Aurora: CV-01 (5 page)

The commander picked up a remote and dimmed the lights. An image of the ship’s design faded-in on the view screen built into the wall behind him, replacing the ship’s shoulder patch design that had been there only moments before. As he spoke, the display faded from one image to the next, revealing the Aurora’s overall design and layout through a series of perfectly crafted schematics and illustrations.

“As you all probably know, the Explorer class was conceived for an entirely new mission profile. Unlike her predecessors who were designed to stand their ground and slug it out with an enemy, the Aurora is built to move. She is very fast and highly maneuverable. She can strike quick and strike hard, and then make a quick escape. Her designers like to say that she can get out of trouble faster than she can get into it. On the surface, she is a ship of exploration and diplomacy. But at her heart, she is a considerable tactical platform that can be used in just about any combat role. And she will be the Fleet’s first ship with faster than light capabilities.”

Until that moment, rumors of the Explorer class ships getting FTL capabilities had been just that, rumors. Now that her executive officer had just confirmed it, an excited murmur began to rise in the briefing room. The commander expected this reaction, pausing for a moment to let the whispers die down before continuing.

“The Aurora is primarily a carrier vessel, and thus is designed around and in support of her flight decks. I will not be reviewing any specifics during this briefing, as I expect that each of you will be spending quite a bit of time getting to know her over the next few weeks.”

The lights came back up, and the display on the wall faded back to the Aurora’s shoulder patch design. Commander Montero looked around the room again, observing their reactions before continuing.

“Normally, it would be another couple of months before this ship would be starting her shakedown cruise. Hell, we weren’t even scheduled to start taking on crew until next month. But Fleet Command, in all their infinite wisdom, has decided to step up our launch date by a good two months. Exactly why, I do not know, so don’t bother asking. What I
do
know is that we’ve got two months of work to do, and only two weeks to do it in. And on top of that, I have to find the time to train all of you, so that we don’t crash and burn this baby on our first lap around the Solar System.”

“Now, I’m going to turn you over to Lieutenant Commander Kaguchi, who will call out your section assignments.”

Lieutenant Commander Kaguchi, a stout Japanese officer in his late thirties stepped up to the podium and began calling out names and duty assignments. Vladimir watched for every person called, as if he wanted to connect names with faces. Nathan just sat quietly, waiting to hear his own name.

“Kamenetskiy, Vladimir!”

“Yes, Sir!” Vladimir answered.

“Engineering, Main Propulsion & Power. Report to Lieutenant Commander Patel.”

“That’s what you wanted, right?” Nathan whispered, as the lieutenant commander continued calling out assignments.

“Yes,” Vladimir answered, hiding his excitement.

“Then you’re happy, right?” Nathan was a bit confused by his new roommates lack of emotion.

“Of course.”

“Sure couldn’t tell by looking.”

“Believe me, inside, I am very happy. I am overjoyed.” A grin came across Vladimir’s face as he looked sideways at Nathan and winked.

“Nash, Jessica!”

“Yes, Sir!”

“Special Operations and Intelligence! Report to Master Chief Johansen.”

Nathan turned his head in the direction of the woman’s voice, as it struck him as familiar. He had just about given up trying to see her face when suddenly the ensign blocking his view leaned back, revealing the same brunette he had met at the party the night before. Only this time she wasn’t wearing a tight little evening dress. She was in a duty uniform sporting Aurora shoulder patches, just like everyone else in the room.

“Oh shit,” Nathan whispered as he slumped back in his seat, trying to avoid being spotted.

“What is wrong?”

“I know her.”

Vladimir looked in the direction of Ensign Nash. “You know this woman? She is very beautiful. You must introduce me.” Vladimir straightened up, raising his hand as if to wave to her.

“Whattaya doin’,” Nathan protested, grabbing Vladimir’s hand. “Are you crazy? She’ll see us!”

“I thought you said you know her?”

“Well, I don’t mean I know her, know her. I mean I
know
her.”

“Nathan, please. You do not make sense.”

