Crossing the Line
Leaning back in his chair Commander Taylor studied the young man standing at attention on the other side of his desk. His cloths were dirty, the collar of his shirt was ripped and there few drops of blood on his chest that were probably going to leave stains. A shiner was beginning to form around his left eye and there was dried blood under his nose which still had tissue paper stuffed up each nostril to slow the bleeding.
“Do you have anything to say for yourself soldier?”
“No Sir. My actions were unacceptable and I am prepared to face the consequences.”
It was hard to take him seriously with his voice all distorted. Rising from his chair Taylor walked around his desk to stand in front of the soldier. He never thought Mark Reynolds would be brought before him for fighting with a civilian. Glancing over Mark’s shoulder he could see Washington standing near the door with her hand resting on her holstered gun and her face in an unreadable mask.
“What started the fight?”
Mark hesitated for a moment but not long enough for Taylor to turn the question into an order.
“He kissed Maddy.”
He couldn’t believe it, one of his best soldiers had gotten into a fight in the middle of the market because of a girl. Suppressing a sigh Taylor leaned back against his desk, he didn’t bother keeping the disappointment out of his voice as he spoke.
“Go by the clinic and get checked out, afterwards you’re confined to the barracks until further notice. Dismissed.”
With a quick ‘yes Sir’ Mark left the office with his head held high, the damn kid wasn’t the least bit sorry for what he did but at least he wasn’t afraid to take responsibility either (a trait he no doubt learned from Lt. Washington). Once he was gone and the door to the office closed Wash’s face cracked into a smile as she crossed the room to stand next to her CO.
“I fail to see any humor in this Lieutenant.”
Amusement still shining in her eyes Washington reached into one of her pockets and held out a memory chip.
“That’s because you didn’t see the fight Sir.”
Returning to his seat Taylor waited for Wash to pull up a viewing screen and plug in the card.
---
The market was full of people trading goods, talking with friends or just enjoying the nice weather. Maddy Shannon was walking with a young man (who Taylor recognized as the clinic’s newest apprentice Will Grant) picking up groceries and having an animated conversation if the hand waving was anything to go by. The pair stopped at a fruit stand and she put her basket down but instead of picking up any food she began waving both hands around excitedly. The vender had a look of confusion on her face as she watched the two talk and she visibly jumped when Grant threw his arms around Miss Shannon and spun her around. He set her back on her feet but before Maddy could step out of his embrace he leaned down and kissed her square on the mouth. Pushing against his chest she backed up and slapped Grant with enough force to snap his head to the left.
Corporal Reynolds appeared in the corner of the screen with two soldiers struggling to hold him back. Dropping to his knee Mark threw the man on his left over his shoulder and kicked the feet out from under the one on his right. Before they could recover enough to catch him he was making a beeline for the fruit stand. Maddy saw him coming and started to shake her head no when he stopped behind Grant and tapped his shoulder, when the young doctor turned the Corporal landed a textbook right hook across his jaw.
Stumbling back Grant just barely managed to dodge a second punch before regaining his footing and tackling Mark with enough force to knock him to the ground, the two men rolled around a bit before scrambling to their feet and continuing to throw punches. Maddy watched on with a look of shock on her face and while Taylor couldn’t read lips he had a feeling she was shouting for them to stop. A sizeable crowd was gathering to watch the fight and the two soldiers who had tried to stop Mark earlier had to push their way through, once they reached the font on the crowd they shared a look of apprehension before attempting to separate the fighters, for their troubles they were knocked on their asses.
Taylor was rather impressed that Grant had lasted this long against Mark but he could tell the apprentice was getting tired as his swings became sloppy and his recovery time slower. At the edge of the crowd he could see Lt. Washington and a group of soldiers making their way through the onlookers to break up the fight but it was Jim Shannon who stepped in and pulled the young men apart. Handing Reynolds over to Wash he kept a hold of Grant himself as they walked off screen the crowd dispersed, returning to whatever it was they had been doing before Mark and Will turned the market into their own personal boxing ring.
---
Wash paused the recording as they both knew what happened next, Washington marched Reynolds to the command center, stopping only long enough for him to stuff his nose with tissue so not to bleed all over the office floor.
“Did anyone find out what they were talking about before Grant kissed Maddy?”
“I asked the Fruit vender while Shannon was separating them.”
“What did she say?”
“Medicinal uses of Terkonal Fungus. Apparently they were going over the chemical properties of boiled fungus when Maddy suggested it could be used to treat Raydkin fever.”
Pinching the bridge of his nose Taylor sighed, why couldn’t it have been something normal like an exposure to bad pollen or a fever that causes severs lapse in judgment. Raging hormones ignited by medical breakthroughs were outside his area of expertise.
“Where’s Grant?”
“I think Shannon was going to take him to the clinic.”
“Might as well hear his side, it’s not like I have anything else to do today.”
Standing up Taylor grabbed his jacket and pulled it on as he headed towards the door, completely ignoring the way Wash rolled her eyes and sent a pointed look at the stack of files on his desk. As soon as they entered the clinic he could hear shouting and as he looked for the source of the raised voices he found Jim standing outside one of the curtained rooms with a grin stretched across his face. When he saw the Commander and Wash he motioned for them to join him in eavesdropping.
“Maddy and Reynolds are fighting.”
He didn’t even try to hide how much he was enjoying this as he leaned back towards the curtain to continue listening.
“You acted like a total caveman Mark!”
“I’m sorry Maddy but it’s not like I plan on it or anything. I didn’t meet you and just decide to go around getting into fights!”
“Fights, as in more than one? This has happened before!”
“O come on Maddy don’t act so surprised. If you weren’t so perfect I wouldn’t have to scare off every guy who came within a ten foot radius of you!”
“Don’t turn this around on me Corporal Reynolds. I didn’t say anything when you got all possessive around Jake and I told you me and Will are just friends. He crossed the line today but I was handling it just fine before you tried to rearrange his face.”
“I know how you would have handled it Maddy. You would have accepted any excuse he could think of and forgiven him after a few days because he’s the only one in the whole damn Colony who can keep up with you intellectually without being twice your age!”
“Is that what this is about? The only thing I feel for Grant is friendship and respect for a fellow scientist. You need to get it through your thick skull that you’re the only man I want. If I didn’t love you so much I’d have my dad kick your ass for being such an idiot!”
“I’m sorry ok! I just saw him kiss you and over reacted a bit.”
“A bit?”
“Ok, a lot.”
There was a shuffling of feet and silence. The three eavesdroppers waited a few moments in case the shouting started again before Jim pushed back the curtain. He immediately wished he hadn’t as they found Mark sitting on the bio bed with Maddy standing between his legs and the couple was kissing like the world was ending. The first thing that came to Taylor’s mind was that the look on Jim’s face was worth framing. Coughing loudly into his fist to get their attention Taylor had to work to keep his face blank.
“Did you get lost on your way to the barracks son?”
Standing up Mark’s bruised face turned a little pink as he looked from his CO’s to Mr. Shannon.
“Sorry, I just had to clear a few things up with Maddy first. I’ll be leaving now Sir.”
After squeezing Maddy’s hand Mark slipped past the three adults and did his very best to avoid eye contact with Jim. Maddy grabbed her basket from a nearby table and nervously shifted from one foot to the other.
“I’m gonna go home and get supper started.”
The teenager practically ran out of the clinic. With a small smirk Taylor patted Jim on the back.
“Looks like Reynolds is still in the running for your first son-in-law.”
Taylor thought he heard Jim mutter ‘damn’ as he walked off to find Grant but he wasn’t certain.