Lieutenant Kilgary, the main propulsion assistant, tried to shove her own arm up, but failing at that just yelled out her question. "Then who will be in command, sir?"
"Nobody." Another surge of murmurs. Captain Hayes gave the assembled officers a stern look. "This is diplomacy, ladies and gentlemen. Our allies—" Hayes broke off as Commander Garcia cleared his throat loudly. "Correction, our fellow 'participants' in the exercise want to send a message to the SASALs, but not too strong a message, and none of them want to make it look like they're placing their space combatant forces under U.S. command or control. We're all going to waltz around in the same general area to let the SASALs know we could work together if we really wanted to. That's it. Just a friendly get-together."
Muffled but derisive snorts sounded throughout the wardroom. Commander Kwan glared around as if he had a chance of identifying individual offenders. "Belay that."
Garcia's glare matched that of the XO. "Every maneuver by the warships involved will be according to the preplanned exercise time line. Standard maneuvering interval between ships will be two hundred kilometers. Closest Point of Approach between ships is to be no less than one hundred kilometers at all times. Ship collision avoidance systems will be programmed to warn of collision if any CPA goes below fifty kilometers."
Paul would've shrugged if he'd had the space for it. With the individual spacecraft traveling at speeds measured in kilometers per second, fifty kilometers seemed a reasonable distance to really start sweating.
"Sir." Lieutenant Junior Grade Yarrow indicated the display screen. "With a standard interval of two hundred kilometers, the formation will be spread across a thousand kilometers."
"Hey, he's learned to add," a barely audible voice whispered.
Yarrow flushed, then flushed a deeper shade as Garcia focused his glare upon him. "We're only to be strung out in a line when the exercise starts. Review the plan, Mr. Yarrow." On the screen behind Garcia, representations of various formations popped into view as another round of murmurs sprung up.
Paul stared at the geometric shapes of the formations the warships were to assume. One resembled a pentagon with a warship at each corner, another seemed to be a sphere with the ships spaced evenly around it, and yet another a forward-tilted oblong shape.
Captain Hayes raised his hand again. "Okay, people. I know. It looks goofy. Let's face it, fleet maneuvers haven't been the norm up here. Ship combats are one-on-one and assuming neat formations like this would just make it a lot easier for someone to detect us and target us. But this isn't about effective war-fighting tactics. It's about sending a message. Professional space officers like ourselves will know this stuff is nonsense. But politicians and the general public will be impressed. That's the bottom line. It's going to be a little odd working with foreign spacecraft like this. It's a big solar system and it just hasn't happened much because no one really wanted it. Now they do."
Commander Sykes, until now silent somewhere in the back, spoke out clearly. "Sort of."
Hayes grinned as laughter erupted. "Right, Suppo. Sort of. Let's put on a good show, keep it safe, and let the SASALs know screwing around with us up here would be a bad idea."
More murmurs, this time of agreement. Paul saw Sonya Sindh and they locked eyes for a moment, sharing an unspoken understanding.
She remembers the last time the SASALs screwed with the
Michaelson
. She was officer of the deck when Captain Wakeman gave orders to fire on that unarmed SASAL ship that he thought was attacking us. This exercising together stuff to send a message might work, if everybody involved deals with it rationally. But we're all human, so nothing's certain
.
Captain Hayes pried the hatch open to leave. Commander Kwan bellowed out "attention on deck" again in a voice well-suited to a parade ground but which echoed painfully inside the small compartment. Paul and the other officers once again did their best to straighten to attention as the captain left. Instead of releasing them from attention immediately, Kwan favored the group with a long, stern look. "Remember what the captain said. We'll be operating with foreign warships. I want the
Michaelson
to be the most impressive ship out there. Carry on." Kwan struggled out the hatch as well.
With two fewer bodies in the compartment Paul found he could breath easier. Most of the department heads, talking softly among themselves, headed out next, then the other officers began following. Paul took a moment to stretch in place before moving, then looked to where the ensigns, the most junior officers on the ship, were still standing on the table. "Dismissed," he echoed Kwan with exaggerated sternness.
