Voyagers: SS Robert Heinlein

 

CHAPTER 6

“Ewww…Meetings.”

 

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2122

1545

 

 

 

Kyle sat at the desk in the conference room that was now his temporary office. He checked his communicator and saw that Riku had acknowledged his message and would be ready for his virtual visit. Kyle booted up his computer, logged in, and brought up the virtual communications program. He entered the numbers for the Galileo. After connecting with the ship’s computer, he entered the numbers for the Chief Medical Officer and saw his new Chief Medical Officer on the screen.

 

“Greetings, Captain Robinson,” Riku said formally. He wasn’t sure who, if anybody, was in the conference room with Kyle so he elected to keep things formal until Kyle said otherwise.

 

“Hello Riku. I’m alone here so you can relax,” Kyle told him. Kyle then went over the procedure for transporting him from the Galileo to the Heinlein.

 

“Most interesting,” Riku said after Kyle finished. “Sending a Space Fleet starship to pick up a transferring doctor and drop off his replacement. Somebody must have pulled some serious strings to accomplish that.”

 

“Dr. Carey was equally impressed.” Dr. Carey was Riku’s replacement on the Galileo. “Truth to be told, so was I, even if two high powered admirals were involved. I kept expecting some high-powered political type to step in and bring the whole plan to a screeching halt saying it was a waste of money. But with the whole thing being called a shakedown of the new drives that argument could be easily shot down.”

 

“Then I will see you on the seventeenth, Kyle.”

 

“I’ll be looking forward to it, Riku. Now I’m going to get connected to Captain Morgan. Oh, wait STOP! DON’T GO!”

 

“You stopped me a second away from vanishing into your ether. What did you forget?” Riku said with a bemused look.

 

“I didn’t forget anything, but Commodore Tietokone just rushed in. It might have to do with you.”

 

“You must mean, Hal.”

 

“Yes, him.”

 

Hal eased in next to Kyle and was now visible on the screen. “This does have to do with you,” Hal said, “although indirectly. The Explorer High Command has formally approved Dr. Okoye as your Assistant Chief Medical Officer.”

 

“That gladdens my heart,” Riku said.

 

“Details to come, but you should hear from him soon. Then the two of you can start filling the rest of the medical positions.”

 

“I will now repeat what I signed off with earlier, albeit with a slight change. I will see both you and Kyle on the seventeenth.”

 

“And like I said then, I will be looking forward to it,” Kyle said.

 

Riku fought off the urge to make a snide remark about his soon to be former captain and logged off.

 

“Thanks for bringing the news, Hal. But you guys made that decision quick,” Kyle said. 

 

“We work well together, and we pretty much know what the other guys think. Greg got everything set up to interview him and the process was quick. All you need to do is your own interview. I have a feeling you’ll rubber stamp it.”

 

“I will as soon as I get my chat with Captain Morgan out of the way.”

 

“You have my sympathies. And as far as Benjamin goes, I invited him to sit in on your staff meeting in place of Riku.”

 

“You’re the best, Hal.” Kyle was tempted to ask Hal why Morgan was still commanding a starship, but decided to stay out of affairs that didn’t concern him.

 

Kyle put in the codes for the Galileo and was connected to Captain Morgan by the officer manning the ship’s communications desk. The Galileo captain had already been given the details of the transport procedure by Greg. Kyle contacted Morgan as a matter of courtesy and to answer any questions he might have about the transport procedure. Morgan said he had no questions and logged off. Kyle noted that even though Morgan had been completely professional, dealing with him wasn’t a pleasant experience.

 

1610

 

 

Conference room 5 had been reconfigured into a small meeting room that was perfect for Kyle’s meetings with his senior officers. The incoming crew had been told they were welcome to meet the senior officer they would be serving under as well as any officers and crew who were available. Attendance was optional, but most of the crew knew it would look good if they showed up for an optional workday.

