Chapter 2

After I'd had lunch in my ready room, I heard a rap on my door and shouted, "Enter!"

"Lt. Cliff Jackson reporting as ordered, Sir."

"Come in, Lieutenant. Please have a seat. I have been going over your service record, and it is very colorful, indeed. Are you just a natural born fuck up, or do you have to work at it? Just what the hell is going on here?"

"Actually, Commander McLain, what I have been trying to do is to get my ass kicked out of the service ... but so far, nothing has worked!"

"If you want out so bad. Why don't you just quit? This service is purely voluntary. You know that, don't you?"

"I can't quit! My whole family is military! Hell, Admiral Jackson is my uncle.

"Has it ever occurred to you that THAT is the reason why you haven't been kicked out, either? The Admiral wouldn't like it!"

"I thought that was how it was. No matter what I've done it seems like a slight punishment."

"You may have only received a slight punishment, but all your commanders have had their careers RUINED by you! As of right now, this shit is ceasing! I will not have my ship's record tarnished, nor my own, just because you are some sort of shit-bird! You had BETTER get your act cleaned up, or you WILL suffer!"

"I swear, Commander, I was not out to hurt anybody but myself! I won't do anything to jeopardize our missions, or to make this ship or its crew look bad."

At this time, the ship's AI announced, "Commander McLain, please report to the Admiral's office as soon as possible."

"McLain I'm getting reports of mass thievery all over this station. I know it's your crew, so don't try to deny it!" the Admiral said as soon as I walked into his office.

"How can it be us? You have us confined to Q-Deck?"

"I don't know how you're doing it, but I will find out! Then, no matter what kind of pull you have, I will have you all court marshaled!"

"Sir, I must be able to get my supplies, to keep my unit combat ready."

"You are on the supply schedule, but I have to give priority to the ships that are going out. I told you your ship would be the last to get any missions that came in, so you have last priority."

"Admiral, you can't do this! We are not in your chain of command!"

"No, you're not. But this is MY station, and I say who gets what supplies, and when. I can't help it if you are unable to take a mission, because you're not ready. Now get back to Q-Deck, with those other foul-ups, and rot for all I care."

"Admiral, I demand to speak with headquarters about this. I need those supplies."

"That may be, but we are having trouble with the communications equipment, right now. I'll let you know as soon as it is back up. It shouldn't take more than a few weeks."

"A few weeks? I need those supplies NOW!"

"Don't you raise your voice to ME! Now get your ass back to Q-deck!"

As I was walking onto Q-deck, I was surprised to find it so busy. There were people everywhere.

Spotting Mike, I went up and asked her, "What's going on. Where did all these people come from?"

"Since we can't leave Q-deck, we are having a kind of a party.

"What kind of a party?"

"Well, a gambling kind of party."

"GAMBLING! With the Admiral watching our every move? Are you all nuts?"

"Nope. We've got it all figured out. All the cameras are on a loop, and won't show a thing. Wiz has all the games rigged. If they pay out, it's going to be for a low amount, and not often."

"But what's everyone doing for money? We can't take their credit chips! Every transaction is recorded?"

"That's just it. We aren't taking money! We're taking parts and giving them tokens to use for more gambling. So, in a way, it's not really gambling."

"No, it's a grand theft! The Admiral is already suspicious of all the missing parts on this station."

"But how can it have been us? He confined us to Q-Deck, under guard."

"Speaking of guards, where are they?"

"Let's see ... One is over there, playing craps. The other is talking to Cyndi."

"What if they turn us in?"

"They won't, we cut them in on it. If we burn, so do they."

"Yeah, well, that's just great. But how will we pay off if anybody wins?"

Mike started laughing, "Wins? That would really take a miracle. We had Cyndi and Wiz go over everything before we started. These suckers would have a better chance of learning to breathe vacuum."

"Well let's get it closed down as soon as possible. I've already got the Admiral breathing down my neck. We don't need any more trouble."

"Aye-aye, Skipper. We should be able to shut it down in a couple more hours. We passed the word that it would only run until 1900 hours, since we still had a lot of work to do on the Loony. That's why we decided to cut it short."