Chapter 20: Officer Talk

The instant the last helmsman left and the door closed Este sighed. “If you are even thinking of giving Scott another chance, I want a transfer.”

I snorted in an unladylike fashion that used to cause Radov to scream in frustration. “Nope, I’m not that stupid. He needs to be transferred to the marines and put through boot camp. The man has no discipline and is going to be a problem on any ship he ends up on.”

Jen shook her head as she moved to stand in front of me so she could see everyone. “He’ll end up on a Patrician. He’s got the skills, but he’ll cause a ton of trouble for whoever takes him on. Sadly, there are never enough helmsmen, especially on the corvettes.”

“Why?” Bruno asked.

I was about to guess an answer, but Jen raised a hand to warn me to remain silent. “Bruno, I heard that you’re being considered for an executive officer position on a Hero class. Right now only Hero class and President class ships get official executive officers. A huge part of that is that the way the AI units score people can result in someone appearing to have leadership potential, but also be labeled as needing experience. Your posting is one used to give someone that experience. You need to think a bit about what you just watched here.”

“I watched a number of potential helmsmen effectively show off their skills for someone who will be a ship captain,” Bruno said. It was clear he was confused by Jen’s statement. “Should I have seen more.”

Este slapped her forehead. “Oh, please don’t allow him to be assigned to the same patrol as us for a while,” she muttered before turning to face Bruno. “Dude, one thing I’ve already seen is that right now probably twenty to thirty percent of the potential crew we’ll have are not exactly ready for military discipline. And that’s going to be a huge problem early on. Tanya even commented about the time she wanted the helmsmen to reverse the ship. Each helmsman used a different manuever, which means that she’ll either have to clearly call out how she wants the ship to turn, or she’ll need to learn each helmsman’s quirks when it comes to responding to open-ended commands.”

“Not that I should ever need to give that command in battle,” I said. “The battle we fought was unrealistic in many ways.”

“Oh?” Bruno asked.

“First, ships can’t really be stealthy in space. It is far too easy to spot a heat source in space. Ships will be constantly generating heat. From their engines, and their life support if nothing else. You can in theory have an internal heat sink to store heat for a short time, but eventually you have to vent it into space, and sensors can be tuned to watch for a heat source that isn’t a planet or star. There is no way ships should be able to sneak up on us like the ones in the simulation did multiple times,” I said.

Jen smiled. “She’s right, although there have been multiple attempts to come up with some kind of stealthed combat ship. They can really only work if the enemy doesn’t know to look for the heat plume they generate. I’ve heard that some ambushes have worked, but once a Sa’arm hive sphere survives encountering one, we’ll see the Swarm planets nearby start to adjust their tactics to watch for a stealthed ship.”

“So, they can learn?” Bruno asked.

“Of course,” Jen said. “And quickly to a point. We have proved that they operate as a hive mind, and that knowledge will pass quickly from one ship to another within their gestalt range. Only the fact that the front is huge and their ships slow prevent knowledge from spreading across the entire front faster than our ships can travel. But if a tactic starts working in one area, it tends to spread. I’ve heard that the ships encountered in the Borneo district have extremely good missile defenses and a number of mines and missiles that we don’t see in sectors closer to Earth. We expect that those adjustments will spread in our direction.”

“They’ll learn to defeat our tactics?” Bruno asked worriedly.

“We’ll have to keep making adjustments,” I said calmly and confidently. “Meanwhile, did you have any input on who you felt will work well, Este?”

Estefani blinked. “You’re asking me. I’ll admit that I want someone who is going to make smooth adjustments as that will help my gunners remain on target with their aim.”

“And did you see anyone who would not work? Other than Scott who was late and slow in his manuevers multiple times,” I asked.

“The one who tried that reverse Immelmann isn’t right for a ship the size of a Goddess,” Este said firmly. “That would be excellent for a smaller ship that can change vector faster. I also didn’t care for the one guy who kept trying to make sharp turns. He clearly understood the vectors involved, but the ship tended to jump about violently when he was manuevering,” Este said

“I might try to see if I can get him to work with my team on my Patrician,” Jen said. “Sharp and fast manuevers would be perfect for a small corvette, but I can understand why you don’t want it on a Goddess.”

I nodded. Bruno raised a hand. “It seems like you expected those answers.”

“I did,” I admitted. “Honestly, the scores the system gave closely match what I’m thinking. I definitely want Elsa Voss as my initial lead helmsman. Yes, she lacks a lot of the flare and drive of the others, but she was one of the few who knew to repeat back my commands and she made no mistakes. David and DeMarcus scored higher than her, and both will probably grow into excellent helmsmen, but they both have some rough edges that will need to be honed.”

“Long term David is likely to grow into your lead helmsman,” Jen said. “DeMarcus will have to learn to bend a bit on a few things and I agree Elsa will always be a solid, dependable helmsman, but I don’t think her skill ceiling is as high as the others.”

“You agree?” Bruno asked.

Jen sighed and then looked over at Bruno. “This is something you are going to need to start paying attention to. I told you that I was recently transferred from DECO.”

“DECO?” Este asked.

“The other half of Central Command. They concentrate on colony setup and management. All of the pickups and initial assignment comes from them. I was nominally in charge of maintaining the system that allocated people to colonies immediately after pickup,” Jen admitted. “There was a lot that I learned dealing with angry colony governors and training commands. Many of the people we are picking up aren’t immediately ready to handle the level of discipline required as part of the military.”

“I can see that,” I said with a nod. Just then there was a knock on the door to the simulation room.

“Who?” Este asked as we all turned to look at the door.

“Two different individuals have just arrived,” the AI called out. “There is a Matilda Castelon and a Richard Lithgow outside.”

“You can allow them to enter,” I said.

“You know them?” Jen asked.

“I’m hoping that Matilda can become my gunnery liaison officer on the bridge. She’s the one who handled that during one of the simulations I ran and she’s good at maintaining a clear line of communication between the bridge and the gunners. I don’t know Richard Lithgow,” I replied.