Friday. 17:30 Cafeteria

The group was eating dinner. In a change of their normal seating arrangement, Alice was sitting across the table from John. She was glaring at John. Everyone at the table could feel the tension in the air. It would take a remarkable act of selflessness or an alarming lack of social decorum to push the group forward. Andern would the hero the table didn’t want but was the only one they would receive.

Andern interrupted the awkwardness and spoke with half his mouth full of meatballs, “Why are you sitting over there Alice? What did he do to piss you off?”

“Let’s let the scheming idiot, who I love deeply by the way despite this damned mess, explain things. Please explain to everyone how your carefully laid plan worked out,” Alice spat the words out before she snapped a breadstick in half.

Kevin and Nathan both put their silverware down and leaned in. The girls did the same. Jessica and Brian scooched in closer so they were closer and could hear things better.

“Mistakes were made. My history came back to hurt me somewhat. But the deal worked for you eight without issue.”

“So, what did you do to sour things?” Kevin paused then said, “Duh, you naturally had some extracurricular things.”

“Let’s just say I’m blacklisted in Third Fleet,” John said before he took a sip of water.

“And the Second Fleet too given the news,” Alice said as she speared a meatball with her fork.

“Wait, we’re going to second? Where the hell are you two going?” Kristin asked.

“Technically, Alice could’ve gone to the Second, but regs dictate that when possible, spouses are to remain in the same fleet.”

“Out with all of it you asshole,” Alice said.

“The two of us are likely going to be assigned to St. Mary’s station,” John said shaking his head.

The table went quiet. They were trying to remember where that was. The name was familiar to all of them but aside from Alice and John, no one seemed to put two and two together immediately. Andern, once more in his role of socially inept hero spoke up.

“Isn’t that the station above Manchester that we docked at?”

The realization of where the couple would be assigned post-graduation sunk into the others. The girls looked horrified and gave sympathetic eyes to Alice. The boys, true to their immature form, started to smirk. Andern slapped his friend’s shoulder.

“Well, it could be worse. You could be stationed at the palace,” Andern said smiling.

“Dude, that’s not funny. Like, not cool,” John was shaking his head.

“I’ve gotta ask, what the hell did you do?” Nathan asked.

“I started to plan some things when they tried to kick me out of command during the first year. That plan, while heavily edited got put into plan last year.”

“Being that vague on purpose?” Jessica smirked.

“It involves the transfer of money,” John shrugged.

“An insanely stupid and borderline greedy amount,” Alice rolled her eyes.

“Yet justified and most of it wasn’t sent to me. But I didn’t think my actions would come back and, well bite me in the ass so ferociously. Man, this sucks,” John then smeared some spaghetti sauce on his breadstick and took a bite of it.

“Burnt bridges already. Seriously impressed my dude,” Brian said laughing.

“But why are you so pissed, Alice? I don’t think an act of God would cause him to do that,” Andern said as he tried to spear the last piece of lettuce in his salad bowl.

“I’m not worried about him cheating on me. I will now be in orbit around that cunt’s planet. That means he is at the royals’ fingertips. If we would be assigned to any other fleet or base, then I wouldn’t have to deal with them.”

“The universe seems to have a sense of humor. Wish that was the case, Dickinson stabbed in the fucking back. I wish I could be more upset with him but man. That was a masterclass in douchebaggery,” John said.

“When you put it that way that was masterfully played by him,” Theresa said, “But the two of you will be fine. If she pushes too hard that means you can push back accordingly.”

John grinned, “Oh if you think I’m gonna hold the little lady back from causing a diplomatic incident. I think not. She can kick the princess’s ass for all I care. If the royals try to do anything against her, well…” the grin continued to be worn on John’s face.

“You’re an evil mastermind. But like all evil masterminds you still fucked up,” Andern said.

“When’s the tour? Who all is coming?” Kristin asked.

“Tomorrow morning. 09:00. Any of y’all want to come with?” John looked up to see all of his friends shaking their heads, “Dicks, all of you! Her attendant, her guards, and a crew of elite Marine Guards from MARSOC.”

“Any other officers joining you?” Thomas asked.

“Yeah, but they are deferring to me in another case of weird rank hierarchy.”

“That’s weird. Like really weird,” Kristin said.

