Paul swallowed and gave Sykes a curious look. 'Artificial shark steaks?'
'Yes. The real article, the sharks that is, are rare enough that what steaks actually exist are far too expensive for the Navy to serve its wretched masses, so instead we have the joy of receiving artificial shark. Made from pure vat-cultured protein and assorted artificial flavors which I am assured produce a result at least superficially similar to the real article. In taste, at least. I understand the toughness of the artificial shark steaks is legendary.'
'You make it sound so yummy.' Paul only partially faked a shudder. 'I abjectly apologize, Commander Sykes, sir. Your secret is safe with me. Now, do you have an idea what this meeting is about?'
Sykes grinned. 'Matters dark and devious. I can say no more.'
Kris Denaldo entered. 'I'm going to try to get a corner to wedge myself into before everyone else tries to pack in here.' She glared at Paul. 'And if I hear any comments from you like I did from Garcia…'
'Chris, I'm not that rude. Or stupid.'
'I hope not.' She grabbed something to drink and chose a corner, bracing herself in the angle where two bulkheads met.
Ensign Taylor came in next and sat next to Commander Sykes without any regard for the technically more senior junior officers. 'Hey, Paul, Chief Imari got with me about that priority list of yours.' Taylor grinned. 'Where'd get a good idea like that?'
'I've learned to follow the example of mustang ensigns. You learn things that way.'
'Uh-oh. Do that while I'm on liberty and you'll learn a few things you probably never imagined.'
Paul felt his face warming and knew he was blushing from the way Taylor laughed. Fortunately, more officers started arriving and diverted Paul from having to come up with a response to Taylor's gibe.
As Kris Denaldo had predicted, the number of officers quickly exceeded the capacity of the wardroom. The Michaelson 's wardroom never felt like a large space, even when only a few officers were present. With one third of the compartment blocked off and every officer on the Michaelson crammed in, Paul wondered whether claustrophobia or lack of oxygen posed the greatest hazard. The department heads pushed their way in last, followed by the ship's executive officer, Commander Kwan. Kwan glowered at the small space remaining by the hatch. 'Move back and make more room up here!'
The grumbling from the junior officers was just low enough that Kwan couldn't make out the words. Ensign Taylor called out loudly, 'Okay, people. Suck it up! Non-mustang ensigns onto the table!' The junior officers loudly exhaled and tried to push closer together as the ensigns climbed onto the table.
Paul found himself wedged next to the table, his head almost touching the thigh of Ensign Gabriel. Gabriel looked down and grinned at him. I'm glad she's enjoying this. Too bad it's not Jen up there. No. I better not even start thinking about that.
'Attention on deck!'
At the XO's command, the officers straightened to attention as Captain Hayes entered the compartment, grinned lopsidedly at the crowded conditions, and took his seat at the only chair left unoccupied. 'Carry on. Ops, let's get this done.'
Commander Garcia, standing near the large display screen mounted on one bulkhead, pushed one arm upward past the nearest bodies so he could point to the information which flashed into existence there. 'The rumors you all may've been hearing are correct. When we get underway next Monday we'll be conducting a multi- national maneuvering exercise involving two US warships, the Michaelson and the Maury, and three foreign warships. They'll be a British ship, the Lord Nelson, a Franco-German ship, the Alsace, and a Russian Federation ship, the Pyotr Veleki.' Garcia stumbled on the pronunciation of the Russian craft, glared at no one in particular, and stabbed one finger toward the name. 'The Peter the Great. The Michaelson will be the flagship.'
Captain Hayes raised one hand. 'Correction. The Michaelson will be on-scene coordinator. There is no flagship. The foreign warships will not be under our command.'
Paul strained to hear as the other officers around him murmured in reaction to the captain's statement. We could conduct this same briefing with everyone in their own staterooms linked into a virtual conference and we'd all be able to hear everything and see everything and be halfway comfortable so we could concentrate on it. But, no. We all have to pack in here and suffocate and wonder who the hell didn't get a chance to shower lately. Because this is the Navy and this is how John Paul Jones held meetings.
