“Honestly Lieutenant, I didn’t do anything special.” Matt said to her.
“First off, it’s Cynthia. Anyone who saves my ass gets to call me by my first name. Second, you saved both of our asses. If you hadn’t gotten that air supply hooked up, we would both be dead. So just learn to take the thanks and gratefulness with a modicum of grace, and accept that you are a hero to a number of people on this ship.”
“Yes ma’am.” Matt mumbled.
“Yes Cynthia!” she said sternly, and then laughed.
“Oh, don’t tease him.” Bounce said as she rubbed his arm. “This has been hard on him. Being a hero and all. Besides he’s a movie star now too!”
Matt blushed as Cynthia piped in. “That’s right, he is. I’m just disappointed that I didn’t get a chance to try out for the roll of the leading lady.” She said breaking into a wide smile after she finished. Then leaned toward Matt and said quietly. “I am disappointed for real.”
“Oh. I have a feeling I am never going to live this one down.” Matt said looking at the ceiling.
“Ohhhh you don’t know the half of it.” Bounce said.
“What does that mean?”
“Well, you know how girls talk, and since Katelyn and I spent so many hours alone in that shuttle cabin waiting to be rescued, well we just naturally had lots of time to talk about all kinds of things that have happened in our lives, experienced aboard ship, you know… even things that haven’t happened yet.”
All Matt could do was groan. “How did I get into this mess?”
“Don’t worry. We have a nice long trip ahead of us. I’m sure we can get you used to your celebrity status, and maybe keep you busy too.” Cynthia said quietly as she stood up. “If you two will excuse me, I have to go on duty.”
“See you later Cyn.” Bounce said cheerfully as Cynthia walked away from the table. “Sooooo, what do you think? We really didn’t have a chance to talk before your shuttle mission, and, well we haven’t even seen each other since.”
“What do I think about what?” Matt asked as he dug into the food.
“You know… Me… us? What do you think? You don’t think I was crawling into bed with you at night because I needed a teddy bear, do you?”
“To be honest, I was surprised. I had no idea you were attracted to me.”
“Ohhhhh, you silly man. Hell yes I’m attracted to you. So is Kate.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you attracted to me?”
“Well, let’s see… great body, good looking, sexy, smart, confident, strong… should I go on? Or do you just enjoy turning red?”
“No, that’s enough I guess.” Matt said trying to reduce the redness that had crept into his face.
“So you didn’t answer my question.”
“Which question?”
“What did you think?”
“You want me to be honest?”
“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t”
“Ok. I like you. I think you’re a great person. And your great looking and you certainly make a good bed warmer. With everything that’s happened I just haven’t had a chance to think past that.”
“Well, I didn’t expect you to propose to me or anything. I just wanted to know if you liked me at all of if I was wasting my time.” She said looking down at her tray.
“Bounce… You’re not wasting your time. ok?”
She looked up at him and smiled. “You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.” Matt replied with a smile. “Personally I think you are pretty great. I just have been so busy I haven’t had a really good chance to think about how it all fits together. Ok?
“I can live with that.” She said, still smiling.
“Good.” Matt said “Now I have to go. I’m due on the bridge in a few minutes.”
“Ok.” Bounce said as he stood up. “See you tonight then?”
“Where else would I be?” Matt said as he took his tray and waked away, leaving a grinning Bounce to play with the food left on her tray.
Matt walked onto the bridge a short time later. He relieved the security watch on the bridge weapons station and settled in for his four hour duty shift. He busied himself with checking out his station status and was about done with that when the Captain and Lieutenant Cowens came onto the bridge. Cynthia took the navigators station next to Lieutenant Kispan, who was seated at the pilot’s station.
“Mister Kispan. Are you ready to take us out of orbit?”
“Yes ma’am.” She responded crisply.
“Mister Cowens. Have you logged the plotted course?”
“Yes ma’am.” Cynthia replied just as crisply and businesslike.
“How long to optimum trajectory point?”
“Seven minutes, ma’am.” Cynthia said after consulting her computer screen.
“Very well. Mister Kispan. Lay in the designated course and prepare to leave orbit.”
“Aye ma’am. Course is plotted and laid into the computer system. Estimated transit time eleven days at optimal fuel consumption coast trajectory.”
“Very well. Engage optimum consumption trajectory and prepare to leave orbit.”
“Course loaded and locked into the nav computer. Automatic acceleration curves selected, orbital thrusters placed on standby.”
“Engineering station, status?”
“All systems ready for deep space transit.” The Commander seated at the engineering console reported.
