Sergeant Smith of the United States Marine Corps had been loitering onboard the Hercules for the past half hour. Suddenly sirens went off, the noise was deafening. Bang! The sound of two huge metal objects colliding, Smith was thrown from where he was standing, bounced against the wall, finally coming to rest on the floor. I always knew those squids would be the death of me, Smith thought in the back of his mind. Smith got himself off of the floor. He felt pain on his sides, in his right foot, in his left leg. The goddamn Navy can't even steer us straight. Reaching into his right hand pocket Smith retrieved a small plastic shape. It was orange and rectangular, a white wheel sat beneath a small screen. At least my iPod is alright. These damn Picos cost about $200 a pop. Smith saw someone coming down the hallway from the direction of the bridge. When she was closer to him, Smith saw the three gold stripes and star of a Commander, United States Navy.
Shit, "officer on deck!" Smith saluted her, standing with his back rigid and his chin up, just like in basic. She looked strangely familiar to Smith somehow, this couldn't have been the first time he'd met her.
"At ease," giving a clumsy salute she walked off. A small silver light reflected off her collar from the LEDs over head.
What the hell is that on her collar, a fish maybe? The small silver shape seemed to be out of place on her black dress uniform. It had a pointed head, a fin on the bottom as well as one on top. But what's that little bit at the end. Oh…shit. The silver shape ended with a small "V" shaped tail. The decoration on her collar was a shark. That means she belongs to Fourth Fleet's Special Maritime Operatives Sea Air Land Capable. She's a f—ing commando! The SEALs (Sea Air Land) were the Navy's most elite soldiers. Unlike other members of the Navy these people really got their hands dirty. Whether it was assassinating rebel leaders, spying on unfriendly alien races, or taking on a platoon with only a team of six; SEALs were people that you didn't want angry with you…unless you had a death wish.
But where do I know her from? She's not from the normal officer pool, I've seen Commander Takino and Commander Kasuga often enough to know that. Wait... Smith looked at his iPod Pico. Using the click wheel he looked throughout his list of songs. …Down, Exodus, Fabulous, Fire and Rain…wait that last one. Which one, oh yeah, Fabulous! Looking at the picture of the album Smith saw the woman who had just walked by. Four States of Fabulous, by Kagura: Peach Girl. Smith thought this was fairly strange, not just the fact that the artist had a colon in her name. Why would someone who creates songs be a SEAL? I mean this album just came out four months ago. Come to think of it why did I buy the album and then put that onto my iPod? I could've just downloaded the song for 99 cents! I mean the album only has four songs on it anyways…well, really just the same song twice and two different music videos of it. Smith had to give whoever came up with the cover art credit. It did show that girl with her hands lifting up her ample sized breasts. Too bad she was wearing a top, Smith thought to himself.
"Don't worry about the ship, I'll handle it." That thought wouldn't leave Kagura's head. She passed some jarhead in the halls, returning his crisp salute with a real half assed one. Above her a sign read Flight Deck, this was where she needed to go. The flight deck wasn't usually busy on a destroyer, today was no exception. The flight engineers gave her a salute, she didn't return it.
"Yo, I need a ship and a pilot. Now." Her tone wasn't particularly loud, it didn't have to be.
"Yes ma'am, right away ma'am." The flight commander called one his pilots over.
"Does he know how to fly?"
"I sure hope so, for the plane's sake." There was a clear sense of hostility in his voice. He certainly wasn't one of her fans.
"Sir, you know I can pilot a craft."
"The last time you piloted something you ended up in the hospital for six months. Now go get Alvarez, now he knows how to fly one of these goddamn birds."
Mumbling the pilot set off, before running into one of the gunships.
"Don't you damage that Kestrel Samson!" the flight commander yelled.
Inwardly Kagura rolled her eyes. These people and their damn attachment to aircraft…it helps explain why they can't fight on the ground. "Where do the troopers prep up on this flight deck?"
"That would be over there by the showers, but why? What does it matter to you?"
"That's none of your concern." Kagura set off towards the showers, watching Samson trip over a barrel. Absolutely worthless, reminds me of Tom... I still wish that bastard was dead.
"Officer on deck!" A marine stood by the showers, quickly rising to greet Kagura.
"At ease, where do you marines keep your deep space gear?"
"Over here ma'am." The young man led her to a locker room. Inside several black suits stood against the wall. All manner of weapons stood on racks nearby, for this mission Kagura would probably need none of them.
"You are dismissed marine," Kagura watched as the man walked away, saluting once again.
"Time for me to get to work."
Takino and Kasuga stood on the bridge looking at two different screens. One of these screens showed the alien craft that they had encountered. The other showed the flight deck.
"Okay," said Tomo. "There's 'Miss SOCOM' now talking to the officer in charge of the flight deck. Who's that person who just ran into one of the Kestrels?"
"No idea, some Air Force wing wiper," O-4 Mizuhara said.
"Alright, now 'Miss SOCOM' is headed towards the showers to suit up."
"Tomo, why do you keep calling the Commander 'Miss SOCOM'?"
"Jesus Yomi! No one else gives a f—!"
"Look she's coming out now," Kasuga pointed at the screen.
"How do you know that's her?" Tomo replied.
