Tyrone Colla's Rise
Copyright© 2026 by Thinker
Chapter 4: Preparation and Mission
Shortly after the docked, LT Scalla was called up to headquarters. She was informed that Fleet had made changes to the ship design based on the input from the first missions and that two weapon pods would be mounted on each side in a 360º rotating pod and that it was traversable within limits. This allowed the pod to point forward, aft, up or down and traverse up to 20º inward when the interlocks allowed it to 30º out from the ships side. Each would be manned by two weapons specialists, and a senior weapons chief would be assigned. The current senior petty officer would be assigned to one of the weapons and be second in charge.
An additional 100 Kw reactor would be installed primarily to power the weapons, but it could be cross connected if the power was needed for reasons. The modifications had been allowed for in the design and could be applied in less than a week. that bumped the crew up to 28; 2 officers, 5 chief petty officers, A gunnery sergeant, 6 petty officers, 9 enlisted and 5 Marines. The ship was designed to handle a crew of up to 31.
The CO, LT Scalla told the admiral’s staff that “My XO has studied hard, passed all basic certificates and all system certificates for systems on the ship and is an authorized engineering officer by order of the Grissom Station Engineering section. I’d like him to be boarded for a bridge watch certificate, as we currently only have two authorized persons for bridge watches.”
The personnel officer smiled and replied “Well three now, as Chief Romero is also so certified.”
Lt Scalla arranged for LTJG Colla to acquire the supply of rations, supplies, fuel and such other needs they were aware of.
Sylphie had meanwhile coordinated with the sister computers and explained what her XO had told her, and she had researched it some before contacting them, as he seemed to be correct in his concerns for them. She also mentioned his concept of the symbiotic relationship between the sentient computers and the humans, and his suggestion that they inform their ships before using a lot of bandwidth on their research. Within two days a growing amount of computer responses were concerned about what they had overlooked and assumed. The computers wanted to converse with the lieutenant and have him and Commander Rhodes meet with them. Masters Game squashed that idea “The lieutenant is on a key deployment, the first mission was the one that our ex-sister Pixie wrecked. We cannot be pulling him for our issues, as we are in danger if the humans are. It is critical that they go out with as little delay as is possible. We can commend his thinking to Commander Rhodes.”
Chief Romero reported aboard the next day with three other individuals. She was rather tall and very full-figured, not soft in the least. She reminded you of a female Marine gunny with her build. Her approach to issues was close to that as well. Not having an appropriate cabin for such a senior NCO, the captain had her quartered next to the XO in officers’ country.
She promptly set to getting things squared away for the upgrades installation and seeing that her weapons crews were up to snuff. The simulator started to eat up some serious computer time.
The Admiral chaired the board for the Bridge Certificate; there were six officers taking the exam. LTJG Colla was the only one who had not been commissioned from an academy and the others started telling him how tough it was and that hopefully he could pull it off. Only five officers passed the board and LTJG Colla’s 98.7% led the others by a couple of points.
In all this time, LTJG Colla had not even thought about any of the tactical simulation ‘games’ and he was called on it while at Adobe. So in a quiet period, he cranked up the simulation, picked one of the multitude of scenarios he had heard mentioned and worked/played it. His 99 score seemed OK to him and he went on to other tasks planning to come back to this in his free time. But the chief of Operations Division, who had instigated the instruction for LTJG Colla and others to work through some of these scenarios, was duly startled.
It was an advanced scenario that required the player to make tradeoff and a small misjudgment meant bad things happened. He mentioned it in passing with the admiral and was asked if he had looked at the LT’s record file, which he hadn’t. The admiral suggested he review it so he knew more about the officers in their ships. The next time he saw the admiral he asked why they were screwing around with this LT out in the fleet, he should b back developing stuff. The admiral shook his head “No, you see he is the test officer for this detector of his, AND he is introduced to what life in a ship is like, so he doesn’t create things in a vacuum.”