“Special requests of her highness. And I already have approval from the higher-ups that if she tries anything I can shut things down in an instant. Without fear of repercussions or violating the agreement that I got screwed in.”

“Well, you have fun with that one. I’m gonna sleep in tomorrow,” Andern said as he tossed his fork onto the tray and leaned back in his chair.

Saturday. 09:55 Armstrong Atrium

John was wearing his dress whites guiding the group around campus. They had just walked into the Armstrong building. He was waiting for the group to reform before speaking. John was holding his cover between his left arm and body. He had shown no emotion on his face. Despite the repeated attempts from the princess and her attendant. John remained a stoned-faced sentinel giving the tour.

“This is the Armstrong building. It is used primarily by cadets enrolled in the command focus to take their classes. Operations do use a couple of rooms as overflow in the northwest corner on the first two floors should space. If you’ll follow me through the doors to my right, we’ll go into the largest lecture hall.”

“Is there where most of your classes are?” Valerie asked.

“Yes ma’am, five of eight classes this year are in this room. The other three are in non-descript rooms in this building,” John said as he walked through the doors, “As you can see the room is set up as half of a sphere. The lecturer is at the center on the raised platform at the bottom.”

“Why this design over the others?” Katherine asked.

“The belief was it would be more efficient for the lecturer. The truth of the matter is that you can have more seats. But it’s less efficient with tests because it’s harder for the lecturer to see what’s going on behind them, for obvious reasons.”

“Will we get to see the dorms?” Valerie asked.

“No. If you’ll follow me, we will head to the Grissom building next door. We have three more buildings to view before arriving at the gymnasium.”

The tour went through the Grissom building where the freshman and engineering focus upperclassman attended classes. The rooms were generally smaller. Engineering had mock rooms from several different types of vessels that they went in. Valerie walked a fine line with asking personal questions, but never crossed a line that would justify John bugging out.

It was clear that she was there only to try and lure John into her grasps. It was an effort that was destined to fail. Her attendant was doing an excellent job of being a wingman. John was trying to hurry the tour up to mercifully end this torturous assignment.

Eventually, the group toured the Nightingale Medical Learning building. This was a building that John knew very little about it. To the best of his knowledge, this was the first time he stepped inside it. Alice had helped him out by pointing out two rooms he should bring the tour by. A sanitation room and janitors’ closet, while funny locations, weren’t ones that John would stop the tour at. Though briefly, John did show some emotion by mentioning that his wife suggested the tour be shown in those rooms.

The marine guards, stoic as they were, all smirked at John’s sarcastic comment. The royals were less amused. Though that did nothing to stem the constant assault of flirting by the princess. John then led them out of the room and towards the Shepard building, where the majority of operations classes were held.

Eventually, they made it to the massive gymnasium. “This building, like the others has basement levels. Though what is done or stored will not be discussed. The main level contains several locker rooms. There’s an Olympic-sized track where we are now. The interior can be swapped to support different sports or athletic events. Basketball and tennis courts surround the outermost lanes.”

“Is all this necessary? It seems overly large compared to the other buildings,” Valerie asked, “Thought it would be nice to witness you and your fellow cadets work out.”

John ignored the last comment and answered, “Square footage wise the building is similarly sized to the others. Its footprint appears otherwise because of the dimensions of the building. As you can see above, there aren’t additional floors throughout the majority of this building. The exception is the north and south sides of the building which have space for offices and administrative use.”

“And is physical fitness really that necessary?” Katherine asked.

“The military needs to break her recruits, then build them back up to be the best soldiers and officers possible. A strong core will allow an individual to weather the unyielding nature that the void presents us. Do you have any other questions? This is the last building on the tour.”

“I was expecting some one-on-one time to ask some other questions,” Valerie said smiling.

“That won’t be happening ma’am,” John said without a hint of emotion.

“The military promised us an intimate tour of her facilities,” Katherine said trying to bring attention to some secretive agreement.

“You’ll have to bring it up to whomever you asked and involve other cadets to get to know intimately. This cadet has neither been ordered to do so nor does he wish to experience such intimacy.”

“Oh please, your wife won’t know.”

“The guards will escort you back to your transports. Have a good day.”

John clicked his heels together and gave a curt nod to his guests. He then turned around and began walking out of the gymnasium. Katherine and Valerie looked surprised to see their host leave unexpectedly like that. The leader of the marine guards stepped forward and coordinated to have their escorts pick them up.

