Chapter 8

Jack stepped into the ready room and noted Proculus and Lucinia were already present. Proculus was seated at the front of the room in the middle row. Lucinia was at her desk in the far front corner, facing the room. Zakia and Delilah were bringing up a large cylinder of coffee and snacks. Kazlaena however, was nowhere to be seen.

“Your little protégé is not with you?” Proculus raised a brow.

“No, thought she’d be here already.” Jack replied.

“You’re supposed to be looking after her, getting her squared away and motivating her when she loses sight of herself.”

“Understood.” Jack held in an outburst and calmly spoke over his radio “Kazlaena, where are you? Over.”

“Use her proper designation.” Proculus lowered his brow and Jack felt his own eyebrow twitch in irritation.

“Cadet Starseeker, you are needed in the ready room, how copy? Over.”

“Sa ... sorry Jack, I spilled on my sirt, be right sere, um, over.” Came the reply.

“Shirt happens.” Jack said to himself and took a seat in the second row, furthest from the door.

“Cadet Starseeker, you are required to use proper designation when active on comms, understood, over?” Proculus barked into the radio.

“Sorry, First officer, I understand, over.”

Jack felt the glaring watch of Proculus but kept his eyes on what he was doing as he pulled out a small data device from a case and set it on the desk in front of him. Lucinia glanced at them both with narrowed eyes. Kejeh’s arrival seemed to break the tension in the room as Kejeh took a seat beside Proculus.

“Good morning, Officer Kindbright.” Proculus said to Kejeh.

“Good morning to you too, First Officer. “ Kejeh replied.

They gave each other a nod and Kejeh said good morning to the Captain, before giving Jack a nod.

Zakia and Delilah stepped in with the coffee and a platter of sugary pastries, setting them down on the center desk of the room and took their seats in the third row, behind Jack.

Jack thought as everyone made their way to the snack table. She arrived just as everyone was taking their seats and hurried over to the desk beside Jack.

“Sa close one.” She gave him a grin and he smiled.

“Too close. Did you dribble on your shirt or something?” He joked.

“Erm, no.” She exposed her teeth a little and pulled her lower lip in before looking at him googly eyed. “I spilled sa juice is all.” Then she looked at Proculus carefully before whispering to Jack, “Did not want to get in sa trouble.”

“Yeah, good call.” He leaned back in his chair and yawned.

Kazlaena looked back over to Proculus and let out a sigh of relief as she saw him looking blankly to Lucinia at the front of the room.

She looked back to Jack and whispered, “Your sirt, ‘ow did you get a clean one?” She had one of her hair bead strands in her hand, rolling it between her fingers.

“Pri.” Jack whispered back.

“Sat’s good. Sankfully ‘ers fit.” Kazlaena let out a relieved breath.

“Got lucky there, I did.” Jack smiled, tapping at her shoulder.

She poked back at his waist, and he grasped one of her ears, folding it out on itself and leaving her looking up at him with a jaw open in shock.

“Your ear looks kinda like a butt hole.” He spoke.

She stood up swiftly and poked his ear with the end of her moist nose, giving a snort as he wrapped an arm around her and tickled at her sides.

“Ah, stop sat.” She laughed and drew the attention of the room.

“You two know this is an officers meeting, right?” Lucinia spoke politely.

“Just straightening out a delinquent, Captain.” Jack replied, seeing Proculus giving them both an icy stare.

“Not on our time,” Proculus remarked. “You want to play jungle gym, you do it on your down time.”

“Intense,” Jack remarked. “I didn’t even know we had a jungle gym.”

“We do not...” Proculus seemed about to continue but Lucinia stopped him.

“Alright, Officers...” Lucinia stood at the front of the room, facing them. “ ... we have several points on the bulletin today. We will start with Officer Kindbright and safety.” She motioned to Kejeh who stood up and took her place at the front.

