specialists. I don’t know how this will compare to your quarters on base, but I found it quite spacious, compared to my shared four-man cabin on a carrier.”
“We have a crew of 48 — two officers, six chiefs, and 40 lower ranks. The ship is divided into five sections. There is the bridge section, gunnery section, sensor section, engineering section, and mess section, with a chief in charge of each section. They manage their sections and assign their people to watches and other duties. The Chief of the Ship, Senior Chief Petty Officer Barbara Blankenship, is an eighteen-year Fleet veteran. She’s new to the job, having been the sensor chief until Chief Watson left us and I moved her up. She’s getting used to the job and should be fully acclimatized by the time we leave for our first training cruise in a few days.”
“Aft of the CO’s and XO’s cabins are the six chiefs’ cabins. Chief B’s cabin is configured like mine, with a small conference room attached. The rest of the chiefs’ cabins are like the XO’s, only slightly smaller. Aft of Chiefs’ country is weapons. This is where all the guns are controlled. These three positions are for the three turrets. I’ll get Chief Tony Pennypacker to run you through some training simulations, so you can get a feel for it. This position is for the forward and aft fixed guns. This next position controls the missile launcher or special weapons pods, when installed. Next aft is the sensor section. Petty Officer First Class Yiao Chang is filling in as Sensor Chief until Chief B’s replacement arrives next week. Chief Josiah Johnson from the Fleet sensor school will be filling that position. We have the normal collection of spectral receivers, magnetic anomaly detectors, infrared sensors, electro-optical sensors, electromagnetic spectrum sensors, chemical sniffers, and also the mass optical array, which lines the hull of the ship. It gives us a real advantage out in dark space where, sometimes, the only indication of another ship is when it passes in front of a star.”
“Next is the galley. Chief Culinary Specialist Bill Austin runs it. They just changed his rating’s name and I still haven’t gotten used to it. ‘Cookie’ can work miracles with patrol rations. In accordance with base regs, we don’t run the galley in port. Cookie does keep enough capability for coffee, tea, and occasional snacks. He can cheat some on the base regs, because we have a replicator installed and he has to train his cooks on it. If you haven’t tasted food from a replicator, you are in for a real treat. As long as there is a menu entry for the item, it can be replicated. Cookie has been working on some non-standard menu items. He is almost to the point that if you can describe it, he can replicate it. Come on, I’ll introduce you to Chief Miller, he runs the engine room.”
They proceeded further aft down the central corridor, past crews’ quarters and storage bays, to an iris door that opened as they approached. Chief Miller met them at the door of what had to be the cleanest area on the ship. It practically gleamed.
“Good morning, Captain, what can I do for you?”
“LT Connie Cortez, this is Chief Machinist’s Mate Glenn Miller. Chief, this is LT Cortez. If the Admiral approves, she will joining us as our new XO.”
Chief Miller wiped his hands on a rag and extended his hand to LT Cortez. Chief Miller was always wiping his dirty hands off on a rag, but no one could ever figure out how he was getting them dirty in such an immaculate space.
“I’m glad to meet you, ma’am.”
“I’m glad to meet you too, Chief. How do you like the new Diomede engines?”
Chief Miller was impressed with LT Cortez at that point. Any junior officer that knew what type of engines had been fitted into his ship was a step up in his rating.
“I like them just fine, ma’am. We tuned them up on our shake down cruise and are able to get her to FTL Power 5.89. Any faster than that and the engine synchronizer can’t keep up. We’d wind up corkscrewing or worse.”
“One of the techs in my section has been working on that very problem. I’ll see if I can get her data and pass that to you. Better yet, I’ll have her come by to see you. She thinks she can get FTL Power 6+ out of three diomede engines like you have.”
“Chief Miller whistled slowly, “Ma’am, that would be sweet. I’ll be looking forward to her visit.”
