Voyagers: SS Robert Heinlein

CHAPTER 19

MARSH

By Douglas DD
Assisted by Zarek Dragon

MONDAY, OCTOBER 26

<SS Heinlein>

(1610)

The Heinlein slipped into its assigned orbit location as proficiently as any ship in the fleet. The second watch manned the bridge. Since the ship was securing an orbit Kyle had the conn as per Space Fleet regulations. Steve, who was assigned the conn for that watch, sat in a jump seat watching Kyle calmly give orders to the helm and engineering. Danny had the helm, which gave Kyle a strong feeling of security and Scott Franklin, who was an Explorer Program veteran, was at the engineering station. Kyle knew that Ronnie was manning the command desk in engineering and was seeing to it that his excitement regarding his father would not get in the way of his professionalism. All of those factors, plus the training Devin had put the watch through, gave the bridge crew a calm confidence.

Commander Petrich sat on the bridge of the Ares using the feed from Mars Orbital Control to watch the Heinlein take its assigned orbit station. If he had watched the maneuver unfold a few hours ago it would have been with a great deal of anxiety. But now, having watched the Heinlein in action, he wasn’t surprised that the big starship locked itself into its assigned orbit without a hitch.

As soon as the Explorer ship was in orbit, he ordered the Ares to meet an incoming freighter which sometimes needed more than one attempt before locking into its assigned orbit, which wasn’t unusual for the freighters. The captains usually blamed inefficient sensors for the problem. Whatever, he thought. Some of those officers could take some lessons from the crew of teenagers who brought their big ship into perfect position on their first try.

The first thing Ronnie did once the Heinlein was secure was head for the captain’s ready room where Kyle and Devin were waiting for him. “Good job getting right back to work after all that emotion, bro,” Kyle said.

“I didn’t have much to do,” Ronnie said. “Scott was right on top of things.”

“Thanks to Devin’s great training during our shakedowns.” Kyle looked at his brother and grinned. “But, let’s put the mutual admiration society on hold and help Ronnie with his communication home like we planned.”

Devin nodded and contacted the communications desk located in Information Systems. It was manned by Doug Devlin who, despite his young age, was the Information Systems office wizard. Kyle, Devin, and Brad agreed to have the main communications desk take care of Ronnie’s communication because it was more versatile and because Doug was more proficient than Caden Jamison whose main assignment was navigation.

Doug’s task was to contact Ronnie’s mother, Alicia Robinson. Since Alicia was expecting the call, she was ready for it and answered immediately. “This is Alicia,” she said. She was certain whoever placed the call knew she would be answering it, but she had to say something. She hoped that Kyle would be the person at the other end of the call.

“Hello, mom. It’s Kyle,” Kyle said knowing it sounded dumb since Alicia would know right away it was him. Communications were so advanced the reception was perfect even from 225 million kilometers (140 million miles) away.

“I figured it would be you. How did the surprise go and where’s Ronnie and how’s he doing?” she asked rapid fire.

“Hi, mother,” Ronnie called out. “You’re on speaker phone and everything’s great.”

“Good to hear your voice, son, and I’m doing great. I love you.”

“And to answer your question on the surprise, I take it you’re set up to take a video call on your big screen,” Kyle said.

“Your father helped get it ready, and it’s ready, so put it on.”

“Wait! Before this goes any farther I’ve got questions of my own,” Ronnie said.

“Save your questions until after I see the video. I want to know exactly how this worked,” Alicia said.

“But, mother…”

“Now it’s your turn to wait, son. Go ahead and play the video.”

Alicia was Ronnie’s natural mother and Kyle’s adoptive mother. She formally adopted him after she and Greg Robinson married. Kyle’s mother had died in an automobile accident about a year after Ronnie’s father, Vincent Gordon, died in the fire aboard the transport ship Galactic Traveler.

When the video ended, Alicia was in tears. “I knew they were going to place your father’s name on the hull for you to see but I didn’t…I didn’t…” Alicia wiped her eyes before continuing. “…I didn’t know they would make it into such a beautiful presentation.”

Ronnie wasn’t the only one on the bridge of the Heinlein wiping his eyes. “How come you didn’t tell me about all this before we left Earth?” Ronnie asked his mother.

“I think you know the answer to that,” Alicia said softly, displaying a smile of motherly love.

“You wanted it to be special and then it turned out to be really special and I love you so much for doing it this way.”

“I love you, Ronald, just as we both loved your father…”

“…who was a great man and an amazing dad to me.”

“I have one more surprise for you and I’m going to reveal it now,” Alicia said.

“Sweet. What’s this one about?”

“When the Traveler is to travel on its maiden voyage a way will be found to see to it that you’ll be traveling on it with me.”

“I guess it helps to have the commander in chief of the Explorer Program as my adoptive dad,” Ronnie said.

“Along with having the captain of the Heinlein as your adoptive brother,” Alicia added. “We don’t know the exact dates yet, but right now they’re thinking four to six months from now.”

“When I get updated on the dates and such, I’ll make sure you’re kept up to date, too,” Kyle said.

“You knew about today’s big surprise all along, didn’t you?” Ronnie asked.

“Your mom kept me up to date on this one. The maiden voyage will have no big surprises since we do have to get to Earth in time for it.”

The farewells commenced and Alicia logged off after everyone had their say. It was now time for everyone to look ahead.

<Starboard Airlock>

(1800)

The Space Fleet personnel who hitched a ride to Mars on the Heinlein had decided to stay on board long enough to enjoy one more first-rate meal from the ship’s kitchen staff. After finishing their meals, they went to their quarters and grabbed their grips and other belongings and loaded everything on the transit waiting in the corridor. Their large bags and boxes had been loaded on a shuttle a half hour after the Heinlein established orbit.

