Voyagers: SS Robert Heinlein

The Heinlein gets a surprise inspection from Admiral Valdez, the Spencer Colony’s Space Fleet Commander-in-Chief. Will Kyle and his crew be able to make a positive impression on the hard to please admiral?

 

Your emails are always appreciated and will be answered.

 

CHAPTER 22

 

SPENCER PLANET COLONY

 

By Douglas DD

Assisted by Zarek Dragon

 

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31

 

<On Board the Heinlein>

 

0730

 

Kyle sat at what had become the captain’s table in the executive dining room enjoying breakfast. Devin French and Steve Boyer, two of Kyle’s three executive officers, along with Chief Engineer Ronnie Robinson were enjoying breakfast with him. Brad Kanye, the third executive officer, had eaten an early breakfast and was in the Information Services computer room working with his techs to find out why the engineering computers had gone down. The table was usually set up to seat four but was capable of seating six.

 

The officers were more concerned with enjoying breakfast to start the day than official business, but Kyle had two things to announce before the enjoyment could begin. “The correction to the required vote for an ultra-majority has been made. Brad said info services would have it sent out by 0900. How’s your email to HQ progressing regarding their mistake, Steve?”

 

“Like Brad I’ll be ready to send at 0900,” Steve responded. “Between HQ not including all of the super-ultra majority communication when they copied the hard copy Space Fleet Manual to digital, we didn’t do our job and double check the digital copy against the hard copy. The result was we missed the oversight.”

 

“Sounds like laying a course at the astrogation table,” Devin said. “Always copy the course in writing in case the digital course is compromised. In this case we had the written information in the manual along with the digital information in our computer system. What we failed to do was check one against the other.”

 

“As I said in my email to HQ, once the proper information is digitized this problem shouldn’t happen again. I’ll send my draft to Kyle and Devin right after breakfast.”

 

“Sounds good,” Kyle said. “My finding that anonymous note in the inbox next to the door of my ready room helped.”

 

“Any idea who sent it?” Steve said.

 

“No idea at all,” Kyle lied.

 

’’You said you had two issues,” Ronnie reminded his brother, Kyle. He rather liked sitting in on an executive officer discussion. He figured he was as close to being an executive officer without actually being one as a person could get.

 

“The other is I had invited Captain Muthoni of the Intrepid to enjoy dinner on our ship yesterday, which he accepted. I thought it would be great to have a Space Fleet captain come aboard an Explorer ship and enjoy the best cuisine in the fleet. Plus, he would enjoy meeting Brad, a fellow Kenyan, and vice versa. Sadly, the Intrepid was called to leave at 1900 for a special mission and, as you know, we were running pretty late, and he couldn’t wait.”

 

“We made it in at 1930,” Ronnie pointed out. “I know his engines are capable of making up a couple of hours.”

 

“Tell him that. I decided it wasn’t in my best interest to get into a dispute with a Space Fleet captain—even a minor dispute.”

 

“I understand,” Devin said.

 

“I also sent Admiral Valdez and Governor Hallion invitations for dinner tomorrow. Valdez turned it down for both of them, but Devin and I are now invited to dinner at the Governor’s mansion instead.”

 

“That’s kind of a slap in the face as I see it,” Steve said.

 

“Protocol says they can do that and it’s not that uncommon to have the location of a meal with the captain switched, so let’s leave it at that.”

 

Kyle the diplomat shows his stuff, Ronnie mused. That hasn’t always been his style.

“I take it you accepted.”

 

Kyle nodded. “Devin and I will shuttle down at 1630 tomorrow. Steve will be in command in our absence. We’re not scheduled to depart until 2100, so that should give us plenty of time to eat and visit. One more thing—our delay made things a bit chaotic last night. Devin and I greeted our new crew members that the Intrepid delivered when they boarded. They are lieutenant Julio Hernandez, who is assigned to info services and Victor Hanson, who is assigned to culinary services. If the rest of you haven’t greeted them yet, I’d appreciate it if you did so before lunch. Brad and Ian have their newbies under their wings already.

 

“And that reminds me maybe the most important thing to tell you.”

 

“We’ve been ordered back to Earth for lessons on reading the Space Fleet Manual?” Steve asked.