 

All of his senior officers were present in the conference room except for Logan and Dr. Tatsu. Logan was logged into the Expomeet app, which was the Explorer Program virtual conference app. His visage was on a screen situated about five feet up the wall in front of the officers. Dr. Okoye was sitting in for Dr. Tatsu. Kyle asked for reports on his staff’s progress on how they were doing creating an agenda for their meetings with their staff the next day. After each officer gave a brief report Kyle asked if any of the crew members they had met with stood out in either a positive or negative way.

 

When Logan’s turn came, the meeting took an interesting turn. Since Logan wasn’t able to meet with the crew members assigned to the Science Department he wasn’t able to have a group meeting.

 

“As you guys know, I was on boy sitting duty today, but I’ve talked individually to everybody assigned to me but one,” Logan reported. “What I talked about was….”

 

Before he could finish, the conference room broke into hilarious laughter. While Logan was wondering what it was he had said that was so funny his vision was blocked when somebody’s hand covered his eyes.

 

“Guess who,” a high-pitched voice squealed.

 

Instead of guessing, Logan pulled the hand away and turned to see his brother Mark standing behind him and Matthew, his twin, standing a couple of steps behind Mark. The entrance of the twins wasn’t what sparked the laughter, it was how they were dressed, or not dressed in this case. The twins had come into the den, where the computer was located, stark naked. Both of them were laughing with glee and Logan was trying to figure out if there was a way he could legally strangle them.

 

He decided that the best way he could handle this mess was to play it straight and move the boys out of the room. “My guess is that Mark was covering my eyes and my next guess is that both of you rug rats will run back to the swimming pool before you get banned from the water.”

 

“Okay, we’ll see ya,” Matthew said. He and Mark looked at the computer, waved, and zoomed out of the room, their little white butts the last thing the officers saw of him.

 

Thinking that the twins could easily have been Koji and Duskin, Kyle took a deep breath to kill his laughter and said, “Logan, I think your brothers will fit right in with their new friends.”

 

“You’re not upset with us?” Logan asked.

 

“I wouldn’t have put it past my boys to dare them to run into the den naked. That said, it’s now up to you to make sure that there isn’t a repeat.”

 

“Oh, I’ll be doing that for sure.” The laughter had completely died down when Logan finished his report. “I was just about to say when the little nudists ran in that Devin met with the Science crew as a group. My chats were pretty much about the upcoming schedule and what we planned to do and to listen to any thoughts they had. They were all great to talk to except for Donald Nixon, since I was never able to get hold of him. Anyway, I’ll let Devin give his report and thanks to all of you for not throwing rotten tomatoes at the computer screen.”

 

Two things struck Kyle as Logan logged off. First, he was impressed by the ease with which Logan handled the antics of his brothers and second was that despite the recent trauma they had been through the twins were ready to have fun and Logan, in a perverse way, seemed to have enjoyed the incident.

 

The reports were all positive except for two exceptions reported by Devin and Brad. Brad reported that he did have a problem with one of the young boys from the Space Academy.

 

“What was your problem, Brad?” Kyle asked.

 

“He couldn’t stop letting me know much he knew and kept asking questions about why we did things certain ways when he thought there were better ways to do it,” Brad replied.

 

“What did you say to him?”

 

“I told him pretty much everybody in the Explorer Program felt that way when they were assigned to their first ship. I said we all soon discovered that the way we learned things in the classroom wasn’t always the way things happened.”

 

“What did he say?”

 

“That I was making a lame excuse for doing things the wrong way.”

 

“Who is he?”

 

“His name is Andrew Adams. He’s only eleven, but he passed his ensign exam and is a bona fide ensign. His father is a Space Fleet captain and the commander of a passenger transport, the Galaxy Icon.”

 

“For now, hang with him. You told him some good stuff. He’s feeling his oats and is going to need a combination of slaps on his ass and pats on his back. Keep me and Devin up to date on him. Know-it-all eleven-year-olds can be turned around,” Kyle said, well aware he was speaking of himself as much as anybody.

 

Kyle then asked Devin what he had observed. Devin said he would prefer to talk about it in private. “No offense to my fellow officers, but this could take a while to talk about and I think we have a lot of grumbling tummies in the seats, including mine.”

