“Yes, please,” he said, finally.  He’d have to check the records, but they rarely showed anything more than relatives.  Someone might hear about their dead friend from the general ship-wide announcement.  “And if you feel she needs further counselling, please inform me.”

Schneider nodded and left the briefing room.  James watched him go, then reached for his terminal.  There would have been to be a general announcement before they powered up the drives for the first time ... after praying desperately for success.  James knew far too well just how tricky it would be to replace the fusion cores if they failed – it would take months, at the very least.

And by then humanity could very well have lost the war.

***

Kurt had to admit that, after a great deal of grumbling, his pilots had managed to sort out the squadron bunking in a suitable manner.  Their quarters had been cleaned, new bedding had been installed and there were even a small collection of reading devices, although the latter had barely been touched between endless exercises and napping.  Once they’d set up a working simulator, he’d kept his pilots too busy to do anything else.

There were no barriers offering any form of privacy, even when male and female pilots were sharing the same territory.  Body modesty was rare among naval crewmen – and besides, pilots were not supposed to show any untoward interest in one another.  Kurt had known that relationships happened a long time before he met Rose – and he’d actually had second thoughts about allowing mixed quarters – but he trusted her to behave herself.  But now ...

He leaned forward and tapped her on the shoulder.  Like most active-duty naval crewmen, she had long since mastered the art of snapping awake when called, which gave her an advantage over the reservists.  They had to relearn the art.  Kurt was ruefully aware that if an active-duty pilot had been assigned as CAG, there might well have been a mutiny in short order.  Reservists wouldn't take kindly to being treated as active-duty pilots, most of whom were young enough to get by on only a few hours of sleep a day.

“Sir?”  Rose asked, looking up at him.  “What’s happened?”

“Grab your robe and come with me,” Kurt ordered.  He glanced at the other bunks, where the remainder of the squadron were still sleeping.  “Quietly.”

He felt his cheeks heat with embarrassment as she rolled off her bunk, revealing that she was wearing an undershirt and panties ... and not much else.  The swell of her breasts was instantly noticeable, while her long legs were perfect, strongly muscled and very pale.  Irked, he looked away and paced out of the compartment.  She joined him a moment later and followed him down to the room he'd turned into a makeshift office.  He felt a moment of sympathy for her, all unaware of just how sharply her life had changed, then started to speak.