Shoshone Station: The Galactic Consortium season 2

Episode Six: Africa #2

"Now you'll be careful won't you?" Grandma Fox said over breakfast.

"Oh, Grandma, it's only a week," Fox whined. He sounded, even to himself, like a little boy again. "I'll be fine. Do you remember the Cambridge? I'd go on assignment and it would be weeks, months out at sea."

"I worried about you then too," Grandma Fox snapped at him. "I'm your grandma. It's what I do."

Emma laughed. "You can't argue with that logic."

"This isn't even an assignment," Fox said. "It's vacation. You know, where you go and relax for a week."

That didn't stop Grandma. "It's Africa. A giant refugee camp, at that."

"Not anymore," Fox said. "It's a Consortium base these days. And a town. They built permanent housing for all the refugees who want to stay. And since they have Consortium technology, advanced healers, security, and plentiful food, quite a few of them stayed."

"They say more keep pouring in every day," Ray put in from the far end of the table. He barely looked up from his slate as he said it. "Nyarugusu is now the fastest growing city in the world by one estimate. Wait, no, it's Naurasathanas now, isn't it?"

Emma snickered. "I don't know which is the bigger mouthful, the African name or the Consortium one."

"It means 'safe haven' in Consortium," Ray said. He shrugged sheepishly. "We talked about it in study group yesterday, that's all."

Fox finished his last bite of breakfast and then checked the time. "Ray in a study group. And paying attention. I'd best be taking a vacation," he joked. "Feels like the end of the world is around the corner."

"Jimmy," Grandma scolded. He blushed. Grandma only used his kid name when she wanted him to feel like a kid.

"Sorry, Ray," he said. "You've really been buckling down. I am proud of you, serious."

Ray shrugged. "I know, I know. I've got a long way to go to make up for some of the shit I did. Anyway, my point is, it's a pretty big city for a small town rez kid like yourself. Better watch yourself."

"They've got Consortium security..." Fox began.

"And Fox will have Nara to look out for him," Emma teased.

Fox blushed about both the rez-kid comment and having Nara look out for them, but he figured he had it coming. "Anyway, I gotta go. I want to stop by the command center real quick, where I'll probably get teased just as bad, and fussed over, before my flight."

He rose and Grandma came over and kissed him on the cheek. "You sure you don't need something for the trip? I've got a couple burritos in the fridge."

"I'm sure they have food in Africa, Grandma."

Emma gave him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek as well. Ray, the only one who didn't seem to think that a weeklong vacation in Africa was a huge undertaking, simply waved goodbye and returned his attention to his slate.

Fox snatched his overnight bag off the steps to his room and headed out down the lane. "Have a nice trip," one of his neighbors said with a wave. He wondered if everybody had heard about his vacation. Was he really that high profile that people cared about his comings and goings?

In the security command center he was, as predicted, treated to another round of teasing. "I sent a warning ahead," his second-in-command, Kellii, joked. "I said my chief of security was coming and he has a tendency to get himself into situations. Try not to blow up their station."

"That was my nephew," Fox protested. "And I don't get into situations. Situations just happen, and I just happen to be there."

"And don't scare the poor Africans, please," His melee sergeant, Mandraka, added. "The last time your lover visited, I swear the station rocked a little bit." Fox blushed as the rest of them laughed.

Fox did his own bit of fussing before he left. "Now, you guys remember that the end of the week is New Year's, right? It's tradition for people to go out that evening. They might get a little rowdy."

"We remember," his melee sergeant repeated. "We've staffed extra already. We'll be fine. Go. Take a vacation. Relax." Zie all but shoved him out the door for his flight.

As he reached the spaceport, he ran into Captain Lannister, who "just happened" to be up there inspecting something or other. He shook Fox's hand and wished him a good week as well. It's good to know that people care about me, he reflected as he climbed aboard the hopper. But it'll be good to get a week away too.