"I am sorry. I didn't know. I am fresh out first year Academy – I call a fencepost Sir."
That caused laughter and even Curt smirked. "I am sorry I was a jerk!"
I just waved and turned my attention to the serv-bot. "Got any Holstein Pilsner?"
"No, but we have Heilbronner on tap, that is also a Pilsner."
"All right, one of those!"
The Klack ordered sugar water and asked, "What are you doing here if I may ask? This is a bar usually frequented by cargo handlers and longshore workers like us."
"I need to find a way to get to Arsenal II and I have no idea how to get there so I thought I might find someone to ask. The bar was the first thing I saw after the airlock."
"There is an hourly shuttle service right from the Equator Deck Section 9. Just take any IST and tell the System where you want to go."
Arsenal II
It was just as easy as the load handler said and a shuttle transport took me to Arsenal II without any problems. After it landed and I got out I wondered what I should do next. I was a few weeks late and had no clear instructions on where to report. I double-checked my PDD and contacted Fleet Personnel to see if there were any specific orders for me. There weren't any new ones. The only active orders on file were to report to Arsenal II for my second year instructions. Those orders were almost two months overdue, but there was a properly filed extension by Fleet Command.
Maybe someone at Academy HQ would be able to give me advice. So I took a maglev train from the shuttle port to Academy Headquarters.
There, on the Duro-Crete before the Academy tower, was a long line of orange jumpsuit-wearing applicants. Only a year ago I had stood in that line. Now I walked unhindered, wearing Navy black. Even though I chose to approach the building from another walkway I could almost feel the eyes of the applicants on me and I was glad I didn't have to do that again.
Right behind the entrance door I had chosen was a desk with a humanoid Lieutenant. He looked at me with light surprise on his face. "What can I do for you, Midshipman?"
"Sir I am to start the second year, but I don't really have a place to report, so I thought I'd come here and see if I can get information and perhaps advice on what I have to do."
He scanned my ID chip, looked over his screen and tapped it a few times. "I assigned you to bachelor housing complex 345A. There you will have a room to stay and study."
He handed me a printout. "Here are the directions of how to get there from here."
"Thank you Sir, very kind!"
He waved his hand and grinned. "Since I could not find any active orders for you, you just volunteered to work right here. You can take the IST behind me to Level 8 and report to Lieutenant Archer. We've got lots of applicants today and we are short-handed as usual."
I recognized Level 8 as soon as the IST let me out. It was the place where applicants got their green uniforms. There was a long line and a bald-headed Lieutenant directed each applicant to the auto-dressers.
He saw me and waved me over. "First time a Midshipman is volunteering for this, but I am not complaining. Get over there and take the four auto-dressers. Check the applicant's status to make sure he or she got accepted, double scan them to make sure there are no civilian items on them and put them in one of the auto-dressers. Don't answer too many questions or you will never get done!"
The task was easy but after sending over 200 applicants through, I lost count and caught myself snapping at an applicant who asked a stupid question. A question similar to what 179 applicants before him had asked.
Then I realized what I had done! Only a short time ago I was that applicant and had got quite angry at the indifferent or unfriendly officers. I was about to turn and apologize, but a voice stopped me. "Don't apologize!" It was the silver-haired woman I had seen in Webb's office a year ago. Now I could identify her as a Saresii and her rank – the tiny brain pin on her collar was the insignia of the elusive Psi Corps.
She smiled ever so slightly at me. "It is quite a different experience to have the shoe on the other foot is it not?"
I nodded. "Yes Ma'am. I came to that conclusion just now myself!"
"Commander Webb wants to see you."
I followed the woman. Just before I left the room, Archer called my name and gave me a thumbs-up. "Thank you, Midshipman; good job! The help was appreciated."
