'Let's not talk about the others. You may meet some of them,' Carl added enigmatically. 'A word of warning, though. We're heading out real soon for a long cruise. We get underway in four days for a week of shakedown in the local operating area. Then another week back here to fix whatever breaks during the shakedown, and after that, we're heading out into the big, empty black for a long time. All of which means you won't have much luxury for learning the ropes onboard the Merry Mike. Hit the deck running, and keep your eyes and ears open.'
Paul fought down a wave of apprehension. 'Thanks. I guess everybody calls her the Merry Mike?'
'JOs do.'
'Commander Sykes did, too.'
'Oh, well. Suppo's a special case. I wouldn't use the name around the Captain or the XO.'
'I was starting to guess that. It seems to be said sort of… sarcastically.'
Meadows pretended shock, then laughed. 'She's a warship, not a fun ship! You know what we say after putting in twelve hours on the job? 'Great, we only had to work a half-day!' Mostly, it's more like twenty hours a day of work and watch-standing under what you might call demanding supervision.'
'Huh.' Paul bit his lip. 'So the XO is tough. What about the other senior officers? The Department Heads? What are they like?'
'Uh-uh,' Meadows demurred. 'You make your own mind up on them. I don't want to predispose you.'
'But-'
'Uh-uh.'
'Okay.' Paul glanced forlornly around the tiny stateroom. My new home. For months at a stretch, with people I don't know yet who I may not like and who may not like me, working my tail off the whole time. Why did I ever volunteer for this? 'You said we'll be going out on a long cruise? Has the mission been announced?'
Carl grinned, one thumb idly rubbing the silver bar of his collar rank insignia. 'Our mission? Arrrhhh, we be pirates, lad!'
'Huh?'
'We're-' Meadows stopped speaking at a rap on the bulkhead, followed by the hatch opening. An enlisted sailor looked in, silently handed him a folded cloth, then left. Meadows unfurled the cloth, revealing the pirate flag Carl had seen in the wardroom. 'Ah. It appears one of our humor-challenged seniors finally saw this.'
'Suppo told me they'd take it down.'
'Yeah, that's what I figured. But, what the hell. Why pirates? That's an open secret. We'll be on sovereignty patrol. Enforcing the U.S. claim on a very large volume of very empty space containing very valuable transit routes and the occasional very valuable rock.'
Paul nodded. 'Yeah. I know about the sovereignty bit. We need to enforce our claim of control or it won't have any legal standing.'
'Meaning what? That's a real question. We're all a little vague on the reasons for what we're doing. Not that that's so unusual.'
'Well…' Paul paused to order his thoughts. 'You can't just claim something and then leave it. If you claim you own something, but then let other people use it without hindrance for a while, then eventually your claim won't be regarded as having legal standing anymore. You have to enforce your claim in some meaningful way. You know, it's like if you have a trademark on some word but let everybody use it all the time and never complain. After a while the word is legally in public domain and you can't enforce the trademark anymore. That's really simplified, and I'm sure a lawyer could poke all kinds of holes in what I said, but that's the general idea.'
'Interesting.' Meadows raised both eyebrows. 'You know legal stuff, huh?'
'Sort of. I had a one-month gap in my orders, so they packed me off to a Ship's Legal Officer course. I guess you could say I now know enough to be dangerous.'
'Lucky you. Then you also know what 'enforcing' our claim means?'
'In theory…'
'In practice.' Meadows smiled, this time without real humor. 'Like you said, we can't let other ships just cruise through our space, can we? But we're not at war with anybody, not officially anyway, so we can't officially blow them away, if that should be necessary.'
'Blow them away?' Paul stared. 'You mean we'll be authorized to shoot at other ships?'
'That's the scuttlebutt. How we can get away with that when we're not at war with anybody, I don't know, but then I'm just a dumb JG.'
'That's better than being a dumb ensign. Our orders really say that?'
Meadows shrugged. 'That's the scuttlebutt,' he repeated. 'You'll see the actual orders when the rest of us do. For now, I better get you to see the XO. You don't want her thinking she's being dissed. No, sirree. Follow me.'
Meadows went out the hatch, expertly ducking to avoid banging his head, and led the way through a maze of passageways in which Paul had already lost his bearings. His head brushed objects overhead twice, causing Paul to hunch even lower and envy the casual way Meadows ducked and twisted to avoid hitting things. A female ensign came around a corner, flattening herself against the bulkhead as Paul and Carl passed. 'Hey, babe,' Carl offered.
'Hey, yourself. New stud?'
'Yeah.' Carl indicated the female ensign. 'Jen Shen. Paul Sinclair.'
'Charmed.'
'Likewise.'
Carl pointed a thumb down, where the aft portion of the ship lay. 'Jen's the Auxiliary Machinery Officer. She's not bad, for a snipe.'
Jen bared her teeth. 'That reminds me. I may need to have the ventilation in your stateroom taken off line. Maybe for several hours.'
'Oh, God, please, no-'
'Just joking.' She looked Paul over appraisingly. 'Is Carl giving you the ten cent tour?' Paul nodded. 'Did he warn you about Smiling Sam, yet?'
'Smiling…?'
'Sam Yarrow,' Carl amplified. 'The Bull Ensign.' The official nickname indicated Yarrow was the senior ensign onboard. 'Don't call him Smiling Sam to his face.'
'But keep your eye on him,' Jen added. 'He's a snake.'
'Now, Jen-'
'Don't 'now' me, mister. Paul, if Sam tries to pat you on the back don't let him unless you've got armor strapped on between your shoulder blades. Otherwise, you're likely to find a knife there.' She smiled with mock sweetness at Carl. 'But that's just my opinion. See ya. I got work to do, unlike some underemployed combat systems types.'
Meadows shook his head, smiling wryly, as Shen hustled down the passageway. 'Jen's got attitude to spare.'
'I can tell. She seems squared away, though.'
'Oh yeah, real squared away. You can trust Jen, on official business or on personal stuff.'
'Thanks. So she's right about Yarrow?'
Carl hesitated before answering. 'I don't want to predispose you-'
'Come on.'
'Okay. The Bull Ensign's supposed to look out for the other ensigns, right? Sam Yarrow mainly looks out for Sam Yarrow. That's all I'll say. Now, onward. The XO awaits.'
They went around another corner, ducking where cables and ducts came too far down from the overhead, until Carl stopped before a hatch with Herdez stenciled on it. He rapped twice, waited for an acknowledgement, then opened the hatch and waved Paul forward. 'New officer reporting aboard, XO.'
'Thank you, Mr. Meadows.' Herdez rose from her chair just enough to shake Paul's hand. 'Please wait outside while I speak with Ensign…'
'Sinclair, ma'am.'
'Sinclair. Welcome aboard the USS Michaelson.' Herdez sank back into her chair, gestured Paul to the stateroom's other seat, then held out her hand. 'Your service record, please.'
'Yes, ma'am.' Paul hastily popped the data cartridge containing his service record out of his wallet and
