BSBxKc Chpt 19

==Blue Squadron (Battletech x KanColle(ish) crossover) - Chapter 19 -==
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===Squadron in Review===
Waystation 135 - Jay Mayen System, Deep Periphery
"Come in!"
 
Doing as the voice bid her over the intercom, the young woman grasped the large envelope in her hand more firmly before she opened the door and stepped through it. She stopped short on the other side and cast a look around in surprise, absentmindedly brushing a strand of red hair behind her ear.
 
The room was neither as large nor as well furnished as she had expected. In fact one could describe it as spartan, considering it had almost nothing but bare necessities in it.
One wall, opposite of the room's entrance, was dominated by a porthole through which weak red light from the system's primary was streaming. Below and next to it was a low table with a water-kettle on it, and an even lower stool, while on the porthole's other side stood a cupboard.
 
Against the wall with the door the young woman had walked through stood two plastic chairs. Along the left side of the room a privacy-curtain ran to presumably obscure sleeping-accommodations, while the right side of the room was occupied by a cluttered desk, and the wall behind it largely covered by a noticeboard.
 
She could not help but notice again that the room was not as large as she had thought it would be. Space on grav decks was a limited commodity on a void-installation, even for someone as high-ranked as the room's resident. Said resident had risen from behind the desk and inclined his head, a hint of a smile on his usually impassive features.
 
"Good day, Ms. Koal." He quickly got to his feet and stretched his back, then stepped out from behind the desk and slid one of the plastic-chairs in front of it. "Please take a seat."
 
"Good day to you too, Mr. Zheng." Jessica Koal returned the man's subtle smile with a fuller one of her own. "And thanks, but i won't keep you for long." She stepped in front of the desk, next to the plastic chair.
 
"You are not keeping me from anything. I was about to take a break." He took the few steps over to the water-kettle and flipped it on. Reaching up into the cupboard he asked. "Tea?"
 
"Please." Jess replied politely, and with a mental shrug took a seat on the offered chair.
 
Retrieving two teacups, which looked like ceramics but were probably plastic, from the cupboard, he set them down on the low table. His eyes landed on the envelope in Jess' hands. 
 
Lifting the object in question, Jess queried. "Document is signed. Do you need anything else?"
 
Reaching into the cupboard again, Zheng retrieved two teabags and placed them in the cups, while the water-kettle was starting to whistle.
 
Brushing loose papers into an orderly stack, and setting his ever present noteputer onto it, Zheng shook his head as Jess set down her envelope on the desk. "No, that is all. Congratulations."
 
"Thank you for bringing me aboard." Jess still couldn't believe it when she truly thought about it. Not only was she lucky enough to get into a position to interact with kanmusu directly, but she was also offered to join the ComGuards as a result, which would boost her career. If she were honest with herself though, the new post and rank would merely be a bonus. What mattered was that she could get to know these paranormal? supernatural? girls and women, who were effectively guardian angels.
 
"It is i who is grateful." Pouring steaming hot water into both teacups and returning the kettle where it belonged, Zheng continued. "You are a good cook, and an army marches on its stomach." He gave her a sincere look, then paused. Something Jess thought would have been a grimace on anyone else crossed Zheng's features. "I know that i am not very...approachable." Picking up both cups, he walked the few steps to his desk and set one of them down in front of Jess. "I could not have done what you did, when you spent your free time with Brest while she was unable to move and the others were on sortie." He nodded, seemingly more to himself than anything. "She was sad when it looked like she would never be able to, well, walk again." He sat down behind his desk and carefully took a sip of his tea. "You taking her mind off of that loss helped a lot."
 
Picking up the teacup in front of her, Jess carefully sampled the hot beverage. It tasted surprisingly like green tea. "I know a thing or two about being sad. Just talking to someone can help. So i did." Jess was not going to mention that Brest, as well as Amber, thought Zheng was a bit too, to use their words, stiff in the neck". She could not blame him. Everyone had strengthens and weaknesses, and the man knew his'. It also ultimately lead to her joining up with probably the most special unit in history. Although she felt bad for it she was, in a way, glad for the man's shortcomings.
 