The tour could have been worse. But this was the first salvo in what John feared would be many over the coming year. John was looking forward to their finals next week. More importantly, he wanted to get into the shower, he felt dirty as hell being in the presence of that annoying princess.

11:30 Co-Ed Dorm

John was putting on a shirt as he walked into the living room of the dorm room. Alice was sitting down at the table working on some homework. She was radiating anger and general annoyance. John walked over to the table and sat down.

“Ok, out with it. We’re not going to play this game of keeping our feelings from one another. Being angry with me isn’t healthy.”

Alice threw her pen onto the table and slammed her book shut, “Why the fuck did you do that? You screwed us you know.”

John took a deep breath, “I didn’t think I had overreached in those negotiations. You do know that the station we likely will be assigned is one of the nicest out there. Our quarters will be roughly four times this size. As junior officers mind you.”

“I’ll concede that point. But it’s the location.”

“That’s a fair point. And I own that one, I didn’t see Admiral Shin being that pissed with my actions,” John reached over and squeezed Alice’s right hand, “Kind of impressed with the man having the intel he did.”

“I’m still mad. You told me two years ago that you needed to play the political game better. Look what happened.”

“Yeah, this who damn thing exploded in my face. Like majorly,” John smirked, “Our friends will be in the Second Fleet. Which will put them ahead of all but the top one or two percent of our class. And we’re in the First Fleet.”

“Speaking of which, how the hell are you going to get a command? You attacked them where it hurts the most you know.”

“I won’t be getting a command for what, three to four years at best. Half of the admirals that I acquired some wealth from won’t be here anymore. Hell, we might get a transfer to second fleet or something by then.”

“Speaking of that, what are your long-term goals regarding command? You know my feelings on it but now’s the time to lay it out,” Alice smiled.

“The earliest I could get command is as a second lieutenant on a corvette, cushy duty in Second Fleet. First lieutenants can get commands on destroyers and some older frigates. By commander I’d like to be in command of a battlecruiser,” John paused and thought, “Though whether I’d still be in the first fleet by the time I make commander is an open question.”

Alice appeared to have calmed down a bit, “I think part of the reason why I’m reacting the way I am is that my career seems to be tied at the hip to you.”

John smiled, “That’s probably the way it is right now. But who’s to say that you won’t rise in station. If that happens my career becomes tied to your and where you get assigned.”

“It’s so damned complicated. But I’m not joking when I saw that I will kick that skanky bitch if she tries anything with you,” Alice smiled but then cocked her head when she saw John’s face contort in disgust, “What now?”

“Fucking hell.”

“What strings did she pull now? Ugh, if this is going to be a daily saga, I may lose it.”

“Just a second, let me find out for sure,” John said as he stood up and walked over to the television.

John turned it on and then in the menu switched over to the communications app. He began entering the conference number that he was reading off from his tablet. It indicated it was connected, then after an annoying amount of time, it actually moved John into the meeting.

“Morning sir, what’s this about a casual lunch in the officer’s mess?”

“Just what it states cadet, your presence was requested to have lunch with the dignitaries,” Lieutenant Breeland said.

“Is this an order or a request?”

“Reading between the lines, are we cadet?”

“Yes, the less time I have to spend with that idiotic princess the better. Based on what I see it’s the latter, not the former. This wasn’t in the original itinerary that was distributed either.”

“It was not. And it is not an order. I’m merely forwarding a request from the dignitary.”

“Shucks, it seems that I had already planned on having a long-overdue and intimate lunch with my wife off-campus. It would be a damned shame for me to bill the Navy for the cancellation fee. Maybe next time sir.”

The lieutenant grinned, “Understood. I am not the bad guy here cadet. Simply forwarding the request.”

“We’re good sir,” John grinned, “Let her know my wife and I already had plans for lunch.”

“Enjoy and thank you for taking one for the team this morning cadet. I’ll take it from here,” Breeland smiled as she cut the meeting short.

John exhaled and smiled. He turned with a giant smile on his face and saw Alice rolling her eyes at him. He walked over to her, bent over and kissed her.

“Get dressed, we needed to be off-campus ten minutes ago.”

“John, I love you. But you are not being very romantic.”