“Safety on this vessel is never to be taken lightly.” Kejeh stated firmly. “We all know that, but I need to point out our recent fire foamer incident. No other crew members tried to stop it or even report it to the officers. Those fire foamers are there to stop fire from spreading. They are there to save the ship, not for entertainment. The offenders were given cleaning duty for fourteen days. This behavior will not be tolerated.” They gave Jack a momentary look and he stopped mid chew on his pastry. “Moving on to the lifeboats. The weekly service inspection has been completed and all vessels are in the clear. E deck aft boat will need a more extensive service within the next thirty days, however.” Kejeh said to Lucinia, who nodded her understanding.

“We will be scheduling a port of call after our contract is fulfilled.” Lucinia said to the room in general, then told Kejeh. “I’ll make sure the boat is properly serviced at port.”

“With that I will wrap up the safety brief by reminding everyone to check personal equipment in their rooms. Make sure temporary void suits are not punctured, portable O2 masks are functioning and are not leaking. Also check manual door cranks are functioning, should we ever lose vessel wide power. Safety is all our responsibility, if you see something unsafe, speak up. Make it safe. Always the five points of safety...” Kejeh looked at Jack “ ... what is the first point, Officer Coralane?”

“Awareness of your surroundings.” Jack replied quickly, relieved he could remember.

“Good, second point, Chief Mzuzi?”

Zakia swallowed the coffee in her mouth and replied. “Calculation of risk.”

“Third one, Cadet Starseeker?”

“Umm...” Kazlaena thought for a moment. Oh no, I can’t remember ... oh wait “ ... work on, er, sa risks?”

“Yes.” Kejeh nodded. “Remember, you can find the five points on the bulletin boards at the entrance to each stairwell and on C deck by the common room.” They saw Kazlaena nod attentively and turned to Delilah. “Fourth point, Chief Steward?”

“Check your PPE.” Delilah answered.

“Good. Make sure anything you use to protect yourself will do the job. Lastly, know your escape route should everything else fail. Take safety seriously. If you get hurt out here in the void, you could expire before we can make port. That is all I have for safety. Are there any questions?”

“Has there been any changes to firefighting or decompression procedures since I was last on board?” Jack asked.

“No policy changes have been carried out.” Kejeh replied and Jack nodded in understanding.

“Alright, First Officer, you have the floor.” Lucinia said as Kejeh returned to their seat, taking a long drink from the water tank on their back.

Proculus stood up and took Kejeh’s place at the front of the room.

“Alright, deck watches will return to normal timetable today. D-17 and Captain Scaro have been filling in the second officer watch posts. The posts have been somewhat mixed up, but that will be rectified today. Navigational watches are as follows. 00:00 to 04:00 will be Officer Coralane. 04:00 to 08:00 will be myself, 08:00 to 12:00 will be Officer Kindbright. 12:00 to 16:00 Officer Coralane, 16:00 to 20:00 myself, 20:00 to 00:00 Officer Kindbright. Watch in port is as follows. 00:00 to 08:00 will be Officer Coralane, 08:00 to 17:00 will be myself and 17:00 to 00:00 will be Officer Kindbright. That will give you time to carry out your daily safety inspections, Officer Kindbright.” Proculus said to Kejeh, and they nodded in agreement. “D-17 will cover watch for everyone’s days off or as a replacement if needed. All of you with me so far?” Everyone nodded.

Proculus looked at Kazlaena, causing an instant increase in her anxiety.

“Cadet Starseeker, you will be stepping in to learn from Officer Coralane for the next sixty days in nav training and the duties of a second officer. You will report to Officer Coralane during his watch timings, understood?” She nodded. “You can make that work, correct?” He asked Jack.

“I can.” Jack confirmed and noticed Kazlaena giving him a cheerful look and gave her a wink in return.

“The bridge is not a jungle gym, or a place to get into antics. You two have a rep for getting into all kinds of trouble. I know you will not stop, but disciplinary action will be taken accordingly, understood?”

Jack nodded, valiantly trying to keep a straight face and Kazlaena meekly replied. “Understood First Officer.”

