Editing Story:ROAD TRIP! (Warhammer High)/Part One (section)

===Who's Hungry?===

Alex hurried after his friends, following the political officer out.  Once all six were in the corridor outside, Haarlan summoned a lift.  As he reached out to press the button, however, Remilia frowned.  “Wait, I thought the mess was below us,” she said, as Haarlan tapped the button for the deck above them.

“The officers’ mess is, Lady Remilia, the Captain’s Hall is above us.”

“Exalted company,” Jake murmured.

“Hardly, Lord,” Haarlan said.  “Technically, Lady Primarch Venus has authority over the whole convoy.”

Venus laughed aloud.  “An illusion I’m glad to dispel,” she chuckled.  “I’m not here to assume command.”

He smiled.  “I’m sure he knows,” Haarlan said, holding the lift hatch open.  “But it would be improper not to let you dine with the ship’s Captain on the first night of the voyage,” he continued.

“Well, thank you, Commander,” Venus said, unconsciously assuming the lead in the little gaggle of people.  Some parts of command were easier to remember than others.  As they marched up to the entrance of the Captain’s Hall, the pair of formally-dressed Naval Provosts outside clicked their heels together and saluted.

As Haarlan returned the salute formally, Venus tugged her hunter green jacket a bit tighter.  “I feel underdressed.”

“I’m sure the Captain wouldn’t mind if you were to pause to change into something more formal,” Haarlan said graciously.  Alex and Jake glanced at each other in sudden unease.

“Nah, I didn’t pack anything more formal than this,” Venus decided, pushing the hatch open.  Haarlan’s face froze, but he followed the group in, clearly wrong-footed.

The Captain and a few Salamander serfs in formal uniforms were already in the room, discussing something with a man whose clothes suggested membership in the Scholastica Psykana.  At the arrival of the party, however, the conversation ceased.  The Captain immediately marched up to the group and dropped to one knee before Venus, who skidded to a halt when she saw what was going on.

“My Lady Primarch Venus.  I am Captain Roemer of the Iron Tide.  It is an honor to have you aboard.”

“Please rise, Captain,” Venus said, annoyance and exasperation buried in her voice.  Jake winced.  “And thank you for ferrying us to our destination,” she added as Roemer rose to his feet.

Roemer nodded respectfully, though he wisely refrained from saluting, which technically would have been a breach of protocol while none of his guests were in uniform.  “I hope you find our military fare to your liking, my Lady,” he said, gesturing to the table and moving to sit down.

Venus didn’t move an inch.  When Roemer noticed, he glanced over his shoulder, to see Venus rubbing the bridge of her nose.  She looked up at him, lips compressed.  “Is this going to be an issue, Captain Roemer?”

The Captain blinked, nervously glancing over at Haarlan.  “I beg your pardon, my Lady?”

“Captain, I do appreciate that you’re honored to be transporting us on your ship, really,” Venus said, as her companions shifted or looked at each other awkwardly.  “But let me clarify: this is a road trip.  We’re going on vacation.  So…please, let’s keep things as informal as we feasibly can, all right, Captain?” she asked, smiling to take the edge off.

Roemer stared at Venus for a long moment, then acquiesced.  “Very well, Lady Venus, if you insist.  However, it would be downright rude of me not to offer you and your guests a dinner suited to your station.  In this, I insist.”

Venus nodded her assent, walking over to the table, where the other senior crewers and the psyker had been nervously waiting the entire time.  “Of course.  Please don’t take this the wrong way, Captain.  But I have four years, or more, ahead of me, instructing batch after batch of teachers and classmates not to treat me like a china doll.  I’d prefer the summer vacation I enjoy beforehand be free of that sort of thing,” she said, her voice easily slipping into the effortlessly regal inflection of born nobility.  “Sorry to disappoint you,” she said warmly, sliding into her seat, and offering up the carefree grin that had melted Jake’s heart in an instant.

Roemer managed a smile of his own, sitting in his seat at the side of the table, next to Venus’ own.  Jake quickly slid into the seat at her other hand, while the rest of the party found chairs where they could.  One of the serfs, however, leaned across the table to address Venus in person.  “I’m glad you were able to make it home, ma’am.”

“Hm?” Venus looked up from her plate to look at the serf, and her jaw dropped.  “Isaac?  Is that you?”

