Chapter Three

August 9, 2940

Bastien passed the sterilizing cloth over the cellular re-sequencer he was holding and gave thought to Safiya’s question. “I would say that the staff I worked with last night seem to be dedicated. Ensign Sanders asked a lot of questions and Crewman Olivera worked on her certifications most of the shift.”

“They didn’t seem to be slacking off? Just going through the motions?” Safiya stopped wiping down her own instrument and looked up at Bastien.

“No,” Bastien responded. “Didn’t seem like it to me.” Safiya nodded to herself as if expecting the answer before swapping the tool in her hand for one that had not yet been cleaned. “Why?”

“I have sensed a change in some of the crew over the past few days. Since leaving Falm’shma, some of those I’ve spoken with seem a bit deflated.” Bastien frowned thoughtfully. He and Safiya, being the only two former cadets with any medical training of note, had endeavored early on to acquire more phycology certifications in the hopes of treating the crew’s mental health along with their physical health. This meant that the two of them regularly served as counselors to the rest of the Grace’s personnel and made an effort to compare notes on any trends they were seeing. This particular meeting was one such note-sharing effort so Bastien considered Safiya’s words carefully.

“People might be a bit down,” he said carefully, “but not in a way I would consider unusual. The captain didn’t let us spend much time on Falm’shma and the nebula before that didn’t amount to much. But I think everyone is still pretty optimistic.”

“Alright. That’s good to hear.” Safiya began putting away the tray of hand-cleaned tools while Bastien pulled up his notes from the night before. He wouldn’t have another shift in the medical bay for several days and wanted to finish his paperwork while the details of his shift were still fresh. He wasn’t on duty any longer but ship’s obligations often cut into his free time. “And has anyone indicated to you that they are having academic problems?” Safiya asked as she began to catalog the biological supplies across the room.

“No,” Bastien said offhandedly. “Everyone on board continues to knock out certifications during their shifts at a pretty impressive speed. Spencer says that the tutoring sessions are going well and the study lounges are always pretty full. Carpenter Boineau reported to me yesterday that the average rate of certification completions among the crew is thirty-six percent higher than fleet normal.”

“I see,” Safiya said with a hint of doubt in her voice.

“Safiya?” Bastien asked, turning from his work console to look at the ship's Chief Medical Officer. She seemed perturbed.

“That seems rather high, doesn’t it?”

Bastien shrugged. “Sure, but we do have an impressive crew. They all know what’s at stake. I'd say it's a good thing.” Safiya’s expression didn’t change.

“Carpenter Boineau,” she said and the ship’s AI chimed to acknowledge it was listening. “I’d like you to run an analysis of the certifications that are being acquired by the crew. I’d like to know what percentage of certifications are advancing the core educational requirements for a crew member’s assigned position and what percentage of certifications are—” Safiya paused and Bastien watched her try to find the words. “—certifications that require little effort and do not contribute to their holder’s stated job description. Please give me an overview.”

“Affirmative,” CB said. “Data analysis transmitted to terminal 6B.”

*****

“Commander?” Lieutenant Commander Wright asked as Bastien walked onto the bridge twenty minutes later. It was Gamma Shift at the moment and Noah was sitting in the captain’s chair. Hiromi, who actually held command of the shift, was nowhere to be seen but that wasn’t unusual. With the automation onboard the ship and the fact that everyone in the crew had an Integrated Biomechanical Processor, none were tied to their stations and nearly everyone took advantage of this freedom of movement. Hiromi was likely in the mess hall eating or inspecting Engineering.

“Noah,” Bastien answered as he moved closer so the two could speak privately. There were a few junior crewmen on the Bridge but none paid Bastien any attention. “Is the captain in her office?” Bastien asked, glancing at the door that led to the captain’s private workspace. Noah nodded and Bastien began to step away. Then he paused, turned back to Noah, and frowned. “Can I ask you something, Noah?” Bastien questioned quietly.

“Sure,” the head of security said with a lowered voice. “What’s up?”

“Safiya and I were just meeting to discuss crew morale and we got on the topic of certifications. We had CB run an analysis of the numbers and something weird came up. The crew has been devouring certifications and the numbers, on the surface, look good. But when we actually broke it down, many of the new certifications that people are getting are the low-hanging fruit. Certifications that don’t speak to their jobs and aren’t useful right now considering the Grace’s current situation.”

Noah raised an eyebrow. “Interesting.”

