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The Capitan's meeting felt strange. The only Capitan I knew there was Capitan Ceryl. The rest were strangers. They all used their given names, because about a third of them had the surname of Tonamann, and the rest were a mixture of Cox, Appletree, Dozer, and of course Williamson. The five founding families of the Unchained Fury settlement. They all knew each other and many of them grew up going to the same schools or going to school with each other's younger or older siblings.
The worst of it was they were all looking at me. As if I had all the answers. I just wished I had any answers at all. I was fresh out.
"Is there anyone here who is senior? Who's in charge?" I asked.
"I rather think you are." Said a young man with what might one day be a mustache and chops, but right now it was little more than a patchy scrub of fuzz. "You're the real Capitan from the Morganite Fleet right?"
"Right doofus." Said another, possibly a couple years older version of the exact same person. "She's from the Morganite Fleet. The same one that is destroying our home and killing everyone we know, including our mom and dad, and you idiots want to do whatever she says to do!"
Patchy stash and chops started crying. The meeting exploded into shouts and name calling.
A piercing screech sounded, and everything went quiet as everyone put their hands over their ears. "Sorry everyone, I don't know how to whistle so I did that instead." Capitan Ceryl said mildly. "Now that you babies have had your little fit, we got to figure out what we're going to do. And before any of you start demanding again that we rush in halfcocked and get ourselves killed, you go right ahead. Don't expect me to come save you."
"Easy for you to say, you're the one with the cruiser." Said a cherub faced boy, I swear he couldn't have been old enough to kiss his first girl yet.
Apparently, that hit a nerve with the, up till now quiet, demure Ceryl Tonamann. "Don't you dare bring up that argument Cecil Cox! That was settled over two hundred years ago! None of you would have ships at all if it weren't for the Tonamann family and you know it!"
"Please start shooting at each other over this and put us all out of our misery." Said a young girl, probably ten or eleven years old. "I don't even want to be here; I should be with mommy."
An older boy spoke up. This one actually looked like he could be close to twenty. He shared the straight dirty blonde hair, dull green eyes, and high cheekbones as the little girl. "I'm sorry little sis, mom and dad are gone. We'll try to find someone to take over for you as soon as possible so you can come over to the Thunderbird. I'll can take care of you."
The little girl wiped the tears off her cheeks and sat up straighter. "No Donny, I'm here. It is my family duty to be here. I'll stay at my post on the Owlfeather; the Good God knows nobody else would want her."
"Anyone else want to waste time while the Morgan Fleet could notice us at any moment?" Ceryl asked.
Nobody said anything.
"Ok, here are your assignments." I said as I sent out the orders. Barona did most of the work drawing up a mixed formation for the twenty one ships of all shapes and sizes from the tiny Owlfeather, an old recon ship, to Ceryl's cruiser Shadow King.
The Tonamann family had the most ships, six in all. The cruiser Shadow King, the destroyer Through Darkness, who's name I was told comes from a Morganite prayer, and the heavy freighter Stone Biscuit comprised one leg. The destroyer Ground Thumper, scout ship Pepper, and the medium freighter Dog Bone comprised the other. The Cox family had five ships. Three destroyers, the Paveway, the Ptarmigan, and the Efreet, a medium freighter, the Box of Rocks, and a light freighter, the Gladway. The Appletrees had four. Two frigates, Lasting Sun and Longsword, a medium freighter called Epiphany, and the smallest fleet tender I had ever seen, barely larger than a medium freighter called Abacus. The Dozer family had three ships, a frigate called Thunderbird, a scout ship called Owlfeather, and a medium freighter called Mover Over. Finally, the Williamson family had only two ships. A frigate called Mouseballs and a light freighter called The Shortest Ton.
One cruiser, five destroyers, four frigates, two scout ships, seven freighters and a small fleet tender. All old as dirt and obviously patched and repaired. Add to that one Haul-o-caster, which was still technically a light freighter and that was what we had. What a sight we must have made, if anyone saw us, which I hoped they didn't. Barona did her best, but try as she might, the families all wanted their ships to stay together.