 

“Better yet. Ian assures me that everything is set for Halloween fun tonight. We will have more than enough candy and baked goods to satisfy everyone. And those who want to replicate a costume have permission to do so, but it has to be one in the replication catalog. Now, I’ll shut up so we can at least enjoy some of our breakfast.”

 

“I’ll tell you bro, for a supposed non-meeting this was sure a long meeting. And you didn’t even have an agenda,” Ronnie said.

 

“Welcome to the world of executive officers,” Devin said.  

 

“It’s what separates the captain from the riffraff, bro,” Kyle responded.

 

Steve flipped Kyle the bird and said, “If I knew that all a captain needed to know was how to conduct a rambling, unscheduled meeting, I would have applied to be a captain long ago.”

 

“It’s never too late. Now, I want to shut up so I can eat.”

 

1145

 

<Space Fleet Shuttle SPC001>

 

Admiral Pedro Valdez sat in the lounge of the main terminal of the Spencer City Spaceport with his aide, Captain Harding, waiting for his shuttle to be towed onto the tarmac from the spaceport’s shuttle hangar. He knew that their journey to visit the Robert Heinlein was probably not going to be an enjoyable one. 

 

Valdez was commander-in-chief of Space Fleet operations at Spencer Planet Colony. This included that space station, the shuttle operation, the spaceport, and the two Space Fleet starships assigned to the colony. This was a job normally assigned to a commodore, but Valdez was close to retirement and requested the command with the idea of retiring at Spencer Colony with his wife and Boston terrier. He had been assigned there earlier in his career and had enjoyed the unhurried life of the beautiful planet; he saw it as a perfect retirement spot.

 

“From what I’ve heard from my sources at HQ, the Heinlein is in a bigger state of chaos than most Explorer ships,” Valdez said to Harding.

 

“Not meaning to disagree, sir, but aren’t most of the Explorer ships operating in a high state of efficiency?” Harding asked.

 

“Yes, they are. What I meant was, it was more chaotic than the other ships that are now efficiently commanded. I mean, from what I’ve heard it wouldn’t surprise me to witness a food fight in their dining room during lunch. And, considering everything, I’m willing to bet the food isn’t very good.” In fact, my contact at HQ told me there was an excellent chance of a food fight.

 

“So, what you meant to say without saying is that the Heinlein is in the biggest state of chaos of all the other Explorer ships, right?”

 

“You are spot on, Captain. It appears Admiral Robinson’s son is way over his head. It was why I convinced Governor Hallion to find an excuse to have tonight’s dinner in the Governor’s mansion. Having the dinner on the Heinlein would give the boy and his minions a chance to prepare for the visit. His preparation would keep me from getting an accurate view of the state of the ship. Hence, this surprise inspection,” Valdez grinned.

 

“And you know this how, sir?”

 

“I know this because of a high level contact I have in HQ who happens to be related to a member of the Heinlein’s crew.”

 

“You’ve done almost everything you can to hide that you are on board the shuttle. But there is one thing that I’m curious about.”

 

“What would that be?”

 

“Why are you taking the admiralty shuttle instead of a standard shuttle? Aren’t you kind of giving away your presence?”

 

“You give those urchins too much credit. There is no way they have the wherewithal to know that the shuttle we’re taking is the Space Fleet admiralty shuttle for Spencer. And even if they did, it doesn’t mean I’m on board since it does have other uses. And I’ve ordered Spencer dispatch to confirm that I have nothing scheduled on that shuttle. In the long run, it is used more for other business than as my transport. After all, it is the most luxurious and comfortable shuttle of the seven Space Fleet shuttles assigned to Spencer.”

 

“That makes sense to me, especially since I booked it.  I just wanted to make sure you were aware of the entire situation.”

 

“That’s what I like about you, Cal, you are a master at covering all the bases.”

 

Their session was interrupted when Commander Orson, the terminal commander, entered the lounge and told Valdez and Harding that the shuttle was ready to load. They went to the tarmac where Lieutenant Commander Adam Tucker, their pilot, was waiting to greet them. He gave the admiral a salute and told him that Petty Officer Frank Bronson, the admiral’s attendant, was already on board, as was Lieutenant Linda Hoffman, who would be the copilot.

 

Meanwhile, on the Heinlein, Kyle was enjoying lunch with Ronnie and Brad in the executive dining room when his communicator sounded the ring tone indicating an urgent communication. He checked the screen and saw that it was from Steve. He set the communicator to speaker call.

