Chapter 28: A Final Staff Meeting

Almost two weeks later my officers and I gathered in the lounge rather than my pod. We had heard an announcement that in a day we would pause our journey at Kelor where about three hundred of our fellow volunteers would be dropped on their new home.

Once we were aware of the pending arrival and departure, I had told my crew that we would not train the day before the arrival so that any crew who had friends being dropped might take the day to visit as it might be years before they could transfer or travel to Kelor from Borneo. My officers still wanted to socialize, so I called this impromptu meeting that had quickly turned into a relaxing gathering while we played cards.

Jade was serving as the dealer as my officers played a few rounds of poker. Herb had surprised us by encouraging everyone into playing a game of Texas Hold-em. Jade had whispered in my ear that she had experience dealing thanks to living in Vegas, so I voluntold her to play dealer as I watched and chatted.

Philip, Luther and Herb were dominating the game. Tilly usually just looked at the two cards she was dealt and quickly folded while Este clearly struggled with calculating odds and regularly got caught betting big on bad hands. Luther noticed this after about ten rounds and with a sigh started a new conversation.

“You know, if you were this bad at calculating odds in the gunballs, your gun would require repair after every fight. If you survived,” Luther said.

Este giggled. “What are the stakes here? Think about it. In a gunball a mistake is your life. You are right that its gambling in a way, but it also has clear stakes. We are here just playing for fun, so there is no harm in betting big even if it’s a bad hand. I’m having fun.”

“We could make it so there are real stakes,” Philip offered.

“No,” Tilly said. “I see the smirk and the wink. I am not offering time with my concubines as a wager in a bet.”

“Wise choice,” a voice said from behind me. I looked back to see Jen walking in with two female concubines I did not recognize.

“Jen,” I said with a nod to the woman. “I see you are out. I thought you’d be getting ready to drop at Kelor. Aren’t you taking command of Cancun?”

“I am,” she said with a smile. “But my crew is as ready as I feel I can make them, and I’m using some of the same logic you are. I have several crew who were picked up with friends who will head to Borneo and I wanted to give them one last day to enjoy.”

Este smiled. “It has been nice. Several of my former teammates will be dropping on Kelor. Including Pabiola, who isn’t with you.” The former basketball player waved to one of Jen’s concubines. “Hey Christiana. Are you enjoying life?”

Jen looked surprised. “I...”

Christiana saved her mistress by stepping forward and putting a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “Oh, I always knew that becoming a concubine was how I’d escape Earth. I think the team manager expected a pickup when we were signed up for the tournament. Two of the girls on the team joined just before we left after Lulu and Helena were forced to quit. I wonder how much their parents were paid to get them dropped from the team.”

“Ouch,” Tilly said. “I understand why someone might do that, but its just so cynical.”

“It is,” Luther said. “But its going to keep happening back on Earth. At least we are beyond that now. Oh, I’m Luther, and I’m guessing you are someone Tanya has met before.”

“She and I have had a few encounters,” Jen said. “If things worked out differently I would have loved to get to know her as a friend. Sadly, I was busy trying to prepare my crew as much as possible. I’m under a bit of disgrace thanks to some events that occurred back at Central Command.”

“What things?” Herb asked, almost too eagerly.

“Its under a seal,” Jen said. “And it won’t have any real effect on you most likely. Some people conducted some operations that were not properly authorized, and I was deemed to have been inadequate in monitoring some of my underlings. Honestly, it was a blessing in disguise for me. I’m far happier now that I’m not having to deal with the pressures of working in the department I was once part of.”

“That told me nothing,” Herb grumbled.

“At least you heard something,” I said. “You could have missed that much if you remained hiding in your pod. I thought we’d have to send Vincent and Philip to drag you to this meeting.”

“Not much of a meeting,” Tilly said. “We haven’t discussed the ship at all.”

“What is there to say,” I said. “We’re still short three gunners, and the AI is saying there is no one remaining to offer a trial to.”

