Chapter 12

Squad 16 was relived to see that Jason was in good health, especially after they had seen the damage to his MAW and especially after what had happened to Squad 12. They stood at attention, as with all the non-essential staff, as the funeral service went to it�s completion. The air was sombre and numb. Losses like this one, where an entire squad gets wiped out, had only resulted because of a reactor going critical. But such losses occur on both sides. Until now. It was a sobering thought to any hotshot pilot out there who thought they were invincible. When the funeral service was over they all went back to their duties in relative silence. With only 20 MAW squads on the ship, the pilots got to know one another pretty well.

The mood lightened a few days later as they approached Mahria. The massive space station, which housed both military and civilian personnel, had huge botanical gardens and seemed almost like a large city with parks, accommodation, schools, everything a community needed. The station was in two halves, the city on top and the military on the bottom, a large support column in the middle with additional, smaller columns, placed around for stability and reduce stress. In case of a all out attack, the military section would detach to attempt to draw fire away from the top half.

Because of the community and services on the top half, the moral of the men on the station was a lot higher than those aboard long distance ships. Because of the facilities available at the station, plus the amount of time they were to be there, the pilots were granted shore leave, after a security check had been done. The pilots had been under surveillance anyway, what with high alert, drills and training they were easily counted out as to any possibly links to the spy, because they were always being watched. The foot soldiers on the other hand, were not as lucky, and were only permitted as far as the military section of the ship, but still for most it was better than staying on the ship.

Jason was looking forward to the trip topside, fresh air, proper food, and even a park to chill out in. He walked over to the elevator to take him out of the military sector and transport him the long way to the top. He heard a rush of footsteps as he pressed the accent button. It was Rose, rushing to avoid the wait for another elevator to come back to the level. She squeezed through before the doors sealed and straightened her uniform out. Her hair was straightened out and it was obvious she had spent some time on it. She wore no makeup, she wasn�t into it, but she did take pride her appearance. It was not often that she could sort herself out, what with being on alert, and looks really had no place on the battlefield.

�Sergeant,� Jason nodded in acknowledgement.

�Sir,� she quietly replied.

He turned to look out the window as the lift went up, but allowed himself to glimpse her out of the corner of his eye. She had a natural beauty to her, somewhat attractive he thought. He returned his gaze out of the window and suppressed a smile. Don�t you dare boy, you know it�s bad news to start thinking like that. Instead he focused his attention on the ship. There was hardly any damage to it, except some minor scorching and extremities, but the shields had held during the attack. He felt a slight disturbance in the air as Rose joined him looking out the window.

She had noticed him looking at her, and she wasn�t at all surprised. After all she was slim, young and attractive, that and she was pretty sure that he liked her. They had a good friendship, and deep down, although she wouldn�t admit it, she kind of liked him too, serious, responsible and yet still with a spark of youth and playfulness. But the recent hardships had suppressed the inner youth, but that was to be expected, what with the loss of his brother and the responsibility to his squad. Perhaps if they met under different circumstances� Don�t you dare go down that road girl. We are soldiers and we have a job to do, and at any rate, a relationship now would just be too� complicated. She purged the thought from her head. It had to be strictly professional between them.

�The techs said that your MAW will be rebuilt over the next few days,� Rose said.

�Yeah, until then, I�m going to enjoy this shore leave. Being able to breath real air will be a nice change. Thought I would get some real food, go and sit by a real pond in a real park and watch real fish swim around,� He replied.

She cocked an eyebrow towards him.

�What?� he said. �I like it real.�

She turned to the window again and let out a soft chuckle.

 �I heard that Sergeant. Don�t tell me that the �Ice Queen� can actually laugh.�

�Ice Queen� was a nickname given to her by the privates, although no-one would dare say that around her, and certainly no-one would own up to starting it. Of course Jason knew better than them, she was just professional.

�You saying I can laugh once in a while lieutenant?� she said sarcastically.

Jason smiled.

�Looking forward to your time off Rose?�

Provided there is no-one I know �Yes, it�ll be nice to take a break.�

The Lift dinged as it reached the top. After they walked through a what seemed like a rabbits warren of tunnels, they emerged out into the open top dome of the station.

The air smelt crisp and sweet.