She put the Tonamann family out front, and the Cox family bringing up the rear, which, of course started an argument. but I really wanted the Pepper available to scout ahead if we needed to. The Appletrees held the center. The argument on that assignment only lasted until I pointed out how screwed we would all be if they took out our only fleet tender.
The Dozer family held one side while the Williamson family held the other. There was no argument, both took their assignments with a nod of acceptance.
"You sure you won't come to the Thunderbird, Penny?" Donny of the Thunderbird asked his sister. "We can have one of the cousins take over the Owlfeather. They don't have the training you do, but at least you'll be safe."
"Nowhere is safe Donny." She replied. "At least on the Owlfeather I'll be able to run away if I have to."
"That's right, run away coward." Geran Cox of the Paveway spat at her. "Might as well run away now for all the good you'll be."
"Fine talk coming from someone sitting in a destroyer." Donny shot back.
"I swear, if I have to come over there and knee you in the balls, Geran, you're going to shut up and quit being an ass to people!" Said a young woman.
"Come and get me Tessa." Geran mocked, "That little freighter of yours wouldn't take more than a shot or two and I wouldn't have to listen to your nagging anymore."
"ENOUGH!" Ceryl yelled. "Geran Cox. One shot at Tessa, and I'm ordering all Tonamann ships to take you out! She almost died last time." Last time? I looked up on my cheat sheet and was flabbergasted to see that Tessa was Tessa Cox, Capitan of the Gladway, and Geran Cox's own sister.
"Firing on anyone, or even actively targeting them would be a bad idea right now. There is a huge fleet out there and we don't want to attract their attention." I said.
"Capitan," Lt. Tine said. "I just picked up a targeting signal on the passive scanners. The Paveway actively targeted the Gladway for two point eight seconds."
"Is there any indication that it was picked up by the Morganite fleet?"
"Nothing yet Capitan, they don't seem to be pointing active scans this direction, but if they picked it up on passive there would be no way for us to know. Without active scanning, and I don't suggest we do that, if they are careful, we might not even notice ships sent after us until it's too late."
"And I'm guessing they would be. Meeting adjourned everyone. Fall into formation, watch for my move orders. We're going to swing around and attempt to keep this gas giant between us and the Morgan Fleet until we get out past the Heavy Belt. We'll spread out and find cover there until the Morgan Fleet leaves the system." It was the best plan I could come up with. I was glad that Barona gave me some hints as to what words to use to say it, I'm not sure I would have found the right words.
So I had a fleet. A small one, sure, but better than nothing. On the other hand, the fleet was manned by children. Penny, Capitan of the Owlfeather, was the youngest at twelve. Twelve years old, and responsible for a crew of six, most of them teenagers. The Unchained Fury settlement had gotten so comfortable that they were safe that they were using their family's traditional stashes as a way to season their children with real life experience. When I managed to get a quiet moment with Capitan Ceryl - who in spite of looking like she wasn't much older than Capitan Penny, turned out to be seventeen - I asked if there was a way we could replace Penny with someone older. She warned me that any attempt to do so would cost us the whole Dozer family, which would also lose us the Williamson family because while the adults of those two families absolutely hated each other, Capitan Donny of the Thunderbird and Capitan Augie Williamson of the Mouseballs were best friends. So much so that Capitan Augie was letting Capitan Donny date his sister. Capitan Tiatus - whom they call "Capitan Tits" - of the Shortest Ton. I recalled the girl - woman? - from the Capitan's meeting. I assure you the nickname comes by way of her unwieldy name, not her physical endowments. Taitus? Who names their child Taitus?
Later that evening, I had dinner with Mother Ahmisa, Barona, and Lt. Tine. It was Lt. Tine's turn, but I asked the Mother to also join us. We were still in route to the Heavy Belt. So far we could detect no trace of persuit.
