Star Bound Liberty (Complete)

Chapter Twelve

'Why didn't you train at the New Texas training base?' Chanau asked the next morning, while we were sitting down to breakfast. I was eating my way through two fruit cups and a plate full of toast with a nut spread. All four of us were at our usual table on the far side of the mess hall from the servery.

'Too many cowboys. No body wants to compete against those guys.' Gabby had been a little subdued lately, and I thought it had been because I'd been snapping at her over the last three days while Amys and I got our simbiot hybridizing sorted out. I'd apologised to her again this morning as she helped me adjust my new uniform shirt after our shower.

'Come on, Libby. You said you wanted to get away from home and to visit the galaxy and that's why you trained at Bordeaux. So why not New Texas?' I lifted both my eyebrows at that, having completely given up on moving only one at a time.

'You remember that, do ya?' I finished off my coffee, thought about getting myself another then realised what I was drinking – mess coffee. I stopped and finished my toast instead.

'Yes I remember. You didn't want to become a medic and ran away from home. Bordeaux is seven sectors from your home planet, New Texas is eight.' The smirk on his face dared me to contradict him. He was a good looking man, someone who I would have normally enjoyed dreaming about in my younger years, but I realised at that moment that I felt no real attraction to him in any way other than as a good friend. And that worried me. I quickly looked down at the table in front of me, least he read the emotions in my face.

'They don't have trees like on Omicron. Bordeaux does, or at least they have those tall redwoods forests.' I looked up to see him nodding. 'And New Texans are a little chauvinistic.' I smirked back.

'Oh, they totally are.' Gabby agreed. 'There was this one time...' She didn't get a chance to finish her comment as almost everyone's comm units pinged with incoming messages.

'Oh, yay. We're nearly there,' she said as she sorted through her comm messages.

'Valour Corporation Station?' I asked, stating the obvious, but having never really been there before, I wanted to learn all I could before we were granted leave later that day. I looked at my own comm unit and discovered a pile of eight new comm messages from various senders, and that was only my fleet comm unit.

'Yes, great shopping, very trans-stella, but don't go out alone, stick with one of us, or with other's in uniform.' She kept reading her messages while I wondered if I should read mine now or when I hit the medbay. I had to slow down my mechanics schedule or Doc would get in a tizzy.

'I gotta go. I've got relay outside engineering to appraise and a leaky power conduit somewhere on the top deck.' Top deck was marine country. No one really liked going into marine country who wasn't already a marine. They didn't like to play well with other.

'Enjoy your day. Wanna catch up for dinner on station? Don't you and Smith owe me a drink?' I enquired. He was half way out of his seat when he paused to consider the question. He looked at Smith, quirked an eyebrow at him, then both men nodded back at me.

'Yeah, sure. I wont be off shift until about 6pm, but a late dinner would be great. O'Malley's at 7pm?' I wasn't sure what O'Malley's was, but if Chanau ate and drank there, then I'd trust him. I nodded and gave him a farewell, just as Gabby got up to leave also.

'You coming with us tonight, Gabby?' She nodded, her mouth full of the last of her breakfast and she waved Smith and I goodbye. I checked my wrist unit again, this time to check the time and quickly ate the remainder of my breakfast.

'So, what are you intentions with my best friend?' Smith crossed his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair. I blushed, stacked my dishes on a tray and I thought about how to answer him.