A Long Night

Firstly, credit where credit is due. I wrote this short scene ages ago about an ISS Guard on boring sentry shift but couldn't put together a decent illustration to go with it. I checked out this one fav.me/d6niaij by the brilliant donnaDomenitzo and it clicked. So you here you have it!

Night shift on the Corporate Worlds Mobile Sentry Tower (MST) 14917, orbiting the occupied planet of Kalixa and Internal Security Services (ISS) Guard Tyler Calfiro was half scanning the security scanners, half reading a trashy action novel and drinking coffee. Lots of coffee and then some more coffee. Day time and the MST was a busy place; one of ten MST’s orbiting Kalixa it was the principle method Corporate Worlds authority on the planet. The MST was constantly scanning activity on Kalixa and heavily armoured with an array of missiles and projectiles to blast down onto trouble spots down on the planetary surface. That made MST’s the number one target for any local insurgents. If they could get access to them.

The MST itself was piloted by Mobile Forces personnel, as an ISS Guard Tyler’s job was to ensure the facility itself was secure and that law and order was maintained onboard. That meant a constant security presence ensuring all Mobile Forces and civilian contractors were “clean”. Day time and there was a steady stream of activity. Night time and it was quiet. No civilian contractors were allowed on the MST at night and the Mobile Forces personnel were tied to their own work monitoring Kalixa. All was quiet and the biggest battle was staying awake and sane.

Tyler mused on the sane point for a moment.

She’d joined ISS after high school and been assigned to ISS Mobile Forces guarding installations and warships. It was a different world to some civilian ISS guard on a home Corporate Worlds system. But Tyler kind of liked it. With the hum of the MST in the background she tried to keep her mind in check. Flicking through her e-reader she got back to the trashy novel. Anything to keep focused. A long lonely night shift could rapidly turn from boredom to terror if she let it. Sat out there alone at the checkpoint with the lights dimmed she worked at the novel. It was some crap about a Mobile Forces fleet trapped on a frontier planet fighting desperate insurgents in its return to Corporate Worlds space; there was no mention of boring night shifts for enlisted ISS Guards.

She glanced at the security monitors; all green and clear.

One chapter later the security scanner beeped and told her a figure was approaching. The monitor flashed green. It was her shift commander Sergeant Jake Tollerson which was good for Tyler because she really needed him to guard the monitors so she could go pee. That was the downside of drinking too much. Hopefully Tollerson would also have brought her more Galaxybucks coffee. Tyler hid her e-reader in her kit bag and tried to look more focused. Tollerson wasn’t a jerk but experience taught Tyler not to ever give her shift commander reason to be pissed off. To do so gave them opportunity to payback for a past screw up.

“Yo Calfiro, I brought you coffee and some chow” said Tollerson.

“Awesome Chief! Is it like real chow or like Mobile Forces chow?”

“If it’s real I call it food, if I call it chow its Mobile Forces stuff. This is a…ummm…chicken burrito flavoured power bar. Enjoy.”

“Should I thank you for that Chief?”

“Yeah you should, if you want to make Guard Level 3 at your next review.”

“Thanks Chief” said Tyler with a sarcastic tone.

Tollerson quickly scanned the monitors. All was clear.

“You wanna go take a quick break?”

“Thanks Chief.”

Tyler hauled herself up and Tollerson replaced her in front of the monitors. He glanced at her leaving. Guard Level 2 Tyler Calfiro was kind of easy of the eyes. Not super model material but based on an MST orbiting some shit hole frontier planet like Kalixa you graded on a curve and she counted as eye candy. If she hadn’t been in his chain of command Jake Tollerson would have made a move. As it was she was in “look but don’t touch” territory. Screwing around with an enlisted Guard in his chain of command was court martial material if he got busted. Or she started talking.

Tyler had a naturally thick, strong build and had put on weight since arriving on the MST. Her black uniform pants were tight fitting around her thick thighs and increasingly hefty posterior. Tollerson glanced at the Mobile Forces issue Burrito Power Bar – they tasted like crap but they sure were packed with calories if Guard Tyler Calfiro’s expanded ass was anything to go by.

He watched the ass in question disappear into the Female Enlisted Restroom and then turned to the security monitors. All green and clear. He looked at Tyler’s kit bag. He guessed if he searched he would find an e-reader, a games console and some other entertainment stuff to pass the night shift. Logging onto them, he was sure, would reveal the guard had been using them immediately before he arrived. If he wanted to be an asshole or Tyler had screwed anything up recently he could check it out to make a point. But Tyler had a good record and he didn’t need to bust her ass. She was one of the better members of his squad.

Tollerson smiled at that; he was back on the thought of Tyler Calfiro’s ass.

In the restroom Tyler squeezed back into her pants. Every time she did that was a reminder that she’d gained. Her previous posting had been on a Mobile Forces warship and had involved walking miles of corridors and some pretty rough and tumble work keeping combat troops in line. The MST was much smaller and the crew far more sedate; her job was mostly static security at checkpoints or sat on her ass in front of monitors. That, combined with Mobile Forces calorie packed chow, had her filling out big time. She still kept up her weight training in the gym and wasn’t fat like some of the girls back home but Tyler knew she’d gotten thicker.

Taking a breath in Tyler buttoned up her uniform pants and re-clipped her utility belt. Releasing her breath she felt her beginner belly push out over her belt. Reaching down she loosened the belt a notch. That was the second time she’d had to do that since being posted to the MST. Glancing in the mirror she checked her short, spiky blonde hair was as it should be and her uniform was as it should be and there was no sign of sloppiness. Sergeant Tollerson wasn’t an asshole but he would call her out on any sign of sloppiness. Tyler smiled ruefully; there was no sloppiness in her uniform but plenty of signs of tightness.

“Oh boy…”

Turning away Tyler returned to the checkpoint and took relieved Tollerson. Her eyes scanned the monitors. All green and clear.

“Okay Calfiro, I’m off now but stay focused” said Tollerson.

“Of course Chief, I’m always focused.”

“Yeah, remember these MST’s are number one target for those asshole terrorists down on planet. Security is important here. None of us want to get blown to hell.”

“You got that right, Chief” nodded Tyler earnestly.

“Kissing my ass like this you really want to make Level 3 at your next review, dontcha?”

“Yeah, I do” said Tyler.

“Keep at…oh…and enjoy that Burrito Power Bar.”

“Respectfully…screw you Chief!”

“Enjoy.”

She watched her Sergeant leave and the minutes slowly ticked by. Just the hum of the MST’s propulsion engines in the background. Her eyes scanned the monitors; green and all clear. She sipped on her latest coffee and eyed the Burrito bar suspiciously. Mobile Forces food really did taste like crap. Tyler mused over that; they might as well just call them Crap Flavoured Power Bar. She also knew they were packed with calories and designed to keep personnel on physical duties going. Not ISS Guards sat watching monitors. Tyler reckoned that was the reason for her weight issues. That and the partying and pigging out she got up to on her leave weekend at Franklin Station. Tyler smiled at that; a group of enlisted ISS Guard, off duty with the bars and clubs of Franklin Space Station to hit got pretty wild.

Running the burrito bar through her fingers she debated what to do. Tyler shrugged. On a Mobile Forces facility you ate whatever chow they gave you. Un-wrapping the bar she gulped it down in as few bites as possible.

“Yuck…”

She took a long drink of coffee. She scanned the security monitors; green and all clear. Leaning back in her chair Tyler reached back into her kit bag for the e-reader.

The battle to stay awake and alert continued. It was going to be a long night.