 

While Andrew appeared to currently be a pain in the ass, Kyle didn’t think he was the mystery boy whose father had been harassing him at Space Fleet Headquarters. Although Andrew’s father was a Space Fleet officer, he didn’t work at HQ; he commanded a passenger transport. Kyle knew Headquarters security had gone over the ship’s roster very carefully and didn’t find anyone whose father was an officer at Space Fleet Headquarters.

 

Kyle’s father had told him that while he thought the person who stalked him and sent him notes was an obvious nutcase, the “son” in question was a figment of his sick imagination. “I think that once the Heinlein launches and you’re away from Earth the mysterious ghost son will be no more.”

 

“I hope you’re right. This captain’s job is turning out to be tough enough without some psycho trying to make it tougher.”

 

Kyle shook his head and returned his focus to the meeting. “Does anyone else have something to report?” No one did, so he dismissed them. The room soon cleared of everyone except him and Devin.

 

“I’ll see what else I can find out about Ensign Andrews,” Devin said. “And I was serious about being hungry and I know you have a bunch of crazy, skinny dipping, boys waiting for you, Danny, and Ronnie to get home for dinner.”

 

“I take it that this was nothing that needs me to make an immediate decision of some sort.”

 

“You got it. We’ll find some time tomorrow, to talk.”

“Even if it means staying late,” Kyle said. That was obviously a statement and not a question. As he watched Devin leave the conference room, Kyle could not help but wonder what Devin had observed. It was obvious that it was more than an immature young adolescent. He also wanted to find out what Logan had seen and heard during his individual conference. Then the idea came to mind that the crewman Devin was going to report on might be the crewman that Logan couldn’t get hold of.

 

 

1830

 

When the Space Fleet van arrived at the Robinson residence and dropped off the Robinson men, Kyle hurried into the house and then out the door to the patio. He wasn’t surprised to see Koji, Duskin, and the twins still skinny dipping, but he was surprised to see that Logan and Danny’s brother Tommy had joined them.

 

“Get nakey and swim with us, Opsola Kyle,” Koji called out when he saw Kyle.

 

“I’m really hungry, so I gotta eat first,” Kyle said. “So how about you guys get out of the pool for dinner.”

 

Alicia came up behind Kyle and said, “The boys have already eaten. I have four plates of spaghetti and meatballs laid out for the Robinson men to feast on.”

 

“Yummy.” Kyle turned and gave Alicia a hug. ‘You’re the best, mom. I love you.”

 

“I love you, too son. Now wash up and head to the dining room. We’re inside since there’s too much water being splashed around the patio by wild and crazy boys.”

 

“Does that description include Logan?”

 

“Yes, it does, and be happy it’s so. This is the first time I’ve seen him smile, laugh, and have fun all afternoon. I think this swim is exactly what he and his brothers needed.”

 

“Including the invasion of the senior officer meeting by naked twins?”

 

“Including that. You know every one of your high-class senior officers had fun, and you did as well. I don’t think you even tried to be a sourpuss captain.”

 

“You already know me all too well, mom,” Kyle grinned. He gave his adoptive mother another hug and went to wash his hands and join his brothers and dad for dinner.

 

“How did your meeting go?” Greg asked no one specific.

 

The three brothers looked at each other and finally Danny’s and Ronnie’s eyes settled directly on Kyle. Greg couldn’t help chuckling to himself as he watched the silent byplay between the boys.

 

“It went pretty well,” Kyle finally answered. He knew his brothers looked at him because he was their captain, but he wanted them to understand that the three of them were equals as brothers, especially when they were off ship. But that was something he would have to deal with later. Right now, he wanted to give a quick answer to his dad’s question, finish his dinner, strip off his clothes, and jump into the pool for a half-hour or so.

 

“It was about tomorrow’s schedule, the schedule for the next couple of weeks, and how everybody’s department meetings went. It sounds like we’re going to have a pretty good crew. Only two concerns were brought up by the chiefs.”

 

“Adam and who else?” Danny asked.

 

“This is between us and Devin,” Kyle cautioned. Danny and Ronnie nodded their understanding. “Donald Nixon, who is assigned to Science, never answered his communicator calls from Logan and had some kind of an issue in the Science meeting that Devin ran.”

