CHAPTER 9 – ENTROPY

DATE POINT: MARCH 10th, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)

LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, ABOARD UTRN INDOMITABLE WILL

CAPTAIN HENRY O’TOOLE

“Captain, the rate of disciplinary incidents has more than tripled in the last two weeks. We have had six fistfights, one near strangling, a few dozen counts of sexual harassment amongst different parties, and a few more incidents of a nature that I would rather not get into for fear of derailing the point of this conversation. I need additional resources to allocate towards ship internal security. Permission to borrow some of my more trusted marines to help out on their off shifts?” Commander Alvarez asked, after taking a moment to form his thoughts.

“Yeah, of course, take what you need, whomever agrees. I am not entirely surprised; we expected a certain amount of this after so many weeks pent up together like this with no outlets anyway. Something I need to get involved in?”

“No, I have it covered, it’s just in the regs that I need to ask permission to use marines for internal security matters.” The Commander waved it off.

“Can I ask you a question?” Henry began, taking a chance on something that had been bothering him.

“You just did. Hah! Just kidding, put the axe away boy! Now what would you like to know?” He said with a twinkle in his eye.

“I've seen your file, well, the parts that weren’t redacted anyway. If anything, I should be taking your orders! The Space Wolf they called you, after the infamous Sea Wolf from the Napoleonic wars. Why did they seek me out to be captain when they had someone like you coming along the whole time? Why aren't you a captain anymore? By all right this should be your command, not mine.” Henry asked, as they had finally found a moment that was quiet, and it was just them around the system map. Commander Alvarez seemed stunned for a moment before he settled into a more pensive look.

“Listen, you are all full of vigor and youth, fire and aggression, such things must be balanced by wit and wisdom. You are a perfect match for the job, even if you're a bit young. You will do a fine job, if you can keep strict standards for yourself and a cool head. I got a lot of men killed in an impossible situation, and I never got over it. A career built on taking enemy ships and saving many more lives than I lost seems to me a paltry recompense. I finally found peace with that balance, but that peace required that I relieve myself of any chance of future command. My legacy for better or worse is cemented in stone. Joining this expedition gives me another chance at adjusting the scales without breaking my former vows, though the only people who will ever know it are here with us.”

“So, you claim you have no aims or desires for leadership, but here you are a mere heartbeat away from it.” Henry said, carefully studying his every reaction.

“My time for glory is mostly gone, yours is at your feet before you. To the world, I am retired in comfort and isolation. In reality you have me here to help make your will law. You can relax. I already turned down command of this expedition. I was plan A, why do you think they had to scramble to find you? I will take command of this mission only if you are incapable of doing so yourself, Sir.”

An emergency alert snapped both of their attention out of their conversation. Damage control was reporting a fire in one of the officer’s cabins. Henry’s pulse quickened as he referenced the map to find which one.

“Fuck, it started in Chantal’s room!” Henry said, horrified.

“I have the CIC; you go on ahead and get down there to make sure she’s alright! There's a notification that our firemen are suiting up now, so help is on the way!” Henry needed no additional reassurance and simply nodded before turning to head to the quick lift.

“Thank you, Commander.” Henry called back over his shoulder.

The officer cabins were the in the very next deck overhead, so he jumped off the quick lift nearly as fast as he had jumped on and continued into a sprint. The ship shifted as it dodged some antimatter, causing Henry to slip and scramble back to his feet before rounding the corner to reach Chantal’s room. Her door was closed, and smoke poured from under it. Henry thought he could hear thumps and muffled screaming. Two modified Paladin exo-combat armor suits rounded the corner seconds later with a third person in specialist BDU’s followed behind, pushing a medical cart.

One of the Paladin suits accessed the manual door control override with a wrist-mounted claw which clamped down and spun, forcing the door to open enough for the other suit to reach in and pry the door the rest of the way open. Smoke filled the corridor before the second suit charged into the room with its flood lights on and a water cannon on the right wrist sprayed flame retardant from a pack on its back. The first suit abandoned the door and entered, emerging moments later with Chantal awake and coughing from inside the darkened door frame. Chantal was gently moved to cleaner air, wrapped in a blanket, and attended to by a hospitalman who began took her vitals.

Relief flooded Henry’s mind as his adrenaline surge broke against the wall of worry he had built up during his mad dash from the CIC. He walked up to her, both of them smiling, and he took her proffered hand.

