Ep.#5 - "Rise of the Corinari" Read Online Free Page B

that understood?”
    “Yes, sir,” Jessica answered.
    Nathan looked at Vladimir. His lips were pursed as if he were about to explode into laughter. Nathan swung out his foot under the table and kicked Vladimir in the shin.
    “ Oy! ”
    “I said, is that clear?” Nathan asked again, also trying to hold back a grin of his own.
    “ Da, da, da, ” Vladimir responded, holding his bruised shin.
    “There’s going to be a hundred or so Corinairan volunteers joining our crew; many of them will be members of the Corinari. We need an obvious chain of command for everyone to follow if we expect them to do the same. As command ranked officers, we have to lead by example. We have to…” Nathan paused mid sentence, noticing that Jessica was hesitantly raising her hand for permission to speak. “What is it?”
    “Beg your pardon, sir, but we’re not command ranked officers. We’re ensigns.” Jessica looked at Vladimir. “Right?”
    “Yes, she is correct… uh… sir,” Vladimir agreed.
    Nathan looked at the two of them, finally acquiescing. “Good point. Go down to the quartermaster’s office and dig up some new rank insignias. You’re both lieutenant commanders now.”
    Smiles crept across both their faces as they exchanged looks.
    “Do we get a pay raise as well?” Jessica asked.
    “We’ll see how it goes,” Nathan told her. “Dismissed.”
    Jessica and Vladimir quickly rose and headed for the exit, afraid Nathan might change his mind.
    “The two of you had better earn your new ranks, or I’ll take them away just as quickly.”
    Jessica exited the briefing room first, with Vladimir only a step behind her. The big Russian paused in the hatchway for a moment, checking to make sure no one in the corridor would hear him before turning back toward Nathan. “I am still not saluting you,” he joked.
    “If you don’t, I’ll cut off your hand and have the Corinairan surgeons reattach it.”
    “Maybe just this once then,” he said. He snapped to attention in proper military fashion, issuing a perfect salute which Nathan promptly returned.
    “Go, get your new rank pins,” he ordered.
     
    * * *
    Compared to how it had been before, the Aurora’s hangar bay seemed busy. There were four Corinari shuttles on board, as well as a medevac shuttle and a cargo shuttle that came every day with meals for the Aurora’s crew as well as the Corinari troops that were currently providing security for the ship. A maintenance team from Corinair had set up shop in a corner of the bay in order to take care of the various shuttles the Corinari were flying between the Aurora and the surface. For the first time since they left Earth, the hangar bay actually felt alive.
    After nearly losing both the Aurora and the captured Takaran vessel, the Yamaro, the Corinari were taking security quite seriously. The automatic doors for the transfer airlocks had been deactivated, and inbound shuttles were held on the landing apron while Corinari technicians in full pressure suits inspected their exteriors for suspicious devices. Once cleared by exterior inspectors, the inbound shuttle was allowed to enter the transfer airlock where their interiors were also searched, and the crew and any passengers had their identities thoroughly checked. With the Corinari on duty, no one was getting on board the Aurora who did not belong there.
    Similar measures had been taken on board the Yamaro, although activity in her hangars was almost nothing. The remaining crew on board the Yamaro had made their way off the ship using the escape pods a few days ago, when they feared that Captain de Winter would scuttle the Yamaro to keep her out of the hands of the Corinairans. Most of them had either been picked up on the surface or had voluntarily turned themselves in and were being detained until arrangements could be made to get them back to their home worlds. However, given the current circumstances, getting them home might take considerable time.
    Nathan strode out