 

“What’s up Steve?” Kyle asked. “I have Ronnie and Brad listening in.”

 

“The communication station on the bridge just received a request to dock at one of the airlocks from an incoming Space Fleet shuttle from Spencer.”

 

Warren Raleigh, who was filling in for Douglas Devlin, was manning the station. Devlin was on Spencer’s surface on a field trip arranged by Ali for the students in the ship’s school as well as the younger officers. Raleigh said the shuttle pilot informed him that the passenger wished to be anonymous and was ordering the lieutenant to give them a berth without informing the command of the Heinlein.  Kyle knew that Raleigh would have identified himself as Lieutenant Raleigh when he acknowledged the communication from the shuttle.

 

“What did Raleigh say to our mystery guest?” Kyle asked.

 

“He said he couldn’t assign a berth without knowing who the shuttle was bringing,” Steve said.

 

“Good for him, he followed the Explorer Manual protocol by the book.’’

 

“Okay, just got two new bits of information from Brad’s boys at information services. First, the shuttle is SPC001, which is Admiral Valdez’s assigned shuttle. Second, our boys intercepted a communication verifying Admiral Valdez is on board.”

 

“Hmm, interesting that the communication wasn’t scrambled.”

 

“Raleigh says he will be faced with disciplinary action if he doesn’t assign the shuttle a berth, which verifies the admiral’s presence all by itself.”

 

“Put me in touch with Raleigh,” Kyle said.

 

“Raleigh here, captain,” came the lieutenant’s voice.

 

“Good job handling the situation, Lieutenant. Switch me into the communication.”

 

“You’ll be linked right away.” A couple of seconds later Raleigh told him it was go.

 

“Greetings, Admiral Valdez,” Kyle said casually. “This is Captain Robinson. I understand you’d like to pay the Heinlein a visit”. Shit. How did that pissant junior captain figure that out?      the admiral fumed. “I have instructed Lieutenant Raleigh to assign you an airlock for berthing.”

 

Valdez turned to Cal . “The only way those urchins would know we were on this shuttle would be if they intercepted our communications.”

 

“Did you scramble them?”  Harding asked.

 

“Why? It would be against Space Fleet regulations to listen in on our communications. Besides what reason would they have to do so?”

 

Harding knew that there was no regulation against listening in on a communication. What the regulation said was that an outside party could not break into the communication without reason. Not for the first time he wondered how Valdez attained the rank of admiral. On the other hand, the fact that his command was on a distant, barely settled colony that a commodore would often be assigned to command, said something about Valdez’s status.

 

Lieutenant Raleigh then told Commander Tucker that he was turning him over to Lieutenant Gross in the Heinlein’s flight command center to give him his berth instructions.

 

Lieutenant Gross let Kyle know that Valdez was heading for the starboard airlock. Kyle logged onto the ship’s PA and made a ship wide announcement, including all of the ship’s quarters. He simply said, “VIP docking,” confident that the crew would know how to react. It was something they had drilled during their shakedown cruise.

 

At 1210 the SPC001 connected with the starboard airlock and Harding and Valdez boarded the Heinlein where they were met by the ship’s four executive officers: Kyle, Devin, Steve, and Brad. Kyle greeted the admiral and his aide and introduced himself and his three executive officers, whereupon Valdez formally introduced himself and Captain Harding.

 

Valdez was surprised at how young Kyle looked. He found it hard to believe that the junior captain looked even younger than he had imagined. What surprised him even more was how efficiently Kyle and his executive officers handled the formal introductions of a flag officer. The junior captain probably learned what to do from his doting father, who no doubt plotted out his son’s promotion to captain of the newest and largest ship in the fleet, Valdez thought.  

“I assume you’re here for a tour and inspection of the ship,” Kyle said.

 

“You have that correct, Captain,” Valdez responded. “However, being hungry, I believe a sampling of the…um…cuisine of your galley should be the first order of business.”

 

“Then how about you and Captain Harding accompany Commander French and me to the ship’s dining room.”

 

“Lead the way, Captain.”

 

Ship’s dining room? Not the ship’s mess hall? How very hoity toity for a ship whose meals have been reported to be second rate, Valdez thought. But then, the reports I was sent don’t seem to have been very accurate so far. Oh well, let’s see how the crew is behaving in the dining room.

