Chapter Twenty: Sobriety is Overrated
Almost two weeks had gone by since my husband's unexpected visit. The memory was still fresh in my mind, but enough time had gone by that I was usually too busy in my work to really think about it. The first few days after he'd left, however, had been hard; it had taken a pep talk from Lieutenant Graham to turn me back into my cheerful self. She was turning out to be quite the mentor for me.
These past several days had passed by much as they had before: with training and paperwork. It was amazing how much paper could accumulate while you were out on missions, especially considering that most files were kept exclusively on datapads to avoid clutter. Guess that didn't work out too well, judging by the amount of letter-signing and writing I was doing.
A new development that had surprised me in recent days was the sudden departure of Lieutenant Jon Smythe. He hadn't so much as looked in my direction since the bar brawl, and then one day he was simply gone. When I asked Graham about it, she told me he'd been transferred for reasons unknown.
I couldn't believe my good fortune.
Just six days earlier, his replacement had come in. First Lieutenant Dean Lewis was twenty-eight years old from New London, Mars. Not only was he from my own planetary backyard, but he was also a veteran of a couple of campaigns I'd been involved in myself. Crazy, funny, and always grinning like a nut, red-haired Dean was a great addition to the company.
The other new company member who'd come in with Lewis was a young second lieutenant named Laura Hillburn. The lieutenant's family was originally from Harvest, where humans had first witnessed the wrath of the Covenant, but the family had relocated to Earth before she was born. The twenty-year-old Hillburn had been sent to Sigma Octanus IV to shadow me and "learn the ropes"; she had not yet been in combat. I wasn't sure how much more she could learn by training and doing office work, though. Those were the same things she had done to get commissioned in the first place.
Presently, I was finishing up plans for the next day's platoon training when there was a knock on the door.
"Enter," I said.
I heard my relatively new aide, Corporal Garian, walk in and stop in front of my desk. When I looked up, I saw him standing there at perfect attention, arms at his sides and eyes looking straight ahead.
"Ma'am?"
"What's the word, Corporal?"
"Lieutenants Lewis, Hillburn, Samson, and Frederick are here to see you, ma'am."
"Thank you, Corporal. You may send them in," I replied.
"Yes, ma'am." Corporal Garian made a crisp about-face and walked back towards the door, letting the other lieutenants in.
"All right," I said, leaning back in my chair, "what're all of you here for?" I grinned, knowing full well the answer to that question.
"We thought you were lookin' a little thirsty there, Coop," Second Lieutenant Zackary Samson of third platoon said.
"Eeeeeeexactly, Cooper," Second Lieutenant Casey Frederick of second platoon added intelligently.
"So, what's it gonna be, Sensei?" Hillburn asked expectantly.
I gave them a quizzical look, pretending I had no idea what they were talking about. In reality, this had been the weekly routine for Samson, Frederick, some other lieutenants and I since my husband's departure. The recent addition of Lewis and Hillburn only made it better.
"We're going out for a pint---" Lewis began.
"---or a quart---" Frederick interjected.
"---and we would like to know if our best mate would come along?" Lewis finished.
"Well, I got a lot of work, you guys…" I said, trailing off.
"That is absolute rubbish, Natalie, and we know it," Lieutenant Lewis replied.
Finally, I grinned again. "Ah, hell. You know any excuse to indulge in my alcoholism is a good one. Let's get outta here already," I said.
Though I was to have a superb evening lasting into the wee hours, I was going to come to deeply regret it the next day.