"-inc-ss.  Prin-s, open yo- ears."<br/><br/>The voice was staticky, blocked by the metal of the ship.  Meredith stopped wrestling the hose down a ladderwell and responded.  "Say again!  The hull's blocking comms."  Her voice was muffled by the mask.<br/><br/>"Continue advancing the line.  Your hose tender is down, so you'll need to hump the packs from the entry to keep moving," Critz ordered over the radio.<br/><br/>That was weird.  If her hose tender was down, she should fall back, recover him, and wait for another team or reinforcements.  You didn't run line by yourself at the front.  It was stupid.  She'd be totally isolated if it was a real fire and an alone firefighter was a dead firefighter.  Maybe it was a test.  "Shouldn't I fall back and wait?"<br/><br/>"What you should do, Princess, is what I tell you.  This is a drill, not a turnout, and you need the exercise.  You don't want to carry out the order, feel free to drop off your shit on the way to being a waitress or soccer mom."<br/><br/>That cast iron son-of-a-bitch!  Meredith's hand trembled on the hose, anger making it unsteady.  It was just one more piece of petty picking, a constant jab jab jab trying to get her to quit and return the firehouse to a man cave.  It wasn't like she even asked for privacy.  Meredith slept in the same dormitory as the men and why not?  They all slept in their clothes, minus boots, ready to go at a moment's notice.  She worked out with them, took her turn cooking, washed the truck and cleaned gear and mowed the grass, same as the men.  The only concession was she had a toilet to herself and a small shower instead of the big communal one.  But the harassment was never ending.  They'd replaced her sheets with Hello Kitty ones like Meredith was 12.  Painted her airpack bottle pink and even put glitter glue outlining her name on her turnout coat.  Tampons in her boots, maxipads in her pockets, all sorts of juvenile, petty shit.  The first time she'd laughed about it publicly, spent the next 23 hours holding it in, then bawled her eyes out the moment she hit the door of her tiny apartment.  The two days off had been horrible, wondering what they'd do next time she was on duty.  Since then, Meredith had given up the tears and reacting to whatever new thing she found.  Maybe they'd grow tired of it.<br/><br/>"Copy," she said, toggling the mic so fast it threatened to clip her transmission.<br/><br/>Moving the hose forward and going back for more line took half an hour.  Angry, frustrated, Meredith kept running into things she should have already remembered were there.  Despite the padding in her gear, the bruises were piling up.  The final straw came when she pulled the hose to get it past an obstruction.  When it popped loose, Meredith stumbled backwards into the side of a paint locker.  The sharp edge of it scored along her ribs and it hurt.  It hurt so much she fell down and was trying not to throw up.  Even breathing hurt, like maybe she'd cracked a rib.<br/><br/>Meredith laid still so long the emergency beeper on her coat, triggered by her lack of motion, went off with a piercing warble and she had to slap it to silence it.  It went off again before she got up.  She should just quit.<br/><br/>No!  No way!  Meredith had worked hard to get where she was, both against tradition and the boys in the house and her own family.  She wasn't going to waste all that.  She could do this.<br/><br/>Getting up, she went back to the line and started hauling.  Haul line.  Run into something.  Take the pain and make it her own and keep moving.  Haul line.  Haul line.  Haul line.  It became a mantra, interspersed with sharp moments of shin-smacking.  Eventually, there was no more line.  She'd gone as far as possible, way further than expected.<br/><br/>Crouching now instead of on her knees, Meredith straddled the line and picked it up then hurried along it, sliding her hands over each other and using the hose as a roadmap out.  In no time she found the hatch to the upper deck and opened it.  Screw Critz.  Meredith pulled her mask off and enjoyed the slap of cold night air on her sweaty, red mottled face.<br/><br/>No one was around.  Not one person was manning the engine or the command post on deck.  Where were they?<br/><br/>Meredith looked towards the pier, but it was empty of firefighters.  They had to be on the ship.  As she looked for them, Meredith undid the toggles on her coat and let the air steal inside.  It made her gasp but it felt so, so good on her hot skin.  She found them on the other side of the ship, well heard their voices anyway.  Walking around a stack of pallets, Meredith remained in the shadows cast by the pier lights and was about to say something when she saw the money.<br/><br/>A lot of money.  And it was going into Critter's hand from a man in a shiny black suit.  What the devil?  Meredith pulled back a little, then crouched down and peered through the holes in the pallets.  The man said something, clapped Critz on the shoulder, then walked off on his wingtips towards the gangway to the pier itself.<br/><br/>"When do we get our cut?" Hollywood asked as they walked past the pallets on the other side from where Meredith was hiding.<br/><br/>"When I say you do," Critter answered.  "Now shut the fuck up about it.  This ain't the kind of thing you run your flap about.  Businessman like him has an opinion on what fires should be fought and what fires should be let go, I figure it's our civic duty to listen to him and accept his gratitude.  You keep talking about it, or let that bitch Princess hear you, it's all over.  You want that?"<br/><br/>"All right, all right," Hollywood groused.  "I got it.  Besides, no way she's done running that line yet."<br/><br/>"Pretty smart, huh?  Work her ass off, we get all the money.  And maybe she gets to have an accident in one of them fires we should let go and we get our house back."<br/><br/>"Jesus, Critter!  Are you serious?"<br/><br/>"Just saying, Hollywood.  Just saying."<br/><br/>The male firefighters rounded the corner of the superstructure, leaving Meredith undiscovered.<br/><br/>Alone.<br/><br/>She hurried back below decks and was wearing her blacked out facemask and pretending to fight hose when Critz came down to cancel the drill and chew her out for not getting far enough along.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>