Blood on the Horizon
- Chapter 60 -[]
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Meeting man name Hanse[]
Location: Valexa, Federated Suns
Date: August 15th, 3006
"Can someone hand me the 10mm?!" Naomi Brown called out from under the Maxim engine that she was working on.
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Maxim Infantry Hovercraft (MK2 pictured)
"I got you," an unfamiliar voice responded, handing her the socket she'd requested.
"Thanks," Naomi's hand closed around the socket before she tightened the bolts.
"Do you need anything else?" the voice asked.
"I'd love something to drink right now," she replied. "But I'm almost done here."
After a few more moments, she pulled herself out from under the tank, her eyes finally locking onto her assistant.
"Thanks for the help," she grinned. "I was worried we'd lost the 10mm again."
"You're welcome," he smiled in response. "I'm glad I was able to find it in the first place."
"We normally don't have an issue with finding them 'round here," Naomi grabbed a bottle of water from a nearby cooler before twisting open the cap and gulping some down. "You must be new."
"Something like that," he replied.
"I never got your name," the short woman stuck out her hand. "Naomi Brown, and you are?"
"Hanse," he gave her a firm handshake. "You can just call me Hanse for now."
"Named after the Davions?" Naomi asked. "Never quite understood that sort of thing," She shrugged. "But to each their own."
After a few more minutes of conversation, they continued working on the Maxim. One of the fan blades was having issues, and they were trying to diagnose the problem before replacing the part entirely.
"Start it up now!" Naomi barked.
The fan began spinning, and the wobble they'd been working on started to stabilize.
"Readings are good!" the man yelled over the sound of the wind.
"Letter run for a second!" Naomi called back. "I want to ensure it doesn't keep the same issue."
As the hovercraft floated above the ground, Sheppard entered the hanger bay along with another man.
"Naomi, have you seen anyone come through here in the past hour or so?"
"Just the newbie," Naomi pointed at the hovercraft. "He's been a great help."
"I think we're good!" Naomi yelled. "Go ahead and set her down!"
The Maxim's fan blades began slowing, and eventually, the craft settled onto the ground.
"Everything looks good," the man jumped down and wiped his greasy hands off on a set of coveralls. "Ardan, I thought I'd lost you."
"Hanse," the other man sighed. "We've talked about this."
"Naomi, meet Hanse Davion," Sheppard knuckled his forehead. "Hanse Davion, meet Lieutenant Naomi Brown."
"Sir!" she snapped to attention.
"At ease," Hanse chuckled. "Now, I suppose I should actually speak to the man in charge around here."
"Major Hull's currently on vacation," Ardan explained. "If you hadn't decided to let your wanderlust take over, you'd know that."
"He should be back in a day or so," Sheppard tried to save face. "He went on a two-week hunt."
"I can wait," Hanse shrugged. "I'm mostly here to ensure there aren't any issues after the fiasco with the local governor."
"Permission to get back to work?" Naomi asked as a nervous pit formed in her stomach at being next to the Heir of the Federated Suns.
"Take the rest of the day off, Naomi," Sheppard instructed. "Richard's done with the paperwork by now, so you should be able to enjoy the steaks at the O-Club."
With that, Naomi disappeared, and the trio began heading for the offices. There was a lot to be discussed.
Convenient Radio Call[]
Date: August 16th, 3006
"I'm really glad that we have better calibers than the old .308 for this," I muttered to myself as I stood next to the corpse of a massive Elk. "I'd have hated to try this back on Earth with my old hunting rifle."
I grinned as I admired the antlers on the ton-and-a-half beast.
"We're gonna have to airlift this thing out of here," I sighed as reality sunk in. "Well, there goes the rest of the vacation."
I reached into my pocket for a comms device I'd had switched off for the last seven days.
<<"Hull, please respond.">> the device crackled to life.
"This is Hull." I replied.
<<"We're going to have to cut your trip short.">> Sheppard's voice answered me.
"Damn straight!" I agreed. "I've got a ton of meat here to process. Get a VTOL or a truck out here. I might need a taxidermist, too. I want the skull mounted in our mess halls."
<<"Not what I meant,">> Sheppard replied. <<"But I can explain more once you're back at the base.">>
"Get the strap around the shoulder there," I ordered the guy who'd roped down to assist me in hooking up the harness to the dead hulk of venison.
After a few more minutes, we tested it before giving a thumbs up for the chopper to descend.
Climbing onto the chopper's side, I accepted the headset and checked the mic.
"We good to go?" I asked.
"We're green!" the pilot gave me a thumbs up.
"Take us back then," I ordered. "I can pick up the clothes I left behind at the cabin later."
"Copy that, sir. We're RTB."
"How long did you take to track it?" the Crew Chief asked.
"A week," I replied. "Been following it for a week or so now. I'm hoping that we can get the head mounted somewhere."
"It does have a nice rack," the chief glanced down at the Elk.
"I know what else has a nice rack!" the pilot said.
"Ugh," the chief facepalmed. "Never mind, just get us back to base."
A Surprise After a Vacation[]
Date: August 1st, 3006
"Welcome back," Sheppard and Peterson stood with two other men. "How was the vacation?"
"Great!" I grinned. "I got a pretty nice buck," I patted the corpse beside me. "You said something important happened?"
"Yeah," Sheppard sighed. "We should probably have this conversation in your office."
"I'm supposed to skin this, though," I glanced back at the buck. "I need to take care of it."
"You can ask the kitchen staff to take care of it," Sheppard replied. "Just pay them extra. We've got something more important to take care of for now."
We entered my office, and when the door shut behind me, Sheppard began to speak.
"Major Mark Hull, meet the Heir to the Federated Suns, Hanse Davion. Hanse Davion, this is Major Hull."