Episode 1: First Day's are a Bitch

The last few days had been an administrative whirlwind.

Just as soon as the Global Assembly approved funding for Project Orion the few capable shipyards began construction of the vessels necessary to fulfill the goals of Project Orion. The first off the docks were the Galileo class long duration escorts. Being the smallest of the Orion fleet, the Galileo were the first completed and launched. To date, three solitary vessels left have left the solar system; the UES Lewis, UES Clark, and the UES Marco Polo. The UES Tenacity had recently been completed and was soon to undergo its first tour of the solar system before setting off on its intended mission.

As captain of the UES Tenacity, the last few weeks had been spent going over hundreds of manifests. So many, that it would be easy to forget the massive undertaking that was dawning on the horizon. As you strap yourself into your seat, ready to launch at the orbital that would convey you to your ship, you spend the next few seconds approving random cargo orders and other miscellaneous manifests.

The launch to the orbital is uncomplicated. The initial surge is something you are quite familiar with and the feeling of weightlessness, at this point, has almost become a friendly companion.

You spend the next few days acclimating to the low gravity environment of the spinning orbital and tending to various duties. Duties which take up so much of your time you don't even have time to meet your crew or take a tour of your vessel and future home for the next few years. Yet as the days pass and your duties grow thinner your thoughts begin to turn to your duties as a captain and not a secretary.

<Present>

You sit in your quarters on the orbital approving the last of the crew manifests when you hear a chime at your door.

Comeau sighed, placed the tablet on the table beside him, and lifted himself from his chair. He was unsure who would be at the door, and speculated in his mind that it would likely be his first officer, coming to introduce himself and get to know at least who his Skipper was to be for the next long stretch of his career.
Comeau straightened his jacket, and prepared to open the door. He still wasn't used to the doors of the orbital, but he found the open button on the control console easily enough, and pressed it.

As the door opened with the classic futuristic swish which spoke of the space stations designers being fond fans of the classic Star Trek series Comeau saw that his assumptions were correct. A tall broad shouldered man stood at the other side of the door; he wore his off duty uniform, the uniform of the United Earth Military. On his breast his name was emblazoned: Ryan.

"Commander Thomas Ryan, sir." He saluted Comeau in a crisp military style. "Heard you've been on board for a few days, sir. Thought you might like the ten cent tour."

Weighing the options, Comeau returned to his tablet to save his place and shut it off.
"I welcome the break from paperwork."
He returned to the door and offered his hand to the Commander for a shake.
"I suppose it's about time I get to know my ship and crew. Where to first?"

Ryan paused for a moment considering whether it was safe to break with rank and give a candid answer or whether to stick with regulations and maintain disciple. He'd served under a number of commanders and it was difficult to tell whether one could loosen up.

"Perhaps you'd like to have some help moving your personal belongings to your new quarters." He smiled lightly. "I could use the work out."

Comeau nodded at his First Officer.
"Well, it's not like it's going to be much of a work out at this low G station, but I see your point. I could use a stretch, myself. It's going to be tough to keep in shape by conventional means."

He spun, and moved over to where his bags lay, still untouched save for the one he had opened to maintain a clean uniform from day to day, in order to get used to the feel of the outfits. After zipping this one shut, he started to grab another bag.
"And I wouldn't mind the change of scenery. I've been stuck doing paperwork for days, and I'm finally starting to clear my tablets of pending messages. I've hardly left this room, save for the occasional trip to the mess. Let's drop these off quick, but then I'd like to take a look around. See what sort of can they're packing us in."

"Paperwork and taxes will be the death of us all, they say."

"I'd have to say the Tenacious is one of the nicest ships I've seen." Ryan said as he turned towards the door after grabbing a pair of his captains bags. "The guys who put her together really paid attention to the fact that we're going to be out in the middle of no where for a really long time. She's got a full compliment of entertainment and fitness suites. I'd almost say that there's more to do on the ship than there is on this station." After leaving he began towards the docking bays.

"The Tenacious is also no slouch in the weapons department. She's got the biggest guns they could fit on such a small ship. They say she's pretty fast too," he shrugged. "But I won't believe that til we pull her out of dry dock."

As they neared the docking bay, the gravity began to decrease.

