Chapter 18, part 3
It was obvious that the Mizol’s intention was to fully humiliate her. She started by deciding, on her own accord, to give Silverspear’s regenerator to the humans and now she was having her be a part of this ‘good will’ charade that she and the human captain came up with. First he would visit Silverspear as if a Union warship, even at its unsalvageable state, is some sort of tourist attraction. Darkwing didn’t like it but it was part of the deal that the Mizol struck with the aliens and as thus she didn’t have any choice on the matter.
The human seemed pleased to be there, despite the fact that large segments of the ship were too damaged and open to vacuum. To Darkwing’s dismay the bridge was still accessible and she hated every moment that the alien was there to witness her failure. Thankfully they didn’t linger there long, there wasn’t much to see with all the damaged system and the human seemed eager to move on for some reason despite the fact that a ship’s bridge is the most critical part of the ship.
He did have questions though, an endless amount of them as a matter of fact but the Listel answered them all. Their endless jabbering had managed to give Darkwing a headache long before they boarded the human shuttle that would take her and the Listel to the human ship for her part of the ‘goodwill visits’. She found the whole concept stupid and a waste of everyone’s time considering the circumstances but the human asked for it and since their mission hinged on their goodwill she couldn’t say no. If only he and the Listel would just stop talking.
“I think that I understand now; close proximity to each other is not only uncomfortable but also causes telepathic interference which makes telepathic communications problematic, especially when the proximity is close enough for numerous accidental ‘touchings’. So the larger spaces on your ship are a necessity to maintain proper telepathic communications and not just for comfort.” The human captain, George Asteios, said once he finally realized this basic fact.
“Indeed that’s it. As I already said, when the Loroi gather in large numbers to complete a task they create what is best described as a telepathic network; Loroi warriors are trained to use this network for the near instantaneous and precise transmission of orders that is far quicker and more efficient than any known technological means. In our experience Loroi warriors have far superior coordination capabilities due to this telepathic ability.” The Listel added.
“It makes sense now, such a degree of coordination will result in enhanced efficiency in several mission critical aspects of running a ship and I know that superior crews are able to do more with less ships.” The human commented.
“There is a lot of pride in the fact that we Loroi have always been outnumbered in space, sometimes even outgunned, but we have always emerged victorious from all wars we have fought.” The Listel added.
“Captain, we are touching down on Matveyev’s shuttle bay.” The human pilot, another of their abnormal males; announced in Trade through the shuttle’s intercom as they felt the soft landing.
“Nice landing…” Captain Asteios commented as he stood up. “Please follow me.”
“Of course.” The Listel acknowledged and Darkwing didn’t see a reason to do so as well as she stood up. The human glanced at her for a moment before leading both of them into the shuttle’s airlock.
The outer airlock door opened just a moment after the inner one closed behind them as there was no need to cycle the atmosphere. The air that it let in was acrid, metallic and carried with it the unmistakable smell of welding. A lone human was waiting for them; Commander Albert Summers, Matveyev’s second in command who stood at attention as if waiting for his Captain to step out of the shuttle before speaking.
“Matveyev arriving!” The Commander bellowed as he offered some short of salute with his right hand and at that moment the sound of a bell ringing four times was clearly heard above the usual noises of an active shuttle bay.
“I have arrived.” Captain Asteios replied and returned the salute.
“Nothing new to report.”
“Carry on commander.” At that the commander turned on the spot and walked away.
“Captain Asteios, why are you and your crew talking in Trade instead of your own language?” Darkwing asked as she observed the recently and somewhat hastily repaired shuttle bay that just looked antiquated in her eyes.
“As a gesture of politeness to our guests.” The human captain replied as a matter of fact and she couldn’t help but think of it as a base trick intending to misdirect them but she didn’t say anything about that.
“What was the purpose of the greeting your second in command offered?” She asked again, partly to change the subject and partly out of curiosity.
“It’s a tradition from the time our ships were seaborn. The bell ringing signals when the Captain leaves and boards the ship. When the Captain does so, the officer left in charge must be present in order to announce the fact to those present.” The explanation surprised her because the Loroi were doing something similar but only through telepathy.
“Why did he say ‘Matveyev arriving’ and not ‘Captain arriving’?” Darkwing asked again.
