The pirate ship 2

The main character goes back to discuss her life as a soldier of the Human Union Military.

2308

So where did I stop? Oh right, I briefly mentioned my father. You wanted to know more about him.

Behind every object and every person there`s always a story, and for this story, I must go a few years back. To a time when I was just a common grunt in the Human Union Military. To a time when I didn`t have a foggiest clue about the Safeguard Company, about Simon Berg, Pugnator Bellum, Biddsi Rolomon and the Virus War. And as I can recall, Nicole Riley Cornish was a bit of troublemaker on her 20^th year. Perhaps the largest troublemaker of 2308.

You see, I was one of those girls who liked shaking her butt at the parties that would open its doors to her. Well, maybe the parties in themselves fell to my liking, but it`s the boys in particular that was my aim. After all, I didn`t dress up nicely just to look acceptable to the rest of the party animals. I wanted the opposite sex to give me some attention.

Now, if it was just that, then no worries, right? Right. Of course I wasn`t just a young woman who enjoyed blowing off some steam in the presence of floor-shaking music. As it happens, I liked a bit of alcohol too. And to top that off, I didn`t like aliens. A lethal combination at the best of times. My father attempted to stop me from drinking on more than one occasion, but that was a part of my life he couldn`t control. Shore leave was outside his department. In fact, which planet I decided to visit for shore leave was outside his knowledge unless I told him.

The planets I mentioned are the ones in our solar system. Pluto, Mars, Mercury, Venus, and of course, dear old Earth. Though, I only had shore leave on Mars. Don`t get me wrong, traveling to the other planets wasn`t an issue. By the time I enlisted in the navy, humanity had developed Faster Than Light speed. It`s the environmental hazards those other planets provided that kept me from going. I`m told Mercury and Venus are supposed to be beautiful, but due to them orbiting as close to the sun as they do, a person is cooked alive if they walk outside the buildings.

Pluto brought the opposite. Because of its distance from Sol, visitors are restricted to stay in the warmth inside the buildings, or else, they`ll risk freezing to ice figures unless they wear environmental suits. And Earth? I simply had no connection to Earth. The only times I`d land on the mother planet was when I had military business that needed doing. There`s also Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. But they`re just gas giants, and the only presence humanity had on those planets were research stations and gas stations in their orbits. The few times I saw them in person was when we docked at the pump stations to refill fuel.

Mars on the other hand, that was something different. The orange orb provided its visitors with seasons of both winters and summers. The winters brought the same effect as Pluto did, but summertime made staying there passable. All right, even during summer, the cold could give my skin gooseflesh. And that is why I thank our scientists for the “hot zones” they managed to create. In short, they`re giant glass capsules that had artificial air and temperature inside them.

I visited those hot zones as soon as the opportunity presented itself. During shore leave like I say, and yes, no surprise, I was drunk within the first hour after I entered a bar. Then in bed with a man I didn`t know a few hours later. Unless I got into trouble with a being from one of the other species. Most marines can tell you that it was a common sight to see me calling names at an alien, probably just as common to see me raising my fists at them too. Let`s not give a bad impression of myself, it`s not like I knocked an alien on its head as soon as I saw one.

When I was at home or on service, I kept the peace. Some thoughts passed through my head if I saw one, of course, but I didn`t act on it. Mainly because I was sober, partially because I knew either father or mother would punish me if they found out. They did find out about the incidents their daughter caused at the bars and nightclubs, though, but that was different. On shore leave, I was affected by the demon drink, and that`s what alcohol does, right? Makes you forget about courtesy, unleashes the true you. All that nonsense. But, if I gave an alien a beating at home, then wouldn`t have been as a result of too many mouthfuls of vodka. It would`ve been because I intentionally decided to break the regulations. Unacceptable for both my parents, especially in my father`s books.

Home was on board HMS Shield. A state-of-the-art frigate serving with the rest of the patrol fleet on the outskirts of human space. Every five or six days, we bypassed Pluto in order to reach Uranus to restock on fuel, and then it was back to the outskirts to keep human interests safe.

