U.N.E. Book Two: Precipice (ON HOLD)

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Angela pulled the drawstrings tight on her small cloth bag and picked it up off her bed. It was late at night and the base was winding down, or at least as much as a front line Quick Response Base did in the middle of a war. It had been a long first day back for the entire squadron, and it had only come to an end thirty minutes ago. With all the paperwork with coming back and handing the squadron back over to Alexander, getting the new pilot set up and teaching her everything she needed to know about their duties on base, and tending to her own Rogue had really tired Angela out. She couldn't sleep just yet though.

The only reason she was forcing herself to stay up later than she wanted to was because of Alex. As hard and as long as Angela's day had been, Alexander's had been more. He had spent the majority of the day inside the cockpit of the Aegis, locked away from the rest of the world as he tried to get it back to the way he liked it. When he finally came out at the end of the day his eyes had been bloodshot and cold, with his shoulders sagging and his hands shaking.

He had been a total wreck and it had crushed Angela to see him like that. And this was the reason she had packed away an extra pair of combats into her little cloth bag and planned to go stay with Alex in his room for the night. She knew it probably wasn't a great idea, but she just didn't care in that moment. She felt that he needed her, and she had promised that she would be there for him no matter what.

However, as she opened up her door and took the first step out into the hallway, it quickly became apparent that her plans had been derailed without her even being aware of it. She found Kimberly standing before her, her hair pulled back into her usual ponytail and a hard and severe look on her tired looking face, with her arms crossed over her chest.

“K... Kim!” Angela exclaimed loudly, shocked to find someone standing so c lose to her door that late at night. However, now that she thought about it, she really should have seen this coming.

“Baker. Is everything alright?” the older woman asked, her voice just as severe as her expression.

“Yeah... it's fine. I was uh, well I was just going to—”

“Oh, I know exactly where you were going. That's the reason I am here right now. Can we speak privately, in your room?” Kimberly now asked and Angela nodded even though she really didn't like the idea. She was too scared to say that out loud though; especially after the thrashing she had received from Kim earlier in the day.

The two of them walked into her small room and Angela let her bag drop back onto her bed. Kimberly closed the door behind them and turned to face her, an even more savage look on her face as Angela came to realize that she was now trapped. It really didn't look good and Angela swallowed hard, her hands shaking slightly in fear.

“Before I begin, I want to us to come to an agreement first. Until I leave this room the two of us are are just regular people. No military formality, no protocols, and the fact that I am your superior officer does not exist until I walk out your door. Is that something you can agree to?” Kimberly asked and Angela noticed the growl hiding just behind her words.

However, she nodded in agreement. She really didn't know what was going to happen, but she figured that she would rather the two of them just be the friends they were supposed to be, and not a Captain and her Lieutenant. That thought was quickly crushed though, and as soon as Angela had nodded she was sent reeling by a hard and painful slap right across her cheek as Kimberly lashed out at her with a rage that she had not been expecting.