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CHAPTER 40:
Homecoming



Weekly Solar News @NickSteve

Bombshell Wednesday! Hey viewers, did you see that? Yesterday Shepard admitted that Captain Gee LeBlanc murdered one of her crew . . . 

404 NOT FOUND

Weekly Solar News in Exile @EHNickSteve

I will not be silenced! The *Percheron Incident* MUST BE INVESTIGATED!

ChirpChat, March 2044


Glenn’s comm directed him to the visiting officers’ quarters. VOQ space was better than barracks, typically consisting of efficiency and studio apartments for transient officers, or personnel from other branches. Other Percheron personnel would be transferred to O’Neill and Clarke, and then to Earth, as needed for their medical care and reacclimation to full gravity. Glenn, on the other hand, had received orders placing him on temporary duty at Heinlein.

At least he’d been able to put his working arm back on, and Ian had been there to tune it—still not perfect, but considerably better than on Percheron. At least he wouldn’t worry about smashing anything while he slept.

A chime at the door announced Richardson and Nik. The OSI lieutenant colonel was friendly, but formal. He greeted Glenn and apologized for the abrupt introductions earlier. Nik rushed into the room and enveloped Glenn in a hug again.

“Wow, buddy, did you miss me?”

“That’s from Jen. She made me promise. But yes, to be honest, we thought we were going to lose you. Andrew and I . . .” Nik cocked a thumb over his shoulder to indicate Richardson. “Were looking at your bionic cam recordings in real-time—or at least, fifteen minutes delayed—when Yvette locked you in the water tank and started the vacuum purge. That was frightening.”

“What’s going to happen to her?”

“There will be a hearing,” Richardson said. “A formality, because she really can’t be held responsible for her actions while impaired, but there are irregularities from before. It will be more of an inquest than a trial. She’s still one of ours, and the general insists we be fair. People will want answers.”

“Speaking of Boatright, I expected to see him front and center in the greeting party. Jen, too, if she’s been helping him with PR, I would have thought she’d have a hand in it, too.”

“The general intended to be here, and Miss Butler as well. They were at a ceremony at Peterson SFB the day before yesterday, and were supposed to catch the last shuttle to make it here on time. Unfortunately, there was a weather delay; the Springs received thirteen inches of snow. Normally not an issue, but they were flying commercial to New Mexico and the flight was canceled. Driving was also out of the question. Jennifer will be here tomorrow, and the general will pay a visit later.”

“Oh, okay. Ah, where are my manners. Please, sit.” The quarters were compact, but there was a small seating area.

Nik moved to sit down, but Richardson declined. “I should give the two of you time to catch up. Doctor Pillarisetty, you may consider this as part of Colonel Shepard’s homecoming brief—or not. Your choice.” He went out the door and closed it behind him.

The smile finally slipped from Shepard’s face. He looked tired and in pain.

“Hey buddy, welcome home. You look like shit,” he told his friend.

“Just tired. I’ve been up for forty hours getting ready for today, then to get ambushed by Scott’s sister. That was brutal.”

“Yeah, but you handled that in the best way. There had been discussion about how you would handle it—not planned, but just in case someone asked a hard question like that.” Nik smiled. “I told them exactly how it would go and you proved me right.”

“But no one saw fit to warn me?”

“That’s on me. Better for you to react naturally, which you did. The public now sees you as a hero who isn’t afraid to speak the truth.”

“I’m no hero, Nik. I messed up, plenty, including losing another arm, an eardrum, and I’ve got chest twinges. When Space Force sees fit to give me leave, I’ll be headed back to SAMMC, I’m sure.”

“Yeah, me too. Speaking of that, you know Jen will be here tomorrow, Marty’s sorry, but he wasn’t approved for the gees of a conventional launch. If you need him before the Force releases you, he can take a flyer that does the high-altitude launch and a slower transit. He can be here next week if you say the word. Oh, and Jakob says hi. He’s got a new set of legs he wants to show you.”

“I’m sure I’m going to be there soon enough.” Glenn looked at him intently. “Man, Nik. It is so good to see you. The past months have been like a waking nightmare. I’d have given anything to have you squirting me with water anytime I closed my eyes. Hey, I’ve been remiss. How’s Sheila? How are the two of you doing?”

“Not bad, Shep. We’re doing fine, she loves the new clinic and is bossing all of the nurses already. Boatwright actually spun us out of SAMMC and into OSI. In addition to clinic work, he’s had me doing intake interviews and evaluations. Anyone that comes to work for him needs to have a flexible mind and be able to handle the twisted sense of humor like we showed in rehab.”

“Hah! Y’mean like that stupid HR briefing?”

“Good times, my friend. Good times. We still have the recording from the teleconference, you should have seen Boatright laughing at Mizz Click’s face.”

“I never knew that part of him. We’d met of course. He was high up in the Flight Medical branch, and we’ve talked and corresponded many times since, but all very formal.”

“He’s one of us, Shep. Sneaky old bird, too. It was awfully easy for you to stow away on Bat with everything you could possibly need, right? That was him.”

