“All right.” Tabitha nodded again and dropped her one small suitcase at the foot of her narrow cot. But before she could ask the senior officer where exactly the captain’s quarters were or how to get to them so she could present herself properly, Seamus had gone, slipping out the sliding door with a loud whoosh, as if she wanted nothing more to do with a wet-behind-the-ears rookie like Tabitha.
Well, I guess I’ll just have to find it myself. The ship’s not that big and surely there will be someone a little more friendly who can point me in the right direction. In the meantime, I guess I should freshen up and change into the new uniform.
The Intergal uniform, a tight fitting, navy one-piece jumpsuit with a black belt and trim and black boots, was known the galaxy over. Tabitha was proud when she pulled hers out of the wall unit Seamus had indicated. But it wouldn’t take long to slip into and she still had almost thirty minutes to kill, even after hanging a few pictures and decorations on the metal walls. Remembering Sergeant Seamus’ words about water restrictions, Tabitha decided to take a quick water shower while she still could. After all, who knew how long they’d be in deep space after they took off? Sono showers got you clean but there was nothing like good old steaming H2O to make you feel really refreshed.
So thinking, Tabitha stripped quickly and stepped into the tiny bathroom with its three-by-three-foot shower unit. She intended to just take a five-minute shower but the hot water rushing over her back and shoulders felt so good she lost track of time. The five-minute shower somehow stretched out to ten and then to fifteen minutes. Humming to herself, Tabitha soaped her entire body with a lavender gel wash she’d brought from home and daydreamed about her new career. She was careful to keep her pale blonde hair out of the stream of water, knowing there was no time to dry it.
Just as she was beginning to rinse the sweet-smelling suds from her body, she heard the unmistakable whoosh of her quarters’ main entrance. Seamus, she thought at once, trying to rinse more quickly. Must have remembered she had forgotten to tell me where the captain’s quarters is. I better get out there before she leaves again.
With foam still clinging to her bare skin, Tabitha turned off the shower and grabbed the first towel she could find. It was barely adequate, just a hand towel left on the thin metal bar beside the utilitarian sink but she didn’t think the older woman would care what she looked like as long as Tabitha didn’t inconvenience her by making her wait.
“Coming!” she called and hurried out into her new quarters, clutching the hand towel to her bare breasts. But instead of Seamus’ thin, wiry frame and graying red hair, an entirely different person met her eyes.
Tabitha gasped in dismay when she saw the huge man with broad shoulders and stern features standing beside her narrow cot. He had dark hair that looked black at first glance but was actually very dark blue and it was cut with military precision. His eyes were dark blue also and a ring of gold around each iris made his gaze piercing. But his eyes and hair weren’t what startled Tabitha the most—it was his size. He was so big he seemed to fill the entire quarters with his presence, leaving little room for anyone else, especially a nearly-naked rookie dripping lavender bubbles on the gray metal floor.
Recovering quickly, she glared at the intruder. “Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my quarters?” she demanded, refusing to be intimidated by his size or her own state of near total undress.
“Who am I?” the giant rumbled. “I’m your captain, Sergeant Bryce, and you’d better have a damn good reason for appearing for inspection dressed, or rather undressed, like this.” He gave a curt nod at the sodden hand towel that was barely covering her, his dark eyes flashing.
“My…my captain?” No wonder he was so big! Zentorians came from a planet where the gravity was about twenty percent higher than Earth standard. As a result they tended to be bigger and stronger than other humanoid species. And even without the size, the dark blue hair and ringed irises should have been a dead giveaway, they were also Zentorian traits.
Tabitha felt her mouth go suddenly dry as she realized what had happened. Sergeant Seamus hadn’t given her directions to the captain’s quarters because she wasn’t supposed to go there. She was supposed to have changed into her new uniform and been waiting to stand at attention and snap a salute the moment the captain came to see her.
Salute! I’m supposed to salute! Forgetting that she was already mostly nude, Tabitha snapped to attention, dropped the hand towel, and offered her best parade salute.