The Heavy Belt is an asteroid belt out between the sixth and seventh planet in the system. It's comprised of mostly rock asteroids, but there is quite a bit of metal ore and even some water to be found. Lt. Tine's report on the system notes that it could very well have once been a planet that was hit by something big enough to break it up. I don't know about those things, but at least we might be able to resupply water and perhaps even mine for some raw materials. We did, after all, have a fleet tender.
"I don't know what we're going to do." I told them, "We can't leave these children to their own devices. They wouldn't stand a chance against the Morgan Fleet. Any idea why they are here with such a large fleet?"
"My guess - and it is just a guess Capitan - is that someone tried to collect whatever bounty might be on our heads by telling Admiral Thomas' enemies that we were here." Lt. Tine posited. I was impressed, he usually didn't like to guess about anything.
"I think the Lieutenant has a point Capitan." Mother Amisa added, "Although we can't rule out the possibility that this fleet might just be going to all the Morganite stashes that were friendly to Admiral Thomas and hitting them all."
"But it was Chief Williamson who brought us to this one." I said.
"Yes, but I spoke with the Mothers on the station. You wouldn't have seen them, this sect hides their Mothers for some reason. They told me that Admiral Thomas visited the station often. He even helped broker some extra support for this place in the form of equipment, food and water, and even some advanced weapon parts to help upgrade the Unchained's guns."
"Those guns were mighty impressive." Lt. Tine said. "I was wondering how they managed those with what they had at the settlement."
"As far as what to do Capitan." Mother Ahmisa said. "According to the Mothers I have managed to contact on the ships - not all of them will talk to me - these children are given extensive training before they are put on the ships. The expectation is that they will be treated like any other crew. They believe that those who are worthy will rise to the occasion, and those who aren't are better off weeded out young, lest they pull the rest down. This is what they believe the Good God intended."
"So it's sink or swim?" I asked. The saying was something I learned from Pete. Try as he might to explain it, I didn't understand what it meant until I saw my first lake, and Pete tried to teach me how to swim. I definitely would have sunk, so I'm not particularly fond of the concept.
"Yes." Mother Ahmisa replied. "And worse, if they get the idea that you are sitting out her hiding because they are children when you would do something else with adults. The Mothers will probably advise them to leave you and go their own way. I have to warn you, I wasn't able to talk to any of the Mothers on any of the Cox ships, but according to the Mother on Abacus, the Cox Mothers are just as impetuous and unpredictable as the Cox boys themselves. They are probably already stirring to leave the fleet."
"On the upside." Lt. Tine added. "Listening to the comm chatter, and talking to my counterparts on some of the ships, If the Cox leave, there is a good chance that Capitan Tessa will keep the Gladway with us rather than go with her brothers. Apparently, Geran Cox is quite devout and has been known to fire upon his brothers' and sisters' ships, ostensibly to provide them with opportunities to grow into strong adults. According to an engineer from the Abacus that I spoke to about sensor upgrades, Capitan Tessa almost lost her entire ship last time, almost died herself, and was permanently disfigured."
"She looked fine to me in the Capitan's meeting." I said, remembering the dark haired, stern young woman who had threatened to knee her brother, Capitan Geran, in the balls for not playing nice."
"She uses a filter Capitan. I can tell you that." Lt. Tine said. "I detected it during the meeting. It's a good one, but not perfect."
Using a filter to change one's looks on comm channels was considered anything from incredibly rude to downright dishonest, depending on who you were talking to. That's why I didn't use a filter to hide my Cyber Device. Being cybernetic causes enough problems with people trusting me. I am learning that different than what people usual from a cybernetic being. The last thing I need is for a filter - which would be detectable just like Lt. Tine detected the one that Tessa used - to cause people to think I'm hiding something and distrust me even more.