“As Officer Kindbright has already stressed, safety and following proper procedures while on the ship are absolute and there is zero tolerance for failure to carry out a task in the most secure manner possible. Department heads, you will be expected to continue to carry out meetings with your crew every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I expect to see post meeting debriefs in my inbox by end of day on all days a meeting is carried out. That covers current operational changes. Are there any questions?” No-one spoke up and Proculus returned to his seat beside Kejeh.

“Chief Engineer,” Lucinia looked at Zakia, “You have the floor.”

Zakia nodded and moved to the front of the room.

“Ok, nothing extensive to discuss this meeting.” Zakia said as she stood at the front of the room and faced the crew. “Aft cargo hold troubleshooting is still ongoing, doors are still opening unexpectedly, lights flicker and fail, the usual bizarre happenstance that makes the aft hold mysterious and uncomfortable.”

“Absolutely no idea what could be causing the issues?” Proculus inquired sharply. “Even after all this time?”

“I’ve had the entire engineering team go over the hold, First Officer.” Zakia replied, a bit sharply. “We’ve been unable to find anything faulty that would cause these issues.”

“It’s a sing.” Kazlaena said suddenly, sinking in her chair as she felt the attention of the entire room on her. “It’s somesing strange.”

“Let it go, Cadet,” Proculus dismissed her statement. “There’s nothing there.”

“Maybe there is,” Jack stepped in. “If the engineering department has not had any luck finding something mechanical, or electrical, perhaps there’s something else at play.”

“What? Like a stowaway?” Proculus asked, a bit dismissive.

“Farfetched, but possible.” Jack took a sip of coffee. “Something is going on, no-one denies that. As the most obvious is ruled out, it leaves the more farfetched possibilities as the most likely candidates.”

“It might be worth leaving a pair of surveillance cameras in the hold over a few days to see if we can catch anything.” Lucinia suggested.

Proculus was somewhat unimpressed, but he did not challenge the captain’s suggestion.

“I can do that,” Zakia nodded. “Nyka could rig up a decent monitoring trap to see if any irregularities are caught. I’ve seen no evidence that a stowaway is hiding in the hold, but stranger things have happened.”

“It is your call Chief. Do what you feel you need to do.” Lucinia said and Zakia nodded in return.

“Officer Coralane,” Zakia looked at Jack. “ Spurius has a few questions regarding your starfighter. At your earliest convenience, can you meet with him?”

“Will do,” Jack replied. “I’ll see to it after my watch.”

“That is all for the engineering department.”

“Thanks Chief.”

As Zakia returned to her seat, Lucinia called up Delilah.

“Chief Steward, you have the floor.”

“Thank you, Ma’am.” Delilah said as she stood up and took position in front of everyone. “Just a couple of points to cover today. Cleanliness on board is all our responsibility. We’ve been doing a good job so far, but some areas are beginning to slip. With the diversity of species on board, certain chores need to be done with greater frequency. I’ve set up a new schedule for cleaning deck floors, vent screens and dryer traps. Everyone has their standard janitorial duty, but I’ll gladly accept volunteers for extra clean up duty. I’ll slip them some peanut butter cookies.”

“No bribes!” Proculus gave her a stern look. “ I do not want to hear about people doing extra duty for bribes. Three crew a day for a couple of hours should be sufficient.”

“Fair enough, First Officer, but I see no harm in rewarding good behavior,” Delilah replied with some sternness of her own. “My duty is to tend to the wellbeing of the crew and keep this vessel clean and it’s my call how that is carried out, is it not?”

“So long as it is in accordance with expected regulations, Chief Steward.”

“This is a warship, but this is not a ship of war,” Lucinia stepped in. “Safety and security are of the highest expectation. Boosting morale, however, can benefit from some liberties. Just don’t allow it to be taken advantage of Chief Steward, and you can dish out some extra cookies as you feel necessary.”

