The Girl in the Tank: Galactic Consortium, Season 1

Episode Eight: Escape to Shin ch. 8

It was six pm, just after supper, when Lannister called on the slate. Dan did a quick bit of mental math as he answered and guessed it around 4 pm there.

Lannister was still in his uniform but he was in his own apartment, sitting at the couch with his feet up, so he must have been off duty. "Oleson," he greeted Dan.

"Sir?"

Lannister waved his hand. "I'm off duty, Oleson. And not your captain anymore. This is strictly a social call."

A social call?

Lannister must have sensed the question. "I know, it's kind of out of character. What can I say? Maybe it's the new job. You know these Consortium types, casual. Maybe it's because this feels more like a civilian job than a military command. Heck, most of my crew whatever that word means up here, are civilians..." he broke off. "Damn it, I miss you guys. Walker, you, the whole crew really."

"Lannister, it's okay," Dan said. "I know. I miss everyone, too. It was such a unique situation, you know."

The stared at each other for some time, not sure what to say. Neither had been very social with the other.

"So how is the Station? Everything you hoped for in a command?"

"Well someone tried to blow the station up the first day," Lannister said lightly.

"What?" Dan spluttered.

Lannister waved it off. "We kept it out of the press. Just a... misunderstanding might not be the word, but they weren't really trying to blow up the station."

"That leaves me more confused than before."

Lannister chuckled. "Just between you and I, they were making meth."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"Explosive, yes. Especially in the confined quarters of a space station. Luckily the data grid picked up the chemical traces. Now that data knows what that particular combination of chemicals means, we've been able to catch a number of other petty criminals before they got as far. And we've been able to educate a few other not so bright people on why trying such a thing is a bad idea."

"Sounds like a lot of excitement. Are there lots of problems?" Dan commented.

"Not as much as it sounds. The Shoshone collective has added some five, I think we passed six thousand today, to the stations permanent population. Of them, a handful have past legal problems. Most are eager to start over with legitimate jobs. But sometimes old habits die hard."

"Are all the problems coming from the Shoshone collective?"

Lannister shrugged. "Rest of the station is a ghost town. We've about two and half thousand consortium crew and civilians. Six thousand in Shoshone Collective. Barely a handful regular Americans. State Department hasn't finalized travel visas or passport restrictions for the consortium. Kismet was joking this morning that our new motto should be, "Once you come to Shoshone, god only knows if they'll let you back."

Dan snorted.

"So how's the navy treating you?" Lannister asked.

Fine stuck in Dan's throat. Minnesota nice, they called it back home. Fine, Good, Okay, all those words that you said to be nice when you couldn't be honest. "Umm, it's been a rough transition, you know. Like you said, that was a unique situation. Hard to know how to pick up after something like that. And..."

"Let me guess, Madsen's theory?"

Dan startled. He wasn't aware that Lannister had heard it. He nodded.