In the words of the immortal Monty Python, "And now for something completely different..."
Well, maybe not completely different. At long last, I'm finally posting the first chapter of my (hopefully) awaited story, entitled "Command Performance". As I discussed earlier, this story is set in Weber's Honorverse, in the People's Republic circa 1896, which places it roughly four years prior to the events of
On Basilisk Station. This is a bit of an experiment for me, as the characters and tone will be much different from my usual ST fare, but it's something I've enjoyed writing so far, and I hope everyone here will enjoy it as well.
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Command Performance
by Jeremy Zschau
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They say nothing is quite as exhilarating - or as intimidating - as your first starship command.
Mine was no exception. Not to say I wasn't excited to learn I was to be given command of PNS Danzig
; far from it. I had served as first officer on PNS Flamberge
for three years, then survived the Advanced Tactical Command School on Haven with the top ranking in the class, much to the dismay of some of my Legislaturalist classmates. Then, two years teaching tactics at the Haven Naval Academy, followed by a year as an instructor at the Tactical Command School. All in all, seven years learning how to command a ship and its crew in battle and passing that knowledge on to others. At that point, I was more than ready to go and put it all to use. When Commandant Canning told me they were giving me Danzig
, the feeling of pure vindication I recieved was... like nothing I'd ever felt before. Triumph, but with an edge of trepidation beneath it. Perhaps more than just an edge, when I realized just what I was potentially getting myself into.
My family was by no means part of the People's Republic's Legislaturalist upper crust. My mother was the teenaged mistress of a People's Navy officer, who upon learning of the girl's pregnancy, had a sudden attack of conscience and saw to it that the girl was cared for as best he could. When she died in childbirth, my father took me with him instead of leaving me to languish in one of the People's Republic's state-run creches. I never knew why; he never tried to explain when I was young, and he died in the People's Navy's invasion of the Gaston System before I was old enough to understand if he had told me. We may not have been Legislaturalists, but we were fortunate enough not to be Dolists either; my father's rear admiral's salary was more than enough to provide for his needs and mine, and I recieved his pension payments after his death. When I was seventeen, I didn't know what else to do, so I entered the Naval Academy.
I first met a Legislaturalist while I was at the Academy, and what I saw worried me. I saw people who had gotten where they were simply because of who they were, not what they had done; many of whom were borderline incompetents and would still rocket past me on the ladder of rank and seniority. People whose connections could end one's career in disgrace, should one ever come afoul of them. People who believed any kind of authority was their very birthright, and theirs alone; people who would deny a fellow officer a promotion or commendation simply because they weren't Legislaturalists. It was said that you couldn't reach the rank of captain in the PN without some Legislaturalist connection, and that you'd never rise past the rank of rear admiral without some strong connection to a Legislaturalist family.
Making a long story short, I was not exactly in the safest position one could be in. The People's Republic is perhaps the one place you have to worry about the enemy behind you as much as the enemy in front of you. The junior officer who offends a Legislaturalist is simply denied promotion. A ship captain who runs afoul of a Legislaturalist, however, is likely to recieve a visit from Internal Security, and a People's Navy officer who recieves a 'visit' from Internal Security will come away with one of two things: A bullet to the head, or a one way, all expenses paid trip to Hades.
There are times when I wonder where the Republic -- not the People's Republic, but the Republic
of Haven, the onetime jewel of the galaxy -- went wrong. How did something founded with the very best ideals in mind become what the People's Republic has become, a ramshackle, bloated police state crushed under the weight of the oppressive Legislaturalists, resorting to conquest to shore up a crumbling economy, and the apathetic Dolists, fiddling and collecting their Basic Living Stipend while Haven slowly falls apart around them?
I wish I had the answer. I wish there was someone in the People's Republic that had the answer. But until someone finds the answer... wishes are all I have. Wishes that somehow, things would get better. That the people of the so-called People's Republic would wake up and see the monster they have created. --Commander Kieran Forester, People's Navy
1896 P.D.
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Captain's cabin, PNS Danzig
1896 Ante Diaspora"...and the tactical department performed very well in our latest exercise. The results indicated a twelve percent increase in accuracy over the previous drill, and response time was an average of six percent faster. I'm entering an official commendation into the log for entry into Lieutenant van Heyn's personnel jacket."
Commander Forester looked up, searching for any kind of reaction on the face of his executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Holly Ceniek. As he'd half expected, however, there was none. He'd hoped for something; after all, the striking young woman had put in quite a few hours working with the tactical chief, who, like several of
Danzig's other senior personnel, was fairly young for his rank and position. Even a flicker of pride for knowing her efforts had had some effect would have been something; but all he saw was the same stonily neutral expression she seemed to have permanently plastered on her face any time she was in the presence of her commanding officer.
