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The Thief and the Commander : 03
Chapter 03: Secrets
Robin Grey woke with a start at the sound of small explosion somewhere above his head. He jumped up from the sofa he had been sleeping on and quickly drew his own weapon only to find that it was trained on Beatriu David, who was grinning at him with devilish glee.
"Fucking shit!" He glared angrily at her then turned back to glance at the smoking scorch mark on the wall above his impromptu bed. "What the fuck?"
"Wakey, wakey, Grey," she said.
"You always did like to make an entrance," he muttered. He ran his hands over his hair then over his short beard and resisted the urge to yawn.
Beatriu opened her mouth as if to form a reprimand, but he held up one hand and marched over to his office door. Once there he waved his hand over the sensor and it slid open. He found his squadron standing in the middle of the room, lined up at attention, and ready to jump. Axel stood on one side of the door with his back to the wall and his weapon in hand, ready to burst in. Rasa was on the opposite side prepared to cover him.
"You two." He pointed at Rasa and Axel. "Good work. If they weren't on the ball the rest of you would be dead right now. Why are you standing out in the open?"
Seth's mouth popped open, but before he could speak, Robin preemptively shouted at him.
"That was a rhetorical question, Recruit! If this were a test, you would fail. Now go back to work."
Robin spun around and marched back into the office where Beatriu had made herself a home behind his desk.
"Your squadron is out of control," she said.
"Says the woman who wakens people by shooting at them." Robin laughed and flung himself down in his visitor's chair. "What are you doing here Beatriu?"
"I've been assigned to your case," she replied.
He rolled his eyes to the ceiling and laughed again. "This organization is insane. They are aware of our history, correct?"
"Of course," she said. "We joined together. It was discussed, and it was decided that I would be the best candidate for the job because of that very fact. I know you, Robin. You're a good man. Your father was a good man, and you've earned a lot of good will with your performance despite your indiscretion."
"He's a giant indiscretion," Robin muttered as he glanced down at his hand, unable to meet Beatriu's eyes.
"I saw you together. You loved him," she said. "We can never predict that or its effects on us. We're at it's mercy. Look. I get it. Love made you stupid: monumentally stupid beyond all comprehension of the word. Luckily we're short on training commanders, and the High Commander has a soft spot for you. Though maybe it's a soft spot for the GU Council. If they pull out of peace talks with Dysprosia because their favorite son has been dishonorably discharged..."
"That's not fair," Robin grumbled. "They should discharge me if I'm such a disgrace."
"You could always quit," she offered.
"No," he said.
"Still, that would look bad. Your father was a time honored man..."
"Beatriu," he snapped. "You know I don't involve myself in politics. I can't help where I come from."
"Regardless." She shook her head slowly. "You know it matters. Your mothers have power, so this isn't a disciplinary action. I'm here to monitor you and and your squadron while you're on probation. I will only be observing. Trust me. If you have been untoward in any way and I find out about it, do not expect any special treatment. You will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
"I understand," Robin said. "I was truthful in everything I told the High Commander."
"I expect that you were after what happened before," she replied with a short nod.
"Exactly." He touched his chest, briefly feeling the diamond ring that lay there on its chain. It was the last thing Feliu had given him. Despite knowing that it was stolen and that he should have turned it in, he somehow found that he couldn't bring himself to do it. There was only one person who even knew it had ever existed.
"Now." Beatriu consulted an official looking clip board that she had pulled from her belt. "I will want to speak to this recruit, Ehrenfried Behrendt."
"Can't we leave him out of this?" Robin said.
"From my notes it appears that we cannot," she replied and set the board aside. "Please, don't make this hard, Robin. I have to speak to all parties involved."
"Very well," Robin said and reluctantly stood. "I'll get him. You don't have to come with me, do you?"
"I'm not your warden, Grey," Beatriu said.
He smiled at her in a defeated manner and exited the room. Axel was still waiting beside his door, tense and wary, with his hand wavering over his holster.
"I told you to go back to work," Robin said.
"Sorry, Sir." Axel snapped to attention. "Is everything, alright, Sir?"
"Yes," he replied. "It was an accident."
He glanced around the small room and his eyes came to rest on Ehren's empty desk.
"Where's Behrendt?" He turned back to Axel who suddenly looked somewhat stricken.
