Control your own destiny or someone else will
                                                 - Jack Welch

If everything seems under control, you aren't going fast enough
                                                 -Mario Andretti

"So you're some kinda super brain, huh?"

Major Nyda O'Bannon is staring at the projected screen that contains your life story Kaya and frowning.  When she first tried to log onto your file, she frowned and cursed because of all the security protocols she had to leap through.  Now she's frowning...maybe she just always frowns.  Was she frowning when you walked into the room?

You call up the picture of her.  A short, stocky woman in a crisp naval blue uniform, clean except for the coffee stain on the hem of her right sleeve.  And she seemed to be frowning.  At least she wasn't smiling.

So yes.  She is a frowner.

Major O'Bannon turns the screen off.  She sits back and stares at you for a moment.  You've only met four other people since you enrolled in the academy who knew you were an Ace.  They had varying reactions.  O'Bannon is the first to look at you with such overt disapproval.

But she's got the jack sockets in her shoulder and base of her neck showing she's an AI pilot.    So it probably comes as no surprise she would disappove.

"So tell me..." she finally says in a thin, dispassionate voice, the frown still not fading.  "Why fly for the navy?  Someone like you...you could probably make a lotta cash flying for a corp.  Why'd you go through the academy?"

Welcome to it Kaya.

So you just recently graduated.  For the past little while you've been cooling your heels at a naval base on a moon called Iomede Lesser.  This morning, you got orders from General Ogadi that you should report to O'Bannon.  Ogadi sponsored you into the academy.  You've met him twice in person.  Once when you were recruited and once when he handed you your insignia at the graduation ceremony.

Ogadi's orders were sparse, as has been most of his communications.  O'Bannon has full knowledge of who and what you are.  You can speak openly to her, which makes her the fifth such person in the Navy you would be able to.

I decided to just jump right in.  Let me know if there are questions or concerns.  Thanks

Kaya remained at attention and kept her gaze just above the major's right shoulder, not directly looking at her but at the wall just behind her, a skill pretty much everyone in the armed forces developed quite fast to deal with angry - or annoyed - superiors: it gave the appearance of paying attention without being confrontational.

The young woman decided to take the opening remark as a statement and not a question, so simply didn't answer. Since there probably weren't any right answer anyway, it was for the better. The other questions though... There was no way to avoid answering them. She considered answering some platitude about wanting to serve the Empire or something like that, but it wouldn't be particularly convincing: it already wasn't to her - much - so making anyone else believe it would be a stretch.

Instead, she decided to answer with some truth. Not the whole truth, but a truth nonetheless, “Ma'am, assuming a corp would have paid for flight lessons, half the sector would know what I am after a month, ma'am.” Alright, maybe it wasn't the truth but a "simple" concern, but it was a valid one nonetheless. Corps were good at keeping secrets, but only when that suited them.

Hopefully, O'Bannon wouldn't want to dig deeper into her answer and would instead decide to take care of business. Which, Kaya hoped, meant new orders for her. Meaningful orders that wouldn't keep her frozen on the ground.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 3):

O'Bannon gives you a measured look and then looks at a screen on her desk.

"Fine.  Let's get to it then."

She taps a few times on the screen she was looking at.  A holo screen appears before you.  The Little Giant system displays.  It's a nothing system.  Named for the gas giant which, comparatively speaking, isn't all that giant.  The giant has eight moons.  There's two other rocks in the system, both just big enough to be called planets, and both just stone without atmo.  Most of the populace lives on one of the Little Giant's...or LG as they like to call it...moons.

The screen changes.  A man's face and bio pops up.  Wexler 'Wheezey' Wineburger.  Small time smuggler.  He's done two light sentences on Horfa, the prison planet on this side of the Empire.  Most of his rap sheet is fairly pedestrian.  He seems to have a penchant for smuggling eggs.  Hen eggs.  Ostrich eggs.  Caviar.  Just...eggs.