“Well, you’re about a foot higher, but yes, it’s me,” the aging serf smiled.

“Isaac!  It’s good to see you again!” Venus said happily, as she leaned back from the table to allow the servitors to deposit her meal.

“It is, ma’am,” the serf said.  He turned to the table and addressed the other guests.  “Lord Vulkan appointed me seniormost member of the Salamander contingent aboard.  Venus and I,” he added, smiling at her as he said it, “are old sparring buddies.  Such as it is.”

“Hah!  Even by the time I finished your courses, you could still kick my ass raw,” Venus confessed.

“Bah, you were holding back by the end,” Isaac said, waving off her concerns.  As the servitors finished depositing the food, however, he paused respectfully, as Roemer stood and offered his glass to the room.

“My Ladies and Lords, on behalf of the officers and crew of the RHN Iron Tide, SLFG 98, I wish to offer you all the compliments of the vessel.  By the behest of her Primarch Ladyship Venus, I’ll only get to do this once, so please,” he added, smiling benignly, “accept my humble gratitude for your presence.”

“Thank you kindly, Captain Roemer,” Venus said, standing and bowing formally, pausing just before her hair dipped into the food.  “I look forward to the journey.”

The meal itself went amicably.  Remilia and one of the serfs engaged in a conversation about the most recent shifts of Terran politics, while Alex and the psyker – the ship’s Navigator’s assistant – found a common ground in their shared love of scrumball.  Jake, meanwhile, was bursting at the seams with questions about their destination.  “So, when we arrive, what do we expect?  Dock in orbit, or on Prometheus?” he asked eagerly.

“Prometheus station itself,” Isaac said.  “We’re going to be offloading substantial amounts of cargo first.  Some Martian hardware for the Legion, and a few new satellites.”

“That’s just fine.  I can’t wait,” Jake said, grinning to himself as the servitors cleared his appetizer plate away and dropped off a plate of something that smelled awesome.

“First time leaving Terra, Lord?” the Captain asked.  He held his cup to the side for the servitor to top off with wine.

“First time leaving the atmosphere, really,” Jake said.

“Ah, a Terran born and bred, eh,” Roemer said knowingly.  “I had never left Proximus Station until I went off to the officers’ academy.”

“Well, no, my family’s actually Martian by history, at least my father’s side is,” Jake explained, in reference to his Magos grandfather.  “But my mother’s side of the family and I have lived in the hives our whole lives.”

Roemer paused, cup halfway to his lips, and glanced the pale young man over.  “Ah…a hiver, then?”

Venus very slowly turned to face the Captain, as did Jake himself.  “Surely that isn’t an issue, Captain,” Jake said, an instant before Venus could.

“No, no…of course not,” Roemer said hastily.  “I simply didn’t know that any members of the Royal family lived in the hives.”

“I’m not a member of the Royal family,” Jake said truthfully.

“Forgive me, Lord, but I’m confused,” one of the officers to Roemer’s side asked, presumably so the Captain himself wouldn’t have to.  “What relation do you have to Lady Primarch Venus?”

“He’s my boyfriend, Captain,” Venus supplied.  Roemer shook his head again.

“Well, I apologize for my presumptuousness, Lord,” Roemer said.  “I must have been misinformed.  I was told you were a relative of Lady Misja.”

Jake chuckled self-effacingly.  “I’m just some guy from Hive Tetra, Captain.”

“I see.”  The Captain just sort of looked at him for a moment, then returned to his food in silence.  Venus looked worriedly at her boyfriend, but he was smiling into his dessert.

“Lady Remilia, if I may ask, how did the horrible situation with Lady Morticia resolve?” the ship’s mate asked.

“As well as any teenage girl getting shot can be,” Remilia said heavily.  “She’ll make a full recovery.”

“Excellent,” the officer said.  “We were all devastated when we heard that she had been hurt.”

“The assassin got twenty years,” Remilia informed him.

“Seems a bit light, really,” the officer noted.

“Twenty years of waiting for release from prison, followed by a lifetime of looking over your shoulder for the Death God and the Night Haunter?” Remilia pointed out.  She smirked cruelly.  “Sounds like a punishment to me.”