“Hi baby you came! Holy crappoly that was scary as hell! Here I was all burning the midnight oil and I smell smoke! Then there were some sparks, the outlet pops then whoosh! My computer station and my desk ablaze along with half my notes and the damned door wouldn't work! Know what’s worse?! I don't even have the ability to recover them! R emember how I lost my backup drive last week? I know I packed it and it is not here anywhere. It’s like some sick cosmic joke on me or something. Sorry! Positive. I get to rethink my last few weeks’ worth of work from scratch, almost positive! I probably have most of this recoverable from email sent box backups. Fuck, what do you do if there's no good silver lining?” Chantal delivered this speech incredibly nearly all in one breath, as if letting out a ball of anxiety all at once, before she finally re-centered herself with a deep breath.

Henry couldn’t help himself but laugh for a second, while his girlfriend stared at him, waiting for a response.

“I’m sorry, is this funny to you or something?”

“You know, sometimes there is no way to spin a bad event other than you are alive and everything will be fine after a brief period of inconvenience.”

“Fine, fine, at least I am fine. I was only breathing smoke for a few seconds after all.” She said, rolling her eyes. “Thank you for rushing down here right away anyway, it means a lot.”

Henry smiled, slightly uncomfortable for a moment, so he changed the subject.

“These electrical issues seem to be getting worse instead of better. Whatever patch these clowns have slapped on my ship to get her to pass inspection is clearly coming undone. What do you think is going on here?”

“Honestly, I can’t tell you without digging into the systems myself, which I would rather avoid. My plate is full enough as it is right now, especially having to reproduce so much of my own work now. Remember that you have an entire loyal, capable team down there in electrical, so it should only be a matter of time before they sort it out for you. Let them do their jobs without harassing them too much, please?”

Henry felt a little irked at her for not giving him credit to know not to go overboard, but he stowed it, seeing as she was right.

“The crew has been under a lot of stress, too, having technical issues with the lights going out, or losing power to workstations. More than a few times I have had people approach me to try and convince me to turn us around and return to S33 for a more in-depth refit and repair cycle before we try the mission again. So far, everyone has accepted the fact that we are not turning back now without much argument, but I fear what may happen if these issues are seen as getting worse. Our orders are clear, we must continue the journey.” Henry said, uncomfortable with the implications.

“You should get on the Q-Comm to report the fire to S33. Maybe they will order us back to base after this.” She offered, looking for a solution to an impossible problem.

“Good idea, at least the Q-Comm is still working. It’s incredible to me those particles maintained their entanglement once we passed through the baryonic barrier. That has been a huge morale boost, being able to contact home base with no time lag.”

“It’s incredible to you because you only have a basic grasp of the science. But that’s alright, very few people truly understand it. That’s in part what you have me here for anyway. Einstein called the effect spooky action from a distance; I always liked that line.”

Henry ran his fingers through his hair and looked at Chantal, shaking his head and smiling.

“Listen, Henry, I just had a crazy stressful experience and I need to unwind. Plus, I haven’t slept in almost a day, so I am bone tired. Let’s go to bed, huh? What do you say doc, am I clear to go?”

The hospitalman looking Chantal over closed her eyes and shook her head before responding. "Yes, you are cleared to rest, only to rest, do you understand me?"

Chantal mouthed a thank you before she took Henry by the hand and led him off to the captain’s quarters. Henry felt no desire to fight it, nor flaw with her reasoning. Sleep sounded good, really good. Plus, he was about an hour from the start of his sleep shift anyway, and Alvarez had the CIC well covered. The lights flickered again, but Henry very purposefully ignored it.

“Hey, since we have a little time and we are both a little wound up, Why don’t we take a shower together real quick?” She said with genuine enthusiasm and a wink.

“Madam, I like the way you think.” The couple raced just a bit faster than regulations would have liked, arriving at his door in record speed. Inside the room they fell upon each other in great passion and need, stripping each other out of their BDU’s and underclothes. Henry tossed a giggling Chantal onto the bed, kissing her neck and nibbling on her ear causing her to purr in anticipation before he moved down her chest, past her navel, and then eagerly began to move his kisses in between her thighs.

“Hah…. I haven’t showered. Are you sure? Oooookay! I think…. Hah…. Okay.” She said breathlessly as Henry began to work his tongue until she began to shiver and squirm before she cried out and melted in his mouth.

“Enough, please, I can’t take it anymore! Just fuck me already!” Chantal pulled herself together enough to beg for it. Henry stood rigid and ready and set himself to granting her request, first slowly, and with a growing intensity. She once more began to squirm as he paid close attention to her hip’s cues, knowing very well by now what she liked.

As she climaxed again, Henry lifted her from the bed and pushed her up against the wall, and then bent her over his desk for a bit before he could take it no longer and they finished together.

