At the tower’s summit overlooking Asphodel, Romanoff sat down at her command station, watching a critical report on one screen, and a celestial map of nearby sector activity on the other. Leaning over her left shoulder and pointing out some of the movements on the map was Ekaterina Sheinberg, while Danton stood a little further away from her right. Athena frowned.
“And command is certain that’s not sign of anything bigger?”
“It wouldn’t seem to be,” said Sheinberg, “small hit and runs on our convoys are very characteristic of the riff-raff we see in peacetime. If it were Demesne sabotage, I think it would be more systematic.”
Danton nodded, adjusting his glasses as he said, “I concur. It’s too sclerotic and we haven’t seen any linked Demesne offensives, so it’s unlikely to be a deliberate operation. But the effect could be as damaging, considering the amount of depholeum we can lose in a single attack. Military assets are too spread thin to give the convoys a convincing escort.”
“And that’s where you come in?” asked Romanoff glancing over her shoulder, “you want to send the Shtrafbats to take on pirates?”
“McVaughn feels it’s high time the girls got field experience. Don’t you agree?”
“As a professional I’m forced to say yes,” the woman said, looking back at the screens with hooded eyes. “Personally however….”
“Tut tut,” Sheinberg tittered, “you show our friend such little love despite his ingenuity. I apologise,” she said to Danton, placing her hand on her chest, “my superior has never been enthusiastic about the VA1 program.”
Romanoff pulled her cheek.
“Your superior is still in the room and can speak for herself.”
“Well of course the professional opinion is officially what matters,” Danton reasoned, adding, “but I’d much rather have your full assent, my lady. Perhaps we could discuss your reservations? I am available for a tete-a-tete, and we could allay all your concerns.”
“Is that so?” she asked. “And where do you propose this meeting take place?”
“Well, judging this place for locations…. My quarters are too bare, the workshop too spacious and most other parts too crowded. So what’s left is likely your office and forgoing that your––”
“My quarters?”
Danton smiled. “I was going to say your discretion, on whether some of those other locations would work.”
“I’m sure you were.”
Romanoff stood up, brushing down her outfit’s leather skirt and then adjusting her cape, before gesturing to the tall man.
“After you?”
As the lift ferried them down, Athena fidgeted by her front, staring ahead as she stood next to the man. She hadn’t actually decided where they were going –– or rather, the two locations were actually one and the same. The doors in her office fed into a kitchen and bedroom respectively. It wouldn’t have been practical to have a separate office on top of her quarters and the command tower. She hated travelling around the facility as is.
She closed her eyes. The silence was eating at her so she idly asked:
“So where did you pick up ms McVaughn?”
“Ah,” Danton looked at her, “you make it sound like I took her home from a bar.”
“How do I know you didn’t?”
Danton chuckled, and said, “our relationship is very much amiable and nothing more. We simply met through mutual contacts in Deniikin. I believe her background is apropos. She was an inmate for a time.”
She raised her brow, and remarked, “perhaps I should have guessed. I’d expect some honour from a military woman. Not someone so callous.”
“I believe she is warmer than she lets on,” Danton said, “as are you, I believe.”
“You said ‘believe’ twice. Perhaps we should focus on fact first.”
“Then here’s one. Soldiers and criminals are alike in many ways. A second fact is that she served parole and has a waiver from command. A third fact… well, this is conjecture, I’ll admit, but you dislike mistreating the prisoners. In fact, you said you’d give clemency to half of them.”
“And have the other half shot,” she quickly corrected. “On which wind did you hear that then?”
“I’ve been trying to converse with the guards,” Danton explained, “they’re most helpful with the grunt work so I wished to familiarise myself ––faces and names of course.”
Athena looked away, nodding. “I see. You’re a hobnobber, aren’t you. I admit it’s the one skill I could never minister. I suppose you thrived at my debut.”
“Trust me and my memory but you were still very charming yourself.”
“Thank you….”
Through the platforms and the steel walled corridors, they finally reached the office. Danton took on a realising smile, and a short nod upwards, before turning to the coat-hook to hang up his jacket. Athena however held out her hand.
“Not there, I’ve got one inside.”
“Inside?”
She just continued up to the opposing door, opening it, and gestured him to follow. His eyes widened. On the other side was ––admittedly still humble–– but far more welcoming decor. The walls were covered in a gentle blue paint, and covered by two wardrobes, dresser and mirror. The queen-size bed looked to be the only soft surface in the whole of Asphodel.
The woman brought up a chair for Danton, and, to his astonishment, slid his jacket from him to hang up by the dresser.