 

“What was his problem?”

 

“I don’t know. Devin said he’d tell me tomorrow when we had more time.” Kyle decided to change the subject to something lighter. “I’m ready to skinny dip, bros. What do you think?”

 

“I think I’m happy that even though it’s October, it’s seventy degrees outside and the pool is heated,” Robbie said. “I’ll give the twins their first look at a naked Black boy.”

 

“Speaking of naked, I’ve been thinking about us doing like we did on the Sooloo and having a clothing optional day each month,” Kyle said.

 

“The reason we did that was because of how we all had to get naked on the ship to defeat the rogue star,” Danny pointed out. “And we only had it once a quarter.”

 

“We did it quarterly on the Victorious,” Ronnie said. “Just about everybody liked it. They didn’t have to do it if they didn’t want to. But I remember having to vote on it.”

 

“Are you going to bring it up at a senior officers’ meeting?” Danny asked.

 

“You need to get your nose into the Explorer Program more often. This is the kind of topic that has to be brought up by a member of the crew who is not a senior officer,” Kyle answered. “If the senior officers proposed it, many of the crew would think they were being ordered to get naked on the naturist days, which would not be right. I was bringing it up to you guys because I thought it would be fun to do. We just need somebody to drop a hint to somebody to get things going.

 

“And then there is a protocol that must be followed, which will be explained to whoever ends up being the person making the proposal. And yes, after certain steps are followed there will be a vote by the crew requiring a supermajority to pass.”

 

“And then it’s good to go?” Danny asked.

 

“Then there is one person who has the power to veto the proposal even after a supermajority vote.”

 

“Gee, that wouldn’t be you, would it?”

 

“Gee, yes it would. And that said, somebody who isn’t one of the three of us or a senior officer will have to make the proposal. But for now, let’s finish eating, get naked, and join the fun in the pool.”

 

Danny and Ronnie both agreed. They had finished dinner. After thanking Alicia for the delicious spaghetti dinner, they asked to be excused from the table. Greg and Alicia shooed them away. They took care of putting their dishes in the dishwasher and went out on the patio. They quickly stripped naked to the cheers of the six boys in the pool and joined the skinny-dipping party.

 

“I never thought I’d ever be skinny dipping in a pool with the captain of my ship,” Logan grinned.

 

“And I never thought I’d be skinny dipping with my Chief of Science when he made me his assistant chief,” Tommy said.

 

“I told you things could be somewhat informal on the Heinlein,” Kyle said. “And Tommy knows how we had naturist days as well as skinny dipping parties on the holodeck on the Sooloo.” 

 

“But right now, we’re not on the Heinlein,” Tommy pointed out.

 

“Good point.”

 

Logan was a bit pleased to see Tommy be a little contrary around Kyle. He wanted his assistant chief to stand up for himself. Then it occurred to him that Tommy was Kyle’s brother-in-law which probably gave him an extra boost of confidence when talking to him.

 

Before Logan could say more, he was pounced on by his brothers and the three were soon dunking, splashing, laughing, giggling, and having a grand time. Kyle, Danny, Ronnie, Greg, and Alicia were pleased to see the three recent orphans enjoying themselves to the fullest. The swimming party had been a great idea. The wrestling didn’t last long as the brothers fought to get their breath.

 

One thing that was worrying Logan was that the skin-to-skin contact with his brothers had caused him to sprout an erection. He knew it was the contact with his brothers that turned him on, not his brothers themselves. Tommy was a different story, however. Since naming Tommy his assistant chief, he began to realize that one of the plusses to working with Tommy Harper was that he was a sexy boy.

 

Logan didn’t consider himself to be gay, but he knew from his psych classes at the Academy and from his experience on the Olympic, that because of their isolation, sex between crewmates on the Explorer ships was common. Some straight boys even had boyfriends. Logan hadn’t gone that far, but he knew of quite a few couples who shared a bed or even a cabin.

