So, moving on to what calms me… television. The Last Ship proved, once again, it's never a good idea to mess with a wolf. Seriously, a few nice reveals were dropped and the episode let Fletch redeem himself… kind of. I'm probably in the minority but I'm not quite ready to forgive his transgressions yet.
Still need to watch Teen Wolf's finale. The past week got crazy busy so I didn't have time.
Finished up The Defenders and, yeah, I pretty much loved it. Looking forward to more from the individual series and also to The Punisher whenever it arrives. Heh, if it hasn't already because I'm that far behind right now.
Almost finished with Hawaii Five-0. Truly can't see how season eight is going to be decent without Chin or Kono. I guess I'll play it by ear.
I'm all caught up on Gotham and I love this show. The soft intro of Bruce's alter ego ended up being exactly perfect. Penguin raining havoc is a joy to watch. And poor Jim is getting ready for another round of the absolute wrong woman for him bingo. Falcone's daughter is probably not what the doctor ordered for the guy. Just saying.
That's it for television this week. Tonight's post is from Lover's Lament, a novella that got a start with a writing community prompt of putting military types on a civilian ship away from prying eyes and see what happens.
Here's the mini-blurb:
Taryn Untied and Holmes Selari, two soldiers under a constant stream of pressure, start making mistakes due to lack of any kind of downtime. Their superior officer finally orders them to take R and R on the Lover's Lament and promises to conveniently forget their location if anything else goes wrong. Thirty-six hours of alone time should clear up their cranky attitudes.
And a sneaky peek…
Well, she managed to piss Waybright off even more. Way to go, Taryn.
Holmes shook his head and sighed.
Taryn stomped back down to the front of the room and parked her ass in a seat. "A little show of solidarity would've been nice." Her snarky tone carried to Waybright's ears.
The man turned and glared and Taryn shut up.
Holmes snorted. "I'm too damned tired." He slouched further down into the chair. "First time I've actually sat down all day… aside from being in the cockpit." The cramped confines didn't exactly inspire relaxation.
Waybright came around the front of the podium after he'd picked up the clipboard. "Here's what's going to happen." He held up the board, moving it slowly in front of their faces. "I'm ordering immediate R and R for you."
Holmes barked out a laugh. "Right. I have to be dreaming. Or I woke up in an alternate universe." His head dropped to the back of the seat cushion.
Is it possible to dream with my eyes open?
Taryn agreed. "Yeah, and we'll get within five seconds of leaving the ship when you revoke the passes because some idiot fucks up their job and we have to fix it."
A valid point. Waybright pulled rank more than a few times.
He shook his head. "Not this time. Frankly, I can't stand either one of you right now and if you don't get off the ship, I may shoot you." He moved closer and stopped at the edge of the row. "You're going to quarters. You're getting your rucksacks, and I'm personally escorting you to a transport in the aft landing bay."
Taryn crossed her arms over her chest. "And when the transport fails to show up, what then?"
Another valid concern. Too often, the small crafts ran behind schedule and during the wait something went sideways and they got called back.
Waybright held up a hand. "Oh, Lieutenant, I'm one up on you. It's already here." He leaned in close to Taryn. "And that transport is going to take you and your grouchy captain to the Lover's Lament and get you the hell off this ship for seventy-two hours." He straightened. "And as soon as you two are clear, I'm burying the flight manifest so nobody else can find you." He waved the clipboard back and forth, then tucked it under his arm.
Something in the man's tone indicated he meant business.
Holmes blinked and sat up. "Are you serious, Sir?" Seventy-two hours of downtime sounded like pure bliss right now.
Waybright quirked an eyebrow. "Am I ever not, Captain? Get moving." He pointed toward the hatch. "You've got five minutes. If you're not packed when I get there, you'll leave with nothing, because you are going."
Taryn shot Holmes a quick glance. He hustled to his feet and made a dash for the exit. He and Taryn didn't waste time, they hot-footed it out of the briefing room and double-timed it to quarters.
She yanked open her locker and grabbed her rucksack, already packed. "Do you really think—"
Holmes cut her off. "I'm not taking the time." He pulled his duffel out—already packed like hers. "Right now, blind faith works for me." His lips quirked. "You left yours ready to go, too?" He nodded toward her rucksack.
She rolled her eyes. "Hell, I didn't have time to unpack so, yeah, it was ready and waiting." She started for the hatch but stopped. "You don't think he's just messing with us, do you?" Her tone held menace.
Holmes gave a quick back and forth of his head. "No. You saw the stack of complaints. He had to do something." Geez, Holmes hoped the XO wouldn't prove him wrong.
If the man reneged on the R and R, Taryn would have to race Holmes to take the guy out.
I have a feeling Taryn and Holmes won't know what to do with downtime and that's going to be fun to write.
That's it for this week. Catch everyone on the flipside.
ML Skye
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