“I know that now. It was obvious in hindsight. I got assigned to the medical review team, then to the Moon where I could test vacuum exos, then Clarke, where they were putting together the load-out for Bat, then having the MILES suit right there.”

“Have you been following ChirpChat? He made it clear that OSI was behind you every step of the way.”

“Machiavelli?”

“More benign than that. Oh, I sometimes catch glimpses of a very dark place inside him. He’s forbidden me from attempting to psychoanalyze him. But he’s a very complex person and I still haven’t figured him out. The important part, though, is that he’s protective of his people. We’re the future, and anyone who works for him will need to deal with people like you, me, Jakob, and the like.”

“All of them? Even ramrod straight, Colonel Richardson?”

“Even him, Shep. You’d be surprised. He’s a decent guy. We talked a lot on the way up, and even before. He came up through JAG, so for legal reasons Boatright inserted him into the communications loop—you know how the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo program had this rule that only astronauts could be ‘capsule communicator’ and speak to the astronauts on orbit? Well, Andrew was your capcomm. Every one of your communications back to Earth went to him first. He’s also the one who arranged a dedicated communication link, and encryption so that I could privately counsel you and the rest of the ship. We talked a lot about your flock—and even about you. He’s very concerned that we make sure you’re in an okay mental state right now. The general trusts him, and I trust him. With his legal background, he’s the one who’s really in charge here on Heinlein no matter what anyone else may think.”

“And what do you think?”

“Me? Not so worried about you. At least not right now. Once they start the court-martial, though . . .”

“Court-martial. Yeah, I knew that had to be coming. Thanks for confirming it,” Glenn said, sarcastically.

“Oh, not yours, Shep. Yvette’s.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, ‘oh.’ They’ll get to it eventually, but there will be a lot of bluster about flaws in Percheron, first. It’s going to be a media circus and the agencies are promising investigations and hearings to figure out who to blame. I was served with papers to testify—before you even made it back. The process server cornered me while we were waiting for Percheron to dock, so they knew I’d be here. I think they’re expecting to order you—your recall to active duty was formalized when you crossed the threshold down in the docking area. They’ll likely order Jen as well.”

“Order? She’s a civilian. You mean summon.”

“Uh, yeah. Working for Boatright, you tend to forget who’s on which side of the line. The office is very mixed, service and military-civilian, given all of the medical types.”

“Huh. Well, Richardson said something about you starting my debrief?”

“Yes. Right now, if you like. I’ll start with your medical exam.”

“Again? I’ve been poked and prodded already, Nik.”

“Again. I’m your doctor—at least until we decide to bring Marty up. I need a baseline status for my own records. It’s part of the debrief, and I need to record it.” Nik stood up easily in the half gravity and reached for a small black bag he’d left beside the door. He pulled out several instruments, clipped a recorder to the collar of his shirt, instructed Glenn take his off, then started applying sensors.

In between Nik looking in his right eye, ear, clucking over the damaged eardrum, muttering over his blood pressure and heart rate, Glenn continued to talk.

“Okay, now the big question. They are going to let Jen come see me?”

“Let her? It will be impossible to keep her away. If it wasn’t for that delay, she’d have been here for arrival.” Nik stopped his exam for a moment to stare at Glenn. “You do realize you’re a day early, right?”

“Mila’s just that good a navigator. Besides, Maxim’s no slouch as pilot.”

“Ah, okay. Well, if you’d arrived here tomorrow as NASA and MarsX planned, Jen would have been able to make it even with the weather delay. It’s just that there was something time-critical she needed to deal with.”

Glenn got a horrified look on his face. “Oh my God, please tell me she’s not pregnant! I’m not sure I could deal with that right now.”

“What? It’s been seventeen months since you two were together! Unless there’s something you’re not telling me.” Nik peered at him.

“Oops, yeah. Sorry, it’s just that I had this dream and it felt so real.”

Nik laughed. “Oh, yes, you and your dreams. No, nothing like that. As I said, it’s just something to do with a new assignment. It’s just that the . . . meeting . . . was on her schedule and couldn’t be moved or postponed—then there was the weather and your early arrival. She’ll be up here as fast as the shuttle can bring her.”

Glenn looked relieved. “Okay, I can live with that. It’s been more than four months—hell, it’s been over a year. It’s just . . .” Glenn looked down and a wistful look came over his face. He looked back up, and there was a faint sheen of tears in his eyes. “I just need to see her face.”

“You can get her on comm. She’s enroute now. Less than three seconds communication lag, round trip,” Nik reassured his friend.

Glenn swallowed and controlled his expression. “No, that’s okay. I can wait, but I do need to see her face to face. I want to hold her, hug her, kiss her, and tell her I was a fool to ever let her go. In person. You should know how important that is, Doctor.”

“Trying to teach psychiatry to the psychiatrist, Shep?” Nik punched him lightly on his bionic shoulder as he removed the sensors from the biological one.

Glenn gave a brief laugh. “Yeah, I got it. You know it really is good to see you.”

“You too, Shep.”


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