by Ryk Brown
Nathan freaked, looking up to the control booth, sure that the technician overheard her remarks.
“Relax, Ensign. He can’t hear us,” she whispered as she tossed her shirt on one of the chairs and started removing her boots.
“Look, I’ve been meaning to talk to you,” Nathan said. “You know, since we saw each other at orientation. But the training has been crazy and…”
“…Don’t sweat it,” she smiled as she wiggled out of her pants, leaving nothing covering her but panties and a sports bra.
Nathan was suddenly reminded of that night, staring at her reflection in the mirrored tile on the wall of the anteroom in his father’s home, as she was pulling her skimpy evening dress back on.
“I got what I wanted,” she told him, stepping toward the scanning platform. She hopped up on the platform and laid down, calling out to the control room above. “Let’s get this over with! It’s freezing in here!”
“Alright, then,” Nathan said. He pulled his shirt on, collected the rest of his things and made a beeline for the door, adding “I guess I’ll see you around, then.”
Jessica just smiled a satisfied little smirk as the scanner platform began sliding her into the scanning tube.
Most, if not all of the Aurora’s skeleton crew took their meals at the same time while they were still in port. It was probably the only time they would ever be able to dine together in large groups once the ship was underway, and the captain thought it would promote bonding amongst the over-worked crew. It had been something that his wife had insisted on when his children were growing up, and for the most part it had worked as his family was still close despite the fact that they were always separated by vast distances. Nevertheless, most of them still broke up into groups of two, three, or four, as one might expect, sharing conversation with the few friends they had made in what little free time they had during this hectic period.
The galley itself was not yet completely operational. The hot and cold service lines were installed, as were most of the cooking appliances, but there were no cold storage units installed other than a few temporary refrigerators brought up from Earth to serve in the interim. Because of this, they couldn’t keep much in the way of inventory on board. Most of their food had to be prepared planet-side and shuttled up to be reheated, which was another reason for everyone to eat at once.
“She is unbelievable!” Vladimir complained as ate. “She is, how do you say, a real ball buster, yes?”
“Yeah,” Nathan laughed. “That’s how you say it.”
“Ensign, I need this, Ensign, I need that! She always needs something! And when she gets it, still it is not enough! He paused to take another bite of food. “I spend three days waiting on this wretch of a woman.”
“What are they doing?”
“I have no idea! Can you believe? All I know is, they need tremendous amounts of energy. And they are doing something outside, on the hull. With the shield emitters, I think. I don’t know. They don’t tell me anything. All I know is that this woman is making me crazy!”
Nathan had not known Vladimir for very long, just over a week. But he had never seen him so worked up about anything. He was usually very easy going, letting everything roll off of him. “If she bothers you that much, why don’t you ask to be reassigned?”
“I cannot,” Vladimir explained, shoveling more food into his mouth. “The chief chose me, personally. Besides, this woman, she is beautiful!”
“Ah, now it makes more sense,” Nathan exclaimed.
Vladimir looked at him funny. “No, you do not understand.”
“Oh I understand, alright,” Nathan laughed, as a message came through on his comm-set. “Hold on,” he told Vladimir, keying his mic. “Ensign Scott.”
“Captain wants to see you in his ready room right after chow, Sir.”
“Understood.” Nathan’s expression suddenly soured.
“What is it?” Vladimir asked, seeing the change in his friends mood.
“The captain wants to see me.”
“This is bad?”
“I haven’t been doing so well in the simulations,” Nathan admitted. “I think I might be getting fired.”
“Nathan,” Vladimir explained, “In the military, they do not fire you, they reassign you. They could demote you as well. But you are already only ensign. And that is the lowest rank an Academy graduate can have, I’m afraid. So he cannot demote you. But he could give you really bad job. Like, maybe waste processing plant.” Vladimir shuddered at the thought of the place.
“Thanks for the pep talk there, Vlad. You’ve really cheered me up.”
“What are friends for?” he responded as he finished his meal.
“Well, I might as well get this over with,” Nathan decided, rising from the table.
“Think positive thoughts,” Vladimir advised him. “And keep chin up, always look strong and confident.” Vladimir moved closer and lowered his voice. “That way, no one knows you are scared like little bunny.” Vladimir laughed and slapped Nathan on the back, sending him on his way.
“Ensign Scott, reporting as ordered, Sir.” Nathan stood straight as a board, eyes straight ahead. The one thing good about standing at attention was that I made it easier for him to hide how nervous he was.
“Ensign Scott,” the captain began. “At ease.”
Well at least he’s still calling me ensign. That’s a good sign.
“How’s the training going?”
“Sir?” Nathan wondered if it was a trick question.
“How are you doing in the simulations?” the captain asked more directly.
“There’s definitely room for improvement, Sir.”
“Yes, Ensign. I’d have to agree with you on that.” The captain leaned back in his chair, something he liked to do while considering his next statement. “And how would you say Ensign Taylor is doing?”
“Better than I am, Sir.” Nathan figured if he was going to be honest, he might as well be brutally honest.
“How so?”