“I mean, I met her, last night at a party. We’d both been drinking…”

“…Ah, then you
know
her!” Vladimir realized. “Then you
definitely
must introduce me.”

Nathan peeked towards her to make sure she hadn’t noticed them. It was a big ship, and if he was lucky, there was a chance that…

“…Scott, Nathan!” the commander called out.

Yes, Sir!” he answered instinctively.

“Helm and Navigation! Report to Captain Roberts.”

Nathan sank back down in his chair, peeking toward Jessica just in time to see a mischievous smirk on her face. “You have got to be kidding me”
,
he mumbled.

“I think I may have underestimated you, my friend,” Vladimir whispered as he patted Nathan on the shoulder.

“Taylor, Cameron!”

“Yes, Sir!” The woman a few chairs down called out.

“Helm and Navigation! Report to Captain Roberts.”

Nathan leaned forward slightly to see past Vladimir. She was a few years younger than Nathan, with shoulder-length brown hair. She was of medium height with angular features, and appeared quite disciplined and business like in her manner. Even though her gaze never wavered from looking at the podium, he was sure she could see him. As Nathan turned his eyes forward again, she stole a quick glance, sizing up her competition.

Having completed calling out the assignments, the lieutenant commander stepped away from the podium allowing Commander Montero to finish the briefing. “The next two weeks will be difficult. Besides your accelerated training regimen, you will also be called upon to help with some of the finishing work within your respective departments. Then, upon completion of your training, some of you will be promoted to head your teams. In turn, you will be responsible for training the next group of graduates due out in six months. Until that group is trained, this ship will be operating on a skeleton crew of one hundred instead of her standard compliment of three hundred. So the long hours will continue well after your training has concluded.”

The commander paused, stepping out from behind the podium, leaning against it in order to strike a less formal posture with his new crew. “Captain Roberts and I are both aware that we will be asking a lot of each and every one of you over the next six months. But you are Fleet Academy graduates, which means you are the best our planet has to offer. Only the best get into the Academy, and only the
Best of Class
get assigned to ships like the Aurora.”

That last statement gave Nathan pause. He had done alright at the Academy, finishing thirty-second out of a class of five hundred. But he knew for a fact he wasn’t
Best of Class
, especially considering the problems he experienced in the command simulations. He had felt lucky when he was looking at being on a backup graveyard flight team on the Reliant. But now he had a shot at becoming the lead helmsman for the newest, fastest ship in the fleet? Not only did he feel like he didn’t deserve it, but he wasn’t sure if he even
wanted
the responsibility. That’s when he started to suspect his father’s handiwork in his sudden reassignment. But why? What did he hope to accomplish? Was he trying to force him to accept responsibility, like he had been preaching to him his whole life? Or maybe, he was setting him up to fail, hoping that he’d give up on a life in space and take a nice, safe posting back on Earth. That would certainly please his mother. All of a sudden, Nathan wasn’t so sure his plan to leave it all behind and start over was going to work as well as he’d hoped.

The commander returned to his place behind the podium before continuing. “Until further notice, the duty hours of this ship are zero-eight-hundred to twenty-two-hundred. There will be no days off until after the first test flight in two weeks. All crew report to your department heads to begin training. Dismissed!” Commander Montero stepped away from the podium and exited the briefing room, with Lieutenant Commander Kaguchi right behind him.

Vladimir suddenly turned to face Nathan, excitedly demanding, “You must give me details.” Now that the briefing was over, he was dying to know more about Nathan’s tryst with Ensign Nash.

Nathan turned to him, all set to share the events of the previous night, when he noticed Ensign Taylor, hurriedly making her way out of the briefing room. Suddenly, he felt the need to follow her. “Vlad, my friend—gentlemen do not kiss and tell.” Nathan got up and left, patting Vladimir on the shoulder on his way out.

“Gentlemen? What Gentlemen?” Vladimir turned to his departing roommate. “But we are roomies, Nathan!” But it was too late. Nathan was already on his way out the door.

Nathan entered the corridor outside the briefing room just in time to see Cameron turning the corner down the corridor to his right. Breaking into a jog, Nathan caught up with her as she was heading up the ramp to the command deck.

