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"I feel okay about it," Elgars said. "Can I ask a question?"
"Of course, ma'am."
"Are you here to evaluate me?"
It was this question that had made Mosovich pause early in the discussion. The question was whether to answer honestly or do the two-step. He finally decided that honesty was the right policy even if it wasn't the best.
"I guess you could say that, ma'am," the sergeant major admitted. "I got told to come down here and check you out then report back to your commander in writing as to your perceived fitness. You don't normally use a sergeant major to report on an officer and I'm not a psychologist. But I've been beating around this war for quite a while and I guess the powers that be trust my judgement."
"Okay," Elgars said. "In that case I'll be honest too. I don't know what the hell a captain does. I can shoot, I know that. I can do other stuff. But I keep finding holes. And I have no idea what the job of a captain even is. So being a captain would be tough."
Mueller tapped Mosovich on the shoulder and whispered in his ear. Mosovich turned and looked at him with a quizzical expression and held a finger up to Elgars. "Captain, could you excuse me for just a moment."
He and Mueller went over into a corner of the daycare center and spoke for a moment. Elgars could see Mosovich shaking his head and Mueller gesturing. After a moment, Wendy came over to ask Elgars what was going on.
"I du
Mosovich came back over and looked at both of them. He opened his mouth for a moment, stopped, glanced over his shoulder at Mueller. Looked at Wendy for a second then looked at Elgars.
"Captain," he said over the shrilling of the children in the background. "I don't think we can get a good read on how you really feel about your abilities in this environment."
Elgars looked at him for second, looked at Wendy then looked back. "So, what would you suggest?"
"Mueller suggests that the four of us go take a turn up on the surface. Maybe go to di
"Sergeant Major Mosovich," Wendy asked with a raised eyebrow, "are you suggesting a double date?"
"No," Mosovich said. "Just a chance to talk somewhere other than in here."
"Uh, huh," Wendy said, glancing at Mueller, who returned a look that said butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. "Well, Shari can't take care of the children alone. I think that Captain Elgars is capable of taking care of herself, however, so why don't the three of you go?"
"Okay," Mosovich said with a shrug. "Works for me."
"Hold it," Elgars said. "Wendy, how long has it been since you've been to the surface?"
"November?" Wendy asked with a frown.
"Uh, huh," Elgars said. "What year?"
"Uh . . ." Wendy shook her head. "2007?"
"And how long has it been since Shari had anything resembling a break?" Elgars asked.
"Taking the kids to the surface wouldn't be a break," Wendy noted. "But . . . I don't think she's been out of the Urb since we came here from Fredericksburg. And the last time I was up there was . . . was to give testimony," she continued with a stony face.
"Well, I think we should all take a trip up to the surface," Elgars said.
"With the kids?" Mosovich asked incredulously.
"Sure," Mueller said. "With the kids. Stress testing for the captain."
"Christ, okay, whatever," Mosovich said, raising his hands. "Stress testing for me. We'll all go up top and have di
"I could use some help," Shari said, walking over.
"Well, that clarifies that," Wendy said with a laugh.
"Clarifies what?"
"The sergeant major needs to spend some time around Captain Elgars," Mueller noted. "I recommended going to the surface, along with Wendy so that the captain wouldn't be completely alone. Wendy pointed out that you needed too much help with the kids for her to leave. So it came down to inviting all of you to the surface."
"Where, on the surface?" Shari asked nervously.
"There's at least one decent place in Franklin, I think," Mosovich noted. "It's an R&R area for the corps. There's got to be someplace."
"I du
"It doesn't have a very good reputation down here," Wendy noted with a grim chuckle.
"We don't go there much either," Mueller said. "But, trust me, the food's better than down here."
"I'm not sure . . ." Shari said.
"Well, I am," Wendy argued. "How long have we been down here? Five years? How long since you've seen the sun?"
"Long time," Shari whispered with a nod. "Except for Billy, I don't think any of the kids remember what it looks like."
"There will be three trained soldiers with us," Wendy noted. "It will be safe. It will be a chance for the kids to look at the surface. How bad can it be?"
"There's basically no Posleen activity at the moment," Mosovich pointed out. "There's a globe around Clarkesville acting fu
"Okay," Shari said after a moment's thought. "Let's do it. Like you said, Wendy, how bad can it be?"
* * *
"You've completely outgrown this, Billy," Shari said, adjusting Billy's windbreaker as Wendy negotiated for her personal weapon.
"This is . . . unbelievable," she said looking at the weapon. It was an Advanced Infantry Weapon, the standard issue weapon for the Ground Forces, a 7.62 semi-automatic rifle with a 20mm grenade launcher on the underside. This one had been personalized with a laser sight on the top.
Had.
"Where's my laser sight?" she asked angrily, turning the rusted weapon over and over. "I turned this in with a Leupold four power scope that was laser mounted. There does not appear to be a Leupold scope on this weapon. There also were three more magazines. And you made me turn in my two hundred rounds of ammo that weren't in the mags. So where is all that?"
"The inventory just lists the weapon," the guard said, looking at his screen. "No ammo, no scope, no magazines."
"Well, bugger that," Wendy said, leaning forward to shove a faded receipt against the greenish glass. "You want to read this motherfucking receipt, asshole? What the fuck am I supposed to do with a weapon and no goddamned rounds?"
"Wendy," Mosovich said, pulling at her arm. "Give it up. There's no scope. There's no rounds. These assholes shot them off long ago. And the scope is probably on this dickhead's personal weapon. That he hasn't shot in a year."
"You want to get out of here at all you better jack up that attitude, Lurp-Boy," the guard snarled from behind the glass.
Mueller leaned forward until his nose was within inches of the armored glass and smiled. "HEY!" he shouted, then laughed as the guard jumped. He reached into the billow pockets of his blouse and pulled out a charge of C-4. Pulling off an adhesive cover he applied it to the glass then began patting his pockets, muttering "Detonators, detonators . . ."
Mosovich smiled. "You wa
He smiled and nodded as the armored doors behind him slid back. "Thanks so very much. And if you're thinking about dicking around with the elevators, let me just point out that that means we'll have to come back."
"And . . . have a nice day," Mueller said, taking Kelly's hand and heading for the door.
"I can't believe this," Wendy snarled as she turned the rifle over and over in her hands. "I dropped this thing off immaculate. Like the day it came from the factory."