Don Nixon was sitting at a table in the main dining room with Everett, Barney Werney, Jim Maxwell, and Alex Khoury, from Tactical/Security, whom Don was taking a look at as a possible Guardian, when the announcement of a VIP docking came over the intercom. Right away he wondered if he could take advantage of what was most likely a surprise visit. Maybe his table could create a ruckus to show that Kyle Robinson was nowhere close to being in control of his ship.

 

“This might be the big break we’ve been looking for,” Don told Everett. “A food fight could be just what is needed to bring Captain Loser to his knees.”

 

“I don’t agree,” Everett said. Don gave him a look that said, What the fuck do you mean you don’t agree? Don’t you realize my admiral daddy at HQ said he… but he kept quiet so he could hear Everett out. Don wished Ben Kennedy wasn’t doing pilot training with Danny because he was learning to trust his opinion in the brief time he’d known him. His blowup with Kyle showed Don that the lieutenant was willing to stand his ground against the ship’s commander.

 

“I don’t think this is big enough to risk ourselves over,” Everett explained. “Look around you. Do you think everybody is going to stand up in front of an admiral and throw food because you decided to hit somebody with a sandwich?”

 

 Admiral daddy disagrees with you. “I’d yell food fight before I threw the sandwich.”

 

“And that would be enough to set off the entire crew in the dining room? Everybody, including Kyle and the admiral, will know who threw the first sandwich. And do you think the admiral is just going to hand you command of the ship because you aimed a sandwich nicely?”

 

“Jim, what do you think?” Don asked his second in command.

 

“I agree with Everett,” Jim said.

 

Don could see he got way too eager too quickly. Even Ben would say that. He realized that if the food fight materialized it might make Kyle look bad in front of an admiral, but it wouldn’t be enough to topple him out of the captain’s chair. He was more likely to earn a reprimand and a black mark in his file. He wondered why his admiral didn’t realize that. It was the first time Don disagreed with his mentor.

 

“You’re both right,” Don said, reluctantly. “I just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page and you both would be willing to stand up to me for wanting to do something that isn’t right. Something big enough to bring down Kyle has to be something that threatens the safety and well-being of the Heinlein.” Don congratulated himself for thinking fast and saving face. But he felt it was more important to keep his Guardians together and on the same page than to make an admiral who was light years away happy.

 

I wonder what the admiral’s motive is, Don thought. It’s almost like his goal is to simply have Kyle removed as captain and not to put me in a position to become the new captain of the Heinlein. The food fight was almost guaranteed to keep that from happening.

Don’s thoughts were interrupted when Kyle entered the main dining room accompanied by Devin French, Captain Harding, and Admiral Valdez.

 

Valdez scanned the dining room. He noted that the layout was different than that of most starships. He made a mental note to ask Kyle or Steve the reason for the unconventional layout.

 

But the thing that impressed him the most was the deportment of the crew members eating lunch. They were engaged in eating and in friendly chat. There was no sign of behavior over the top or any hint of a possible food fight breaking out. The young crew members appear to be enjoying their lunch, so it can’t be too awful, Valdez thought.

 

The next thing the admiral noticed was First Officer French pushing something on his communicator that set off the loud ringing of a gong. The sound immediately quieted the lunch crowd. “Thank you for your quick attention,” French said. “Captain Robinson would like to introduce our guests.”

 

The admiral had never witnessed an officer using the gong sound or something like it for getting attention before and was suitably impressed by the procedure. What was supposed be a raucous, chaotic crew, showed that instead they were a well-trained group. It interested him that the first officer rather than the captain took charge of getting the crew member’s attention and that the captain didn’t address the crew until they were quiet and attentive. While the protocol of the first officer bringing a group to order was frequently used, he was surprised that the young captain followed the protocol instead of focusing the crew’s attention immediately  on himself.

 

Kyle thanked the crew for giving their quick attention. “I would like to introduce Admiral Valdez and his chief aide Captain Harding who have come on board the Heinlein for a tour and inspection and to confirm that the crew is as amazing as we all know we are,” Kyle said.

 

Valdez and Harding each nodded his head upon hearing his name. “They will both be having lunch to sample our fantastic service.” Kyle gave the admiral a look, indicating that if he had a response to his introduction this would be the time to say it.

 

“Thank you for the introduction, Captain Robinson. I must say I’m impressed by what I’ve seen so far of this beautiful ship and its well-trained crew. Well done.” His look indicated he was finished.