"Mr. Wineburger is running a small ring selling black market produce.  Specifically he's selling quail eggs.  You ever seen 'em?  Quail eggs?  They're these little, tiny eggs.  'bout this big..."  She makes a small circle with a forefinger and thumb.  "Where the hell he gets 'em from I have no idea.  Quail aren't domesticated in Little Giant.  Or anywhere far as I know.

"That's beside the point.  We don't really care where he's getting his contraband from.  What we care about is..."

The screen shifts.  A woman's face is now visible.  A  young woman.  Maybe just twenty.  Pretty but not gorgeous.  Hazel colored eyes.  Blonde hair tied neatly into a bun.  "...her.  Georgia Millstock.  Daughter of Redley Millstock. You know the name I trust."

The Millstocks are the majority shareholders of FarFlung Technologies.  They made a name in terrforming tech but have since moved on to agricultural management.  They own or manage half the bread basket worlds on this side of the Imperial core.  Your breakfast was probably grown on one of their farms.

"Georgia is the youngest of Redley's children.  By all accounts, she was a well bred, stable little society girl.  Kept a low profile.  Smiled at everyone during the balls.  Typical rich bitch.

"Then a year ago she gets kidnapped."  You vaguely remember the news about it.  She supposedly disappeared at some kind of charity event.  "The Milstocks killed the news stories.  Everyone assumed they had their private security forces on the job.

"But a month ago, this young lady shows up as a crew member on Wineburger's vessel.  In fact, the only crew member.  Wineburger usually flies solo."

O'Bannon gives you an amused look.  "He uses a lotta AI.  So that makes it possible ya see."  She smiles at you as she makes her little dig.

The screen changes.  Security footage from what looks like a spaceport.  Wheezy and a woman who looks like Georgia are walking through a security checkpoint.  The screen freezes and zooms in on Georgia's face.

"This is from the Terminal 2 gate footage at the Vanilla space port...they named all the moons of Little Giant after ice cream flavors for some stupid ass reason.  Analysis of the footage indicates a 64.9% liklihood that this is Georgia Millstock."

O'Bannon taps the screen.  You hear the chirp as your personal comm receives a download of all the information you've just seen.

"So what's all this got to do with you?  Here's what this has to do with you.

"You'll be given an Archer class boat.  I'm giving you a small team to act as crew and back up."

She reaches into a drawer and takes out a small pin.  A crescent moon with a sideways pointing sword.  A captain's insignia.

"You are to follow Mr. Wineburger.  Do not directly engage.  At first.  We need to know first of all if that is really her.  And second, what is she doing with him.  If she's being held hostage, you are to extract her.  But don't get caught doing it.  If she dies during the extraction, we don't want any indication the Navy was involved.

"If she's there of her free will, watch but do not engage.  Just report and keep an eye on her until further orders.

"Questions?"

The info she sent you has bio on your new crew.  We'll get to that.  But let's focus on your mission for now.  Let me know if there are any questions and we will proceed.

Thanks

Kaya was quite relieved that O'Bannon had dropped the personal questions: at least that way she wouldn't have had to decide to tell the truth or lie, both options being unpalatable for various reasons. The young woman listened attentively to the Major's briefing, but she had some troubles understanding what this was all about. Granted, a smuggler might be of interest to the navy. But an egg smuggler? Not only she had trouble imagining that eggs would be something to be smuggled - at least for cooking purposes - but she couldn't imagine why the navy would care about stuff like that.

The next part of the briefing, pertaining to the Millstocks, explained it of course, in between the disparaging remarks. At least she wasn't the only target of those, so she supposed it was an O'Bannon special and didn't have much to do with her specifically, which was something she supposed. Though thinking a bit more about it, she was puzzled.

Not that she wished anything bad to happen to Georgia - even though she had to admit a pang of envy - but... Why would the navy involve itself in this problem? Sure, if the ones doing the kidnapping were pirates or foreign forces, the navy would be called upon. But a small time smuggler? It didn't really make any sense. Unless it was some kind of political move and considering who was involved, that seemed very likely she supposed.