“She knows her flight and navigation protocols better than I do, Sir. And she stays more level headed under pressure.”
“And you feel that’s a good thing?”
“I would think so, Sir.”
“Why?”
“Sir?” Nathan was confused, unsure of what the captain was getting at.
“You seem to think that Ensign Taylor has an advantage over you at the helm, because she is more level headed under pressure. I’d like to know why you think that’s an advantage.”
“I believe it allows her to think more clearly, weigh all her options, and choose the best course of action.”
“And you don’t think you’re capable of doing that?”
“I didn’t say that, Sir.”
The captain leaned forward on his desk again. “But you do think it gives her an advantage. What are you doing that she is not?”
Nathan stumbled for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. “Sir, I believe that I get too emotionally involved in the situation.”
“You mean, you take it more personally?”
“Yes, I believe so, Sir.” The captain was looking at Nathan, like he was waiting for him to elaborate further. “It’s, it’s like I’m fighting a battle, Sir. Like it’s me against the scenario, and I don’t want to lose.”
“And you don’t think Ensign Taylor has this same problem?”
“No Sir, she doesn’t. She just looks at the problem, and calculates the safest solution.”
The captain leaned back once more, taking in a deep breath. “If you don’t bet big, you don’t win big,” he mumbled.
“Sir?”
The captain rose from his chair and started making his way around to the front of his desk as he spoke. “Mr. Scott, there are two kinds of officers. Those that follow the book, and those that use it as a general guideline.” The captain sat down on the front of his desk, facing Nathan. “Are you following me so far?”
“I’m guessing that Ens
ign Taylor’s the first kind of officer, and I’m the second?”
“Actually, Ensign Taylor probably has the damned book memorized,” the captain chuckled. “Hell, she probably sent the brass a list of grammatical errors.”
The captain’s joke raised a smile on Nathan’s face. For the first time since he came into the ready room, he didn’t feel like he was in trouble.
“You, on the other hand, “you’re the one saying, ‘there’s a book?’”
Suddenly, Nathan became nervous again. Captain Roberts could see the uncertainty in Nathan’s eyes, and decided to cut to the chase.
“Piloting a ship, that’s a monkey skill. I can teach anybody to fly this ship. Hell I can just tell the computer where I want to go and the ship will go there. ‘Flying’ on the other hand, well that’s a feeling, an instinct. And you can’t teach instinct. You’re either born with it or you’re not. I can sharpen it for you, but first you’ve got to have it.”
Nathan looked at the captain, not sure if he was understanding him correctly.
“That’s right, Mr. Scott, you have it. Hell, you’ve got it in spades. But, either you don’t realize you have it, or you don’t believe you have it. I haven’t figured that out yet.” The captain rose, walked back around and returned to his seat. “Now Ensign Taylor, she doesn’t have it. She’s a skilled pilot, to be sure. And she’s definitely as cool as they come under pressure. In fact, she’s the perfect type for a navigator, and a top notch one at that. But the helm is not where she belongs.”
Suddenly it dawned on Nathan. “Are you saying…”
“That you’re my new helmsman, Mr. Scott.”
Nathan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “But Sir, don’t you think that…”
“…A simple thank you sir would be the correct response.”
“Of course, thank you sir. It’s just that Ensign Taylor has been doing so much better in the sims than I have. Hell, I crashed and burned most of them!”
“But not all of them, Ensign. You even managed to pull through a few that there wasn’t supposed to be a way out of!”
“But I don’t see how…”
“…You need to give yourself a little credit, Son,” the captain said. “Do you really think Fleet just tossed me whatever graduates nobody else wanted? Hell, I handpicked every last one of you.”
Nathan was taken aback. Up until now, he had been sure that getting assigned to the Aurora had been either some cosmic joke, or the result of his father’s influence.
“I picked you to be my helmsman, and Ensign Taylor to be my navigator. You wanna know why? Two reasons. First, 'cause you’re both perfect for the job, and second, 'cause you’re polar opposites. You two fit the bill perfectly. Now all I’ve got to do is get the two of you to stop arguing like an old married couple and start working together.”
Nathan’s head was reeling from his sudden change of fortune. Ten minutes ago, he was sure he was about to get thrown off the ship. And now he was being offered the job of lead pilot, which also meant he was about to be promoted.
“Sir,” Nathan said. “May I ask a question?”
“Please do.”
“If you knew what positions you were going to assign when you picked us, why did you put us through all this cross-training, this competition?”
“That, is an excellent question,” the captain admitted, seeming quite pleased that Nathan was finally thinking instead of reacting. “I needed a way to make you want the position, a way to make you realize what you were capable of in the helmsman’s chair. And of course a little cross training never hurts.”
Nathan stood silently for a moment, thinking about everything the captain had said over the last few minutes.
Captain Roberts opened his desk drawer and pulled out a small black box, tossing it to Nathan. “You might want to put those on, Lieutenant Scott.”
Nathan opened up the box to see a pair of lieutenant’s Bars inside.
“I’ve given you both the afternoon off, so get some rest. You’ll both be back at it at oh-eight-hundred tomorrow.”
