Obsidian Ressurection

by T J Bryan

  Abel paused a moment before continuing, "Now I would like your thoughts."

  Silvi wanted to say that she felt someone like OM Marx would do a better job with the Combat and Patrol wing of the OCN, but she chose to remain silent. She would argue her case with Abel later.

  Helen spoke first, "As a retired Professor of Engineering within the Collegium I think I can ease the faculty into accepting our OCN presence in the system. But I would like to emphasize that the Collegium is a place of education and the education of OCN crews will be our objective. Classes in all Naval subjects will be open to any Collegium student, regardless of their area of study. In addition we will not teach in the kind of military fashion we have seen so often in old holo vids from the Encyclopaedia Gallectica. We do not need a mindless set of automata set on obeying clueless leaders bent on killing and taking casualties while they sit behind the lines sipping tea."

  Helen paused a moment to sip her tea. The irony was missed on no one. "Our goal is to produce crews that can do their duty but also retain our Commonwealth values. We are not empire builders or conquerors. Or job is to keep the peace and restore civilization to the human sphere of the void." Helen finished her tea and set her cup down upon the table.

  Emmitt spoke next, "My experience on the old Ship Design Committee has taught me a lot about how not to approach ship building or for that matter developing the technologies needed to sustain the OCN. To that end, I have selected a small group of engineers from the faculty and student body to begin work on our most pressing needs, primarily munitions. There is some room in the Annex next to the Combat Training Simulators where we will begin our work starting tomorrow."

  "And the rules for engagement for our C&P?" asked Captain Marx.

  "Much the same as before. If outnumbered or out gunned then run. But I do not expect encounters like we had at Wu to be common. Pirates rarely can hold any kind of multi-ship fleet together. When encountering piracy you are to destroy it. If a system is piratical you are to convince them to abandon such criminal activity in whatever way you can, mindful of minimizing casualties. Undoubtedly Farn and her R&S teams will find systems that do no want to participate in our newly established system of trade and commerce. If that is so we will leave them alone. For those systems which have retained some form of civilization and wish to return to the sphere of human trade and commerce we will assist them only in as much as they can absorb without their local traditions and customs collapsing. We do not need to make the universe any more chaotic that it already is. Our goal is to ease systems back into the realm of human activity, not to force them to abandon their ways and culture. The exception to this caveat is slavery. We do not tolerate slavery and when encountered we will do what we must to end the practice."

  Captain Marx looked troubled, "That's a bit vague Abel. There is a lot of room in your description for all kinds of wriggles and dodges."

  Abel replied, "True. But since we have no idea of what we might encounter I will leave these decisions to our captains and to Commodore Karrlson. I am sure you will always keep in mind both the values of the OCN and our Commonwealth. If you screw up, upon you're return I will tell you."

  No one smiled.

  Abel continued, "Since the beginning of the OCN we have been flying with short crews. For example our SAR's were designed for a crew of nine, but we have often been forced to fly with six or seven. Now that we have a small but qualified pool of skills we will fly with the full complement of nine. That is a captain, and for rotation two pilots, two weapons and defence, and one each for environment and maintenance. Proper crew rotation will allow us to take on longer voyages and have less tired crews when action is required."

  "I like that idea Abel," replied Toni Hamilton. With only one pilot sitting on a 24 hour shift things get kind of fuzzy. A proper crew rotation will make all the difference in the world."

  Abel continued, "We have good crews but green ones. In addition we now have over 300 who have recently begun advanced training. I no longer fear for a shortage of critical skills like pilots. Nomi's simplification of Astrogation is going to help a lot. Helen tells me we might well have six to nine astrogators within two months. However what we don't have is captains. Helen, Emmitt, and I have spent a lot of time trying to develop a system for training captains, but I am not satisfied with the curriculum we have established. It resembles the kind of training that has brought needless death by ego driven, and often incompetent leadership. One need only read of the histories of many great wars to learn that the generals often killed more of their own than the enemy and even then they would loose the war."

