Until that moment, rumors of the Explorer class ships getting FTL capabilities had been just that, rumors. Now that her executive officer had just confirmed it, an excited murmur began to rise in the briefing room. The commander expected this reaction, pausing for a moment to let the whispers die down before continuing.
“The Aurora is primarily a carrier vessel, and thus is designed around and in support of her flight decks. I will not be reviewing any specifics during this briefing, as I expect that each of you will be spending quite a bit of time getting to know her over the next few weeks.”
The lights came back up, and the display on the wall faded back to the Aurora’s shoulder patch design. Commander Montero looked around the room again, observing their reactions before continuing.
“Normally, it would be another couple of months before this ship would be starting her shakedown cruise. Hell, we weren’t even scheduled to start taking on crew until next month. But Fleet Command, in all their infinite wisdom, has decided to step up our launch date by a good two months. Exactly why, I do not know, so don’t bother asking. What I do know is that we’ve got two months of work to do, and only two weeks to do it in. And on top of that, I have to find the time to train all of you, so that we don’t crash and burn this baby on our first lap around the Solar System.”
“Now, I’m going to turn you over to Lieutenant Commander Kaguchi, who will call out your section assignments.”
Lieutenant Commander Kaguchi, a stout Japanese officer in his late thirties stepped up to the podium and began calling out names and duty assignments. Vladimir watched for every person called, as if he wanted to connect names with faces. Nathan just sat quietly, waiting to hear his own name.
“Kamenetskiy, Vladimir!”
“Yes, Sir!” Vladimir answered.
“Engineering, Main Propulsion amp; Power. Report to Lieutenant Commander Patel.”
“That’s what you wanted, right?” Nathan whispered, as the lieutenant commander continued calling out assignments.
“Yes,” Vladimir answered, hiding his excitement.
“Then you’re happy, right?” Nathan was a bit confused by his new roommates lack of emotion.
“Of course.”
“Sure couldn’t tell by looking.”
“Believe me, inside, I am very happy. I am overjoyed.” A grin came across Vladimir’s face as he looked sideways at Nathan and winked.
“Nash, Jessica!”
“Yes, Sir!”
“Special Operations and Intelligence! Report to Master Chief Johansen.”
Nathan turned his head in the direction of the woman’s voice, as it struck him as familiar. He had just about given up trying to see her face when suddenly the ensign blocking his view leaned back, revealing the same brunette he had met at the party the night before. Only this time she wasn’t wearing a tight little evening dress. She was in a duty uniform sporting Aurora shoulder patches, just like everyone else in the room.
“Oh shit,” Nathan whispered as he slumped back in his seat, trying to avoid being spotted.
“What is wrong?”
“I know her.”
Vladimir looked in the direction of Ensign Nash. “You know this woman? She is very beautiful. You must introduce me.” Vladimir straightened up, raising his hand as if to wave to her.
“Whattaya doin’,” Nathan protested, grabbing Vladimir’s hand. “Are you crazy? She’ll see us!”
“I thought you said you know her?”
“Well, I don’t mean I know her, know her. I mean I know her.”
“Nathan, please. You do not make sense.”
“I mean, I met her, last night at a party. We’d both been drinking…”
“…Ah, then you know her!” Vladimir realized. “Then you definitely must introduce me.”
Nathan peeked towards her to make sure she hadn’t noticed them. It was a big ship, and if he was lucky, there was a chance that…
“…Scott, Nathan!” the commander called out.
Yes, Sir!” he answered instinctively.
“Helm and Navigation! Report to Captain Roberts.”
Nathan sank back down in his chair, peeking toward Jessica just in time to see a mischievous smirk on her face. “You have got to be kidding me”, he mumbled.
“I think I may have underestimated you, my friend,” Vladimir whispered as he patted Nathan on the shoulder.
“Taylor, Cameron!”
“Yes, Sir!” The woman a few chairs down called out.
“Helm and Navigation! Report to Captain Roberts.”
Nathan leaned forward slightly to see past Vladimir. She was a few years younger than Nathan, with shoulder-length brown hair. She was of medium height with angular features, and appeared quite disciplined and business like in her manner. Even though her gaze never wavered from looking at the podium, he was sure she could see him. As Nathan turned his eyes forward again, she stole a quick glance, sizing up her competition.
Having completed calling out the assignments, the lieutenant commander stepped away from the podium allowing Commander Montero to finish the briefing. “The next two weeks will be difficult. Besides your accelerated training regimen, you will also be called upon to help with some of the finishing work within your respective departments. Then, upon completion of your training, some of you will be promoted to head your teams. In turn, you will be responsible for training the next group of graduates due out in six months. Until that group is trained, this ship will be operating on a skeleton crew of one hundred instead of her standard compliment of three hundred. So the long hours will continue well after your training has concluded.”
The commander paused, stepping out from behind the podium, leaning against it in order to strike a less formal posture with his new crew. “Captain Roberts and I are both aware that we will be asking a lot of each and every one of you over the next six months. But you are Fleet Academy graduates, which means you are the best our planet has to offer. Only the best get into the Academy, and only the Best of Class get assigned to ships like the Aurora.”
That last statement gave Nathan pause. He had done alright at the Academy, finishing thirty-second out of a class of five hundred. But he knew for a fact he wasn’t Best of Class, especially considering the problems he experienced in the command simulations. He had felt lucky when he was looking at being on a backup graveyard flight team on the Reliant. But now he had a shot at becoming the lead helmsman for the newest, fastest ship in the fleet? Not only did he feel like he didn’t deserve it, but he wasn’t sure if he even wanted the responsibility. That’s when he started to suspect his father’s handiwork in his sudden reassignment. But why? What did he hope to accomplish? Was he trying to force him to accept responsibility, like he had been preaching to him his whole life? Or maybe, he was setting him up to fail, hoping that he’d give up on a life in space and take a nice, safe posting back on Earth. That would certainly please his mother. All of a sudden, Nathan wasn’t so sure his plan to leave it all behind and start over was going to work as well as he’d hoped.
The commander returned to his place behind the podium before continuing. “Until further notice, the duty hours of this ship are zero-eight-hundred to twenty-two-hundred. There will be no days off until after the first test flight in two weeks. All crew report to your department heads to begin training. Dismissed!” Commander Montero stepped away from the podium and exited the briefing room, with Lieutenant Commander Kaguchi right behind him.
Vladimir suddenly turned to face Nathan, excitedly demanding, “You must give me details.” Now that the briefing was over, he was dying to know more about Nathan’s tryst with Ensign Nash.
Nathan turned to him, all set to share the events of the previous night, when he noticed Ensign Taylor, hurriedly making her way out of the briefing room. Suddenly, he felt the need to follow her. “Vlad, my friend-gentlemen do not kiss and tell.” Nathan got up and left, patting Vladimir on the shoulder on his way out.