The Cadet's Officer

The Aristotle was now a safe distance away from the White Dwarf star, but close enough to keep gathering all the scientific information they needed. Second rotation had finished an hour ago and the star still hadn't exploded. He would have liked to have been on the bridge when it went. He sighed.

"Hey, cheer up, Wilksey," Hamish said in between mouthfuls of his dinner. "I hear you're a real hero. Captain was even talking of a medal, you know?"

Adam managed a smile. "When did the captain say that?"

Hamish looked hurt. "It's what I heard."

Azeel giggled. "What you hear has to be relayed from your dick…I'm surprised you even know what time it is."

"Oh, there you go again, Azeel." Hamish scraped the last remnants off his plate. "It's all blah, blah, I wish I were a super space stud like Hamish with you, isn't it?"

Azeel rolled his eyes. "At least I don't refer to myself in third person. Anyway, Wilksey, I hear Mr. Cleary thanked you for being brave enough to speak up. Is that true?"

Adam nodded. "Kind of. If you can call him barking at me to get my report in on time a thank you, then yeah…he did that."

Azeel laughed. "You've got it bad for him, haven't you?"

"What ever do you mean? I don't have it bad for him…do I?"

Hamish pointed his fork at Adam. "Azeel is right…you've got it bad all right. Look at you, you get all jittery and wide eyed every time you hear his name. I bet you've even jacked off thinking about him, haven't you? Jacked off 'til you're red raw. It's hard sleeping in our cabin with you two love sick puppies slapping yourselves all night, you know?"

"No, that's just what you do, Hamish." Azeel was forced to lean back as a robot waiter thrust his arm across the table, handing Adam a holo-letter.

"This is for you, Cadet Adam Wilkinson," the robot droned. "Please acknowledge that you have received this communiqué by the appointed 2230 hours."

"Um, yeah, I do," Adam said as he snatched the holo-letter out of the robot's metallic fingers. It then left.

"What's it say?" Azeel asked.

"Well, if he hurried up and opened it we'd all know, wouldn't we?" Hamish said as he finished eating.

They both glared at Adam as he fumbled with the seal on the outside of the holo-letter. He felt butterflies rise up as the display lit up and the contents of the holo-letter came into focus. Was this a commendation? Normally the captain issues those personally. What was it then?