The shuttle Robert A. Parker was berthed at the starboard airlock. Parker was the first human to set foot on Mars. The shuttle was bigger than the Heinlein’s bubba shuttles. It had more than enough room for the six Space Fleet technicians and their belongings. Its airlock was connected to the Heinlein’s by an airtight passageway that had been extended from the Heinlein to the Parker.

Kyle, Devin, and Brad went to the airlock foyer to see their guests off. Steve was filling in for Devin on the bridge until the guests boarded and Devin went to the bridge. The Space Fleet technicians had served much more time on the Heinlein than any of the ship’s crew. That would change in a hurry once the Heinlein headed out into deep space. The six were all happy to be going home, which for them was Mars City.

The technicians replaced their Earth timepieces with Mars timepieces so that they would be on Mars time. Space Fleet ships and stations operated on Las Vegas time, since Vegas was the location of Space Fleet headquarters. Mars, however, went by Mars City time. Because of the differences in length of hours and days the conversion required computer assistance. For that reason, any Martian visiting Earth carried at least two time pieces, one set to Mars City time and one set to Las Vegas time.

Kyle and the two senior officers thanked the Space Fleet techs for their friendliness, their patience, and for getting their ship ready to be on its own. The techs wished the three officers safe travels. All of them had been impressed by the knowledge and efficiency of the “young adults” who made up the crew of the Heinlein. They came to realize that the Heinlein crew was made up of exceptional young men. The question in their minds was, could they maintain what they were doing now that they were setting off on their own. Their initial answers were yes, they could, and would no doubt improve upon what they were already doing.

After the shuttle disconnected from the passageway, Jesse Gross, the chief shuttle bay officer, and Orlando Rodriguez worked to fold the connecting passageway back into the ship and seal the airlock.

<Koji and Friends>

(1915)

Koji, Duskin, Tai Haimono, Tommy Harper, and the Wilson twins, Mark and Matthew, sat in a room Koji created on the holodeck, with the okay of Koji’s opsola Danny and Perry Fox, the holodeck manager. The room held games, a games table that could be converted to hold many different games at the turn of a dial, video game consoles, overstuffed chairs, a leather couch, and a table for playing card games, eating, or whatever else came to mind.

They were talking about Mars and what they knew about it. Koji, Duskin, and Tai had the most experience on Mars. Koji and Duskin had taken a trip there as tourists with their family. Koji told about riding the superfast train across the Martian desert and about riding a special kind of train to the summit of Olympus Mons, the highest point in the Solar System.

Tai had gone with his older brother, Jaku, who was a member of the crew as the liaison dealing with aliens, in particular the Darastixians. They also rode a fast train, but they visited Gale crater, a 96-mile-wide meteor crater containing rocks over four billion years old. Part of the trip was riding a cable railway to the top of Mt. Sharp located almost in the center of the crater. Everyone was fascinated by each of the stories.

“So, Koji, how come you call Mars, Marsh?” Matthew asked.

“That’s simple,” Koji replied. “People from Mars, and things from Mars, and things on Mars are called Martian. Like picking up a pretty rock on Mars to show somebody. You’d say, ‘look at this pretty Martian rock I found.’ So, if things and people from Mars are called Martians, then I think the planet should be called Marsh. And that’s my reason.”

“I guess that might make sense except for one thing,” Tommy said. “The people from France are called French and not Francian.”

“Like Ali tells us in the classroom, there are exceptions to the rules, but for me Mars and Martian isn’t one of them. So there.”

“Tell them about our friend Marsh,” Duskin said.

“Oh, yeah, Marsh Dawkins. We met him on our family trip to Mars. He was named Marsh because he was born on Mars and his middle name is Ian and you can figure out his full name yourself,” Koji said.

“That must be why one of our shuttles is named the Marsh and not the Mars,” Mark said.

“That’s right.”

“Does he still live on Mars?” Matthew asked.

“His family does but he goes to the Space Academy, so he lives on Earth. He’s come to our house a few times but not when there’s lots of company because he’s still getting used to Earth gravity and doesn’t want everybody to think he’s a total weakling because he can’t do what everybody else does. But he works out all the time at the gym and he’s getting strong so if we ever go back to Earth when he’s still there I bet he’ll come over to swim and play. Anyway, that’s what I think.”

The gathering broke into random chatter which was soon interrupted by the chime on the PA system that announced an important ship wide announcement. “This is the captain speaking and I have news about our next destination.” Everyone on the ship stopped what they were doing to hear the news they’d been waiting for. “Our orders have us going to the Spencer Planet Colony where two crew members will be boarding the ship, giving us a complete crew. We will wait there for further orders.”

“That sucks. He’s not telling us anything we don’t already know,” Don Nixon said to Everett Belmont and Ben Kennedy, who were sitting in Don’s quarters.

“He’s just going by what Space Fleet told him,” Everett pointed out.

“With his father being a big shot admiral and all you’d think he’d have a way of getting told what our real mission is right away.”

“Maybe they don’t know yet either,” Ben said.

“Bullshit,” Don snorted. “Little boy Kyle just likes fucking with us. He could find out and tell us if he wanted to. And please, guys, don’t go defending him to me, because you know that won’t do you no good. I think we can all add this to our list of Baby Captain Kyle Robinson bullshit. So don’t go getting on my bad side by taking his side, especially since we all know he’s got no good side to take.”