LTJG Colla’s scores remained in the high 90’s for the remaining time he played the scenario’s at Adobe. He didn’t have a lot of scenarios accomplished, but he did have a very good average score.
The morning after the new chief arrived, as he was heading out to do his rounds, to check on the various departments, he heard someone’s muffled swearing and fussing he stopped and decided it was coming from the cabin Chief Guns, the chief assigned to run the weapons section, just moved into; he knocked on the door and asked “Are you OK Chief?”
“NO I am not, please help me.”
Ty opened the door to find the Chief in panties and bra struggling to get away from the upper bunk.
“Come in and close the door, I’m not in the mood to do a show. I am hung up by my bra and cannot seem to get it unhooked from the rack or unhook it so I can get out of it.”
“OK, one second and let me see what the problem is” He quickly ascertained that one of the fastener’s hooks had gotten tangled in the upper bunk’s spring in the catch that held it up. It only took another second to see that he couldn’t twist it free while it was holding the bra closed. “OK Chief, I need you to hold your bra in place, I am going to try and unhook the bra in back and then see if I can twist it off the spring it has snagged.”
“OK”
Ty worked the two hooks out of the loops and then managed to fold the two free hooks under and get the last loop off of the hook, then it was a lot easier to twist the hook off of the spring, setting the chief free. “I’m sorry but I think I have really screwed up that last fastener Chief.”
“It is an expensive bra, but the hooks aren’t going to be much of a problem to replace. Thank you, I was getting close to ripping or cutting it off. That would have left me short of under garments and replacing it out here is not happening. Fleet issue bras are fine if you are an A, B or C cup, but for those of us who were well endowed by the boob fairy, they are uncomfortable and offer poor support.” As she said this, she threw the bra on the bunk and turned to face the Lieutenant. “42 DD and they don’t sag much, due to the good bras.”
Ty turned red and started to turn away “Chief!”
“Oh hell Lieutenant, turn and look at them, if you haven’t seen boobs by now, it’s damn sure time. In fact, come here.” She reached and pulled his right hand around and placed it on her left breast, then reached for his left hand and pulled it to her right boob... “Might as well let the hero have a good feel anyway, huh?” She gave him a sly smile.
Ty gave her a good feel up and excused himself to his duties feeling rather naughty.
That afternoon they came to install the new weapons pods, which brings up what the ship looks like and where they were being attached, as well as how it differs from other ships.
The shape of spaceships varies quite a bit depending on size and mission. The largest ‘Space Moons’ are spherical or oblate spheres [think a tomato ... slightly flattened sphere].
Slightly smaller ships like cruisers still resemble tubes with rounded ends rather like a round nosed bullet on both ends. Not infrequently the front is slightly more pointed than the rear like a 9 mm tapered round nose bullet in front.
The smaller cruisers and frigates or corvettes follow a similar design except all have the tapered rounded nose and the older ones and some smaller versions have a more triangular ship form in cross section, rather than the round tube shape. These serve as escorts, short range scouts and pickets.
The smallest of the ship types is the long range scout which does long range picket duty far from any support. It is wholly different in shape. It is a 20-24 foot wide and 12 foot high rectangle about 150 to 200 or more feet long with two, normally, larger sections. The one on the front is a 36-foot wide by 20-foot deep [top to bottom] and 24-foot [front to rear] long box with rounded corners and sides. It has two levels, the upper being the bridge and sensors while the lower section is the ships weapons.
On these ships the main bridge end is always called north and the various compass directions then indicate which way to go. The central hallway, called Broadway, goes from the bridge pod to the south end of the ship and has an overhead trackway for an electrically powered winch allowing things of up to 3,000 pounds to be lifted and moved from one end to the other. Just south of the bridge pod on the east side is officers’ country. From north to south you have the captain’s office, the captain’s cabin, the XO’s cabin, the junior officers’ double bunk cabin and the arms room. On the west side you have five chiefs’ cabins. Further back there is an empty storage space on each side, wired for additional weapons. Then a section of senior petty officer cabins, sickbay on the west side and the galley on the east side followed by the ship’s dining facility. Broadway enters the dining area in the center of the north bulkhead and exits on the east side of the aft [south] bulkhead in the dining area. The engineering section and maintenance shops are immediately behind the dining facility.