The only question that remained was to know why she was involved. Granted, while not a Marine, she was good with a lot of weapons but that was mostly her genes doing the talking. She was very decent in hand to hand combat, but there were many better at it than she was and she definitely was not special forces. Not that she couldn't be with the proper training, but she didn't have the proper training. Only the basics of it: she was a pilot, nothing else. But... Maybe the point was to tell her that she wasn't going to be "just" a pilot...

Or maybe it was all just an excuse to give her a ship. It was something she was really excited about of course for at least two reasons: not only she would finally be piloting something, but it was an independent command which, assuming she didn't mess up, was going to do wonders for her career. And she supposed that was the whole point. Or at least part of it.

For now though, Kaya decided she didn't care about anything else but the pin in O'Bannon's hands. Yes, her ship would be a small one, pretty much the smallest hyper-capable ship in the whole navy in fact. But small as it was, it was hyper-capable, and being in command of one of those was prestigious, even though she was nothing more than a 'mere' Lieutenant.

As O'Bannon asked her if she had any questions, Kaya's gaze went with some difficulty from the pin to its original place on the wall behind O'Bannon. Questions? Well, yes, she had a ton of questions. Starting with how by the stars she was supposed to determine if Georgia Millstock had been kidnapped or somehow coerced. She could only hope someone in her crew would know a lot more than she did about those kind of operations...

Since her questions where about the how, the why or the who and not the what however, she simply answered “Ma'am, no Ma'am.”

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 5):

O'Bannon blinks but finally shrugs.  A few more taps and the screen changes again.

A woman's face pops up on the screen.  Short brown hair.  Green eyes.  A scar across her nose.
A few years older than you.  AI ports obvious on her shoulder.

The screen gives her name and bio.  Perri Von Helmon.  Pilot second class.  Your co-pilot.  Four years flying experience, two in the Kinimin system revolution that ended last year.

The screen flips.

An man this time.  Maybe as old as Perri.  He has a haggard look about him.  His eyes look bloodshot.  Dark skin and darker hair.  Aarav Shashidar Engineer second class.  Looks like he and Perri know each other.  They served on the same command during Kinimin.  But Aarav was transferred out eight months prior to the end of the war.

Another man.  Older.  Thick neck and graying brown hair.  He's the only one thus far smiling.  Rokzi Polovich.  Special Forces Sargent.  Combat experience for the last eighteen years.  He's obviously the muscle on your ship.

One more rolls up.  Another woman.  She looks small.  Delicate.  Yamahato Rei.  Or would that be Rei Yamahato?  Some people of Asian descent still list their family name first.  A nurse.  She doesn't have any combat experience.  In fact she's listed as a contractor.  Medic.

O'Bannon downloads the information to your personal comm.

"Your crew.  Any questions on them?"

Kaya studied attentively the faces of all of those who were to be her crew. Of those, the one she studied the most was the co-pilot. The presence of one was to be expected…and while she really hoped everything would work fine between the two of them she didn't hope Von Helmon would have a lot of respect for her: all Kaya had working for her was her rank. Her co-pilot had the best part of four years on her and combat experience… and they would both know it. Well, no one said being in command was going to be easy: and this would likely just be the first time she'd have to prove herself.

The engineer concerned her, but for another reason entirely: the haggard air, the bloodshot eyes… Had she been given one of the navy's problem children as her engineer? And he was familiar with Von Helmon… Well, she supposed she had to see the upside of it: if she convinced one, she'd probably convince both. Unless they hated each others guts, which would be an entirely different problem.

She was however extremely glad to see the next entry. Not that she was too trusting of the smile, but he was Special Forces. Which meant he would likely know how they would be able to proceed for a lot of things that had her stumped and he had a lot of experience to top it off. Hopefully he wasn't an ass, because if there was someone she was going to have to rely on, no matter what happened, it would be him.

The last one surprised her though. A medic? For as small a crew as they were? That was surprising. Especially a civilian one. Was she there for when - or if… - they got Georgia Millstock back?