I smiled back and went after the Psi Corps General. I wondered why she ran errands for the Admiral. In the corridor before the IST, she said, "Never apologize to a subordinate, at least not in public. A good officer stands by actions and reactions even as small as these. If you are in the wrong you might in rare cases take that subordinate to a private place and apologize. On a regular duty station, there are other ways for a superior officer to make up for a slip like that without apologizing."
"Yes Ma'am."
She was tall and with her heeled boots taller than me. She leaned closer. "Just to let you know, Gwen, your friend has made the official request and it’s all going smoothly. Most of the Union Assembly hardly took notice at the request for a single planet race membership, but the Saresii and the Narth Representatives did and welcomed us."
"You are of the Coven as well?"
"I am Alyicia Lichfang and I am the oldest sister of the Coven. I just decided to fetch you myself as I learned Webb wanted to talk to you and let you know that everything went as planned."
"That is good to know. Not that I really understood why you needed me to make a decision you had basically made already."
"I think you must just have been at the right place at the right time, and Gwen does like you." She pointed at the Admiral’s door. "Well, he is waiting for you and it is never a good thing to make an Admiral wait too long."
I had to agree with her on that and she opened the door for me and almost pushed me in. The Admiral was behind his desk, so I snapped to attention. "Cadet Olafson reporting as ordered Sir!"
He nodded. "At ease Midshipman. I am surprised to see you here so early."
"I thought I was two months behind schedule, Sir. Admiral McElligott ordered me to report here, Sir."
"Well technically, you are now six months too early as we placed your second year into the next turn. I recall that Admiral McElligott also ordered you to take a vacation after all your shenanigans on Winchester and in the Igras Nebula. I don't know details of course, no one tells the old Academy horse anything these days, but I would have to send you to the stockades if you even so much as open your mouth."
He crossed his short arms over his chest in a very human gesture. "Be that as it may, you are too late for your classes and too early for the start of the next ones now that you are here!"
He glanced at a readout on his desk. "I see you have been assigned a room at the bachelor housing complex 345A. That is clear across the planet and keeps you out of my hair, not that I have any, I’m using a figure of speech of course."
He paced away from his desk, looked across the Academy Gardens. "Down the street from the bachelors' home is a large old-fashioned library with all the material you need to study."
"Thank you, Sir. I will"
"Have you decided already what you want to specialize in?"
"No, not exactly, it was suggested I might study helm."
"Do you know what books are?"
"Yes Sir."
"Most study material you will find on GalNet in form of holos, hypno courses, direct cortex upload and so forth but some material to this day is best studied in printed form and in books."
"Yes Sir, my old teacher in Basic School made a point of this as well!"
"Maybe he was a graduate from my Academy then, or perhaps simply a wise man." He took a sheet of paper from his desk. "I have here a list of books I recommend you to study while you're here. Consider it my personal study assignment."
"Yes Sir!"
"Well, get started. It's a long list of books and I expect you to know them all by heart."
"Yes Sir!"
"See me in
three months from now! That is all, Midshipman."
The bachelors’ home was like most buildings and facilities on this hostile environment planet: deep underground and part of a sub-surface building and tunnel complex. I found the building and the door to my apartment easily enough by following the instructions I had been given. It had a bed, a desk, a GalNet terminal and a small hygiene cell and that was all. But I found it adequate and better than a dorm in any case.
I freshened up and changed uniform. A slot in the wall outside on the corridor was labeled Laundry and I disposed my worn uniform there.
Not tired enough for bed I went over the list, it was handwritten on notepaper bearing the Academy logo. The list was 13 titles long:
The Late Profession of Arms.
Armed Forces and Society: problems of non-human alien integration.
Critical Incidents of Leadership.
A Firsthand Account of How a Graviton Storm, More Powerful than the Nul-Nul Fleet, Dealt Death and Destruction to Admiral Brigleys's Third Fleet.
The Greek and Macedonian Art of War.
Introduction to the Concepts of United Stars Navy Leadership.
Sun Tzu's Art of War.
Ult Fighting Doctrine.
Basic Command Guidelines of the United Stars Navy.
