“Well then, it’s settled. My standards are very simple. I’m always willing to accept peoples’ best effort. I don’t demand perfection, just excellence. Come on, let’s eat.”
LCDR Timmons wasn’t lying. The mess hall was fabulous. The decor was as up to date as they came. The decorations must have been brought in from Earth. They had real eggs made to order; pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage, ham, kippers, baked beans, fresh fruit, and a pastry tray the head cook on the Bolivar would weep over. They also had some obvious and unfamiliar local delicacies. He avoided those. Kelly ordered an omelet, bacon, hash browns, and picked up some pastry as he moved down the line. LCDR Timmons ordered his three eggs over easy, with bacon and sausage on the side, home fries, and three pancakes. LCDR Timmons had a good appetite. They picked up juice and coffee and made their way to a table.
“The Vigilant is a good ship…or at least she will be when she comes out of refit. I am a little concerned about not being there during these last few days. No telling what the refit guys will mess up that we’ll have to sort out on patrol. I guess it can’t be helped. I saw you have an Electronic Engineering degree. That will come in handy. I’m sure the yard will get a few things wired wrong and the computer never works right for a few days after refit. You and Chief Watson will have to sort out those things as we do work ups. We aren’t big enough to have an engineering officer, so you and the chief and our chief machinists mate will have to sort things out. We will have most of our crew back, but we’ll have about a 50 % turnover before our first patrol. We’ll need to do a lot of work to get the crew ready for patrol.”
“I’ll do my best sir, but it will take me a few days to get the hang of a ship with more than one person on it.”
“Don’t worry about that Kelly, Chief Watson will show you the ropes. I know. He taught me. We’d be lost in space and adrift without our chiefs.”
“Tell me more about the Vigilant, sir.”
“Well, she’s the second ship built in the Valiant Class of scout ships. She’s got the Diomede anti-matter/gravity engine, which will go five power light speed, almost six if we tune her right. The yard is supposed to be applying the tune up as part of the standard engine control program. I guess that will give Chief Miller something to play with. He is our Chief Machinists Mate. He knows the ship inside and out. In fact he worked for the Bureau of Ships’ team that designed her. Even though we aren’t supposed to be on board right now and in the way of the refit crew, Chief Miller is there, helping the refit crew chief get her ready. It took some convincing, but now their refit crew chief wouldn’t have it any other way. That way, he’ll catch most of the major problems. The minor ones will be the responsibility of you, me, and the crew.”
“She’s having the new twin particle turrets installed in place of the old single plasma turrets. It doubles our firepower and triples our range. I’ve heard from the Valiant’s captain they don’t track on target properly until you tweak the fire control computer some. That is your problem to solve. We don’t use weapons much in our work, but when we need them, I want them working at 100 % efficiency.”
“Our sensor suite will be upgraded, too. We’ll have ten times the range with our long-range sensors and four times the sensitivity on our short-range sensors. The planetary sensors will be able to reach 1000 meters below the land surface and any depth underwater. We’re supposed to gain a significant increase in sensor capability in plasma-charged space, such as a nebula. Some of the gas clouds used to leave us blind. This upgrade is supposed to take care of that for us. Now, if someone tries to hide in the upper atmosphere of a gas giant, we can find them.”
“We have a cargo hold along the top dorsal fin. We hardly ever carry cargo. Its main purpose is to hold a launcher for 20 missiles. It loads in as a complete unit and takes up the entire compartment. The guidance system is tied directly into sensors. We won’t see the launcher until wartime, though.”
“Sir, how does she handle? How about acceleration, turning radius, and G-forces?”
“Relax. Most of the time, we only travel in straight lines. If we have to skedaddle, because we got caught or stumbled into something we shouldn’t have, the computer flies us out. We have artificial gravity and a stabilization system. You don’t feel acceleration and G-factors. It won’t be the same as it was in the cockpit of a fighter. When we do work ups, I’ll give you the controls so you can get a feel for the ship. It is possible to fly the ship, but we don’t do it often. The Vigilant has a crew of 48. We aren’t strapped into acceleration couches as we do our jobs. We can’t jink around in space like a fighter. You’ll also find the mass and momentum is different from a fighter. You’re a smart guy. So I’m sure you will find some tricks the designers never imagined.”
Kelly scratched his chin, “I hadn’t thought about the fact the crew isn’t harnessed in. That does make a good bit of difference. I’ll remember and adjust my thinking.”
“You’ll figure it out. When we get back, the yeoman will get you all in-processed. Get the quartermaster to outfit you with a proper set of uniforms. That one looks a little big. We tend to wear coveralls on patrol. They are quicker to get into and take up less space on board. I find them more comfortable. There are some additional duties I get to assign to you as the exec. I’ll have Chief Watson see to it you have the ship’s new schematics to use for bedtime reading for a while.”
“Now for the crew. The crew consists of two officers, six chiefs, and 40 lower ranks. The ship is divided into five sections-the bridge, gunnery, sensor, engineering, and mess. There is a chief in charge of each section. They manage their sections and assign their people to watches and other duties. The Chief of the Ship, Chief Watson, is a twenty year Fleet veteran. What he doesn’t know about Scout class ships isn’t worth knowing. He could probably disassemble, diagnose, repair, and reassemble any component of the ship. Not only that, but he can teach others how to do it, too. You outrank him, but if you are smart, you won’t argue with him or question him on anything he says. I don’t. He’ll treat you with the respect your rank deserves, but if he makes a suggestion you should give it a good long think before you do it some other way.”
“Its okay sir, I’m not your stereotypical ensign. I had a good crew chief on the Bolivar. I learned the value of listening to people who knew more than me. After all, there are so many of them.”
This produced another guffaw. “Ensign, I think I’m going to like you. We should do well together. One last bit of guidance, if I ask you something, tell me what you know, not what you think or guess. If I want your opinion or a guess, I’ll ask you for that specifically. Otherwise, stick with the facts. There will be times out there where I won’t have time to work through a hypothesis. If you don’t know, say so. Come on, finish up. I’ll introduce you to the crew.”
Kelly looked down and realized LCDR Timmons had cleaned his plate while talking to him, but Kelly’s breakfast was only half eaten. He wasn’t sure how the captain had done that because he had talked almost the entire meal, but never talked with his mouth full. Kelly wolfed down his breakfast, wiped his mouth, and got up with LCDR Timmons to carry their trays to the conveyor. The conveyor led to a replicator that would melt down the trays, plates, utensils, and refuse, and reform them into new serving ware and utensils for the next meal.
The two walked out of the mess hall and back to LCDR Timmons’ office. Chief Watson was waiting for them. He looked young to be the Chief of the Ship. He looked to be in his late 30s. He was tall and wiry, six feet and just under 180 pounds. He had the look of someone who knew instinctively exactly what to do in any given situation.
“Chief, this is Ensign Kelly Blake, our new Executive Officer. Take him under your wing and take care of him.”
Chief Watson gave him a handshake exactly matching the pressure of Kelly’s grip. Kelly took it as a sign the chief didn’t feel the need to compete with him.