Kelly thanked the Chief and moved back forward. “If you didn’t know it, you just scored major points with Chief Miller, our resident curmudgeon. With only two officers on board, the XO fills in as engineering officer. I think the two of you will get along fine — at least you will until the first time you enter engineering with a coffee cup. Chief Miller is a little protective of his space. He won’t stop you from coming in, just don’t spill any coffee on his deck or I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Now, who have I left out? Oh yeah, our Corpsman is Petty Officer First Class Rajna Kumar. Sickbay is here to port, just forward of the port stores locker. He can diagnose most anything and provide most treatment just short of organ transplants. Petty Officer Benitez is our Yeoman. Chief Billings is on leave right now, but he is our quartermaster and runs the bridge crew. That completes the 50-credit tour. Let me walk you to the quarterdeck.”
Kelly wished her good luck and saw LTJG Cortez on her way. When he returned to his cabin, he called his boss, CDR Timmons, and Captain Hasselrode, Admiral Craddock’s executive officer, to let them know he had a recommendation for XO and to set up appointments for LT Cortez.
Kelly was relieved that he had finally found someone that he could trust with his ship and crew. He could see she had a lot to learn, but so did he when he first came aboard. He would have to retrain her from the bad lessons she probably learned in the R amp;R Directorate. Here there would be no decisions by committee. There would be no inspector leaning over her shoulder reviewing her work for accuracy and completeness. She would have to be able to make correct decisions on the fly that affected all on board. Not that Kelly worried about such things, but his command and career would ride on her decisions. Chief B would have to do what all chiefs did, train a new officer in her duties. She and Kelly had their work cut out for them.
Commander Edgar Timmons looked at his patrol schedule after he closed the communication with Kelly Blake. There was a hole in the schedule, waiting for the Vigilant to be ready for patrol. He would have to send the next ship in from patrol back out on an expedited turnaround to meet his taskings if Kelly couldn’t get his ship ready. He had faith that his old XO would get the job done.
He called Captain Hasselrode and they scheduled LTJG Cortez’s office call with the Admiral; Edgar scheduled her office call with him for just before. He would escort LTJG Cortez up to the Command Group, to ensure she got there on time and knew where to go. He put both appointments on his calendar and informed Kelly and LTJG Cortez.
Edgar looked around his office and missed the Vigilant. As captain, he was master of his fate and out among the stars. As squadron commander, he sat behind a desk and watched other men go out where the stars are few and far between. He couldn’t really even accompany one of his ships on more than a brief one day inspection cruise, due to the lack of guest quarters for senior ranks on a Valiant-class scout ship.
Edgar looked up and saw Master Chief Watson standing in the door with the coffee pot in his hand.
“Excuse me, sir, but I know just what you’re thinking. It’s the same thing I’m thinking. Why on Armstrong did I take this promotion and give up my ship?”
Edgar let out a hearty laugh and said, “Is it that obvious, Chief?”
Oh, yes, sir, it’s that obvious, because I see the same look in my eyes when I look in the mirror each morning. I have the answer to the question, though.”
“What is that, Chief, but I think I can guess?”
“We’re here to pass on our knowledge and experience to a new crop of ship’s captains, so hopefully they won’t make the same mistakes we made.”
“Yes, Chief, so they can go out and make new ones. Now are you going to share that coffee or just keep your hand warm with it?”
Laughing, Chief Watson walked over and filled Edgar’s cup.
“Did I hear that LCDR Blake has selected an XO?”
“Yes, he chose LTJG Connie Cortez from the Repair and Refit Directorate.”
“I read something about her in the base notices. She got a commendation for the ion gun redesign we recommended after our run in with that K’Rang torpedo ship. I’ll pull her record for you.”
Chief Watson left and Edgar reflected on what he said. Of course that was why he was squadron commander, but he still wished he could get out in space and have some fun sometimes.
In an inside office in a non-descript office building in a northern suburb of the capital city on the K’Rang home