“Are we going to do anything during the trip to Spencer Colony?” Ben asked.

“I talked with my dad, and he said we should test our stuff out with a couple of slowdowns on the way to the colony,” Don replied. “It will be enough for them to know they have a problem but not enough for things to come to some crucial point. And it will be enough to test our stuff. After we leave on our real mission, we’ll start making the little boy’s life miserable.”

Don adjourned the meeting and Ben headed for his quarters. Everett stayed behind since he and Don were cabinmates.

On the way to his quarters, Ben ran across Danny who stopped him. “How’s it going, Ben? Are you getting the feel of things?”

“It’s going better than the first couple of days,” Ben answered. “Everybody in Navigation has been real helpful.”

“I wanted talk to you about something I said you and I would work on.”

“Shuttle pilot training?” Ben asked eagerly.

“Let’s stop off at your quarters for a couple of minutes and I’ll tell you. I was hoping I’d find you there, but nobody was there. I figured you might have gone to the show in the holodeck which should be starting soon.”

“I was just hanging around and walking around the ship,” Ben lied.

They reached his quarters and entered. Danny took a seat and Ben sat on his bed looking at Danny and hoping for good news as far as shuttle training went. He really felt in need of some good news. Kyle was an asshole, of course, and Don was turning out to be one, too. Even though Danny was KyIe’s husband, he seemed to be a decent dude and had treated him well so far. If not for Danny, the amazing food and his crewmates in navigation, he didn’t know what he would do, other than turn in another transfer request which would probably go nowhere just like all the others he had turned in.

“I don’t have a lot to say,” Danny said. “I just wanted to keep it private. I know you’re excited about completing shuttle pilot training.” Ben could already hear Danny saying an emphatic BUT! That ended up not being the case, however. “Since Devin and I know our schedule from here to Spencer we were able to work in a training schedule for you and Warren, who will be starting from scratch.”

“You mean I’ll really be finishing my training?” Ben asked just to be certain he was hearing things correctly.

“That’s correct. You’ll be a fully qualified pilot when we leave Spencer.”

“But we’ll be traveling faster than light, so how I will I be getting the training?”

“Devin and Kyle modified our itinerary to allow us to drop below light speed each day for training. Your take-off and landing training will take place on Spencer. Kyle is already in the process of arranging this with the Space Fleet Commander-in-Chief on Spencer.”

“Kyle is doing all this for me?”

“You and Warren. As for you, until something changes you are a member of the crew and with all the responsibilities and privileges that go with it.”

“Wow. I thought for sure this would be another battle,” Ben said.

“Do me a favor, Ben.”

“What?”

“Quit thinking so much.”

Danny and Ben stood up grinning.

“Tell Kyle thank you for what he’s doing.”

“Tell him yourself. His ready room does have an open door. I think he’d be happy to hear from you.”

As Danny started out of the cabin, Ben stopped him. “One quick question,” he said.

“Go for it,” Danny told him.

“Warren is assigned to Security and Tactical, right?”

“Yep.”

“I thought the Navigation crew were the ones who got shuttle training.”

“That’s the way it usually is. But Kyle thought it would be a good idea for at least one person in Security and Tactical to have the training. He thought, and Kage agreed, there may be a time it would pay off to have somebody in the department be able to handle a shuttle.”

“Isn’t that what they call thinking out of the box?”

“That is exactly what it is and it’s something Kyle enjoys doing. Oh, and you’ll be getting your training schedule tomorrow morning so be sure to check your messages, since we’re going to start before going into warp.”

“Are you going to be my trainer?”

“Yes. And, so you don’t have to ask, Ace and AJ will be training Warren.” What Danny didn’t say was that this would be their first training job in which they didn’t have a supervisor watching over them directly. Danny would be watching the video of their work, however, so he could critique their work.

Ben decided to stay in his cabin and do some thinking and reading—especially thinking. He had arrived on board the Heinlein expecting to be treated like shit by Kyle Robinson and his cohorts. Instead, guys like Danny, First Officer French, Chief Astrogator Mituti Tudupe, and the entire Navigation staff were treating him fairly.

And then today he learned that Captain Kyle Robinson himself had scheduled the Heinlein’s first deep space journey so he could receive the training he had been promised but didn’t really expect to receive. Instead of treating him like shit, the captain, no, the person he hated so much, had gone out of his way to help him. And it was Kyle’s husband, Danny, who had talked the captain and the first officer into scheduling the Heinlein’s itinerary so that he really would receive his promised training.

‘What’s up with all that?’ he thought. ‘What am I supposed to do when everything is different than I expected it to be? Is this all real, or are they just stringing me along to keep me from getting together with Don Nixon?’

Ben’s thoughts were interrupted when the cabin door opened and his cabinmate, Caden Jamison, entered. “Hey, Ben, good to see you,” Caden said with a wide smile. Ben had been prepared to treat the 12-year-old, who was straight out of the Academy, like shit. His reasoning was that since he was fourteen, it was like he was obligated to put the younger boy in his place before he had a chance to act like an ass waffle.

But that was not how things worked out. It turned out Caden was one of the friendliest individuals he had ever met. In the few days since they had met, Ben became convinced that Caden didn’t have a mean bone in his body. This was yet one more instance of how events on the Heinlein were not turning out as he had envisioned.

“It’s good to see you, too, roomie,” Ben said. “Where were you hiding out?”