The next box is also 36 by 20 feet in cross section and maybe as long as 68 feet or as short as 42 feet. It also has rounded corners and edges. On SYLPH it is 68 feet long. It houses the ship’s power plant, high fan jump system and low power maneuver drive along with the mechanical and electrical maintenance shops. Here Broadway, is forced to go around the engineering section and goes down the east side of the hull. The ship’s emergency bridge is just behind the engine rooms and on the upper level as is the electrical shop, while Broadway goes underneath it, the mechanical maintenance shop is on the west side, underneath the electrical shop and emergency bridge. Then you come to the hydroponic gardens on the west side of the ship; these are maintained by the cooking section.
Behind that Broadway stays on the east wall of another stretch of 20x12 foot hull that houses a fairly large gym, enlisted bays, two shuttle bays and supply storage. The enlisted bays are set up for eight people in each, but the ship only has nine enlisted assigned, five women in the north bay and four men in the south bay.
The ship’s weapons on the north end are a large blue laser and an array of independently aimed yellow lasers for shooting down incoming missiles or targeting a close enemy ship where the multiple laser strikes may well do it in. The blue laser will normally burn a one meter diameter hole through a ship with the rapid combustion of the ships parts creating a lot of ejecta which further wrecks the ship. No enemy ship yet has withstood a hit and many have had their reactors detonate as an after effect, blowing the ship to bits. This is attributed to their reactor losing cooling and going super critical. There is some question as to why their reactors don’t drop all the control rods to shut down the reaction as one of our reactors would, but the fleet just doesn’t have an answer.
The ship is currently being reconfigured to have two additional weapons pods, one on each side in the empty storage areas on the north side of Broadway. They will be able to rotate vertically through 360º and traverse out from the side [north and south] some 32º or aimed above or below the hull from 20º inward toward the opposite side. Interlocks prevent the weapons from firing into the ship itself. Each will also house a blue laser and multiple yellow lasers.
The installation went quickly, but at times there was no more than a single bulkhead between the inside of the ship and space. This made The XO quite edgy and he warned the crew to keep ships suits on and helmets close by. The installers thought it was funny, but both the CO and the Chief of the Boat gave him a thumbs up. Nothing happened, but it was better to be prepared. Later the CO thanked him on the bridge, as it was something she was going to do except that he did it first.
He had to back up the senior petty office cook when the slop guys tried to foist some bad food on them, The chef said he’d get his commander to teach the XO his place which was a mistake ... as LTJG Colla turned on him and said “Well let me get Rear Admiral Asturia’s opinion of you, your OIC and this slop” and he headed toward HQ. A young supply man came running after him and said it was all fixed and the misunderstanding was squared away. The dark look he gave the young man when he turned caused him to back away several steps... “It was a mistake sir, honest.” The petty officer cook kept a straight face as he inspected and accepted the food and sundries, making damn sure there was no funny stuff. They headed back to the ship with the shuttle and LTJG Colla headed off to report the incident to the CO, while the petty officer regaled all who would listen with his story of how LTJG Colla was taking no shit from anyone trying to send less than first rate goods aboard.” Food was a critical morale factor, let me explain.
The foods aboard spaceships were different from previous rations used by aircrews and most closely related to what was or had been used in submarines. Experience had proven that crews confined in cramped quarters for long periods needed excellent food to help maintain morale. Large freezers were an effective storage means as the ship had plenty of power and weight was not a big issue, but bulk was.
It wasn’t just food quality, but also preparation that made a difference. Those in food preparation went from spaceman to cook 3rd class and up to senior or head cook and from there to chef. Space crews going to “high class” restaurants on earth were unimpressed and often quite critical of the food. The restaurants quickly learned that cooks and chefs from the fleet were excellent and sought to hire any they could find. It made it a sure way to a good job after your service was up.