"He is ahh..."
"Well?"
"He is confined to quarters under your orders, Sir. Have you forgotten?"
Robin cursed under his breath.
"Yes, fine. I'll go get him," he said. "Please go back to work, Axel. I promise there is no danger."
Axel saluted then scurried away back to his desk.
Robin marched towards the dormitories, muttering to himself as he went. He found the door to Ehren's room and entered without knocking. There he found the recruit face down in his pillows.
"Ehren!" Robin shouted.
Ehren stirred and slowly turned his head to face the offending sound of his commander's voice. He opened his bleary eyes and squinted against the harsh light of the overhead lamps that Robin had flicked on.
"What?" Ehren muttered; the sound of his voice amplified in his pounding head.
"This day," Robin growled to himself and stalked to the bed. He grabbed Ehren by the shoulders and hauled him into a seated position. He barely managed to stay upright as Robin squatted down to look him in the eye.
"Are you drunk, recruit?"
"No," Ehren replied. He frowned and tried to swallow, but his entire mouth felt fuzzy. "Not anymore."
Robin stood up and began pacing manically around the room, stroking his beard as he did so.
"What the fuck am I going to do with you?" Robin grumbled. "You have become the single biggest pain in my ass in the span of a day's time."
"Just turn me in and send me home," Ehren muttered. He curled back up in bed and yawned. "I know I'm a tiny little Earthian failure, so why don't you put us both out of our misery?"
Robin paused in the middle of the room and stared incredulously at Ehren.
"You think you're a failure? You're not the failure in this room. Just get up and get dressed. You have a meeting with IDS. No time for showers. You'll have to do it as you are. Meet me in the mess in five minutes."
"IDS?" Ehren sat up in alarm causing the room to spin wildly around him. "Oh, god. I'm dying!" He covered his mouth with his hand, heaved, but managed to choke down the wave of nausea.
"You'll be fine," Robin said. "Mess in five."
Robin departed as quickly as he had come.
Approximately five minutes later Ehren stumbled his way into the mess hall and found Robin seated at table waiting for him with a steaming cup of hot liquid and a pitcher in front of him.
"What is this?" Ehren asked.
"It's Carveer tea," Robin replied. "Best hangover cure in the galaxies."
Ehren sniffed at it and took a dubious sip.
"This...is good," he said; his voice tinged with surprise. He took a bigger sip. "Aren't hangover 'cures' supposed to be the most awful tasting things a person can think of?"
Robin smirked. "You Earthians and your wildly inaccurate assumptions."
"Why isn't this stuff everywhere?" Ehren was quickly regaining his enthusiasm as he finished his cup and poured another one.
"Well, it's extremely rare and expensive, and this is my personal stash," Robin replied. "I should probably let you suffer, but I need you coherent for this meeting."
"Why does IDS want to interview me?" Ehren asked after he'd consumed another cup of tea. He didn't think it was possible to feel so refreshed in such a short amount of time, but his head had stopped pounding completely. He felt better than he usually did on a normal day.
"I'm on probation. They want the story from the witness."
"So, that's why I'm here?" Ehren said. "You want to get our stories straight?"
"Absolutely not, Ehren." Robin shook his head. "You tell it as it happened."
"Ehrenfried is my name," he replied.
Robin shrugged.
"So. I tell them everything?" Ehren said.
"Whatever you see fit to tell," Robin replied. "It's your call. I'm not going to make you do anything."
"Oh." Ehren paused to think it over. "Okay."
He finished off the tea and wandered over to the icebox. He returned with a small round fruit with reddish skin.
"Want some?"
He offered the plear to Robin, who shook his head.
"We have to go. I left her waiting. You can eat that thing on the way."
They marched back to the squadron room, and Robin was almost surprised to see his crew diligently working at their stations. Beatriu was dutifully annoyed that it had taken them so long to arrive.
"Where have you been?"
"Apologies, Ma'am," Robin replied. "Recruit Behrendt was under orders elsewhere in the building."
She eyed him dubiously but didn't question him any further.
"You are dismissed, Commander Grey," she said.
Robin snapped his heels together, saluted, and strode from the room, leaving Ehren alone with the IDS officer.
"Please, have a seat, Behrendt."
