She beached him on Fleet Base 17, expecting him to spend the rest of his time in the service overseeing toilet repair requests. Things didn’t work out as the General planned, because Kelly came to the attention of Admiral Craddock, Commander of Scout Force. He took Kelly on as XO of the Vigilant and gave him his second chance.
He flourished under the tutelage of Commander Timmons, so well that he succeeded Timmons in command of the Vigilant. Life was definitely good.
Now that he didn’t have a training cruise to plan, he realized that he had a free weekend. He called in Chief Blankenship to tell her to stand down the crew.
Chief Blankenship, a slender brunette with a no-nonsense air about her, came into his cabin after knocking. “Was there something you wanted to see me about, sir?”
“Yes, Chief, stand down the crew for the weekend. Admiral Craddock has approved LTJG Cortez as our new XO. She’s going to be working with Chief Miller on some engine enhancements to get us up to FTL Power 6 as she closes out her job with R amp;R. We might as well give the crew some time off. Finish out whatever they are working on and set up the quarterdeck watch for the weekend. Keep everybody on the base or nearby. No passes to the southern hemisphere this weekend. Tell Chief Miller to expect to hear from LT Cortez on Monday. ”
“Aye aye, sir. Sir, do you have a minute?”
“Sure, Chief, what do you need?
“How am I doing, sir?
Kelly paused for a bit before responding. “Chief, you’re doing fine. You came into your job highly recommended by Commander Timmons, Chief Watson, and myself. ”
“Thank you, sir. Things have been sort of hectic lately and I wasn’t sure how I was doing. I just wanted a bearing check.”
“Smiling, he said, “Trust me, Chief. I’m not shy. If you screw up, I’ll let you know. Besides, things will get smoother once we get an XO in here and we can parse out some of the duties to her. Did you get a chance to talk to her?”
“A little bit when she reported in for the interview. She was a little nervous about being late, but seemed like she had her stuff together. One thing, sir. Most junior officers coming on board a strange ship are usually either a little uncomfortable or wide-eyed. She was neither. She walked on board like she had been here all her life. Maybe it’s because of her experience in the R amp;R Directorate and constantly visiting ships her people are working on, but she fit.”
“Thank you, Chief. I’ll be in the area all weekend. I’ll have my communicator with me if you need to get in touch. Have a nice weekend.”
Chief B left and Kelly went back to his terminal. He had some paperwork to finish before he could start his own weekend.
After approving seven junior promotions, appointing various Chiefs to extra duties and verifying the small arms inventory, he was ready to get back to sorting out the requisitions he had been working on before LT Cortez’s interview. He called up the new forms that she had compiled for him and had to admit that the way she formatted them made them much easier to sort through and decide.
He turned down a request from Chief Miller for an additional spare engine equalizer. Two were more than sufficient. He approved Cookie’s request for additional rations for the training cruise. He did adjust the priority down now that they were not going out for two weeks. He sorted out the remaining requisitions, approved the majority of them, sent notes to the various Chiefs on the items he didn’t approve, and sent it on its way into the system. He was done.
He had several messages in his queue. He sorted through all the administrivia first and forwarded them as appropriate. Next came the Captains’ Notices. He read through them and wondered why anyone thought some were important enough to bother the captains. Most had to do with infractions of base regulations that should have never risen to the level of a Chief, much less a ship’s captain. Some of them dealt with changes to procedures or regulations. He quickly sorted through and disposed of them.
Kelly wished he had someone that could sort through these minor items. Unfortunately, confidential secretaries were not authorized. He thought about having Yeoman Benitez sort through them, but some things he didn’t want getting out to the crew. While most messages weren’t sensitive, sometimes the messages were close- hold and Captains’ Eyes Only. This was just a task he couldn’t delegate or could he. Then Kelly realized he had forgotten someone or something-he had forgotten about Wanda.
Wanda was the artificial intelligence that had been issued to him when he flew single seat fighters. It was designed to handle some of the minor tasks for the pilot so they could concentrate on flying. Kelly had customized his to have the persona of a slightly older woman, a sort of cyber older sister. He had only loaded her on his terminal as XO, but he could do more with her now that he was the captain.
He called her up on his terminal and authorized her access to all ship’s system and all his files and messages.
A voice came from his terminal. “Good afternoon, Kelly, or should I say Captain? I was beginning to wonder if you had abandoned me.”
“Good afternoon, Wanda, I’ve been a little busy lately, as you should know.”
“Yes, Kelly, I have been working in the background monitoring events. Congratulations on your promotion and command. This ship is much bigger than your F-53 fighter. What can I do for you?”
“Wanda, I have authorized you access to all systems and my messages. I would like you to monitor my messages, prioritize them, and process them as I instruct you. There are a number of messages that come in that I want automatically forwarded to the appropriate section Chief, others I want brought to my immediate attention, and others I never want to see. We will work together to sort through the different categories.”
“I understand, Kelly. You do seem to get a lot of messages that could be handled at a much lower level. Would you like me to sort through the messages and provide you with my assessment now?”
“No, Wanda, I’m just going to review my personal messages now. I need a break.”
Kelly called up his personal message queue and saw a message from Candy Craddock. It reminded him that he still had not visited her at her new house in the mountains and her invitation was still good.
Candy was Admiral Craddock’s daughter and one of Kelly’s closest friends. Kelly and she had hit it off from their first meeting, and her dad seemed to approve. She was a civilian lawyer in the base Judge Advocate General’s or JAG’s office, and had recently completed a new house in the mountains several kilometers from base. He had seen her last at his promotion and assumption of command ceremony, where she and his two other close female friends had met and bonded. She had promised him a housewarming party for the four of them as soon as he could find the time. He called her at her office and she picked right up.
“Hey stranger, long time no see. What’s up?”
“Well, I was wondering if you had plans for this weekend. I suddenly find myself with some free time on my hands.”
“As a matter of fact, I do have plans for this weekend. Angie is flying in on Tammy’s shuttle this afternoon and all three of us are going to spend the weekend at my place. Want to come along?”
Kelly couldn’t believe his luck. Kelly had been Angie Shappelle’s wingman on the Bolivar. She had gotten quite chummy with him, now that they were not flying together. Tammy Nielsen was one of the first people Kelly met on Antares Base. She flew the interplanetary shuttle between Antares and Tau Ceti, using the transporter gates that Kelly’s parents had invented. Angie’s squadron, the Fighting 68th, was stationed on Gagarin in Tau Ceti sector. Who could ask for more than a weekend with three beautiful women?
“Candy, I’d love to come over. Should I check out a flitter or will we all fit in your aircar?”
“I think we’ll all fit. As you know, there aren’t a lot of clothes required at my house, so luggage taking up space is not an issue. Why don’t you come over to my office at 1730? We’ll go pick up Angie and Tammy at the terminal and head out to my place.”
“I’ve already agreed to have dinner with Commander Timmons at the Club tonight at 1930. He’s got Janey Willis visiting, and she wants to congratulate me on my new rank and position. Why don’t we all meet for dinner at the club? I know Angie and Tammy will be hungry. I’m buying.”
“Okay, do you want us all to meet at the club or can you come over here to be with me when I pick them up?”
“I’ll come over at about 1800. I still have some things to close out here. The shuttle isn’t due in until 1830
