The captain led me into her office and sat down, indicating that I should do the same. As she booted up her desk’s holodisplay, I stayed silent, fighting something of a headache as I waited for her to speak. After a few moments, she found what she was looking for and focused on me.

“It appears you did quite well on your test with Chief Rokundo this morning, Damien,” she said, evidently having just gone over the results. “Of the ten questions you managed to complete you got six of them correct.”

“Yes ma’am. Chief said that only the first two questions were necessary to pass and I got about half way through the test,” I replied.

“Technically true, but a bit oversimplified. Only the first two are strictly necessary, but anyone who takes that test is expected to attempt every question they can to the best of their ability,” she said calmly. “Once we drop back out of slipspace we will be weeks from the nearest friendly port, and any problem we have on board could become deadly. If a crisis scenario is beyond the knowledge of our crew, we still need to be capable of solving it. If not through ingenuity or creative thinking then through sheer bull-headed stubbornness. That is why the test includes such advanced problems. It tests whether or not one will admit defeat in a situation that they have been led to believe is vital.”

“I suppose that makes sense ma’am. If I may ask ma’am, are there other versions of this test for different divisions?” I inquired.

“Oh yes,” she chuckled. “The communications technicians are asked to decrypt several heavily encoded pieces of text by hand, and environmental technicians are asked to describe how they would regrow our entire load of algae vats with only a petri dish to start with.” She paused. “Now, I hear that you have been settling in nicely. Mr. Tavarov tells me that you handled the Maelstrom rather well yesterday.”

“I’m told that I did better than some ma’am,” I said. “Even if I don’t remember everyone’s names, I’ve at least seen their faces. At least that’s how EM2 Kallsmeut put it to me, ma’am.”

“And he would be right,” she confirmed. “Not only have you seen the rest of the crew, but they’ve all had the opportunity to scope you out. Believe me Damien, giving the crew the opportunity to do so early is invaluable when it comes to quickly gaining their trust.”

“As you say, ma’am.”

“Alright…”, she mused, going back to her holodisplay. “Let’s see here. Mr. Tavarov has already gone through your personal and service history with you, so we don’t need to rehash that…” I sat and waited patiently for her to finish. “When you leave, Lt de Soto will be waiting for you, he’ll assign you to a watch section. If I’m not mistaken, you’ll likely be in the third section, so your watch begins at 1800 tonight. Finally, all members of the crew on Io-class frigates are required to undergo monthly psychological evaluations and counseling sessions. Your first session with Doctor Hitoshi is tomorrow at 0200, so you’ll get to it soon after your watch ends. Are there any further questions you would like to ask while you have me?”

“No ma’am, I don’t,” I answered.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Well then,” she said, standing up and holding out her hand. I stood and shook it. “It’s a bit late, but welcome aboard the Ozymandias. I know she’ll treat you well.”

“Thank you ma’am.”

She sat back down and turned her attention to the holodisplay. “Dismissed.”

—

I stepped out of the office where Miguel waited for me, leaning against the wall. “Hi Miguel,” I greeted him. “Captain says you’ve got my watch assignment?”

“As a matter of fact I do,” he said, pushing himself off the wall. “You’re in section 3, which means your watch starts at 1800.”

“Yup, that’s what the captain said,” I informed him.

“Well, it’s where your predecessor was and it’s the slot that needs to be filled,” he shrugged. “Now,” he said, checking his tablet. “We follow a six on/twelve off system here, which means you’re gonna be on 18 hour days. It’s 1120 now, and the next meal is served at 1130. If I were you I’d get down to the mess and grab some food, then catch some sleep. Otherwise you’ll be dead on your feet for your first watch aboard and nobody wants that. If you set your alarm for 1720, you’ll have time to shower and grab some more food before your watch begins. Once your watch is over at 0000, we’ll be half way through the next meal time. Meals are every 6 hours on the dot and last an hour, so you’ll be able to grab the final meal of your day at 0530.

“In the intervening time, you can pretty much do whatever. I would however recommend using the first half of your off time for something other than sleep though, we wouldn’t want your body to be expecting naptime towards the end of your watch. As an added bonus, you’ll enter each watch just awoken with good food and some coffee in you.”

“Thanks Miguel,” I said sincerely. “Sleep sounds really good right about now, for some reason the slipspace transition gave me a headache.”

“Well, if you feel like you need something for that, head down to medical. I’m sure Doc can hook you up with something,” he assured me.

“Yeah,” I said gratefully. “Thank you.”

—

After grabbing my meal from Seamus in the mess, some sort of vegetable stir fry, I spotted Layla eating and headed over to sit with her. Although she did nod to me as I sat, she was a bit too absorbed in her meal to strike up a conversation and I was grateful for it. Although it was starting to lessen, my headache was still there, and quite irritating.

After a few minutes she spoke up. “Hey Damien, you okay?” she asked. “You look a bit off.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a bit of a headache,” I replied, grateful for her concern.

She nodded. “Yeah, people tend to get those after their first time on the bridge during a slipspace transition. Not sure why,” she mused.

“It’s not so bad,” I said truthfully. “It’s starting to go away.” And I was telling the truth, it really was suddenly beginning to retreat. “Maybe I just needed some food.”

“Hah! Maybe. Just don’t tell Seamus that, he doesn’t need you to inflate his ego anymore.”

We passed the time in companionable silence, relaxing and eating our meals. Eventually, Layla stood, telling me that she had duty in a few minutes. I spent a bit of time on my tablet, browsing through the ship’s data libraries. There was quite a lot there. Newsfeeds updated in every monthly data dump, VR games and simulations, educational courses, books, movies. At least I’d have things to do during my off time.

I let out a yawn. I really was tired. The days probably wouldn’t take so much out of me once I got into the regular schedule, but right now I was beat. I stood and headed to my berth. I brushed my teeth, then remembering what John had told me this morning, I tossed my used suit into the laundry hatch. I opened my locker to verify the rest of what he had told me and yes, my suit from yesterday was there, clean and waiting on a hook.

Another yawn forced its way out of my mouth. Jordan looked down from where she was lying on her bunk reading. “Tired there, Damien?” she asked.

“Yeah, it’s just… yeah,” I responded lamely.

She laughed. “Get some sleep bud.”

I climbed into my bunk, engaged the privacy screen, and passed out.