“Oh? Well this is a change of pace? My gratitude of course!”
“Yes…,” her head hung to the side and she weakly said, “well, I decided you probably weren’t in the mood for another briefing. When we said one-on-one I thought… just a chat over tea seemed nice. If that’s okay?”
Athena brought two cups of tea over and sat down. Danton gathered his drink up to his face, drawing the vapour in and letting it out with a pleasant gasp.
“Military grade. Can’t ask for better out here, but I detect a sweetener.”
“You have to make the most of what you can,” she said. “I couldn’t live without good tea. Or at least passable.”
He smiled, “no it’s good, and I admire your approach. If you’d made tea like that every day, I can’t fathom why your husband would ever leave.”
“He was a military man. Is. No doubt he’s ordering planetary bombardments along the front.”
She looked down into the swirling liquid of her cup. Danton’s smile faded.
“Then that is surprising. You have an admirable service record, so you’re a model military woman. Why didn’t it work?”
She gave what could only be described as a bitter smile. She started dashing her finger into her cup to keep the liquid in motion.
“You really struggle to see any fault in me, even now?” she asked.
“Ah, I never said that,” he laughed.
“You might as well have. You register only what you appreciate and overlook the rest, even when I stuff it into your face. I say I’d execute a thousand women, you hear ‘dislikes mistreating the prisoners.’”
“Perhaps, but I feel you need not be so neg––”
“I’m not some bleeding-heart, mister Pygamile, I just like efficiency. Why spend all this effort to guard and break people with drug infractions or trafficking sentences? Even some of the rapists — vile though they be — are essentially docile. But at the end of the day I couldn’t care less about the prisoners.”
“I don’t believe you truly feel that way.”
“And how do you know so much about me?” she asked, pointedly, pushing away her drink which was getting cold. “Are my private thoughts in the service record? Danton, you really are…. I think you’re sweet. You’re pleasant to be around. But you don’t know me, you met me for one night.”
“Yes, you were radiant.”
“I––” she stopped, finding her entire train of thought crashing into a wall. Damn this man. “Urgh, why me then? Why not any of the other radiant debutantes?”
“That’s a good question,” Danton said, leaning back into his chair. “I suppose I just noticed how sad you looked. It was strange to see a woman shine so much while holding back tears. You were remarkably strong.”
“I wasn’t…. How did you know I was crying?”
“You surreptitiously left, then came back. A very minor error in your reapplied makeup. Undetectable for most of course.”
“Of course,” she said, breaking into a small laugh. “Except for you, I suppose. A man of details?”
“I focus on how parts interlock,” he said, “but yes, I study details where I can. Most unfortunate that I was born with far-sightedness.”
“I see,” Athena said, “so….”
She reached out, her hand gliding up to his face. He neither recoiled nor commented as she took a hold of his frames and slid them from his nose.
“Now you lose your superpower?” she asked, a playful tone creeping into her voice.
“The details are gone. This will make my work difficult.”
Holding by the tip of one of the arms, Athena swung the glasses back and forth. Then she clutched it into her hand and slid it back onto her own face.
She said, “it’s nice to have you at a disadvantage for once.”
Danton chuckled, “I still see the big picture, lady Romanoff. You look very dashing in my glasses.”
After a slowly shuffling queue brought Chione Eosides to the front counter in the cafeteria, she held out her hand to the small black box to make her payment. By now she had activated Vio so often that it barely registered as pain, despite the small jolt and sting that the convulsion brought. The massive woman Nadia Neva shoved over her tray of measly rice and dried leaves. Chione glanced down, suppressed a churn in her throat, and collected it in her hands.
Before the girl could leave, Nadia said, “you know your account is low. Run out soon.”
“Sure,” Chione simply said, and went off to find a free space to sit.
The problem was she hated checking her balance. If she did she could get a better handle of her spending, just stocking up on the bare essentials of soap, tampons and food rations. But without autodetergent, washing clothes could be a drag. Soap on its own could leave her skin rough and flaking in areas.
And she was still so damn hungry at the end of most days. It was hard to remember what a full, delicious meal was like. Her father could roast sausages bursting full of juices, alongside potatoes, cabbage and spinach, and with light wine to wash it down. The taste was so vivid ––the savouriness, the sweetness–– but it was too painful to let it linger.
Training hadn’t restarted yet. No training, no extra stipend, and she had no idea when missions would start either. Overhearing conversations from other girls ––in queues, the showers or the whispers during Counts–– she got the impression that the other Shtrafs were all still taking mining rotas to make do. Was Chione going to have to finally swallow her pride and take a couple sessions herself? Surely just a few hours work wouldn’t kill her ––assuming no accidents.