"Capitan, I believe one of the goals of these Capitan's dinners is to give crew members an informal setting to air their concerns." Lt. Tine said. "Please don't feel like I am questioning your decision, but I am concerned that Capitan Geran's little tantrum, targeting his sister's ship, has put us all in grave danger. If that Morganite Fleet saw that little display they may, even now, be plotting to intercept us. Our only recourse would be to head for open space and hope they don't lay chase until we run out of fuel."
"And you are wondering why I didn't say anything?" I asked.
"Yes Capitan. I'm not questioning the decision; I just fail to understand it."
"Let me answer this one if I may Capitan." Mother Ahmisa cut in. "Lt. Tine, in officer training were you ever afforded the chance to watch a vid of Admiral Alexander Smythes' talk on leadership?"
"Yes Mother." Lt. Tine said excitedly, which was decidedly out of character for the usually reserved man. "He came to the training campus while I was there and gave the talk live."
"OH! That must have been wonderful for you." Mother said.
"Well, to be honest. I was told that I would never be allowed to Capitan a ship, so my name was excluded from the group invited to see it." Lt. Tine seemed a little guilty. Which was also odd. "A fellow student, excluded because she was a Hoonian, talked me into sneaking into the rafters of the hall it was held in and watching from there. I later wish we had not done so." Mother nodded in understanding at the mention of a Hoonian, whatever that was.
"Why? Did you dislike the talk?" Mother asked.
"The talk was inspiring. Admiral Smythe is an amazing man. Everyone who saw the talk emerged from it energized and ready to train hard to be the best officer we could be." Lt. Tine anwered.
"That is what that talk is designed to do. Then why the regret?"
"It was hard to hide the inspiring effect of the talk, and I think the school caught on, so they gave everyone a pop quiz covering the subjects of the talk. I recognized the danger and forced myself to answer the questions as if I hadn't heard the talk, but my friend was not so savvy." Lt. Tine answered. "She was called to the disciplinarian, and I never saw her again."
"You understand that almost no Hoonites ever graduate the academy, don't you?" Mother asked.
"Yes." Lt. Tine agreed. "It does not make me feel less of a coward that used deceit to maintain my place while she was removed."
"Lt. Tine, as the Mother of your ship, I hereby absolve you of this. Do you understand me? It was wrong for you to be excluded from that talk. Which brings us to why I brought up the talk. Mr. Tine, what is the first rule of giving orders?"
"Never give an order you know cannot or will not be obeyed."
"And why? Lt. Tine." The Mother asked him.
"Because it undermines authority, and fosters disrespect." Lt. Tine answered.
"Exactly." The Mother said. "And for the Capitan to tell young Geran Cox to not be an ass would be like the Capitan trying to tell you not to be intelligent and efficient."
"I could strategically introduce errors into my reports to simulate being less intelligent, and I could add a delay in reporting, that might come across as less efficient." Lt. Tine said smiling.
"Thanks for proving my point young man." Mother said. "Those things wouldn't amount to obeying the order, they would just be pretending to obey."
"Um... What's a Hoonian, or Hoonite?" I asked. Yes, the stuff about giving orders was interesting, but whoever this Admiral Smythe was, he wasn't so smart. Pete taught me that lesson a long long time ago.
"The Hoonites are a sect of Morganism that teaches one-ness with the cosmos." Mother explained. "Pretty much the exact opposite of the Scientists. That you were able to be friends with this Hoonite speaks well for you Lt. Tine."
"I was a freak, and a known former member of the Scientist sect with prison tattoos on my face, Mother." Lt. Tine explained. "I was grateful to have any friend at all, even if that friend was Geshan Tor the Hoonian. If I were able to locate her, I would very much like to continue our friendship. Interestingly, I learned that their beliefs aren't as backwards and anti-science as people believe, they just look at the universe from a different viewpoint than we do."
"OOO Tine's got a girlfriend!" I teased. He didn't look happy about it.
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