This time, asked if she asked questions, she nodded. “Yes Ma'am. Why a civilian nurse? And how were they all chosen?” She wasn't expecting the best of the best, but… Kaya really hoped it wasn't a rehabilitation cruise for any of them.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 7):

O'Bannon glances at Rei's picture and then shuts off the screen.

"We're short on medical staff.  And the orders about you require you have a medic on your crew roster.  So we found you the best one we could.

"As for the others...Perri and Aarav were assigned from HQ.  I tacked on Rokzi.  I've worked with him before.  Good man.  And you'll need someone with know how when it comes to certain parts of your job.  Also...no offense...but you don't seem the type who'd be able to fight her way out of a paper sack if the sack were made out of cheese and you were a rat.  Just don't back down with him.  Once you get Rockzi on your side, he's on your side."

She gives you a once over and then shrugs.  "You probably need somebody on your side.  Anyway.  Your ship's in dry dock.  Your crew will assemble tomorrow oh-eight-hundred standard time in Deck D briefing room. You can round them up then.  I want your ship outta my hangar by ten hundred tomorrow.

"Questions?"

Wanted to give Kaya a chance to do anything she wanted to do on base.  If there's nothing, I will move us to the briefing room.

And yes, you can go inspect the ship.  Feel free to narrate that yourself if you like.
 Thanks.

Kaya wasn't sure she liked the bit about the medic being needed for her. Not that it didn't make sense of course, but she wasn't fond of being reminded of her likely future.

She really hoped that 'by HQ' what O'Bannon truly meant - even if she didn't know it - was 'by Ogadi'. As for Rokzi, she was relieved to hear he had been picked for his skills. Not so much that he'd try to push, but that was to be expected she supposed. For a moment, she considered mentioning that was in fact able to hold her own in a fight - thanks to her genes if nothing else - but... There was a point where skills trumped genes.

This time again, she nodded when asked if she had questions, “Is the ship in dry dock following a refit or some repairs?” Because if that was the case, the first things she'd have to do was to make sure that nothing was going to come loose before they went too far. After all, no matter how a ship was tested before it was released to its crew following its completion or even some repairs, there was always things to fix. Or so she had heard anyway...

Once she had her answer, Kaya saluted then left to go see her ship. The first thing she did once out of the office though was to place her command pin where it belonged. Then, trying not to smile too much, she went to her ship.

She spent the next hours both going over it and studying the materials she had been given about her mission and her crew: she wanted to be at the briefing knowing everything there was to know down to the smallest details without having to look anything up. First impressions were going to matter, which was also why she paid very close attention to her appearance before she stepped into the briefing room at 1000 sharp.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 9):

"Refit.  Since we have two pilots with different...methodoligies...we needed to make sure you both had adequate control functionality.  You'll see but there's a co-pilot chair as well as a pilot.  And the two have different layouts."

You confirm exactly that.  When you get aboard, you find the two control centers.  Yours is set up for your style.  You'll need to make some adjustments.  But the controls are fairly modular.

Perri's chair is more the standard AI aug block.  Ports for her to patch in.  Multi display screens.  Not a lot of manual controls.  Well.  She flies by electric impulses after all.

As you're studying her board, you hear a voice behind you.

"Hey.  Who the hell are you?"

Turning, you see Aarav standing in the doorway.  He's wearing standard issue coveralls.  There's a couple of stains of fresh grease on them.

He doesn't seem to recognize you.  Maybe, even though you've seen his picture, he hasn't seen yours?

The tired look is gone from his eyes.  But they're still bloodshot.

He has a wrench in one hand you can see he's tightening a grip on.

As she studied the pilot and co-pilot stations, Kaya could only agree that a refit made sense. She'd have to thoroughly test her own station though: she wasn't worried about the co-pilot one, but she seriously doubted the engineers had had many people available to test hers. If something was wrong, she wanted to be made aware as soon as possible, preferably while they could still do something about it.