"How do you think, alright she's getting into one of the Kestrels now," Osaka continued to point out the obvious.
"Why is she going out unarmed?"
"Well Takino, I'd say it's because in a zero-gee environment like space extra weight can be fatal."
"How do you know that Kasuga?" Yomi and Tomo said in unison.
"That hardly matters as of right now. Besides, since this has now become a combat operation I am in charge of the ship."
"What?" Tomo screeched. "How is this a combat operation?"
"Mizuhara if you agree with me I can make you a Commander as soon as we get back to port." Kasuga didn't have to wait long for an answer.
"You goddamn traitor Yomi! I'll spit on your grave!"
"Yeah!" yelled the weapons officer.
"Hey what's your name again?" Tomo inquired.
"Well my name is Kaorin…."
"Is it true that you're a lesbian?"
"Uh, no, no it's not Commander Takino."
"Jeez I was just curious," Tomo whined; seriously that's all she ever does on any given day.
"But but I was respectful in my tone and everything."
"I bet you're still in the closet. Hey Yomi!" Mizuhara looked in the Commander's direction. "Ten bucks says this girl will bunk with another girl before we get back to port."
"To be perfectly honest Commander, I'm not really a lesbian. I guess you could say I don't have any preference really, nor desires for that matter."
"Kaorin you are such a liar!" one of the fellow bridge officers yelled. "After that one night back at port you told me that you couldn't keep away from guys even if you wanted to!"
"See, I knew she was a lesbian!"
"But Tomo," Yomi told her friend, "the officer who just spoke is a man, not a transvestite."
"How can you tell?" The "wildcat" screamed.
"I have my ways."
"Argh! I can't guess well at all! All three of my predictions were wrong!"
"TAKINO SHUT THE F— UP!" Kasuga looked different somehow; it was almost as if being in command made her stronger. "Get to work, unless you want to help her with that alien spaceship."
"Too late," said Kaorin, "she just left the ship."
Kagura went over the plan one more time in her head. My first objective is to destroy the communication devices on the outside of the alien ship to prevent it from calling for help. Secondly I'll attach a short range transmitter that will allow us to communicate with the ship. Of course the transmitter will probably be incompatible with the alien craft, but it's worth a shot if those other officers don't have to give it a try and I'm the one risking my neck. She knew the feeling well; this wasn't the first time it had happened.
The pilot's voice came onto the loudspeaker. "We're coming up on the ship now, not very big is it?"
"No it's not, but a bee can kill a man just as easily as an elephant." Kagura liked this pilot, they knew each other well.
"Yeah and die trying if it's a honeybee."
"Let's try not to find out."
"I like the sound of that Special K."
"Where are they?"
"Isn't it obvious Takino, or should I say Tomo, the ship is painted black so it won't be visible." Kasuga told her idiotic coworker. "Too bad Fleet Command couldn't think of doing that with the warships that are worth a couple billion in taxpayer's money but there's a suit for ya.*"
* (Suits is a term used to designate high ranking officers, such as generals and admirals.)
"Okay," Kaorin said, "I see a small black object moving towards the alien ship. Judging from the size I'd have to say it's the SOCOM Commander." The next thirty minutes were an agonizing wait. It seemed as if "Miss SOCOM" was trying to see how long it could take for her to move around the yellow top of the ship before reaching the orange bottom. The scariest parts were when the Commander passed by the windows. Everyone had held their breaths in while she blocked out the little yellow rectangles before moving to the top again and placing the transmitter. Finally the little shape rose off of the yellow saucer before disappearing into the darkness of space once more.
"I can't believe 'Miss SOCOM' could really do that," Tomo said, still slightly incredulous to what she had just seen happen before her very own eyes.
"That's 'cause she's a Navy SEAL," Kasuga stated. "Her nickname is Special K, but most of us just call her Kagura."
"Wait a minute, Kagura? As in the super famous singer Kagura?" Kaorin asked, her eyes wide open in shock.
"Yep," said Osaka.
"Oh my god," Tomo and Kaorin said, one in complete disgust, the other in what could only be described as deep admiration. "But I have all her songs on my iPod!"
"Really?" said Yomi, "I have all of her songs on my iPod too!"
"Ooh, do you think she might sign one of my albums?"
"I doubt it Kaorin, at least not before she signs one of mine!" Yomi yelled, a strange determination in her voice.
"CAN WE PLEASE FOCUS!" Kasuga yelled, "we have an alien warship that's rammed into our side, I think that's just a little more important than having a pop star onboard the ship!"
"I see you guys missed me up here," Kagura said.
"Wow Kagura! I can't believe you made it up here so fast!" Kaorin seemed to turn into a total fangirl at the moment Kagura came onto the bridge.
"That's one of the first things you learn as a Navy SEAL, speed and endurance. As well as, how to fire an HK 416SV underwater into a six inch target, fifty meters away on full auto."
"Will you sign my album of Four States of Fabulous please?" Yomi asked.
"Wow, people onboard this ship have that? I must say I'm pretty surprised…don't worry I'll sign it."
"Mine too," said Kaorin.
While Kagura was signing the albums of multiple crew members, Tomo decided to ask Osaka a little more about "Miss SOCOM".