Kieran wasn't sure what to make of his exec. Like van Heyn as well as Kieran himself, this was her first post in her current position; in her case, as a starship's executive officer. In the six months since Kieran's assumption of command of the
Desforge-class destroyer, she had been as personable and approachable as a block of ice. Oh, he had no complaints about her actual performance, by any means-- since coming on board, she had performed her duties well, better than most first time executive officers seemed to. Better than Kieran himself had, in fact, when he first served in that capacity on board PNS
Flamberge years ago. Neither did she give him any other cause for complaint; cold as she may have been, she was never anything less than completely professional in her dealings with him. She was doing her level best to avoid contact with him as much as she could-- which wasn't much, given that she was the exec and he the captain-- but that was hardly grounds for anything so severe as an insubordination charge.
However, she showed very little interest in connecting with him as a first officer should with her commanding officer. More than anything else(well, perhaps with the exception of the engineering officer preventing the fusion reactor from going critical), the single thing in Kieran's mind that ensured the smooth operation of a starship was a good relationship between the captain and the exec. The captain may have ran the ship, but the exec managed it. It was essential for those two individuals to be on the same page and maintain a good working relationship-- and Holly Ceniek was not doing that. Kieran had no idea why; the two had never served together before, and there was nothing in her file that suggested she was given to this sort of behavior, but the situation was there nonetheless. She had no Legislaturalist connections, so it couldn't be the highborn sense of condescension many Legislaturalist officers had for their 'inferiors', regardless of rank. For all the tension that seemed to exist, however, the ship was running smoothly, and Commander Ceniek was performing her other duties to his satisfaction, so Kieran really had no choice but to continue and hope the situation, whatever it was, blow over-- or until something happened that forced Kieran to call her to account. Personally, he didn't hope it would come to that, although he hoped that whatever it was would be resolved sooner rather than later.
Thus, he said nothing, only making a barely audible sigh before returning his gaze to his computer display. "Engineering's performance was also satisfactory, although Lieutenant Marks still hasn't nailed down the cause for that flutter in the fusion reactor. Her last report indicated it didn't seem to be any threat to the ship, but I want her to make that her first priority after the exercises are concluded, so we don't have to worry about it if we enter a dicey situation, as well as for my own peace of mind." He smiled sardonically at his last remark, but like all his previous attempts to break through Ceniek's icy mask, it had no effect. Her only response was a short, wordless nod and a quick notation on her handcomp.
He felt his brow begin to furrow as he continued, one hand unconsciously working its way up to idly tweak the hair of one of his long(perhaps too long, according to regulations-- but no one had ever bothered to say anything about them before), prole-style sideburns. "I am a bit worried, however, about the state of the medical sec--" He was interrupted by the sound of a buzzer, indicating an incoming call. He thumbed the recieve button on his desk. "Forester."
"Bridge here, Skipper, Lieutenant van Heyn." Kieran almost smiled at the sound of his tactical officer's irrepressibly light sounding voice. Unlike the exec, Henrik van Heyn managed to project a friendly, youthful demeanor along with an air of intelligence despite his relative inexperience.
"Sir, we've got an unidentified contact coming up near the edge of sensor range. Acceleration is nil, velocity approximately point-one-four cee. From the emissions of her wedge, she looks like a merchie, but we're a bit far from the regular shipping lanes in this area."Kieran scowled. "Any communications contact with her, Lieutenant?"
"No, sir. Ensign Holtz sent the standard challenges, as well as a repeat. No response to either hail.""All right, Lieutenant. The exec and I are on our way." With a flick of a finger, Kieran cut the link. Standing, he motioned to the door. "Lieutenant Commander?"
"Aye, sir," she responded with another curt nod in her light but unfamiliar accent, as she stood and proceeded him to the exit.
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Main Bridge, PNS DanzigThe image of a merchant ship, devoid of the tapered hammerheads on each end typical of warships, hung in the center of the holotank. Flashing blue text rotated around the image, displaying the information garnered by sweeps from
Danzig's active sensors.
"Talk to me, Guns," Kieran ordered, scowling as he studied the image in the holotank.
"We've identified her as the Solarian-registry merchant vessel
Starlight Rhapsody. Whatever happened to her, Skip, it wasn't pirates," Henrik answered promptly. "We just got close enough to get a hull map with the gravitics, and there's only one major blast point on the hull, near the engineering section. Moreover, the indication from the blast is that it came from
inside the ship, not outside. She wasn't fired on, sir; something inside her blew."
"Well, whatever it was, it must have been a crucial system," Kieran mused, half to himself. His voice trailed off and his brow furrowed as he ran the information through his mind. "Any indications as to what it was, Guns?"
