"Captain Petra, I have some people that I would like you to meet. Are you available?" Said Admiral Thomas when I answered.
I found it a little odd that I was both cleaning cargo bays, and answering comms. Both Al and Grace had been making themselves scarce for the last few days. I think when they found out I was taking the job with the Morganite task force, and taking on a few Morganites for crew (and pointedly wasn't taking them on as crew), they worried that I might get it in my head to dump them out an airlock. I'm not sure what gave them that idea. Perhaps it was when Al started assuming the ship Executive Officer position, and demanded the access to the ship's computer and ship systems that normally went with that position. I kind-of lost it a little. You understand right? I was surprised, and felt a little threatened when he started yelling, and the words "I'll space you before I give you any position on this ship you slimy bastard!" MAY have passed my lips.
Grace didn't even try.
Which makes me a little sad, since in spite of what she'd done to me at the behest of her previous Captain, I actually liked Grace a little. Sure, I wondered if it was really me, or if it was her manipulating me so that instead of spacing her, maybe I would put her down somewhere nice. You know... with air and stuff. But I didn't think so, it didn't feel like that. I didn't think I would ever be able to completely trust her, but I so wished that we could become friends of a sort.
Admiral Thomas had his twin Storm Trooper shadow as always, but also had a small platoon of people with him, all but a couple of them wearing smart Morganite uniforms. The couple without uniforms wore ship suits. Ship suits are like overalls, only they seal tight enough to seal out space, or more precisely, seal IN atmosphere so that the wearer has air to breath. They won't keep you alive more than a few minutes if you are sucked out into space, but that's often enough time to get rescued. Or at least one might hope. They also have hookups so that external air tanks or a hose hooked up to ship life support, can be plugged in.
The Admiral indicated the woman at the head of the formation "Captain Petra, I would like to introduce you to Commander Barona. I'm recommending her to you to fill the Exec position."
I looked at her. She was tall, and strong, and athletic, and beautiful. Everything I would never be. Next to her I felt like a toad. Just as I was all set to dislike this woman, "Hello Captain, I believe we've had a number of conversations over the years. I am overjoyed to finally meet you."
It was that voice. That calm, in control, content voice that I forever looked forward to on those occasions when Pete and I had a haul that took us into Morganite space. Pete had told me on more than one occasion that I probably would never meet this person and I believed him. Now here she was, standing right in front of me.
I'm afraid I stood there like an idiot with my mouth agape until I was jerked back to reality by Commander Barona asking "Are you okay Captain, do you need some water?" I recovered with a start. Did I need some water? No, I needed whiskey... LOTS of whiskey. Huh? Where did that thought come from?
"No, I was just... I just never thought I would meet you in person Commander Barona. So I was startled." I replied. Smooth move Petra, way to show them you can handle yourself.
"If she is not satisfactory." the Admiral asked, looking concerned. "I can find you someone else..."
"No!" I interrupted, "Commander Barona is very much satisfactory."
"Good, I'll leave it to her to introduce the rest. I have some tactical meetings I must attend." The Admiral excused himself.
Once all the saluting and military deportment and all that finished, I would have to get used to all that now I suppose, and the Admiral was safely away, Commander Barona started introducing me to everyone.
"First, we have Lieutenant Commander Dorn, who the Admiral and I believe will make an exceptional weapons and security officer. I've heard very good things about him and the Admiral has worked with him for years."
Dorn was terrifying. Tall, with muscles piled upon muscles, and that look of quiet, confident, restrained violence that I had grown to recognize from when Pete and I would dock at a station and I had need to walk around. Pete pointed out this kind of man on a number of occasions. Dorn was the kind of man that even the most hardened criminals would go out of their way to avoid. I instantly liked him, and was terrified of him, all at once.
"Next we have our bridge crews, Ensigns Barns and Shelly for helm and comm, and Lieutenant Tine for astrogation." To my surprise, Barns and Shelly were both fresh-faced girls, neither of them looked old enough to be out of school, let alone in the military, yet they both wore the Morganite uniform like they were born to it. Barns was short, thin, and sharp, with dark hair and dark eyes. Shelly was her exact opposite being tall and curvy in that way that only very athletic women who have won the genetic "knock out figure" lottery can be. She had bright blue eyes and blonde hair, and reminded me of a girl from an advertisement. Lieutenant Tine on the other hand was a past middle aged, gaunt, man with a pock-marked face, and a shocking number of unattractive tattoos. He was the first Morganite that I had ever seen with tattoos. He saw me looking at them.