Caden set a sack he was carrying down on the desk and sat in the desk chair. “Well, I stood my communications watch and then a bunch of us met in the main dining room to celebrate Nelson’s birthday which was yesterday. But you know how busy the ship was yesterday, so we agreed to have some cake and ice cream today. Ben Maxey baked a kick ass cake and Nelson was beyond happy.”

“Yeah, Ben is the talented Ben,” Ben Kennedy said.

“Only because he can bake. I’d like to see what he does with an astrogation formula,” Caden grinned.

“Okay, I know you told me, but I forgot. But I remember that you’ve got second watch communications. And Nelson turned 12, right?”

“Right. Now he’s not a little boy anymore since he’s 12 just like I am, except I’m six weeks older. And, just so you know, I only have the second trick.”

“So, no middle of the night watch for you and I won’t get to wake you up when I stand the midnight to three watch. When will you get a chance to stand an astrogation watch instead of communications? I mean, that is your special area.”

“I just need to pass the final exam. I’ll be starting a morning remote class and Mituti and Kyle will tutor me. They said I’m really good and just need to master a couple of things I hadn’t finished working on at the academy and I should be standing an astrogation watch.”

“How long will that take?” Ben asked.

“A couple of months if nothing unplanned gets in the way. Mituti said that it’s not unusual for unplanned things to happen on starships”

“I totally agree with that.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t ask what I brought in the sack?”

“Okay, I give. What did you bring in the sack.”

“A piece of cake for you of course. Now we can have Ben eating a Ben creation.”

Caden rose from his seat and stepped over to Ben with the bag. Ben stood up, took the bag, and set it down on his bed. He then surprised himself and Caden by giving Caden a big, long, hug. “You are the absolute best roomie a guy could hope for,” Ben said after he let go.

“You’re not so bad yourself, big boy. Thanks for the hug—that was special.”

Each boy popped wood during the hug, a fact they kept private. Ben took care of his evening washing and brushing, undressed to his underpants (his boner was back to flaccid), pulled on his red sleep shirt, closed the curtain around his bed for privacy and darkness and closed his eyes to sleep. Caden also took care of his evening toilet and took to his bed. He closed his curtain but kept his light on. He wanted to do some reading.

Over on his bed, Ben started to toss and turn. He had his alarm set for 2330 since he had to stand midnight watch and hated that he couldn’t get to sleep. Even though the Heinlein was in orbit, the astrogation table had to be manned since the astrogator generally manned the helm and needed to be there should an emergency situation arise where a helmsman would be needed.

Ben had served under Kyle in the Navigation Department of the Sooloo. He had been happy there, but Kyle had Ben transferred to Information Services. Kyle’s reason was that he had to transfer Ben because they were one crewmember over the assigned navigation crew. Ben didn’t care what the numbers said, he was convinced that Kyle had transferred him because Ben had spoken his mind when he thought Kyle wasn’t being fair with him. Kyle not scheduling him for shuttle ship training was the big thing that had pissed him off. And then to top it off, Space Fleet wouldn’t honor his request for a transfer from the Heinlein when, because of the luck of the draw, he was assigned to the Heinlein which was commanded by his “nemesis.”

Ben’s mind was racing along as he thought about how the events of the day had made him think. Kyle helping him by setting aside time for his training came as a surprise, especially when he learned that taking the ship out of warp every day would end up adding a day to their trip to Spencer Planet. And then there was the news of Kyle thinking out of the box and giving shuttle pilot training to a crewmember in Security and Tactical. Maybe Kyle wasn’t the idiot that Don Nixon made him out to be. On the other hand, maybe he was. Ben tried to figure out who the real Kyle Robinson was, the one he was today who seemed right on top of things and setting up his shuttle training, or the one on the Sooloo who was a first-class ass waffle and had taken away his chance to train as a shuttle pilot. Ben’s mind finally blanked out and he was asleep.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27

USS LIBERTY

(1100)

(Omicron Leonis star system, Planet OCL 3)

“I take it your message from Space Fleet wasn’t good news,” Chief Petty Officer Mary Fitzhugh said to Eric St. Pierre, the captain of the SS Liberty. Mary was Eric’s yeoman and generally read his messages before him, but this one was sent as “eyes only” meaning it had to be opened by the person it was addressed to, which in this case was Captain St. Pierre.

“How can you tell?” Eric asked.

“The fact that you look like you want to rip the message out of your computer is a dead giveaway.”

“As you know because of the problem we had a couple of weeks ago they’ve been monitoring our ship’s functions. The energy surge we had last night seemed to have pushed them over the edge and they are ordering us to return immediately to Earth.” Eric buzzed his first officer.

“That surge only caused a few flickers and a couple of minor shutdowns. Dennis and his boys brought things under control quickly.” Mary was referring to Dennis McDonough, the Liberty’s chief engineer.

“I guess they figure this old tub has had it. Damn, Mary, we’re not even halfway through our exploration in this section. I was looking forward to moving on to OCL 12 since our readings pointed to the possible existence of life.” Planet OCL 12 was in a different solar system than OCL 3.

“We didn’t see much here, that’s for sure.”

“Only if you consider evidence of a giant mother lode of iron ore to be nothing.”

“I was referring to living things and there was no evidence of that.”

“Well, if you put the value of microscopic critters over the existence of iron ore and other potentially valuable mineral deposits then you have good reason to be disappointed.”

One of the things Eric liked about Mary was that she had no problem calling him on his bullshit. He was going to miss her when he retired, which would be at the end of this mission. In fact, he and the Liberty would be retiring together. The Liberty was the oldest starship in the fleet, and he would be passing retirement age a month after what had been their scheduled return to Earth. But if they returned a few months early then he would have to hang around Space Fleet Headquarters until his retirement. Or even do some substituting for vacation passenger transport captains. I’d rather hang around HQ doing nothing than have to deal with a ship full of passengers, he thought.

