Top Brass Ch. 01

"Have we gone in and investigated the bar for evidence?" someone jumped in.

"No, not yet, at least. We've been reluctant to provoke a firefight. In part because the city is still crowded with innocent folks who arrived for the holiday celebration. The regulars there are, let's say, not very fond of Coalition intervention. It's like a hornet's nest in there," Director Cole continued.

"I can prepare a task force to raid the bar by tomorrow. My Peacekeepers can handle these lowlifes," Colonel Pentecost suggested.

"Hm, perhaps. But there are definitely some actions we need to take immediately. Whoever planned this whole thing out has to have been spooked by the loss of most of their team. There's a real risk that they might bug off the planet," Caseus said, rubbing his bearded chin. "Sable, have you locked down the planet's air space?"

"Yes, sir. But I would recommend that we wind up this investigation as quickly as possible. Governor Mihaly has already been hounding me because we have effectively embargoed all commerce coming in and out of the planet," she replied.

The Fleet Admiral hummed in thought again. "Very well. Colonel Pentecost, you will work with Major General Sinclair and coordinate your efforts to deal with this 'bar'. You two are dismissed." The two nodded and promptly exited the room.

"So, Director Harkless. I understand that you've inspected the scene personally. That was well done, by the way. What can you tell us about the situation there?" Caseus called out to her. Amanda immediately sat up to attention.

"Yes sir. It's perhaps not as bad as the preliminary reports may have indicated. Property damage is rather minimal, except for one blown up fuel tank and damage to a wall that separated the city's sewers from the facility's main coolant drain."

"And have you dealt with whoever was in charge of the facility?" he added.

"Yes. They have been dealt with."

"Good. Director Cole, exactly what do we know about the data that these perpetrators were after?"

"After doing some digging, we discovered that they had stolen countless logs of the movement of Coalition resources and trade routes. What's riled up the suspicions of our analysts is why, out of everything they could have taken, would someone have gone to all the trouble, expense, and risk of targeting this particular information."

"That is suspicious..." Caseus grumbled reflectively.

"I can assure you, we will be getting to the bottom of this," Director Cole stated.

"It's not just the data that I'm worried about...' responded Caseus "This sets a very dangerous precedent... If word gets out that a Coalition facility was openly attacked and had its sensitive data stolen, our adversaries will become emboldened and try something. I'm going to have to speak with Councilman Shilage about authorizing a proper shakedown of all Coalition facilities across the galaxy," the Fleet Admiral, the seriousness of his voice emphasizing the depth of his concerns. Everyone in the room mumbled to each other and nodded in agreement.

After another hour of discussing important matters, the meeting was finally wrapped up. Stretching as she stood up from her chair, Amanda was happy it had reached its end. But, just as she was leaving, she was stopped by Fleet Admiral Caseus.

"Director Harkless, could I speak to you for a moment?" he called out before she could reach the door. Letting out a slight sigh, she bent her steps back over to the admiral.

"Sir?" she queried.

"I know that your time on Antares IV is coming to an end. But, would you mind extending your stay here to oversee all our operations in response to this current predicament?" Although Amanda was flattered by the offer, she wasn't sanguine about accepting it. As a Director of Coalition Highcom, she had major responsibilities in other parts of the galaxy. None of which she could effectively carry out if she had to stick around here to clean up the mess of others.

"With all due respect, sir. I do have a number of important manners to attend to back among the core worlds. I'm not sure if accepting your offer would be commensurate with the discharge of my other responsibilities."

Admiral Caseus had a look of disappointment on his face. "Listen, under normal circumstances, I would assume command over this operation. But I'm being called up to attend to important matters along the Belgani border worlds. I wish in my absence that someone like you would assume command in my stead." Amanda was flattered by his trust in her competence. While she knew that the admiral's 'wish' was very close to a direct order, she was going to take advantage of that pretense of choice, even if it turned out to be illusory.

"But, sir, I-," she tried to say.

"I'll vouch for you. I have plenty of good friends in your division. I can call in a favor to cover for you," he interrupted. "But, please, if you could." Amanda cocked her brow. To have someone of such august rank practically pleading for her compliance was somewhat disconcerting, but also oddly appealing. And it was also, undeniably, very flattering. Being recognized for her proper work ethic made her feel very proud. Her ego swelled and she involuntarily nodded yes.