“For instance,” Bastien continued, “Lieutenant Cook has completed nine certifications. Two are in general engineering principles and two are in fabrication procedures. That makes sense since she heads up our fabrication department and is my primary engineering chief during the beta shift. But she also picked up one in introductory botany, one in digital artistic rendering, one in military legal theory, and two in UDF history.” Noah frowned. “I know. Not particularly useful.”

“No, not particularly useful.”

“It seems like a lot of the crew are doing the same thing. Some certifications are for their job but others are random and not mission-critical. The one division that doesn’t seem to be having this issue exactly is—”

“My division,” Noah interrupted. “Security.”

“Right,” Bastien responded. “When Safiya and I looked at your division, we saw that all of your people were continuing to pick up tactical and security-related certifications. No one on your staff seems to be going after unimportant stuff like history and law, though all of them are still randomly dipping into fields outside their job requirements.”

“That’s not correct,” Noah said firmly as he held his hand up to cut Bastien off. Bastien cut off his next sentence. “My people are not randomly dipping into other fields. They’re being very particular about choosing to develop skills outside of security. It’s not the same thing.”

“What do you mean?” Bastien said tensely, not appreciating Noah’s brusqueness.

“Early on, I sat down with my people and discussed the fact that we might be here for a long time. While it was important that they continued to grow within the security division, it was equally important that they picked another specialty that interested them and begin applying themselves toward learning that specialty. Cross-training, in other words.”

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“Really?” Bastien asked with sudden interest.

“Yes. We don’t have the ability to fill holes in our crew by stopping at the nearest starbase or planet. If something happens to a pilot or an engineer, someone else – maybe someone from a different division – is going to have to step up and pitch in. All of my people picked a secondary function that they wanted to learn so that they could be more flexible in contributing to our mission, sort of like you being the XO and also assisting in sickbay. Everyone has been working toward building up their secondary skill set in addition to acquiring security certifications just in case. I made it very clear from the beginning that I didn’t want to see time wasted with irrelevant study.”

Bastien tried to push his aggravation with Noah out of his mind as he considered the lieutenant commander’s position. It was true that the Grace was alone and would have to rely on her already-present crew for all staffing purposes. If the ship needed a new navigator, the senior staff would have to look internally to fill the role. With that in mind, cross-training made sense as multiple sets of skills would make each member of the crew that much more valuable. However, splitting one’s study time between multiple disciplines meant that less focus was on the job to which a crewman was already assigned. An engineer working on an astrophysics certification was an engineer not currently working on an engineering certification. The whole reason Bastien had come to the Bridge to speak to the captain was to discuss the crew’s apparent lack of focus on their current mission-critical development.

“That makes sense,” Bastien said after thinking through his concerns. “Thanks for telling me.”

“Commander,” Noah said as Bastien began to turn toward Cait’s office. “You’re going to talk to the captain about this issue?”

“I am. So far, we’ve encouraged the crew to continue their educational pursuits but there has been little guidance from command on how those pursuits should be directed. I want to show her what Safiya and I have learned and see what she wants to do. Maybe we need to brief the crew on what is and is not mission critical and put some guidelines in place to help structure things a bit better.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Noah responded as he glanced about the Bridge. “My suggestion is that we encourage the crew to avoid unnecessary certifications in favor of those directly relating to their duties and any secondary mission critical skillset they want to pursue.”

“Let me talk to the captain about it,” Bastien said. “But to be frank, Noah, I’m not sure I’m in favor of splitting attention between two subjects. I think everyone needs to master their current discipline before they start focusing on other disciplines. In reality, we’re all still cadets and no one has the requisite certifications to actually serve at their current post. We need to rectify that as fast as possible.”

Noah shook his head slightly in disagreement. “And what happens if some disaster strikes which could have been prevented by cross-training?” His tone suggested he thought Bastien’s position was unwise.

“The same thing that would happen if the crew splits their educational focus and never learns suddenly critical job-related skills,” Bastien countered, not backing down and not impressed with Noah’s attitude. “I’ll mention your position to the captain and I’ll give her my opinion. If she wants to have a staff meeting about it, you’ll be informed.” Bastien turned in place and went to speak with the captain.

*****

“It’s a tough call,” Cait said as she sat back in her chair and put the pad Bastien had handed her on her desk. Bastien nodded in agreement, seeing the gears moving behind her eyes as the Grace’s captain worked through the problem. “I don’t necessarily know if there is a right answer. Focusing on certifications that make you better at your current job is the fastest way of getting the crew trained to handle the ship and whatever surprises are out here. But cross-training has a real appeal, too, since we’re stuck with the personnel we have.”