As she was interrupted by a voice behind her, she turned around to see who it was, only to find Aarav. She studied him for a couple of seconds, noting his bloodshot eyes - but without any obvious exhaustion this time - and the way he gripped his wrench. She supposed he had been working on the ship, either as part of the refit or simply to make sure that everything worked as intended before they left for their mission.

For all answer to his question, she tapped her shiny new captain's pin on her right breast: it would explain all there was to know, and doing more would just embarrass the both of them. It wouldn't have mattered all that much to her, but Aarav might have resented it and that wasn't exactly the right way to start a working relationship.

After that, she asked a couple of questions of her own. “Is she ready? What's your opinion on her?”

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 11):

He seems to peer at the button, and it seems to take a moment for him to register what it means.  He makes eye contact again, an eyebrow raised.  "You're the captain?  Huh."

He shuffles the wrench to the other hand and gives you a rather sloppy salute.  He then looks around the bridge, scratching the side of his cheek.  "Ready?  More or less.  I'm not a huge fan of these Archer models.  They tend to get wonky at the high end range of thrust.  Ventilation systems a bit of a mess too."

He thinks a moment and then shrugs, gesturing at the pilot seats.  "Kinda curious what that's all about.  I've not seen two seperate set ups like that before.  That one,"  he points at your comm seat, "Is like some kinda low end rumble seat.  Who flies AI-less anymore?"

He shrugs again.  "I guess should ask your name.  Sorry.  Not the most social guy."

“I am.” Kaya confirmed, then nodded to acknowledge the sloppy salute. It was a far cry for perfect, but since he was wearing coveralls she wasn't going to ask for more.

She listened attentively to his opinion, noting that she would have to test that "high-end range of thrust" issue. As for the ventilation system, well, there wasn't much she was going to be able to do. Something to keep in mind, but nothing she would be able to do about it. “Kaya Wilden.” She answered his second question. “As for flying 'AI-less',” she smiled, “We'll have time to see about that, same as with introductions tomorrow.”

“You came here straight from Kinimin?”
This message was last edited by the player at 18:52, Fri 23 Apr 2021.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 13):

He frowns slightly. "You read my file huh?"

He shrugs. Aarav shifts his weight to the back of his feet.  He seems more relaxed.

"Nah.  Well yeah. But no, as in not like you mean."  Another shrug.  This one likes to shrug.  "I had a med leave.  By the time I was cleared, war was over."

That wasn't in his file.  It just said he had been transferred out.  Now that you think about it, it was kind of vague on the details concerning that "transfer".

"What about you?  Where'd they haul you in from?"

Kaya simply nodded but didn't comment on either the file reading she had done - which was still very limited - or the medical leave, which wasn't any of her business...as long as he was back at 100%. Which she could only assume he was, otherwise he wouldn't have been here in the first place. or so she hoped anyway.

“They didn't have to look very far for me: I've been here for a few months since I graduated from the academy.” Not something she was too fond of saying obviously, but it wasn't like that part of her file was any kind of secret. It was in fact rather public. Still, she really didn't want him to distrust her, she added “So I'll be counting on you to point anything about the ship that one can't learn from test runs or simulators. Stuff like the high range of thrust thing or the ventilation system and whatnot.”

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 15):

He frowns.  Obviously the 'just out of academy' doesn't impress him.

But he doesn't say anything about it.  He just shrugs and gestures with the wrench behind him.

"You want the tour?  I'm going over the engineering diagnostics now.  I don't tend to trust dock crews.  They tell you everything's 100%, usually around their break time."

He points at your comm seat.  "I'm not real familiar with that set up.  It's kinda...ancient.  No disrespect intended.  But I thought some Grandpa was gonna come aboard and use it.  You not AI compaitible?"

As he asks, there's a blip from the command chair.  A glance confirms someone just cycled the airlock.  Checking the camera shows it's Rokzi.  He's got a couple of duffels and what looks like a couple of gun cases.  He walks in and looks around the airlock like he's not sure about it.

