Chapter 39: Calling for a Break

I had kept my worries that Lenore pushing me from the room would hurt my image quiet. However, when I returned in the afternoon, I could see that somehow I had gained some stature with the crews.

While my stature seemed to be on the rise, the performance in the simulations was terrible. Only a few people had paid attention during the sleep training, or even kept up with the classes. Worse, while the trainers could walk you through the steps and provide knowledge of procedure, it still took repetition performing the operations to become proficient, and this was the first time any of the crew has seen the controls.

I went to bed that night exhausted from compiling reports and working with the AI to build an ability profile for every member of the crew.

The next seven days proved to be an endless stream of simulations and new problems. In every area I had a few crewmen who worked hard and appeared to be gaining proficiency quickly, but at the same time I had crewmen who struggled. The fact that we were still working with only twenty-seven total crewmen and no tracking officer meant that I had to spend additional time watching over one of the weapons simulation rooms while trying to keep up with my own bridge simulation training.

The slow progress was somewhat offset by how quickly I began to find ways to mesh with my officers. Chastity proved to be a treasure. Her experience on Earth helped her always speak clearly and she proved able to handle multiple conversations at the same time. She was even willing to sit in on the training in the engine or weapons rooms when one of the other officers needed a break.

Kelsey proved to be an extremely demanding taskmaster. She put it simply. “I expect the best. Not just from you, but from me. I’ll support you completely if you show me that you are working hard and paying attention.” She backed that up by knowing as much if not more than any of the weapons crew. I have to admit I put more effort into my own training after listening to her rant at Chris Vito after he lost focus during one simulation.

Ensign Walter Daniels was a rock in engineering. We both discovered that we had a huge problem there overall though. None of our crewmen was truly comfortable with the equipment and controls. We tried moving them around to see if that helped, but ended up moving them back to their original duties. It was soon clear that we needed to be on board Corsica to truly find out what these men would be capable of, but for now Ensign Daniels and I were driving them to drill for hours.

There were signs of improvement though. Blaine had embarrassed and angered the other two helmsmen trainees by successfully completing a very difficult trial that had stymied both Terrence and Michael. Morgause and Ingrid had caught up to Brent’s team and beat them by one hundredth of a second in the latest complex drill.

However, my biggest worry as we approached two weeks on our journey to our new home was the visible signs that people were burning out. The level of intensity in the training was starting to drop even as everyone agreed that we were not ready to take charge of Corsica. Finally, the night we hit thirteen days since leaving Earth I made a decision.

“AI,” I called out as I returned to my home cabin with a silent Miki beside me. “Can you link me to all of the crew of Corsica?”

“All?” the AI responded.

“Yes, I have a general announcement,” I replied. “Miki, go and get the others and bring them here, the announcement is going to bring them in as well.”

“What?” Miki asked. I just smiled and she ran off as I waited for the AI to respond.

“All of your crew has been alerted and the speakers are ready to relay your words,” the AI said.

“Everyone, first I need to thank you for the effort I’ve seen in the last ten days. We are trying to learn new skills in a very short time. That said, I can see that everyone is growing tired, and the old truism of all work and no play appears to be coming true. Therefore, I’m declaring tomorrow a day off from training. Instead, I’m going to work with the AI to have a room set up for us to socialize. I’m also going to ask if the briefing room we used to learn about our ship can be converted into a movie room,” I said.

“Wait!” Brent’s voice cut through. “You’re saying we not only get a day off, but you’ll set up for a day long party and movie marathon? What movies?”

“I haven’t looked into what is available. I was thinking a mix of action, comedy and classics. And for all of this, concubines are invited. However, I what it clearly understood that I don’t want an orgy. If you want to have sex, please head back to your home and then return. In fact, if you have children in your pod, bring them as well. Let’s allow everyone to get out and relax for one day.”

“Can we afford the day?” Robert Bruce asked.

“Honestly, I think we need three months to get up to speed and we only have two weeks more, however, I don’t think we can afford to not take one day off,” I said.

“Why not?” Chris Vito asked.

“In just fifteen days we will take possession of Corsica. And while I pray we don’t end up in a fight right away, there is always a chance we run into some Sa’arm ships. When that happens, we can’t have the mistakes we see in training. And the scenarios we are running are not considered intermediate level,” I said.

“How bad?” Casey asked.

“For the rail guns, we’re still working our way through the basic simulations,” Kelsey said. “We have two teams that have finished a few intermediate missile sims, but the other two are struggling to get through the first half of the basic simulations.”

“Who?” Raccoon started to ask.

“I’m not going to name and shame,” I said firmly. “I believe the people who are struggling know who they are. And this break is for them as much as anyone. I’ve paid attention and noticed that despite everything there isn’t one person on the crew who has missed a training session. They might not be a prepared as I might wish, but everyone shows up every day and puts in the hours.”

“Some don’t pay full attention,” Morgause complained. “But they do show up and they try hard to complete the drills.”