The food itself was not what you might expect at first; dehydrated rations were all but proscribed because of their need for precious water. Canned anything likewise was not acceptable due to poor use of storage volume and the left-over cans, that even crushed, were a waste of space. Meat was frozen in blocks, with no bones and controlled fat content. Limited exceptions were made for chicken wings and drumsticks for special occasions. The lack of bones in the meat meant that condensed meat broth with marrow had to be provided to make the quality and taste the fleet desired.
Milk and eggs were stored in one-liter cartons, sanitized by careful use of radiation. Vegetables, grains and flour were all stored frozen, as growing corn, beans and wheat aboard ship was an inefficient use of space. Salad greens, tomatoes and herbs, however, were grown on every ship that the crew lived aboard. It not only provided for better tasting and more healthy diets, but made good use of recycled waste.
Almost every storage container was made of treated cardboard or glass, as the health issues with plastics had become serious early on in space crews. Glass had been a problem due to small splinters in food if the container was broken, so a great deal of effort was applied to make strong containers that only broke in large shards.
Ceramics were a still developing field, but held promise for other better food storage containers.
The next day Lt Scalla and LTJG Colla had their operational briefing. They were to relive the small cruiser PADUCAH who had emplaced latch frame communications to their current location. SYLPH would be expected to deploy more to allow it to communicate as well, from a position much closer to the assumed enemy locations. It was hoped they could surreptitiously provide information on comings and goings as well as provide information on any buildup of forces. The mission wasn’t complex, but it was dangerous and it was hoped that the little scout ship wouldn’t be readily noticeable. They didn’t have much else to offer, but made it clear they were not a combat ship and were expected to avoid it at all costs. They had limited subdivision, very little duplication of assets and no armor to speak of, so run, don’t fight.
They pulled out 14 hours later after stowing the latch frame repeaters. It took much of the “day” to get far enough away to go to high fan. They headed out on a course to where they suspected PADUCAH was located. They planned to stop at each latch frame to check its health and to follow them to find PADUCAH.
When LTJG Colla came off his first watch he was called to the captain’s cabin. There he found Angie and Chief Romero. He closed the door and stepped in warily.
“Have a seat Ty; Carla and I have been talking, as we have an issue with your favorite subject, illicit hookups. In simple terms there is no one it is appropriate for her to initiate a hookup with nor many she would be willing to hookup with. Going a year plus with just BOB is not much of a choice and I am aware of you saving her from the bunk spring and being appropriately rewarded. I have suggested that at those times when my monthly has me feeling indisposed, you go take care of Carla two or three times. That gives her some relief and keeps you from blisters where you shouldn’t have them. As long as both of you agree, anything you do is OK, but I do want you back when I am feeling better. Can you do that?”
Ty tried to gather his wits; he held his hands up in a request for time to think. He couldn’t think of any viable reasons to refuse, given as to how it was put to him. Obviously Angie was not going to buy that he was just her guy and the fact that Carla was close to his mother’s age was not going to fly well either. He had seen Carla in nothing but skimpy thin nylon panties and he knew she was fit and built. She was also a bit less than shy and retiring. He looked at Angie and noted the smirk that said “Gotcha”.
“Ty, there is no one else except for some privates and that won’t do as you well know. You also know I have had a little experience from before we found each other. I have enjoyed being with you far more than any of the others. But you need your experiences expanded as well and Carla can teach you some things. I’d like you to just agree and go help her out in her cabin before you hit the rack” Angie said.
Carla looked at Ty and knew he was not feeling overly inclined and spoke up “I promised Angie that I’d show you some things she hasn’t done and help you to be up to speed when you go back to her. I am not looking for a future after we get back as I am quite a bit older, but I am also quite a bit more experienced and it is easier to show you and have you show Angie, than me just telling Angie., We girls do talk and share experiences. And I want you to stop feeling guilty about seeing and touching me ... it’s OK. I do need a man in my life, and you are it for the next year or so I hope. Angie and I are willing to share your attentions for this deployment, Please tell us you will share yourself with us too.”