“Holy shit… my legs aren’t gonna work for a bit after that one. Help me up?” Chantal said in between shallow breaths.

“Yes, ma’am. It would be my pleasure.” Henry said as he helped her to her feet and into the shower, staying in until it grew cold. Henry left the steam first, once more thankful that his cabin included its own small bathroom, rather than a communal one. Being captain had its perks, after all. He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist, handing another to Chantal who gratefully accepted it before dropping it to the ground as she stared straight past him.

“Henry!" She squeaked as she pointed past him.

"What?" Henry asked, confused.

"Henry, someone was in here!”

On their bathroom mirror, wiped from the steam were the words TURN BACK.

Henry's blood ran cold and his adrenaline spiked him into overdrive. He waved Chantal back into the shower and put his finger to his lips, she nodded and wrapped herself in her retrieved towel, dropping to the shower floor, whimpering slightly. Henry moved silently along the wall, watching the visible half of his room for any movement. He then burst round the door frame, only to find everything perfectly, precisely as they had left it. The shock of finding nothing collided with the spike of his adrenaline surge, which only fed his growing unease.

“There’s nobody here!” Henry called out after checking the closet, the only other place someone could have hidden.

“Did you lock the door?” Chantal asked, her mind already working on the mystery.

“I set the security protocol to auto lock it every time it closes when I first took over the room.”

“Paul. We need to talk to Paul.” Chantal said, squeezing her BDU’s up over her hips with a few hops. Henry pulled on his undershirt before tossing over hers.

“Why would we want to bring that weasel into this?” Henry asked, incredulous at to how he could possibly help.

“Because he has access to the surveillance tapes, why else?”

Henry stared at Chantal, brimming with rage, trying his hardest to keep it isolated to Paul over the invasion of his privacy.

“Did you just say surveillance tapes!?!” Henry asked in an icy tone. “That does it, I’m going to strangle him.” Henry said, moving with a purpose toward the door.

“Stop. Turn around and give me a kiss. I already disabled the video cameras, at least all the ones I could find. He has audio at best, even that I doubt. What he does have that I want is the data from the motion sensor that he had installed just in case you found the more obvious bugs. Unfortunately, I sabotaged its effectiveness by blocking the sensor with dense foam, but there might be enough of something to give us a clue.

“How in the hell do you know about all of this anyway, and why the hell didn’t you tell me?!”

“This entire enterprise is run by an intelligence agency; how can you not have seen that one coming a mile away? I have gotten very good at catching bugs over the years. Just because I expect the invasion of privacy to be happening, doesn’t mean I have to make it easy on them.”

“You’re incredible, I love you.” Henry blurted out before he could catch himself. Chantal beamed and tackled him to the bed sitting on his lap.

“What took you so long? Never mind, don’t answer that. I love you too, I have wanted to say that one for a while now.”

“You know these things aren’t easy for me. I had to be sure, I also didn’t want to mess anything up. We need to be able to work together even if we had turned out to be a bad couple.” Henry admitted, Chantal made an show as she thought it over, but she then smiled and helped Henry to his feet.

“Alright, my captain. You speak great wisdom. I have certainly felt and thoroughly enjoyed your passion, it is really nice to hear about it too. I do think it makes it all the better that you rule said passion with reason. It’s one of the things I love about you.” She said, laying her hand over his heart.

Henry took her other hand and kissed it before replying.

“I think above all, I wanted to make sure that I didn’t take you for granted, nor the same in reverse. A wise woman once gave me some great advice there that I have taken to heart.”

“Okay, Romeo, maybe you have a better handle on these things than you think. Now… Let’s go interrogate Paul.” Chantal had a fire in her eyes that Henry was loving very much at that moment.

“I have wanted to turn the screws on that spook for a while now.” Henry smiled as he spoke, and he opened up the connection to the ship’s intranet through his neural implant to send a message.

MEET ME IN YOUR QUARTERS IN 5 MINUTES, DISCUSSION OF CRITICAL IMPORTANCE – CPT. O'TOOLE

“That ought to get him there and alone.” Henry smirked. “Let’s go.”

Together, they made their way to Paul’s equivalent-sized quarters, which he had somewhere along the line secured for himself in the design for his role as the official thorn in Henry’s paw. I guess being the captain’s handler has its perks as well. Henry’s eye twitched at the corner.

After making them wait far too long, Paul sauntered up and opened the door, gesturing them inside. The door closed behind them, and Paul turned towards them, narrowing his eyes, studying them both.