"Merchies are designed for maximum cargo capacity, not necessarily durability or safety. Most of their internal systems are grouped close together to free up space and ease of maintenance, and they don't have the shielding or extra redundancies of a warship. If something goes up, it's likely to take a few of the ship's other systems with it. For this kind of effect... my guess would be something big, like a power overload or a ruptured fuel line. I'd have to wait until our sensors gather more information before I could tell you for sure one way or another, though."
Kieran nodded approvingly. "All right, then, keep me updated. Good work, Lieutenant." A smile tugged at the younger man's lips as he nodded in reply. Kieran smiled in his direction before turning back to his command chair and continuing. "Commander Ceniek, prepare a boarding party. Two details of engineering ratings and their accompanying officers, including a comm specialist and a computer specialist. Accompanying them will be a Marine platoon, chosen and led by First Lieutenant Frankel. A command presence will also be required."
Ceniek nodded brusquely. "Very well, Captain. I'll report in as soon as we've secured a boat bay."
The captain shook his head. "You misunderstand, Commander. I will be accompanying the boarding party as well, in addition to yourself and Lieutenant Frankel," he corrected her neutrally.
Ceniek looked at him directly for the first time since he entered the bridge. "Captain, we don't know who or what is on that ship, or what condition she's in. I hardly think it's wise to send two command officers into that environment, especially when there's no real cause. With all due respect, sir, there's no need for the captain to accompany the boarding party on a mission that should be fairly routine; just to investigate the cause of a shipboard explosion and report back. There's not even any evidence of foul play."
Kieran didn't much care for her tone, especially that of her second-to-last sentence, but her objection was perfectly valid, tone notwithstanding. There really wasn't any reason for a ship captain to lead an expedition of this nature, and normally he wouldn't, but the merchant ship presented a mystery. Kieran hated mysteries, as they tended to be rather dangerous in his line of work, and he wanted to be personally involved in solving this one. The PN didn't have any hard-and-fast regulations covering this situation(admirals yes, destroyer commanders no, although it was more of an unwritten rule that captains didn't accompany boarding parties unless his presence was required for some reason) and a part of him just wanted off the ship, if only for a little while.
"According to Lieutenant van Heyn's readings, except for the engineering deck, she's structurally sound. We'll be suited, and the Marines will be in battle armor. If there was anything on that ship that might give us any trouble, we'd have seen some sign of it by now. I don't think there's anything to worry about, and I want to find out what happened to these people. Besides, I haven't been off this ship in six months, and I'd like the chance to do something besides stand watch and do paperwork." Seeing her jaw clench and her already steely gaze harden further, he stepped closer and lowered his voice, addressing her alone in a hard-edged voice of his own. "This isn't a discussion, Lieutenant Commander. Select the landing detail, and meet me in Boat Bay One in twenty minutes. Understood?"
"Aye, sir," came the cold reply. The cool resentment on her face at being overruled was obvious, but she said nothing else. She stepped away from her station and stalked off the bridge.
Henrik straightened and watched his captain exit the bridge. "I have command, sir," he replied, a hint of formality entering his tone. Kieran acknowledged him with a nod as he exited, the door sliding shut behind him.
After Kieran was gone, Henrik shook his head in a mix of wonderment and dismay.
I don't know whether I should wish I knew what was going on between those two or not. He paused as something else occured to him, something that had finally struck him after watching the captain's reactions to Ceniek's cold not-quite-insubordination.
Hell, I wonder if the captain
even knows what's going on between them. He gave a mental shrug.
And I doubt the commander would tell me even if I guessed. Finally speaking aloud, he addressed the astrogator and communications officer respectively. "Lieutenant Kirkegard, bring us alongside the merchant vessel and match velocity. Lieutenant Holtz, I want an clear channel to the captain's pinnace as soon as it departs. I don't want to be out of contact for half a second if we don't have to be." He turned back to study again the image in the holotank. "Despite what the captain said, I have this funny feeling this isn't going to be entirely routine."
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Author's notes-
Most ship data will be taken from
The Nefarious List. However, the
Desforge-class is not listed, probably because Weber never mentioned it before
Shadows of Saganami, which leads me into the second note.
Desforge class destroyer is per
Shadows of Saganami, pages 287-288. "...a
Desforge-class destroyer, one of the Havenites' older classes, but still a powerful unit for her type..." (Weber 287) "...the
Desforge-class destroyers were big ships for their types, with correspondingly lower acceleration rates.." (Weber 288) So my assumption is that Danzig is a bit bigger and heavier armed than the
Bastogne-class, mentioned in
Honor Among Enemies, as well as the
Breslau-class(PNS
Breslau, renamed MNS
Principality, from
Honor of the Queen, but with slighty slower accel. This would explain why they were made obsolete, because in something as small as a destroyer, acceleration is more important than size and armament, since they can't survive combat with any type larger than themselves anyway.
Topic: Command Performance (Read 5321 times)