"You will take on this operation?" the admiral exclaimed, seeing her slight nod. Amanda was taken aback by the rapidity with which he jumped to confirm her concession.

"I- er, uh-," Amanda stuttered, realizing what she had just done: she was taken aback at having unknowingly painted herself into a corner. But seeing how pleased her superior was with her unintended agreement to his offer, she sighed and begrudgingly accepted.

"Okay, I'll do it, sir..." Amanda muttered. "But I'm not sure I can manage such an operation on my own. Most of my staff and personnel are currently stationed at Arcadia. It will take some time for me to transfer them over here. So it may take a bit to get myself situated."

The Fleet Admiral just nodded. "Oh, don't worry about that. You won't need to take a direct hands-on approach. I just need you to make sure everything moves smoothly. And of course, if you deem it necessary, you have the discretion to intervene."

Amanda nodded. "Maybe this won't be that bad," she thought.

"Of course, you will be given all the resources you require. A base of operations from which you'll exercise overall command, full access to planetary resources, etc. Oh, and also, you will be given a special assistant."

"Special assistant?" the director queried.

"Ah, yes. Unfortunately, this is non-negotiable. Something about Councilman Rosa wanting to establish some new program for nurturing our military academy cadets. But think of it as an internship. You don't have to let them do anything too complicated. Just show them the ropes. Or just have them get your coffee or do other menial tasks for you. Nothing much."

"Okay?" Amanda replied with uncertainty.

"Good! My secretary will send you all the things you need. Oh, and your new assistant is already waiting in the lobby for you. I'll be off then! Thank you for doing this for me," Caseus said, gathering his things, before exiting the room. Amanda just gave him a salute and saw him off.

Now that she was alone in the empty meeting room, Amanda sighed and exited the room as well. Walking through the doors, she was met by her familiar rival standing before her with her arms crossed. "Been a while," Sydney smirked.

"What do you want?" Amanda sternly replied, nonchalantly checking her datapad.

"What? You don't miss me?"

"Ugh... Don't you have more important matters to attend to?" she stated.

"Oh, come on, I can't make small talk with my fellow colleague?" Sydney chirped. Amanda glanced over to her and cocked her brow.

"Well, people like us don't have time for small talk."

"We're talking right now," Sydney remarked, playfully tossing her black bangs.

Putting her datapad down, Amanda fully turned to her counterpart and said, "What is it you actually want? Aren't you needed at your flagship or something?"

"Hm, my ship can function with me on the ground for a bit. I just needed some fresh air, you know? Being cooped up in space for too many months at a time can really take a toll on a person," Sydney replied. "But I heard you will be assuming command over this whole operation. Congratulations," the raven-haired admiral continued. Amanda wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not.

"Uh, thanks..." Amanda cautiously replied. She wondered how Sydney found out so quickly. "Now, if you don't mind me, I have to get myself situated here for the time being,"

Sydney smirked. "Huh, I guess we'll be seeing each other more often then. Because I'll be staying here for the foreseeable future as well. At least until this whole mess has been cleaned up."

Amanda wasn't too keen upon hearing this. The last time she had worked with Sydney, they were too busy trying to prove who was better, which led to them being properly reprimanded by their superior officer. Amanda felt a shiver go through her spine as she was reminded of the not-too-fond memory. She never wanted to go through that again. But that had been a long time ago, back when they first graduated from the academy. Perhaps things might be different this time.

"Ah, well. I guess I'll be seeing you around then," Amanda responded. "But please, if you would excuse me, I have places to be."

"Understood, 'ma'am'. I'll get out of your way. See you around," she snickered, making an exaggerated salute to her, before disappearing into the distance. And there was that sarcasm Amanda was looking for. Technically, Sydney was a higher rank than her. Which hurt a bit. But since she was in a completely different division from Amanda, she had no direct jurisdiction over her.

"Huh, what was that all about?" Amanda wondered. But shaking her head back into focus, she proceeded to the main lobby.

As she strode past the receptionist's desk, Amanda was met by a young-looking lad standing as straight as a stick blocking her path. He wore the standard gray cadet uniform she had remembered wearing during her early years. It brought some nostalgic memories of all the hardships she had to endure to get to where she was.

