Free Captain Cosette by R. Bruce Sundrud Page A

you’ve been moved.”
    “ Thank you,” she said. 
    Whoever he is .
    “ Cadet Nicholas,” said Garale, “there are rewards for serving the Union well.  Look at this as an opportunity few people on your planet have, that of starting your service in space rather than in a warehouse.”  He smiled at her with bright even teeth.  “You should be happy.”
    Are my teeth bright and even ? 
    She would have to check when these two men left.  She smiled back, trying not to show her teeth. 
    That probably made me look like an idiot child .
    Work uniforms arrived almost immediately, but they didn’t fit well.  The cuffs had to be rolled, the chest measurement was snug, and they were used. 
    At least they’ve been freshly laundered . 
    Something told her that uniforms ought to fit exactly, that they ought to be spotless and that she should be proud to wear them.  Had she used work uniforms in a previous life?  She wished she knew.
    A stiff and uncommunicative male cadet led her to her new quarters. She knew exactly where quarters would be on the space station, but she didn’t know which one had been assigned to her, so she followed obediently.  He also gave her a metallic pin which said CADET NICHOLAS. 
    I am Cadet Nicholas .
    Her room was miniscule, with a fold-down cot, enough room to turn around and change clothes, and bathroom facilities shared by several females.  The room across from her was assigned to a sturdy bubbly woman who said hello, asked questions without waiting for the answers, and hurried off to her assignment for kitchen duty.
    The d rawers in her room were adequate, and the tiny closet had room to hang several uniforms.  She already wore a pair of excellent fitting shoes, though where they had come from she hadn’t a clue.
    A tall woman with a dark skin, who said her name too fast for Cosette to hear and stood too far away for Cosette to read her name tag, greeted her and reminded her of the station schedule just inside the door.  “And don’t be late for meals.  They feed us on-time, three meals and no snacks.  You can grab some extra to take with you, though, in case you get hungry.  I always do.”
    The last meal was not scheduled for a couple of hours yet, so she decided to do see what needed doing in maintenance. 
    She knew clearly how the station was constructed; she had no risk of getting lost.  She took the lift to the maintenance bay, and walked through the sturdy double doors. 
    My pin is registered – the doors opened for me .  Very efficient . 
    She looked down at the pin on her uniform and read it upside down: Cadet Nicholas. 
    Something’s wrong with that name , but I don’t know what it is .
    Raw photon panels arched across the ceiling, revealing a huge bay that housed several assault vehicles and a couple of fighter craft.  She heard the echoes of someone hammering behind a heavily armored tank.
    As she walked the grid that served as a floor, she looked at the tank appraisingly.  Her mind had information about tanks; this particular model was an EMCON 4 multitread, carried six soldiers but could be remotely operated, and could do 2500 kilometers on a single charge.  The oil stains on the rider wheels showed her that the seals needed replacing, so this particular tank must have logged over 10 thousand kilometers already.  Scorch marks on the front armor, side dents, a sprung access port – she could picture the action that this unit had seen recently.
    She grabbed a handle on the side of the tank and climbed up so she could look inside, but the power was off and the interior was dark.  She walked across the top to the other side and found a workman pounding away with a hammer on a stubborn wrench.  “Excuse me?”
    The workman startled, removed his safety goggles, and peered up at her.  He had close-cropped hair under his cap, acne, and a puzzled expression.  “Yeah?”
    “ I’ve been assigned to maintenance.”
    “ Yeah?  Maybe you can help me get