Chapter 21: First Mission

Lieutenant Ovil, our white-furred Nogoll instructor, said, “Today we’ll exercise in our extensive pool facilities. We want to make sure that all those cadets who can’t swim will now learn how.”

For once there was good news in the morning! I looked forward to wetting my gills and swimming and diving.

Potsema wiggled with all his upper tentacles. “I know Garbini can swim. My brother learned it but I’m still terrified!”

I patted his fur covered torso. “We’re here and we’ll help you.”

Fectiv cuffed me and said, “Let’s see if you can beat me swimming! I was reading up on Neo Vikings you know! You’re supposed to be amphibious!”

“You read up on Nilfeheim?”

“Pure and I wanted to know more about you. It’s Attikan tradition to honor a friend by learning about his home and family.”

“That’s a good tradition and I’ll do the same tonight about Attika.”

Two-Three was also excited. “Water! Have I told you how fascinating I find liquids?”

The Elly, both Attikans and I simultaneously said, “Yes!” We had all seen our non-Corp friend stare at a running faucet.

Then we laughed and Potsema asked, “What’s so fascinating about it? Isn’t a sun’s surface sort of liquid too?”

Two-Three wrung his hands, tried to gesture something and then said, “It’s not easy to explain. A star is all chaos, nothing is orderly and everything is held together only by magnetics and gravitons. Do you know how long it takes for a photon that’s created inside a star to reach the surface and actually escape? That photon travels at light speed no less.”

Pure dropped one of his ears and scratched behind it. “It should be almost instantaneous, even the biggest star isn’t big when it comes to light speed right?”

Two-Three sighed, “It can take many hundred years before it reaches the surface. Being bounced around, bent and deflected. You see, not even light is orderly and straight inside a sun. Water is liquid but it follows simple rules and inside it all the molecules are orderly and in long chains. You have no idea how much I enjoy being with all of you and in an orderly world.” He stomped his suited foot on the floor. “I just love solid things!”

Potsema snaked a few tentacles around Two-Three and said, “The whole academy experience started out pretty scary, but now I think it’s great.”

The Elly crossed his stumpy arms. “You squiggled Eric and now Two-Three. I think it’s my turn next! I haven’t been hugged by a female in ages!”

I raised an eyebrow. “Potsema is female?”

“Yes I am, you didn’t know?”

“No, I didn’t really look at you in terms of gender but I guess I always thought of you as a he. How do you tell a female from a male Garbini?”

“There are many ways. I have light-brown-and-red fur and ten tentacles. Males have eleven tentacles and usually black or gray fur, never any red.”

“I now know I should have paid much more attention in school and, most of all, should not have skipped the neural uploads to watch Captain Iron Hand or Navy Magazines.”

Fectiv’s tail swished. “You managed to switch chips during upload hour? Our teacher was always checking!”

“I could have never done it with Mr. Walters but we had a different teacher before him and Mr. Flensburger wasn’t as hard to fool.” I frowned. “Now I know I shouldn’t have done that. You all know stuff about each other and I can’t even tell a female Garbini and know nothing about the Ellies.”

“Don’t feel bad. I know little about Humans,” the Elly said.

Our white-furred instructor looked at his PDD. “Cadets, assemble in Corridor B before the escalators and wait there. Following cadets are to report in full dress uniform, cover and side arm at Applicant Road Two, Dome Exit Hall at 0700: Olafson, Eric, Ak Pure, Ak Fectiv, Potsema Pe, Onli Nevar...”

I cursed my luck. Whatever we were going to do, it wasn’t swimming. I was certain that swimming and dress uniforms didn’t go together. The names he called were the others of my new group of friends. Except we now had three Ellis in the group. Hanlin and Bergdorf, two of our Humans, walked to the escalators grinning. Pure rippled the upper part of his snout and around his nostrils. “I sure wonder what they’ve cooked up for us. Dress uniform and side arms. I heard they don’t issue side arms to cadets until year three.”

Fectiv pointed at Purse’s snout and said to me, “That’s how an Attikan shows surprise, by the way!”

The Ellie’s all looked alike to me and one of them said, “We Ellies do this when we’re surprised.” His trunk retracted almost completely into his skull and his voice sounded meek and high. “If an Elly gets too excited or surprised we can choke on our own noses!”

The other two Ellies shook their trunks back and forth and one of them said, “This group seems like fun!”

