Amantus
Copyright© 2026 by QM
Chapter 13
Amantus awoke to the chiming of his perscomp, showered, dressed and made his way to the closest canteen to the bridge. There, he grabbed the standard breakfast, ignoring the cook’s specials and ate it automatically as he observed what was going on with the crew. Most, he guessed, were part of the black shift, mostly juniors of some kind, as that was where the Menthis seemed to put their staff in training. There were even a couple of Middies, though both wore the blue armband of support services. As the ship was docked, there was no sign of the bridge crew, and Amantus figured he would be only one of two occupants of the bridge.
On the chime, Amantus entered the bridge, noting a comms officer and two duty officers, all unknown to him.
“Sub-Lieutenant Amantus reporting for duty, sir, ma’am, sir,” he introduced himself.
“Right on time, Amantus, settle into comms and keep monitoring, it’s going to be a long one,” a Sub-Commander replied. “I’m Virki.”
“A pleasure, ma’am.”
“These are Sub-Commander Tome and Lieutenant Kallap, our opposite numbers on blue shift,” Virki continued.
“Honoured,” Amantus intoned politely.
“Back atcha,” Kallap replied as Tome simply nodded before they left the bridge.
“So, you’re the one who got Nascas relieved of duty?” Virki asked as Amantus set up the comm board to match the Lignet’s.
“No, that was the Captain, ma’am,” Amantus replied. “I was just the trigger he needed.”
“Well done for being in the right place at the right time,” Virki chuckled.
“I was told he was ... somewhat of a problem for others.”
“Bit of an understatement. He was placed here for a couple of reasons,” Virki continued. “One to get command experience away from Commodore Finst, and so could be promoted. The other was to keep an eye on Captain Vinns, whom Finst mistrusts.”
“I would have thought the best way to do that would be to be a model officer,” Amantus smiled wryly.
“You’d think so, but the guy was lazy, arrogant and less than average in intelligence,” Virki chuckled. “The one thing he had going for him is that he was a noble, even if it wasn’t something he could use openly on the Menthel.”
“Got a request to open the main hangar for a parts delivery,” Amantus changed the subject.
“Confirm for whom, inform them and authorise,” Virki replied.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Ah, engineering resupply,” Virki nodded.
“Boarding tube extended, hangar door opening,” Amantus continued. “Force security has it under observation.”
“Well done, Amantus. Someone taught you well,” Virki nodded in satisfaction.
“They did, the Lignet was a great training ship.”
“Captain Mance?”
“Yes, his ship.”
“Damn, you were lucky.”
“Guess so, though I don’t know any different,” Amantus chuckled.
Black shift was quiet; it was the time when the Captain was asleep, along with anyone senior in command. The rest of the bridge crew were either on shore leave or attending training exercises. Not that the Menthel came to a stop. Upgrades, repairs and deliveries were ongoing, and comms oversaw the progress of each for the various logs the Menthel maintained. It did keep Amantus busy, though it was occasionally tedious; fortunately, he was able to use his perscomp to read Menthel’s activity logs to get a clear picture of what the ship did while working in a flotilla.
“Got a personal call for the Captain,” Amantus informed Virki. “It’s from Commodore Finst.”
“Inform the Commodore politely that the Captain is sleeping and whether it is urgent enough to warrant waking him,” Virki replied.
This Amantus did and then winced at the vitriolic tirade he received in turn. “Apparently, it is urgent enough in the Commodore’s view, ma’am.”
“Please ask the Commodore to hold whilst I awaken the Captain.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
This Amantus did, receiving another tirade about the inefficiency of the Menthel’s crew, which was cut off when Amantus put the comm on hold. Virki, in the meantime, was sitting in the Captain’s chair using the personal comm built into it to call Captain Vinns. Finally, she indicated to Amantus to put the comm through.
“Putting you through now, sir,” Amantus said before sending it through, sticking to protocol to the letter.
“Looks like the Nascas shleck has hit the impeller,” Virki chuckled.
“The Commodore didn’t sound happy,” Amantus nodded. “Though why call during black shift?”
“I suspect the Commodore is planetside and was incommunicado,” Virki shrugged. “Still, his perscomp should have informed him of Fleet time.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Amantus nodded, knowing every ship and Base in Fleet operated to the same time standard, no matter where they operated from.
Fifty rotations passed before Amantus logged the call’s end from the Commodore. Five rotations later, he and Virki shot to attention when Vinns entered the bridge.
“At ease,” Vinns ordered. “Commodore Finst wants all records pertaining to the activities of Commander Nascas, and he wants them now.”
“I’ll get straight on it, sir,” Virki replied.
“Get Amantus to do it, he’ll have my authorisation,” Vinns requested. “Be thorough, if you please.”