His thoughts were interrupted by Arnie Benson, the ship’s first officer, entering the ready room. “I take it your summons means Space Fleet didn’t like our readouts,” he said.

“As always, your instinct is correct. We’ve been ordered to return to Earth. While the power surges haven’t affected us detrimentally, they feel this old tub has just about reached the end of its useful life,” Eric said.

“Well, outside of the lights flickering, the kitchen ovens shutting off, and the engines running unevenly until Dennis got everything under control, no, nothing detrimental has happened.”

“I was referring to something of an emergency nature. But you’re right, it’s probably for the best that we head home before something of an emergency nature occurs. It’s just that I hate to see the old gal going out with her tail between her legs.”

“So, should I call the crews on the planet and have them return tomorrow?” Arnie asked.

“That won’t be necessary. Space Fleet gave us a week to wrap up our explorations.”

“Which, I suppose, is good news. It means they’re concerned enough to call us back early…”

“But not so concerned we have to drop everything and run. But there is one more order which I find interesting. They are restricting us to three-quarter warp on the return trip,” Eric said.

“Which means their monitoring has detected a potential problem with the drives.”

“Exactly. Something that hasn’t been a problem yet.”

“I wonder if they might send an escort ship from Star Base Seven. That might be why they’re giving us a week’s grace period in order to get an escort assigned.”

“Not that I’ve heard,” Eric said. “It probably depends on if anything is berthed there. Of course they could send someone from deep space. I’ll have Mary look into who the nearest star ships to us are. The last I heard there are no retrofitted ships with the ultrafast engines in this area.”

“Maybe because only three ships have been retrofitted and the two new ships that are active were both assigned to the Explorer Program.”

“Which is, unquestionably, one of the stupidest things Space Fleet has done since I joined the fleet. Rumor has been for a while now that cutbacks in the program are being considered and yet they give two ships to a bunch of pubescent boys? Uber geniuses or not, they’re still kids and I’ll be damned if I want to put my life in their hands.”

“But…”

Eric held up his hand. “I know they have done some very impressive things, but they’re being spread so thin I can’t see that continuing. Anyway, that has nothing to do with the kitchen being back on line. I’m ready for a soup and sandwich for lunch.”

The two men headed for the ship’s mess wondering what the near future held for their ship. Arnie, who had a much more favorable outlook on the Explorer Program than Eric did, thought about how one of the nice things the program did was call their ship’s eating area’s dining halls instead of mess halls.

SS HEINLEIN

0730

<Shuttle Bay>

Kyle boarded the Beethoven along with Steve Boyer who would be accompanying Kyle to the Mars Space Fleet headquarters where they would be meeting with Admiral Chen Zhao, who commanded the Space Fleet contingent assigned to Mars and its two satellites and Sean Dawkins, the chief administrator for the United Earth colonial office on Mars. He also happened to be the father of Koji’s friend Marsh.

Kyle would be paying his respects to Admiral Zhao and Space Fleet as well as the civilian administration of Mars. It was considered proper etiquette for a visiting starship captain to shuttle down to a planet they were visiting and meet the commanding officer of the planet’s Space Fleet contingent whenever possible.

Koji, Duskin, Tai, Mark and Matthew Wilson, Bobby Brown, and Tommy Harper, the seven youngest members on the Heinlein’s roster, along with Ali, the ship’s chief classroom instructor, were also traveling to Mars on the shuttle. The boys would be given a tour of Mars City as well as a flight over a couple of outlying areas after they enjoyed breakfast at a restaurant near the spaceport. While Ali had hinted that the youngsters might get a field trip to Mars, they didn’t know for sure until just before breakfast. The seven boys were excited when they heard the news. They were ready for an adventure.

Brent Maverick would be the Beethoven’s pilot and Finlay “Red” Lynch would be his copilot. Space Fleet protocol stated that the two senior fighter pilots should command the shuttle carrying their ship’s captain, but Kyle overruled it. He felt that his top two pilots should be involved in training the two new pilots, especially considering the limited time available to train them. The difference between a regulation and a protocol was that a protocol suggested a way to manage a procedure while a regulation was the required way.

Over seventy-five percent of the procedures in the Explorer Program manual were governed by procedures and the rest by regulations. A ship’s captain or, in some instances, a senior officer, could overrule a protocol if he logged a sufficient reason, but only a fleet officer could overrule a regulation.

Brent, who was a superb pilot, handled the Beethoven flawlessly from the Heinlein’s shuttle bay to the Mars City Spaceport. The spaceport and its approaches were in the atmosphere of Mars. Ships landing from space had to taxi to an airlock where they boarded and discharged their passengers. After entering the terminal building, they were met by two petty officers. One was Chief Petty Officer Eduardo Perry, who would be driving Kyle and Steve to meet with Admiral Zhao. The reason Steve, who was the Heinlein’s second officer, instead of Devin, who was the first officer, was in the landing party was that Kyle wanted Devin to be in command of the ship in his absence. As good as Steve was at his job, Devin had much more ship handling experience than Steve, who had very little.

The other Petty Officer, Betsy Zimmer, would be behind the wheel of a Space Fleet van that would take the boys on their tour. Oscar Hammond, a civilian, would be their tour guide. Their flight would happen after their tour of the city. Koji talked Oscar’s ear off assuring him he could help as a guide. Oscar reluctantly agreed to let him assist some just to put a stop to his pleading. It didn’t take long for Oscar to realize that Koji really knew his stuff and to give him a longer leash. Ali smiled with pleasure as he watched Koji subtly take a larger role. It was a behavior he saw often in the classroom.

