HSS Chasetail: Day One, 07:01 Ablution Block — Male
Grounded from flying for one week.
Assigned a cleaning list of all the shared male ablution blocks — shipwide.
10 blocks in total.
- 40 toilets
- 30 showers
- 30 sinks
- 10 floors
One full 8-hour shift, for seven days, straight.
Borrowed overalls from the non-commissioned crew.
Everything cleaned to Lieutenant Commander MacKenzie’s exact satisfaction.
Huxley’s words still rang in his head as Seb looked down at the work in front of him.
You carry a name… now prove you deserve it.
Why had he pulled that stunt?
An unauthorised touch and go, right through the flight deck.
Flying a loop de loop right over the control island.
What was he trying to prove?
He did not know.
HSS Chasetail: 12:03 Officers’ Canteen
On a ship with just a little under 1000 crew, it did not take long for the bush telegraph to kick into gear with the news of Seb’s Huxing. Especially when an officer was the one reprimanded and assigned to a very public duty, cleaning the ablution blocks. A task normally assigned to the crew from below decks.
The officers’ canteen was starting to fill with the lunchtime rush.
Toby: Toilet duty! For a whole week!
Timo: Yeah, mate. Tell me about it. Seb got Huxed right and proper. Left boot, right up the jaxie.
Hans: Heard he had to borrow overalls from, AB Voss.
Toby: That’s the guy who normally does the bogs? Mildew?!
Toby screwed up his nose in exaggerated disgust.
Timo: Yup, that’s him. Hope Seb can get those overalls washed before—
Right at that moment, Seb trudged into the canteen. It didn’t look like he had been able to wash the overalls before using them.
Toby: Struth! Look what got dragged in… this is the officers’ canteen, mate. You might be lost! The unenlisted canteen is two decks down!
Seb gave a: That’s very funny. Not. Look.
Raven: Knock it off, Tick Tock, he’s still one of us… c’mon Seb, here, grab a tray.
Lunch continued
Hans: Is it right that The Hux wants increased patrols in the deep quadrants of our sector?
Klaus: That’s correct. We are pads away at 07:00 tomorrow.
The Greenwatch chatter continued about what they might find and how they would make an intercept if they did.
Seb said nothing.
He knew where he would be at 07:00 tomorrow morning.
The week slowly progressed.
Greenwatch continued to discuss over meals the missions they had completed. Marauder probes had been detected and intercepted almost daily by both Greenwatch and the other squadron watches operating out of Chasetail.
Timo had managed, after a prolonged chase across several quadrants, to eliminate another Marauder probe.
Toby: Crikey, mate! You should have seen that little rat catcher go, those little paws of his digging his way across the quad, I could see his little tail wagging from here!
Timo bared his fangs just a little to add to the theatre of Toby’s banter.
Timo: Rattenfänger!
Toby looked across at Seb.
Toby: So, mate, how’s it going with old Vector—?
Seb shook his head ever so slightly.
Seb: Don’t ask.
He couldn’t help thinking that he would’ve intercepted and destroyed that probe much sooner than Timo.
Klaus quietly watched the scene unfold, choosing to stay silent for now.
HSS Chasetail: Day Seven, 16:03 Ablution Block — Male
Seb’s week of toilet cleaning duty was finally over.
By the end of the week his workflow had developed into a steady rhythm, moving through each ablution block with clean efficiency. He took it upon himself to ensure that even Lieutenant Commander MacKenzie would not be able to find one single fault.
When done, each block gleamed. Every surface, every floor with nothing out of place and everything where it should be.
Footsteps sounded behind him just as he was putting away the last of the cleaning equipment. Not the intentional, quick footsteps of MacKenzie, but these were heavier, with a longer period between footfalls. Or was it pawfalls?
As it turned out, it was pawfalls. Seb turned around just in time to acknowledge his Greenwatch leader.
Klaus: So you’re done then.
Klaus took a brief look around the immaculately clean ablution block.
Seb: Oh, hi, Skipper. Yes, all done, finally.
I even passed Lieutenant Commander MacKenzie’s inspection.
Klaus made no comment about the Lieutenant Commander. He simply nodded once.
Klaus: So. Tell me.
What were you thinking?
It was clear from Klaus’ tone that he was not asking about the ablution blocks.
Seb had in fact done a lot of thinking during the week.
Those same questions that had filled his mind at the beginning of the week still swirled in his mind every time they wandered into his consciousness, scrubbing a toilet bowl or wiping a sink.
Why did he do it? What was he trying to prove? Who? This one hit the hardest. Who was he? Of course he knew whose name he carried, but what did that mean?
For him?
He didn’t know then and he still didn’t know now.
Seb looked up at the Greenwatch squadron leader. He could feel emotions welling up within him and a single tear made its way down one cheek. He brushed it away quickly.
Seb: I don’t know, Skipper.
I don’t know why I did it.
It’s been haunting me all week. It’s… it’s been haunting me for a long time. Lots of things.
Klaus knew about Seb’s background, where he was from and why he ended up on Hundeerde. It was all in his file.
He sat down on a box of disinfectant and kicked the storeroom door shut. He motioned for Seb to sit down on another unidentified stack of supplies.
Klaus: Tell me about Red.
Screw Pile Developments 