Kate realized the dour apparatchik the Commander showed to the rest of the world was a shell for a man who on the inside was a dedicated romantic. How odd. How interesting. How many other interesting things about other people had she been missing by accepting surface appearances?
"One of the many skills you're going to have to develop, my dear young woman," the Commander continued. "Is that of not appearing impatient when a senior officer choses to ramble on at you."
"Yes, sir."
"You want me to endorse your application. Then you want me to let you go your way free from more trials or philosophical meanderings," the Commander said. "Am I right?"
"I would like my application endorsed, sir," Katie replied. "I'm not sure I'd put the rest of it exactly that way." She wasn't going to say she was tired or stressed out and would like nothing more than to hide in her bed reading one of those history books he'd mentioned. Right up until the time came to leave for the Academy.
"Yes, it wouldn't be discreet, would it?" the Commander said. "I wish I could grant your wish. Unfortunately, though it wasn't your fault you didn't finish the qualifying tasks I gave you, I can't. Not without creating bad optics. Right now I'm regretting having asked you to do them and wish I'd just endorsed you in the first place. I didn't and we both have to live with the consequences. It's going to look odd on your record and mine if we don't see this to its logical end."
"Yes, sir," Katie said, trying not to sound glum.
"I'm truly sorry," the Commander said, "and I'd like to make it up to you if I can."
"Yes, sir." This did sound more hopeful.
"Yes, but practically we have a major problem surrounding your safety," the Commander said. "A problem that also looks like my fault. I don't see how I could have seen we have a murderous criminal in our midst and that you'd stumble across them because of me. But seems we do, and you did. And it's my fault. I have the responsibility of fixing it."
"Sir, the Cromwell family have offered to take me in and keep me safe from intruders."
The Commander gave a slight nod. "You have more friends than you think," he said. "However, though I'm not a Belter born, I have learned a little about the culture. You'd owe them a big favor. More accurately, since you're planning to go off to the Academy your parents would owe them a big favor. Forgive me for saying so, but your parents seem even vaguer about how Belter society works than I am. In the end, the Cromwells would feel slighted and your parents would have even more trouble hiring good outside crew than they already do."
"They've been resisting the whole idea of hiring outside crew," Katie said. She ought to know she'd fought and lost that battle repeatedly.
"I think you know as well as I do that with you gone they'll have no choice," the Commander said. "I wondered for a long time how they kept that ship running by themselves. It occurs to me now that you were doing much of the work that a proper crew would have. I'm sure they love you and are in denial about it, but they've been very unfair to you. It's not merely that they've over worked you and deprived you of a proper childhood. You've understandably developed a great deal of self-confidence, but also a lack of respect for those senior to you. We touched on this earlier. You need to work understanding the value of experience. Also of respecting authority, even when it may be mistaken in some instances. Understood?"
"Yes, sir," Katie said. She tried to tamp down the anger and annoyance she was feeling. Katie had managed fine. "Are those the grounds you're going to deny me your endorsement on?"
"No, they're not," the Commander said. "In fact, I've come around to the idea that you deserve it. You're not perfect and you differ from the typical candidate in ways which will be a continuing source of difficulty in your career. You are ambitious, determined, extremely smart and able. You've shown a precocious ability to be pragmatic and grow personally. Don't let this go to your head. You're going to need all those qualities to succeed. However, I believe that if you persist, you have what it takes to become an outstanding Space Force officer."
"Thank you, sir."
"I've hit upon the perfect way to preserve appearances, reward you for your patience, and to keep you safe without you having to incur any problematic social obligations," the Commander replied. He was projecting smug glee.
"Sir?" Katie said, this could be good or it could be bad.
"I've arranged for you to accompany a survey patrol to the Outer Belt," he said. "Little over two weeks. Speaks directly to your ship board skills. You get to see a real Space Force crew in action. Allows you to show you can along with a non-family team. Last, but not least, you can't get safer than being surrounded by loyal Space Force members in deep space. It's perfect."