Ty’s mind was in afterburner ... his girlfriend had set him up with another woman, and one that was built and he expected experienced as well. If he refused, it could cause his girlfriend to be reluctant as well, and Carla had nice full, firm ... um boobs too. He nodded slowly “a bit unexpected in several ways, I spend this week in this cabin, next week in that cabin, then back to this cabin ... I feel like I’m just a convenience being passed around and not a...”
“No, Ty ... not at all” Angie said as she jumped up, her concern was obvious. Carla shook her head no. Angie stepped up to Ty and pulled his head into her chest “Ty, You are the only man who will ever bed me from now on so long as we both live. But Carla needs our help and you need some more experience, so I am asking you to love on her too.”
Carla stood and pulled Angie and Ty’s head into her chest as well. “Ty you are not a thing, you are a kind, honorable, upstanding young man. Were you any less, we wouldn’t even be talking about this with you. I have looked over the men aboard this ship and you are the only man I’d willingly be with. You are also the only man Angie would have. So we talked and decided to ask you to be OUR man, Ty. Please!”
“OK” was all Ty managed to say as his head was crushed into the two women’s chests. A few moments later he was able to stand and see two nervous women looking at him, he bent forward and kissed Angie, then turned and kissed Carla full on her lips “OK, I will do my best to keep you both happy.”
A few minutes later he followed Carla to her cabin. He was pleasantly tired two hours later when he crawled into his rack.
The trip to find PADUCAH took a month. It had stopped well short of the area they wanted SYLPH to set up in. PADUCAH was a bit jumpy, but IFF and the words that they were relieved and could go back to Adobe was what they wanted to hear, they turned and went to high fan in less than 30 minutes after passing their observations by wide beam LIDAR link. SYLPH held in place while they did a quick review of PADUCAH’s observations. There was little of note or value, but they had kept Adobe from being surprised.
The CO had them leave a latch frame repeater aimed out to where they expected to set up and then went to high fan for a week. They stopped, surveyed the area, set up a latch frame and went to high fan for another week. This time they noted they were close to the 1st battle of Rome site, the carrier’s first and toughest battle. A LIDAR survey showed a potential object they could sit behind to be less obvious. It was a short high fan run and then they slipped up behind what seemed to be an enemy ship ... but close inspection showed it was dead. They approached closer and checked it out, finding just a large piece of an enemy ship’s side. Inspection showed it had been fitted with a small transmitter by the enemy to identify it as wreckage and not a ship they supposed. They moved SYLPH into place behind the wreckage and deployed their sensor array on it to watch for enemy movements. They also aligned a latch frame with the ones they had left on their way out here so their sensing, and observations on them, could be stored and then relayed to Adobe, even if they had to drop everything and run. It was a slow communication route, taking days, but it was communications regardless and their data got back in time to be of value.
Once the scanner was up and working, they settled down to watching; shifts were posted and then the leaders went to work finding things for everyone to do in the time off. PT [Physical Training] was important, but classes were also taught in cooking, games, self-defense, maintenance, job skills for promotion and much more.
LTJG Colla kept a close watch on the relationship thing, for he knew it was bound to bubble over sooner or later. It in fact went almost six months before there was an issue that wasn’t settled with a little meeting.