“Yes, Sir!” Nathan snapped to attention and saluted.
“Dismissed, Lieutenant.”
Nathan turned to exit, but paused before leaving, turning back to the captain. “Thank you, Sir.”
The first thing that Nathan wanted to do was share his good news with the only friend he had on board, Vladimir. But having never gone as far aft as the hangar bay, he was finding himself a little lost wandering the corridors of the lower aft decks where the engineering spaces were located. He was almost about to give up when he heard someone arguing nearby. Nathan followed the sound of their voices, realizing it was Vladimir. When he turned the corner, he found himself in the corridor outside the starboard shield generator compartment, one of the two spaces being used by the Special Projects team.
“I cannot give you so much power,” Vladimir was telling Doctor Sorenson firmly.
“Cannot, or will not,” she challenged, only a few inches from his face. It was an unusual sight, being that his mighty Russian friend had a good 30 centimeters on her.
“I cannot give you that much power at once,” he argued. “It is too much. The lines will overheat.”
“They will not!”
“Protocols state that I cannot exceed the maximum energy transfer rating for that line. I would have to install additional lines from reactor all the way to you.”
“Then do it. What’s the problem?”
“What’s the problem? Do you realize how much work that would be? It would take days!” Vladimir noticed Nathan approaching, welcoming the interruption. “Oh, hello Nathan,” Vladimir greeted, shifting his focus away from the irritating woman. “I see you did not get fired.” he joked, noticing the lieutenant’s bars on his collar. “I hope you do not think I am going to salute you now,” he added, shaking his hand.
“Excuse me,” Doctor Sorenson interrupted, refusing to be put off by Nathan’s intrusion. “We weren’t finished…”
“…Oh, where are my manners,” Vladimir apologized mockingly. “Nathan, this is Doctor Sorenson, the irritating woman I told you about. Doctor Sorenson, this is Lieutenant Scott. He is the pilot, you know.”
Nathan started to offer his hand in greeting, but thought twice about it when she started in on Vladimir again.
“Listen, don’t think that you can just brush me off like this…”
“…Please, Doctor,” Vladimir objected, having finally had enough. “Will you stop talking for just one minute? I’m trying to congratulate my friend on his promotion. Do you have no manners?”
“Are you going to give me that power or not,” she demanded.
“Not,” he answered calmly, knowing full well that the calmer he got the madder it made her.
“You leave me no choice but to go over your head,” she threatened.
Vladimir wasn’t affected by her threats. “Be my guest.”
“Fine! I’m going straight to Commander Patel.” she announced, as she stormed off in a huff.
“He is not commander!” Vladimir yelled as she walked away, not wanting to let her get the last word. “He is lieutenant commander!” Vladimir watched her go, hoping to get one more reaction from her, but got nothing. “Bah.” He turned to Nathan, “Do you see what I have to put up with?”
“Vlad, do you really think you should piss her off that way? I mean, she seemed really mad.”
“Not to worry,” Vladimir assured him.
“Yeah, but she’s going to your chief.”
“She will not find him. He hates her more than I do. So then she will go to XO, who will tell her that such decision must be made by the chief. Eventually she will come back to me. But by this time, she will be more reasonable.”
“And then you’ll give her what she wants?”
“Of course.”
“Then why not just give her what she wants in the first place?”
“It is not so simple.”
“You mean what she wants is
not simple?” Nathan was getting more confused by the moment.
“That? No, it is easy! One day, at most.” Vladimir could see that Nathan was not following him. “If I always run when she calls, then I am running, running, running, all the time. This way, we fight, she gets mad and leaves me alone for at least an hour, maybe two. This way I get work done. And she thinks twice before asking me for something else.” Vladimir smiled, sure that he was making perfect sense.
“Okay.” Nathan was still confused, but he was pretty sure that Vladimir had things well in hand. “You were right about one thing, though,” Nathan agreed. “She is hot.”
“Yes! I told you this!” he exclaimed as they started walking down the corridor towards engineering. “You know, I was not kidding before, I will not salute you.”
“Calculating new course,” Cameron said. “Transferring course to helm.”
Nathan watched as the new plot drew itself out on his navigation display. He was about to change course when he realized she wasn’t sending him in the direction he asked. “Wait, that’ll take us around the debris field. I wanted to go through it.”
“It’s safer to go around,” she argued, confident she was correct.
Nathan couldn’t believe she was doing this to him again. Ever since the captain had made him the helmsman, she had taken every opportunity to get in his way. “We don’t have the time to go around. Besides, the sensors show most of them are no bigger than a meter. And the shields can handle that.”
“If we go around, or more precisely up and over, we can skim through the less dense edge of the field, thereby reducing the risk to the ship. Once we come out above the field, we can punch it up to twice light and then drop out again a few minutes later on the far side of the gas giant. At the most, we’ll lose five minutes.”
“But that’ll put us in the wrong tactical position,” he insisted. “If we plow straight through, the debris will scatter their sensors and they’ll never see us coming. And when we come out the star will mask our sensor signature and obscure a visual track. We’ll have a clear shot!” Nathan was beginning to lose patience with her.
