#2 Clean Sheets and a Mattress
It was now over a day since she had left Virgillia, and Goose could still hardly believe it. After being stuck on that world for so long, the novelty of leaving had yet to wear off. She had, of course, been sad to have to say goodbye to her friends there.
They'd thrown her and the other Republic personnel an impromptu going-away party, which had included more than tears of joy. Oli had tried to put on a brave face, but Goose saw that the young aide was close to tears. It seemed that he may have had a bit of a crush on one of the nurses leaving. As she had predicted, her three boisterous roommates had been more than unhappy to see her go, and try as she might she could not deny she already missed them too.
Now she was alone. All the others who were also leaving Virgillia, all of them only support personnel, had left on a different transport, ostensibly back toward the core. Goose, on the other hand, had been sent toward the front because even this early on in the war, the Republic already lacked for surgeons.
It bothered her, that out of all her colleagues she had been singled out, just because she was a surgeon, and they were only nurses and orderlies.
Her transport, which was completely empty if you didn't count the astromech droid that was the pilot, had landed on some giant cruiser in the middle of deep space. Goose had been surprised by the sheer scale of it. The hanger alone was four times the size of the entire camp on Virgillia, and it was only the hanger.
After disembarking the transport, Goose had taken a moment to discreetly gawk at the multitudes of soldiers in white armor as they bustled around the hanger, oblivious to her being there. She would later learn that a shipment of cargo had just arrived, and had it been any other day, her presence would have created more of a stir.
Goose looked around intently, but was unable to find anyone not in armor. She hoped silently that she wasn't on a ship crewed entirely by soldiers, since she was a noncombatant. As a doctor, there wasn't much she had in common with people who wounded others, she believed. Regardless, it might eventually be a good idea for her to meet some of these men, perhaps find out more about why there actually was a war, in the first place.
On the trip there, Goose had speculated on how the Republic had managed to scrape up an army in such record time. The Judicial Force, which served as the Republic's military in the past, was nowhere near large enough to be called an army. Judging by the size of this ship alone, the Grand Army was very, very big. They'd have to number in their millions, at the very least.
Upon seeing the droves of them moving around, Goose began to notice that besides the obvious fact that all of their armor was virtually identical, they were also all the same height and build. Either the Republic's recruitment offices had pulled off a miracle, or something else was afoot.
Goose kept her theories to herself, however, when out of nowhere came a rather stoic soldier dressed in a white suit of armor identical to the rest. He'd stiffly introduced himself with a serial number she instantly forgot, then showed her to her quarters.
Oddly, he'd seemed awkward and distant the whole time, giving only short or monosyllabic answers to her many questions. All the information Goose managed to get out of him was that they were on the Resolute, a Venator-class Star Destroyer, whatever that meant. When they arrived at her quarters, which happened to be only a short walk and a turbolift ride away from the hanger, her escort had promptly disappeared.
Goose, however, was no longer interested in him. What had her attention now was the bed, which sat up against the back wall of her tiny room. Although it was a bunk bed, suggesting she may have a roommate in the near future, Goose was excited beyond belief to have a real bed at long last, after sleeping on a military-issue folding cot for the entire time she was on Virgillia.
Three years ago she would have complained bitterly about the cramped space, but three years was a long time, and Goose had altered her opinion somewhat. After all, just about anything was better than a drafty tent and a dirt floor.
Elated by her new living conditions, Goose performed a short celebratory dance that likely would have looked bordering on insane to any passersby. Fortunately for Goose, the door had closed behind her automatically, though she was too ridiculously happy to care anyway.
So content at the moment she actually forgot she was on a warship, Goose dumped her duffel bag on the floor and flopped onto the bottom bunk, falling asleep in an instant. To Goose, the thin and hard mattress was the best thing she'd ever slept on.
Hours later, Goose awoke with the sharp realization that she was hungry. Ravenously hungry. Not only had she not eaten in at least twenty hours, Goose had also gotten a bit thin since avoiding the noxious fare at her old camp. Needless to say, breakfast was now a much higher priority than sleep.
Stomach growling insistently, Goose pushed herself out of bed, walked out the door, and headed down a corridor that she had smelled food from when she had walked to her quarters yesterday night. It soon became apparent, however, that she had entered the area of the ship with the barracks. It did occur to her that the mess hall would have a very high concentration of soldiers, but she could smell it distinctly now, and she was intent on completing her quest for food.
While she walked, Goose briefly reflected on how strange all of this was. She was on a starship, wandering hallways made of durasteel, not trudging through ankle-deep mud. The air was cool, and had a metallic tang from being cycled through the ship's monstrous ventilation system. It was a far cry from Virgillia's muggy, oppressive atmosphere. Most important to her, at the moment, was that the scent of food was actually attractive rather than utterly repulsive.
As she neared the big double doors, Goose could hear men's voices, and assumed there were only a few people in the mess hall because the noise was not too loud. When she entered, however, Goose saw she had been wrong.
The place was packed.