Jonathan A Countyman
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Chapter One Ninety-Nine Off Hours
🕑 Added 2025-10-20 20:58:23 +0000 UTCCountryman chewed on his fries as he watched the show. Terri was a young woman, and many of her friends were about the same age. He’d met all of them a few times over the years. They could be quite charming and had their own set of skills. Today, they were doing a magic show.
On stage, a young lady in barely any clothes at all was about to enter a box where she would be cut in half for all the audience to see. She smiled and showed herself off before stepping in, as another girl dressed in black and red that did nothing but accentuate her figure stepped forward to take command of the show.
“Well I’ll give them credit for the costuming, they picked well for drawing the eye.”
Greyman nodded, “So they did.”
Countryman looked away, a fork in his hand.
“Not going to watch?”
“Seen the trick before, rather loses its mystique when you can see through the box.”
“Oh?”
“This will be a little more real than the usual method.”
Greyman blinked, “What do you mean?”
“Oh, I’m not going to spoil it, but they’ve put some interesting devices in that box.”
“Um, uh... okay, I’ll take your word for it.”
The door opened and a few more people came in. One of which found their way up to the counter, Countryman didn’t give them any extra attention as he focused on his meal. Gasps filled the room and she looked over to see the magician girl showing off the other girl who’d just been dramatically cut in half. It certainly looked pretty real, but he already knew how they’d pulled off this classic trick. It wasn’t with the classic misdirection; no, their choices made for a much more realistic looking deception.
The girl next to him commented, “Good gods! Did they really just cut her in half?”
Greyman a frown on his face, “I see what you meant about a little more real, but look at that smile on her face.”
The girl frowned, “I think she is getting off on being bisected.”
“So, um, sir, care to let us in on what they did?”
“I’m going to respect the magician’s right to keep her secrets. It’s not my trick to tell.”
“Guess you are right about that,” he replied
The girl pouted, “I feel that’s cheap.”
Countryman turned to her, “Maybe it is. I don’t think we’ve spoken before, I’m Jac.”
“Marylin, I’m a dancer and you’re the Captain aren’t you?”
“That I am.”
She smiled, “Can’t say I’ve seen you around much, but it seems you know the menu.”
“Ah, well I’m not usually here in the later hours when the dancers come in.”
“Maybe you should, the girls would enjoy a little more attention.”
“I’d think they’d get plenty of it.”
She sighed, “Yeah, especially last time, we had a full on wardrobe malfunction. They got to see more than we intended, it’s the cheap outfits we bought. Not that we can do better, budgets tight, and good costumes are hard to come by. Too much demand for good fabric.”
He nodded, “I may have heard something about that, might I suggest you requisition a few skinsuits?”
“I’m not sure head-to-toe grey would work, it's sexy, but not the kind we are looking for, you know?”
“That’s the standard issue baseline, but it is nano-tech. Think of it as the highest quality body paint you’ve ever encountered, given the form factor. Coloration and presentation can be anything you want within that constraint. You can even do full on suit transparency if that is what you want.”
“Oh? Tell me more about that.”
Greyman chuckled, “Well if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to thank our entertainment, they did a good job.”
Countryman waved him away, and continued the conversation.
________________________________
Sali followed Fuji down the busy market street. “So, um, where are we going?”
“I’ve heard great things about the Blue Flower, should be a good place to celebrate your first mission.”
“Huh, I’m not familiar with it.”
“I’ve not been there either, heard things over the grapevine. Family business, run by a mother and her daughter. The big thing there is that they have this stage, they rent it out to dancers, music acts and apparently the occasional magic show. Music is the usual theme, until the late evening when the dancers usually show up.”
“Huh, I’ve heard of such places. How’s the food?”
Fuji shrugged, “I’ve heard it's good.”
“Well at the very least, it would be a chance to get to know each other. We didn’t really have a time to just really bond on the patrol. We were only together for a few hours at a time, and half that I was just sleeping, or you were.”
“Right, we didn’t really. So, anything you want to know?”
“Well I was told that you were a pilot with quite the record, apparently you joined some elite unit.”
“Ah, yes the Sky Wolves, fun crowd. Maybe not the wisest unit to volunteer for but I didn’t become a pilot to sit back and do patrols. I wanted action, and they delivered.”
“Must be a story, they were famed for a low survival rate.”
“Yeah, we Sky Wolves have a high turnover rate. We took only the most dangerous assignments. The kind of missions most other pilots would balk at, most of us even took cybernetics to boost our skills.”
“Cybernetics? Did you?”