When Kyle and Steve arrived at Mars HQ, Eduardo escorted them to a private dining room near the office where they met Admiral Zhao, Sean Dawkins, and Captain Rory Petrich of the Ares. Kyle expected to see Zhao and Dawkins, but the presence of Petrich was a surprise.

“Good morning, Captain Robinson and Commander Boyer,” Admiral Zhao grinned. “I’m honored the two of you decided to take time from your duties to pay Mr. Dawkins and me a visit.” The admiral knew that such a visit was protocol, but it was a protocol that was honored in the breach as much as in the execution. “I hope you’re prepared to sample a breakfast cooked up by our excellent chef.”

“Well, sir, you did include an invitation to breakfast when you replied to my request to visit with you. You let me know Mr. Dawkins would be here as well. I have to admit that seeing Captain Petrich is a pleasant surprise.”

“I asked the admiral yesterday evening if I could attend a visit if you requested one,” Captain Petrich said. “I normally don’t do so, but I wanted him to hear my opinion of the professionalism of you and your crew while I was your pilot ship. To be honest, I expected a crew of young boys to need a great deal of guidance, especially one with a very young and inexperienced captain.”

“We all tried to do what we were trained to do,” Kyle responded modestly.

“And you did a fine job of it.”

“Knowing Rory as well as I do, I can tell you that is high praise. He can be quite critical of those who follow him when he’s commanding as a pilot ship,” Admiral Zhao said. “I also received a message from Captain Ellis on the job you did getting your crew ready to operate the ship after he turned over his command to you. As you no doubt know there are a lot of misinformed individuals out there who are critical of your appointment as captain of the Heinlein. I will do my best to inform them of the outstanding start to your career. I expect to hear more good things about you and the Heinlein in the future.”

The praise he was hearing had Kyle blushing with embarrassment. He wasn’t used to having praise dumped on him by the higher ups; at least from those who weren’t staff officers in the Explorer Program or Fleet Admiral Bill Mirah.

“Thank you, Admiral. We are all working to do our best,” Kyle said.

“Which is all we can ask of you. There are a few people outside of Space Fleet taking an interest in your story.”

“Good interest or not so good interest?”

“Pretty much good interest. I will leave it at that because here comes breakfast.”

Breakfast ended up being as advertised; filling and delicious. Following protocol and making the courtesy call on the admiral looked like it had been a good idea Kyle thought.

“We haven’t heard much from you, Commander Boyer,” Admiral Zhao said as the group worked their way through the breakfast of fried eggs cooked to order, steak, hash browns, biscuits, and fresh fruit from one of the hydroponic farms located outside of Mars City.

“I’m sure you know I’m the operations chief and second officer of the Heinlein,” Steve responded.

“I knew about your being Chief of Operations, but not about your being second officer.”

Steve adjusted his glasses and said, “That’s been a recent promotion. If being second officer means getting breakfasts like this then it was obviously a great promotion for me.” Sean Dawkins, Captain Petrich, Admiral Zhao, and Kyle all got a good laugh from Steve being Steve.

“I am happy that our morning feast satisfied the endless appetite of a growing adolescent,” Admiral Zhao grinned.

“As well as the very sensitive tastebuds of one. But I do want to say that I’ve known Kyle since we both came aboard the brand new Sooloo as raw newbies. His becoming captain of the Heinlein was no fluke. But I think you guys know that, too. And now I gotta put more honey on this epic biscuit.” Steve knew Kyle well enough to know that Kyle wasn’t going to think he was kissing his ass for some reason. After all, once you’ve fucked somebody’s ass and told him how warm and tight it was, what else did you need to do?

“I understand you’ll be departing Mars sometime after 1300,” Admiral Zhao said.

“Yes, sir,” Kyle answered. “I’ve scheduled us for an 1830 departure, which has been confirmed by Mars Traffic Control.”

“Where have you been ordered to go?”

“We’ll be warping to the Spencer Planet Colony, where we will be picking up two new crew members, who will fill our roster. And before you ask, I have no idea where we’ll go from there. HQ’s current orders are for us to proceed to Spencer, pick up our two crew members, and wait for further orders. From what I read between the lines, we should have our orders by the time we arrive at Spencer.”

“From my own days commanding starships, I’d say what you read between the lines on those directives is correct ninety percent of the time,” Captain Petrich said. “And before you ask, the reason I’m commanding a support ship is called a wife and three kids. When this opportunity came up I felt I had to take advantage of it. I love having a regular schedule, plus we’ve found living on Mars to be great experience.”

“I’d like to change the topic if I may,” Sean said.

“Feel free,” Admiral Zhao told him.

“Did you and Rory know that Kyle was married with two adopted sons?” Sean asked Admiral Zhao and Captain Petrich.

“I learned that today,” the admiral answered as Petrich shook his head.

“The reason I bring it up is because my son, Marsh, and Koji, who is Kyle’s older son have become good friends. They met in the Olympus Mons viewing lodge and things took off from there. Marsh, who is just starting at the Space Academy, tells me that Koji has been a big help to him as he works at getting used to living on Earth.”

“You can be proud of Marsh and what he is doing,” Kyle said. “Koji loves him as a friend and Duskin is fond of him as well. But Duskin is quite reserved compared to his brother.”

