Chapter 22: Meeting My Crew

By the time the hour instruction was complete I think most of the people in the room had fallen asleep. I had followed along for a while and then found that the desk allowed me to zoom in even more on sections as the AI discussed them.

The one thing I quickly noticed was that the ship was designed to not need a crew. Just about everything could be handled by the computer. Only the combat tasks like firing the weapons or making emergency changes to engine output would require human intervention. It did show that only during a battle would the crew be truly pressed, but that the small crew would struggle to manage all their duties in any prolonged battle.

Not that a Patrician class could handle a prolonged battle. The missile tubes could fire a new missile every thirty seconds. The entire missile load could be used up in less than three minutes. The railguns had more projectiles, but even there magazine space was limited.

My bigger question was who my crew would be. Jessica and Jason had both said they were assigned to Ipanema, which meant that they would not be with me. So far not one person had indicated they were part of my crew.

Finally the screen faded to black. The lights in the room slowly got brighter.

“That is all for now. A more formal individual training session will be scheduled in the next two days. It will be adjusted to fit your planned duties. I hope you have been paying attention and understand what your options are. Your captains can make suggestions as well, so try to talk to them before twelve bells tomorrow,” the AI said.

“Twelve bells?” someone asked.

I was tempted to answer, but decided to keep silent. A moment later I heard Kenneth speak. “How should I know when that is? Why aren’t we on Earth time?”

“Which time zone should I use?” the AI asked. “There are people on this ship who were picked up from eight different time zones and three different continents.”

I nodded. “Is twelve bells midnight for the ship?” I asked

“What?” Kenneth snapped.

“I don’t know how the time blocks were split up, but I remember that in the age of sail bells were used to signal time. I’m guessing twelve bells is either midday or midnight, and based on the number of people I might need to talk to, midnight makes more sense,” I replied.

“Correct,” the AI replied. “It is currently approximately five bells or ten AM ship’s time. You have thirty eight hours before initial training programs are locked in.”

“AI, is the room ready?” I asked loudly.

“The room you requested has been set up to host an informal party. Your concubines arrived there twenty minutes ago. Concubine Ashley took the initiative to organize a buffet table,” the AI responded.

“Everyone who is assigned to Corsica,” I called out. “I want to meet you all, but we shouldn’t get in the way of everyone else. There is a small room just down the hallway. Head there and we can get to know each other,” I said.

“Where?” a gruff male voice called out.

“To get to the room simply leave this room and turn right. The conference room is about Thirty-three meters down the hall and on the left,” the AI responded.

I got out of my chair and started walking towards the exit. The noise around me rose as many of the other trainees stood up. I could hear Jessica say something to Captain Prescott, but could not make out what was being asked.

Morgan offered me a sad nod and then pointed to Kenneth. He shook his head as I made my way towards the door.

“So you are our captain?” I heard a silky voice say. I turned to see the woman who had brought her concubine to the social walking just a step behind me.

“Chaz right?” I asked.

The woman giggled in a surprisingly girlish manner. “Oh, he remembers,” she said.

I felt my right eyebrow rise as I looked at this mature woman laughing like a teenager. She just shook her head.

“Oh, get over it,” she said. “I was an actress and acting like a teen disarms a lot of men. Besides its more fun.”

“I don’t feel disarmed. I am a bit confused, but part of that is seeing my friends all get allocated to Mister the Fourth,” I said seriously.

The woman who has been introduced to me originally as Goddess laughed loudly. “He is an ass.”

“I think you just insulted all donkeys,” I replied. “But enough about him. I have to figure out how to turn twenty-eight strangers into a team.”

“Why does that matter?” I tired voice said. “And do we have to attend this social?”

I turned to see a middle aged man. He was clearly out of shape. I had to guess he was seventy or more pounds overweight as he shuffled towards the exit.

“I am not requiring anyone to attend,” I replied. “But it would be to your benefit. Anyone who talks to me during the social can discuss what they’d like to do. Right now it looks like only the helmsman has a dedicated backup, so making the right decision is rather important.”

“I wanted to get some sleep,” the man complained.

“I can understand that,” I said. “But the AI did say that we have all of tomorrow to get ready for the formal training to start.”

“Why so long do you think?” a young man asked. He looked to be just a few years older than me.

I sighed. “Think about what just happened to us. We were taken from Earth and our homes. Now we are heading to a new planet where we are expected to immediately start protecting it from an alien race that to the best of our knowledge will show no mercy and allow us no respite.”

The young man frowned. “I never thought of it that way.”

“And why are you scaring your crew?” Kenneth snarled from just to my right.

I looked over at him. “I’m giving him the facts. I’d rather that he have time to think about it all now.”

Kenneth’s face twisted into an evil sneer. “So you think the AI saddled you with all the cowards? I know you are one.”

I tried to glower back at the man. “I’m no coward, as you’ll soon discover. However, I do try to pick my battles and know who my real enemies are. You aren’t my enemy. The Sa’arm are the real enemy and I’ll make sure my crew is as ready to face them as they can be. Now I have a meeting to attend. Why don’t you concern yourself with your own crew?”

“Because your crew will be mine soon enough,” Kenneth growled. “I am a CEO.”

“Was,” I said quickly.

“What?” he responded.

“You are no longer a CEO. You are a citizen of the Confederacy and a member of the Confederacy navy just like I am. Now it appears that you and I have both been selected to be officers and ship captains, but that is all. We still have to prove that we can do the job,” I replied.

“Whatever, I’ve done the job already. Leading this rabble will be easy and my ship will be the best, so you can just coddle that group of losers. Soon our new commander will realize that you can’t command and allow me to command both ships,” the man said as he raced ahead of me and out the doorway.