Chapter 18

  “Jump complete,” Ensign Hughes called from the navigation station. During our trip back to Paledes, we formalized our organization's rank structure. After reviewing the big operation in Uvilidey, we found we needed more ranks so that when two groups ran into each other, they could easily tell who was in charge. Quick temporary ranks were issued, but we decided to formalize them moving forward.

  The rank structure was admittedly a weird combination; to include the militia members at their listed ranks, our enlisted ranks were the same as those of the Palades' ground forces. Starting at private, the ranks would go private first class, then lance corporal, and then the last lower enlisted rank corporal. Then came our Nco ranks: Staff sergeant, master sergeant, senior master sergeant, and chief master sergeant, or just chief for short. Also, both master sergeants and senior master sergeants could be called master sergeants without getting in trouble.

  Our officer ranks were closer to the Paledes Navy rank structure. We didn’t have enough officers to need many ranks but decided it was worth having them on the books in case we expanded later on; we started with ensign, then second lieutenant, first lieutenant, lieutenant commander, and finally captain. The only odd change was Max. He refused an officer rank and informed us he wouldn’t be staying on when we next left Paledes. As he put it, “This was always a temporary gig to help you get your feet under you lad, your doing fine now, you got a good crew, and are doing just fine financially now. I’m going to go back to my day job and hanging out with the grandkids.”

  I was brought out of my reflections by the ping of my Comm.D looking at the tagline. It was a reminder of my upcoming duty to the militia. “ helm, take us out to the Morison Station. I’m going to put a call in to see if they have room for us to store our wear in exchange for a cut of the sales. Paladin, please call Lieutenant Commander Tieruki to the bridge. No rush.” about five minutes later, Ashley walked onto the bridge. “ I need to make a call. Can you take over the watch?”” Sure thing, Captain,” she tossed me a quick salute. “ I relieve you, sir.” I stood out of the chair and returned the salute. “ I stand relieved.” Ashley took my chair and started asking for status reports as I walked back to my office.

  I sat down behind my desk, linked my Comm.D to the desk, and put in a call to Alex. A few moments later, his hologram popped up on my display. “ Hi, Ben, how are you doing?” I smiled back at him, “Good, good listen, we just finished a job that came with a full cargo hold of assorted goods, but we have nowhere to sell them or unload them for processing. I was hoping maybe the family had warehouse space we could use in exchange for a cut of the profit?” I knew the family would let me use the space for free, but I didn’t want to put them out by taking up space they could use for product. Alex waved me off. “ I would let you use some warehouse space for free, but I’m guessing you already know that.” I nodded to him to confirm that I knew it but still wanted to pay my own way.

  “unless the goods are very high volume low value, you are better off renting the space; we have a section of the station with storage but no good interior access to the manufacturing area; we almost never use it for anything; the company can let you rent it for a really good rate.” we then engaged in a very spirited 20-minute reverse negotiation where he kept giving reasons the cost should be low and I kept trying to raise it closer to market value for that size of warehouse space on a station. We settled on 70% of the market value of a quality space of that size. Alex was always a better negotiator than I was.

  After promising to stop by for dinner during our shore leave, we said our goodbyes and signed off. I forwarded our new storage area and docking instructions to Ashley on the bridge, then opened the crew-finding website. This time, I wasn’t looking for a crew member so much as an agent, someone to sell our off-contract cargo and handle the logistics of buying supplies that don’t fall under military or cooking, things like new mattresses, soup, mop buckets, and uniforms for our people. I was about to start looking when I had an idea. I already had the list of supplies I thought we needed for this trip. So I got together the reports I had used to make the list and asked Paladin to summon Private Moore. It only took about two minutes before my door chimed.

  Private Moore walked in and gave me a salute that was only required for official station turnovers and other major events. I returned it and invited him to have a seat. “So, Private Moore, how are you enjoying your work?” he got a panicked look. “great, Sir, why am I doing something wrong?” I did my best not to laugh. “no, everything's fine. I was just debating hiring a new crew member to take the purser role, but then I remembered your skill in handling the cargo during our last job, so I have an offer for you. You’re not a qualified bridge officer, but I am willing to make you a midshipman. Pay will be that of a chief, but you’ll lack the authority of an ensign.”