“Sure did, I’m not a full cyborg, don’t need to be, but I have the vital implants including a small computer directly connected to my brain, eye implants and nerve accelerators. Mainly my implants focus around boosting perception, increasing reaction speeds as well as mental acuity and processing. Only person on the ship that can give me a real challenge is the captain, but he is something else.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know how cyborgs have an inherent advantage over normies? Well some people take to being enhanced better than others. Of course, he’s had over a century to integrate with his implants, I’ve only had a couple of decades, and it shows. His ability to interface with machines is on a completely different level, he just speaks their language, and he can outthink any of us.”
“Really? Shouldn’t you two be even?” She asked as she followed her in a door.
“Yes, even me, I’ve got a computer in my brain. For him, I think half his brain is the computer.”
“Something like that. It’s more like it has been there so long that it became part of me. There isn’t me and the computer, they are just two parts of the greater whole.” Said a man turning from the counter who had been talking with a young woman.
Sali blinked, “Captain?”
“Hey Sali and Commander Fujiwara, wasn’t it? Got your ships in order?”
“I do,” she replied as she took a seat.
The other woman spoke up, “Thanks for the conversation and information. If you’ll excuse me I have some shopping to do.”
“Good luck!”
Fuji watched her go, then spoke up, “Well I’ve taken Beta wing and organized the three squadrons you left me into recon flights. One in reserve, the other two deployed as four CAP recon flights. Alpha wing is doing the same, so that should leave us with two squadrons of SF-1204 and both Squadrons of SFB-1208 in reserve if we need them.
Sali blinked, “Wait!? You’re in charge of an entire wing? You’re one of the...”
Fuji giggled, “Guilty!” then she looked her right in the eye, “but if Eri hadn’t pulled those strings I’d have been your wingmate. Still I got to go on the flight, so no hard feelings.”
“I knew that flight was wanted, but I didn’t realize that much.”
“Hey things can get dull around here, everyone wanted it. Hell, it even came with a little excitement.”
“Makes me feel lucky.”
Countryman nodded, “You should, White is in line for promotion to Wing Commander and her boss is looking to retire. I’m willing to let him since we will need someone to train pilots.”
Fuji said, “Right, well, Sali here is looking to be real talent. Think we can give her some implants? I think with the right extra training, she could be something special.”
“Like you?” inquired Countryman.
“Yes, like me, and we all know we need more of me. We don’t have the luxury of being able to easily replace lost pilots, every pilot we send out needs every advantage we can give them. We need Sky Wolves, crack pilots that you send in to solve problems, the missions are dangerous, the odds are bad, but that’s why she’ll need implants. I think everyone should have them, if we can do it.”
“So you’ve said before, but it’s up to her.”
Sali frowned. “Um, what would that entail?”
“These days?” Asked Countryman. “Well, it's not as involved as it used to be. We just immerse you in a nanobath, and then a series of long needles inject materials and nanites directly into your deep tissues. Controller computers direct the nanites to construct the implants in location, the procedure is minimally invasive, won’t even leave a scar. It will take a few hours or more, depending on the extent of the modifications and what implants you chose.”
“I’ll, uh, keep that in mind.”
Fuji interjected, “So, I take it we can do it for her?”
“Are you paying for it? Our material reserves are a bit light.”
“Sure, as I said we need the best pilots we can get and she’s got a lot of potential.”
“Will it hurt? Are there any, um...”
Fuji laughed, “They give you a sedative, and you’ll sleep through the entire thing. As for complications? Well, we’ve been doing it for a hundred years. The nanites will detect and correct most issues as they develop. All you will experience is a bit of tenderness around the injection sites and maybe a little disorientation as you get used to the implants. After that disorientation clears you’ll notice your abilities will start to improve.”
“I’ll... keep that in mind.”
Countryman stood up, “I’ll get things organized just in case. Any idea which pilot’s package you’d want?”
Sali blinked, “There’s more than one?”
Fuji nodded, “Yeah I’ve got the standard package, but the Captain’s got everything including a neural lace implant.”
“What’s that?”
“The neural lace lets you interface directly with your fighter, for all intents and purposes you are the ship. It’s not recommended for capital ships though.”
Countryman chuckled, “It’s not impossible though, I’ve interfaced with the Enterprise on more than one occasion.”
Sali digested that, as Countryman moved into the crowd. The Matron cleared an empty plate from his spot. She watched him go. Fuji leaned in, “Okay heavy talk aside, we do have to celebrate a good mission.”
“Right,” she turned to the Matron, “What’s on the menu?”
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