 

“We appreciate those kind words, Admiral.” He looked around the crew and said, “As you were, gentlemen.” The chatter started up again, with a little more excitement added to it because of the surprise visit and the kind words of the admiral. Devin led Valdez and Harding to the Executive Dining room and they all sat at Kyle’s table.

 

Donald looked around his table and said, “What a total crock of shit that was. You saw that the baby captain relied on his first officer to get order, which he seems to do most of the time. That should tell you something about him.”

 

“Yeah, it tells me that the baby captain is a wuss,” Jim smirked.

 

Before leaving the dining room to greet Admiral Valdez, Kyle had told Tanner Offerman, the usual waiter in the Executive Dining Room, to set his table for five in a VIP setup. He was pleased when Head Chef Ian McFlynn and Tanner both greeted the four-officer contingent when they entered the dining room. Valdez was seated in Kyle’s usual seat at the head of the table. Captain Harding was seated on the admiral’s left, Kyle on his right, Devin to the left of Kyle, and Steve stood at the other end of the table from Valdez. Kyle had told Steve to join the group upon their arrival in the dining room.

 

After everyone except Steve was seated, Kyle stood and faced Admiral Valdez. “Sir, I would like to introduce Commander Boyer, the ship’s Chief of Operations and Second Officer. Commander, meet our distinguished guest, Admiral Pedro Valdez.” Kyle breathed a sigh of relief at getting everything said without stumbling over his tongue. The introduction couldn’t have gone any better if he had practiced it.

 

Steve walked around the table and shook the admiral’s hand. “Welcome aboard the Heinlein, Admiral. While I’m certain you will enjoy your tour, please let me know if there is anything I can do to make it better.”

 

“Thank you, Commander. So far, my tour has been more than satisfactory, but I will be sure to let you know if there’s something more that I need to know. Experience has shown that nobody knows his ship better than the Chief of Operations.”

 

Tanner came into the dining room and addressed Valdez and Harding. “Welcome to the Heinlein’s executive dining room, Sirs. Lunch is generally served buffet style, but Captain Robinson told us this would be a VIP lunch. While the choices are the same as the buffets’, I will be taking your orders and bring them fresh from the kitchen and serving everyone at the table. If you check the message center on your communicators you will see the full menu.”

 

The diners all checked their message centers and gave their orders verbally. Usually, when tables are being served, the diners enter their choices into the communicator. But when it came to VIP meals, Kyle and Chef McFlynn both agreed that the personal touch was the proper way to handle the ordering and serving process.

 

Kyle saw that meatloaf was one of the lunch features on the menu. He loved McFlynn’s meatloaf; ordering the complete lunch, which featured fries and a salad, was a no brainer for him. Captain Harding followed Kyle’s lead and ordered the meatloaf lunch. Admiral Valdez considered ordering a French dip sandwich with a salad.

 

“How fresh are the salad vegetables?” Valdez asked Tanner. He had visions of vegetables that had been  quick frozen and were often rubbery and tasteless after they were thawed.

 

“They are fresh from our hydroponic farm, which is the pride and joy of our science department,” Tanner said.

 

“These ships have hydroponic farms? I know many starships have hydroponic gardens, but not hydroponic farms.”

 

“You’ll get a good look at it on your tour,” Kyle told him.

 

“I’m looking forward to it. Very well, I’ll take the French dip and a mixed vegetable salad with honey mustard dressing.”

 

After Tanner had taken all of the orders, he left to get them filled. It didn’t take him long to return with a cart carrying the lunches of the five officers at the Captain’s table.

 

Valdez took a bite of the salad first. His face lit up as he chewed and swallowed. “That was wonderful. The lettuce is crisp and the tomato juicy and tasty.”

 

Next came a bite of the French dip sandwich. He dipped it, chewed it, and nodded. Before saying anything, he took another, bigger bite. This was not the stale bread and tasteless pile of beef he had been expecting. And the French dip may have been the best he ever tasted. “Oh my, is your standard, everyday fare this good?” he asked the table in general.

 

“As good or better,” Devin replied. Kyle was pleased that Devin answered. He didn’t want to be the only officer talking. He liked that Devin took the initiative. The way Kyle saw it was if Devin French wasn’t the best first officer in the Explorer fleet, he couldn’t imagine who was.