"Ma'am, I spent a number of years in maximum security prison and was just recently exonerated. I beg you please Captain to give me a chance. I know astrogation like the back of my hand, and I need to go outside. Morganites can be wonderful, forgiving people, but when they see my prison tattoos, they assume the worst." Lt. Tine said.
I looked at Cmdr. Barona, and she nodded. So I said "Very well Lt. Tine, Welcome aboard." The look of relief on his face only made me like him even more. In a world full of Baronas and Shellys, us homely people have to stick together.
As we approached the next person, one of the ones in a ship suit rather than a uniform, Commander Barona didn't have a chance to get out an introduction.
"X0142basil! It is so nice to see how well you are doing." he paused obviously expecting something, then finally continuing "No, I guess you probably don't remember me. I'm Doctor Farn. I'm the Doctor that patched you back together when that scoundrel Miami Pete dragged you in! How is Mr. Pete?"
I wasn't sure I liked the idea of anyone calling Pete a scoundrel. This man was definitely rubbing me the wrong way already.
"Dead." I said.
The poor man visibly deflated. "I'm sorry, I didn't know. I've been working so hard lately... I didn't know..." Dr. Farn was a short, chubby, balding man a little past what one might call middle aged. And he looked like he was about to fall over.
"Someone get the good Doctor something to sit on." Commander Barona commanded. It wasn't quite a "bark" like some officers, it was more of a statement of what would happen, at a slightly elevated volume so that everyone could hear. But it carried with it such a force of command that even I started looking for a chair. Within seconds, a cargo crate appeared behind the Doctor just in time for him to sit.
"I didn't know. Are you sure? Pete was so..." the Doctor was in shock.
"I was there, Miami Pete is gone." I said carefully. The Doctor was taking the news of Pete's death a lot harder than I expected anyone to. I knew Pete had friends in Morgain Space. Pete made friends everywhere he went, but I never expected anyone would take his death this hard.
Doctor Farn shook his head and snapped out of it. "Oh child, here I am carrying on like this without even considering how you must feel. I am sorry for your loss, Pete and I were close friends and shared some adventures together once upon a time."
Adventures? I would have to have a conversation with Dr. Farn at some point.
I thanked the Doctor, and smiled and moved on whispering to Cmdr Barona "Do you think Dr. Farn is physically well enough for this mission?"
"I believe so." She answered. "Dr. Farn is one of the top scientists specializing in cybernetics in Morgain Space, and may very well mean the difference between success or failure in our endeavor. I also believe that the Admiral intends to keep Haul-o-caster as far away from harm as possible. So having Dr. Farn on board the Haul-o-caster is probably the best place for him."
The next two were obvious because they were wearing a "getting my hands dirty" version of the Morgnaite uniform. Cmdr. Barona introduced Chief Williamson, and Petty Officer Smart. My new Engineering crew. I admit, I bristled a bit at the very idea that of someone other than me doing any work on Hauley. Other than the rare re-fitting work that required special equipment, I had turned every bolt, overhauled every component, and preformed every single bit of maintenance that had gotten done for years. For that matter, on those rare occasions, I always found time to personally inspect every bit of the work.
It was Chief Williamson who put me at ease, "I see that look Captain, and I completely understand. I assure you that I am intimately familiar with the Haul-o-caster's chassis design, early in my career, I worked on the very assault ship model that was used to build her. I've also worked on the engines used on our deep space patrol ships. I believe the Haul-o-caster herself was part of the inspiration for those ships. I believe in performing preventative maintenance before it's due, and keeping on top of even little problems so they don't become big problems. Every repair is an opportunity to discover why the repair was necessary, and look into ways of making the ship more reliable. But I promise, before we consider making any change, you will be consulted and kept in the loop."
