“Welcome onboard,” the Captain said. His voice, too, was tired. He sounded like a man on the verge of death somehow, even though there was some of the old strength there. I wished, suddenly, that I were Lieutenant Hatchet. She would have known what to do. I felt as if I were nothing, but a helpless observer. “I trust that you had a pleasant week at Luna City, John?”
I flushed, slightly. I’d spent the week making contacts with people I’d known and trying to sound them out about their feelings for the regime. It hadn’t been easy and I was grimly aware that if someone talked to the wrong person, or reported me to the security forces, I was dead. The planning hadn’t even reached the operational stages yet and wouldn’t realistically, for several years. The best we could do was plan and try to position ourselves for action in the future.
“Yes, sir,” I said. I had never lied to the Captain before, but there was little choice. “I spent most of it in the Video Lounge and then Madame Olga’s Place.”
The Captain smiled faintly. “The Video Lounge?” He asked, dryly. “Why there?”
“I like to play computer games,” I admitted. It was hard telling a lie to him, but I had used to visit back when I’d been in the Academy. There were aspects of Academy training that could be applied to computer games, although some of them were puzzles or strange adventures, rather than action and adventure. There was one featuring a small blue mutant hedgehog I’d used to love. “It’s not something you can do on a starship.”
“Against regulations,” the Captain agreed. He grinned suddenly, seeming years younger for a long heartbreaking moment. “And is Madame Olga the same as ever?”
“Ah…I wasn’t too concerned with her,” I said, frantically. Madame Olga ran one of the more upscale brothels in Luna City and had been around as long as anyone could remember. “I just wanted a girl and…”
I trailed off. The Captain seemed to recognise my embarrassment. “I used to know her when I was younger,” he admitted. “She was quite a beauty in her day.”
“Yes, sir,” I agreed. I had the vague feeling that I was being teased. The imagination couldn’t cope with the idea of the Captain as a young man. It seemed more likely that he had sprung into existence on the bridge. “Some of her girls were almost beauties…”
The Captain laughed at my discomfort. “They always were,” he said. “However” — he shook his head slowly — “we have other matters to talk about, even though it would be nicer to talk about girls. Do you understand that you will be First Lieutenant on this vessel?”
He paused. “At ease, by the way,” he added. “You’re a Lieutenant now. You’re allowed to relax slightly in the presence of your Captain.”
“I understood that to be the case,” I said. “I was sorry to hear that Lieutenant Hatchet had left this ship.”
“Command has seen fit to grace me with several green Ensigns and Lieutenants again,” the Captain said, tiredly. “I’m relieved to see you — I approved your transfer despite some pressure from other quarters — because you were already familiar with Lieutenant Hatchet’s methods for breaking in new Ensigns. That will be your job as well as the other duties that come with the position.”
“Yes, sir,” I said. I had forgotten that detail — I remembered what we’d been like as Ensigns and shuddered — but there was no getting out of it now. “She taught me how to deal with them, sir.”
“And of course you will remember what it was like to be young and unformed yourself,” the Captain continued. He straightened up himself and looked into my eyes. It was almost like he had returned to his old personality. “You are not just to be another Lieutenant on this vessel, John. As First Lieutenant, you are expected to be my tactical alter ego, advising me and, if necessary, disagreeing with me. You won’t find it easy, so let me assure you from the start that you may speak freely to me at all times.”
“I never saw Lieutenant Hatchet disagreeing with you,” I said, puzzled. “I don’t recall that at all.”
“Lieutenant Hatchet spoke to me in private about any doubts or issues she had,” the Captain explained. “You were never meant to hear anything that could cast doubt on my authority, or wisdom. Jason” — it took me a moment to realise that he meant the Political Officer — “would do the same. You’ll have to learn, John, but I’m sure that you can do it.
“We spent the last cruise patrolling and watching for pirates and we will be doing the same on this cruise,” he continued. “We’re supposed to be escorting several freighters to Botany — they may be targeted by wreckers, but not by common pirates — and then onwards to New Paris, before heading out for a circuit through the Beyond. It may not work out as planned. The last cruise left us all exhausted.”
“Yes, sir,” I said. If nothing else, it would give us time to break in the new Ensigns. “How far are we going to go into the Beyond?”
“Maybe a hundred light years,” the Captain said. “It may be slightly further, but it depends on what we find. We may even have to return to Earth or another fleet base sooner than we expect.”
I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. The Beyond referred to the space beyond the advancing wavefront of official human colonisation. Anything could be out there, from hidden human colonies to pirate bases and shipyards. It almost made up for the run to Botany. We might even discover the first non-human civilisation, although I wasn’t sure I wanted the UN to encounter them. The UN’s reaction to primitive groups on Earth and some of the colonies was generally to keep them primitive, in the theory that primitive cultures shouldn’t be allowed to vanish from the universe. It probably explained a lot about Muna’s history.
“It’s not that exciting,” the Captain warned. “The last two sweeps through the Beyond found nothing of interest, beyond a pair of habitable planets. You’ll probably find it rather boring.”
“It couldn’t be boring,” I said, shaking my head. How could I explain the thought of seeing emptiness that no one had ever seen before? “Ah, sir…I…”
“Never mind,” the Captain said. He grinned at me, and then softened. “Now, I want a full briefing on Heinlein — and I want the truth, nothing, but the truth.”
“Yes, sir,” I said, and started to talk.
It lasted nearly an hour. I’d started with the invasion and gone on to talk about how the war was progressing, although my information was at least a month out of date. I mentioned the strikes on civilians and how many innocents were being killed in the crossfire, but I didn’t mentioned anything about Ensign Gomez. I did mention that the reporters had been mostly killed in engagements in ‘safe’ areas, however.
“I have met a few reporters,” the Captain said, dryly. “You won’t have to worry about them on this vessel.” I let out a sigh of relief. “You will have to take care of the Infantry Company we’re shipping to Botany, but they won’t be as bad.”
“No, sir,” I said, and kept my thoughts to myself. The Infantry had picked up a bad reputation on Heinlein, at least as far as I was concerned. “Why…?”
“Apparently someone at UNPF headquarters doesn’t quite trust the assurances that the troop transports are perfectly safe,” the Captain said. I couldn’t disagree with that unnamed officer, even if he had just condemned us to a crowded ship for the first two weeks of the voyage. “Botany doesn’t rate a high priority, so they’re just being dumped on us for the trip. We can’t put them in the barges or there’ll be a mutiny. They’re a good unit, so be nice to them. An old friend of mine is in command.”