She gestured towards a chair and Ehren sat down in it. His posture was rigid, but he couldn't hide the nervousness in his eyes.
"Relax, recruit. You're not in any trouble. I just have a few questions for you." She smiled at him, and he felt somewhat more at ease.
He told her the story of how he had been allowed to tag along to the Diamond Sector in Quadrant 4 with Robin in order to arrest Feliu Veirnes. He told her of how they had walked him from the teleportation room on I-GAS headquarters to the transport that was to take them to the detention facility. He told her how Feliu had lifted a Time Travel Device from his pocket without him noticing.
"So, you see, Ma'am," he said as his story came to completion. "None of this was Robin's fault. He was determined to bring this man to justice in this instance. I don't really know what he's done before, but he was completely on task in this case."
Beatriu was surprised to hear Ehren speak the final few sentences of his story in perfect Utopian. It was a strange thing to hear the words of her native language spoken in a distinctly Earthian accent, and she couldn't help but smile at him.
"Impressive, Behrendt." She nodded appreciatively at him. "Is that for my benefit? Trying to impress me?"
"Yes, absolutely, Ma'am," Ehren replied. "I just want you to know that everything was done by the book. Robin is not to fault. He was in the right, and it was entirely my rookie mistake. There aren't expressive enough words in the Intergalactic Standard we use here in I-GAS."
"How many languages do you speak?"
Ehren paused a moment to count silently in his head.
"Eleven," he replied. "Not counting standard dialect shifts across time."
"That is impressive," Beatriu said.
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Well, I thank you for your time. I do believe your squadron is scheduled for a training exercise this afternoon." She stood up and saluted. He followed suit and was dismissed.
It was one long afternoon and one disastrous training exercise later that Ehren finally managed to get Robin alone. He waited at his desk until his peers had left for the mess hall, and Beatriu and Robin were the only people remaining.
"Don't you have any of that wretched plear stew that you created last week to go and eat?" Robin asked him as he passed his desk.
"No, Sir," Ehren replied. He rose from his seat and stood at attention; his eyes shifted slightly towards Beatriu then back to Robin, who understood the intent of the gaze immediately.
"I'll catch you up, Lieutenant-Commander," he said.
"Alright." She reluctantly acquiesced to his suggestion and marched away.
Ehren instantly melted back into his chair without being dismissed.
"Did I say you could sit down?" Robin barked at him.
"No, sir." Ehren shot back up and resumed a stiff standing position.
Robin regarded him curiously, somewhat taken aback by his display of obedience while they were in private.
"So you're listening to me now?"
"Yes, Sir," Ehren replied.
"Why?"
"It's less complicated, Sir," Ehren said. He was hoping that somehow, if he could keep his mouth shut and his head down, maybe things would go back to normal and he could get back on track towards his ultimate goal of becoming a Time Detective.
"Well, stop it," Robin muttered. "It's... Now it's strange."
Ehren didn't reply. He remained rigid; his eyes staring straight ahead at a spot on the opposite wall.
Robin sighed. "At ease, recruit. We don't train mindless zombies here. You know you have permission to speak freely."
"I didn't tell her." Ehren blurted out a confession.
"What? That you were drunk on a dry planet?"
Ehren frowned at him. "No, I didn't tell her I was drunk and you cured me with your magic tea."
"It's not magic," Robin said. "There's a scientific explanation. The Oxygen and Hydrogen atoms bind to..."
"Shut-Up. I don't care about the Oxygen atoms," Ehren interrupted him.
"Okay." Robin glared at him. "Don't speak that freely. I am your commander, and I expect at least a modicum of respect beyond the formal gestures."
"Sorry. Sorry. I'm just... I can't fail at this, Sir. I just can't," he said. "I'm the first person in my family to live and work off planet. Why do you think I learned all those languages?"
"So, it wasn't because you were bored and your people trade in degrees like currency?"
Ehren snorted laughter and smiled brightly at him. It was the first time Robin had ever seen him really smile, and he couldn't help but notice that he had a single dimple near the right corner of his mouth when he did. He shook his head as if to rid himself of the thought.
"Who's making assumptions now?" Ehren giggled softly. "Look. I don't know why I'm telling you this, but my parents worked really hard to get me through school so I could get out here. It's not easy in the desert."