The Seven Voyages of Captain Harvey.
The Captain's Table: Ten humorous stories.
Translocators: Curse or Blessing?
Fifty-One Rules of Klack and War.
None of the books had anything to do with helm. It turned out all 13 books were ancient and not available on GalNet. The library down the street had them, just as Admiral Stokes had said. Old tomes, real books made of paper. Why he wanted me to read these old books I could not say, but he wanted me to read them and read them I would.
Loaded with a stack of musky-smelling paper books that looked as if no one had checked them out in decades, I wondered why they were around and not scanned. I almost collided with someone as I turned to enter the bachelors’ home.
It was a Shiss!
I dropped the books and went instinctively into a fighting stance.
The Shiss, a lizard-like species, belonged to the enemies of the United Stars. We had fought a series of wars against them and, while there was no open war at the moment, there wasn't any peace agreement either.
To see a Shiss on a military installation was quite unusual, even more so because this being wore a black Navy uniform.
His voice sounded like high-pressured air escaping a small hole. "You are surprised to see a Shiss, but it is not necessary to go into fighting stance, Midshipman."
Now I saw the Captain's stripes on his uniform and immediately snapped into attention. "I am sorry Sir!"
"No problem. I get that a lot and I am used to it."
He stepped a little closer and even helped me gather my books. While he did, he looked at the titles. "You picked quite unusual reading material for a Midshipman. From the looks of it you are in your sophomore year at the Academy, right?"
"Technically, I am still a freshman, Sir. The second year hasn't started for me yet."
"What did they teach you about the Shiss so far?"
I straightened my stance and began to recite what I knew. "The Shiss, a lizaroid species indigenous to the Balford Strand of the Orion arm in the Upward sector of our galaxy. These four-armed, bipedal lizards have wings attached to the primary arm pair but are not capable of flight. They are strictly ruled by a caste system dominated by the White Throat caste. The caste system is based on the color of the throat skin of a Shiss male. The female of the species has no such coloration. The colors are white, beige, yellow, green, red, blue. The lowest caste is purple." I took a deep breath and continued: "The Shiss attained tech level 7 and are mortal enemies of the Nul-Nul. The Shiss and Nul-Nul have fought wars for over 2,000 years. First contact with the United Stars was made by …"
He raised one of his upper hands. "Well, you do know the textbook version, so it seems."
He made a sound that sounded surprisingly like a human sigh. "I am a purple Shiss, member of the lowest caste, but I was born far away from Shiss-shaa, the home world, on a distant colony planet. Shiss colonize new worlds by first dumping a few loads of purple throat Shiss on any marginally suitable planet. There is no survey, no one checks if the conditions are survivable, they dump a few thousand with minimal tools and supplies and check periodically to see if the Colony takes hold or if more purples need to be sent.
"Those distant colonies are much more interested in survival than keeping the caste system alive.
"Once a colony thrives, upper caste Shiss move in. Expect to be given all the fruits of purple Shiss labor. Purples are then allowed to serve their masters as slaves on a world they made livable."
He pointed at a knee-high wall surrounding a flower bed next to the entrance. "Sit down so I can tell you the rest!"
I simply did and he piled my books onto my lap while he continued. "The purples did not want to lose what we had gained and had no interest in giving up all their freedoms and possessions just because a higher-caste prince decided to take it. The outer colonies rebelled and the All-White-Nestling dispatched a punishment fleet to eradicate the 33 colonies. The first colony was orbital-bombed and every single colonist died.
"The elected leaders of the other colonies approached the United Stars for membership and got full protection from the Fleet.
"A Navy fleet fought hard and valiantly for us and won. To us purple throats that 33rd Colony became a symbol of defiance. My mother told me this story when I was a little nestling and I swore I would repay my debt to these aliens who fought so gallantly for our freedom because we could not. Now you know why there is a Shiss in Union uniform."