He stares at the camera and must notice it's live.  He waves.  "Anyone there?  Permission to come aboard?...though I'm supposed ta come aboard."

Kaya merely smiled at his frown, but didn't explain more than that: there were things she was really confident of as far as ship command went, but her piloting skills weren't one of them. While saying it was the only thing she was confident about would be exaggerated, it was definitely the one she was the most confident about.

“Sure.” The young lieutenant nodded when he asked about a tour. She had intended to make one at some point before the briefing, and she supposed it made more sense, not less, to do so with the ship's engineer. She briefly hesitated when he asked his question about her chair, then shook her head. “It's more complicated than that.” Before she could elaborate on it though, her chair beeped, signaling someone in the airlock.

“I'm supposed to meet everyone at the briefing tomorrow, not right now…” Kaya grumbled, then pushed a button, “Permission granted.” She answered Rokzi, before adding, “Though for next time, the ship not being considered active duty just yet you don't need permission to come aboard.” She released the button, “I better go see what this is all about… Hopefully we'll go on that tour just after I've seen him.” She grumbled, then headed to the airlock.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 17):

"Come back to engineering when you're ready," Aarav says as you pass him by.  "Just head towards the back of the ship."

Rokzi has more bags than the ones you saw on camera before.  He's stacking them up just inside the airlock door.

He looks up when you open the shipside lock door and grins.

"Hey there.  Name's Rokzi.  I'm on this boat.  You know if the captain's on-"

He stops, apparently seeing your insignia.  He frowns, but only for a moment, and then gives you a fairly crisp salute.

"Sorry ma'am.  No one told me who my new CO was.  Nice to meetcha."

“Welcome aboard.” Kaya's smile was a bit strained as she returned the salute. “Not expecting a still wet behind the ears, milk dripping nose, baby faced lieutenant as your new captain?” She cocked an eyebrow for a second, but continued before he could embarrass them both by disagreeing to what was quite close to the truth… or worse, agree. “It's alright, I guess I should expect to have to deal with it for quite some time.” After all, with prolong treatments she'd keep that face for a while…

“I'm not expecting you to be wowed by me right now. All I'm asking is that you give me a chance to prove myself before you decide I'm useless.” She looked Rokzi up and down for a second, before adding, “By the same token, I'll leave you a chance to prove that you're not barely sentient muscles like so many people seem to think of those of your profession.” After all, he would have to prove himself to her too, and she wasn't going to let him think otherwise, much less that he could walk all over her. Especially since she would have to rely on him a lot considering the mission.

“Just do me the courtesy of assuming I know what I'm talking about as far as the ship is concerned and I'll rely on you to advise me for…well, pretty much everything else. If you think I'm making a mistake, overlooking something or missing something, I expect you to tell and teach me. Preferably before I make something we'll all regret, and in private when possible. And I promise to listen.” After all, she might not agree. Though she didn't see that happen much where his area of expertise was concerned. He had loads of experience after all, and she would be foolish to not use it and make the most of it. Plus, it was important that he knew that too. “Deal?”

After his nod, she waved at the bags, “So, what's all this?”

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 19):

"Wow. Defensive much?  But yes ma'am.  Deal."  He laughs.  It's a big booming kind of laugh, which fits him perfectly.

He looks at all the gear you're pointing to.

"Mostly it's armaments.  Got me a Oh Four Eighteen K Kibitzer special.  Call her Mildred after the nun that used to kick my ass in high school.

"This one is a Multidirectional V N One Oh Two.  Call this one the Cheek Spreader cos once I activate it, that's what everyone might as well do.

"And these boxes here are my assault armor.  No name for it yet.  But maybe this trip.

"There's a whole bunch a' other shoot 'em up stuff.  Oh.  And I brought a change of underwear."

He grins at you and then leans close, his voice dropping to a whisper.  <small>"And I frowned cos...well.  You just don't look like I imagined an Ace would look."

He stands up and smiles.  "They told me quite a bit about you Cap'n."