two-system polities. Not to mention the Orions got rushed out with reservists like us called into service…
Lorelai calmed down as her mind focused. She looked at her own beer, giving it a small sip. She sighed as she worked the problem over in her head.
“It’s… Too well planned for pirates… from the news reports… the number of pirate ships would have to be… at least two times larger than what was estimated two years ago… with more ships of heavier weight classes… They would also need the support infrastructure and—”
Wait, is that my own voice talking? Lorelai realized, paled and stuttered, halting herself.
Both Wojak and Tony were staring at her, completely stunned by how much she spoke. While everyone in the Commonwealth realised how bad the situation was, that the pirate attacks weren’t normal, it wasn’t anything that people wanted to talk about.
“U-Uh… Umm… I… Uh… It’s just… Um… A theory,” she muttered out, raising her beer glass in front of her face as if to hide behind it. Ah… I really dragged the mood down.
“Well… Stars and Tides… Would explain some things, right? I really hope that you are wrong though,” Tony said.
“Hey, fixing this situation is why we are on Bonaventure. It’s why I joined, to make space a better place,” Wojak said with a light smile, her hand reaching into her jacket, fingers rubbing over a simple cross.
“I truly believe things will work out. It might be tough… but we’ll push through. The Commonwealth is a good country, and if anything, the Orions show that the government finally woke up,” Lorelai exhaled, letting the tension leave her shoulders.
“Well said sister! Now… Another round?” Tony said with a grin.
0612 January 12th, 1648 AC Batavian Standard Meridian Date TimeDSC-013 Bonaventure, Deck 007, Crown Anchorage ship’s pub
Cassandra stepped through the door to the Crown Anchorage pub. She rubbed the back of her neck. She felt exhausted. Not just from the flight mission itself, but also the briefings and reports she had to prepare, submitting information to the Bureau Inlichtingen spooks, handling flight plans, and all of that had to be done before she would allow herself to relax.
No rest for the wicked… she thought. At least she had a bit of time to shower and then walk through the ship’s bar on the way to the Crown Anchorage.
With assistance from her Shine, it wasn’t hard to spot Tony and Lorelai at the bar itself with Wojak sitting right beside them. She chuckled as she noticed Lorelai dozing off on the bar with a half-full glass of beer. Wojak seemed to notice her first, emptying the spot besides Lorelai and waving over to Cassandra.
She quickly walked through the mostly empty pub and took the seat. At this time, only personnel that had the night shift were still here. Thankfully for them, the Crown Anchorage was open 24 hours a day with the Navy, Army, and Air Force Institutes workers working in shifts. Many preferred the ship’s night shift due to its less busy nature.
She sat down, looking over at sleeping and hunched-over form of Lorelai and poked her cheek gently. The brown haired girl stirred a little, letting out a mumble before continuing to sleep. Luckily, this didn’t seem to be caused by alcohol, with her Shine informing her that this was in fact Lorelai’s first beer.
“She really isn’t used to flying a mission at night…” Cassandra muttered to herself. “Thanks for taking care of my WSO, you two.”
“Hey, it’s totally fine. It’s good she could relax, right?” Tony said, handing her a glass of beer. “You two did well out there.”
“Thanks. But I would have preferred a boring patrol,” Cassandra admitted, letting out a slightly bitter sounding chuckle. “How about you, Wojak? You good?”
“I’ll be fine. And don’t worry too much about the rest of the Greens, Cass. They were making massive amounts of progress. And when they will hear about Lorelai getting a kill? I am sure they will double down on showing Jokers that we can fly just as well as them.” The ginger pilot said with a casual shrug of her shoulders, finishing her beer.
Cassandra nodded slowly, drinking her own beer, before looking down onto the desk of the table. She rapped her fingers against the table as she thought about the information she received today. She knew the story of the Iwanowska star system, the mounting pressure, and the gunboat diplomacy it faced before its annexation into the Directorate.
She frowned. The UN, as expected, did absolutely nothing while all of this went on. ‘Not enough proof,’ they said. A peacekeeping mission was sent to ensure the smooth transition of power, but it did little to prevent the Directorate from crushing dissent and rebel groups in the system.
She let out a sigh.
“I am your CO, Oliwia. If you feel like you need someone to talk to, I want you to talk to me, understand?” Cassandra said more seriously, giving her friend and fellow pilot a long, intense look.
“Takie jest życie. Aye skipper, will do,” she said, brushing Cassandra’s concerns off.
“You guys got really good beer for this being a carrier.” Tony chipped in, sensing that change of topic was necessary. “If I could, I'd grab a few cases with me. Hell, the entire keg.”
“Within limits,” Cassandra said and chuckled. “While we have a supply vessel with us, I am not sure how long we will be out of the system.”
“Damn, not even you? But hey, I kinda get it? That drone must have fucked things up,” he responded.
“Stars and tides… It sure did,” Cassandra said with a sigh. “Well… I’ll finish my beer, and make sure she gets some proper sleep,” she added, nudging Lorelai a little, the smaller pilot stirring briefly from the contact. “We’ll have to fly another sortie when we meet up with the task force.”
“All good boss, I get the message. I’ll head to sleep in a moment as well,” Oliwia nodded with a grin while Cassandra downed the rest of her drink.
Tony nodded and grinned. “You guys show those assholes what you’re made of. And hey, when you’re back in Carleon stop by.”
Cassandra gently shook Lorelai awake.
“Hmmhhh… Huuhh…? I-I am sorry?” Lorelai softly said as her eyes fluttered open and she gave Cassandra a bleary look...
“Siren, please get some sleep in your own room. We need to fly another sortie at 1800 hours. Sleeping face first on the bar can also give people the wrong idea,” Cassandra said with a chuckle.
Apparently this was just the right thing to say to wake her up, as her golden eyes immediately widened.
“A-A-A-A-A- U-Um… I am sorry! I-It won’t happen again!” Lorelai said as she jolted fully awake.
Cassandra shrugged her shoulders. As far as things went, this was the least troublesome thing one of her pilots did, and frankly, Lorelai really needed to find ways to unwind.
"It’s okay, don’t worry. Now… Let’s go?” Cassandra responded.
Lorelai nodded eagerly, slipping off her bar stool. “Y-Yes!”