Visibly grateful, Zheng smiled a genuine smile at her as he set down his teacup. "What do you think of them?"
 
"They're nice. Especially the girls." Another sip. "Brest and Amber were a little insecure at first, because of their inexperience." Jess paused for a moment, eyes going to the ceiling in thought. "I haven't gotten to talk with either Swift or La Plata. Last briefing you brought me onto was the first words I exchanged with them. Swift seems so serious all the time. La Plata makes a more easy-going impression. Not sure if i buy it."
 
"What about Trelleborg?"
 
"She seems friendly. Kind. Caring." Jess chuckled. "She praised me for doing something that came natural to me."
 
"She is." Zheng nodded in agreement, then picked up his teacup again and took a sip. "Also has a wicked sense of humor. You will see."
 
Jess could not tell if the man used the cup to hide a smile or not. "Don't know about the new green-haired one. Silver. Seems to have an attitude-problem?"
 
"Not a problem in the society she hails from." Zheng finished his tea.
 
Jess took the man's words at face value. She didn't know all that much about the clans. Then she remembered something. "I've been meaning to ask. How do you see the fleetmaidens?"
 
Zheng raised his eyebrows at first, then seemed to understand. "You mean their duality?"
 
"Suppose you could call it that." The redhead searched for the right words. "It's...odd. When i'm at a porthole and talk to the girls they are right on the other side of the glass. But every now and again i blink and they are gone, and instead i see their immense hulls looming over me. Then i blink again and it's back to normal." Jess resisted the urge to shake her head at the memory and sipped her tea instead.
 
Nodding sagely, Zheng replied. "I know what you mean. Trelleborg has done a lot of tests during the many years she had spare. According to her, people who are not resistant to their influence do not see their hulls at all. Just their human forms."
 
"Huh. Odd." Jess finished her tea.
 
"That is what fleetmaidens are indeed." Shifting gears, the officer carried on. "Back to what you came here for. I will make arrangements to have your new uniform delivered to your quarters as soon as possible."
 
Not having spent any thoughts on that detail, Jess replied before she could even think. "Do I even need one?" Catching up with what she had said, the redhead was mortified and anxiously scrambled to make her thoughtless reply seem less offensive to the officer. "I mean, I'll be fighting my battles in the kitchen..."
 
Luckily Mr. Zheng did not seem bothered by her words. "You are one of the very few who retain our mental faculties when in the presence of fleetmaidens. Chances are you will do more than just cook and occasionally chat with them." This time he actually smiled. "The uniform is meant for when you need to be the middlewoman between Blue Squadron and anyone else."
 
Jess frowned. "But that's your task, isn't it?"
 
"It is. But i can only be in one place at a time." A pause. "And i am also very mortal."
 
Those words sent the redhead's eyebrows high onto her forehead. "You think we won't survive this? That the fleetmaidens won't be able to protect us?" The implication was worrying, since the man probably knew many things she did not about the strategic situation.
 
"No." Zheng was quick to reassure. "But we are at war, whether people here and elsewhere have realized it yet or not. And with war one has to account for losses, have reserves and plans for what the enemy might do." He turned and cast his dark eyes at the noticeboard behind his desk.
 
Following his gaze, Jess took it in properly for the first time. There were pieces of paper fastened to it, which all had different phrases on them. "What's this?"
 
"A little aid. It is difficult to predict an enemy's actions when there are no clear motivations or goals for them. I thought maybe i would see something this way if i only looked at it long enough." He gestured at the noticeboard. "Do you want to take a look? Two pairs of eyes see more than one."
 
"Sure." After a moment something occurred to the redhead. "Should i see everything there is on this board? Classified information and all that?" She was already reading the board's contents, murmuring them under her breath. "Abduction of Crew, Ambushes on Jumpships (and Fleetmaidens), Scattered Forces, Randomly killed Crewmembers, Terror Aura".
 
"You already know all of this and what you are not authorized for yet you will soon be."
 