“Is this about the fire?” Paul asked before Henry punched the weasel right in the diaphragm, forcing him to gasp for air. The look of shock on his face as he bent forwards was priceless.

“What the fuck, Henry!?” Paul managed to choke out after a minute between gasps.

“Relax, I didn’t do any permanent damage, yet.” Henry said, Paul for just a second showed actual fear in his eyes before sneering defiantly. “Oh? That got your attention, did it? Why were you spying on me?” Henry growled.

Paul closed his eyes, dropped his head, and began to laugh before Henry grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the wall. Foolishly, Paul even then kept laughing. So Henry squeezed until Paul started slapping his arm, looking genuinely scared once more. That stopped the laughing.

“Orders… I was following orders!” Paul managed to say amidst gasps and coughs.

“I thought it might be something like that. You are going to open up those files, now and you are going to show me everything you have.” Henry said, dropping him to his feet at last.

“Fucking hell, Henry, I thought you of all people would have anticipated this was going to be the case. Do you think the people who made this all possible would simply let you fly around the most dangerous, advanced warship in human history without some insurance?”

“Don’t try and weasel out of your own personal culpability here. You may also want to think back to other people who were “only following orders” while performing acts they knew were wrong before you wave that around like a get out of jail free card.” The fact that he had nothing to say spoke volumes.

“You should have told me Paul.”

“That defeats the purpose! Plus, your girlfriend sabotaged them all before we ever left S33 anyway, and once more after! That type of tech doesn’t just grow on trees you know, and I don’t have an unlimited supply. You should be thanking me for covering for her and reporting back like things are normal!” Paul shouted in indignation.

“This is pointless, show me the files from around fifteen minutes ago, motion trackers, thermals, anything you have that was not sabotaged.” Henry commanded. Paul’s eyes narrowed, but after a long moment he huffed and closed his eyes. Paul then sat down at his station and fired it up.

“I have zero video, muffled audio and what I assume to be a faulty motion sensor right now, that’s it. What are we looking for?”

“Chantal and I were, well, together, and after we got out of the shower we saw that someone had written turn back in the condensation on the bathroom mirror. Only problem? My door auto locks when closed and only opens for my biometrics. That is why all of this even came up in the first place.”

“Motherfucker. That's a whole heap of bad news.” Paul said. Henry merely nodded, paying rather more attention to the screen to see if he could catch Paul not being entirely honest with the extent of the spying.

“There’s nothing. No disturbances in the air that would even remotely resemble human movement between you two getting in the shower and you charging into your bedroom. With the noise of the shower and the distance to the microphone, there is nothing I can discern that is anomalous. You can see it all right here for yourself.”

Henry was now even more confused and alarmed than before.

“How is that possible? Look again, run through some filters or something. There must be some evidence somewhere!”

“Alright, relax, I will work on this and get you a report by the end of C shift. In the meantime, you look like a mess. Get some sleep man! I can take care of it from here. Oh, and I want you to remember that I forgave you quite magnanimously for that little episode back there where you attacked me.” Henry and Chantal gave each other a look as Paul spoke.

“Wasn’t gonna apologize anyway, you had it coming. I’m going to hit the rack. I expect that report to be detailed and ready when I get up.” Henry took Chantal by the hand, and they left together, not waiting for a response.

“What a snake. Did you see him in there? Zero guilt or recognition whatsoever about spying like that. It just makes my skin crawl. Gives me bad memories.” Chantal said, turning pensive and quiet.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Henry asked, seeing that there was something clearly bothering her.

“I… had an uncle that lived with us from time to time and he would spy on me when I was dressing, try and sneak looks in the shower, stuff like that. Never touched me or anyone else that I know of, thank god, but man did it screw me up a bit still. Played havoc with my sense of security and even my sanity, never being quite sure it was real. I wish I had said something, but I was afraid everyone would think I was overreacting or imagining it. I saw it in his eyes though, that look of predatory lust. To this day it makes my skin crawl.”

“God I can see how alone you must have felt in the middle of all that.” He squeezed her hand, she smiled up at him.

“Yeah, that was one of the hardest parts. I don’t think Paul is some raging pervert or anything, but it concerns me how normal it was to him. Even if he isn’t being a creep with it, as if we can take his claims to be covering for me at face value. There is still no way I am going to let him have easy access to intimate videos of us, if I can possibly help it.” Chantal said before adding, “I’ll be all right, don’t worry about me. Let’s get some sleep.”

Henry put his palm against the biometric scanner outside his room and the door slid open for them. They definitely needed some sleep after the emotional roller coaster of the past few hours, and the irresistible warm embrace of his bed called for him. The Q-Comm report could wait until he woke, he decided. Better to have the electrical inspection done too.