  Toni asked, "What do you propose Abel. For creating captains?"

  "We will watch our crews carefully and we will nominate crew members based on their previous performance and behaviour. There will be no special class of crew in training on a set of removed and abstract ideas. Captains will be nominated and tested within our system as they participate in ship activity. Farn is a good example of someone who would never be considered as captain material, yet I think we are all agreed that she will make an outstanding captain."

  The entire table agreed knowing Farn and her record.

  "And now one last admonition," Abel said. "Captains are not to leave their ships. The risks some of you have taken by entering hostile environments, or engaging in negotiations with locals, is to end. And yes I know that some of your encounters will end up with the locals demanding to talk to the highest officer on board, usually the Captain."

  Silvi silently winced. She knew Abel was talking about her excursions at New Carthago. Silvi looked briefly at OM Marx who had also left his command at the liberation of Wu.

  Abel continued, "If the locals insist then give one of your talented crew members an exalted title and send them down. Titles like 'Foremost Being' or 'Plenipotentiary Ambassador' will do. If not make one up. We cannot afford to risk our ships by loosing our captains. Captains are to stay with the ship. Is that clear?"

  All the captains, including Silvi and Marx, responded yes.

  The meeting continued for another hour with further assignments and discussions of the roles of the now four divisions of the OCN; C&P, R&S, Naval Department of the Collegium, and Naval Construction. As much as Abel hated it, he added a fifth small department headed by Alice Brunner, Buddy Brunner's older sister, to head the Department of Procurement, Distribution, and Audit. Someone had to look after the OCN paperwork and Abel having known Alice for years knew that she was adept at keeping the Chairman and the Assembly off his back.

  Chapter Fifty Seven

  Jamon System - Habitat - Boda Gaya Temple - Year 3246. August 13 ET: 11:42

  The memorial ceremony for the fallen of the OCN was held at the Temple high above the living quarters of the Habitat. The Miners Guild had begun to create a chapel for the OCN just within the entrance to the temple and opposite the sanctuary of the old Norse gods. And although the chapel was far from finished, the families, friends, and the OCN crews not on duty assembled to mourn the loss of eleven souls at the Second Battle of Wu. A large stone tablet had been placed within the OCN chapel with the names of those who died together with the names of the ships that no longer sailed the void.

  Silvi had been regretting the service, but she knew it was her responsibility as the one who had led them into battle to be there to support the families in their loss. The memorial was like so many other Buddhist Catholic remembrances in that it was short, tearful, and loving. However in one way it was very different. Someone had found an old hymn sung by ancient mariners in navy service. A chorus had been assembled from the Collegium Music Department and although Silvi managed to maintain her dignity tears streamed down her face as the chorus sang.

  " Lord, guard and guide the men who fly

  Through the great spaces in the sky.

  Be with them always in the air,

  In darkening storms or sunlight fair;

  Oh, hear us when we lift our prayer,

  For those in peri
l in the air!

  Eternal Father, King of birth,

  Who didst create the heaven and earth,

  And bid the planets and the sun

  Their own appointed orbits run;

  O hear us when we seek thy grace

  For those who soar through outer space"

  Silvi managed to stand tall and thank the mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, and children of the fallen as they filed out of the Temple and back to the land of the living. Silvi found her attitude about her service had changed at the end of the memorial. Yes, eleven had died, and more would probably follow, but she was now determined to ensure that their deaths would mean something and that with intense focus and effort future catastrophes could be avoided. Now Silvi was determined to lead as she had never been before.

  Silvi had climbed the steep long stairs to the temple with a heavy heart, and although her heart was still heavy, her head was clear and she now was committed to the OCN and the future of the Commonwealth.

