by S. H. Jucha
Gino replied.
Around the table, Gino and Katrina noticed an easing of tension and a resumption of casual conversation.
The heat and power that Gino received with Alex’s thought underlined his misstep. He’d not been forthright from the beginning and that included the Haraken commandant. Now, he’d have to work to repair the Omnians’ confidence in him, if that was something that could be fixed.
After a fairly quiet meal, Alex asked for a private conversation with Gino, Katrina, and Robert.
“Robert informs me, Gino, that you have the ultimate responsibility for the development of the academy, the ships, and the readiness of these Méridiens to fight,” Alex said. “I can tell you that Robert and I believe that these individuals aren’t ready. Worse, we believe the vast majority of your fighter pilots, Trident captains, and senior commanders might never be ready.”
Gino started to respond, but Alex held up a hand.
“I’ve taken the liberty of arranging something to help,” Alex added. “I’ve ordered Admiral Tachenko to sail the Omnian fleet here. The fleet will challenge your fighter pilots and Trident captains in ways they couldn’t imagine.”
Gino breathed a sigh of relief. Despite the rocky start to the day, the more important aspect of what he was trying to accomplish was in good hands if the Omnians were going to help. He’d been unable to convince the Council to allow Confederation naval training to take place at Haraken, where it would have been more rigorous. It wasn’t that Robert was doing a bad job. The problem was the training environment at Bellamonde. It was devoid of competition.
“We deeply appreciate the support, Alex,” Katrina replied.
“Don’t thank me yet,” Alex replied. “Tatia has orders to push the competitive nature of the games, and she’ll offer advice to Robert that will change the officer training programs. You might receive a great many complaints and lose a good many individuals. Be prepared to accept that. We aren’t looking for numbers in this expedition. We’re in need of highly trained and motivated pilots, captains, and commanders.”
“Understood, Alex,” Gino replied. “I will ensure the Council takes these changes in stride.”
“Then, I’ll wish the three of you good day,” Alex said. “I have somewhere to be. By the way, Katrina, you can order the Resplendent to come around to this side of the planet. The liner means nothing to me. It’s an empty hunk of metal that once housed a vibrant, young entity, but she’s gone now.”
Alex hated making the strong comments, but he was intent on never letting the Leaders discover they’d been duped.
-30-
The Wall
Everyone trooped to the bridge at Alex’s invitation, after their traveler landed aboard the Liberator.
“Are we ready to launch, Captain?” Alex asked, when all appeared ready with the bridge crew.
“We’re ready, Alex,” Ellie replied.
“Julien,” Alex said.
The holo-vid displayed an enormous map of stars with a yellow dot and a blue dot at opposite ends of the image.
Alex linked to the controller and requested a comm link to every crew member. When the links were established, Alex mirrored the holo-vid display to everyone.
Ellie sent over the communal link.
There were audible gasps from the bridge crew when they realized the amount of space displayed by the holo-vid.
Silence accompanied Julien’s remark. To travel for half a year to another star was many times farther than any human starship had journeyed.
Julien left the conference comm up, allowing the crew to study the holo-vid display. He added three lines of varying length and vector changes to indicate the transits from Bellamonde to their destination.
“Julien, you have control of the ship,” Ellie allowed.
“Captain, Lieutenant,” Julien said, sending information to the controller and links to Ellie and Yumi. It was his hope that by acting in this manner, the captain and pilot wouldn’t feel that he’d usurped their operations. “The first coordinate set will direct you toward this system’s exit. The second set locates your first transit destination. Travel time will be about two months for this first leg of the journey. After we set out, a chronometer will count down the travel time, until we arrive.”
* * *
The Liberator’s crew took the opportunity provided by the four days it took to clear the Bellamonde system to send copious messages to family and friends. Each transmission added the note that the warship would be on a mission with Alex for a year or more and to not bother replying.
Alex knew Julien would have communicated the warship’s journey to Cordelia, but he felt it incumbent on himself to officially notify Cordelia, Tatia, Terese, Grumley, Maria, and Gino.
As the entertainment committee, Renée and Ellie immediately instituted the implant games. Once again, it became Julien’s job to referee and balance the teams to keep the competition fair. However, the women were aware that the games would occupy the crew for only so long before they would tire of them.
Ellie was the first to score a new opportunity. The warship’s exercise space could only accommodate about thirty people at a time. If the central mats were in use, it forced the other exercisers to the room’s periphery. This morning, Ellie was waiting for the shift change, which was regulated on the hour, and would signal the few individuals on the mats to clear off.