Robin paused for a moment, remembering vaguely the things he had learned about Earth throughout the years.
"But you live in cities, don't you? Your foodstuff is grown in agro-labs..." He paused for a moment as another bit of Earthian information floated to the top of his brain.
"OH," he said as he came to a realization.
"Right," Ehren murmured. He glanced down at his feet, suddenly feeling a fierce shame he hadn't managed to feel since he'd left his home planet. "We couldn't afford the city. We were okay, though. We weren't nomads, or tent people, but we lived in the wooden towns. I don't think you can quite understand how much the Modular and City people look down on you for that. It was hard, but we were happy. My parents wanted better for me, so they scraped and saved and what it amounted to was basically nothing. I have a useless degree which got me nowhere, and that's why I joined up. I had to get out somehow."
"Maybe I can do something about that." Robin mused while scratching thoughtfully at his facial hair.
"Huh?"
"I know you have trouble out in the field," Robin voiced out loud, and Ehren immediately became defensive before he could finish his thought.
"I'm going to be in the field," Ehren insisted. "I didn't travel billions of light years away from home so I could sit in this gray building and translate shit all day long. I know you'd have me behind a desk for the rest of my life, but I know I can do it."
"You're at a disadvantage," Robin said. "You know you are."
Ehren looked down at his scrawny frame and sighed.
"I know," he said.
"We aren't stupid here though," Robin said. "Everybody knows you have good ideas out there, and your mastery of intergalactic languages is like... Beatriu told me. Eleven languages? Really? Are you a fuckin' android?"
Ehren chuckled. "Perhaps. I speak eleven fluently, but I can understand much more. I have a bit of trouble with some specific pronunciation, especially if I've never heard the words spoken. Vocabulary is similar in some languages, but grammar rules..."
"Time for you to shut-up about grammar rules," Robin interrupted with a smile of his own. "Look. I think you would do well with a bit of extra training to become a communications officer. You would still be out in the field. You would get a bump in rank and pay grade."
"Officer training?" Ehren said. "I'd need a sponsor."
"I'm willing to do that," Robin replied.
"But you're on probation. Can you?"
Robin shrugged. "You may not believe it but I still have weight I can throw around if need be. You're too smart to let go to waste. You've proven that much. Say you'll give it a try?"
Ehren paused to consider the proposition.
"A bump in rank you say?"
Robin nodded.
"They'll be required to do what I order?"
"Within reason." Robin said. "I mean, you won't be a mission leader or anything. Not unless every other officer on the field has perished and all you're left with is recruits. You'll be monitoring communications. Translating. That sort of thing, but in the field. It's important when dealing with all the races of the galaxies; the difference between a surrender and a threat. We need people who can understand without a machine. Machines are all well and good, but the nuance of language... Still can't translate that."
"Okay." Ehren nodded slowly. "I will outrank Seth though?"
Robin chuckled. "Yeah. You will."
"Good." He grinned impishly up at Robin.
"Great." Robin nodded with finality. "Now let's go get something to eat. I'm starving!"
He turned to exit the room, but Ehren called after him.
"I have to tell you one more thing before you go," he said.
"Yeah?" Robin glanced backwards. Ehren was looking nervous again.
"Thanks for the...uh...sponsorship and everything, but I may not be around too much longer, depending on what you told that woman from IDS."
"Oh, no." Robin turned fully back towards the recruit and frowned. "You didn't lie, did you?"
"No." Ehren shook his head vigorously. "I just... I didn't mention the ring. If you did... If you turned it in, I'm probably going to be in really deep shit."
Robin sighed. "What am I going to do with you?"
"Did you?" Ehren's features took on a distressed expression. "Did I fuck up again?"
"I didn't mention it either," Robin admitted softly, feeling somewhat ashamed of his weakness for Feliu.
"The way I figure...it's not in the records reported as stolen. Not in the past," Ehren said. "If it were stolen in the future then they would have sent a detective backwards already, right?"
"Perhaps," Robin said.
They sat in silence for a moment.
"Why didn't you turn me in for keeping it?" Robin asked.
"You said to tell them whatever I see fit, right?" Ehren said.
Robin nodded slowly.
"Well," Ehren said, "I didn't think it was relevant."
An awkward silence followed once again until Robin finally broke it with a barely whispered "Thank You."