 

Cade Marshall, the Chief Engineer, and his assistant chief Simon Watkins had become such a couple. When he first heard of the relationship, he thought it had to be against Explorer Program regulations. It turned out that it wasn’t, provided the captain and first officer knew about it and Simon was assigned a new reporting officer. He was certain that Captain Henry and First Office Hendricks, who became Simon’s supervising officer, kept close tabs on the two.

 

Logan knew his thoughts about Tommy were meaningless unless he followed through on them. But he also knew that even though he didn’t plan on starting anything, since he was Tommy’s superior officer his behavior would be wrong. But, if things just happened to unfold, he wasn’t going to fight it. He knew Kyle wouldn’t stand in the way by nitpicking regulations since Operations Assistant Chief Lucias Hayes and First Officer Devin French had already been in a relationship on their previous ship, the Endurance.

 

One good thing that happened while he was standing in the cool water thinking, his erection had gone down to a semi. Mark and Matthew paddled up to Logan and stood beside him. Mark looked up at his big brother and said, “You got a boner when we wrestled, huh?”

 

“Yes, I did.” Logan wasn’t about to be dishonest with the two people he loved and cared for more than anybody in the world. 

 

“See, I told you he had one, Matty. I could feel it poking me.”

 

“I wish I could have seen it,” Matthew said.

 

“Maybe next time,” Logan said. “Right now, I think it’s time we get out of the water. Then shower, dry off, get dressed, and get a ride to our quarters. You’ve gotta get up for school and I’ve gotta get up early for a day of meetings.”

 

“Ewww, meetings,” Mark said. “Being an officer must be boring.”

 

“I guess it is in a way right now, but it will get pretty exciting real soon.”

 

“I got a boner wrestling with Koji,” Mark confessed. “I think he got one too. I never had that happen before when I wrestled with somebody.”

 

Welcome to the oncoming world of puberty, Logan thought.

 

As the three brothers climbed out of the pool, Tommy found himself staring at Logan’s white ass. He’s got a nicer ass than Danny. Too bad I can’t do anything about it. I wish we would get naked days on our ship so I can get more chances to see it. I know he’s my boss, but that doesn’t stop him from being really sexy looking.

 After the Wilson brothers left the pool, Danny, Kyle, and Ronnie climbed out as well, leaving just Koji and Duskin in the pool.

 

Soon goodbyes were said, and Greg drove the Wilson boys to their quarters. The rest of the boys got ready to bed down in the Robinson house. The morning alarms would be going off all too soon.

 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2122

 

0900

 

The first meeting involving the entire crew of the Heinlein, except for those few who were still in the process of completing their transfer, started promptly at 0900 by Captain Kyle Robinson. Operations Chief, Steve Boyer, and his assistant chief, Lucias Hayes, had put together a seating chart that had each crewmember with a departmental assignment sitting with his department. Those remaining had either not yet been assigned or would not be assigned to a department.

 

Kyle stepped up onto a speaker’s platform and welcomed the crew and introduced himself, giving a quick summary of his personal history dating from his time as a student at the Space Academy to his being named the captain of the Heinlein. He did not go into his many honors, such as his two Distinguished Service Stars and other recognitions of his leadership and valor. He figured those facts were public record and were available to anyone who wanted to look him up on the Explorer Program personnel site. Instead, he went into what the crew could expect from him as captain of the ship and what he would be expecting of them as members of the ship’s crew. He made mention of his open-door policy more than once, reminding them that there were times when sensitive meetings would require him to close his open door, but that for the vast majority of the time he would be available for them to talk to without needing to go through a tedious appointment process.

 

The plan was for Kyle to start the meeting and then turn it over to Devin. But before he turned it over, he had one important task to complete.

 

“I would like to call Doctor Ben Okoye to the front, please.” A tall slender black teen rose from his first-row chair and turned to face the seated crew. “Lieutenant Okoye was a general practitioner at Space Fleet’s Gorgas Hospital. He is now our Assistant Chief Medical Officer and will serve as Acting Chief Medical Officer until the seventeenth when our Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Riku Tatsu, will arrive from his current assignment on the Galileo.”. Kyle turned to Ben and said, “Anything you’d like to say, doctor?”