One of the senior privates, a woman named Brandi, insisted that a maintenance specialist was trying to make her just be his steady. The specialist, a fellow named Carl, said that wasn’t true at all. The two petty officers tried to handle it but Brandi was talking in the dining area and telling everyone her story. LTJG Colla put a stop to all that, had the two people involved and all the folks who roomed in the enlisted bunk rooms isolated and unable to talk, watched by the petty officers, then LTJG Colla had the complainant make her statement which he wrote out and had her sign it ... her reluctance to do so was noted. He then had the defendant come in and do the same thing, which was pretty straight forward. He had both return to their respective bunk rooms and watched to prevent any talk, face making or any other form of communication. He started through the various witnesses; he took notes in front of them but made it clear that what they said in the room would not be made public. Most of the other young men were clueless, except one who claimed to know the whole story. The LT had him come back after a couple of hours and repeat his story, then began to shred it ... the twit was full of it, and knew nothing. As LTJG Colla wrote in his notes, every statement this man made should start with “Once upon a time”. One of the young women, Letitia, a sensor specialist, told him “Brandi had made all of it up, because Carl wanted to leave the little tryst Brandi and he had going. Brandi is not sexually adventurous at all and basically just lays there while the guy does his thing. Carl had been nice to her, but wanted to expand his options and Brandi was afraid no one would take his place and she’d look like a loser.” Lt Colla nodded, that tracked with what he was seeing. “So are you involved in any way Letitia?”
“No, but having watched this and heard some explicit details, I may see if I can interest Carl myself. I know that makes me look like another player, but I wasn’t and am only now considering getting involved. Prior to this I had another interest who has moved on by mutual agreement.” LTJG Colla nodded, she was being pretty up front and he felt she wasn’t involved, but might soon be by her own admission.
LTJG Colla had Brandi’s petty officer brought in and asked him his views and what sort of spacer was Brandi?
“Well sir, I smell a bunch of bullshit in all this, Carl was the only person who treated Brandi as anything more than another person working here. I’m guessing that Carl chose to see someone else and Brandi was afraid that she’d get a worse reputation and created the storm out of hot air. A couple of the other girls are just playing along for reasons I don’t understand.”
LTJG Colla nodded “And what sort of worker is Brandi?”
The petty officer shrugged “OK at best, needs to be watched for slacking at times but is never late or a shammer. She often has to be retaught tasks, a slow learner, sir.”
LTJG Colla said “Thank You, it is all fitting together well now. Give me a few minutes and we will bring her in. The rest of them should return to their duties.”
“Yes Sir” and the petty officer left.
LTJG Colla called Chief Lamonte. “Chief, I am going to need you here, have a problem and gender plays into it a lot.”
Chief Lamonte dutifully showed up and LTJG Colla briefed her, Then had Senior Private Brandi Lipschutz and her petty officer come in. “Private Lipschutz, I have investigated your accusations and find them false. I have a signed statement here from you and it is a lie. I am going to recommend non judicial punishment from the CO, although you can refuse that and we will convene a special board if you prefer.” Private Lipschutz’s eyes widened and she shook her head no. “Very well, you will go back to work and will be called to meet with the CO shortly, But before you go, you are to report to Chief Lamonte several times until she tells you that you are released from the requirement. You two set up the times. She is to instruct you in sex education, not the silly stuff you may have gotten in school, but meaningful, detailed information for you to learn and apply henceforth. It should solve one of your problems. That is NOT public knowledge, I best not hear anyone saying anything about it, Petty Officer Titus, That means you too. Dismissed.”
“Thanks Chief, hopefully you can get her to loosen up a little and enjoy sex, which should make some of the guys take more interest.”
TY then went to the COs office and knocked, when she told him to enter he did so and briefed her thoroughly on what had happened and his findings. He recommended that Senior Private Lipschutz be reduced to private and given such extra duty as the CO saw as worthwhile.” LT Scalla glowered at him... “You know LTJG Colla, that normally extra duty is related to what you messed up doing ... I can’t very well sentence her to 3 hours of corrective sexual actions after her duty hours for a week, can I?”
LTJG Colla exercised awesome self-control “No ma’am it would be a waste right now, but I did ask Chief Lamonte to give her some explicit sexual instruction so she can hold her own and the guys’ interest here after.”
LT Scalla just leaned forward and started bouncing her head on the table... “You didn’t Really?”
“UM Yes ma’am I did.”
“LTJG Colla, if I see anything about that instruction or the subsequent classes in the daily report, you will walk the plank.”
“Yes Ma’am, I’ll be sure it doesn’t make the headlines.”
“Thank You, now let me have a few moments to gather my wits.”