Previous || Next
Robin Grey woke with a start at the sound of small explosion somewhere above his head. He jumped up from the sofa he had been sleeping on and quickly drew his own weapon only to find that it was trained on Beatriu David, who was grinning at him with devilish glee.
"Fucking shit!" He glared angrily at her then turned back to glance at the smoking scorch mark on the wall above his impromptu bed. "What the fuck?"
"Wakey, wakey, Grey," she said.
"You always did like to make an entrance," he muttered. He ran his hands over his hair then over his short beard and resisted the urge to yawn.
Beatriu opened her mouth as if to form a reprimand, but he held up one hand and marched over to his office door. Once there he waved his hand over the sensor and it slid open. He found his squadron standing in the middle of the room, lined up at attention, and ready to jump. Axel stood on one side of the door with his back to the wall and his weapon in hand, ready to burst in. Rasa was on the opposite side prepared to cover him.
"You two." He pointed at Rasa and Axel. "Good work. If they weren't on the ball the rest of you would be dead right now. Why are you standing out in the open?"
Seth's mouth popped open, but before he could speak, Robin preemptively shouted at him.
"That was a rhetorical question, Recruit! If this were a test, you would fail. Now go back to work."
Robin spun around and marched back into the office where Beatriu had made herself a home behind his desk.
"Your squadron is out of control," she said.
"Says the woman who wakens people by shooting at them." Robin laughed and flung himself down in his visitor's chair. "What are you doing here Beatriu?"
"I've been assigned to your case," she replied.
He rolled his eyes to the ceiling and laughed again. "This organization is insane. They are aware of our history, correct?"
"Of course," she said. "We joined together. It was discussed, and it was decided that I would be the best candidate for the job because of that very fact. I know you, Robin. You're a good man. Your father was a good man, and you've earned a lot of good will with your performance despite your indiscretion."
"He's a giant indiscretion," Robin muttered as he glanced down at his hand, unable to meet Beatriu's eyes.
"I saw you together. You loved him," she said. "We can never predict that or its effects on us. We're at it's mercy. Look. I get it. Love made you stupid: monumentally stupid beyond all comprehension of the word. Luckily we're short on training commanders, and the High Commander has a soft spot for you. Though maybe it's a soft spot for the GU Council. If they pull out of peace talks with Dysprosia because their favorite son has been dishonorably discharged..."
"That's not fair," Robin grumbled. "They should discharge me if I'm such a disgrace."
"You could always quit," she offered.
"No," he said.
"Still, that would look bad. Your father was a time honored man..."
"Beatriu," he snapped. "You know I don't involve myself in politics. I can't help where I come from."
"Regardless." She shook her head slowly. "You know it matters. Your mothers have power, so this isn't a disciplinary action. I'm here to monitor you and and your squadron while you're on probation. I will only be observing. Trust me. If you have been untoward in any way and I find out about it, do not expect any special treatment. You will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
"I understand," Robin said. "I was truthful in everything I told the High Commander."
"I expect that you were after what happened before," she replied with a short nod.
"Exactly." He touched his chest, briefly feeling the diamond ring that lay there on its chain. It was the last thing Feliu had given him. Despite knowing that it was stolen and that he should have turned it in, he somehow found that he couldn't bring himself to do it. There was only one person who even knew it had ever existed.
"Now." Beatriu consulted an official looking clip board that she had pulled from her belt. "I will want to speak to this recruit, Ehrenfried Behrendt."
"Can't we leave him out of this?" Robin said.
"From my notes it appears that we cannot," she replied and set the board aside. "Please, don't make this hard, Robin. I have to speak to all parties involved."
"Very well," Robin said and reluctantly stood. "I'll get him. You don't have to come with me, do you?"
"I'm not your warden, Grey," Beatriu said.
He smiled at her in a defeated manner and exited the room. Axel was still waiting beside his door, tense and wary, with his hand wavering over his holster.
"I told you to go back to work," Robin said.
"Sorry, Sir." Axel snapped to attention. "Is everything, alright, Sir?"
"Yes," he replied. "It was an accident."
He glanced around the small room and his eyes came to rest on Ehren's empty desk.
"Where's Behrendt?" He turned back to Axel who suddenly looked somewhat stricken.