 

“Yes,” Ben said in a surprisingly deep voice. “I want to say I am happy and proud to be chosen to serve on the Heinlein. I know that Dr. Tatsu and I will be working to make sick bay a welcoming place. Feel free to talk to Dr. Tatsu and me along with the rest of the medical staff if you have any questions at all about any aspect of your health. We will have our full medical staff on board soon and Captain Robinson said he will give us an opportunity to have an introductory meeting at that time. Please come by and say hello any time,” Ben grinned.

 

“Thank you, Doctor Okoye,” Kyle said. “And do take the time to introduce yourself to Doctor Okoye at your first opportunity,” he told the crew.

 

After Ben took his seat, Kyle worked to wrap up his portion of the meeting. Some of you have asked what my expectation of you will be. My expectations are simple. What I expect from you as a crewmember is that you each put your best efforts into making yourself the best crewmember you can be and to work at making the Robert Heinlein one of the top starships in the Explorer Program. I promise to do my best to lead us there, and part of that means I will have high expectations of each of you. Let’s all start pitching in today to make us the best ship in the fleet.

 

“I will now entertain questions.”

 

Kyle was not surprised to see Andrew Adams’ hand shoot straight into the air. “Andrew Adams, captain,” he said when Kyle called on him. “I’d like to know when we’ll get the schedules we were promised.”

 

“Thanks for the question, Andrew. As you no doubt recall, I had mentioned during my remarks that the schedule will be passed out and discussed during the departmental meetings.”

 

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, I forgot,” Andrew said. Even though Kyle had done his best not to humiliate him, Andrew still felt humiliated. His goal to act like he was on top of what was going on had not gotten off to a good start.

 

“What I think I didn’t say is that all of you are always welcome to bring any questions to me or a senior officer. You can feel free to ask me any questions you have about the schedule after your meeting is over. That’s an example of what my open door is about.”

 

There were a few more questions, one of which was how they would know that Kyle’s open-door policy was in effect when they came to his ready room to discuss something. “Simple, if the door is open, the policy is in effect, and if it’s closed—well, it’s closed. That means that unless you’ve been asked to come into my office to meet me about something, you turn around and come back later. Open door is open, and closed door is closed.”

 

Kyle heard a muted voice around the middle of the room say, “That might be one of the lamest things I’ve ever heard from a captain.” Kyle couldn’t make out who had said it, but he figured one of his senior officers who was nearby did and would tell him. At least he hoped the senior officer would tell him.

 

“Okay, guys, I’m going to turn the meeting over to our first officer, Devin French, to tell you what happens next.” Kyle stepped off the platform and was replaced by Devin, who went over the schedule for the rest of the morning.

 

“And so you don’t have to ask again, when I finish we will take a fifteen minute break. Following that you’ll come back to your seating area where your supervising officer will hand out the schedules covering today through our official launch. You will also receive your communicators, which are programmed to be yours and yours only. There will be a more detailed schedule for the next day texted to your communicators each evening.

 

As Devin went over the details that weren’t very interesting but had to be gone over, Kyle walked around the crowded room observing the crewmembers, particularly in the area the snarky comment had come from. He was close to one hundred percent certain that the son of the mysterious officer at HQ was a member of his crew.

 

He had no confirmation of that other than intuition. He had learned because of the Darastixian blood in his veins he could place a degree of trust in that intuition. What it didn’t tell him was who the potential problem might be. He thought it could be Andrew Adams because he was becoming a pain in the ass. But Andrew had been nowhere near where the voice had come from. Also, Kyle had the feeling that the mystery crewman would be doing his damage subtly and there was nothing subtle about Andrew Adams.

 

Kyle heard Devin tell the group they would be taking a fifteen-minute break. “You’ll all be meeting by department after the break. Those of you not assigned to a department will be meeting with me. Any questions?” Nobody raised his hand. “Okay, then, there being no questions I will see you all in fifteen minutes.”

 

Kyle wondered if the topic Devin wanted to discuss with him had any relation to whoever it was that made the comment. He wanted to wait until after the meeting was over to discuss it with him since Devin was currently surrounded by quite a few of the crew who were peppering him with questions. Fortunately, Steve Boyer was there helping him out.