“Very well. Mister Kispan. Execute!”
“Aye Aye Ma’am. Trajectory executed. Orbital exit in two minutes on 2.3 g acceleration burn.”
“Thank you Mister Kispan.” The Captain said as she reached for a control on the arm of her command seat and selected the 1MC ship wide communicator. “Crew this is the Captain. We are two minutes from departure of Mars. As most of you know from the rumor mill, we are going to transit to Europa Station to do a re-supply. For the newer members of the crew, this will be a boring transit; however, the sights you will get to see on the other end will be fascinating. We will be doing a standard sprint and drift trajectory and expect to be in transit approximately eleven days. That is all. Enjoy the trip.” She clicked off the intercom system and sat back to wait like the rest of the crew.
“Burn commencing in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…Now.” Lieutenant Kispan said loud enough for the whole bridge to hear. No one felt the pressure of the high g acceleration, the automatic gravity field generators working to shift the vectors so that it stayed at a constant one g downward at all times.
“Thank you Mister Kispan. I will be in my cabin. You have the bridge.”
“Aye ma’am.” The Lieutenant said as the Captain got up from her command chair and walked off the bridge.
In some ways it was like sitting still, but the stern view on the bridge view panel showed that they were in fact now headed away from mars. At first it was just a case of the horizon changing, but as the hours of the afternoon watch crept by, it was clear that the red planet was shrinking behind them. Matt didn’t have much to do, so he worked on the volumes of reports and duty logs that needed the attention of the department head. It amazed him how much paperwork command seemed to entail.
The intercom on his panel beeped at him. He pressed the button.
“Mister Molter. Would you come to my quarters please?” The captain asked, more of a command than a question.
“Aye ma’am.” He said as he quickly got up from his seat and walked the short distance from the bridge to the door of the captain’s quarters. He pressed the alert button next to the door and seconds later it slid open for him to enter. As she had been last time he was there, she was seated behind her desk.
“Mister Molter. Have a seat.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“I want to talk to you about Ensign Yostov.”
“Yes ma’am?”
“You room with him, don’t you?” She asked, the look in her face saying she knowing full well he did.
“Yes m
a’am.”
“Tell me what you think of him.”
“Well, he seems to be a nice guy. We haven’t really had much time to talk since we got on board. He has been working the late cycle.”
“Yes I know. His Commander wants to wash him out of the command program. I wondered if he was getting a full picture of the man.”
“Yes ma’am,” Matt replied.
The Captain pushed back the chair and got up, walking to the view port on the far wall.
“You’re not helping Mister Molter.”
“Ma’am?”
“If I call you into my quarters to talk privately about anything, I expect your complete and total honesty. You’re not an Ensign anymore. I expect all my department heads to be candid with me, tell me what you think and feel about the topic. Not what you think I might want to hear.”
“Yes ma’am.” Matt said.
She turned to face him. “So?”
“Well ma’am. He had a bad attitude to start with. He thought that the only way to get into the command track was on bridge duty. He didn’t think that being in security would allow that.”
“Would you consider him a friend?”
“I’m not sure. He’s a roommate, I’ve had some courses at the academy with him, but no, I don’t consider him a friend. He has kind of insulated himself from the three of us that are in that room.”
“I see. Would it surprise you to find out that he has been disciplined for circulating a vid of two officers having 0g sex in a docked shuttle?”
In fact that did surprise Matt very much. “Yes ma’am.”
“If he were in your department, what would you do with him?”
“To be honest, the vid aside, his attitude would affect the whole team. He would need to change his attitude or I would want him out.”
“Even if he’s a friend?”
“Ma’am. There’s friendship and there’s your team. You can’t afford to destroy the working relationship of your whole team for one member, even if that member is a friend. It might make me try a bit harder to get him to change, but if he didn’t, I would still want him out.”
“That’s a very commendable attitude. Very well. I was considering putting him in your department to help out, but from what you say it would be a mistake.”
“Yes ma’am.” Matt said, feeling like he had just condemned Pete to a base job.
“Having regrets Mister Molter?”
“Some ma’am. I feel like I just torpedoed his career.”
“Don’t. You might not know it, but his Commander never scheduled him for bridge duty at the weapons station because he didn’t feel his attitude was appropriate. Had he gotten his head out of his duffle bag he would have seen more bridge time than most Ensigns. He did this to himself. Now, on to other business. I’m going to change his billet. There isn’t any point in his poor attitude dragging down your whole group. All three of you are looking like fast trackers. We still need to find a replacement for you in your department.” She said walking over and handing him a data pad. “Here are the files of three Ensigns that I can transfer to you. Pick who you want and let me know by the end of your watch.”
