“I’m guessing that Ensign Taylor’s the first kind of officer, and I’m the second?”
“Actually, Ensign Taylor probably has the damned book memorized,” the captain chuckled. “Hell, she probably sent the brass a list of grammatical errors.”
The captain’s joke raised a smile on Nathan’s face. For the first time since he came into the ready room, he didn’t feel like he was in trouble.
“You, on the other hand, “you’re the one saying, ‘there’s a book?’”
Suddenly, Nathan became nervous again. Captain Roberts could see the uncertainty in Nathan’s eyes, and decided to cut to the chase.
“Piloting a ship, that’s a monkey skill. I can teach anybody to fly this ship. Hell I can just tell the computer where I want to go and the ship will go there. ‘Flying’ on the other hand, well that’s a feeling, an instinct. And you can’t teach instinct. You’re either born with it or you’re not. I can sharpen it for you, but first you’ve got to have it.”
Nathan looked at the captain, not sure if he was understanding him correctly.
“That’s right, Mr. Scott, you have it. Hell, you’ve got it in spades. But, either you don’t realize you have it, or you don’t believe you have it. I haven’t figured that out yet.” The captain rose, walked back around and returned to his seat. “Now Ensign Taylor, she doesn’t have it. She’s a skilled pilot, to be sure. And she’s definitely as cool as they come under pressure. In fact, she’s the perfect type for a navigator, and a top notch one at that. But the helm is not where she belongs.”
Suddenly it dawned on Nathan. “Are you saying…”
“That you’re my new helmsman, Mr. Scott.”
Nathan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “But Sir, don’t you think that…”
“…A simple thank you sir would be the correct response.”
“Of course, thank you sir. It’s just that Ensign Taylor has been doing so much better in the sims than I have. Hell, I crashed and burned most of them!”
“But not all of them, Ensign. You even managed to pull through a few that there wasn’t supposed to be a way out of!”
“But I don’t see how…”
“…You need to give yourself a little credit, Son,” the captain said. “Do you really think Fleet just tossed me whatever graduates nobody else wanted? Hell, I handpicked every last one of you.”
Nathan was taken aback. Up until now, he had been sure that getting assigned to the Aurora had been either some cosmic joke, or the result of his father’s influence.
“I picked you to be my helmsman, and Ensign Taylor to be my navigator. You wanna know why? Two reasons. First, 'cause you’re both perfect for the job, and second, 'cause you’re polar opposites. You two fit the bill perfectly. Now all I’ve got to do is get the two of you to stop arguing like an old married couple and start working together.”
Nathan’s head was reeling from his sudden change of fortune. Ten minutes ago, he was sure he was about to get thrown off the ship. And now he was being offered the job of lead pilot, which also meant he was about to be promoted.
“Sir,” Nathan said. “May I ask a question?”
“Please do.”
“If you knew what positions you were going to assign when you picked us, why did you put us through all this cross-training, this competition?”
“That, is an excellent question,” the captain admitted, seeming quite pleased that Nathan was finally thinking instead of reacting. “I needed a way to make you want the position, a way to make you realize what you were capable of in the helmsman’s chair. And of course a little cross training never hurts.”
Nathan stood silently for a moment, thinking about everything the captain had said over the last few minutes.
Captain Roberts opened his desk drawer and pulled out a small black box, tossing it to Nathan. “You might want to put those on, Lieutenant Scott.”
Nathan opened up the box to see a pair of lieutenant’s Bars inside.
“I’ve given you both the afternoon off, so get some rest. You’ll both be back at it at oh-eight-hundred tomorrow.”
“Yes, Sir!” Nathan snapped to attention and saluted.
“Dismissed, Lieutenant.”
Nathan turned to exit, but paused before leaving, turning back to the captain. “Thank you, Sir.”
The first thing that Nathan wanted to do was share his good news with the only friend he had on board, Vladimir. But having never gone as far aft as the hangar bay, he was finding himself a little lost wandering the corridors of the lower aft decks where the engineering spaces were located. He was almost about to give up when he heard someone arguing nearby. Nathan followed the sound of their voices, realizing it was Vladimir. When he turned the corner, he found himself in the corridor outside the starboard shield generator compartment, one of the two spaces being used by the Special Projects team.
“I cannot give you so much power,” Vladimir was telling Doctor Sorenson firmly.
“Cannot, or will not,” she challenged, only a few inches from his face. It was an unusual sight, being that his mighty Russian friend had a good 30 centimeters on her.
“I cannot give you that much power at once,” he argued. “It is too much. The lines will overheat.”
“They will not!”
“Protocols state that I cannot exceed the maximum energy transfer rating for that line. I would have to install additional lines from reactor all the way to you.”
“Then do it. What’s the problem?”
“What’s the problem? Do you realize how much work that would be? It would take days!” Vladimir noticed Nathan approaching, welcoming the interruption. “Oh, hello Nathan,” Vladimir greeted, shifting his focus away from the irritating woman. “I see you did not get fired.” he joked, noticing the lieutenant’s bars on his collar. “I hope you do not think I am going to salute you now,” he added, shaking his hand.
“Excuse me,” Doctor Sorenson interrupted, refusing to be put off by Nathan’s intrusion. “We weren’t finished…”
“…Oh, where are my manners,” Vladimir apologized mockingly. “Nathan, this is Doctor Sorenson, the irritating woman I told you about. Doctor Sorenson, this is Lieutenant Scott. He is the pilot, you know.”
Nathan started to offer his hand in greeting, but thought twice about it when she started in on Vladimir again.
“Listen, don’t think that you can just brush me off like this…”
“…Please, Doctor,” Vladimir objected, having finally had enough. “Will you stop talking for just one minute? I’m trying to congratulate my friend on his promotion. Do you have no manners?”
“Are you going to give me that power or not,” she demanded.
“Not,” he answered calmly, knowing full well that the calmer he got the madder it made her.
“You leave me no choice but to go over your head,” she threatened.
Vladimir wasn’t affected by her threats. “Be my guest.”
“Fine! I’m going straight to Commander Patel.” she announced, as she stormed off in a huff.
“He is not commander!” Vladimir yelled as she walked away, not wanting to let her get the last word. “He is lieutenant commander!” Vladimir watched her go, hoping to get one more reaction from her, but got nothing. “Bah.” He turned to Nathan, “Do you see what I have to put up with?”
“Vlad, do you really think you should piss her off that way? I mean, she seemed really mad.”
“Not to worry,” Vladimir assured him.
“Yeah, but she’s going to your chief.”
“She will not find him. He hates her more than I do. So then she will go to XO, who will tell her that such decision must be made by the chief. Eventually she will come back to me. But by this time, she will be more reasonable.”
“And then you’ll give her what she wants?”
“Of course.”