"Yes, sir, Lieutenant
Junior Grade
Sinclair," Ensign Gabriel piped back. "This would've been a lot easier in zero gravity. We could've hung off the overhead and left room to breath."
"
Easy
, Ensign Gabriel? You want things
easy
?"
Commander Sykes dropped gratefully into his usual chair and made a shooing motion with one hand. "Thank you for chastising Ms. Gabriel, Paul, and saving me the trouble. Now, all of you line officers run off and do your line things. You shouldn't be hanging around the wardroom during working hours."
Lieutenant Denaldo grinned. "Yeah. What do you guys think you are, supply corps officers?" Sykes managed to look wounded. "But Suppo's right. We better get out of here before one of our department heads pops back in, sees us and decides we're all underemployed."
Paul checked over the list of completed maintenance items morosely.
Not enough. Garcia's going to bite my head off. Again
. "Chief, what're the odds any of the stuff we didn't get done is going to hurt our performance during this underway period?"
Imari shrugged. "Sir, the really critical stuff is done. Anything else goes, it'll give us some trouble, but we'll be able to work around it."
"Thanks, Chief."
"Are you going to be in Combat when we get underway, sir?"
"Yeah. For once." Paul felt he'd drawn more than his share of getting underway watches. Observing the process from Combat wouldn't be stress-free, but at least he wouldn't be giving maneuvering orders to the
Michaelson
. "
Maury
's getting underway first this morning."
"Yes, sir."
And you already knew that as well as I did, didn't you, Chief? Maybe I ought to tell you something you don't already know
. "The XO's acting pretty edgy about this exercise, Chief. He really wants us to look good, so assume he's going to be prowling the ship monitoring everything."
Chief Imari didn't quite contain her reaction. "Yes, sir. No problem. I'll make sure the guys look good whenever the XO pops in."
"Even Seaman Fastow?" Paul couldn't help asking.
Imari's grin was slightly pained. "Even her. I may have to kill her and prop her dead body so she looks like she's doing something right, but I'll manage it."
Paul grinned back. "Don't let the Sheriff hear you talking about that."
"Ah, sir, Master-at-Arms Sharpe would understand. He's been watching Fastow."
Paul's grin faded and was replaced by a questioning look. "Really. Anything in particular?"
"You'd have to ask the Sheriff, sir. But I don't know of anything."
"Thanks, Chief. I'll be back in here in about an hour." Paul dropped his tentative plan to review the exercise timeline once again, and instead went looking for Petty Officer First Class Ivan Sharpe. He found him standing near the mess decks, watching the crew file past as they grabbed their breakfasts.
Sharpe touched his brow with one finger in an informal salute. "Mornin', Mr. Sinclair."
"Morning, Sheriff. Got a minute?"
"For my favorite ship's legal officer? Of course, sir."
"I'm the only ship's legal officer." Paul led Sharpe away from the other sailors before speaking again. "I hear you've been watching Seaman Fastow."
Sharpe rolled his eyes. "Me, sir? Perish the thought."
"Come on. She's in my division. I know all too well that she's had an attitude problem since she reported aboard a couple of months back. Is there something else going on with her?"
The master-at-arms rubbed his chin and looked back at Paul. "Nothing for certain, sir. I've just got a feeling there's something else. Fastow's got trouble written all over her."
"Let me know if you find out anything specific."
Sharpe grinned. "Why, sir, I thought you were dedicated to motivating your sailors and helping them maximize their potential."
Paul gave the Sheriff a sour look. "Fastow doesn't seem to want to be motivated. Right now the only thing she's maximizing is the amount of supervision she requires."
"Yes, sir. If I can bust the little lady, I'll make sure you know it."
"Thanks, Sheriff. Anything else going on?"
Sharpe looked around thoughtfully. "Not that I can think of. Things've been pretty quiet lately."
"The XO's all wrapped up in making sure this exercise with the foreign ships goes perfect."
"Everyone needs a hobby, sir."
