Ship roles

Dustin’s face rapidly tinted red as he spun around, jeans in hand. “Meli’a, I’m so sorry! I should have shut the door or something!” He babbled, half attempting to close the door and half get his leg into his trousers. “Just a moment” he managed at last, hitting the door mechanism and flopping to the floor as it shut. After pulling on his trousers and a fresh t-shirt, he very carefully face-palmed. “Great first impressions, idiot. Perv on her and then meet her while nearly naked. Well done Dustin, you truly are humanities finest” he muttered to himself from behind his palm before straightening up and opening the door with what he hoped was an apologetic look on his face.

His chief science officer meanwhile was sat in one of the chairs at the long table, regarding him with her ears in what he clearly recognised as the amused position. “If I had known the uniform for official meetings was underwear, I would not have turned up so overdressed” she said, before flickering her ears into a more questioning position. “How was that for tone? I was aiming for sarcasm with light humour?” Dustin shook his head as he sank into a chair opposite her. “Sadness, light though - like you’ve gone out to enjoy yourself only to find the place you were going is closed. But that’s not the point right now - I really apologise for that situation. I’m not used to the idea of my quarters also being an office to tell the truth.”

Meli’a laughed then - it was stilted, sure, but it was a laugh - and her ears flickered as she did so. “You should stop apologising captain. For starters, I should have requested permission before entering the suite - that is correct for human culture is it not? And it’s not like I saw anything unusual. You are an ambassador after all.” Dustin blinked at that, pushing his ears into “genuine surprise” to be on the safe side as he asked “what exactly do you mean, I’m an ambassador so it’s not unusual?” The Velca woman stared at him for a moment, then shook her head. “If you were not told, then we should discuss other matters first captain. It is a rather complicated and technical discussion and while not a boring one by any means” - and here he was pretty sure she actually meant to give him a borderline flirtatious look. Probably. She was at least trying to match human emotional responses after all - “it is still one that might be better addressed once we have reviewed the crew situation, my place on the ship and other more mundane matters.”

With a somewhat worried nod from Dustin, she tapped on her tablet for a moment before the middle of the table lit up with a holographic projection of the ship. “Starting with the crew situation first of all; we have an AI that is capable of basic operation of most systems - however it is inefficient to run everything automatically given the scope of the mission. The recommendation for this type of voyage is to build a multi-species crew; this will enable the different species to see how well they get along with a human, and the council can review how effective a human is at captaining a range of different individuals.” Dustin nodded - so far, this was the same basic stuff that both Re’x and General Axworth had drilled into him from virtually the minute they’d been introduced. “What are your suggestions for roles?” He asked, looking at a series of question marks dotted across the projection.

Highlighting the marks one at a time, Meli’a began to list the different jobs she thought they needed. “First of all, we need an engineer. I’m able to act in that capacity if needed, but my understanding is theoretical not practical. If we need patch repairs or to eke the most out of the systems, we need someone dedicated for that role.” Dustin nodded, his thoughts suddenly turning back to Rye’s strange message for a moment before the Velca continued. “Second, while we are still gaining the initial signatures and approvals required I would recommend we prioritise gaining a diplomatic advisor - someone skilled in cultural clues. I’d like to believe I’m probably the best expert the Velca have on human culture at this point, but I have little to no knowledge of the Rabyth or the Feliax for example. They can advise you where I can’t, and once we start exploring new systems they’ll be able to help with new first contacts.”

She paused then, tapping her chin thoughtfully while staring at the ceiling before continuing “after that, it depends on how the mission is going as to which is the most important. A decent xeno-science team to support me in biology and botany would be handy, but then so would a good cook. Automat pre-packaged meals only go so far when you have a varied crew after all. Some form of security officer would help with manning point defense against meteors and planetary security during away missions. Researchers beyond that would be great too - anyone that can add to the knowledge we gain will help raise the mission in the eyes of the galaxy and thus our odds of success. You also need a first officer too, but there’s not much point in discussing that while there are precisely two people aboard.”

Dustin looked at the floating question marks for a moment and then nodded to himself. “Sola, please access jump paths for Rabythion. We’ll see how human-weave interactions go, but if there isn’t an obvious route we’ll have to go on whatever pre-planned jumps we can, even if that’s back to earth and then out again. I know we didn’t get given a full set of galactic transit routes in case we decided to go rogue.” That last comment being directed to Meli’a even as the computer acknowledged his order. After that, he gestured for the woman to continue. “Very well captain. Next, my place on the ship - as you know, I am a candidate assigned to you by the Research Council. But I want you to know that my loyalty is to the mission. Humans are amazing and you deserve a chance to see the galaxy. Also, the Research Council are a bunch of old idiots who don’t like any new perspectives.” She didn’t actually stick out her tongue (or do the ear flicks that were the Velca equivalent) but Dustin felt that was only because she was trying to appear professional in front of her new commander. “I’m a scientist first and foremost - I hold standard level qualifications from the Velca Prime academy in Chemistry, Astrophysics, AI computing, Communication studies, and Xenoanthropology as well as minor qualifications in Xenobiology, Xenobotany and a handful of other fields. Additionally, I majored in Xenosociology with a focus on human culture and civilization, so as a result I believe I can give answers to a massive range of questions.” Here, she took a breath before continuing “however, for many subjects my answers will be only as good as any other Velca with my level of experience, hence my recommendation that we seek additional scientists. I can fill in for most of the roles on the ship right now, but as I believe the human saying goes Jackal of many trades, Mister of none.”

Dustin couldn’t help himself but chuckle at that, before answering more formally. “Sorry, the saying is Jack of all trades, Master of none - Jackal is a kind of dog thing, while Jack refers to jobs and names. And Mister is used to address people formally where as Master implies a level of control or understanding. Or, because our language is like that it can also be the word used instead of mister when dealing with young men from the upper echelons of society. In any case though, I appreciate your clear view of your abilities; I agree that specialists are important, but as one of my senior officers having someone with a wide skill base will be incredibly useful. I’m going to be honest too - you know I’m just average for a human, but as a result I’m not really good at anything asides from winging it. I believe the closest Velca expression translated into my language would be…” and here Meli’a spoke at the same time as he did “correctly guessing the answer to a research project regardless of importance a statistically significant number of times.” They both stared at each other for a moment, before both bursting into laughter.

After the laughter had settled down, Meli’a continued her briefing. “Beyond that, there are some cargo recommendations I would make - things we should stock up on at various ports. I’ll send a list over to you for review later on. Also, I am aware that you have been up for quite some time now with the initial flight and the travel into system. Do you wish to rely on the AI or should I take a watch? If so, we should probably arrange an overlap so that we can continue our discussion.” Dustin shook his head slightly. “I’m alright - I’ve only been up for about twelve or fourteen hours so far between the system travel jumps. And if I remember my training correctly the weave exit at Rabythion is quite far out from the system, a ten hour or so flight usually. We should get to the jump in about five hours more, so I’ll push through to the far side and then get some sleep while we’re coasting in. Rabyth traffic control is automated due to the size of their shipyards…” and here he mentally thanked his studies back on earth for the random factoid before concluding “…so we’ll be safe to let Sola handle taking us in to dock and can both get some sleep then.”