Man To Man
Posted on Wed Sep 2nd, 2015 @ 3:31pm by Marine Captain Quentin Harrison & 2nd Lieutenant Jordan Holbridge
Mission:
Further Challenges
Location: The Nexus Club
The Nexus Club had a normal crowd for week's end, which meant the place was full. Jordan Holbridge, dressed in his finest civilian attire, looked around the club as he entered. His father and mother had taught the boy to be careful of his surroundings and to look before he leaped. Out of habit, JD gave the bar a cursory scan, noting the pickpockets, hookers, and various con artists trying to cling to their flimsy veneers of civility. JD figured if anybody got really jazzy with him, Jackson Banning would toss them out on their asses.
JD bellied up to the bar and flagged the attention of a pretty Orion hostess. "What can I get you, cutie?" she asked with a coy smile.
"A stardrifter with extra juice, please."
"Are you old enough to be drinking in here, child?" the Orion asked, eying him suspiciously.
"I have been twenty-three for six months, ma'am I am also a senior cadet at the Academy, home on emergency furlough."
"Davina, that's Jimmy Holbridge's boy. Give him what he wants!" a rough, Scottish voice said from across the bar.
"One stardrifter with extra juice coming up!"
JD turned to see the form of Quentin Harrison lumbering towards where he was standing. The boy closed his eyes as the big man arrived and clapped him on the back. "JD, me lad! It's does me old heart good to see the scion of me pal in this place! Out for a night o' fun, are ye?" the big Scot greeted him boisterously.
"Hello, Uncle Quentin!" JD sighed.
"Ye dinnae seem happy to see me at all. If I didn't know any better I would say that ye are a tad bit peeved at your Uncle Q."
"It's not that, I'm just really missing my mom right now." JD sighed as the drink order was placed in front of him.
"Yer momma was a good friend, lad. The best momma I saw to her cubs, Twas not a thing in the universe she feared when she was protecting the two of you from harm. I never saw such love and dedication, even from me own mother and father. They were happy to be rid of me as soon as they could. But, I think I turned out just fine if I do say so meself." Quentin swilled another gulp of ale from the mug he was carrying, letting loose a giant belch as he finished. "That puts heart into a man! Barkeep, another round if ye please, and bring me nephew one, too!"
JD smiled at his uncle's antics. Harrison was a pure Scot from the Highlands, and more than once he had worn a kilt when in the Berkeley's security department just to get a rise out of then Lt Zeferino. The big man was a big kid and enjoyed his life, making a few enemies but having no regrets. "Unc, I talked with Captain Franklin today."
"What about?"
"I don't want to be a flier like Dad was. I wanna be one of the troopers on the ground with a weapon in my hand, shooting the bad guys." JD finished. "I never got a chance to be in the War and here in the Delta Quadrant things are a lot more dangerous, and I can help."
Quentin put down his mug and regarded the youth with a raised eyebrow. "Ready, are ye? Son, life out here is no bloody bed o' roses! We are on our own out here and this space station is all we have for presence until your da' gets his builders of their collective arses and make them produce the ships we need in a hurry. Granted we have a few hundred Marines, but there are literally billions of people in this Quadrant alone that we dinnae know are hostile towards us or not. Your daddy's company of security men are constantly engaged in some sort of firefight or combat engagement. It's not a safe job ye will be finding out here, laddie."
"I have part of my last semester to complete and then I can choose my specialty. I wanna be a ground-pounder, sir."
"That's insane, boy! I have seen ye in the simulators and ye have yer father's eye and touch in the cockpit. Yer an able soldier, but a better pilot, sure!"
"My father is a fighter pilot, and look where it got him."
Quentin leaned over to look at the boy. "I'm drunk as a Irish whoremaster because we buried two Marines today, brother and sister. Their mom and da' are in the next room wailing like banshees because I dinnae keep 'em alive. Whether yer a flier or ground puke, the burden o' command will be a hard one to bear. Yer da' is o'erloaded at the moment, but when his mind clears he's gonna be just fine. In the meantime, I dinnae think he'd want ye wasting yer time as a grunt leader."
JD nodded, seeing his drunken uncle's point. "You're right, Uncle Quentin."
"Good! Now that I've convinced ye, let's go get shitfaced in Marine style!"
Cadet Senior Grade JD Holbridge
&
LT Quentin Harrison