Paul just grinned, shook his head and walked back toward Combat.
Might as well get there early. I can watch the
Maury
get underway. Jen's ship. I wonder how many more times we'll have to watch the other's ship leave
?
His sailors were already at their watch stations, too. Chief Imari nodded a greeting to Paul then went back to discussing something with one of the petty officers. Paul went from station to station, speaking briefly to each sailor, getting some personal idea of how they felt and were doing, and letting them know he was personally interested in them.
Little stuff. But it makes a difference
.
His rounds made, Paul sat down at his own console, logged in, and centered the display on the
Maury
. The
Michaelson
's own sensors couldn't see the
Maury
with a big chunk of Franklin Station in the way, but remote feeds from Franklin's own sensor net provided a clear picture. Like the
Michaelson
, the
Maury
resembled a slightly elongated football, all smooth surfaces and gentle curves designed to minimize reflections that would help someone spot the ship in space. With her visual bypass system shut down, the
Maury
's hull was a dull gray that seemed to soak up light.
Once the system of fiber optic cameras and visual screens covering the hull was activated, the
Maury
would seem to vanish as the cameras picked up whatever they saw, routed it 180 degrees around the hull, and displayed it on the other side. Effectively, the
Maury
would bend light around herself, making her very hard to see.
But this time out
Maury
's not going to turn on her visual bypass system and neither are we. The whole point of this little exercise is to ensure that lots of people see what we're doing. Besides, hiding from the other ships that're going to be maneuvering close around us at high speed doesn't strike me as a very good idea
. He wondered at what point in his time in space he'd begun to think of distances of fifty or a hundred kilometers as "close."
As the time approached for the
Maury
to get underway, Paul could see the magnetic lines holding her tightly to Franklin being taken in. Precisely at the scheduled time, the last line left contact with Franklin and
Maury
's symbol changed to indicate she was a freely maneuvering object.
With the last tie to Franklin gone, and her maneuvering thrusters providing gentle nudges, the
Maury
seem to drift up and away from Franklin. On Paul's display, symbols flashed on and off as the
Maury
fired thrusters or communicated with the station. Vector arrows displaying the
Maury
's current projected path shifted constantly as the ship maneuvered away from Franklin. Finally, clear of the station and with bow and stern both pointed in the right directions,
Maury
lit off her main drive. A new vector arrow sprang to life on the display, rapidly growing as it matched the increase in the
Maury
's speed and angling up and away as the ship settled onto her course to the operating area.
A piercing whistle sounded over the
Michaelson
's general announcing system as the bosun mate of the watch on the bridge sounded his alert. "All hands stand by to get underway. All departments make readiness for getting underway reports to the officer of the deck on the bridge."
Paul glanced over at Chief Imari, who gave him a thumbs up. He reached over and triggered the button which gave him communications with Commander Garcia. "OS Division ready to get underway, sir."
A brief grunt answered Paul. He flipped a thumbs up back to the chief to let her know he'd passed on the information.
We could call each other on the intercom, but this is faster and simpler. Sometimes the tech gets in the way
.
"Captain's in Combat!"
Paul jerked his head around at the announcement, fumbling with the quick release buckle on his straps so he could stand to attention. But Captain Hayes was already gesturing Paul and his sailors to remain seated. "Carry on. Stay strapped in." Hayes walked over to Paul and peered at his display. "Everything ready, Paul?"
"Yes, sir."
"I want us to show these foreign ships how it's done."
"Damn straight, sir. My guys'll show them."
Captain Hayes grinned. "I never doubted it." Then he headed on out the hatch.
"Captain's left Combat," Chief Imari called out, unnecessarily this time since every sailor had their eyes on Hayes as he cleared the hatch. Imari gave Paul another thumbs up.
Paul nodded back.
Tell them you believe in them. Right, Chief. Just like Hayes just let me know he believes in me
. He keyed another internal communications circuit, this one to the bridge. "Bridge, this is Combat. The captain just left Combat, probably headed your way."
"Thanks for the heads-up, Combat," a voice answered almost absently.