 

“Tanner, please ask the chef to come out of his kitchen hidey hole. I wish to speak to him,” Valdez requested.

 

“Yes sir. I’ll let him know,” Tanner said. Tanner could have used his communicator to ask for Ian to come out, but it was another example of the personal touch, albeit in a roundabout way.

 

“Hmm, our first officer appears to be a lunch cannibal,” Steve said.

 

“I beg your pardon,” Valdez said. He was stunned by the comment.

 

“Well, think about it. We have Devin French eating French dip sandwich along with French fries. What am I supposed to think?” Kyle was ready to hide under the table. He loved Steve who was a fine officer and a great friend, but sometimes he suffered from foot-in-mouth disease.

 

Admiral Valdez gave Steve a glare that had him quaking. But with Kyle and Devin both fighting smiles and Captain Harding trying hard not to chuckle, the admiral broke out into loud laughter, which had the entire table, including Steve, laughing as well.

 

“You have to love a ship that has executive officers who possess a sense of humor,” the admiral said.

 

Ian McFlynn came into the dining room wondering what the laughter was about, but he decided to stick to his purpose for coming. “You wished to speak to me, Admiral?”

 

“Yes. I wanted to compliment you on an outstanding lunch. I just enjoyed the best French dip I’ve ever had, anywhere. And I must tour the hydroponic farm and give my compliments to the Science Department horticulturalist for the wonderful job being done there.”

 

Dessert was a choice of peach cobbler or an ice cream sundae. Once the Executive Officers and their guests were finished with dessert, Kyle and Steve resumed their guests’ tour of the ship. Devin excused himself, saying he was scheduled to substitute on the bridge watch. Admiral Valdez thanked him for the great job he was doing and then the tour continued. As the admiral had requested, the next stop on the tour would be the Science Department.

 

Valdez and Captain Harding were met in the entry foyer by Lieutenant Logan Wilson, the Chief of Science. He saluted the visitors and welcomed them to the Science Department. Valdez was surprised at the youth of the science chief. He expected someone aged 15 or more; instead, he was greeted by a boy of 12 or 13.

 

“I understand you have a rather large hydroponics farm. I would love to see it,” Admiral Valdez said.

 

“We are quite proud of it and believe it is one of the best in the fleet,” Logan said. He called over Caleb and Bobby Brown who had been waiting at the entrance to a large area. They looked so young that Valdez thought they were dependents who weren’t in school for whatever reason. But Logan surprised him.

 

“Admiral, I’m pleased to introduce Caleb Brown, our horticulturist and his brother Robert, our chief botanist,” Logan said. “Their chief area of responsibility is the hydroponics farm.”

 

The brothers presented the Admiral with a sharp salute. “It is an honor to have you as a guest on the Heinlein, and we appreciate your interest in our farm,” Caleb said.

 

Instead of saluting, the admiral held out his right hand for a handshake. “You boys look quite young for such a big responsibility. And I don’t mean that in a bad way, it’s just I’m curious as to how you were given a huge responsibility.”

 

“I’m not too young for that. I’m twelve years old,” Caleb said proudly.

 

“And I’m almost eleven,” Bobby boasted. “We both lived on a farm since we were born, so we know a lot about growing stuff.”

 

“Bobby and I have done farm work for as long as we can remember and learned from our parents how farms work. We did a big hydroponic structure on the farm and that’s where we did more of our work. And that’s what we do here.”

 

Valdez was impressed by how confident and articulate Caleb was. He was quickly learning that many of the young crew members on the Heinlein were knowledgeable and mature beyond their years, and that was from the captain on down.

 

“Aaron Masterson, who is fourteen, is also a horticulturist,” Logan said. “He takes care of most of what we call the business end of the farm. That mostly consists of how much of what food needs to be planted, and that’s based on what Chef McFlynn’s future menus require. He’s on the planet with Lieutenant Carter, one of our science assistants, getting information about the colony’s farms.”

 

The brothers, along with Logan and Kyle, then took Valdez and Harding on a tour of the farm. Both of them managed to show off their knowledge and their pride in the farm without talking over each other.

 

When the hydroponics tour ended, Valdez thanked Logan and the Brown brothers for the great tour and their great work. Kyle and Steve then took Valdez to engineering where they introduced him to Ronnie, who explained some of the unique aspects of the ship’s engines. Valdez knew from reading Kyle’s official fleet biography that Ronnie was his adopted brother.