I WANT A FULL REPORT AND INSPECTION PERFORMED ON THE ELECTRICAL FIRE IN CHANTAL’S ROOM BY THE START OF A SHIFT. – CAPT. O'TOOLE

Good enough. Henry thought as he sent the message. Now he could sleep. The chief would handle it.

SEVERAL HOURS LATER…

DATE POINT: MARCH 10th, 7 A.U.

LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, ABOARD UTRN INDOMITABLE WILL

FIREMAN APPRENTICE SARAH CALLAHAN

It would be back again tonight, Sarah’s haunted thoughts repeated like a mantra. She had to be ready, but how? Her skin crawled and itched, the long sleeves of her BDU’s prevented her from being able to do anything about the painful sensation from the unexplained inflamed scratches they hid. She blearily rubbed at her sunken eyes, and she drained the rest of her coffee. All the numbers on the screen had started bleeding in together and her eyes hurt horribly, with the throbbing pain in her abdomen only compounding her misery.

“My god, Sarah, you look a wreck, hon. How have you been sleeping?” Yvonne, her shift partner asked, with concern in her voice.

“I have a monster tension headache, if the meds are going to kick in, I hope it’s soon. Can you check my math? I need to get out of these white lights for a few minutes. Close my eyes for a bit, something, anything. You know I have been having those nightmares again.” Sarah felt good, being able to admit it, and Yvonne had long since proven her friendship, so it was easier to actually speak.

“Yeah, no prob. As soon as I am done here I will check your readings and we can get out of here. Do you mean nightmares from the invasion?” Yvonne asked, carefully picking her words and tone.

“Kind of the same general themes, but different. Everything is going wrong, like the worst possible outcomes of my worst nightmares are all combining together. Like, it feels malicious, I don't know, its hard to explain.” Sarah said, bleakly.

“That’s hard, I am sorry. You need a shower, and an uninterrupted nap. Sleep deprivation plays all kinds of hell on the body and mind. I had a friend who went through an insomniac phase so extreme he would go days without sleeping. Wound up in the hospital after trying to drive to work and hallucinating his dead fiancée was sitting in the passenger seat screaming at him to watch out. Wound up rear-ending the car in front of him. Thank God he lived to tell the tale, but that is why it worries me to see you like this.” Yvonne planted her hand on Sarah’s shoulder as she told the story.

“Yikes, I think I slept like two hours into my sleep shift before I started having the nightmares again, waking up, and passing back into restless sleep. It got really bad around oh three hundred. There were sounds and noises like scratching and a loud bang. I just kept feeling like I was being watched, but everyone else seemed to be having disturbed sleep in their bunks. God, it was a creepy feeling.” Sarah took a moment to compose herself.

“I know how crazy this will sound, maybe that I am sleep deprived and likely hallucinating like your friend, but just hear me out. There was something there Yvonne, in the dark at the edge of perception, I could feel it. I also know I wasn’t the only one tossing and turning either. I could also hear scratchy whispering, too. I just hid, strapped in under the weighted blanket. At some point I slept some more, I must have, but not for what felt like a few stressful and emotionally draining hours. I'm just making a total mess of explaining this, aren’t I?”

“No, you're fine, girl! I am sorry that happened, my dorm has been pretty quiet, but I have always slept like a rock. Is there anything I can do?”

“I could use a hug.” Sarah said, which caused Yvonne to laugh, breaking some of the tension. They embraced warmly for a good minute, which did wonders for relieving some of the headache and her black mood.

“Thanks, Yvonne, I know it’s all in my head and it’s a vicious feedback cycle due to lack of quality sleep. Thanks for listening without calling me crazy.“ Sarah said, shying away from the last thing she hadn’t the courage to say.

She didn’t dare mention how she had hidden under the covers as she felt it get near. How she had felt something pushing on the mattress. How as her fear peaked, she herself peeked over the covers to find nothing there just to have the oppressive feeling evaporate along with the sensation of pressure by her feet. Her dorm mates all seemed to stop stirring after that, and only then did the nightmares stop for her that night. By then she was left with barely enough time for one last short sleep cycle before the start of A shift that very morning. This was a secret she would have to keep to herself, nobody would believe her anyway.

“I think I will ask the Chief for a break from my duties today to rest and to visit med bay. Maybe they can give me something to help catch back up on quality sleep.” Sarah said.

“Good idea, can I come with you? I’ll back you up.” Yvonne said. Sarah smiled at her friend before she nodded at her before they checked off the last of their duties on site and headed away to find the Chief.