“I still don’t know how you can even stomach that, Commander.” Gunny said as I sat down with my pizza on the other side of the metal cafeteria table.

“Hmm? There are other people who like to have all the toppings on their pizza, right? Besides, it’s just how my mom liked to have hers.” I took a big bite from a slice of pizza. But only after I took off my beret and placed it next to my tray. “Delicious.”

Gunny took a bite from his basic pepperoni pizza. “I just really don’t get the flavour profile.”

I shrugged and continued eating.

“By the way, what are you going to do with your parents?”

“I asked a friend to take care of their graves while I’m gone.”

“Couldn’t a relative have done it for you?”

“Didn’t want to bother them with it. Plus, he needs the money, so…”

“You are paying him?”

“Why not? I earn plenty. It’s not like we can spend much while we’re gone, either.”

“Hmm, you got a point.”

I took another bite. “And what about your family?”

“I said goodbye to my daughter, the rest couldn’t give a rats arse.”

“Did she manage to get the job she was after? Uh, journalist, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, she’s already done her first broadcast.”

“Oh, you should’ve told me about that!”

“Thought you had more important things going on, Commander.”

“I would’ve made time. Be sure to send me a link before we launch, or I’ll make sure the foodbot on board will only give you vegetables for a week.”

“That’s low, Commander, very low.”

I chuckled and continued eating.

While we were eating, the cafeteria filled up swiftly as another transport had just landed. Only our table remained relatively open. That’s when I spotted Ensign Yuigahama at the end of the foodline, looking around for a spot. I waved her over.

She approached and wasn’t sure what to do with the food tray in hand, not sure whether she should put it down and salute or just drop her tray outright. Yuki ultimately decided that it was best to put food down on the table first. She’d gone for a four seasons pizza with extra olives.

“H-hello Commander.”

“Hello there Ensign.” I smiled. “Are you looking for a spot?”

“Uh y-yes ma’am. But it appears all tables are occupied.”

I signed around at our table. “There’s plenty of space here.”

“A-are you sure?”

“Sit down and start eating, Ensign, that’s an order.” I laughed.

“A-alright. If you say so, ma’am.” She saluted and quickly sat down next to me, although she did keep her distance.

“This is Gunnery Sergeant Turner.” I introduced Gunny to our nervous Ensign.

Gunny smiled as he was still munching down on a slice of pizza.

“Gunnery Sergeant Turner, this is Ensign Yuki Yuigahama. Assigned to the UFS Antananoriva.”

“W-well met.” She nervously smiled.

“Did you find your shipmates by the way?”

“I-I did.” She nodded as she nervously reached for a slice.

“Calm down, we aren’t going to eat you, kid.” Gunny had reached across the table and held the arm of the Ensign still.

“I-I uh…”

“Gunny, that’s not how you calm down nervous people. I think you made her even more nervous.”

“Right… sorry for that.” He pulled back his arm.

“It’s… it’s fine.”

“That being said, he is right. We are plenty full with pizza, so eating nervous sailors is not on the menu right now.”

I finally managed to get a laugh out of her. “Thank you.”

Gunny and I finished our pizza’s only a couple of minutes later.

“We should probably go now, Commander. The cargo manifests aren’t going to check themselves.” Gunny took his tray and waited for me to get up.

“Right, need to make sure we don’t leave without my toothbrush.” I joked and stood up from the bench too. “If we don’t see each other again, have a nice trip, Ensign Yuigahama.” I smiled and gave her a loose salute.

She almost choked on her slice of pizza as she tried to salute back. “You too ma’am!”

When we walked out of the cafeteria, we turned right into the small shopping area that some corp paid way too much money for to get on a military base. The elevator to the cargo area was just behind it.

“Hey, our XO’s there, Commander.”

“Oh?”

He pointed at one of the side hallways at one of the shops. I stopped to look for a second. Just like he said, our new XO was standing there, staring at one of the shopping windows, looking incredibly enamoured by one of the plushies that was on display.

“Isn’t that the shop that sells those famous shark plushies?” I asked my Gunnery Sergeant. “You know, the one that used to sell furniture?”

He shrugged. “Do I look like I like plushies?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged back. “I don’t judge based on appearance.”

We observed her a bit longer as her face was clearly showing some conflict, before in the end she decided to leave.

“Awh, I kinda feel sad now.” I started walking into the direction of the shop.

“What are we doing, Commander?”

“I’m just going to look around for a bit.”