"He is ahh..."
"Well?"
"He is confined to quarters under your orders, Sir. Have you forgotten?"
Robin cursed under his breath.
"Yes, fine. I'll go get him," he said. "Please go back to work, Axel. I promise there is no danger."
Axel saluted then scurried away back to his desk.
Robin marched towards the dormitories, muttering to himself as he went. He found the door to Ehren's room and entered without knocking. There he found the recruit face down in his pillows.
"Ehren!" Robin shouted.
Ehren stirred and slowly turned his head to face the offending sound of his commander's voice. He opened his bleary eyes and squinted against the harsh light of the overhead lamps that Robin had flicked on.
"What?" Ehren muttered; the sound of his voice amplified in his pounding head.
"This day," Robin growled to himself and stalked to the bed. He grabbed Ehren by the shoulders and hauled him into a seated position. He barely managed to stay upright as Robin squatted down to look him in the eye.
"Are you drunk, recruit?"
"No," Ehren replied. He frowned and tried to swallow, but his entire mouth felt fuzzy. "Not anymore."
Robin stood up and began pacing manically around the room, stroking his beard as he did so.
"What the fuck am I going to do with you?" Robin grumbled. "You have become the single biggest pain in my ass in the span of a day's time."
"Just turn me in and send me home," Ehren muttered. He curled back up in bed and yawned. "I know I'm a tiny little Earthian failure, so why don't you put us both out of our misery?"
Robin paused in the middle of the room and stared incredulously at Ehren.
"You think you're a failure? You're not the failure in this room. Just get up and get dressed. You have a meeting with IDS. No time for showers. You'll have to do it as you are. Meet me in the mess in five minutes."
"IDS?" Ehren sat up in alarm causing the room to spin wildly around him. "Oh, god. I'm dying!" He covered his mouth with his hand, heaved, but managed to choke down the wave of nausea.
"You'll be fine," Robin said. "Mess in five."
Robin departed as quickly as he had come.
*******
Approximately five minutes later Ehren stumbled his way into the mess hall and found Robin seated at table waiting for him with a steaming cup of hot liquid and a pitcher in front of him.
"What is this?" Ehren asked.
"It's Carveer tea," Robin replied. "Best hangover cure in the galaxies."
Ehren sniffed at it and took a dubious sip.
"This...is good," he said; his voice tinged with surprise. He took a bigger sip. "Aren't hangover 'cures' supposed to be the most awful tasting things a person can think of?"
Robin smirked. "You Earthians and your wildly inaccurate assumptions."
"Why isn't this stuff everywhere?" Ehren was quickly regaining his enthusiasm as he finished his cup and poured another one.
"Well, it's extremely rare and expensive, and this is my personal stash," Robin replied. "I should probably let you suffer, but I need you coherent for this meeting."
"Why does IDS want to interview me?" Ehren asked after he'd consumed another cup of tea. He didn't think it was possible to feel so refreshed in such a short amount of time, but his head had stopped pounding completely. He felt better than he usually did on a normal day.
"I'm on probation. They want the story from the witness."
"So, that's why I'm here?" Ehren said. "You want to get our stories straight?"
"Absolutely not, Ehren." Robin shook his head. "You tell it as it happened."
"Ehrenfried is my name," he replied.
Robin shrugged.
"So. I tell them everything?" Ehren said.
"Whatever you see fit to tell," Robin replied. "It's your call. I'm not going to make you do anything."
"Oh." Ehren paused to think it over. "Okay."
He finished off the tea and wandered over to the icebox. He returned with a small round fruit with reddish skin.
"Want some?"
He offered the plear to Robin, who shook his head.
"We have to go. I left her waiting. You can eat that thing on the way."
They marched back to the squadron room, and Robin was almost surprised to see his crew diligently working at their stations. Beatriu was dutifully annoyed that it had taken them so long to arrive.
"Where have you been?"
"Apologies, Ma'am," Robin replied. "Recruit Behrendt was under orders elsewhere in the building."
She eyed him dubiously but didn't question him any further.
"You are dismissed, Commander Grey," she said.
Robin snapped his heels together, saluted, and strode from the room, leaving Ehren alone with the IDS officer.
"Please, have a seat, Behrendt."
