“Yes. The roster should help greatly. We can change things around until we set off to our destination. If you are happy with the plans that I have laid out.” Acclo sad.
“It's more Elyek you’ll have to persuade. They and Calegg have been responsible for running most of the ship’s functions. We just step in when they're overworking themselves. However, things have changed a lot in a short space of time,” I said.
“They really have,” Ember added. “And while Elyek would have addressed these issues in time, you have already done so much to help in their absence. We’ll discuss it with them when they get back aboard. But I think that they will agree that you are perfect to oversee the logistics of Uprising.”
Acclo blushed, replying, “I would love to be involved in anything along those lines. I love prioritizing and organizing things perfectly. It’s a fascination of mine.”
A thought sprung to my mind when they said that, but I buried it for now. I couldn't see how it would work, and it might be cheating. Acclo interrupted my thought process. “You really need to address the Calegg problem soon. He is presently doing 18-hour shifts to cover the two disciplines. There is no need for him to multitask the work of four people every day.”
“Ha! I agree he needs to choose pilot or engineer. Still, we should let him continue the 18-hour shifts. I think he’d be heartbroken to have that taken away from him; he loves it,” I said.
“Yeah. I agree he needs to choose. Though it sucks to be you, to be the one to tell him,” Ember smirked.
“Well, actually, I felt like it was more your job. I’m terribly busy at the moment and, well, you hired him,” I said with a smirk of my own.
“You’re a real asshat, Shaun. I’ll tell him what you’ve decided, and that you were too cowardly to tell him to his face.”
I was about to retort, but Acclo spoke before I had a chance, and it was possibly just as well.
“I’ll be happy to speak to him as I’ll be potentially taking more of a role in the organizational structure of the Uprising.”
“No,” Ember said firmly, “it really should fall to me. I foisted any responsibility for this whole thing onto Shaun, so I suppose I should get my hands dirty with this. Plus you’re right, he needs to reduce his workload. I’ll speak to him.”
“Oh, so you can answer reasonably when Acclo says something, yet act like a total fruit loop when I say anything.”
“Yeah, well. I like Acclo.”
“What's that supposed to mean?” I said, getting evermore agitated.
She gave me a long, dangerous look, “I love you, you fuckwit. It makes everything much more… murky.”
I didn’t even know how to respond to that. I was happy that she said she loved me, nevertheless there were serious layers of confusion added to that statement. So I said nothing. Acclo saved me from answering, or from more awkward silence. “Would you like to see the roster, in case you feel any changes should be made?”
“Yeah. I’d like a look at what you’ve done, Acclo. Show me,” Ember said, and they both walked over to the copilot monitor.
Feeling slightly relieved, I decided to have a walk around and talk to everyone on the bridge. I needed to build some bonds with these people, or this whole thing wouldn’t work.
I approached a Torax who was engrossed in his screen, running through a simulation. He was moving in his chair, trying to personally dodge the incoming imaginary missiles.
“Looks fun,” I said, leaning over. “Do you think it will help?”
“Definitely. It’s amazing!” Then he turned his attention to me with a big grin. “And intense!”
I knew I wouldn’t get much convo out of him, so with a pat on his back, I wandered off to do the rounds with the rest of the seated crew members.
Once I'd talked to everyone, or at least made some kind of connection, I sat in the captain's chair. I still had a serious case of imposter syndrome, but you know what they say: ‘fake it 'til you make it’. I wasn’t dwelling in self-doubt: I knew I could fight, I knew I was near immortal, and with Havok I was all but invincible. I had some sweet powers on my own account, too. But even so, I had nagging doubts that I should be leading anyone. Fuck, I could barely lead myself. Yet it seemed to be working so far.
I resolved to just trust in the people around me and do the one thing I knew I could do, and wanted to do with all my heart and soul: to make sure everyone was okay and treated with respect, whether they were smaller, weaker or simply different. That was the reason I stayed as captain. I might not be able to do all the high-tech shit, or any of the other stuff, but I could, and damn well would, look after all these people. I had some serious powers now, and that is what I would use them for. Give a man a fish, and you can feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, and you can feed him until some fucker takes his fish off him. That's where I come in to smash the shit out of his oppressors and give him half a chance.
I was relieved when Ember came and sat in her seat next to me. She nodded in Acclo’s direction, who had already gone back to man the copilot terminal. “One clever fucker, right there. They must be exhausted after yesterday, and they’ve literally organized every last person on the ship, including strengths and aspirations.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously, Shaun. I don’t even think it’s to get in our good books. I think they're just obsessive as fuck about ordering things.”
“Sounds like a real boon. How do you think Elyek will take it?”
“I think they'll be fine,
