Security - Keith R. A. DeCandido [9]
“Nice.” Hawkins took a seat perpendicular to Stevens and noticed that several of the small pieces on the table were charred and/or broken. “Hope that’s not the sensor array.”
Grinning, Stevens said, “Nah, these are the tattered remains of my pet project.”
Hawkins nodded. “The mobile emitter that Luaran blew all to hell?”
“Yeah, but at least it worked. Haven’t had the time to save it from Humpty Dumpty status.” Stevens took a sip of his coffe. “Gah, this tastes almost as bad as you look.”
“Thanks a lot,” Hawkins said dryly.
“I ain’t kiddin’, Hawk, you look like the seventh level of hell. What’s Dom been doing to you guys?”
“That answer’d be shorter if you asked what she wasn’t doing.” Hawkins hesitated. He had no more desire to gossip about his boss to Stevens than he had to Carol, but Corsi and Stevens had something going on, and maybe the engineer could provide some insights. So he told Stevens about the meeting, and what Konya had told him afterward, and then discussed the training that went on during beta shift. “Angelopoulos has been in her doghouse since Artemis.”
Stevens frowned. “Why?”
“He didn’t break cover with Tev right off.”
Snorting, Stevens said, “You can’t expect a ‘mere’ guard to keep up with the Great One’s thought processes. You know, I think he’s gotten worse since the Hyperion? In retrospect, inviting him along to that wasn’t one of my brighter moves—after bossing those cadets around for days, he’s expecting the rest of us to act like they did. Commander Gomez didn’t come out and say it, but I think she’s actually making that jackass take—”
Hawkins held up a hand. “Uh, Fabe? I’m on a break here and I honestly could give a damn about your problems. I’m here to bitch to you about my boss, not listen to you bitch about yours.”
Laughing, Stevens got up and headed to the replicator. “Fine, fine, so what’s the problem?”
“Well, Andy talked out of turn a bit during the Artemis debrief, so I can see why the commander’s crawling up his butt. But all Kim did was show initiative and enthusiasm. I mean, yeah, he was wrong, but it was only because the latest duty rosters haven’t made their way to Command’s database yet.”
Stevens took a fresh cup of coffee out of the replicator. “And she’s kicking his ass as much as Andy’s?”
“More, actually. Give the kid credit, he’s taking everything she’s dishing out, but all she does is ride him harder.”
Sitting back down, Stevens said, “Well, isn’t that what she does?”
“Not like this.” Hawkins drank some of his own coffee, the hot beverage clearing the cobwebs from his brain. “She had the off-shift personnel running scenarios in the hololab. When alpha came in, she whipped out battle drill number twenty.”
His eyes widening, Stevens asked, “Galorndon Core?”
Hawkins nodded.
“Ouch.”
“And she included the random sensor-blind traps that you and Duffy put in last year.”
“Why do you think I said ‘ouch’?” Stevens shook his head. “When we showed her the gussied-up version of that, she said she was gonna save it for the next war. Seriously, that’s intended for ten-year veterans in security, not newbies.”
“I know. Hell, Robins was having trouble with it, and it’s actually designed for someone like her.”
“And you think it’s because of something with Kim being from Izar?”
“I don’t think that, Rennan does, but I trust his judgment.”
Chuckling, Stevens said, “Wasn’t he the one you thought wasn’t worthy to be on your hallowed security team?”
Hawkins fixed Stevens with a glare. “I expressed a concern when Rennan signed on. I later retracted it.”
“Was that before or after he knocked you down?”
“You do realize that I can just kill you and make up a reason why, right?”
Stevens frowned. “Hang on a sec—you said you’re on a break? You’re on gamma now?”
Unable to help himself, Hawkins chuckled. “Nice of you to catch up to where the conversation was half an hour ago. Yeah, she put me on gamma, after I specifically requested to be put on alpha next go-round.”
“Right, because then you and Carol would have two shifts to go