Passing Faces

　　People have told me that I`m apathetic or that I `float through life without much in the way of goals` - Well I suppose its the sort of thing you should get upset about or try and deny, but I never really felt the need. It wasn`t until my 19th birthday - I`d drifted through highschool and after that just worked in the family shop, but that was about to change, a `new start` my folks called it, a job I didn`t want to spend the rest of life working - So I ran away from home. A bit childish I know.

　　Still old habits die hard, the place I live ain`t kind to teenage runaways. I don`t mean the society per se, the geography would be more apt - Frequent dust storms, a weak atmosphere, little in the way of surface water - Honestly it`s a pretty lame place. So I found myself a job that also provided shelter and food - It`s with this paramilitary group, IAFS. Well I suppose that sounds a bit suspect but they`re not terrorists or anything, they have a whole fleet of spaceships so I`d call that pretty legit.

　　Couple weeks of training and ever since I`ve been moved from job to job within the organisation - Obviously with my lack of qualifications I mostly just do odd jobs, sometimes filling in for others when they get sick or leave and what have you - Suits me just fine to be honest. Well before you know it 6 months go by, funny how that happens. My current job is almost an important one, well almost - I stand on the bridge of this massive battleship, running odd jobs for the Captain of the ship - Getting people coffee, delivering delicate messages to other parts of the ship by hand, and so on. Anyway, it was a day like any other when things changed ever so slightly, when something new occurred in my life:"Crewmen, a refill if you would, there`s a good chap." The captain called out to me.

　　I nodded respectfully before turning to another man; "And for you lieutenant?"

　　"Hmmm, A coffee would do nicely." The first-mate replied.

　　I started to move for the door, if anyone else wanted something they would speak up - Except for this one woman, a junior navigator who mostly did night shifts so I didn`t exactly see her everyday - But even when I did see her, she had never requested anything. Normally I thought nothing of it, shrugged and got on with my job. I don`t really know why, but for some reason, that day I decided, on a whim, to ask her; "Anything for you ma`am?" That was how it started.

　　She looked a little surprised but then smiled. I guessed her to be somewhere in her early twenties, long straight hair and small stature - The smile she gave after a few seconds of considering my question, was a quiet affair and yet I felt kind of charmed by it. "Just a bottle of water, thank you."

　　This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

　　****

　　After that day where I spoke with her on a whim, we began to speak more often - Never much more than chit-chat as we passed in the corridors but it felt somewhat nice to have someone my own age to relate with a little.

　　"Hey."

　　"Oh it`s you, hello crewmen."

　　"Heh you ever going to stop calling me crewmen, ma`am?" I replied, laying on the best smile I could.

　　She looked a little surprised, maybe that was more bold then I usually am when we pass each other, but her expression quickly moved to a smile - "Would that not take all the fun out of it, if you knew?" I was a little taken aback to get such a playful response, I mean technically she outranks me by quite a bit so this is all very against protocol, but hey who`s watching right? "Ah ya, of course. So, you just finished your shift?"

　　She nodded gently, "Yes, I take it you are just starting yours? One of these days we really should try meeting out of hours...." As her voice trailed off I think she realised how her statement could be taken as more than friendship - We both fidgeted a little before heading our separate ways - That`s how most of our little conversations went.

　　It was a few weeks later that another change entered my life. Things have gotten rather serious lately, I know it sounds na飗e but I didn`t really expect this ship to do much fighting - Well turns out it does. We`ve been in a few large battles lately, though I`m not really worried, a battleship this big is hardly going to sink and I guess if it does, well that`s just life right?

　　"Crewmen, take the junior navigators seat." The first-mate called to me when I reported to the bridge for the day. I shrugged and started heading to that station, when something tugged at me to ask a question - "Yes Sir. Is something wrong with the normal junior navigator Sir?"

　　The first-mate furrowed his brow, clearly not overly amused by the question but he was kind enough to answer anyway, "She hasn`t arrived yet, I`ll have someone look for her later - Right now I need that station manned, understood?"

　　"O-of course Sir, sorry." I mumbled feeling a little embarrassed for asking.

　　Despite what I`d childishly believed, the ship did keep getting in more battles and the air around the place get far tenser, everyone I knew seemed to be on edge about the next battle and I hadn`t seen her for a few days now. I entered the bridge as normal, expecting to be told to takeover the navigators station again - But instead someone new was sitting in that seat. They seemed to notice me staring at them and spoke up; "Something the matter crewmen?"

　　"Wha? Ah no, sorry... Well, ummm - Is something the matter with the normal navigator who sits there?"

　　This new person shot me a sympathetic look, "Oh dear have you not heard? The Warrant Officer was killed in action, a stray blast hit the ship where she was at the time, rather unlucky. Did you know her?"

　　"Dead? Her? Oh I see. No, not really - Sorry for bothering you." I saluted and took my place at the back of the room, waiting to be called upon for whatever odd job was needed today.It was true after all, I didn`t really know her, I don`t really have a reason to `feel` anything about it - I spoke with her suddenly one day and just as suddenly I stopped, nothing more than that right? Still even to this day I can`t help but thinking sometimes, that I didn`t even know her name.