 

The next stop was Operations, which was Steve’s domain. Valdez noted the costumes hanging in the replicator room. “It appears you’re ready for Halloween,” the admiral grinned.

 

“Yes, sir,” Steve said proudly. “The boys who wanted to wear costumes ordered them in advance. Many of them have picked theirs up. As you no doubt know regulations say costumes can’t be worn until after 1700 and that masks cannot be worn except in the party room that has been created on the holodeck.”

 

Having had little connection with Explorer ships whose crew members were eighteen and under, Valdez did not in fact know those regulations, which was something that he was not about to admit. “What is it that you plan on wearing, Commander Boyer?” Valdez asked.

 

“I will be wearing a toga,” Steve said.

 

“And what about you, Captain Robinson?”

 

“I plan to be a dragon,” Kyle replied. “But I will only be wearing it to the party.”

 

“And you’ll be in uniform otherwise?”

 

“Think about it sir;  my face will not make a very convincing dragon face.”

 

“You make a good point, Captain.” Just like your face does not make a very convincing captain face…and yet, in spite of myself, I find myself believing that you make a very convincing captain.

“Thank you, sir,” Kyle said. “In case you were wondering, there will be some trick-or-treating, mostly by the younger crewmembers and the dependents. They’ll be going from department to department. The dining area will have some fruit to give out but most of their treats will be served at the party.”

 

“Like so much on the ship, I can see that you and your officers have everything well planned out,” Admiral Valdez said, much to Kyle’s surprise.

 

The full tour ended on the bridge where Valdez and Harding were introduced to the skeleton crew manning the watch. Because the ship was secured in orbit, the bridge was on code blue. That meant that usually only three of the seven watch stations were occupied. However, with activity surrounding the admiral’s visit Kyle had ordered Steve to schedule four on the current watch.

 

Kyle and Steve then escorted Valdez and Harding to the starboard airlock where they boarded the SPC001 shuttle.

 

“What do you think, Steve?” Kyle asked his Operations Chief after the airlock was secured.

 

“No question in my mind that it went really well,” Steve replied. “I think the good admiral came here all skeptical about what a big ship with a pissant little boy for a captain was going to be like and left thinking we’re one awesomely great ship. I bet we get a kick ass rating from him.”

 

“I have to agree with you. Everybody did a great job, even Don Nixon who didn’t start the food fight it looked like he was going to start,” Kyle said. “But I have to wonder why he was even thinking about it at the same time we had a visiting admiral on board.”

 

“Are you thinking it was suggested by his mysterious HQ contact?” Steve asked.

 

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

 

“You gotta wonder what those Guardian assholes are going to do next.”

 

“Whatever the plan, we’ve got to make sure we’re ready to deal with it.”

 

“Amen to that, my friend, amen to that.”

 

<Aboard the shuttle Gustave Holst>

 

1530

 

The visiting students from the Heinlein’s ship school were boarding the Holst at the Spencer City Space Terminal. Brent Maverick was the pilot and Ben Kennedy the copilot. It was Ben’s first pilot assignment since his blow up with Kyle. Despite that, Danny Robinson approved his pilot certification claiming he had no reason not to. However, keeping the certificate valid would be dependent on his future attitude. At least that was what Danny said officially.

 

The bulk of the shuttle’s passengers were students at the ship’s school. Nine of the eleven regular students had made the field trip to Spencer Planet. The Brown brothers remained on board the Heinlein to do farm work and be available if Aaron Masterson contacted them to ask questions or to share information, which he did a couple of times.

 

Aaron Masterson and Science Assistant Clark Carter also boarded. They had deposited three containers of seed in the shuttle’s storage area before boarding.

 

Ali Bukabazi, another Science officer, and Gilbert Kirby, the ship’s recreation director, boarded as well. Ali was on the field trip in his role as the headmaster of the ship’s school and Gilbert acted as chaperone, helping Ali keep the gaggle of boys focused and on task.  Their young charges were ramped up talking about what they had seen, especially the exotic animals they saw at the wildlife park. He quieted the boys down, telling them the pilots needed to be able to communicate with each other and with traffic control.

 

“You can amaze your parents and guardians after you board the Heinlein,” he promised them. The boys quickly quieted down.