“Yes, sir,” both Amantus and Virki saluted, before Vinns left the bridge.
“Best get to it, Amantus, I’ll monitor the day-to-day stuff,” Virki ordered.
“Yes, Ma’am,” Amantus replied.
Amantus set the system away to compile every communication that Nascas had been part of or mentioned in. After that, he pulled various reports of the yellow shift Nascas had been part of, including activity logs. Finally, Amantus pulled the personnel locator logs and then wove the individual reports into a chronological order, ending up with a massive unified file.
“You can’t be serious?” Virki said when she saw the file size.
“Captain tasked me to be thorough,” Amantus thinly smiled. “Not like he’ll be reading it either.”
“True,” Virki conceded. “Doubt the Commodore will like it, though.”
“Then he should have been more specific to Captain Vinns,” Amantus chuckled, before sending the data package to Vinns personal channel.
Ten rotations later, Vinns returned to the bridge looking wryly amused. “Your definition of thorough certainly sets a new standard, Sub-Lieutenant,” Vinns informed Amantus after the salutes.
“I would hate to think that the Commodore thought the Menthel was hiding anything, Captain,” Amantus replied, blank-faced.
“Indeed so, Lieutenant,” Vinns chuckled. “I hope you made a condensed version for when it’s requested, as it most certainly will.”
“Several, sir, including one that contains the information he wants in a legible form,” Amantus replied.
“Good, send me the references for them, plus a short description of what is in which.”
“Yes, sir,” Amantus saluted.
“Carry on,” Vinns replied as he left the bridge.
Commodore Finst was livid; his protégé had been forcibly transferred away from the Menthel for failing to uphold the expected standards necessary for a command officer. And when Finst had asked for the data logs necessary to investigate and quash the black mark in Nascan’s records, he’d received a massive data file showing all Nascan’s activities and reviews.
“Computer, can you parse this file into the relevant sections pertaining to Nascan’s most recent infringement?” Finst requested of his illegal AI.
“I can, but the various cross-references in it all link back to earlier incidents, Commodore Finst,” the primitive AI replied in harsh mechanical tones.
Can the cross-references be removed?”
“Not without compromising the interlinking, Commodore.”
“Ah, the suspicion would be it had been tampered with?” Finst sighed.
“Almost certainly, Commodore.”
“And a human likely did this?”
“Judging from the time of your request to the delivery of the report, this seems unlikely, though not impossible, Commodore.”
“For the moment, I’ll assume Vinns does not have a genius,” Finst sighed.
“Noted, Commodore.”
“Send a request for a condensed report referencing only the most recent case involving Nascan,” Finst ordered. “Through regular channels, too.”
“At your command, Commodore.”
Orders had come through, the Menthel was to take part in exercises, along with the rest of the flotilla, in the Calmarb system next to the disputed territory with the Tarpheli Brotherhood.
“So, we’re to face off against a similarly sized flotilla who will be following observed Tarpheli doctrine? Amantus asked Virki as the pair put various protocols into action for undocking.
“Yes, I suspect Finst will be hoping for another easy victory,” Virki replied.
“Why’s that?” Amantus asked. “From what I’ve read, the Tarpheli are not easily predictable.”
“They aren’t, but Finst will be hoping the opposition Commodore will be fellow nobility and allow a nice, easy exercise with the ‘correct’ outcome.”
“That sounds counterproductive,” Amantus observed.
“It is, which is why I’m hoping Admiral Carse will have come up with a surprise for Finst,” Virki chuckled. “I can hope, anyway.”
“All crew on board or registered officially absent,” Amantus reported.
“Order airlocks closed and checked.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Amantus replied. “Confirmation, all checks completed.”
“Log with Base that the Menthel is on schedule for departure,” Virki ordered.
“We have a green from Base Command, ma’am.”
“You can call me Virki when it’s just us, Amantus.”
“Thank you, Virki,” Amantus smiled.
“Check with engineering that all systems are ready, please.”
“Engineering reports no issues.”
“Send standing orders to crew.”
“Orders transmitted,” Amantus replied.
“Good, we’ve done our bit,” Virki nodded. “Next shift, I’ll introduce you to the rest of the black shift.”
“Looking forward to it, Virki.”
The Menthel was underway and in XD space when Amantus next reported to the bridge and saluted. Virki then introduced him to the blue shift and finally to the black shift, of which he was a part.
“Take the nav board, Amantus,” Virki indicated.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Less of the protocol unless the Captain is here.”
“Sorry, Virki.”
“Standing orders are no course variations, formation is to be kept at all times. Keep that in mind, Amantus, you too, Feeori,” Virki spoke to the Lieutenant at the drive station.
“Yes, ma’am,” both acknowledged the order.