The group chatted for another half hour when Kyle announced that it was time for him to return to the Heinlein. “Thank you for your hospitality, Admiral. The breakfast was outrageously delicious.”

“We always enjoy entertaining visiting ship’s command and appreciate it when they ask to come down to pay their respects,” Admiral Zho said.

Kyle and Steve rose from their seats and shook hands with the three Mars residents and left the dining room. Their ride drove up as they exited the building. “It looks like the good admiral is right on top of things,” Steve said.

“Yes, he is,” Kyle responded. “It looks like he called for our ride as soon as we left the dining room. It was really nice to see Marsh’s dad, who’s a really nice guy. And I wasn’t blowing smoke when I said how much Koji likes Marsh.”

“His name is really Marsh, as in Koji’s name for Mars?”

“It is for similar reasons. I think his dad likes Koji because he might have a little bit of Koji thinking in him.” Steve laughed.

The car soon pulled up to the Mars City Spaceport terminal. Brent and Red greeted Kyle and Steve as they entered the waiting area. Twenty minutes later they were on board the Beethoven and lifting off into space. They berthed at the Heinlein’s starboard airlock instead of in the shuttle bay. Since a large number of the crew was given shore leave time on Mars, three shuttles were working to shuttle crewmembers back and forth. Berthing at the outside airlocks was faster and more efficient than using the shuttle bay. The shuttles would be berthing there until they return to the ship on their last flight of the day. The Mozart and the Bach were the other two shuttles doing ferrying duty.
`

1300

<Shuttle Bay>

Jesse Gross and Orlando Rodriguez were busy in the shuttle bay control room. Colby Douglas was standing at Bay 4 in his space suit watching Lieutenant Gabriel “Ace” Cardiff, the assistant chief fighter pilot, and his trainee Lt. Commander Warren Burnes, who would be starting shuttle pilot training. The fact that Warren outranked Ace meant nothing in a training situation. Who was in charge was all about the trainer and trainee designation. Lieutenant A.J. Crowly, who was also a fighter pilot, would be assisting Ace. Crewman Douglas, who was newly assigned to shuttle maintenance, was at the bay to learn from the two fighter pilots as they went over with Warren how the bays were organized and what happened when a shuttle left its mooring and backed out of the bay. They would be flying the Beaver, one of the two small maintenance shuttles. Its size would be easier for a beginning pilot to handle in a tight space.

Since Ben Kennedy had received some training when he served on the Sooloo, he would be flying the Schubert, a mid-size shuttle. Bailey “Chappie” Irvin would be assisting Danny as Ben’s trainer.

Lieutenant Gross and Lieutenant Junior Grade Rodriguez would handle guiding the shuttles out of the ship and into space. Jesse told Orlando that they would be handling the two training runs differently than they did the Beethoven, which was flown by two experienced pilots who had the procedure down.

The Schubert would be departing first since it would probably manage to exit the shuttle bay faster and would also be traveling a farther distance from the Heinlein.

Ben guided the Schubert out of the shuttle bay without incident. The shuttle’s bumpers, which were a narrow energy field surrounding the ship as it maneuvered out of the bay, were never needed as Ben used the skills both his earlier training and his work in the flight simulator had given him.

After leaving the shuttle bay, Ben piloted the Schubert along Mars Route 7 assigned by Mars Orbit Control. After leaving the purview of Mars Orbit Control in the Schubert, Danny and “Chappie” spent the next two hours assigning Ben various maneuvers he might have to perform in certain situations.

After finishing that part of the training, they took a break where Danny and “Chappie” gave Ben feedback on his performance. The feedback was around 95% positive with a few suggestions thrown in. The last thing Ben had to do in this training exercise was pilot the Schubert to its assigned berth in the shuttle bay. He did it almost flawlessly, squeezing the energy bumper only once. But, as Danny reminded him, there wasn’t a pilot alive who didn’t squeeze a bumper on occasion. After positioning the Schubert in Bay 4, he stopped it, shut down the bumper, and eased the shuttle gently against the side of its berth where Lieutenant Douglas connected it to the Schubert’s power and HVAC systems. It had been a very successful day for Ben Kennedy.

Ali and his group of boys still had a couple of hours in their scheduled tour. All of the crew members taking shore leave had assigned times on one of the shuttles assigned to ferry work. They expected to be on their shuttle when it lifted off Mars for the Heinlein. Ali’s group was assigned to a 1515 departure on the Bach and would be the shuttle’s last ferry trip.

After they completed their tour the boys settled into their seats on the Bach fifteen minutes before their assigned time. Ali complimented his charges on the amazing job they had done throughout their tour, including the loading of their shuttle.

“We should all get a snack for being on board early,” Koji said to Ali.

“Do you have x-ray vision or something, Koji?” Ali asked.

“What do you mean?”

Ali reached into the satchel he had brought to Mars that morning and checked at the Space Fleet desk in the Mars Space Port terminal. He pulled out a cardboard box, opened it, and displayed the donuts that the Heinlein kitchen staff had prepared that morning. “This is what I mean,” he grinned.

He set the box on an empty seat and told the boys they could each pick two donuts and he would draw names to decide the picking order. He had a random number picking app on his communicator which came in handy in class. Each boy was assigned a number on his first day in Ali’s classroom.

The order ended up being Mark, Bobby, Koji, Tommy, Matthew, Tai, and Duskin. “Pick one donut and once Duskin has picked, the order will be reversed for the second donut,” he instructed.

“That means Duskin gets to pick twice in a row,” Koji pointed out.

“That is an excellent observation, Koji.”

“But that’s not fair. Why don’t you give everybody two numbers?”