She gestured towards a chair and Ehren sat down in it. His posture was rigid, but he couldn't hide the nervousness in his eyes.
"Relax, recruit. You're not in any trouble. I just have a few questions for you." She smiled at him, and he felt somewhat more at ease.
He told her the story of how he had been allowed to tag along to the Diamond Sector in Quadrant 4 with Robin in order to arrest Feliu Veirnes. He told her of how they had walked him from the teleportation room on I-GAS headquarters to the transport that was to take them to the detention facility. He told her how Feliu had lifted a Time Travel Device from his pocket without him noticing.
"So, you see, Ma'am," he said as his story came to completion. "None of this was Robin's fault. He was determined to bring this man to justice in this instance. I don't really know what he's done before, but he was completely on task in this case."
Beatriu was surprised to hear Ehren speak the final few sentences of his story in perfect Utopian. It was a strange thing to hear the words of her native language spoken in a distinctly Earthian accent, and she couldn't help but smile at him.
"Impressive, Behrendt." She nodded appreciatively at him. "Is that for my benefit? Trying to impress me?"
"Yes, absolutely, Ma'am," Ehren replied. "I just want you to know that everything was done by the book. Robin is not to fault. He was in the right, and it was entirely my rookie mistake. There aren't expressive enough words in the Intergalactic Standard we use here in I-GAS."
"How many languages do you speak?"
Ehren paused a moment to count silently in his head.
"Eleven," he replied. "Not counting standard dialect shifts across time."
"That is impressive," Beatriu said.
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Well, I thank you for your time. I do believe your squadron is scheduled for a training exercise this afternoon." She stood up and saluted. He followed suit and was dismissed.
****
It was one long afternoon and one disastrous training exercise later that Ehren finally managed to get Robin alone. He waited at his desk until his peers had left for the mess hall, and Beatriu and Robin were the only people remaining.
"Don't you have any of that wretched plear stew that you created last week to go and eat?" Robin asked him as he passed his desk.
"No, Sir," Ehren replied. He rose from his seat and stood at attention; his eyes shifted slightly towards Beatriu then back to Robin, who understood the intent of the gaze immediately.
"I'll catch you up, Lieutenant-Commander," he said.
"Alright." She reluctantly acquiesced to his suggestion and marched away.
Ehren instantly melted back into his chair without being dismissed.
"Did I say you could sit down?" Robin barked at him.
"No, sir." Ehren shot back up and resumed a stiff standing position.
Robin regarded him curiously, somewhat taken aback by his display of obedience while they were in private.
"So you're listening to me now?"
"Yes, Sir," Ehren replied.
"Why?"
"It's less complicated, Sir," Ehren said. He was hoping that somehow, if he could keep his mouth shut and his head down, maybe things would go back to normal and he could get back on track towards his ultimate goal of becoming a Time Detective.
"Well, stop it," Robin muttered. "It's... Now it's strange."
Ehren didn't reply. He remained rigid; his eyes staring straight ahead at a spot on the opposite wall.
Robin sighed. "At ease, recruit. We don't train mindless zombies here. You know you have permission to speak freely."
"I didn't tell her." Ehren blurted out a confession.
"What? That you were drunk on a dry planet?"
Ehren frowned at him. "No, I didn't tell her I was drunk and you cured me with your magic tea."
"It's not magic," Robin said. "There's a scientific explanation. The Oxygen and Hydrogen atoms bind to..."
"Shut-Up. I don't care about the Oxygen atoms," Ehren interrupted him.
"Okay." Robin glared at him. "Don't speak that freely. I am your commander, and I expect at least a modicum of respect beyond the formal gestures."
"Sorry. Sorry. I'm just... I can't fail at this, Sir. I just can't," he said. "I'm the first person in my family to live and work off planet. Why do you think I learned all those languages?"
"So, it wasn't because you were bored and your people trade in degrees like currency?"
Ehren snorted laughter and smiled brightly at him. It was the first time Robin had ever seen him really smile, and he couldn't help but notice that he had a single dimple near the right corner of his mouth when he did. He shook his head as if to rid himself of the thought.
"Who's making assumptions now?" Ehren giggled softly. "Look. I don't know why I'm telling you this, but my parents worked really hard to get me through school so I could get out here. It's not easy in the desert."