 

Instead of joining the scrum at the front of the room, Kyle signaled Brad and Kage to meet him in the back of the room. “You two were the closest to the smart-ass comment. Any theories about who might have said it?”

 

“It came from one of our sections,” Kage said. Kage was the Chief of Tactical and Security and Brad the Chief of Information Systems. “But there’s no way of telling who said it without asking the crewmen sitting in that area.”

 

“At this stage of the game, I doubt anybody would rat on a crewmember,” Kyle said. “Right now, everybody is feeling everybody out. Kage, do you think any of your cameras could have picked him up?”

 

“Negative. They weren’t setting them up for security purposes. We set up four cameras. Brad had two of them facing front to record the meeting presentation to save the meeting for the ship’s archives. I had two facing back so two of my crewmembers could get practice on coordinating two cameras in security mode. They’ll watch the meeting video later. And Steve had one doing whatever was on Steve’s mind. Shasho was operating that one. It and my two might reveal something and I’ll check out what they picked up later after the meeting ends.”

 

“Well, you and Steve take a look at what your two cameras and Steve’s camera recorded and see if you pick up anything.”

 

“Will do. Now, no offense, but I gotta go take a piss.”

 

“Make sure you aim properly,” Brad told Kage.

 

“I am Chief of Tactical and Security. I aways aim properly,” Kage smirked.

 

Kyle shook his head. “To think, I picked you two crude individuals to be my senior officers.”

 

“What are senior officers if not comic relief for the captain.”

 

“An excellent point,” Kyle grinned.

 

When Kyle returned to the meeting room, he saw that the crowd at the front had thinned quite a bit. He headed in that direction to help Devin and Steve disperse the group so that they could take a break before Devin brought the meeting back to order. He sent the two officers off on their break and answered what questions were left.

 

Two crewmembers were sitting together toward the back of the room. One was a lieutenant, the other an ensign. They both had previous Explorer ship experience. The lieutenant, who was 14, had been in Tactics and Security on the Discovery. He was now on the Heinlein because he asked for the transfer. He had seen the Heinlein as a place for advancement, and not necessarily by legitimate means.

 

He had applied for the captain position and was rejected. The same thing happened after he applied to be a senior officer and then an assistant department chief. But after the rejections, he still applied for and received a voluntary transfer. His goal now was to disrupt the Heinlein’s maiden voyage and by so doing show that the little shit, who by some sleight of hand had become the captain of the biggest Explorer ship in the fleet, was an unqualified little boy incapable of commanding the ship in a crisis. From what he had seen so far, Kyle Robinson might end up proving that on his own without a crisis having to be manufactured.

 

He had yet to be assigned to a department. Because he had been interviewed for the assistant chief positions of Tactical and Security he figured that was where he would be assigned. Instead, he would be going to what the crew was calling the “homeless” table.

 

The ensign, who was 13, was on the Heinlein because he had received an involuntary transfer from the Henry Hudson, where he had been assigned to Information Systems. He shared with the lieutenant about how unhappy he was with the transfer. “I loved the little comment you made about the captain making a dumb comment, which it was.”

 

“I was just calling things the way they are. I’m hoping over the next few days before the official launch to hear from guys like you who aren’t happy about being here. And better yet, guys who hate being here. I plan on letting them know I am actively in their corner.”

 

“But, how did you make your voice do what it did?” the ensign asked.

 

“You mean make it sound like it came from someplace else?” The ensign nodded.

 

“My dad, who says he’s going to give me all the help he can to get what I want…no, what WE want…on this ship. This little trick I got a year or so ago just because he thought it might come in handy. He knows a guy here in Vegas who is a ventriloquist who has his own show. He taught me a few tricks about ventriloquism. Hey, what’s your name, by the way?”

 

“It’s Everett. What’s yours?”

 

The lieutenant told him, and the boys then got up to go to the head before break time was over.

 

In the front of the room, the last crewmember in line asked Kyle when the crew would be boarding the Heinlein. Kyle told him they would be on board their new home on Monday. “And remember, Crewman Dansby, we passed out a schedule to you, and the master schedule is on your communicator and all of the daily scheduling will be updated every day,” he told Crewman Sammy Dansby in a polite, patient voice.