  After the service she returned to the new Ragnarök. After a brief inspection of the ship which was nearly new built she retired to the mess to begin her study of the ship. Ragnarök was a Greayson Destructor Class ship with a crew of 18 and room for two supercargo. The bridge was laid out very much like the SARs but for the fact that the weapons and defence stations were doubled. The three critical functions of the ship were assigned three personnel each for pilot, defence, and weapons. The environment and maintenance stations supported two crew each. Staffing was more robust on a destructor.

  Ragnarök had 16 fusion engines and was 350 meters long and 90 meters wide in a tubular form. She was not atmosphere capable as were SARs, but she did have a onboard berth to hold one SAR and two others could ride piggyback on the ship with external grapples. She was fast at 96% of the speed of the much less massive SARs. She had 24 launch tubes with double autoloaders on each one. As usual redundancy ruled her design. Munitions inventory included 124 'K' class missiles and an equal number of sand casters. She also carried 32 anti-matter torpedoes which had long ago been disabled by Unity. A major difference between the new Ragnarök and the old was the addition of four heavy duty large bore plasma cannons who's' kill range was out to 60 kilometres. Although intended for defence against incoming missiles the plasma cannons would prove nasty in a close order fight.

  Crew quarters and the lay out of the bridge and common areas were very much like the SAR's only slightly larger. Silvi noted that the captains quarters had room for three to sit in the tiny office connected to the sleeping area.

  Next Silvi went over the crew assignments. They were all recently qualified and all green. Her pilots, and there were now three, had at most 200 actual flying hours and all of that within the Jamon System and mostly runs to the Monitor Esjan to rotate crews. The remainder of the crew were just barely out of simulations, and Silvi could see she and they had a lot of work to do to prepare for knot line patrols and potential combat.

  Chosen as the new Ragnarök's Captain in training was Anna Arast. Anna was twenty nine and was another of EmVac's team leaders who had proven themselves under extreme pressure. Abel had known her for years as head of Emergency Services and he had seen her lead teams of EmVac personnel into very dangerous but ultimately successfully sealed blow-outs. She had not qualified as a pilot but had qualified in both the Environmental Station and the Maintenance Station. Silvi looked at her picture on her inter-tab. Anna was tall, rather thin, with a shock of jet black hair. One thing Silvi noticed was that Anna's face seemed to support an excess of worry lines resulting from either genetic conditions or simply from the pressures of an intense profession in leading EmVac crews.

  Silvi had finished her reading of the new crew profiles when she heard a noise coming from the pursers station. She rose and found Anna Arast removing her station dress whites and donning a ship suit, shorts, and tank top. Well at least some things have not changed thought Silvi. Dress whites would soon become grease browns on board a warship.

  Anna looked up from a state of half dress and saluted. Silvi laughed. Silvi was coming to agree with Abel that all that saluting and pseudo military bearing adopted from old holo-vids was not appropriate to a functioning warship. "I'll see you in the mess Captain Arast, Silvi said as she turned toward the mess. Moments later Anna appeared properly attired in ship suit and red shorts and a red tank top.

  "Sorry," said Arast. "I thought I was alone."

  Silvi smiled and replied, "Well, this is a warship and as soon as we have a full crew I expect neither of us will ever be alone."

  Anna walked to the food station and ordered black coffee. "Can you make that two?" Silvi asked. Anna nodded.

  "I'm glad your here Anna," Silvi said. "We need to work through the crew roster and begin an aggressive training plan."

  Anna nodded again. Silvi was getting the feeling that Anna was a woman of few words.

  After an hour they had their training plan. The next week would be spent within the Jamon system with drills in all three of the propulsion systems of the destructor; manoeuvring jectors, reaction jectors, and Gravity Well Propulsion systems. Then they would spend a week in battle manoeuvres with whatever SARs were available for the exercise. There would be some live fire exercises as well. Then as soon as the flotilla of SAR's sent out on the Rescue and Recovery mission returned from Wu they would venture out of the Jamon system along the Girots, Nelots, Jamon knot line. Silvi had decided to have Sigrún with Old Man Marx accompany them. The voyage would take about thirty days assuming they continued straight through without stopping.