Katie blinked. It did sound good. "Yes, sir," she said. "Sounds great. Thank you, sir."
"I've forwarded all the necessary paperwork to your tablet," he said. "You'll have to read and sign off on some safety and familiarization documents before reporting first thing tomorrow to the SFS Sand Piper. Lieutenant Anderson who's captain will check you know all that sufficiently. Technically he could deny you acceptance if you don't, but I don't think you'll have any problems, even with the short notice."
"Thank you, sir. That sounds great, sir," Katie answered, still stunned by the development.
"Well, that's all. You can go," the Commander said. "You've got some study to do. Goodbyes to say. Your parents need to sign off. That's not going to be a problem?"
"No, sir."
"Good. Best get a good night's sleep too. Off with you."
Katie put down her tea cup and stood. She resisted the urge to jump up and salute the Commander. She was that excited.
Katie left with as much dignity as she could. It was exciting. On the other hand, she didn't have her endorsement yet. Also, if she was trying not to stick out as special this wasn't going to help.
Still, tomorrow she was going to be crew, very junior but still crew, on a real SF ship on a real mission.
It was a dream come true.
* * *
Katie, as was her habit, was running a few minutes early.
She was spending those minutes admiring the SFS Sand Piper from the viewing gallery overlooking the spacecraft's berth in the docking hangar. The Sand Piper, a Bird class Scout Courier, was small by spacecraft standards. Small enough to fit into an enclosed, fully pressurized hangar.
Katie knew internally she was cramped. The personal space allotted each member of the five-man crew precluded individuals significantly larger than average from serving on her. The sleeping, toilet, and washing tubes provided were simply too small. A feature from one point of view as the ship's crew normally operated under zero Gee conditions with arbitrary unexpected accelerations a possibility. It was important to keep "falls" short.
For all that looking at the ship from the outside and in person, it seemed quite large enough.
A large metallic insectoid like construction that resembled nothing so much as a huge artificial space going dragon fly. The long pair of "exercise pod" booms attached added to that impression. They existed to make sure crew members got their daily dose of exercise under full Gee conditions, but form did not resemble function. They looked for all the world like weirdly formed wings.
A couple of enlisted technicians were methodically scurrying about the ship. Going by their frequent glances at large thin tablet devices, they were going down a set of checklists preparing her for departure.
A red-headed young man with a sub-lieutenant's pair of two narrow rings on the cuffs of his ship suit looked on. Supervising, no doubt. The ship's complement of five only included a single sub-lieutenant, so this had to be Sub-Lieutenant Timothy McLeod.
Katie wondered that Captain Anderson, a senior lieutenant, wasn't supervising the departure preparations himself. It seemed a rather critical thing to be delegating to a relatively inexperienced officer.
"You must be Katherine Kincaid," a voice from behind her came.
Katie turned to see a tall man, Earth stocky, bu
t skinny by their standards, she'd guess, standing behind her. He was trying to project authority, but mainly succeeded only in looking awkward. He was was wearing a Space Force ship suit. Two thick lines on his cuffs and shoulders identified him as a senior lieutenant. A ship's crest identified him as part of the Sand Piper's crew. A name tag on his breast read "Anderson".
This had to be Lieutenant Anderson, captain of the Sand Piper, Katie's boss, and personal god for the next couple of weeks.
"Yes, sir, Captain," she said. "I thought I'd take a few minutes to look her over before reporting."
For a second a sunray of happiness broke through the man's gloomy demeanor. "She is a beauty isn't she?" he said looking out at his command.
It didn't last long. He blinked and seemed to remember something he'd forgotten. Something that made him anxious. "Do you prefer to go by 'Kathy' maybe?" he asked. Apparently, polite social niceties were on his checklist.
Katie remembered to breath slowly and evenly and to keep her dismay off of her face. Commander Tretyak might have thought it no big deal but Lieutenant Anderson did not appear happy about the disruption her presence meant to his ship's routine. Which naively, she did think was odd. Wasn't carrying the occasional passenger or two part routine for couriers?
