The Girl in the Tank: Galactic Consortium, Season 1

Episode Six: Are there Closets in Space? ch.3

Dan didn't have to ask Cheyenne if she'd heard. The second the door to her medibay slid open she said. "I hope you hit them extra hard for me."

Dan blushed.

"Hey, watch this," Cheyenne said with an impish grin. "Dan, hit him again!"

A holo-projection showed Klempke charging Dan, Dan's fist slamming into his jaw. It paused, a few seconds of footage only.

"Dan, hit him again!" Cheyenne said. Those few seconds of footage ran again.

Dan shook his head. Janda rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry I taught her how to do playback," he muttered.

"It's, you've seen the video and everything?" Dan asked.

"Trials are public record," Janda said.

"They blurred out the woman, to protect her dignity and privacy," Cheyenne said. "Janda says he knows anyway."

"She's a good friend," Janda said. His face pinked. "In fact, I would like to give you a hug, if that's okay. For saving her."

Dan smiled and held out his arms. Janda moved in and hugged him tight. "Thank you so much. It means so much that you'd risk yourself like that."

"It was nothing," Dan said.

"It was something," Cheyenne said. She came in behind Janda and she hugged him too. "You're my hero, now, Dan. And a criminal," she joked.

She stepped away and stumbled. Janda caught her and helped her to the bench.

"Sorry," she said. "I'm still not as strong as I'd like."

"You're getting there, day by day," Dan said.

"Not as fast as I'd like," she muttered. Then, casting for a new subject, "so, you've had a busy day. Let's see, you stopped two rapist..."

"Got a couple teeth knocked out," Janda added.

"Were tried and sentenced..." Cheyenne said.

"And I came out to the crew," Dan said, taking a seat beside Cheyenne.

"What?" Cheyenne gasped.

"Came out?" Janda gave them a quizzical look.

"It just sort of happened," Dan said. To Janda he added. "I told my bunkmates that I'm gay. That I'm attracted to men."

"They didn't know?"

He shook his head. "It's not very well accepted in places and, I guess, life is hard enough. I just hid it, for years."

"And?" Cheyenne asked.

"I was so mad at those two men..." Dan grumbled.

"And you thought you'd get back at them by telling our crew you're gay?"

He laughed. "I know, it doesn't sound logical. But you've told me how it is being a woman in the military. How you always have to be the best soldier you can, because if you're not, they'll blame it on your sex, say, see, that's why we shouldn't have woman in uniform."

Cheyenne was nodding. "That's how you feel, isn't it?"

He nodded. "Yeah, when you're gay, its the same way. There was this one out gay kid in my high school. He was on the basketball team. He was always the gay kid on the team, you know. When he had a good game, he was breaking stereotypes. When he had an off day, they'd be right back to those same stereotypes. I didn't want to deal with that, so I kept things hidden."