As she got closer to him she got a better look at the boy. He was a little bit shorter than her with his head around her chest level and had brown hair, tanned skin, and green eyes. He was definitely on the skinnier side, too. "This kid seems really green," Amanda thought.

Approaching him, he stood formally to attention and saluted her. "Cadet Samuel Rhys! Reporting for duty, ma'am!" Cocking her brow, Amanda held in a small chuckle at how stiff and overly cordial he was acting.

"Huh... You must be my new assistant," Amanda said, bracing her hand on her hip.

"Yes! Ma'am! I have been selected to be your personal aide, ma'am!" he replied loudly. "I'll be serving under you until you complete your operations here, ma'am!"

As much as she appreciated the formalities, it was starting to get annoying. "At ease, cadet. You can drop the loud announcing thing you're doing. You don't need to do that all the time," Amanda ordered.

"But, ma'am, I was told that's how you address all superior officers..." the cadet timidly replied.

"Well, just so you know, that is just a simple formality. You don't always need to do that unless instructed to do so," Amanda explained. "So you can relax. I can see that you are nervous enough without all that."

The cadet let out an exhalation of relief but still looked tense. "So, Samuel, was it?" Amanda tried to strike up some small talk to help the boy relax.

"Yes. My name is Samuel, ma'am..." Amanda slowly nodded.

She was about to say something further in the way of small talk when she received a call on her earpiece. "This is Harkless," she said, accepting the call. Samuel watched his senior officer as she spoke to whoever was calling her.

He was nervous as hell at meeting the Director in person. He really had no idea what to expect. When he had first been given the assignment, Samuel hadn't known anything about this 'Director Harkless'. After doing some research on her, he had at least figured out what her job was. He wasn't going to lie, what she did had sounded a little boring. Well, compared to the more exciting assignments some of his other classmates had received. And, of course, he had been teased about his own stodgy-sounding assignment when he had told them about it.

But Samuel couldn't help but feel lucky that his superior officer had turned out to be so remarkably attractive. As she was distracted by her call, he took advantage of the opportunity to gaze at her serious, yet beautiful features. The Director had piercing eyes, elegant platinum blonde hair, and notable curves. But she was also tall, even a bit taller than him, which made him feel a little insecure. Samuel had also been a smaller kid while growing up but had ultimately grown to be barely 5'5", which was near below average for military academy standards. But the Director was tall for a woman, standing at 5'8", which reminded him all too well of the time when most everybody had seemed to loom over him.

"Come on, cadet. We have to go," Amanda called out to Samuel. He quickly shook his head back into focus.

"Wha- oh. Yes, ma'am. On my way," he quickly replied, picking up his duffle bag and throwing it over his shoulder. Amanda shook her head and motioned her guards to follow her again.

Samuel couldn't help but feel intimidated by the onyx-armored Sentinel Guards who were pacing along closely behind them. After a brisk walk back to the hangar, they arrived at Amanda's dropship and entered the cabin. The Director and her intimidating guards just assumed their usual seats, of course, leaving Samuel to stand awkwardly in the middle of the ship, not knowing where he was supposed to sit.

Looking up from her datapad, Amanda cocked her brow at the cadet. "God, this kid is definitely on the green side," she thought.

"Hey, kid. Just take a seat anywhere," Amanda instructed. Samuel shook himself, trying to dispel his nerves, and then rapidly nodded. He looked around for a seat, but it looked like almost all the seats were occupied, even though the dropship's cabin was only occupied by Amanda, her two guards, and him, her new aide.

Amanda impatiently tapped her foot on the floor as she grew increasingly frustrated with her cadet's indecisiveness. Samuel finally chose a seat directly in front of Amanda and then, after removing his duffle bag from his shoulder, he seemed unable to figure out where to stow it. Amanda's eyes went dead and she felt a vein in her temple pop out.

"Samuel, just put your bag under the seat," she said rather sternly. He flinched at the seriousness in her voice and clumsily stuffed his bag under the seat. Finally taking his seat, Samuel nervously looked up to see Amanda roll her eyes and look down at her datapad. Glancing to his right, he saw the two guards with their royal blue visors looking at him and shaking their heads.

