“Yes, sir,” I said. The Captain had invited me to relax, but how could I call him anything else? Yianni had expressed a keen interest in the engineering compartments and the Engineer had reluctantly agreed to give her additional training. She had a keen mind that all the public schooling down on Earth had failed to ruin completely. It was a minor miracle. “She was talking about applying for a transfer to Engineering School, out in the belt.”
The Captain smiled. “Jason, what do you think of that?”
“She’s always a productive person in the group discussions,” the Political Officer said, sipping his own tea. I had caught a whiff of it and realised that his tea included a large dose of whiskey. It was still a mystery how he managed to bring so much alcohol onto the ship. “Very intelligent, very understanding…I see no reason why she shouldn’t apply for the transfer. I’ll even put in a good word for her myself if you wish.”
I smiled. The group discussions were attempts to reason out how the United Nations worked and how it was superior to all other systems, past and present. I had realised years ago that it really worked on the Garbage In, Garbage Our principle. If a person accepted political doctrine as fact, the entire system worked, provided that one didn’t take a careful look at the foundations. It was hard to believe that the system worked perfectly when people seemed to be happier on Heinlein, or even among the Amish.
But a good word from the Political Officer would take Yianni far.
“Please do,” the Captain said. He smiled, rather dryly. “There is a considerable shortage of engineers, as you well know. If Yianni was to become a proper engineer, I’m sure some Captain would be pleased to see her.”
“It would take her out of command track,” I said, slowly. “I think that that’s why she’s reluctant to ask for the transfer now.”
The Captain nodded. Ensigns on the command track, like I had been, were expected to be generalists, not specialists. I might have qualified as a Tactical Officer, or a Helm Officer, but I didn’t have the skills of the Pilot, or even the tactical staff in their compartment. My task was to set policy; theirs was to carry it out. If Yianni did transfer to Engineering and go to Engineering School, she would never have a chance to become a Captain in her own right. Engineers weren’t in the chain of command.
“Don’t push her,” he advised, with a glance at the Political Officer to suggest that he shouldn’t push her either. “If she decides to become an Engineer of her own free will, she’ll be a better Engineer than if we pushed her into volunteering for the transfer.”
“Yes, sir,” I said. I was still wondering why Yianni hadn’t transferred back at the Academy, back when it would have been easier, but I thought I understood. The Academy hadn’t given any of us a real chance to understand what Engineering was all about, merely tested us when all of us were keen to become Captains ourselves. Yianni would never have had the chance to realise that she wanted to become an Engineer. “I’ll allow her to make up her mind.”
“See that you do,” the Captain said. “It wouldn’t do for her to think that we were taking an interest in her development, would it?”
I smiled. It was something else I hadn’t realised back when I’d been an Ensign, but the senior staff had kept a close eye on me than I’d understood. I’d thought that they’d been watching for mistakes that could have imperilled the ship, but they’d also been watching for signs of promise, signs that they could push me forward for promotion, or maybe change my career path into one of the non-commissioned departments. I hadn’t even suspected that the Captain knew or cared who I was…
But then, there had been his order to train with the Marines, after Terra Nova.
“No, sir,” I agreed. “I’ll wait and see what happens.”
Day followed day as we sailed on through the Beyond. We entered an unexplored star system and discovered two Earth-like planets orbiting around each other, with a smaller planetoid in the barycentre between them. I took a shuttle down to the surface with two of the Ensigns, and three Marines for security, and we walked on a beach under an alien sky. I looked up and saw the other planet hanging in the sky, seemingly far closer than the Moon on Earth, and shivered. It was irrational, but I felt that the planet was going to come crashing down on me. Settlers on Jupiter’s moons had felt the same — they’d also seen the Great Red Spot as an eye glaring at them — and some of them had gone insane. I wondered who would come willingly to settle this planet, if they knew the truth. Perhaps people from the mountainous areas of Earth, I decided; both planets were covered in mountains.
The Captain formally named the two planets Romulus and Remus, after the legendary founders of Rome, but I doubted the name would stick. The UN would go looking for some nice inoffensive name for the twin worlds before they started settlement — even assuming that there were enough colonist-carriers left to settle the colony — and the first city would probably end up being called Landing City, again. The Captain shrugged when I asked him if they’d change the name, merely noting that whatever happened, he’d named the planets. We left a satellite in orbit to mark our visit and headed back onwards to our final destination, Bellefonte.
I had wondered if we would get any finders reward for locating the new planet — planets — but the regulations suggested that any discoveries made by UNPF personnel automatically belonged to the UNPF. It was quite possible that the planet was the location of a black colony and they wouldn’t be happy at being disturbed, but they wouldn’t get any reward either. If they were lucky, they’d be integrated into the settlement population. It had happened before. The unlucky ones would get a harsh lesson in how the UN treated deviant populations and probably wind up enslaved, or dumped on somewhere like Botany. I mulled on that as we sped onwards to our final destination.
“Captain,” Yianni said, as we emerged from the wormhole, “I’m picking up a distress signal.”
“Put it through,” the Captain ordered. Bellefonte might not be a UN system, but all starships were obliged to offer aid if required.
“This is… station alpha… under attack…”
The signal broke off in a wash of static. “Signal lost, sir,” Yianni said.
The Captain nodded. “Sound battle stations,” he ordered. “Helm, take us in.”
Chapter Thirty-One
On first glimpse, there appears to be no economic basis for piracy in the UN’s sphere, but that is a false impression. Depending on what the pirates loot, they can sell it to black or grey colonies — or even back to the UN or the colonies. Even farming equipment, sold to the right people, can bring a high price. High tech is worth more than gold to the black colonies. Although the UN would wish to deny it, it cannot be doubted that many pirates are UNPF renegade ships, determined to eke out a life for themselves on the fringe.
“Power up weapons units,” I ordered, as I brought the tactical console on line. One hand moved down a line of switches, unlocking the starship’s weapons. “Load torpedo tubes. Load missile racks. Power up laser cannons and activate the point defence systems.”
“Number One, launch a probe towards the enemy ship,” the Captain ordered. I complied and launched the fast-boost probe towards the pirate vessel. “Ensign Gerasimos, transmit a stand-down and prepare to be boarded signal to the enemy ship.”
“Aye, sir,” Yianni said. She worked her console. “No reply, sir.”
The Captain leaned back in his chair. “Put the feed from the probe on the main display,” he ordered. “Stand by to engage.”