“Understood, but it’s easier to disobey an order to have lunch with a certain space princess when I’m already having lunch with my wife than it is when we’re hanging out in our dorm room together.”

Alice smiled as she looked down at the table, “I just triggered your trap card, didn’t I?”

“Clock is ticking dear.”

12:00 Outside the Cafeteria

Andern, Kristin, and Nathan were waiting for a few steps down the hall from the elevator. They were the first ones to get to the cafeteria floor and were killing time talking to one another. There hadn’t been a rush to get to the cafeteria today. The elevator opened up and immediately Alice and John ran out of it.

They either didn’t look in their direction or didn’t see them, but they turned in the other direction and ran out the doors. Nathan was about to say something but they were out of the building before he could vocalize a welcome to them. He looked back at Andern and Kristin with a confused look on his face.

“Well fuck you guys too. What the hell?” Andern asked incredulously.

“Five bucks says it has to do with the princess.”

Kristin snorted, “I am not taking that bet.”

“Oh yeah, that was today. That’s still a dick move to not even say hi to us or even acknowledge us.”

“They may not have seen us you know?” Nathan was attempting to defend them.

Just then another set of elevator doors opened, Kevin and Theresa walked out and greeted the group. They discussed what had happened. The story had been changed slightly that the two of them looked pale in their faces and were trying to escape from something. The couple rightly surmised it had something to do with the princess that they helped save months ago.

Eventually, the rest of them showed up and they walked through the chow line together and found their normal table to sit down and eat at. Everyone was fun and games until a pair of familiar faces appeared in front of them.

The rest of the room, who hadn’t had any firsthand dealings with the princess or her attendance, look like it was ready to fawn over the two women. Many of the female cadets wished they were the princess. Most of the male cadets wanted to be with either of the attractive women for much more simplistic wants.

“Good afternoon, perhaps you know where my betrothed is?” Princess Valerie asked.

Andern managed to cough at the same time as he was about to start laughing, thus being able to cover for himself. The others looked at one another with confused looks. Though the confusion was less at her question and more at who would have to play stupid with her question.

“Betrothed? Who would that be?” Jessica asked in a decidedly confused tone.

“The leader of your vessel. John Lief. He is my husband to be.”

Kevin stepped up next, “You know he’s married right? Plural marriages aren’t legal here on Earth.”

“Or in the Navy for that matter. It’s in the third article of the naval code of conduct,” Brian said.

“Have any of you seen him today?” Katherine asked.

“Yeah, when we were hanging out in the lounge about an hour ago. John and Alice left to have a bite to eat,” Theresa said with a smile.

“Something about spending ‘not spending enough quality time with one another,'” Thomas used air quotes, “Did y’all catch where they were going to eat?”

“Alice had some shopping she wanted to do. But John, like always, was hungry and just wanted to go eat. I didn’t catch where they were planning to go though,” Kristin said.

“That man has a one-track mind when he’s hungry. The damn world could be on fire but the only thing he wants to do is eat something,” Nathan said before taking a bite of his sandwich.”

Katherine and Valerie looked at one another. They couldn’t tell whether or not they were lying to them or not. But as they didn’t know for sure that they were they decided to accept the answers. They excused themselves to go back to wherever they were.

Some of the cadets came over and asked them how they had known one another. They were shocked that any cadets would actually know a royal. Somehow it wasn’t common knowledge that their crew had saved a royal princess. Though that made sense since they didn't advertise it given how much of a pain in the ass she and her crew had been to the cadets.

Three hours later the group was still hanging out in the lounge. Whatever homework that they brought was finished. There was an argument over what to watch. There was a hockey game that the girls wanted to see. The boys wanted to watch the IndyCar race. A compromise was reached so that an equal number of televisions in the room had the hockey game on and the rest had the race on.

John and Alice walked into the lounge, both were carrying a bottle and some glasses. John was smirking as he pulled the cork cap from the Papi VanWinkle bottle and began pouring it into the glasses in front of the table. Alice did the same with some plastic wine glasses.

“Figured this was in order, as thanks for earlier,” John smiled warmly as he said that.

“Powers come back then, eh?” Andern asked.

“Yeah, how do you know…”

“The lieutenant that was running point on that mission let us know that she tracked you down,” Alice said as she sniffed the vintage wine.

“To good and loyal friends, may we always have each other’s backs!” John said as he raised his glass.