"God, I'm really screwing this up for myself," Samuel pitifully said to himself. It was his first day, and he felt like he was giving his senior officer a horrible impression of himself.

As the ship took off, Amanda nonchalantly kept her eyes on her datapad. By contrast, Samuel nervously held on as the ship accelerated. Glancing up, Amanda tried to get a better measure of her assistant. He had his legs clamped tightly together and looked very skittish.

Amanda didn't know what to feel. She wanted to feel bad, but she was also kind of disappointed. The boy certainly didn't look like military material. "So, Samuel. How old are you?" Amanda asked, putting her datapad onto her lap.

He shook again with nerves as he looked up at her. "Um, just turned eighteen a month ago, ma'am," he replied. Amanda tilted her head to the side. "He certainly doesn't look eighteen," she thought.

"Eighteen? You look a lot younger than that," Amanda said puzzingly, crossing her legs.

Samuel gripped the fabric of his pants. "Yeah... I get that a lot... I was always a smaller kid. I got teased about it constantly." Amanda gave a sympathetic smile which helped to comfort him a bit more.

"Where are you from?" the Director continued.

"I'm from Harmony," Samuel answered.

"Harmony? You're a long way from home, don't you think?" Harmony was quite a small agricultural colony in the core worlds. Samuel slowly nodded. Amanda could sense some sadness in him.

"So what brings a boy like you all the way out here to Antares IV? This place certainly doesn't seem like the typical landing spot for cadets such as yourself," Amanda queried, rubbing her chin.

"Well, the academy I'm based at is over on Rubicon V. I'm here because you are, ma'am." Amanda chuckled a bit. Samuel wondered what was funny. Did he do something wrong again?

"Well, sorry for dragging you all the way out here. I wasn't intending to be here this long myself. I was supposed to return to Arcadia. But things have changed. So I guess we're stuck here together." Samuel relaxed as he grew more comfortable with his senior officer. She seemed pretty hospitable.

"Well, it's not so bad I suppose. I don't get to go to other planets all that off. Much less one out on the frontier. It's not as bad as I thought it could be, though," Samuel pointed out.

"Consider yourself lucky, then. Antares IV is as close to civilization as it gets out here. Everything beyond here is untamed space," Amanda replied. She was enjoying talking about anything else besides work. Samuel smiled and nodded.

For the remainder of the flight, the two sat in silence in the rattling cabin. Samuel felt better now that he had been able to talk to his senior officer. She seemed like a nice lady. However, she did have this serious glint in her eyes. Something told him not to get on her bad side.

Soon, Samuel found himself gazing at Amanda again. His green eyes traveled up along her crossed legs and her form-fitting uniform. He felt his blood pumping through his body and his chest heat up. As his attention turned to her tantalizing face, he suddenly realized that she was staring right at him.

He quickly averted his eyes up to the ceiling of the cabin as he tried to play off his visual interest in her. Unfortunately for him, Amanda was already aware of his thirsty staring. Oddly enough, though, she didn't find herself feeling perved out or irked. She actually found it kind of cute that Samuel had been ogling her. Amanda was highly aware that she was an attractive woman. So she couldn't blame him. The young cadet looked like he'd never touched a woman before. And she was sure that he had that young vigor and rampant hormones coursing through his body.

"So, Samuel," Amanda called out to him, hiding a small smile. Samuel flinched and braced himself for the earful he was about to get for gawking at his senior officer. "Do you have any family?"

Samuel let out a sigh of relief that she apparently hadn't caught on to his surreptitious staring. "Yes, ma'am. It's just me, my mom, and my little brother." Amanda curiously raised her brow.

"What does your mother do?"

"She's a biomedical technician at a hospital in my hometown," Samuel explained. "I really miss her..." Amanda gave an empathetic nod. The kid certainly wasn't typical military material.

"Oh? A momma's boy, huh? That's cute," Amanda chuckled. Samuel blushed. He felt like he was about to pass out from the embarrassment. "I revealed too much! Augh! She probably thinks I'm a loser now," he screamed to himself.

"Don't worry, Samuel. There is nothing wrong with being a momma's boy," Amanda assured. "I find it actually admirable that you would admit to that. It's not often that men show some appreciation for their mothers. They give birth to them for Pete's sake."