Tethered Hearts

Mombasa Tether
0544 Hours, 20 October 2552

Private Nick Cunningham couldn't sleep. He rolled over onto his side in his bunk and stared at his chatter charging on the nightstand. It had been three days since he had heard from Rani, his most-recent girlfriend, and worry was starting to set in.

They had met at his best friend's wedding only weeks prior, but her Kentucky charm and beauty was enough to see past her flaws, those of which included a hint of self-righteous know-it-all-ism. He knew it was probably a fleeting relationship, but Rani was the first girl he had met that kept him on his toes. She was fiery and pleasant wrapped into a down-home façade that made her more mysterious than most.

He reached over and checked the time. It was still an hour before his shift started and his alarm would be going off any minute. Growling to himself, he got out of bed and quickly got dressed. Nick started for the comm lounge, where the workers were allowed to use the chatternet link, and grabbed a cup of coffee on his way. He plopped down beside a dosing 3rd-shift officer, nearly startling him awake, and slid his ID into the comm slot.

Even at this early hour the lounge was crowded. No one had anything better to do. They had shut down the Rec Room, after Itchy got in a fight with another private. Punishing the whole lot of them for the mistakes of one or two never did make much sense to Nick.

The tiny screen switched over to a military mailbox and he punched in his access code. He leaned forward and scrolled down the same batch of messages from previous days. Nothing. Absolutely Nothing. He heaved a frustrated sigh and took a sip of his coffee.

In the last message exchange with Rani, it was clear she was going to do something work-related that required her to be offline for 'a little while' and that it might lead to 'trouble', and Nick couldn't help but suspect something had gone terribly wrong. Rani, being an ONI Analyst, would never be able to tell him exactly what was going on . . . but she had her ways. She liked to used code words and pauses in her speech, but Nick was still clueless most of the time.

Nick cracked a smile and recalled the night when they heard that Reach had fallen. Rani had taken him up to an old graveyard back in Kentucky hours before he was suppose to ship out. A bit foreboding, but it wasn't on purpose. They had shared more than just words at the base of those tombstones, and it did ease his transition into Military Life.

And then he got transferred to the New Mombasa Orbital Elevator at the last minute. His previous orders had him shipping off to a Marine attachment on some naval ship destined for the frontlines. Part of him was disappointed with the lack of action compared to the amount his unit was sure to see, but when he had learned of their horrific fate a few days ago, he wondered if someone high up in the chain of command was looking out for him.

But why? Why me? Why have I been spared? The ship he would have been on, the Seaquestra, was attacked by a Covenant patrol and all hands had been lost. The news had rocked him back on his heels, but he dared not to tell Rani. She would have been a wreck for days.

So here he was, stationed as part of a UNSC military security team on board a commercial space tether, kilometers about the African coastline. One could easily consider it 'punishment duty' but no one ever said as much. Most crewmen looked at their posting as a place safely far away from the battle lines. Nick was still torn as to which camp he belonged.

He rubbed his eyes with thumb and forefinger and took another sip of his coffee. No, she's alright. She's scrappy and can reason her way out of most anything, I'm sure.

He was about to switch off the terminal and head back to his room to wash up when his chatter chimed a bit too loudly. The other officer next to Nick glared at him and he apologized with a raised hand. Glancing at the display, it was an incoming call from Earth, requiring him to link to an Orbital Chatter Grid. He bit his lower lip. Every crewman aboard the Tether was allotted a max amount of link-time per month, and Nick was almost to his limit. And his superiors were still hesitant to give access to everyone after last week's Chatternet dropout that echoed all the way to Saturn. But if this is Rani. . .

He switched off the terminal and quickly trotted over to the row of Chatter Grid wall units. He ducked inside the one on the end and turned on the privacy window tint and sound suppression. Jamming his chatter into the slot, he donned on the earpiece and answered the call. "Hello?"

"Nick?" It was Rani.

Relief flooded into him like a newly dug cistern. "Rani," he breathed. "Are you okay? Is everything alright?"

"Yes, well . . . kind of." She paused and he could hear her take a deep breath. "You know that 'thing' I mentioned before?"

Nick felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Trouble. Though she did stress how important the 'thing' was, he didn't want her becoming a fugitive before he could see her again. Conjugal visits were not his style. "Yeah, I remember. Please don't tell me this is your one privileged phone call. Rani, I told you—"

"No, I'm okay. I mean, it worked out. I was detained briefly, but I'm out now and I'm on my way back to Boston now."

"Detained?" Nick asked, feeling heat rise up in the back of his throat. "And they just let you out? Rani, I think you need to recalculate your career choices. This whole ONI thing is getting out of hand."

"No, it's not like that." Rani heaved a sigh. "Nick, I know what I'm doing. I have a . . . 'friend' in high places that helped me out. Like she helped you out."

Nick frowned and paused. Like she helped me out? And then it clicked. "You mean, being assigned to tether duty?"

"Yeah." He could hear her smiling as she spoke. "There's a lot she does that we can't. She takes care of her people."

Nick shook his head. "Whatever, I'm just glad you're okay. Wait, you said you're heading back to Boston?"

Still smiling, Rani said, "yeah. I'm pretty sure I'm about to be offered another job. Something a little more . . . accommodating to my expertise."

"Really?" One of his eyebrows rose. A stuttered tone from the terminal interrupted his train of thought and he swore to himself. If let loose, Rani could talk for hours. "Rani, I don't have much time left on the Chatter Grid."

"That's okay, I should be going too."

The timer started ticking down from 30 seconds. "Rani, when will I see you again?"

"I'm not sure. You probably won't have a shore leave for a while now, though, right?" She paused. "I'll see if our 'friend' could help us out on that."

"Nick shook his head and smiled. "Okay." He sighed. "I miss you."

"I miss you too. Love you."

"I—" The called was disconnected. He heaved another sigh and took off the earpiece. He ran a hand over his face and exited the pod. Glancing at the time readout on his chatter, he started for the nearest communal restroom before his shift began.

As he stood over the sink, letting the hot water steam the mirror, he wondered how Rani could be so reckless and still come out clean on the other side. This 'new position' she spoke of could more than likely mean the end of their relationship, but he was willing to make it last a while longer. After all, there were no females aboard the tether.

Wrestling with the idea of physical intimacy with Rani versus someone else kept his mind distracted as he began his patrol of the warehouse. At least for the first few hours. At 0840 hours, the alert came over the stations broadcast PA—and it was the worst sort of news.