“But we both agree that a rigid curriculum is out, right? Telling everyone what they have to study?” Bastien asked.

“Absolutely,” Cait responded immediately. Humanity had experimented with educational strategies since first leaving the caves and the most successful civilizations – the Grace’s own Union of Democratic Avalonian Systems included – had come to realize that the best educations were the ones where students drove their own learning. Education was ultimately a personal journey and allowing students the freedom to explore what interested them led to greater engagement and retention of knowledge. With the exception of some very basic skills taught young and the path a master might set before an apprentice in a trade, students in the UDAS tended to pursue their interests at their own speed and with their own determination. Cait had made it clear that trying to force the crew into following an unbending educational path would be counterproductive. “We do need to do a better job explaining to the crew that limiting their study of non-critical topics would be beneficial to the Grace in the short term. As for the issue of cross training…” Cait closed her eyes and massaged her temple.

“Should I call a senior staff meeting to discuss? Let Noah present his case and see what everyone else thinks?” Cait generally liked to solicit opinions before making a decision.

“No,” she finally said. “I can appreciate Noah’s perspective but the Grace needs a crew that knows their jobs inside and out. We might revisit cross-training at some point in the future but, for right now, everyone needs as many certifications in their own field as they can get. Go ahead and make a general announcement to the crew encouraging them to focus more on their job skills certifications and less on non-critical areas of study. Give them an outline of what would constitute mission-critical roles and highlight that successfully developing our knowledge and our abilities will be necessary if we're to make it home. Let them know that anyone interested in learning a secondary skillset is encouraged to put that off until we’re more confident in our primary skillsets.”

“Should I make that last part an order?” Bastien asked.

Cait shook her head. “No. If crewmembers really do want to cross-train, I’m not going to prohibit them from doing so. But it’s not something I’m going to actively encourage right now.”

*****

“You look like you’re in a mood,” Dante said as Bastien sat down across from him in the mess hall. Bastien scowled.

“Just had an animated discussion with Noah, that’s all,” Bastien responded tersely, breathing deep to try and rid himself of his aggravation. Noah had asked him about the meeting with Cait moments after Bastien had left the captain’s office and had not been pleased when Bastien told him that the captain was not going to actively encourage cross-training. Bastien had told the lieutenant commander that he’d presented Noah’s opinion just as he had presented his own and that Cait had ultimately agreed with Bastien. Noah, without crossing any lines, made it clear he didn’t believe Bastien and that he would be raising the issue at the next staff meeting. Bastien, angry, had left before any more words could be shared.

“Well, let it go. You know how he is.” Bastien did, indeed, know how Noah was. Abrasive and challenging, Bastien didn’t particularly like Noah and he could tell the feeling was mutual. The other young man and he would never be friends but Noah had proven to be a very good security chief and Bastien appreciated him for that. Still, Bastien sometimes wanted to haul off and slug him…

“Repairs are going well?” Bastien asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah,” Dante said around a mouthful of mashed potatoes before swallowing. “Some of the materials we picked up on Falm’shma are already installed and I’m not as concerned about some of the critical systems as I had been before we loaded up on supplies. Now if we could just find a dry dock, I’d be happy as a clam.”

“Hopefully we can turn a nice profit with the goods we picked up,” Bastien replied as he scooped up some of his eggs with his lightly charred toast. He knew from Dante’s reports that the Grace needed her stores refilled and still had various unfinished projects that only time, materials, and elbow grease could fix. Using her speed and connections would be essential if they were going to continue to repair the damage observed when the crew came out of cryogenic sleep. “If we can get the credits flowing, we can pay the fees at a yard and do some of the structural work you want done.”

“I’m looking forward to it. Spencer said our next stop really needs the palladium circuits and the carbon-steel cables. It should bring in a lot of funds.”

“The other planet in that system needs sand for their filtration system, too,” Bastien added, thinking about the one hundred thousand tons of fine-grain sand in the primary cargo hold. “He estimates we’ll make a lot on this run.”

“Good. We’ve done about as well as we could with the materials we had on hand, and the ship is in pretty good shape, but there’s still plenty of work that needs to be done to get the Grace ship-shape for any future inspections.”

“You expecting an admiral to drop by and give us a once over?” Bastien asked amusedly.

“You never know,” Dante said with a grin. “You never know.”