“What is that, Chalmers?” Ellie asked the crewman, who had been teaching several other New Terrans, when the hourly notice chimed.
Chalmers was breathing heavily and sweat poured down his broad, bare chest.
“It’s an ancient sport called Greco-Roman wrestling, Captain,” Chalmers replied.
“It looks like an exhausting sport,” Ellie replied. “What’s the object?”
“Two opponents grapple, work to off balance each other, and throw the opponent to the mat,” Chalmers replied.
“And this is done without tunics,” Ellie said, eyeing the mass of muscle exhibited by t
he four New Terrans.
“The ancient Greeks practiced it naked, as they did most of their sports,” one of Chalmers’ practitioners replied.
“Well, Sers, I admire your restraint in not giving into authenticity,” Ellie said, which made the New Terrans grin. “Excuse us, Sers, I’d like to speak with Chalmers in private,” Ellie added.
When the others had departed, Ellie said, “You seem to have no difficulty defeating your shipmates.”
“I’ve practiced the sport for more than twelve years, Captain, and I’m a little heavier than these three. That makes the competition unfair.”
“What you’re telling me is that you would need either a bigger opponent or a more skilled one or both to make it a challenge for you.”
“Sure, Captain, I’d love to have that. If you’ll tell me who might be interested, I’ll go talk to them.”
“Let me sound them out first, Chalmers. I’ll keep you posted.”
“Understood, Captain,” Chalmers replied, before grabbing his towel and heading back to his cabin.
Ellie discovered that the few crew members who had waited with her for the change of the hour had most of the exercise space to themselves. While she’d been talking to Chalmers, the place had emptied out. As was her habit, she kept an implant record of her senses that recycled every quarter hour. The habit enabled her to replay a conversation or something she might have witnessed. If after reviewing the sequence, it proved critical, she could permanently store it.
Recalling the latest loop, Ellie noticed the vast majority of individuals exercising around the room’s edges were women. Ellie examined the female crew members’ faces closely. Most were pretending to exert themselves, while they kept a close eye on the wrestlers.
After Ellie’s round of exercise, she cornered Renée. “You need to sacrifice your partner for the good of crew morale,” Ellie announced, with a grin.
“I’m all for morale boosting, Ellie, but I’ve invested too many years training this New Terran to give him up easily. You’ll need to convince me of your idea’s worthiness.”
Ellie shared with Renée the wrestling segment she’d stored.
“And you want Alex to take up this sport?” Renée asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.
“Wait, there’s more,” Ellie replied.
Renée viewed Ellie’s recording of the female crew members, who had been watching the Greco-Roman wrestling. “Captain, I’m surprised at you. You’re asking my partner, the Omnians de facto leader, to parade around shirtless for the edification of female crew?”
“I think some of the men would watch too,” Ellie protested lamely, taken aback by Renée’s response.
“Okay,” Renée said in a mild voice. “When and where?”
“You had me worried there, Ser,” Ellie replied, exhaling in relief. “Tomorrow at 10 hours.”
“The entertainment committee has to stick together, Ellie. No sacrifice is too great,” Renée replied, heading to her cabin and whistling a tune from a musical vid.
Renée’s conversation with Alex was terse, to say the least. “You put Julien, Ellie, and me in charge of entertainment, Alex, and I’m drafting you to help. At 10 hours tomorrow, you’re learning Greco-Roman wrestling from Chalmers. Good fortune, my love,” she said, and stripped to enjoy the cabin’s refresher.
Alex immediately queried the controller for details on the sport. Chalmers had collected a series of documentaries that explained the history and the techniques of the ancient game. As opposed to the training regiments of Tatia and the twins, whose swift movements Alex could never imitate, this sport fascinated him. He spent several hours that evening, programming some of the movements into his implant.
Also that evening, Ellie and Renée quietly mentioned the next day’s Greco-Roman training to a few crew members and let gossip do the rest. By the time Alex arrived, the exercise space was crowded, standing room only.
“I take it we’re the central characters in this scene, Chalmers,” Alex commented.
“I believe we are, Sir. Do you need to warm up first?” Chalmers asked.
“Negative. I’m ready,” Alex replied.
Chalmers slipped off his deck shoes and pulled his tunic over his head. That’s when Alex noticed the three participants sitting at the other end of the mats were shoeless and bare-chested too.