I myself served as the commanding officer of a small group of marines. A force that rarely reached a number of six. I didn`t operate the batteries, and I didn`t run the engines. Didn`t even help my father coordinate the ships from the bridge. My unit (also the other units that were just like us) was the last resort in a battle if the gunnery officers failed at their task, or if something unexpected happened. Since armed conflicts was the only times I was needed, my duties demanded me to exercise at the gym on a daily basis " as well as spending some time at the training simulations. Everything to make sure that I would perform at my best during deployment, no doubt.

My father, Mark Stuart Cornish was a marine just like me. But owing to his years of service, his uniform is decked with a collection of medals and the initials of rear admiral. Mother`s name was Gabriella Martinez, and after marrying my father, she became Gabriella Martinez Cornish. Like my father, mother served on board warships. Just unlike my father and me who had offensive roles, she had a passive position as a nurse. That was back when I was a little girl, after all these years, mother received her promotions too and eventually claimed the position of head nurse.

Both of them hailed from the U.S back on earth. Father from Boston and mother from New York. Only, mother`s parents were immigrants from Italy somewhere. The precise location in Italy they immigrated from has escaped my mind. I myself wasn`t born on earth. I saw the world for the first time in the maternity ward on board HMS Defender, a small supply ship in the patrol fleet, and I`ve lived on board space vessels ever since. Because I wasn`t born in a country and my parents were both Americans, I automatically received citizenship as an American citizen. Still, I think that`s the reason I never really bothered with earth. I didn`t grow up with it " in short, it wasn`t home. Regardless of my species originating from there.

Despite my American identity on paper, most people always assumed I was Italian. My best guess had to be because of my brown eyes and olive coloured skin. Mother always used to tell me that I was beautiful. Yeah, I think that`s something every mother will tell her children, regardless of what they look like. In my case, however, it was true. Even if it makes me sound like a bragger.

As far my looks was concerned, I am indeed a brunette in nature. That was back before I enlisted, when I was chubby and spent my days on the couch watching the television. After joining the HU military, I started to lose weight and picked up some muscles as an added bonus. All the guys were impressed once they figured out I actually had biceps worthy of attention. Even more so when they figured out about my abs. I think it`s safe to say that some jaws were even hanging when they watched me lift at the gym. And my hair. I like to think of it as my personal label. I won`t dare to say that I was the only girl in the fleet, but I was the only girl on our ship that had dyed her hair red.

What clothes I wore depended on whether I was on shore leave or on service. When I served, I wore the same uniform as always. A gray combat suit designed to withstand a lot of punishment. That`s in theory, of course. Face an enemy with the right firepower and they`ll penetrate that armour like knife cuts through butter.

On shore leave, I was allowed to wear whatever I wanted. Aside from drinking and partying, I liked shore leave because of that too. The freedom we soldiers had. For the most part, I wore dresses, both short and long and the colours varied. Ocean blue, pink, purple and yellow were regular colours admirers could see me wear as I entered a bar.

That leads me to the fights I got myself into. And I`ve asked myself about this so many times. Why did I start these fights? Why couldn`t I just relax and stop being a pain in the a*s? Looking back, I think I`ve got the answer. I liked exploring and adventure. Probably why I ended up in so many beds in the first place. I enjoyed walking into the unknown, experience new things. That was my problem with the Human Union and its military. We simply stood and watched as the other species in the Milky Way saw some action.

The Oprium fought battles against slavers and mercenaries from the Lawless Voids on their homeworld, Mortem. The Fortis military had skirmishes with the Belegan military for colonization rights on a pair of unclaimed planets between their solar systems. And the Moshem people provided both sides with troops in exchange for payment. But we? Humanity didn`t do anything, except for committing a fleet to patrol our borders. Father, I know you`ve put your entire life into this military, to establish a foothold for humanity in the Milky Way. And I`m sorry, but there`s no gentle way to explain this. My post as a strike force in the patrol fleet? I hated that job. I wanted more than just exercising at the gym and standing around in the halls with a loaded gun. I wanted adventure. Was that the reason I drank, too? To forget about my boring life for at least a few hours? I guess.

As for the fights I got into, I think my looks gave me an edge. If it wasn`t for me looking like a bombshell, I don`t think I would`ve had as many men taking my side as I did. Well, that edge didn`t last forever. Despite my innocent eyes and trimmed body, there was a man one hot summer`s day on Mars who didn`t care about how pretty I was.

Author's Note

Feel free to point out anything! :)