"I am truly sorry, Sir, it was more a reaction than a conscious thought."
"No apologies necessary. I almost sneaked up on you and must have startled you."
"Yes Sir, a little!"
"So what are you doing here if you are still a freshman?"
"I don't really have any other place to go, Sir."
I told him a very rough short version as to why I did not know if I was too late or too early for my next year.
He pointed at the books. "What exactly are you studying?"
"Those books were recommended to me by Admiral Stokes, Sir. He wanted me to read them."
"Old Webb himself recommended them, I see. I must tell you I have read each of them as well. Did you know that those books are called the Captain’s Treasure, and that every captain in this Fleet has read and often memorized each one?"
"No Sir. I did not know that!" But I did remember what I had told Webb while still standing in line before the Academy and now I knew he had not forgotten either.
He clasped all four hands behind his back. "Why don't you give me your name and service number. I think I might have something for you to do."
"Midshipman Eric Olafson. Service Number 1082320-O-5434, Sir!"
"Take your books to your apartment and wait there for me!"
"Yes Sir!"
He left the hallway and went down the street and I went to my room. I promised myself never to tell any superior officer again that I had time on my hands. The worst part was that this was something a cadet learned in his first week. I needed to learn to keep my mouth shut.
It didn't take long, I estimated, no more than 30 minutes had passed as the visitor chime sounded and the Shiss captain stood before my door. "Leave those books here and follow me, Midshipman."
I had a hard time keeping up with him. He walked briskly on his long muscular legs, keeping balance with a spiked, long tail. I wondered what this was all about.
Finally, our march stopped at a Trans Planet Mover Station and we entered a car heading for Southern Hemisphere, Adams Port. At least so read the vari-sign above the door.
The high-speed grav car whisked us away after beeping a confirm signal.
The Captain lowered his head and pulled something out of his ri
ght pocket. "Midshipman Olafson, you are hereby acting Ensign and assigned until further notice to me." He fixed a real Ensign bar on my collar.
I was speechless as he explained, "My ship, the Hyperion, is in dock undergoing a series of upgrades. It has already taken a few months. My crew is on leave or temporarily assigned elsewhere."
I simply listened while the Trans Planet Mover carried us through vacuum pipes.
He sat down at one of the vari-seats provided. "A friend of mine in Small Craft Development asked me to take a new shuttle type for a test flight and I thought you might enjoy that too!"
I could not hide my excitement. "Yes, Sir, indeed I would!"
The TPM-Capsule came to a smooth stop and we emerged at a typical military star port terminal. Again the Shiss walked purposefully and fast on his large legs and I was almost running to keep up. Through corridors and over slideways, concourses and sky bridges we finally reached where he wanted to go. A sign next to it read: Auxiliary Space Craft Development Department.
It was an elegant building, reminding me of a giant amphitheater built into a meteor impact crater. Like giant steps, the upper levels retracted further back. There on the top floor, with golden glazed windows, one had a spectacular view across the stark landscape, the terrace-like tiers of the huge building. The floor of the crater was smooth Duro-Crete and a few dozen small craft of all kinds and types scattered the place. While I stared past the floor-to-ceiling windows, the Shiss Captain talked to a pretty, mostly humanoid, female with cobalt-blue hair and light blue skin. She smiled at us from behind a floating kidney-shaped desk and pointed at a door to her left. "Nice to see you again Captain Zezzazzzzz. Commander Larson is in his office."
Commander Larson turned out to be a standard human and he grinned and shook one of the Shiss’s clawed hands. "It's good to see you, old lizard."
"It is good to see you too, smooth-face!"
Zezzazzzzz pointed at me. "I found myself a Midshipman and we're ready to take that new toy of yours for a spin."
"A Midshipman, uh?" The Commander looked at me. "It's your lucky day, son. Zezz is probably the best pilot this Fleet has, but he decided to float around in his slow steel mountain instead."
Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 6 (The Galactic Chronicles Series) Page 2