A new, Human instructor, one who we hadn’t seen before, sent us through an autodresser and we all emerged in perfectly fitted, pressed black Navy uniforms with golden closure snaps. The only thing different was ours had a big green ring around the sleeves and no rank insignia at all. Dress uniform included a stiff collared black shirt with buttons, a waist coat with a diagonally-cut collar that was halfway flapped down and white lining, contrasting with the otherwise black uniform. The diagonal flap could be raised and fastened with a series of golden colored snaps. The black pants ended in black all-terrain boots. There was a white belt with the Union Fleet symbol on the belt buckle. There was also an empty holster for a gun and two loops for some missing equipment. Black gloves and a white hat with black duckbill (called a cover) completed the outfit. The Human instructor checked us all at least five times, then he was joined by two more who went over our uniforms. They made me put on the gloves and barked at Pure to do the same. No one really told us what was going on. Two-Three leaned over and said, “I think we’re going to a state funeral or something like that.”

The nervous Human instructor said, “We’re handing out fully-functional and fully-loaded Union Fleet standard TKU side arms. Since you haven’t been instructed in using them properly, you are prohibited from touching them. The same goes for the swords and the daggers that are attached to the loops on your belts. While these are ceremonial weapon they are real. If I see anyone of you so much as touch his weapons you’ll wish you were never born.”

After a while there were more instructors around us than cadets and they all were nervous. While we didn’t stand at attention we weren’t really able to talk to each other. Even more officers appeared and every one of them carried a PDD in clip board mode and tried to look important.

We were near one of the academy dome entrances - wide sets of automatic sliding double doors set into the durocrete wall underneath the rim we had used for our first PT exercise. Beyond the doors was a waiting room with benches, vending machines, bathrooms and an air lock that allowed access to the space field beyond.

Someone called out, “Admiral on deck.”

We weren’t exactly old hands and, except for Two-Three, none of the cadets, including me, did anything. Two-Three looked around. “Where is he? Is it a real one?” A Lieutenant hissed, “Did you not hear? Attention, Cadets!”

Now that was something they had already taught us, so I put myself in the required rigid posture.

An old man emerged from the doors. He walked briskly and without difficulties, despite his apparent age. He wore a black uniform jacket just like ours, but instead of pants he wore a red skirt that ended just above a set of knobby knees. One of the first lectures we had was about rank insignia, and if I remembered right this was a Five-Star Admiral. I was certain the Fleet didn’t have all that many of those and this most likely explained the nervous instructors. What it didn’t explain was what we were doing here, but this was the career I had chosen for myself and I would have to stand at attention before higher ranking officers all my life from now on.

The old man said, “At ease, Cadets.”

One of the instructors behind the Admiral slapped his hand before his face as one of my Human comrades actually sat down and one of the Ellies took his jacket off. Fectiv waved at the Admiral. “Nice to meet you, Sir.” The other Human cadet went straight for the Admiral. “Do you think I can get an autograph, Sir? You’re the McElligott, one of the Immortal ones, aren’t you? Oh gosh, to meet you for real!”

Pure snorted. “No I don’t think he is. The Immortal Admiral has a scar and is taller.”

“Attention!” One of the instructors yelled red in his face and we responded as we had learned.

The old Admiral glared at the Lieutenant. “If I allow men to be at ease don’t you put them back into attention. I can see they’re greener than their uniforms.” Then he said to us, “I’m Admiral McElligott. Yes, I’m the Admiral of the Fleet. I’m the other Immortal Admiral. The old and wrinkly one, not the tall and famous Admiral Stahl.” He waved his hand. “Be at ease but don’t walk away, and listen to what I have to say.”

He gave us a moment. “I’m fully aware that you are brand new cadets and that yesterday you received your first drill instructions - how to stand at attention. It appears they didn’t cover the subject entirely and left out how to stand at ease.”

Pure spread his paws. “They did mention it, but at the end of the exercise. They were going to continue today.”

“I’m glad they mentioned it then, Cadet. Now we will all take a little trip to a nearby planetary system and this will be your first real mission as Union Fleet personnel. This isn’t a training exercise or a test but a real diplomatic mission.”

That got my attention and I listened closer.

“We’ve been invited by the Yokuta and they more or less requested you to be present. By that I mean a cross-section of Union youth that have just begun to serve. They want to hear from you what it means to be a Union citizen and a Union soldier.”

He reached into a pocket and produced a black and brown object. He fiddled with it and I thought it was probably a pipe. I had seen a few of those in use by fishermen and Snapper herders. He put one end between his teeth. “While you can’t tell them much about being officers or soldiers yet, you can tell them why you chose this career. I want you to be honest with them, but try to be positive. The goal of this meeting is to tip them towards an application for Union membership.”