"'Katie is fine, Captain," she replied.
"You know how long she is?" he asked.
"Twenty-three meters from the tip of the bridge to the end of her engine nozzles, sir," Katie replied.
"Divided how?"
"Three meter bridge section attached to the front of the sixteen meter main spindle after which comes the four meter long propulsion module, sir," Katie replied. "The main hull is sub-divided into five sections. The three meter long living and utility section, the five meter long cabin equivalents section, the two meter long exercise pod access section, the three meter long cargo section, and, finally, the remaining three meters belong to the engineering space."
Captain Anderson blinked and gave her a confused smile. "Very good. You've swallowed the ship's manual?" he asked.
"I tried to memorize as much as I could," Katie replied.
"Good," he replied. "What about safety? Where are the damage control stations located?"
"There are three damage control stations, sir," Katie answered. "Number one in the forward part of the utility section on the port side between the airlock and the bridge, one meter aft on side seven, the port lower side, to be precise. The number two damage control station is in the after part of the cabins section on the port side. Eleven meters aft on side six, the port middle side, to be precise. The last number three station is in the aft part of the cargo station next to the engineering air lock. Sixteen meters aft on side two, the starboard middle side, sir."
Lieutenant Anderson's mouth quirked. "You did swallow the manual, didn't you?" He paused and stared at his ship for a second. "Book learning is not the same thing as knowing a ship and what to do in an emergency," he said.
"I'm a Rock Rat kid," she answered. "I know how to find the way to an air lock, emergency shut valve, or fire suppression system under variable Gee, and in the dark after being woken from a solid sleep. We all learn that young. Stuff happens; you cope or die."
"Alright then," Captain Anderson said drawling out the phrase, "maybe we'll test you later, but I believe you. It's weird, but I guess kids out here do learn that even if most of them have never seen an open sky or been swimming."
"Is swimming part of the Academy's program?" Katie asked.
"It is, but most of the cadets can already swim before they get there," the Captain replied. He looked at Katie in an assessing manner. "If you're serious about attending the Academy, arriving on Earth early and acclimatizing to it and learning things like swimming and how to hike and run in the outdoors might be a good idea. Even things like a mosquito or two or a bit of mud might be overwhelming if you don't. Believe me you don't need more handicaps at the Academy it's already hard enough. Most of the cadets are Earth born. The Academy sort of assumes that you'll know anything the average Earth born person does, I'm afraid."
Katie was startled. The Captain hadn't seemed that friendly, but he appeared to be offering genuinely good advice. Like he'd like her to succeed if possible. It didn't entirely add up in her mind. "Thank you, sir," she said. "I'll try to see if I can do that."
"It'll help, I'm sure," he replied. He then grimaced thoughtfully. "It looks like you know your stuff, but I do have to make sure." With that, he proceeded to grill her mercilessly on the material she'd spent the night before committing to memory. With no false modesty, she couldn't imagine anyone else managing to satisfy his demands given the time she'd had. It was an anomaly. The material had had a note from the Commander to the effect that although crew were required to memorize everything on the ship down to the square meter and all its various procedures and routines that passengers, which he basically believed she'd be, got off with a quick safety demonstration of what was needed in a dire emergency such as fire or a hull puncture.
And yet here was the Captain expecting her to know what crew members trained for months to learn. Not entirely reasonable, though she wasn't going to say that. Finally he gave it up ending with a half question, half statement about the ship's routine.
"Last, you understand that I don't stand regular watches, but the rest of the crew normally stands them twelve hours on and twelve hours off, one pilot and one sensor officer?"
"Yes sir," Katie replied. It hadn't been clear if she'd stand a watch or not. Technically, she was qualified to stand a watch as either a pilot or sensor officer but she'd have been shocked if the Space Force accepted that in practice. The familiarization material she'd been given had seemed to assume she'd simply be a passenger without any shipboard responsibilities. "I was wondering which watch I'd be doing my mandatory daily exercise with."
