A couple of the people around me kept asking about the living circumstances of soldiers during the war which I replied to with all honesty. It wasn’t a widely kept secret that circumstances weren’t great as it was to be expected during war time but the younger officers were definitely interested in hearing a first-hand account of people who fought in the war. I was more than happy to indulge them.
“Sorry to interrupt your story time, Commander.” Ellie spoke up. “But I would like to inform you that the boarding operation has completed. We are ready to undock from the station at your earliest convenience.” By which Ellie meant, as soon as possible.
“Copy that, Ellie.” I looked at the officers around me. “Looks like it’s time to go back to your posts. There is space to explore.”
“Yes, Commander.” They saluted and walked off to their respective spots on the bridge while Luna and I walked back up to our command position.
I nodded to Luna so that she could give the command. “Ellie, please commence undocking procedures.”
“Undocking commencing.” Ellie’s reply was followed by the audible sounds of the docking clamps releasing us from the hold of the space station. “Undocking completed.”
I nodded in confirmation and looked down upon Lieutenant McAllister’s pilot seat. “Lieutenant. Please set course to Lunar orbit.”
“Aye aye, Commander.” And just like that, with the pull of a lever, our ship started to glide away from the space station and swiftly resumed its journey towards lunar orbit.
As we were under way, Zu turned around on her chair and looked at me. “Are we meeting up with other ships on the moon first, Commander?”
“Yes, we’ll be waiting there for a while so three colonization ships adn a frigate can link up with us. They will be tagging along until we reach Felix Invenire. They are already going to start setting up a forward base there.”
“Is that a smart move with the recent activity?”
I shrugged. “There’s no bugs there and it’s a resource rich planet. Even if it’s just some autonomous mining stations it’s going to be a boon in the long run. Might as well use the resources while we still can rather than wait until an enemy boxes us in too hard.”
Zu nodded and turned back around to face her screens. A couple of seconds later she chuckled.
“What’s so funny, Lieutenant?” I asked.
“I did a quick system search but it wasn’t too hard to figure out which ships would be joining us.” Zu replied. “Their names are a bit on the nose, aren’t they?”
“Yes, yes they are.” I chuckled back.
Luna looked a bit confused next to me. “Uh, Commander?”
“The ships that will be joining us are the UFS Santa Clara, UFS La Pinta and UFS La Niña what the colonization ships are concerned and the UFS Santa Maria for the frigate. Those names should make a bell ring.”
“Ah, Christopher Columbus…” Luna nodded.
“Exactly. That’s why it’s just a teeny tiny bit on the nose for them to send those ships with us. Not the first time they’ve done so, actually.”
“And you’ve lost me again.” Luna smiled.
“Oh, can I answer that one, Commander?” Zu enthusiastically raised her hand.
“Of course you can, Lieutenant. Please bring our Lieutenant-Commander up to speed as you would.”
“Those names have been reused multiple times throughout our navy’s history.” Zu started. “The construction ships that first started to build bases on the moon were named after these ancient vehicles, the same happened for the colonization of Mars and likewise also for the colonization of the moon Titan. The navy isn’t very original with its naming conventions. At least I’m happy that this ship is named after a Norwegian explorer rather than after Columbus’ voyage once again.”
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
“To add to that rather complete explanation, probes, to this day, are oftentimes still called after explorers too, most famously the Magellan probes of which there are at least a dozen types.” I added. “The Portuguese are clearly overrepresented.”
“And that’s also why they still call space telescopes after Hubble?”
“Pretty much. It’s a bit sad really, there’s plenty of more modern scientists who they can name things after, but all those naming conventions have kind of stagnated in the 21st Millennium.”
“Yes, that doesn’t show a lot of respect towards people who live in the present.” Luna agreed. “But maybe we can make a change with that. How does the UFS Lauren Davis sound to you?”
“Hmmm… I’d rather they didn’t…”
“Awh, why not, Commander.” Zu quipped. “That sounds awesome.”
“It would be awkward. Especially if I were still alive. And since I don’t intend on dying just yet I’d rather they wait…”
“Hmm. I think I would rather like a ship called the UFS Shu-Fen Zu.” Lieutenant Zu kept on musing.
“Well, if you are silent for a bit while staring at your communication screen, then I might put in a good word for you.”
“How rude, Commander. Communication is my job, you know.”
I rolled my eyes and smiled. “Oh well, it was worth the try.” Zu messing about wasn’t really an issue now anyway.
The trip to the moon was short and we met up with our escorts without any issue.
“UFS Santa Maria reporting in.” The Commander of the frigate called in to let us know they had formed up on our formation. “UFS Roald Amundsen, please take the lead.”
“Copy that, Santa Maria. Continuing on to the jump point.” Zu then closed the comms channel for us again as the ships fell in line behind us, forming a triangle formation with the frigate at the center. We’d have to limit our engine output for the time being as our ship was capable of much greater speeds than the colonization vehicles but that didn’t really matter to us. In any case it would be the first time we have witnessed a group jump happening. It’s something they discovered after experimenting during the time we were gone. Using our jump data as a reference. It would seem that jumping faster than light is a lot more energy efficient while in a group, allowing the ships to distribute energy in other systems. This would be particularly useful while jumping in and out of dangerous situations. It did require a bit of coordination though, but that was easily solved by linking up computer systems for a short while.
An hour later we finally arrived at the designated jump point out of the solar system and assumed our link with the other ships.
“Santa Maria, we leave the jump command up to you.” I notified the frigate of their role in the jump.
“Assuming command.” They succinctly replied.
I then continued by notifying the rest of the crew of the imminent jump and then waited for the Santa Maria to commence the countdown. Aside from that it was business as usual and just a couple of minutes later we were cruising faster than light to the first rendezvous point outside of the system.
It would still take a while before we would be back in unexplored space but now it really felt like our journey had begun anew.
“Are we supposed to stick around for a while at Felix Invenire?” Lieutenant McAllister asked. She had nothing to do for now as her job was purely for sub-light speeds.
“No, just a dropoff and then we can go out on our own again.” I replied. “There should be more ships coming and going next week or so but we won’t be there to witness that happening.”
“Alright, Commander.” McAllister turned back around and leant back in her chair. It was going to be a long while for her to stare out into space without much to do but the same would be true for most of us. FTL jumping isn’t the most engaging part of space travel even though it might seem different to the uninitiated.
And so we kept jumping for a while until our shift was over which brought us to the first meal back on the ship in the mess hall. As it seems Eva also had just finished her shift so we ended up eating together with the three of us.
“So, how’s your new colleague doing?” I asked as I scooped up some mac ‘n cheese on my plate.”
“A huge help, that’s for sure. It would take me way longer to do my sorting if it was just me.” Eva replied. “But Doctor Freemann learned my system and just went with it in a very short time.”
“That’s good news.” Luna smiled.
“It is, but don’t worry, I’ll still be your personal doctor.” She continued. “Doctor Freemann is mostly going to take over personnel from the maintenance divisions and a part of the marines. The officers and cadre members in general are still under my supervision.”
“What about Gunny?” I asked.
“Well, Gunny is a bit of an exception. We agreed that he would still come to me for health related issues. Looking at our history together it would very much rub him the wrong way if Doctor Freemann took over.”
“Yeah, he would definitely have his hands full with Gunny.” I chuckled.
“I do too, but at least I know how to handle him.” Eva chuckled back. “Not a cat to grabbed without gloves.”
-I’m pretty sure Gunny would rather be compared to a lion rather than a feisty cat, but hey. What he doesn’t know ,doesn't hurt I suppose. Although Eva might rub that comparison in nonetheless just to piss him off a little.-