“Because the Captain of the ship adopts its name until relieved of their command.” Captain Asteios replied but he only managed to confuse her. “It’s a tradition meant to highlight the fact that the Captain is the absolute authority as to the running of the ship and any and all events that happen aboard. I am Matveyev’s Captain, there is nothing aboard her that I am not aware of and no action is taken by Matveyev or her crew unless I or the officer I left in charge in my absence ordered so. I am responsible for the ship and everyone aboard it. The Captain adopting the ship’s name in official ceremonies is meant to highlight this simple fact.”
“But as captain you are subordinate to others and as such you cannot have absolute authority on this ship when a superior is aboard.” Darkwing pointed out from her own experience.
“Flag officers may outrank me but they have no say as to how I run my ship. They know that they should not order my crew on how to do their job, if they have any complaints or suggestions they should bring them only to me and I will decide what’s best for the ship.” Captain Asteios explained.
“And if the admiralty put someone aboard who has superseding authority?” Darkwing asked, remembering how the Mizol got their free reign due to their pet Emperor.
“Then I would resign my command as any subversion of my authority is such a manner is unacceptable. There is the precedence of having intelligence officers give highly classified orders in person after the ship has left port but everything was always done by holding the authority of the Captains and Fleet commanders in question as sacrosanct.”
“That’s an admirable way of doing things.” Darkwing commented, lamenting the fact that even such a backward species got this right when the Loroi couldn’t for a variety of reasons.
“Now if you will please follow me, I would like to start your tour by showing you the accommodations that you and your crew will be using while we transport you to the rendezvous point. As a scout ship we don’t have much space but we believe that things will be tolerable for you and your crew.” Captain Asteios said as he gestured them to follow him down a corridor.
“The warriors won’t have a problem adapting to the tight quarters considering the circumstances but many will be restless from not being able to do anything for 23 days.” Darkwing replied as she and Listel Sulfur followed their host.
“As I already told the Mizol Torimor, we don’t need help with running our ship despite the loses we took and its somewhat of a taboo for the host to have his guests work. However our Scout Ships do have a rich entertainment media library for morale reasons, much of the most concurrent media were deleted for safety concerns before we departed but we may be able to adapt much of the remaining media to Trade.” Captain Asteios replied. “I understand that due to the cultural differences the media in question will be alien to Loroi but there are many interactive war games and many movies about historical and legendary battles that should draw some attention.”
“Warriors need entertainment or one risks having them find their own ways to entertain themselves.” Darkwing commented.
“Indeed.” Captain Asteios agreed. “I would also like to ask if the Mizol Torimor has informed you about the weapons issue?”
“She has and your wants are reasonable. As such we will store all personal weapons and amplifiers in a lockbox that will be at your marine’s care. The personal weapons my warriors want to take with them are personal mementos, gifts from their mothers and heirlooms from our dead that will be given to their children when they come of age. They are mostly knives and a few laspistols but they are cherished.” Darkwing replied.
“I understand and I assure you that no one is going to fiddle with them until they are returned to you.” The human captain said reassuringly.
“That will be appreciated.” Darkwing replied. “If I may ask, what does your ship’s name mean?”
“I take it that the Mizol Torimor told you about my name?” The human asked.
“She mentioned it.”
“Figures…” The human said with a chuckle and paused for thought before continuing. “Matveyev is a family name and I don’t know if it has a meaning in Russian, the language from which it is derived from. The ship itself was named so in order to honor Arkadiy Matveyev, one of the pioneering Scout Corps explorers. He was a man of few words, who got things done without much fanfare or politicking; an explorer who wanted nothing else than to be in space and uncover its secrets.” He chuckled again at that. “It’s funny but he never believed that he had done enough for the honor of having a ship named after him, so he was a little unconventional at the ship’s christening ceremony. Instead of having a speech written down he just took out a list with all of the noteworthy Matveyevs he could find in the historical archives. There were dozens of names in that list and he went through all of the names and noteworthy things that they had accomplished. First there was a statesman who was a close confidant to the Russian Emperor and led the Russian Imperial guard, after that it was his son who was a distinguished diplomat and the reason behind the first instance of state recognized diplomatic immunity. Many warriors, including two pilots that were posthumously granted the title of ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ for their actions during world war 2, many artists, athletes, artisans and scientists. His name was last and when he finished reading he first looked at the assembled audience and then at the ship before saying ‘This ship is not named Matveyev because of me, it’s named Matveyev because it will be just one more name in this damn list.’”
Chapter 18, part 4:
http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 896#p22896