“You are going to buy her the plushie, aren’t you?”

I stopped at the window and quickly identified the big shark plushie she’d been staring at. “Damn right, I am.” I opened the door of the store and a minute later left it with a big shark plushie in my arms. “They didn’t have a bag that was big enough.”

“What’s in the little baggy, then?” He pointed at the plastic bag I’d wrapped around my gloved wrist.

“Uh, I got it a couple of hats too.”

“Commander…”

“The sales clerk was really convincing…”

Suddenly some ruckus from around the corner pulled my attention.

“What’s that yelling about?” Turner asked.

“Not sure, I’ll go and take a look.” I quickly handed the shark over to Gunny together with the small plastic bag and started jogging back.

“Commander, wait!” I heard Gunny yell towards me. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

When I turned the corner it was clear the cafeteria was the source of the yelling as more sailors formed a circle of what appeared to be the epicentre.

I quickly made my way through the crowd and found myself standing behind a lieutenant who’d pinned someone else against the table.

“I’ll show you your place, Ensign.”

When I got a better angle I could see it was Ensign Yuigahama who was being held by the collar of her jacket.

“What the bloody fuck do you think you are doing, lieutenant?!” I yanked him away by his uniform, hard enough to make him choke a bit. I got in between him and the Ensign, who had started to cry.

The crowd suddenly went very quiet apart from a couple of gasps.

The lieutenant got back on his feet with rage on his face, but that quickly vanished once he realised who he was dealing with. “C-c-commander Davis, ma’am.” He saluted.

“Don’t give me that bullshit!” I yelled. “What the hell was going on here.”

One corporal from the crowd pushed aside a couple of people and entered the circle.

“Commander Davis, ma’am!” She saluted. “When you left the cafeteria, a couple of people began harassing the Ensign about having sat at your table. We tried to stop them, but then the lieutenant came and ordered his people to keep us away while he was ‘going to teach her a lesson’ ma’am.”

“I see. Thank you, corporal.” I turned around to the Ensign for a second to check if she didn’t have any open wounds. “Are you okay, Yuki?”

“I-I am Commander.” She wiped away her tears, but they were still coming.

I then put my full attention back on the lieutenant. “What the fuck were you thinking, Lieutenant.”

“Commander, these people tried to slip away.” the crowd opened up to reveal Gunnery Sergeant Turner together with a group of MP’s. One of them was now carrying the plushie and my bag. They had a group of men in custody; one of them even was a Lieutenant-Commander.

“You can all kiss your military career goodbye, gentlemen.” I stated.

“They were all part of the UFS Antananarivo.” Gunny informed me.

“For fucks sake…” I looked back at the Ensign. “Well, I’m definitely not going to let you set sail in a ship like that anymore…”

“B-but ma-am… M-my family really needs the money…”

“How long was your mission supposed to last?” I asked.

“O-only a couple of months, ma’am.”

“I know it’s quite sudden, but how do you feel about extending that by a couple of years? The pay is also a lot better.”

“A-are you saying...?”

“I can have the transfer finished in an hour. I’ll send priority transport to earth if you need more personal items aboard.”

“T-thank you commander. I-I’d be more than honoured!” Ensign Yuigahama got up, straightened her back and saluted me enthusiastically.

“As for what’s to happen to this lot…” I turned back towards the perpetrators, the Lieutenant had also been cuffed by one of the MPs. “Throw them in the brig and strip them of their ranks.”

The MPs nodded while their Sergeant wrote down what I said on his holostick.

“You can’t do this, Commander!” The Lieutenant protested.

“I can, I just did. Actions have consequences, you should’ve thought about that before starting this shit.” I dismissed him and looked at the Corporal who came forward earlier. “Can you and yours go with Ensign Yuigahama to write down a report at the MP station?”

The Corporal saluted. “Yes ma’am!”

“Ensign. When you are done at the MP station, just send me a message. We will then complete your transfer.”

“Okay ma’am.” Yuki nodded and, together with the Corporal and a couple of others, went along in the direction of the MP station.

The MP who got tasked with carrying the plushie and my bag gave them back to Gunny and marched off with the group of prisoners, after which Gunny gave them back to me. The surrounding crowd had mostly dispersed, so we could easily make our way back through the shopping district and further on to the cargo area.

“Pff. I could really use a drink.” I sighed once we were alone again. Dealing with something like this is somehow incredibly exhausting.

“Let’s grab one on board once we’re done.”

“Yeah, sounds good to me.”