Alex heard her throaty laugh, as she closed the link. He slipped off his shoes and pulled his tunic over his head, to the applause of the onlookers.
Chalmers, who was ready to help Alex learn the sport, thought different, as he eyed the mass of muscles across the man’s neck, shoulders, chest, and arms.
Alex replied to Chalmers’ question by holding his arms out to the sides, bunching his fists, and tightening his muscles.
“You’ve done this before, Sir?” Chalmers asked, after having to use one of his more complex moves to throw Alex. Even then, it took most of his strength.
“Studied last night and did some implant programming,” Alex replied, climbing up from the mat. He took the opportunity to reorganize some of his programmed techniques and link a few of them to offensive tactics.
Alex’s answer drove it home to Chalmers, whom he faced. Not just a heavier opponent, but a man who’d been setting up his implants to analyze every movement Chalmers demonstrated. In addition, Chalmers realized his opponent was busy building strategies around what he was experiencing.
The hour chimed softly, but no one moved. Even several newcomers to the space, who were ready to take to the mats, signaled they could wait.
“Some more tries?” Chalmers asked.
“I’m willing,” Alex replied, taking a moment to walk to the edge of the mats to dry his hands. Conveniently, a towel was handed to him by a female crew member, who accompanied it with a bright smile.
Three more bouts later, which Chalmers won, he signaled to Alex that he was done.
“Tomorrow?” Alex asked, feeling he was beginning to close in on the techniques he would need to employ.
“We only have three sessions a week, Sir,” Chalmers replied.
“I could arrange more, if you’d like,” Alex replied.
Instead of accepting, Chalmers offered Alex explanations about crew duties, drills, and other thin excuses. He knew he’d need to give the nanites time to repair his body. Like grabbing metal, Chalmers thought.
Alex’s tunic was offered him by the same female crew member. “Do you need toweling off, Ser?” the Méridien-built, brown-eyed, brunette asked. “I’m offering my services.”
“Kind of you, Melissa,” Alex said, accessing her bio ID. “But this human is categorized as look, but don’t touch. Partner’s orders,” Alex replied, grinning.
Three times a week, Alex attended the Greco-Roman training regiments. It soon became necessary for the foursome to alternate challenging Alex. In the beginning, they managed to wear him down by the end of the hour. By the eighth week, Alex’s programming allowed him to quickly analyze the moves of his opponents and anticipate their tactics. This enabled him to effectively counter their styles. The four men would troop forward, one at a time, and, within moments, each one would be on the mat.
Thereafter, Alex attended only a single session each week to give the men some competition. He had considered the idea of backing off and allowing the other participants to win, now and then, but that didn’t sit well with him.
The good news for the
entertainment committee was that, while many of the crew were enjoying the wrestling demonstrations, Renée had discovered another opportunity. She had been seated with Alex, enjoying a vid on the cabin’s monitor, when an idea struck her that would keep the crew occupied.
In a long message, which Renée embedded on the controller, sending a link to everyone, she explained her idea. However, she was disappointed in the weak response. Just four brave individuals replied that they would try it.
A week later, following evening meal, Renée announced the game. “As I offered, you’ll see four contestants this evening. Each has chosen a character from a vid. They will perform a short imitation, and then you’ll see a segment of their character from the vid. At the end of all four presentations, you’ll choose the winner. Julien, of course, will tally the votes.”
“What do they win, Ser?” a male crew member asked.
“The winner has a choice. He or she may sit at the head table for the day’s meals and ask any question of anyone or the winner may sit at the head table for a week to listen and learn.”
Murmurs went through the meal room. The prize hadn’t been announced beforehand. What was thought to be a frivolous demonstration had been turned into a game worth playing.
The night’s contestants did their best, but they provided more humor for the audience than skill. Still, Yumi, who had a fair singing voice, managed a close approximation of an actress in a musical vid and won the prize.
“And your choice, Lieutenant?” Renée asked, after congratulating Yumi.
“Must the members of the head table answer my questions?” Yumi asked.
“Fully,” Renée replied, eyeing the individuals at the table in question.
“I’ll take the one-day option,” Yumi replied and received the audience’s applause.
During the next day and much to the head table’s relief, Yumi’s questions were quite innocent. It was a lesson for the senior people. Younger crew members were anxious to learn from them. What the leaders had come to accept as common knowledge was actually experience accumulated throughout the years.