The final person was also in a ship suit rather than a Morganite uniform. She was an older woman, who looked almost motherly. Cmdr. Barona smiled at her and introduced her. "Captain, for our final member, this is Mother Ahmisa. She is to be our Morale officer. Each Morganite ship has a Morale officer, with some of the largest ships having a whole Morale section."
"Do we really need a Morale officer? What does she do?" I didn't know what I was expecting, but nothing good.
"Captain, I cook meals, including ethnic foods from all the Morganite ethnicities. I act as a counselor to the crew members, to give them someone outside their chain of command that they can confide in. I provide religious services if members of the crew require it. I serve as an intermediary between crew members from differing sects, to smooth the way for crew members with very different beliefs to work together. In a pinch, if we find ourselves attacked, I join the damage control team, if need be, or I can help repel boarders." answered Mother Ahmisa, ignoring that I had asked the question of Commander Barona.
I found myself a little taken aback. I never knew there were more than one kind of Morganite. Outside of Morganite space, little is really known of what happens inside Morgan space. Apparently, it's more than anyone imagined.
"Very well Mother Ahmisa, welcome aboard." I was getting more than a little over-loaded. How was I going to deal with this many people? Where was I going to put them all? Other than the rare passenger or two, then the two Monks, Pete and I were usually the only two people aboard the Haul-o-caster. Now we were going to have, what, a dozen people?
"Captain, if you don't mind, Mother Ahmisa and I will go aboard and start getting everyone settled into their births. I haven't heard anything official, but back channels are sounding like the Admiral will be wanting to leave in a day or so." said Cmdr. Barona.
"That would be fine." I sighed. I didn't know how to interface with these people. "If there nothing further you need from me, I'll finish sweeping up in Cargo Bay 3."
"Chief Williamson, the Captain would like Cargo Bay 3 swept out." Cmdr. Barona said in that way she had.
"PO Smart?" the Chief said.
"On it Chief." came the reply from PO Smart, who was already moving.
"Commander Barona, Cargo Bay 3 will be ship shape in short order!" Cheif Williamson told Cmdr. Barona.
I just stood there, agog. Mother Ahmisa quietly slid up beside me. "I see you aren't used to all this Captain. Don't worry, they are just trying to make a good first impression. I personally know a number of these crew members, and know quite a bit about most of the others, they are all exemplary. The one I don't know about is Lieutenant Tine."
"Don't worry about Tine. You may know Morganites, but I know a thing or two about the rougher side of life. Tine isn't going to be a problem." I'd been nearly everywhere with Pete, and my gut feeling about Lt. Tine was that he was solid.
"Yes Captain, it is as you say." Mother Ahmisa replied. Then Barona, Ahmisa, and the rest of the crew picked up their bags and boarded the Haul-o-caster. As I watched them board, I realized that life as I knew it was at an end.
It didn't take long for trouble to start. I had... well, I guess you could only say hidden, in Pete's office. Or perhaps I should say my office, since it was now mine. When Al busted in.
"What's the meaning of this? That Shrew says she's taking my quarters, and she had the damn gall to have that giant assault me! They're trying to say that I have to sleep in the crew bay from now on!"
"Well, Al. You were in the VIP quarters, but now I have need of them. Since you aren't a paying passenger, and you don't really do anything around here, you should be happy you aren't being put in a cargo bay." I had enough of him already.
"Oh yea? What about Grace then? Why is she still in VIP. She's useless. Give me her quarters!"
Just then, I heard Cargo Bay 2, then Cargo Bay 3, start to open so I held up a hand for quiet and listened. Or tried to anyway. Al was still complaining, and when he realized, I wasn't listening to him, he just complained louder.
"Do I have to get Dorn in here to stick a sock in your gob? Someone is loading cargo onto my ship, without my permission!"
"See? SEE? That's what you get. I bet you don't even make it out of the docking bay before they replace you like they replaced me as XO!"
"You were never XO Al. Get out of my office and either make yourself useful or go sit in your quarters somewhere out of the way!" and I attempted to push him out of my office. That was when Ensign Shelly, and Mother Ahmisa arrived carrying boxes full of my things from my quarters. Well, my old quarters anyway.