Nodding distractedly, Jess' attention was on the assortment of terms. Zheng joined her in the perusal. After a minute of silence she turned back to Zheng. "Sorry, nothing sticks out to me. Maybe I just don't have the observational skill for this."
 
"We will work on that." Zheng replied just a tad too nonchalantly.
 
Jess glanced at Zheng with a frown of slight confusion. "We will?"
 
"Yes."
 
She tilted her head, red hair falling to the side as a result. "How?" Then something tickled the back of her mind. "Wait. You said information i am not authorized to know yet. 
 
"How? With courses on information-gathering and data analysis, which will start tomorrow morning." Returning the redhead's disbelieving look evenly, Zheng added. "You will also have lessons with Trelleborg in the afternoon."
 
"What? I didn't sign up for this." There was a noticeable whining quality to her voice. She did not relish going, in a manner of speaking, back to school. She had only recently escaped it.
 
Zheng's eyes now had mischief in them. "You did. Stipulations of joining the ComGuards and our special operation here, as outlined in the document you signed." He pointed at the envelope on his desk.
 
"Really!?" Jess was miffed that the man had resorted to underhanded methods like that. Yet she really was annoyed at herself for not reading what she had signed. Yet, after a mighty huff she asked herself. Would it be so bad? At least the pay was good, she had read that much.
 
Her turmoil must have shown, because Zheng addressed her, expression serious. "I truly think you have what it takes. Give it a shot. If it does not work for you we will think of something."
 
Sighing again the redhead surrendered to her fate. "Fine. I'll do it." A grin gradually bloomed on her face. "Spooks have their reputation for a reason, I see."
 
Zheng surprised Jess, because it was the first time she heard the man chuckle.
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===Peril in orbit of a far off Star===
Far away
 
It had been many years since the star-system had seen visitors.
 
Human presence had been less than the blink of an eye on cosmic timescales, even in the case of mankind's cradle, Terra, and its millennia of history. A hypothetical observer watching the system in question's entire tale would have possibly not even noticed the mundane dramas a species of spacefaring mammals performed on its stage. Instead said observer would have seen the primary bathing its planets in a soft yellow light and heard its soothing electromagnetic song for aeons.
 
Yet, when a burst of bright light appeared in one of the planets' orbits, that monotony changed again if, only for the briefest of moments in the grand scheme of things.
 
The glow subsided after mere seconds and left a human figure behind.
 
Said figure was curled in on itself, trembling hands raised in front of its face in a protective, cowering manner. It remained in that posture for long moments, as though waiting for strikes from an invisible attacker to land.
 
When none came the figure warily raised its head to look up, eyes and expression anxious, blinking in apprehension as though still waiting for blows to land any moment.
 
Hesitantly lowering its arms and straightening, the figure's curves showed it to be female. Seemingly gaining confidence, the woman looked around herself with quick and abrupt motions of her neck.
 
Apparently seeing no immediate threat, the woman deflated. Her shoulders sagged and she leaned forward, exhaling a shaky breath and bringing her hands to her face.
 
A moment later tension returned to her frame. It was so pronounced, in fact, that anyone watching would have probably compared her to a coiled spring.
 
With wide eyes and an open mouth the woman stared at her own hands in front of her face. Seemingly spellbound she remained motionless for moments more, before she extended her arms and cast a disbelieving look down at herself. She shook both of her legs and wiggled her toes experimentally, followed by craning her neck as far to the side as she could and glancing down her own back.
 
Throwing her had back in a jerky motion the female figure barked a long, quivering laugh. It was followed by another forwards-hunch and shaky exhale.
 
Expression changing from distressed to determined she straightened and took a deep breath, which pushed out her chest, and squared her shoulders.
 
Turning she ignited her transit drives put one foot in front of the other and got under way.
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==Chapter Notes==
*; Chapter Note from the Author : A little interlude this time, late as it may be. I made a grievous continuity-error and had to start chapter 20 over entirely.Since I have not read any BattleTech books i have taken a few liberties when it comes to how Zheng's quarters are made up. Also tried something different with the last part. Did not turn out as i wanted, but i left it in regardless.
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