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  I pulled up the reports that I used to make the list of our supply needs. “ these reports are what I use to figure out our resupply; we should be in port for about a month. Go through them and see what you think we need. I’m also going to hire someone to sell our cargo in two weeks. I want you to plan sales and run them past him and work together to get us a good deal. If this all goes well, we will get you a promotion and start getting you officer training for ensign. Are you interested?”

  Private Moore seemed stunned into silence but quickly rallied, “Yes, sir! I’ll get right on it.” I decided the situation called for it, so I stood up and dismissed him with a quick salute. He was already looking at the reports. I returned to my desk and continued working on paperwork. Nearly an hour passed, and I had just finished my immediate reports when my Comm.D pinged. It was my twenty-four-hour report notice. I was to report to Kyle Calon Spaceport, a military reserve base, tomorrow at 0900. Looking at the clock, I decided to call it a night and go to bed.

  ***

  I woke to my alarm at 0600 and stumbled through my morning routine. I was not much of a morning person. If I didn’t have a ship to run, I would have flown down yesterday so as not to have to get up this early. Finished with my shower, I got into my flight suit and staggered down to the mess.

  I walked over to the coffee station and just stared at the empty spot where the go juice was supposed to be vacant. Fortunately, an angel and chief's clothing appeared behind me. “Looking for this captain?” Marcus Trenton grabbed a mug from the table and poured it three-quarters full for me. “Thanks, chief,” I say while adding probably a little too much cream. “so are you turning in your resignation too?” “what do you mean, captain?” I quickly explained how Max was going back to the family business.

  “Oh, that, no, sir. I am in it for the long haul, I don't have a wife let alone kids or grandkids so I am in it for the long haul sir.” we chat for a little while. I finish my coffee and leave to head down to the flight bay. The flight bays normally open center was stacked with shipping containers filled with the loot taken from the pirate station, narrow walk ways ran between the stacks of shipping containers. On one of flight pads the pirates fighter recovered from station was completely torn apart being gone over by some of the engineers.

  I walked over to Betty's platform to see Emily finishing up prepping Bouncing Betty. “Hi Emily, is Betty ready to go?” she slid out from under it and smiled. “Yep, I was just double-checking that the guns were empty myself. I realized the ground crew preflight list for arriving at the Militia base has remove missiles but didn’t have unloaded guns. Fortunately, my deck crew is the best and got it done. I took the liberty of checking an older handbook. It recommends you find a safe direction after lunch and manually check the gun's empty status by attempting to fire it for double the ammunition capacity time, which would be ninety seconds, just to be extra sure.”

  I nodded and was about to climb the ladder when I saw something new just under the cockpit: five skulls and crossbones painted in a row. This was an old tradition from the days of atmospheric fighters on old Earth, where confirmed enemy kills would be painted on planes. It was against regulations in most mainline navies, but the irregular forces on both sides during the War had revived the tradition. I looked back at Emily, who was smiling happily. “these look great, Emily, thank you.”

  “You are welcome. What do you want me to work on while you're gone?” I paused to think, watching as Lt. Johnson loaded the crew members who also needed to report onto our shuttle. He wasn’t in the Militia being a League citizen, but volunteered to fly them down and drop them off while I brought the Betty down. I lowered my voice. “we should have the bounties from some of those pirates coming in over the next week. Use that to do any maintenance we need and purchase any ordnance we can’t print onboard, as well as any resources we need to print the dumb rounds we need. The training should only be on the weekend, so that should be plenty.” Emily waved her acknowledgment and moved her tools off the elevator as I got settled into the cockpit and sealed up. “Bouncing Betty to flight ops requesting lift to departure,” the voice of the flight control officer in the blister overhead came back. “ Confirmed Betty, lift commencing momentarily. Good luck out there.”