Lieutenant Kilgary, the main propulsion assistant, tried to shove her own arm up, but failing at that just yelled out her question. 'Then who will be in command, sir?'
'Nobody.' Another surge of murmurs. Captain Hayes gave the assembled officers a stern look. 'This is diplomacy, ladies and gentlemen. Our allies-' Hayes broke off as Commander Garcia cleared his throat loudly. 'Correction, our fellow 'participants' in the exercise want to send a message to the SASALs, but not too strong a message, and none of them want to make it look like they're placing their space combatant forces under U.S. command or control. We're all going to waltz around in the same general area to let the SASALs know we could work together if we really wanted to. That's it. Just a friendly get-together.'
Muffled but derisive snorts sounded throughout the wardroom. Commander Kwan glared around as if he had a chance of identifying individual offenders. 'Belay that.'
Garcia's glare matched that of the XO. 'Every maneuver by the warships involved will be according to the preplanned exercise time line. Standard maneuvering interval between ships will be two hundred kilometers. Closest Point of Approach between ships is to be no less than one hundred kilometers at all times. Ship collision avoidance systems will be programmed to warn of collision if any CPA goes below fifty kilometers.'
Paul would've shrugged if he'd had the space for it. With the individual spacecraft traveling at speeds measured in kilometers per second, fifty kilometers seemed a reasonable distance to really start sweating.
'Sir.' Lieutenant Junior Grade Yarrow indicated the display screen. 'With a standard interval of two hundred kilometers, the formation will be spread across a thousand kilometers.'
'Hey, he's learned to add,' a barely audible voice whispered.
Yarrow flushed, then flushed a deeper shade as Garcia focused his glare upon him. 'We're only to be strung out in a line when the exercise starts. Review the plan, Mr. Yarrow.' On the screen behind Garcia, representations of various formations popped into view as another round of murmurs sprung up.
Paul stared at the geometric shapes of the formations the warships were to assume. One resembled a pentagon with a warship at each corner, another seemed to be a sphere with the ships spaced evenly around it, and yet another a forward-tilted oblong shape.
Captain Hayes raised his hand again. 'Okay, people. I know. It looks goofy. Let's face it, fleet maneuvers haven't been the norm up here. Ship combats are one-on-one and assuming neat formations like this would just make it a lot easier for someone to detect us and target us. But this isn't about effective war-fighting tactics. It's about sending a message. Professional space officers like ourselves will know this stuff is nonsense. But politicians and the general public will be impressed. That's the bottom line. It's going to be a little odd working with foreign spacecraft like this. It's a big solar system and it just hasn't happened much because no one really wanted it. Now they do.'
Commander Sykes, until now silent somewhere in the back, spoke out clearly. 'Sort of.'
Hayes grinned as laughter erupted. 'Right, Suppo. Sort of. Let's put on a good show, keep it safe, and let the SASALs know screwing around with us up here would be a bad idea.'
More murmurs, this time of agreement. Paul saw Sonya Sindh and they locked eyes for a moment, sharing an unspoken understanding. She remembers the last time the SASALs screwed with the Michaelson. She was officer of the deck when Captain Wakeman gave orders to fire on that unarmed SASAL ship that he thought was attacking us. This exercising together stuff to send a message might work, if everybody involved deals with it rationally. But we're all human, so nothing's certain.
Captain Hayes pried the hatch open to leave. Commander Kwan bellowed out 'attention on deck' again in a voice well-suited to a parade ground but which echoed painfully inside the small compartment. Paul and the other officers once again did their best to straighten to attention as the captain left. Instead of releasing them from attention immediately, Kwan favored the group with a long, stern look. 'Remember what the captain said. We'll be operating with foreign warships. I want the Michaelson to be the most impressive ship out there. Carry on.' Kwan struggled out the hatch as well.
With two fewer bodies in the compartment Paul found he could breath easier. Most of the department heads, talking softly among themselves, headed out next, then the other officers began following. Paul took a moment to
