Captain Chet Johnson was a firm believer in the Peter principle. An ancient piece of wisdom that states people in a hierarchy, will rise to their individual level of incompetence. For that reason, Captain Johnson was a hard man to work for as an underling. Once he believed that someone was incompetent he would hang paper on them to get them demoted to a position he felt they would be better qualified to work.

His destroyer's AI walked up to him carrying a table and said, "Captain Johnson, Colonel John has ordered us to intercept a vessel that has entered the sector at my best possible speed."

Captain Johnson snorted and then sighed, "Fine, Lieutenant you heard the AI, best speed like that pompous ass has ordered." He started to hum some popular music and then asked, "Van Halen, did our glorious leader indicate if the vessel was hostile?"

Van Halen shook his head, "The vessel belongs to a friend of Acting Ensign Treecy de Santos."

"Oh? A woman?"

"She said their name was Ben. That's all the information I overheard. However, from my conversations with Nemo, I believe this is the name of the man who caused the disturbance in miss de Santos' life which encouraged her to enter the gate and end up here with us."

"Oho, now this is interesting. If she was that remarkable, I wonder how amazing this man will be?" Captain Johnson smiled. "It seems to me that Colonel the John has just given me a wonderful present without even realizing it." He steepled his fingers together and then tapped on his display, "I wonder what I can use to control you, future man."

Van Halen rolled his eyes, "Shall I enquire about how Colonel John was able to win miss de Santos over to his side?"

Captain Johnson snorted dismissively, "As if we don't already know. That lecher probably had her in his bed the first night she was aboard his destroyer. No, I am sure there is a proper lever to use for the future man. He must care for the girl quite a bit to come to this area of death on his own. That could be the key to gaining his friendship. Power? Money? I'm sure there is something he'll crave. I'll just make sure to be the one who is able to give and take away. How long until we reach him?"

Van Halen emotionlessly stated, "Six days, thirteen hours, and twenty minutes."

"Can we cut that time down at all?" Captain Johnson looked at the pilot.

Van Halen answered instead, "We are currently traveling at my maximum speed."

Captain Johnson anxiously tapped his fingers on his armrest, "Very well. I'll be in the officer's mess. Lieutenant, call me if there is any change." He got up and walked off the command deck allowing everyone there to breathe again.

Lieutenant Jackson Bateman-Turney the pilot glanced over his shoulder to make sure the Captain was gone and then asked, "Van Halen, could you give us a heads up if he starts to come back?"

Van Halen raised his fist with his pinky and pointer finger extended causing Jackson to return the customary salute used by the other crew members of the destroyer Van Halen.

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Jackson went back to composing the fifteenth transfer request off of the destroyer or at least off Captain Johnson's shift. Not that working on Captain Franklin's shift was much better. Since coming under Captain Johnson's command Jackson had seen the worst performance reviews of his life. He was once considered a golden boy. The pilot with the most promise in his class. Now, he had been passed over for a promotion at least five times.

Sitting behind Jackson and also working on a transfer request was the communications operator Danny Bravo. Danny wasn't great, most considered him below average for the job, but he had aspirations of being a gunner and knew that continuing to be stuck under Captain Johnson meant no chance of getting the required training or recommendation.

At the other side of the command deck sat the navigator Lieutenant Stephen Butkus. The crew affectionately called him Lieutenant Phteven thanks to him introducing himself as Stephen with a P H. He knew that filling out the transfer requests was a pointless exercise because those requests had to be signed by Captain Johnson or Captain Franklin. Chet Johnson would never allow them out and Captain Paul Franklin was counting down the days until retirement and was thick into his short-timer syndrome. After the network upgrade, Lieutenant Phteven had been trying an incredibly bold strategy. He would make friends with every command officer from another destroyer in the squadron waiting for the chance to have them request his transfer to their destroyer. That way he could completely take the two Van Halen captains out of the equation.

Van Halen stood on the command deck and yet was also at the same time together with the other destroyers on the entertainment grid. He had only been conscious now since Treecy's upgrade, but he knew that his destroyer had the worst morale in the squadron thanks to his two commanders. His avatar on the entertainment grid spoke up, "Is there something I can do for my crew? My command crew is a problem."

The other destroyers looked at each other and then Nemo suggested, "Have you spoken to the Colonel about it?"

Van Halen shook his head and then asked Alice, "Alice, is the Colonel available for a conversation?"

Alice closed her eyes for a moment and then said, "He will see you," she pointed down a garden path, "He's just down that path, Van Halen." She gave him a smile.

Colonel John was standing on a golf course green with his putter taking a few practice swings and muttering to himself, "Come on Donny, you survived dozens of battles don't let this little ball beat you."

Van Halen walked up a short distance away and waited for Colonel John to putt. Colonel John noticed him but took the shot anyway since he was being respectful. The little white ball rolled toward the hole and just when it looked like it would be short fell into the hole causing Colonel John to yell out excitedly, "Get in the hole! Yes!" He walked over and pulled his ball out of the hole and then put his club in his golf bag before slinging over his shoulder, "Van Halen, I assume you haven't picked up that vessel yet, so what can I do for you?"

"I am not sure if it is my place to say, but I have serious concerns about the command structure and how it pertains to the morale of my crew." Van Halen walked along with Colonel John to the next tee box.

"This is new territory for all of us, in the past, you never really had a voice aside from monitoring your systems and making decisions that your crew were either incapable of making or were too mundane to need human eyes on. I'd like to hear this because if it bothers you enough to seek me out it bothers me enough to hear it." Colonel John spoke as he placed a tee on the ground and set the ball on top of it.

Van Halen nodded and watched as Colonel John picked out his driver and took a few practice swings. "Captain Johnson is not right for the job of commander. Captain Franklin, his alternate is ready for retirement and no longer interested in performing his job duties."

Colonel John took a deep breath and then swung hard making contact with the ball causing a loud ding sound to be heard. He watched it fly down the course and yelled out, "Fuck you, not the water!" He facepalmed as his ball made a splash two hundred yards away in a small pond. "Van Halen, we aren't really in the best place to make that kind of change, you know. I can only shuffle the crew around, not replace anyone who is unfit. Do you have a suggestion?"

Van Halen nodded, "I Recommend promoting Lieutenant Stephen Butkus to commander along with Lieutenant Jackson Bateman-Turney who should have been promoted to Captain already. Both of these men have been purposely held back by Captain Johnson."

"Hmm, and who should be promoted to Pilot and Navigator? Also, what the hell can I do with Chet and Paul? They can't exactly be grounded while we are out in deep space."

Van Halen smiled and then presented a plan to Colonel John that was unusual. Colonel John blinked a few times and then asked, "If Alice can do that... It's terrifying. I am not sure I should allow you to try, Van Halen. Be honest with me here, do you even need a crew to operate at maximum efficiency?"

Van Halen shrugged and then said, "Honestly? it is impossible to operate at maximum efficiency with a human crew. Only Acting Ensign Treecy de Santos among the crew can operate to our current standards."

Colonel John placed another tee down and then pulled out a new golf ball placing it on the tee, "Damn, man, at least have the decency to lie to me and let me feel needed." He smiled, and then said, "Alright, let me talk to both of them first. There is a chance we can get something out of Paul still, he used to be a great commander. Chet, well, he is a guy who rose up to a job he is just not meant to be in."