 

Since all of the expected passengers for this shuttle flight were on board and the boys had quieted down, Ben shut and locked the hatches. He and Maverick then went through the pre-takeoff check list and soon the Holst was racing down the runway and turning into a vertical takeoff. Twenty minutes later the shuttle was guided into the Heinlein’s shuttle bay by Jesse Gross.

 

As soon as the shuttle was secured, Ben and Gilbert led the passengers in an orderly disembarkation. Ali brought up the rear and kept the boys moving in an orderly fashion. Soon the boys were in the shuttle bay foyer where most of them had a parent or guardian waiting to greet them.

 

Kyle and Danny were both waiting for the thundering herd, as Kyle called the group of chatty young boys who poured into the foyer.

 

“Opsolaic (fathers), you’re here to meet us,” Duskin called out as he ran up to Kyle and gave him a hug. Koji, who was right behind his brother, hugged Danny. The boys then switched daddies to hug.

 

“Guess what, they had a piano in their museum building and it was a big grand piano and I sat down and played Mozart and they let me keep playing and I got applauded when I finished and it was so much fun and I wish you could have been there,” Duskin gushed in what seemed like one breath.

 

“Whoa, slow down, son. Give us time to digest all of this,” Kyle grinned.

 

After all of the boys, including Koji and Duskin, were quieted, Gibert led the boys and adults to the holodeck where Perry Fox, the holodeck manager, had set up an auditorium for the group. The boys were soon called on by Ali to share their experiences. From them the parents, guardians, and interested crew members with time to spare heard the boys sharing what they saw and learned.

 

The museum covered not only the first Space Fleet landings in Spencer Planet Colony, it also covered the construction of Spencer City and two other smaller towns. Duskin gave a much more coherent telling of the museum piano and his being able to play it. The piano was the first piano on the planet and was now available to museum visitors for public playing. They also learned about the planet’s geography, flora, and fauna, including long extinct species.

 

At the wildlife preserve, they got to see current wildlife in an enclosed area. They were pretty much able to run wild in their large enclosures.

 

Shasho Boyer finished by saying that the classroom students would have to write an essay on what they saw and learned. “I am looking forward to writing it and telling everything I learned, and I know all my friends are too,” is how he concluded his presentation.

 

Ali opened the floor to questions. Since everyone in the audience was an Explorer, they were bright boys with outgoing personalities, resulting in around fifteen minutes worth of questions directed at Ali, Gilbert, individual boys, and the boys in general. Kyle brought an end to the questioning to keep Ali from being the bad guy. Ali thanked everyone for coming and the session broke up.

 

While the gathering in the holodeck was taking place, Aaron Masterson and Clark Carter transported their boxes to the science department where they were met by Caleb and Bobby Brown. The boxes contained seeds and sprouts that were given to them by one of the farmers they visited on Spencer.

 

“Looks like you gave us plenty of good stuff to plant,” Caleb said. “We even have room for some of it.”

 

“I don’t know if we can use all of it, but I took plants that we weren’t growing,” Aaron said.

 

“Like raspberries and strawberries. Wow, awesome,” Bobby said.

 

"I know that the different varieties of grain will make Chef Ian more than happy,” Aaron said. The ship’s hydroponic farm grew only one variety of wheat.

 

“The garlic could give Ian an orgasm when he hears about it. It means that now he won’t have to replicate it,” Caleb said.

 

There were a few other foods. The four science officers unpacked the boxes and placed the seeds and sprouts in storage bins. The first thing Caleb wanted to do was plan what they would grow and where. He was ready for the challenge.

 

That evening at dinner, Kyle and Danny had fun talking to their two super intelligent sons, who were on their best Executive Dining room behavior. Kyle and Danny were thankful for the wonderful pair of boys they had in their lives at a young age. They had shared with each other more than once that being parents at their young age made them even more grown up and mature than they would have been otherwise.

 

The Halloween celebration went off without a hitch. Almost all of the crew wore costumes of some kind. The younger boys loved trick-or-treating. After the day’s activities the Robinson clan settled into the captain’s cabin. Koji and Duskin challenged Danny and Kyle’s growing maturity by talking their ears off as they recounted their adventures on the planet and their Halloween activities. But because of that maturity, instead of getting on their nerves the boys’ hour of constant babbling filled their opsolas with pride and love.

 

Next: First Mission