The ship’s mate nodded slowly.  “In hindsight, that does sound…just.  Well.  We’re all glad to hear that she’s going to be all right.”

“So were we, believe me,” Remilia said.

Freya glanced sideways at her down the table, and tapped her finger on the surface once.  Remilia nodded agreement.

“Captain, thank you for this excellent dinner,” Venus said, apparently catching the vibe.

“My honor, Lady Venus,” Roemer said, rising to his feet and bowing courteously.  “I look forward to having you with us on our journey.”

“My gratitude,” Venus said, the weight of nobility lending the statement gravitas, and bowed formally as the party stood.  As they wended their way through the decorated stateroom, she rose and turned a smile to Isaac.

“Isaac, my old friend.  Want to pick up where we left off?” she asked, suddenly mischievous.

The serf nodded glumly, plodding over to the hatch after a perfunctory salute to the Captain.  “I guess it’s been too long coming, hasn’t it?”

“Far too long,” Venus said cheerfully.

“Well…at least allow an old man his final rest,” the serf said wearily.

“Oh, for goodness’ sake, you’re younger than I am,” Venus said dismissively.  Haarlan held the hatch open for the group as they departed, walking by the guards.

“Still, I may need the night to get back into shape,” Isaac said, brushing invisible lint from his spotless black and green uniform.

Venus sighed dramatically.  “Oh, if you insist.  Be there…say, 1000 tomorrow?”

Isaac finally grinned.  “Count on it, Venus.”  The group entered the lift, he tapped the button for one of the serfs’ quartering decks.  “Wear something durable,” he said under his breath as he got off.

Roemer sat back down, pouring himself another drink.  “Well…that was different,” he said to the room.

“Royalty they may be, but kids none the less,” the psyker noted.

“Bah.  The consort of Lady Venus isn’t even a noble,” the ship’s mate pointed out.  “And such disrespect!  A bloody road trip?  Do they not know of any civilian lines to carry them to Nocturne?  This is a frontline warship!”

“Do you know of any civilian lines to carry them to Nocturne?” the Captain reasoned.  “It’s a Death World.”

“Yes, sir,” the mate allowed, “but to divert us like this, then refuse any ceremony, seems ungrateful.”

“How were we diverted, exactly?” Roemer asked.  “We were going this way anyway.”

The mate nodded, conceding the point.  Roemer continued.  “I will admit that I was surprised by the Lady’s friend.  How would she even meet a hiver?”

“Nothing wrong with hivers, Captain,” the psyker counseled.

“Well, color me surprised,” Roemer said.  “I would have thought the Lady would have chosen someone a bit…classier.”

“You don’t even know the lad,” the psyker said, standing as well.  “I am glad, however, to hear that Lady Morticia is on the road to recovery.”

“Yes, that was welcome news,” Roemer said.  “Well.  We shall have to see how this goes.  At least she seemed familiar with Sieur Isaac.”

Haarlan glanced sideways at Venus as the hatch closed.  “Have you some history with the man, my Lady?”

“He kicked the shit out of me for seven years,” Venus said with grim humor.  Haarlan stared at her, shocked.  “He was the unarmed combat instructor my father hired to teach me close quarters combat.  I never really took to it like Furia or Farah, but I learned a thing or two.”  She turned her smile on Remilia.  “I wonder if he’ll find it as easy as it was to throw me over his knee when I’m a foot taller.”

“I…see,” Haarlan said.  “Did you know he would be aboard?”

“I’m shocked.  I thought he was reassigned to Nocturne itself a long time ago,” Venus said.

“Tomorrow, on Terran Sports Network, the Rematch of the Century!” Alex said, in the voice of a sports announcer.  He leaned forward, gesturing to Venus and the now-departed serf.  “In one corner, the living volcano, in the other, some guy I just met!”

“Do kindly fuck off,” Venus said sweetly, as Jake and Remilia laughed.  Haarlan stared.  Freya sniggered behind her hand, muttering something.  Venus turned to her and cocked a brow.  “Something to add, Freya?”

“No, nothing you didn’t already know,” Freya said, all airs and modesty.  Venus’ eyes brightened and narrowed, flooding Freya’s corner of the lift with light.

“Uh huh.”  Venus slowly crossed her arms.  “That gym’s seeing some trade tomorrow…”