Robin paused for a moment, remembering vaguely the things he had learned about Earth throughout the years.
"But you live in cities, don't you? Your foodstuff is grown in agro-labs..." He paused for a moment as another bit of Earthian information floated to the top of his brain.
"OH," he said as he came to a realization.
"Right," Ehren murmured. He glanced down at his feet, suddenly feeling a fierce shame he hadn't managed to feel since he'd left his home planet. "We couldn't afford the city. We were okay, though. We weren't nomads, or tent people, but we lived in the wooden towns. I don't think you can quite understand how much the Modular and City people look down on you for that. It was hard, but we were happy. My parents wanted better for me, so they scraped and saved and what it amounted to was basically nothing. I have a useless degree which got me nowhere, and that's why I joined up. I had to get out somehow."
"Maybe I can do something about that." Robin mused while scratching thoughtfully at his facial hair.
"Huh?"
"I know you have trouble out in the field," Robin voiced out loud, and Ehren immediately became defensive before he could finish his thought.
"I'm going to be in the field," Ehren insisted. "I didn't travel billions of light years away from home so I could sit in this gray building and translate shit all day long. I know you'd have me behind a desk for the rest of my life, but I know I can do it."
"You're at a disadvantage," Robin said. "You know you are."
Ehren looked down at his scrawny frame and sighed.
"I know," he said.
"We aren't stupid here though," Robin said. "Everybody knows you have good ideas out there, and your mastery of intergalactic languages is like... Beatriu told me. Eleven languages? Really? Are you a fuckin' android?"
Ehren chuckled. "Perhaps. I speak eleven fluently, but I can understand much more. I have a bit of trouble with some specific pronunciation, especially if I've never heard the words spoken. Vocabulary is similar in some languages, but grammar rules..."
"Time for you to shut-up about grammar rules," Robin interrupted with a smile of his own. "Look. I think you would do well with a bit of extra training to become a communications officer. You would still be out in the field. You would get a bump in rank and pay grade."
"Officer training?" Ehren said. "I'd need a sponsor."
"I'm willing to do that," Robin replied.
"But you're on probation. Can you?"
Robin shrugged. "You may not believe it but I still have weight I can throw around if need be. You're too smart to let go to waste. You've proven that much. Say you'll give it a try?"
Ehren paused to consider the proposition.
"A bump in rank you say?"
Robin nodded.
"They'll be required to do what I order?"
"Within reason." Robin said. "I mean, you won't be a mission leader or anything. Not unless every other officer on the field has perished and all you're left with is recruits. You'll be monitoring communications. Translating. That sort of thing, but in the field. It's important when dealing with all the races of the galaxies; the difference between a surrender and a threat. We need people who can understand without a machine. Machines are all well and good, but the nuance of language... Still can't translate that."
"Okay." Ehren nodded slowly. "I will outrank Seth though?"
Robin chuckled. "Yeah. You will."
"Good." He grinned impishly up at Robin.
"Great." Robin nodded with finality. "Now let's go get something to eat. I'm starving!"
He turned to exit the room, but Ehren called after him.
"I have to tell you one more thing before you go," he said.
"Yeah?" Robin glanced backwards. Ehren was looking nervous again.
"Thanks for the...uh...sponsorship and everything, but I may not be around too much longer, depending on what you told that woman from IDS."
"Oh, no." Robin turned fully back towards the recruit and frowned. "You didn't lie, did you?"
"No." Ehren shook his head vigorously. "I just... I didn't mention the ring. If you did... If you turned it in, I'm probably going to be in really deep shit."
Robin sighed. "What am I going to do with you?"
"Did you?" Ehren's features took on a distressed expression. "Did I fuck up again?"
"I didn't mention it either," Robin admitted softly, feeling somewhat ashamed of his weakness for Feliu.
"The way I figure...it's not in the records reported as stolen. Not in the past," Ehren said. "If it were stolen in the future then they would have sent a detective backwards already, right?"
"Perhaps," Robin said.
They sat in silence for a moment.
"Why didn't you turn me in for keeping it?" Robin asked.
"You said to tell them whatever I see fit, right?" Ehren said.
Robin nodded slowly.
"Well," Ehren said, "I didn't think it was relevant."
An awkward silence followed once again until Robin finally broke it with a barely whispered "Thank You."
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