“Yes ma’am.” Matt said taking the data tablet and standing up.
“Dismissed.”
“Aye ma’am.” Matt snapped sharply as he turned and headed out her cabin door. He returned to his station and sat down to read through the files on three Ensigns. There were two female and one male member. He noted that one of the women was pilot that got good marks, but not quick enough reaction times to make a great pilot, according to her commander. The other two were from engineering. After looking through the files he decided that Ensign Joan Light was the best choice. She looked like a hard worker and not afraid to take on new tasks. Her department commander gave her better than average across the board. He got up from his seat and walked back to the Captain’s cabin.
“Yes Lieutenant?” The Captain asked after she let him in.
“I think Ensign Joan Light looks to be the best choice for this assignment ma’am.”
“Very well. Not Ensign Kusha?”
“No ma’am. She didn’t get good marks for her reaction times in shuttle training. If there is one thing I learned, flying a suit is touchier than flying a shuttle. Poor reaction times would be a hindrance to her EVA capabilities.”
“Fair evaluation. How about Ensign Daves?”
“Good engineer, but his Commander doesn’t score him high. He spends too much time trying to make things perfect. Perfect doesn’t exist outside a lab. No ma’am. Ensign Light is the best qualified.”
“Very well. Ensign Light it is. Since you’re a Lieutenant JG, you’re entitled to a different billet, your also acting department head, so you’re entitled to a single billet. I can give you Commander Haskel’s berth if you want it. Otherwise I have one vacancy in a joint billet with a couple other JG’s. Which would you prefer?”
“I’m not sure I need a single billet ma’am. A combined room would be fine.”
“Very well. I’m going to move Ensign Light into your old billet in place of Ensign Yostov, and move you to Cabin 326. If you decide you want that single billet later it will still be open. I know your busy, but try to get moved in the next few days. Have you met Ensign Light yet?”
“No ma’am.” Matt said, catching the captain smile as she turned away.
“Very well.” she said talking toward the wall. “I will let engineering know she is transferred and have the XO post the billet changes.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“That’s all Lieutenant.”
“Aye ma’am.” Matt said, snapping to attention and turning on his heal to exit.
“One more thing Lieutenant.”
“Yes ma’am?” Matt said turning to face her.
“What happens in your quarters between roommates is up to you. What happens on duty must maintain decorum.”
“Ma’am?” Matt asked genuinely confused.
“There seems to be some kind of attraction, from what I can tell, with a number of the female members of the crew toward you, more so than I have noticed at this point on other cruises. I don’t think that you are encouraging it, and I don’t want to see it cause you problems. For the good of your own career, what you do in your quarters with your roommates is up to you. But outside your quarters having a junior officer kiss you on the cheek in the mess is not a good idea. Pay attention to the rank differential. I know that I have put you in a hard position with the quick elevation in rank, but I believe you can handle it.”
“Yes ma’am.” Matt said blushing.
“In this case I think that she was just genuinely glad to see you alive, but caution her to keep her reunions to less public spaces.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“You’re not in trouble Mister Molter. Neither is Ensign Briggs. Try not to crush her too much. It’s obvious even to the blindest member of the crew that she has a crush on you. Even if you don’t return it, let her down gently. She has the makings of an excellent officer.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Dismissed Lieutenant.” She finished with a nod.
Matt snapped to attention and turned and exited. Once he was in the passage he relaxed and tried to get the red from his face. He wasn’t sure how, but the Captain seemed to know most of what was going on around the ship. If the vid wasn’t bad enough, now she knew that Bounce wanted to bounce on him. But the Captain was right. Bounce had a crush on him and he didn’t want to bash her feelings. In fact, he wasn’t really sure how he felt. There was definitely something intriguing about her. Matt got back to his station with less than half an hour to the end of his watch. A young Ensign from security, which he had seen several times before, showed up to relieve him.
Matt walked into his quarters to see Sparks and Bounce sitting on one of the lower bunks.
“Did you hear?” Sparks asked.
“Hear what?”
“Pete washed out. They even moved him out.”
Bounce said.
“Yeah, I know.” Matt said quietly as he dropped on the bunk across from them.
“What do you mean you know?” Bounce asked.
“The Captain asked me of my evaluation of him. Then she showed me his Commander’s report. It wasn’t good.”
“What do you mean?” Sparks asked.
“Remember that attitude he got when he first found out he was in security?”
Fleet Academy Page 15