  Anna asked about the Girots Spikey and Silvi replied that the Spikey seemed obsessed with its' seeding operation on Girots and that it would probably not notice their arrival and passage through the system. But the operative word was 'probably' and they both knew that that assumption could be very wrong. They would rely on speed to run the gauntlet if Spikey showed any aggressive tendencies. But since Spikey was so massive and so slow they could easily outrun the intruder while passing through the system. That is if Spikey stayed close to the burned out planet.

  Silvi noticed that Anna was not as self assured as her records indicated. Perhaps, thought Silvi, Anna knew how unprepared she was for command, a feeling that Silvi had shared almost a year ago when Able put her in charge of Ragnarök.

  "Captain Arast," said Silvi. "Let's discuss our relative positions and responsibilities on this ship."

  Anna looked a but surprised at how direct Silvi's comment was, but she was glad to hear it.

  "Captain Arast, I am the Commodore of the OCN Combat and Patrol Fleet, and my job is to guide our fleet in keeping the knot lines open to commerce and trade. Your job is as Captain of Ragnarök. The crew is yours as is this ship. We may talk from time to time about our mutual objectives, but you as captain have a ship to run and I as commodore need to remain focused on our overall mission."

  Anna was relieved to hear Silvi's comments, but also she felt a deep dread knowing that the full responsibility of the ship was now hers and hers alone. Silvi continued, "To that end I shall occupy one of the supercargo quarters. We can remove one of the bunks and put in a small table and work station. You will, as captains are required to do, will occupy the captain's quarters." Silvi could see Captain Arast about to object but Silvi held up her hand to belay any comment. Silvi almost laughed as she found herself repeating the orders given to her by Abel about how a captain sat in the captains chair and occupied the captains quarters. This was all part of command.

  Moments later they heard the crew arriving as a group. And the silence of the ship was broken by the sound of the crew talking, laughing, and finding their place within the new ship. It was a sound that Silvi found comforting."

  ...

  Jamon System - Ragnarök - Year 3246. August 31 ET: 09:00

  Skaga with Captain Nelson Anders had returned home from the Rescue and Recovery effort without incident, but Captain Eon Stallings of the Skuld had remained at Wu in order to provide interim kno
t line coverage until additional OCN ships were dispatched along the knot line to Wu and New Carthago. There had been no trouble with the Spikey at Girots which seemed fixated on the now destroyed planet.

  Abel had called a meeting with Farn and Silvi in the mess of the Ragnarök as the C&P prepared for its' first voyage out of system.

  Abel said, "I wanted to talk to both of you about what I consider the long term objectives of our voyages, and for that matter of the OCN itself. I have spoken with the Chairman and the Executive Committee at length about the purpose of the OCN and how we need to act in the future."

  Both Silvi and Farn listened attentively.

  "Out of pride we call ourselves a 'Navy.' But the truth is that with our limited population, and the values laid down in our Commonwealth Charter, we can never be the kind of navy the great empires like Unity, Hitti, and Greayson were. In fact we don't want to be. We are not empire builders. We aspire to be peace keepers."

  Abel paused a moment to ensure he was understood. "If we were to seek empire then we would cease to be ourselves. Empire requires huge numbers of citizens, vast armadas, glorious home systems, and governmental structures that with time become increasingly removed from the real needs of its' people. Our rejection of empire does not however mean that we cannot contribute to the restoration of civilization within human space. But we must do this with a light, but firm touch."

  Abel continued, "Commodore Karrlson and Captain Mayer we are in essence a 'police force'. That is how we contribute to restoring a civil society. And yes there will be battles like at Wu. This is inevitable given the chaos in the void. There will be single pirates, groups of commerce raiders, and petty empire builders determined to sack and pillage their neighbours. They may have a single old ship or many new ones, we will not know until we set forth, but the OCN will prepare itself to confront crimes along the knot lines and to ensure trade, commerce, and the recovery of civilization from the clutches of The Dark."