"Captain," Ahmisa explained, "I hope you don't mind; I've taken the liberty to help you move into your new quarters. I know this is probably hard on you, but we need your old quarters for crew members." She looked at Al, and he looked back with the usual smug disdain that he used for... well... everyone, then she looked at me and smiled. Al wasn't exactly a large man, but he was still easily twice my size. Then she turned "Ensign Shelly, would you remind this man where he belongs, and impress it upon him that he is to stay there?"
"Yes Mother." and with a turn towards me, "By your leave Captain." Shelly set the things she was carrying down and all-but picked Al up by his collar and walked him out of my office and down towards the crew quarters. I decided that I had to forgive her for being so beautiful and admit that in spite of it, I really liked her.
Mother Ahmisa smiled at me. "I hope you don't mind Captain, but I get the worst feelings from that man."
"Me too." I replied.
And, business as usual, Mother Ahmisa continued with her mission "Captain, I saw that your things hadn't been moved into these quarters yet. It's important for morale for the crew to see you as the Capitan. Which means they need to see you living in and accepting the Capitan's quarters of the ship. I don't mean to be pushy, but this is important." Then she smiled a motherly smile. I was still overwhelmed by all this, and I was still a bit confused by what Mother Ahmisa's roll was to be on my ship, but I couldn't argue her logic. I knew she was right.
"I understand. We can move me in here. That's fine. I'm sure Pete would be wondering why I hadn't done that yet." I told her as I looked towards the door.
"Is something else bothering you Captain?" Ahmisa asked. Boy is she observant.
"Just... I can hear cargo being loaded, and I didn't know about it, wasn't informed, and I'm not there to supervise."
"Yes, Captain. Just like sweeping the cargo bay isn't your job anymore, neither is cargo handling. You have a meeting with the XO scheduled for dinner time this evening where she will bring you up to speed on what's going on. I was hoping to talk to you about that. Some Captains have taken to inviting a different crew member each evening. It's a good way for you to get acquainted with the crew, and stay connected to them. Especially on long voyages. Not all ship Captains have adopted the practice, but I was hoping that you would. I, of course, will be cooking the meal. Do you have any food allergies I should know about? Usually I would be able to look into your file for such things, but your file with the fleet is rather confusing to say the least, full of Dr. Farn's notes on your recovery years ago, but little other information. And I'm afraid I can't get into the ship's files yet."
"I don't know about ship's files. I'll have to think about that."
"And the crew member at dinner? I spoke to Commander Barona, and she likes the idea."
"Yes, I like the idea also. I wonder how to schedule that."
"Captain, that is my job. Don't worry about anything, I'll handle it."
Sure enough, that evening, the comm in my quarters beeped and I was informed that the dinner was ready at my convenience. When I walked into the galley, Cmdr. Barona was not there. I was confused for a moment, but Ensign Shelly pointed me towards the "Captain's dining room".
Holy Quazar! There is this room on the Haul-o-caster that has a doorway directly from the Captain's quarters on one side, and to the galley on the other. Pete always used it to store ration bars and various other things, so I always thought that was what it was for. Now, all that had been cleared out and a table, complete with a table cloth, decorative center piece, and beautiful place settings complete with tasteful silver filigree with "Haul-o-caster" in silver around the rim on top, and a date around the rim on bottom. I recognized it as the date that Hauley's maintenance logs started, so probably the date the ship was commissioned. It was the fanciest table I had ever seen. Frankly, I was intimidated.
Sitting at the table was Cmdr. Barona, and Petty Officer Smart. Both in what had to be their dress uniforms. I looked down and almost cried. I was still wearing the ratty old stained ship suit that I had been wearing while sweeping Cargo Bay 3 that morning.
"Oh!" Commander Barona exclaimed when she saw me. "How rude of me Captain! I didn't even think to wonder if you had uniforms. Since you aren't officially part of the Fleet, you wouldn't. Oh, I'm so sorry."
PO Smart looked terrified as if he was going to be executed or something.
I couldn't help myself. The stress of the last few days finally got to me. The look of horror on Barona's face. The look of terror on Smart's face. And I couldn't help myself. I started laughing. And laughing. At one point, I think I actually couldn't stand anymore and sat right down on the deck, laughing, holding my side because it started to hurt.
