The Girl in the Tank: Galactic Consortium, Season 1

Episode Five: Fraternization ch.8

Halfway down to his room, Dan looked into their own down forward lounge. This one was little used. There were eight lounges total, four on each side. They formed a strange inverse symmetry.

On the Consortium side of the ship, the upper floor was mostly healers and professional flight crew. They tended to be older, more dignified and quiet. One could find small groups in their lounge, watching the news, reading or having discussions. The bottom floor on that side was mostly civilians and lower level tech crew. They were a loud, friendly bunch. They watched sports and screamed at the video screen just like football fans back home.

On the American side, the top lounge were their mess halls. When supper service was finished, snacks were set out and the American crew gathered to watch sports, and blow off steam. The lower lounges were little used and usually quiet and empty.

Not tonight. A small crowd was gathered around an oversized hologram. There were just shy of a dozen people, mostly American but a few Consortium as well. Kavi was there, walking around the hologram and talking excitedly. The hologram was a circular disk a couple of meters around. It superficially resembled one of the solar stations that were being moved into their system.

Kavi stretched up to point at a spot near the top. "This is where the initial deep space crew is housed. Pure tech, space certification two just to be on the crew, most of the crew will be rated three," she was saying.

One of the men, Tieggert, Dan thought, wagged his eyebrows suggestively as she stretched and her skirt rose up. "What's that above it?" he asked.

"Tieggert," Kleppie muttered, blushing.

Kavi glanced back and arched her eyebrow. She smirked and stuck her tongue out. "You stand up and show me," she joked. "So I can look at your butt."

"Yes, Ma'am," he replied. He stretched up and pointed. "What's that?" he said and then, "did you get a good look?"

"I already saw it when you were in the tank," she said. "I just thought some of them might want to see." She gestured around the room. Everyone laughed.

Dan rolled his eyes and shook his head.

Runningbear and his new girlfriend brushed past into the lounge and joined the group. "Hi, Kavi," the girl said. "Is that it?"

Dan followed them in, curious.

"It's a zeta class core, yes," Kavi said. "Not the one, though, just one."

Dan gave her a blank, quizzical look.

It was Kleppie who answered. "The princess Sarasvat made a statement about that new group of systems they found. She called for a deep space station to be commissioned at a central spot, to start the exploration. Kavi is showing us the kind of station it will be. It's fascinating."

"But why zeta class?" the girl asked. "That's pretty big."

"Yeah, someday it will be a big area. She's recognizes this," Kavi answered. "Better to put a small station on a big core, so it can grow, then build a small station and have to rebuild later."

"Who wants Soma?" Runningbear asked.

"Me," Kavi called. Several others voices called out as well.

"Is there wine?" a consortium man asked.

"Naw, got to buy it yourself at the commissary," another told him.

"We're not supposed to anyway," an American said, with a glance at Dan, the highest rank officer in the room.