The Girl in the Tank: Galactic Consortium, Season 1

Episode Three: Spiders and Clackers, Ch. 2

Fox's first morning with the Consortium security had been an unmitigated disaster, in his own opinion. Chief Master of Arms James Sutton, Fox's immediate superior officer, had been shocked to find him reporting for duty. "Shouldn't you be on medical leave or something?" he'd asked.

Fox had been tempted to turn around and return to his bunk. He would have except that he knew from the talk they'd had last night, that Captain Lannister very much wanted Fox on duty.

The head of Corelean's small security department was Chief Bankim, a broad, dark haired man. He and Sutton had started by having a long awkward moment while they attempted to sort out each other's salute. Eventually Sutton managed a passable Consortium salute and they set to the meeting.

There were nine people assembled. Fox, Sutton, Crestor and Haroldson from the Cambridge, all men. The Consortium's crew included Bankim, Harish, Shania, Sukira and Nara; three men and two women. Or at least, Fox thought so; Sukira was tall, slender, graceful and androgynous. They were broad and had a deep voice, like a man, but moved like a woman. He tentatively put them in the female category.

It was clear from the way Bankim emphasized that "their respective captains" had decided on joint security, that Bankim himself did not approve. After a short speech that did not mention any sort of welcome, he stated that they should get to work. And stopped.

After a painful long pause, one that made it quite clear that neither Bankim or Sutton had any clue what working together actually meant in this situation, Nara had suggested they go over some expectations and protocols.

Sutton had warmed up once they got going. He explained the role of Master at Arms, the navy's version of military police. While Sutton was a little too by the book for Fox's taste, he had to admit the man was good at explaining said book.

When it came to the Consortium, it was Sukira rather than Bankim that led the conversation. The Corelean was attached to the base ship. Her flight crew was military and so was the security personnel. The rest of the crew were civilian contractors. While it put them in an odd position from the point of view of security, it was not that uncommon. The healers answered first and foremost to their own chain of command, both on ship and off. The crew answered to the Captain while on duty, but were considered free citizens in their off hours. It meant that each crew person and each situation was unique and which law applied could vary. Sukira alone of the security crew, had a background in civilian law enforcement and they were regarded as the expert when dealing with minor crew infractions.

Overall, the Corelean was something of a cushy job, or so it seemed to Fox. The healers, the flight crew and the tech crew were all professionals. They were not prone to causing trouble and when they did the threat of a professional discipline on their records was usually enough to make them tow the line. That left eighty some civilian crew, mostly under the quartermaster's command. In the months before the Americans had come onboard, there had been only a handful of incidents that required security's involvement.

After lunch one of the data engineers had come to speak to them. That, too, had been Nara's suggestion and Fox found Nara a welcome addition to the crew.

The engineer's name was Su-nin. They appeared to be male but wore a long blue dress.

"Are you a boy or a girl?" Haroldson had practically demanded, causing Fox to groan inwardly.

Su-nin raised an eyebrow as though they felt the question obvious and impertinent.

"She is galatura," Bankim snapped. "Obviously."

Fox would later ask Nara, more politely, to explain the term galatura. They were, she said, people who were biologically male but identified as women. When Fox offered the word transgender, she assured him that translated differently.