“Understood Captain,” Delilah gave her a nod while Proculus frowned momentarily. “My next point covers the need for a dedicated chief cook and assistants. Saito and I have been covering the culinary needs, but it has been overworking us both, even with the extra help at times. Furthermore, Saito is stuck between his duties in engineering and his duties to the steward’s department.”

“He requested the part time cooking position,” Proculus noted. “Does he want to step down from that?”

“Yes.” Delilah answered. “He can meet his duties to engineering but it’s not fair to expect him to cover cooking, and a shift on cleaning, be in safety drills and conduct extra training to further his own career. He needs a chance to rest.”

“I can agree to that.” Proculus nodded. “He is easily the busiest crewman on board.”

“Tell him he can stop the extra shift in the galley, effective immediately.” Lucinia told Delilah. “I’ll help pick up any extra duties he was covering there until we can hire a secondary cook.”

“Thank you, Ma’am.” Delilah gave her a polite nod. “Lastly, Officer Coralane,” She looked at Jack. “You need to get your documents and certificates to me pronto. D-17 can’t get you on payroll until you do so.”

“I got them ready, after the meeting I’ll get them from my cabin and into your hands.” He replied and saw her nod in approval.

“That is all for the stewards.” Delilah took her seat and Lucinia stood up.

“Alright, that concludes the department section of the meeting. Moving forward, we have a couple of points to discuss about our upcoming piracy contract. Firstly, we’ve had alarming reports that these current drones are using extensive stealth and electronic countermeasures. They are of a similar pattern to those we encountered a few months back in the Basin system. Officer Coralane has prepared a briefing on what to expect from known stealth drones. The floor is yours, Second Officer.”

Jack stood up and took position at the front of the room as Lucinia returned to her desk.

“Alright, modern stealth drones have had relatively little changes to their fundamental construction and design over the last fifty years. They all contain radar and lidar absorbing materials that mask identification. Their shapes generally deflect radar waves, and they make no sound, project no particle emission and are painted in dark color schemes to hide their form from any sort of visual detection.” Jack used a data pad to connect to the room projector and brought up an image of a common stealth drone.

“We have the wreckage of two of those exact models in the prow cargo hold,” Proculus noted with a frown.

“I looked them over momentarily this morning,” Jack replied. “It’s why I went with this image. I expect this is likely the same drone we will face on our next contract. They’re not too expensive as far as stealth drones go, making them common in an uncommon situation. This model is known as the Ripfly. It’s immune to most ECCM, boasting a strong forward offensive and defensive electronics suite. They can jam terminal homers on guided missiles and feed false data to electronic guidance and detection systems on board combat vessels. They also have the common capability of appearing ninety to a hundred and twenty degrees away from their true location on a detection reading should they be positively identified. A group of them can have the appearance of a swarm of flies moving randomly without purpose. Needless to say, they are very hard to take out.”

“Why don’t sa pirates use sem instead of regular drones sen?” Kazlaena asked curiously.

“They are far more expensive,” Jack answered. “Stealth drones aren’t common because you could outfit an entire pirate operation for the price of just one of the cheapest.”

“That would lead to another question then,” Kejeh spoke up. “Why are expensive drones being used for mundane piracy?”

“That’s a question only the drone operators could answer,” Jack shrugged. “Searching for something? Setting a precedence? Maybe it’s not just about the money?”

“Regardless, our task is to destroy them,” Proculus cut into the conversation. “Any suggestions?”

“I can fly scout in my Scapa and use close range target lock to guide Apollo missiles into the drones,” Jack offered. “Or there is the possibility of stopping at Junkers Refuge and attempting to locate an ordinance dealer with available starfires.” Some of the crew present looked concerned by that option.

Jack noted Kejeh and Delilah giving him troubled expressions, while Proculus scowled at him. “Buying expensive missiles from secondhand dealers on a zero-security installation. Is there something else to this joke?” He demanded.

“No joke,” Lucinia answered. “We have precious little options available. I would prefer to spend credits on expensive missiles rather than put a crew member in such a dangerous scenario, given the aggressiveness of these stealth drones.”