“Guess I’m back to needing help,” she confessed to Zoe Dee while the two were alone in her cell, “or just an alliance.”
“Yeah, I’m thinking you screwed yourself over with how you acted your first few weeks. No one trusts you now.”
Zoe sighed, taking a puff from her cigarette, as she leaned against the wall by the cell door, while Chione watched her from one of the beds. It gave her a good line of sight for the corridor so if anyone came snooping past they’d be well aware of it.
“It hasn’t stopped them from leering at me,” Chione noted.
“Yeah well… like I said before, you could probably do with something transactional.”
Chione glanced at the guard, as she clasped her knees into her chest with feet on the edge of the bed.
“What? Hooking up?”
“Girl like you could call the tune,” Zoe reckoned. “Find some tired, overworked girl and show them a scrap of affection and they’ll fall for you hard.”
“How do I even start? Do I just go up to them and ask if they want to?”
“Eh how should I know!” Zoe threw up her hands. “Perhaps… you just find a way to get them alone and start sending signals. You know, get up to them, touch their hair. Touch them… everywhere, why not? You think anyone here would begrudge a bit of playful fingers?”
“I would….”
“Oh yeah, well….”
Zoe’s gaze fell, while Chione brought her legs in tighter. She held for a few seconds, as a tension tingled in her lower abdomen. But then she let them fall, and her feet softly landed on the floor. She arose and went over to Zoe, who quickly stood up and pulled the drag from her face.
“Are you leaving? I guess it’s time for me to get back on duty––”
“No, shut the door,” said Chione.
“What, why?”
She shrugged. “Just do it.”
Blinking, the guard decided to oblige and she pulled the large metal door shut, leaving her sandwiched in the corner where the frame met the wall ––with Chione right in front of her. The white haired girl swallowed. With a bit of hesitation, and a heart pounding from the awkward silence, she extended a hand. She reached out and placed it on Zoe’s waist. The guard’s eyes widened.
“Hey uh… what is this––”
But Chione made a sudden movement of her other hand, bringing it right up to Zoe’s brown hair. Her head was softer she thought it’d be, and probably much better kept than Chione’s. Both their breaths were growing heavy, and it was the only sound that punctuated the silence. Chione wanted to ask something, or say something appropriate to the mood; or just anything to make this seem less strange and stilted than it was. But nothing sounded right in her head. She decided to let touch do the talking.
The hand on Zoe’s waist sidled up, brushing underneath her camo green shirt and feeling the bare skin underneath. The guard’s tummy pulled in, as if just the slightest touch was a sparkle throughout her core. She opened her mouth several times but likewise, couldn’t find the words. So Chione knelt down.
I’ve never seen one before, Chione was staring at the zip beneath Zoe’s belt. She had always thought it would be soon after the night of her debut. And definitely on a man’s body. Nonetheless, she wasn’t going to stop now, and reached up to release the buckle of Dee’s trousers. Then she started to pull them down, revealing the lower part of her hips, and then the roughly shaven hairs at the base. No sooner did she get a glimpse of the full thing when Zoe madly bent over and gripped Chione’s hands, stammering:
“Wait wait, let’s just slow down….”
With amazing strength, she pulled her right up to her feet, leaving Chione pressed into Zoe, their faces close. Zoe was deep red, but managed to keep her expression fixed.
“I-I can’t help you, remember,” she said, “I’m a guard, I don’t even have Vio so what would I pay you with? Maybe cigs but that won’t cut it.”
Chione just stared, unsure whether to feel hurt or relief. Her face morphed into a scowl. But she waited for the other woman to let her go gently rather than pull away herself. The now bashful guard quickly turned holding her hands fast to her crotch.
“Nnngh… just give me a moment to calm down….”
“I don’t know why you didn’t just let me continue,” Chione muttered, “you’d get everything out of it, and I nothing.”
“I just… think you need a fellow prisoner you can see eye to eye on. They punish us guards if we’re too friendly anyway. They’d probably chop my balls off if they saw us doing… that.”
Closing her eyes, Zoe Dee took a few long, ragged breaths. Chione was left to just stand there, watching. On some level she recognised she should turn away. Poor Zoe was red as she waited for her problem to finally settle, and Chione being there didn’t help. But Chione felt stuck either way, and she was beginning to feel her own insides burn up in a raging fire.
What the hell was I just doing? She thought with growing horror.