Finally, I managed to get something out that probably sounded like "Gasp... pant... ha ha ha ha... Gasp... HAHAHAHAHA... GASP!!!" Tears rolling down my face. After a few minutes, I managed to just start getting it under control. Then I made the mistake of looking at the two of them again, and the whole thing started all over.
Luckily for me. About that time Mother Ahmisa arrived with a cart that held dinner and saw what was going on. She started laughing with me, and must have motioned for the others to start laughing also, because I heard the beginnings of a forced laugh from Cmdr. Barona, along with a tiny little laugh from a, probably still terrified, Smart. But nobody can resist laughter and soon we were all laughing at least at some level.
I wish I could say I did all that on purpose, but no. The ridiculousness of the whole thing just got to me and I couldn't help it. Once I was able to control myself, and drag myself back to my feet, I begged Cmdr. Barona, PO Smart, and Mother Ahmisa's pardon and told them I would be right back. Then I ducked back into Pete's... I mean... My quarters and after a short search found my very best ship suit. Looking in the mirror, I realized that there wasn't much to recommend it other than the fact it was clean and... mostly... unstained. Ship suits were practically all I had to wear.
When I returned to dinner, I apologized for not having anything better, and asked Cmdr. Barona if she thought we would be able to help remedy that problem, as soon as it was convenient.
"Of course" she replied.
Since the ice was well and thoroughly broken, I sat down in my place and marveled at the spread. I had never seen such food. I usually just grabbed a ration bar whenever I got hungry, and ate it while continuing whatever I had been doing. When I said as much, Cmdr. Barona cautioned me to take it easy with the "real food" for a while until my stomach got used to it. Advice that I found was as sound as it was impossible to follow.
The food was amazing. I couldn't identify most of what was there, so I asked PO Smart to fill me in on. It worked wonders to get him to relax and open up. Soon we were chatting like three old friends. Apparently, at Captain's dinners, rank structure was traditionally... well... not forgotten, but eased. I loved it, because it gave me a chance to actually talk to PO Smart and hear his opinions and ideas rather than just "Yes Ma'am" and "No Ma'am". I also learned that I really liked potatoes. I wondered what they are made of but was too embarrassed to ask.
Over desert, which I could only take a couple bites of because I found it incredibly sweet. Cmdr. Barona started talking about the preparations that we were making for departure. Stocking the cargo holds with food stuffs, adding an extra water tank in case we were out longer than predicted along with a whole list of other things. These Morganites didn't sit on their hands, they got to work fast. We still didn't have a hard date yet, but "back channels", Cmdr. Barona assured me, said we would know any day now.
Once I was up to speed with Cmdr. Barona, which was handled with amazing efficiency, the Cmdr. asked PO Smart if there was anything that Engineering was doing that might interest the Capitan. After a halting report, mostly consisting of all the things that he and Chief Williamson checked only to find was already taken care of (I had to smile at that). PO Smart asked if I wouldn't mind some questions.
"Sure" I replied.
After that came a flood of very technical questions about the engines and the tweaks and modifications that had been made over the years. When I started working on Hauley's engines before, I basically had to reverse engineer the changes. Nobody had kept any kind of notes. I hadn't either for that matter, but I had all that info up there in my head. I could tell that PO Smart was amazed at my being able to tell him not only vague descriptions, but details on everything. He tried to copy it all down. Poor guy, I can talk pretty fast when I get all spun up talking about Hauley. Of course, I had an advantage, I had it all stored in the memory banks of my cyber device. Which got me to thinking. Could I copy some of that information and transfer it to engineering? I would have to ask Dr. Farn. If anyone would know, it would be him.
I was impressed by the questions that PO Smart asked. The guy really knows his engines, and seems to have a passion for his work, and put me a little more at ease with having other people work on my ship.
The dinner finally ended with me promising PO Smart that I would work on getting some tech specifications to him. I decided that if Dr. Farn wasn't able to provide me with a means to copy the information out of my head, I would sit at a console and create the documentation by hand. Hauley, and our engineering staff deserved at least that.
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