“Because I’m doing it this way,” Ali said authoritatively. “Now, please pick quickly so we can open up this seat.” The shuttle was filling up quickly.

Koji knew that when Ali used that tone of voice the discussion was over. But he also knew that if he wanted to he could send Ali a text telling him why he thought his way was better and giving his reasons for thinking so. On rare occasions he had been able to convince Ali to do things differently in the future, a fact that kept him sending his objections when he had any. As for Ali, usually when he changed his tactics it was because Koji had done a good job of convincing him and on very rare occasions, he changed it just to give Koji a kind of positive feedback. One thing Koji noted was that those times he convinced some of his peers to back him Ali was more likely to make the suggested change.

The box of donuts was emptied quickly and anybody watching the process would be impressed by the class’s efficiency and deportment. The shuttle was berthed and emptied in plenty of time for dinner.

<Bridge>

(1830)

The third watch bridge crew were at their stations at 1800, which was precisely on time. It was the first complete watch of the day since the Heinlein was slated to leave Mars orbit at 1830. Since the Heinlein was in orbit only a three-person crew stood the second watch.

Devin French had the conn for both tricks of the third watch, but he did not sit there this time. Space Fleet regulations required the captain to be on the bridge when his ship was entering or leaving orbit. Kyle sat at the conn and Devin pulled a jump seat out of the bulkhead and sat next to Kyle.

The first thing Kyle did as he started the watch was to order Bailey “Chappie” Irvin, who manned the communications station for the watch to contact Mars Orbit Control and ask for departure clearance for 1830. Kyle had sent a written communication to Orbit Control at 1740 giving them the Heinlein’s flight plan so they could create a departure route for them. The call to them at 1800 was the ship’s formal request. As soon as Chappie made contact with the Orbit Traffic Controller at the Mars space station, he connected him with Kyle.

“Good evening, EHC 1932. Commander Reggie Barnes, Mars Orbit Traffic controller, here. We have your departure route laid out.”

“Captain Kyle Robinson here, Commander Barnes. EHC 1932 is ready to copy.”

Commander Barnes then assigned the Heinlein to Route M-3 commencing at 1830. Kyle acknowledged, told Barnes he would make contact at 1830 for official clearance, and signed off.

At 1830 Kyle called Mars Orbit Control, which he could now do since he had direct contact with Orbit Control and the Heinlein was cleared to depart. The starship followed the route at sub-light speed until a green light lit up on Kyle’s instrument panel and on the astrogation table.

“Captain, we have clearance to go to warp speed,” Bret Gardner, who was manning the astrogation table, reported.

“Acknowledged, Officer Gardner,” Kyle responded. “Lieutenant Broxton, warp cruising speed, please.” Warp cruising speed was the most efficient speed as far as the ratio of fuel consumption and travel time went.

The Heinlein was on its way to the Spencer Planet Colony. The trip was expected to take 91 hours, giving them at ETA of 1400 on October 31 at the planet.

Kyle turned the bridge over to Devin, complimented the bridge crew on their efficient work and went to his quarters where Koji, Duskin, and Danny were watching a video abour Spencer Planet.

Koji paused the show and turned to Kyle. “Hello. I am glad you are here Opsola Kyle,” Koji said formally. Ali was teaching him and Duskin how to be formal when proper formality was required.

“Hey, Kyle and Duskin. You can be more informal with your Daddy Danny and me,” Kyle said.

“I know, but Ali says we have to practice.”

“It looks like you got away from Mars on time and with no problems,” Danny observed.

“The third watch did a great job manning the bridge. All the training is paying off and that makes my job easier.”

“I have a question for Opsola Kyle,” Koji said.

“Ask away, son.” Danny, who knew what the question was going to be, tried to hide a smile.

“I know that we say men are manning a station. But we have boys on the crew and not men so why don’t you say the watch did a good job of boying the station?”

“Good question, Koji. It’s called a figure of speech, which I’m sure Ali talks about.”

“It’s like Mars not being called Marsh even though people who live there are called Martians.”

“Nice analogy. It’s just one of those things you have to live with as you learn a language.”

“Well, I still think the planet should be Marsh, but since it’s not I’m happy we have a shuttle named Marsh and not Mars. And now we gotta watch some guy chop down gigantic big trees. Ali says we’re going to talk about this tomorrow.”

Kyle sat down in his easy chair. “And I’ll watch with you. I’m sure you and Opsola Danny have learned a lot already.”

“And we’re all going to know more than you about the Spencer Planet Colony place,” Koji said.

“And we all have more to learn.” Including the proper name Kyle thought.

After the video ended everyone enjoyed an evening snack. Koji worked on some math and Duskin played on his electric portable piano until it was bedtime for them.

After tucking in the boys, Danny and Kyle shared their day.

“I had a totally great day today,” Kyle said. “I know every day won’t be like this, although I wish they could be. But it is nice to know they happen.”

“I can’t complain about mine. Ben is incredibly bright and hard working. He didn’t even show the asshole side of him today. Maybe he’s starting to turn things around,” Danny said.

“One can only hope.”

They then retired to their bedroom for some pre-sleep erotic fun. After they recovered from their exercise they snuggled together to sleep. Kyle thought again about how good his day had been and said a quick gratitude prayer for having that kind of day. But he knew there was an elephant in the ship in Don Nixon and his cohorts. He hoped that if things kept going as smoothly as they have, his followers would begin to have second thoughts about whatever it was Nixon was up to. But he also knew he would have to be ready in case things didn’t work out that way.

Next: Finding a Routine