 

“Thank you, sir,” Sammy said, and he headed off to find his new friends. Kyle looked at the time. The meeting was scheduled to restart in two minutes. Before he could wonder where Devin was, the first officer came back from his break carrying a soda.

 

“See me after you’ve dismissed everyone for lunch,” Kyle told him.

 

“Is it about what I said I wanted to tell you?” Devin asked.

 

“Yes, it is.”

 

“Good, because it’s more important than ever that I tell you what I think.”

 

“Got it. See you in a bit.”

 

Devin pressed the buzzer on his desk, which got everyone’s attention. Quiet reigned almost instantly and Devin ordered everyone back to their seats. The Explorer Program Manual listed five different protocols a ship could adopt for the all-crew meetings. The Heinlein’s senior officers decided to adopt the second protocol, which stated that the first officer would lead the meetings, a duty which would be part of his job description.

 

The captain could open or take over any meeting, of course, should the situation call for it. That section of the protocol was what Kyle used to open the first all-crew meeting. He felt it was important that the captain introduce himself to the crew and assert his presence at that first meeting. There should be no doubt that even though Devin would be chairing the meeting, Kyle was the one who was commanding the ship.

 

Devin called the session back into session and told the crew that they would now be meeting with their senior officer in their assigned department. “Those of you who have not been assigned a department will meet with me and lieutenant Gross at the front table. I have assignments for a couple of you, but most of you won’t be with a department.”

 

The departmental meetings were slated to last an hour and ten minutes.  Hal had entered the meeting room just as the crew had been dismissed to meet with their senior officers. He and Kyle wandered the area together observing the senior officers at work. Kyle was certain Hal was also observing him, which was true.

 

“I see that our good captain has his babysitter watching over him for this session,” the lieutenant remarked. Orlando Rodriguez, the lieutenant JG sitting next to him, glared but said nothing. The lieutenant wiped him       off his mental list of recruits for his cause.

 

He moved his attention to Commander French who told them there were numerous reasons they had not yet been assigned to a department. “Most of you have been told what that reason is and will be receiving an assignment in a few minutes. Some of you will be free lance and will be working where you are needed.” What he didn’t say was that a majority of the “freelance” crewmembers were not officers. Instead, they were crewmen.

 

“Three of you will be assigned to Information Systems,” Devin told them. He called their names. The lieutenant’s attention perked up when he heard his name called. While Information Systems was not the department he wanted, it was his second pick. He was pleased with the assignment. For one his first recruit was also assigned there. And, as he thought about it, the lieutenant was beginning to think that this might be the best assignment he could have received.

 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2122

 

 

The crew was about to be dismissed for lunch. Devin told them that their lunch would be in the main cafeteria on the first floor and that they would not be required to pay for their lunch since they were, in essence, meeting on the ship. He then dismissed them for lunch, reminding them to be back at the meeting room and ready to meet at 1330 hours. “You are to return to the seats you occupied this morning, except for those who received new assignments. Their new seats have been assigned to them.”

 

The senior officers had their lunch catered to them. During lunch they discussed how their meeting with their crewmen had gone. Their reports were overwhelmingly positive, with a couple of annoying negatives. Brad commented that he would love to stuff a sock deep into Adam Andrews’ mouth, which brought a chuckle from his fellow officers.

 

After they finished their lunch, Kyle told them to take a break and be back for the 1330 meeting. He then turned to Devin. “Are you ready to chat?” he asked.

 

“More than ready.”

 

“Then let’s meet in Hal’s office.”

 

“With Hal?”

 

“No, he’s up in the tower having lunch with some big wig officers.”

 

“Good. I want to go over this just with you before we talk to Hal about it. I could be totally wrong as far as what I saw, but I figure it wouldn’t hurt to talk to you about it.”

 

“It’s that kind of figuring that’s going to make you a great first officer,” Kyle grinned as they reached Hal’s office. Kyle wondered what it was that his first officer had seen that was pushing his buttons. He was eager to find out.

 

Next: Getting to Know the Heinlein