Captain Anderson looked at her as if he'd never considered the question. "I tell you what," he said. "We'll keep the pilots Gregorian and Romanov on twelve hour watches, 0800 to 2000, 2000 to 0800, starboard and port. You, Wong, and McLeod get eight hour sensor watches, 2300 to 0700, 0700 to 1500, and 1500 to 2300 respectively. Gregorian, You, and McLeod do your exercise 0700 to 0800. Me, Romanov, and Wong from 1900 to 2000. Okay?"
"Yes, sir," Katie hardly knew what to say. It was like he was making it up on the spot. An impression reinforced by the fact he then took time to enter it all into a tablet. She heard a send ping when he was done. Had he really just altered the ship's entire watch setup on the fly and only told the crew at the last moment?
When he was done the Captain looked up. "Well, I think we'll have lots to keep you busy besides your watches and exercise time, but we'll work out the details later. No sense wasting your time. You want to learn as much as possible, right?"
"Yes, sir," Katie answered. A tremendously useful phrase.
"Good. You got your rations order in on time?"
"Yes, sir."
"Great, but have Sub-Lieutenant McLeod check it got loaded properly, okay?"
"Yes, sir."
With that, the Captain heaved a deep sigh. "Good. Consider yourself as having reported in. Go see McLeod. He'll get you settled in. I'll see you again at departure. Dismissed."
With that, he turned and walked away.
Katie shook her head and made her way down to where Sub-Lieutenant McLeod waited.
* * *
Katie couldn't help liking Sub-Lieutenant McLeod. He was like the puppies she'd seen so many vids of. She knew she wouldn't be able to have a pet at the Academy, but she was hoping to see some real dogs on Earth. Maybe as a junior officer she might be posted somewhere where it was possible. Not likely, but not inconceivable either.
Anyhow, SLT McLeod was energetic and eager to please. He was young, but Katie knew he had to be at least five years older than she was. Most likely at least seven unless he'd entered the Academy early. Still, he gave the feeling of being much younger and closer to her age. He was showing her around the ship. The familia
rization and check that she'd done her homework she'd originally expected as her introduction to the Sand Piper.
He'd kept up a steady patter since she'd introduced herself. When he wasn't pointing out some feature of the ship, "This is the dining nook. Note it only seats four at a time and has restraints in case of emergency maneuvers. Never leave a drink open or unsecured. Never leave food uncovered or unsecured either," was an example of that, he was elaborating on shipboard life.
"Everybody hates exercise hour. Strapped into a torture device and spun around in open space for an hour. Most dangerous part of the day. RPM is so high that even once you're acclimatized to it, it makes most people feel giddy and a little off. Some of us get sick every damned time. Science is solid that it's necessary for long term health." He'd looked at her briefly then. "Especially for those of us who want to go back to living on Earth. Damned nerve racking and damned unpleasant all the same. Space Force and the Captain don't cut us any slack on it. Twice a day every day and can't maneuver properly with the booms out," being an example of that.
It was extremely informative and Katie was listening with rapt attention. Mostly she'd kept him going with periodic "Yes, sirs.".
Katie had felt his heart felt screed on exercise hour required a bit more feedback. "It's a tough problem, isn't it, sir?" she'd said. "A ship this small and fast was always going to have problems coming up with a good solution. We had a full gravity ring we lived and worked in ninety percent of the time back on my family's ship the Dawn Threader, but she's big even by Rock Rat standards and hasn't got great acceleration."
"Is that why you look more like an Earther than a Belter?" McLeod asked. He then promptly blushed. With his fair complexion barely relieved by a generous splattering of freckles, the blush was hard not to notice. No doubt he'd realized that it was kind of personal to ask a young woman about her appearance. Katie also wondered that the crew hadn't been better briefed about her background. They were going to be spending north of two weeks together in close quarters.
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