The Bridge

You're greeted at the bridge by three other people. CPT Gray, LT Davenport, and "Lucky" Flannigan.

"Hey there's Ace." Patrick says as you you float into the room.

"Good morning Sam. I'm sorry for waking you up," CPT Gray nods to you, "it was a rather uncomfortable experience for me, and Juliet and Patrick seem to have had similar experiences so I'm going to assume that yours wasn't as easy as the briefing I got let on. We're just waiting on Giles, our surgeon, to arrive before we address our reason for being awake."

"I suppose that means we have a problem then." you sigh. "Why am I awake and not one of the officers, Captain?"

"Call me Beatrice, Sam, we're too far out for the Federation to matter now and I'd rather have your respect as a person than as a soldier. However, being a soldier is the reason I wanted your input. I need your instincts, and your ability to make a decision and stick with it. Two qualities that are in short supply on this ship if my crew files are to be believed."

"Besides," LT Davenport piped up, "You've already met Cass so we don't have to waste any time explaining who she is."

You make the note on the people who are awake now. The Captain, the pilot, the boy-genius engineer, the surgeon, and yourself. "Where is our Surgeon now?" you ask.

"Here." a woman says behind you. You turn to see a rather imposing figure, beautiful features to be sure, but this lady was a giantess. "Since I only know our Captain allow me to introduce myself. I am Virginia Lillian Elizabeth Giles the third, you may call me Dr. Giles, if I like you you may call me Lily, but never call me Virginia, Vagina, or any other name that begins with the letter V. I'm the chief medical officer for this ship."

"Wow, I'm going to need the story on that introduction later. In the meantime, I'm Lieutenant Juliet Davenport. Your charming and hilarious pilot for this party cruise."

Dr. Giles raises an eyebrow but say nothing. Then she fixes her eyes on you.

"Sargent Sam Jones, I'm on the exterior maintenance team."

"Hardly qualifications for the Captain to want you to make a vital ship decision. Bea, who is he?"

"Just who he said."

"You're hiding something, fess up or I leave."

CPT Gray smiled, completely unafraid of the towering woman, "He's the only other member of this crew with combat leadership experience. He re-wrote the combat drone software for his military division in his free-time less than three months after graduating tech-school, and that software was later adapted as the core to this ships VR piloting interface. He didn't have the rank to be given authority on this ship when the Federation was assigning crew members, but now that we're out here he's officially my First Mate."

Everything that you had just been told was a surprise to hear, but that last announcement blew your mind. Your work on the software was done illegally (you had made a copy of the program without permission) and had to be implemented under your commanding officers name or you would have been spending life in prison. Also while the new system you designed had simplified the interface and streamlined the reaction time for drone pilots you would never have thought it would end up the base code for something as grand as the Odysseus. But to go from the window-washer to the vice-commander of the ship was not something you ever dreamed of happening. "I...I'M WHAT?"

"My First Mate, anything happens to me and you're in charge." CPT Gray gave you a thumbs up, a gesture that seemed drastically nonchalant considering the impact her announcement just had on your future.

"Maybe you should have told him first." Patrick scratched his head thoughtfully, "Honestly had no idea he wrote the VR Pilot code for the Odysseus though, I thought it was someone else. Anyways, I'm Patrick Flannigan, most people just call me 'Lucky'. I'm not actually that lucky, but I'm very good with math and probability statistics is math that I can do in my sleep. I also redesigned some of the original concept components for the structure of the ship. Namely involved in the engine."

"I see." Dr. Giles nods as Lucky finishes but she's still staring at you. "Alright Bea, why are we awake?