Dishonourable Discharge: Grace Augustine

60

Ivory and Grace sat at opposite ends of the desk.

"What?" Ivory asked blankly.

"Fpak." Grace enunciated, exaggerating the syllables.

"And that means... hold off?"

"Yes."

"Right." Ivory murmured, scribbling it down.

"Srung."

"Help."

"Correct. And fnu?"

The dark haired woman let her head drop onto the table top. "I don't know. Why is this so fucking hard?" She groaned.

"Because you've spent the last forty minutes staring at my tits instead of paying attention to the language." Grace said matter of factly, pulling her bra strap further up her freckled shoulder. "It means quiet."

Ivory muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like a string of swear words.

Trudy looked up from the sandwich that she had been steadily demolishing. "Positive attitude Vee."

"Okay, I'm positive that if you say that again I'll throw the Na'vi dictionary at your head."

Trudy snorted with laughter.

"A feisty one you are." Norm finished his sandwich, discarding the crusts.

"What?" Ivory pushed her notebook away.

"Star Wars? It's how Yoda talks."

"What's a Yoda?"

"I refuse to live with someone who hasn't watched Star Wars." Norm threw his hands into the air dramatically.

"Isn't that film like a hundred years old?"

"One hundred and seventy seven." Norm corrected. "How have you not watched it it's been out your whole life."

"I've had things to do." Ivory shrugged.

"Grace doesn't count as an excuse." Jake smirked.

"I hate you all." Ivory drained the last of her coffee then got up, grabbing her mug.

"No more caffeine." Grace said abruptly.

The dark haired woman rolled her eyes and slumped back into her seat.

"I made diagrams of the battle plans." Jake tossed an enormous sheet of paper onto the table. "V, you're the black. Trudy you're red and Norm you're yellow."

"Which are you?" Norm took his copy of the plans.

"I'm the blue."

"Where am I on this?" Grace demanded.

Ivory quickly skimmed her sheet, checking the red markings as well as her own. "We're in the Samson."

"Hell yeah." Trudy tapped her fist against Ivory's.

"Now wait just a goddamn minute. Where am I on this?" Grace repeated.

Ivory was suddenly very interested in the ink stains on the pads of her fingers.

"Do you expect me to stay here?"

"Yes." Jake squirmed under Grace's glare.

"What the fuck, why?"

"You were shot Grace." Ivory said tiredly.

"Ages ago!"

"It wasn't that long ago."

"Why are you suddenly being sensible for the first time in your life?"

"Grace if you get that badly hurt again I don't think there's anythin' we can do about it."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take."

"It's a risk we're not willing to take." Ivory said doggedly.

"Hill don't even-"

"Hey, just because you're not getting your own way doesn't mean that you have to resort back to that."

"I'm coming and there's nothing you can do to stop me." Grace said sharply.

"So help me god if I have to lock you in here to keep you safe I will." Heat was beginning to rise in the dark haired woman's face.

Norm muttered something that sounded vaguely like an excuse then ducked out of the room.

"I'm not Olivia Ivy, or don't you realise that?"

"Jesus, Grace!" Trudy looked appalled.

Ivory set her jaw, struggling to keep her already short temper. "It's fine. Let's just make sure the Samson is ready," she grabbed her phone from the desk and left.

A/N: I accidentally published this before it was finished so I apologise to anyone who had to read my weird chapter notes