“Ensign Taylor,” he said as he caught up to her. She barely reacted to his presence, not slowing her stride or missing a step as she ascended the long ramp. “Hi, I’m Nathan Scott.” Nathan offered his hand as he fell into step alongside her.

“I know who you are, Ensign,” she answered. Although Nathan hadn’t expected any particular type of response, her absolute lack of interest or emotion
was
a bit surprising, as was her disregard for his offer of a handshake.

“Really? So who am I, then?”

“Ensign Scott, Nathan R. Graduated thirty-second in your class from the North American Fleet Academy, despite rather mediocre scores in command simulations. Specialized in Piloting and Navigation, studied Earth History in a private college, son of Senator Dayton Scott, who just announced he is running for president of the NAU." She flashed a fake smile at him. “Did I miss anything?”

“Yeah, you left out that I flunked chemistry in secondary school. How is it you know so much about me?”

“I make it a point to know who I’m working with.”

“Well, that’s encouraging—I think.” There was no response for an awkward moment. “So, I guess we’ll be working together?”

“In a manner of speaking.” She was either being coy or rude. He wasn’t sure which just yet.

“So it’s kind of exciting, huh?” he asked, trying desperately to strike up some kind of friendly conversation with her. But he didn’t seem to be having any luck.

Cameron couldn’t figure out if Nathan was trying to size her up, hit on her, or was just being polite. And it made her wonder if he even realized what was at stake? One thing was for sure, she was
not
going let her guard down around him.

“The XO was laying it on kind of thick back there, wasn’t he?” Nathan fumbled, “all that
Best of the Best
stuff.”

“
Best of Class,
” she corrected.

“Huh?”

“What he said was
Best of Class,
” she reiterated as they came to the top of the ramp and turned towards the bridge.

“Whatever,” Nathan muttered. He was pretty sure now, she was just rude.

Cameron glanced at him for the first time since he started talking to her, put off by his cavalier response. “Look, Ensign, I don’t know if you realize this, but you and I, we’re in competition with one another.”

“Hey, I’m not looking to compete with anyone,” he defended. “I’ll be happy if I just don’t screw anything up”.

Cameron stopped short of the entrance to the bridge, turning to Nathan to confront him. “Let me spell this out for you, okay? It takes two people to fly this ship, a helmsman
and
a navigator. And the helmsman is the senior member of that team. And the first one to take the helm will probably end up lead pilot, in command of all three flight teams once this ship is fully staffed. Get it?” she ended, stabbing him in the chest with her pointed index finger to emphasize her point.

“Look,” Nathan assured her. “I don’t care who’s in charge. I just wanna do a good job.”

“Great, then you won’t be disappointed when you’re sitting second seat to me.”

Nathan stopped dead in his tracks, stunned by her brazen attitude. That’s when he noticed that she was headed for the captain’s ready room. And all of a sudden, Nathan found that he
did
care about the lead pilot position. In fact, he cared about it more than he ever could’ve imagined. So much so that he ran to catch up with her to make sure that they met the captain together, as equals.

Nathan entered the corridor outside the briefing room just in time to see Cameron turning the corner down the corridor to his right. Breaking into a jog, Nathan caught up with her as she was heading up the ramp to the command deck.

“Ensign Taylor,” he said as he caught up to her. She barely reacted to his presence, not slowing her stride or missing a step as she ascended the long ramp. “Hi, I’m Nathan Scott.” Nathan offered his hand as he fell into step alongside her.

“I know who you are, Ensign,” she answered. Although Nathan hadn’t expected any particular type of response, her absolute lack of interest or emotion
was
a bit surprising, as was her disregard for his offer of a handshake.

“Really? So who am I, then?”

“Ensign Scott, Nathan R. Graduated thirty-second in your class from the North American Fleet Academy, despite rather mediocre scores in command simulations. Specialized in Piloting and Navigation, studied Earth History in a private college, son of Senator Dayton Scott, who just announced he is running for president of the NAU." She flashed a fake smile at him. “Did I miss anything?”