The security officer who was assigned to escort her to engineering at the end of her third day aboard had four and a half bars on his cuffs, marking him as one of the highest ranking officers on board. His name was Taber Radics and he had come aboard with the Aucharian military during the battle for the Triton. When she tried to strike up conversation with him he answered her questions about his home world of Seneschal, the security on the ship, even Engineering Chief Liam Grady. All his answers were polite, she was addressed as Ma'am as though that was equivalent to the rank of Grand Admiral or some kind of Queen, and he always had a smile for her.
At the same time his eyes searched the hallways ahead of them, scanned people carefully from head to tow and his hand rested on the hilt of his holstered sidearm. There was a security or peace officer at every major hall intersection, even the temporary quarters she'd been assigned somewhere in the center of the ship were well patrolled even though they were only partially occupied from what she could tell. The hallways weren't disused, they just showed more signs of age than the rest of the ship. They were missing the degree of polish the rest of the ship had, and dust had settled on much of the cabling and piping that was neatly sorted along the walls.
They were in the elevator, which had cleared out when they stepped inside, when she asked; “Has anyone instituted cleaning stations aboard?”
He looked at her with mild surprise for a moment before shaking his head; “Only in the bunks, but I'll pass it up the line to Chief Vega.”
“You don't have to go to the trouble, I just couldn't help but notice a little scuffing and settling in the halls in some sections.”
“I'm sorry, Ma'am. We'll have it seen to right away,” he answered as he stared at the lift doors with all seriousness.
It wasn't what she intended. It was meant as an observation, maybe light criticism, but not as an order. She sighed and stared at the lift doors. They opened to reveal a broad, busy corridor with active observation and control stations down its length. The buzz of activity and quick interchange of information was something she hadn't seen since she managed the Engineering section of the First Light.
It only took a few glances to realize that she had been brought to the main repair, maintenance and damage control center. It was a subsection of the Engineering department, she had read, and through a transparent ceiling she could see the main engineering office. According to the ship's organizational charts that was where all the engineering department heads gave orders for their teams, monitored their progress and coordinated. “Good thing you didn't take me that way. I'd cause quite a scene in this skirt,” Ayan muttered just loud enough for her escort to hear.
He suppressed a chortle. “Yes ma'am,” he replied under his breath.
As she passed the bustle and buzz of the broad control corridor quieted and she was met with mild smiles and gentle nods. Her cheeks flushed and she mentally cursed at herself for showing that she was at all flustered. Years of military training had taught her that when a crowd affords someone so much respect the best reaction was to calmly, politely acknowledge it. Keep your back straight, your stride steady, straight and your chin up. As she recovered her attire felt all wrong. Well, not wrong, but very different; confidence showed through very differently in a dress. She was used to being in a uniform, commanding a different kind of respect that came from rank, camaraderie. Being in civilian clothing separated her from the rest of the crew in ways she hadn't realized when she first dressed that morning, add to that her soldierly gait and whatever incidental reputation that had been attributed to her and people admired her from a distance. As she nodded and sent modest smiles at people who stopped to regard her with a grin or a; “Ma'am,” she wondered, with some irritation, what exactly waited for her at the end of the hallway.
There were over thirty people in that hallway, all directing repairs from what she could tell and she was relieved when she got to the end of the corridor made for fifty or more foremen and women. Broad double doors opened into a heavily armoured airlock where they waited for the doors behind to close, the pressure to equalize with the space beyond the heavier hatch within and then for that two meter thick block of a hatch door to be drawn out by heavy arms.
Ayan peered within and saw something entirely unexpected. The Triton's six main reactors were like thick pillars in a white cathedral and in its center sat a man in robes. His back was to her but she immediately had the sense that he was in meditation.
Between the large sealed reactor chambers and broad spaces between he looked small but compared to her he was a very large fellow, and as she stepped out of the lift the guard smiled at her and whispered; “That's Chief Engineer Grady. Do you need anything else before I leave Ma'am?”
“No, thank you for walking me here Officer Radics,” Ayan replied.
He remained there, staring at her.
“You're dismissed,” she added quietly.
He saluted before closing the hatch.
She shook her head and turned her attention back to the Chief. The first steps she took towards him sounded thunderously loud as they reverberated throughout the large chamber. Her soles were soft, practical, but still fresh from Laura's materializer, so they had just enough stiffness to make too much noise for her comfort.
Liam let out a long breath and stood slowly, almost too gracefully for his height and size. “I told them you'd be all right to find your way here on your own,” he said as he turned and smiled at her. “You've probably browsed the blueprints for the entire ship by now.”
Ayan smiled back at him as she slowly closed the distance and offered her hand. “Just a few decks and the way here.”
He took her hand and shook it firmly but gently. “I'm honoured to meet you Ayan, I'm Liam Grady.”
She let her hand slip out of his, feeling small and delicate at the center of the reactors, standing in front of a man who was the better part of a meter taller than she. “I'm honoured to meet you, Axiologist Grady. I was taught by someone from your order when I was a child and have believed ever since. You couldn't imagine my reaction when I discovered there was a monk aboard.”
“Oh, I'm only a Pilgrim. I was supposed to be a Guide on Seneschal while maintaining a lead engineer's post, but there was a change in plans. Who was your teacher?”
“Tajen Emrissa, she stayed to teach ethics and history for two years. I still wish she could have stayed longer, a lot of us did.”
“I heard of her while I was with my Mentor but never had the chance to meet her. I'm fairly sure she was in retreat somewhere in the north east, though she was known for being a Pilgrim for a very long time.”
“I'm glad she made it back. She didn't speak about her time on Earth often, but by the time she taught us she had two belts.”
“I couldn't imagine, even though I've met Mentors with four,”
Ayan couldn't resist looking down at Liam's loosely tied red belt to see how many places he'd taught or mentored and was a little surprised to find only one marking; the emblem of the Triton had been pressed into the thick cloth. The gentleman's easy confidence and slightly weathered look suggested that he'd already taught hundreds, thousands of people.