“You can ask once you get to Borneo,” Jen said. “I’m not perfectly familiar with the district, but if they’ve been running four Goddess class ships for a while, they must have trainee gunners and might have a few veterans who asked to be transferred from their current ships.”

“That happens?” Philip asked. “I’d have thought that transfers from a ship were difficult to obtain.”

“I’m sure if we have someone who clearly doesn’t fit in or work out with the current crew we would be encouraged to transfer them at Borneo so that the ship can maintain the highest level of readiness,” I said. “The fights we are in require that we don’t make mistakes. Mistakes can result in casualties or even a ship not returning. There aren’t enough of us to throw away people like that.”

Philip had a confused look on his face. His mouth opened and just hung agape for a moment. Herb coughed. “Damn boy,” he said. “I understand exactly what she’s talking about. I’m sure everyone worried about me after most of the simulations.”

“Still do,” Este said calmly. “If you fail to keep your department focused and working, we’re all dead. Your struggles to handle the personal parts of your duties definitely don’t fill me or my gunners with confidence.”

“How would they know?” Herb asked.

Tilly shook her head. “You do understand that the gunners gossip constantly. Anything that one of them learns or suspects becomes a major topic when they are in their gunballs. Comm discipline is almost useless except when the ship is actually engaged.”

“And I know you and Este have reminded them that they have to be listening for commands. Honestly, I’m impressed with you for your calm ability to explain to them when they need to stop and listen and to them for their ability to know when to shut up,” I said.

“They listen?” Luther asked. “I wondered because any time one has a damaged gunball my teams get berated until they get the unit back into the fight. It’s a constant litany of complaints and comments about parentage and bedroom proclivities.”

“I know which ones are the worst,” Este murmured. “And I’ve cautioned them that without your people, they wouldn’t get back into the fight.”

“Oh, they have to listen to my teams disparage their abilities, brains and skills. And I have to say that the imagination of some of my team leads has me worried if it ever turns into a true prank war rather than the spicy verbal sparring they are doing now,” Luther replied.

“As long as its in fun, I like that they have that much morale,” I said. “We want them to desire to get back into the fight. If it becomes viciously personal, I will move to stamp it out. If that means I transfer someone out, so be it.”

“We’ll be doing what’s necessary to prevent that,” Este said. “Just find us three good gunners.”

“Which slots?” I asked.

“One each in Vanir, Aesir and Jarl,” Este said. “Thane is good. Amy is a solid leader and somehow has managed to gather gunners who are quietly competent. They are the least likely to brag and boast over the radio.”

“They are sadly the slowest to gather and redeploy when orders change,” Tilly added. “Amy tends to get a bit of tunnel vision after she’s been given her initial orders and her team follows her lead. I’ve learned that its better to ask Vanir or Jarl teams to respond to quickly changing orders.”

Este sighed. “Don’t remind me. I know that Amy is not the best at handling sudden changes, but the others are still solidifying their teams and building the overall morale. Amy’s team has the most consistent performance in the simulations and very high morale. I don’t want to spoil that.”

“And we need high morale in the gunner teams,” I said with a nod. “Any other worries or issues?”

“You know about the tracking issues,” Philip said. “Having the teams working in the simulations helps, but I do want to see how they work together once we are in one tracking room. I think Anthony will prove to be excellent as a plotter, but we haven’t had the opportunity to see how that will work. The simulated stations are missing the close interaction we’ll get once we board our ship.”

“I think we’re all wondering how that will work. I find that there are moments that I kick forward as if I’m going to nudge the shoulder of my helmsman when they miss a response, or fail to get the ship turning at the speed I want,” I said.

“You’d kick the helmsman?” Luther asked.

“From what I understand its not uncommon,” Jen said. “I won’t, but most of that is due to where my command chair is placed in relation to the helm. I’m not close enough to reach my helmsman with a kick. I’m thinking of replicating a Nerf gun so I can just shoot my helmsman in the back of the head when he fails.”