"Well, that's good to know, but is doesn't tell me much. Paperwork and taxes almost proved that saying true, so I didn't get to see much of the station, either."
Comeau placed the luggage from his right hand into his left, and held both bags in one hand. He made his way to the handles placed along the wall, to make the trek easier as gravity dissipated.

"What sort of entertainment and fitness suites are we talking about? Some sort of rec room for zero gravity games? Ping Pong might be interesting," he said with a chuckle.

"There's not much here to see if you've been to one of these stations before, which I assume you have." Ryan said absently. "The Tenacious simulates gravity with magnetized deck plating. Everything on the ship is magnetized so it simulates gravity... Not perfect but it's better than having rotating sections. Makes the ship faster. So Yea ping pong is definitely interesting" he said with a smile.

"The rec room has everything you could want. Full gym facilities. Pretty much every movie ever made. A library that will make your head spin. If video games are what your into, every terminal on this ship can play pretty much every game ever made. We even have a VR room. Our security officer has been using it to train our detachment of species guys."

"Sounds entertaining, to be sure. I'll have to be sure to try it out. Mind you, if there's half as much bureaucracy to deal with as I've been forced into these past weeks, I doubt there'll be much time."
Comeau looked straight ahead, at the entrance to the docking bay.
"Well, let's get to it, then."
He pushed off in the direction of the docking bay, once gravity decreased to near zero, and caught himself on a handle, short of bashing himself off the entrance.

"Hah, I imagine that won't bE an issue a dozen light years from Earth." Ryan said as he floated into the connecting dock. "Hope you had your fill of Apple pie before you left."

As they entered the Tenacious the first thing that Comeau noticed was that the hallways were incredibly narrow and padded to reduce the chance of injury. The second thing he noticed was the seeming pull of gravity which was a convenient trick created by powerful Magenta which resided under his feet. The clothes he wore created a slight drag of resistance which did a sad job to mimic gravity, but it was better than floating around.

"Well, what do you want to see first? " asked Ryan.

"Well, I think it would be wise to drop off my luggage. After that, I figure I'd like to see what sort of bridge we'll be working with."

Comeau allowed himself to be planted somewhat firmly on the floor of the hallway, and felt mixed feelings on the fact that anything non-magnetic would have no weight. The luggage, for example, still barely felt like it weighed much, except for the occasional pull of the few metal items in his luggage.

"Which way to my quarters?"

"This way." He started down the corridor. "Lucky for us it's right by the bridge and ready room. Guess the techs decided it would be a good idea for the captain to be within a stones throw of the bridge." It didn't take them long to make it to the captain's quarters. Though Ryan's stride was slightly different he seemed accustomed to the artificial gravity. "Well, here we are."

When Comeau opens the door he finds the room rather sizable, barely furnished, and very much bare.

"You might want to decorate before we leave."

He dropped his luggage off in the center of the floor. He looked around the room, and started picturing where he might put certain belongings.
"If I'm going to be living here, I'll have plenty of time to decorate. I'll take out a few important things, though. While I do that, tell me; what's your take on our mission?"

Comeau took his smallest bag, and unzipped it. As he did so, some items began to slowly float, having been jostled, but lacking in magnetic properties. He removed the data tablets and other magnetic items from the bag, and started to replace the floating ones in the bag.

"What exactly do you feel we are out there to do?"

"Not once we leave Earth and the nearest furniture store caters to four armed two headed humanoids." Ryan smiled jokingly. "You're going to need some magnetic stickies for the stuff you plan on mounting. It's a pain, but its better than having your favorite statue go flying across the room during hard maneuvering."

Ryan crossed his hands behind his back. Though he felt he was growing comfortable with his new XO, he still had to cater to his military mannerisms. "You know the mission op...Explore strange new worlds and all that. Expand humanities reach into the galaxy and find new planets for habitation and exploitation in case the sun explodes or something."

"Well, I'll have to be sure to get myself some stickies before we leave the dock. There's no use in my setting anything up until I have them. And I know what the mission parameters are, I'm more interested in my first officer's perspective. What made you want to take off into space? I only really know what the personnel files say."

Finishing his repacking, he straightened up, and turned to Ryan.

"What are your motives? This isn't a test, just a question."

"I could give you the typical 'desire to explore the Galaxy and make a mark on the world' excuse, but I'll take that as permission to speak freely... Ex-wife took everything and thensome in the divorce. So I figure I might as well give her the planet as well."