One of the Ellies patted the palms of his appendices together. “I know of the Yokuta. I think they once were a colony of ours or something like that, but they’re in Galactic Council space and the Nogoll won’t allow us to visit them.”

The Admiral put a small flame to the other end of the pipe and then produced a small cloud of blue smoke, much to the utter fascination of most of the cadets, and some of the instructors too.

McElligott appeared to be pleased about the puff of smoke. “The situation has changed, the Black Nogoll, at least as you knew them, no longer exist. They’ve been defeated and the Yokuta are their own masters once again.”

He looked at something like a wrist PDD and turned to one of the instructors. “Be a good lad and check on the USS Shetland, she’s bound to be here by now. It’s not like Captain Mackenzie to be late.”

“Yes Sir!”

Then the Admiral turned back to us. “We’re not the Nogoll or Galactic Council and there’s no real reason for us to remain in that system and with the Yokuta after the victory celebrations are over. We can’t simply establish a military base or install orbital platforms. We can’t even use one of their planets, as the Yokuta have reached Tech Level 3 and it’s their system.” He puffed another cloud of smoke and this time I got a whiff and it smelled unlike any smoke I knew.

“You may wonder why the Union really needs another star system or is so eager to win the Yokuta over instead of waiting for them to seek membership on their own.”

One of the Ellies, who was slightly taller than the rest, said, “I can think of a few reasons.”

McElligott’s bushy white eyebrows shot up. “Gie it laddy. Do tell.”

“The Yokuta being on their own could either be taken over by the Kermac or opt to be protected by the Free Space Treaty and deny the area to both Union and Kermac but open it wide for pirates and all the independent nations not bound by the Free Space armistice, as it would create a direct connection to the Honaster expanse and create something like a corridor of Free Space.”

“Och! Cadet, you managed to surprise me and that isn’t easy. That’s exactly the reason. How do you know that?”

“My father is the Representative of my world and belongs to the Elly delegation and I was always interested in these things. That’s why I’m here, Sir”

“We need to talk, Cadet. There’s always room in my administration for a bright officer with an interest in politics and diplomacy.”

I no longer paid attention to the conversation. A part of the mustard yellow sky darkened and then, through the swirling clouds, a man-made mountain descended. It was just like when I saw the USS Ragnarsson for the first time. Here on a planet surface it gave a true sense of scale to this behemoth. It was wedge-shaped like most of Union battleships that had been designed and built after the Uniform design doctrine, making it easier for logistics, service and repair. Bold letters identified it as the USS Shetland and next to its name was the Union flag. The hull classification code was BBG-32 and, if I remembered my nights reading and watching Fleet and ship specs, it was a superdreadnought and two of these could take on the Devi.

I’d be aboard that monster on an official mission and wearing a Union uniform. I could swim any day.

They made us line up before the air lock doors. A transparent, covered gangway rose from the surface and connected with the battleship and a slide belt carried us up. To me it was like stepping into the sacred halls of Valhalla.

A high whistling sound was heard and we had to get into a neat row and stand at attention. The Admiral approached a woman of small stature with short-cropped gray hair and four golden rings on her sleeves and said to her, “Captain Mackenzie, permission to come aboard with ten cadets and two Academy instructors.”

“Permission granted, Admiral!”

The two high ranking officers walked to the side and talked to each other quietly. Then they left and one of the instructors told us to relax but not to leave the area.

We were in a large room, an illuminated sign on the light gray walls identified it as Crew Boarding Chamber 18. The first thing I noticed was the smell of metal and that undefined but still unmistakeable scent of new machinery. The deck plates’ vibration was barely noticeable, making this mountain of metal feel as if it was alive. Beneath all the voices, orders, footsteps and other sounds was that faint, almost undetectable, hum of unimaginable energy.

“What’s gotten into you? You’re standing there like an oaf with a dumb grin on your face,” one of the Human cadets said.

I remembered his name was Bennett Waite and he was one of those people you meet and you don’t really like from the start. He always snapped at and seemed displeased with everyone around him, but maybe he had some personal issues to deal with. So I raised my hands and said, “All this! We’re aboard one of the biggest and most powerful battleships. There are over eight thousand beings serving on her right now and almost eight million tonnes are going to lift off, accelerate at 450 kilometers per second squared and go trans-light!”

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Eric Olafson, First Journeys (Vol 2)

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