"If you don't mind, sir, what's your reason?"

"I suppose it's only fair enough you know my reasons, too. And thank you for being frank.
I joined the military to pay for my schooling. I'm a zenobiologist, as well as a soldier. My qualifications lend to the job. I actually am, by this point in my life, driven to explore, I suppose."

He gestured towards the door.

"Speaking of exploring, I think it might be good to continue the tour at some point. Plenty of time for talking later."

Ryan nodded. "If you excuse my frankness, sir, but it takes a mighty big choice to basically exile yourself to outer space. You don't have anything back home?"

Ryan made his way out of the quarters, the doors sliding open with a star trek like swish. "I suppose we should take care of the more official parts of the ship like engineering and main weapons first?"

"I suppose it's only fair enough you know my reasons, too. And thank you for being frank.
I joined the military to pay for my schooling. I'm a zenobiologist, as well as a soldier. My qualifications lend to the job. I actually am, by this point in my life, driven to explore, I suppose."

He gestured towards the door.

"Speaking of exploring, I think it might be good to continue the tour at some point. Plenty of time for talking later."

Comeau followed Ryan, and continued alongside him.
"Engineering first. I can't imagine having to use our weapons any time soon. And right now it's just the two of us. I don't mind you being frank, I actually invite it. Just not in front of the crew. I am still pretty young. I'm in command of a ship, and I'm not thirty. I never really planted roots. I got the job because of my military training and my education. Neither of those really lend themselves to family life. If I find something, so be it."

"Aye, Aye." Ryan says in response to taking his new commander to engineering. One thing Ryan hadn't quite realized was the new of his new xo. He was actually older than the man standing next to him. It didn't matter to him. It was all a matter of whether he could do the job right and that would be left to see in the future. "You never know what's out there. We could be heading out into the wild west for all we know. If I've learned anything from life is that you should never make assumptions."

"Frankly, if we're heading into some astrological spaghetti western, what makes you think that our weapons will be effective? For all we know, some life-form might thrive on our weapon's explosive power. I want to be sure we're kept in one piece, and we can get the hell out of dodge if we have to. It's better not to be seen than to have to punch a hole in some sort of weaponised Dyson sphere with the galactic equivalent of a pellet gun. We're here to explore, and we really don't need to go making any enemies after the damage from the last war."

Comeau sighed, and stroked his beard for a second, as though brushing crumbs out of it.

"Besides. We've had our eyes turned to the sky for many years, and seen nothing indicating affirmative lifeforms. I of all people am not barring the possibility of intelligent life out there, but we have time. Our priority is to ensure that our ship can move if we have to. There's a whole lot more out there to worry about than aliens. Think about the logistics of maneuvering while travelling faster than light. Try not to hit anything without a top notch system."

He turned to Ryan, and stopped in front of the door to Engineering

"I'm not making assumptions, I'm being prudent. Weapons are useless if we're smashed apart by space debris, or don't have the power to launch a missile, right?"

Ryan laughed. "Why captain, your file didn't say anything about you being such an optimist." Ryan waved his hand in front of a biometric scanner by the door and the door swished open. "Restricted areas are obviously bio-locked." Ryan said absently. "Luckily, the Tenacious is as quick and stealthy as anything humanity has produced. If that fails, we've got a handful of thermo-nukes which should level off the playing field. As far as things go, this ship is probably the most dangerous ship in the fleet."

As they stepped into the engineering bay, Comeau was astonished by the sheer massiveness of the ships reactor and drive core. The ships crew were in a bustle preparing the ship for launch. Young faces were dashing to and fro with data slates and tools with looks of dedication on their face which gave Comeau a sense of relief. It was said he had the best of the best and it was definitely starting to look like it.

"You're going to love the chief. She's as much of an optimist as you seem to be. " Ryan smiled as he made his way to the chief engineers office.

Comeau chuckled, and followed Ryan to the Engineer's office,
"I just want this to be a smooth ride, is all. I don't want my favorite statue to get knocked around due to too much turbulence."

He looked around himself again, and couldn't help but thinking that these were all under his command. He had been in command before, on missions with much smaller crews, mostly quelling radicals left over from the war, but never on such an isolated mission. It was partially gratifying, in a way. If anything did go wrong, casualties could be limited to the crew. On the other hand, if anything went wrong, who would be there to assist?