ISOP Snippet 3

Sitrep: I just finished going through the edits from Rea, adding the TOC and missing bits, and then sent it off to Goodlifeguide. We shall see when it comes back.

In other news, I'm calling the tiger figure finished. I'm too lazy to hook my phone up to my PC again right now, so I'll upload the photos later.

Skipping ahead:

Chapter 2

Meridian

Lieutenant JG Bright Day checked the log and then the ship's course. So far so good. One of his eyestalks swiveled to check the engineering status boards. Nothing was yellow or red, all good there.

The bug sat back in his saddle and reflected for a moment. It was never good to remain idle for too long. He knew the XO or skipper would be coming around sometime soon, but he sometimes needed a moment to think, even when on duty.

The changes in his life were far from routine. He had been raised by a T'clock hive after his family had died in a rock slide. He had even taken on a T'clock style name since it had been far easier for his foster parents to speak.

When he had entered the academy, he had felt rather lonely until he'd somehow made a friend in David Hamerschtel. They'd jokingly referred to themselves as the dynamic duo. He'd followed David into the various courses after the academy including the ONI course.

Sometimes he regretted David's sudden insight that had led the human to discovering the Daikoku find, getting a commendation, which had led them to this mission. David's insight had been a bit more than a blessing from Lady Luck, but also good fortune since it had pushed the two of them up the ladder a little bit ahead of their classmates. David's commendation had gotten him a promotion to JG a few months ahead of Bright Day. He didn't resent his friend's good fortune, but the occasional ribbing David did over the subject was a bit wearing.

"Everything okay in here?" a familiar human voice asked from the open hatch.

The Veraxin swiveled a rear eyestalk to the XO while his forward-facing ones checked the status board. Sometimes it paid to have multiple independent eyes. "Yes, sir. The board is green. All boards are green. We are on course and on schedule," he stated.

"Ah, good," Lieutenant Glen da Souza said as if by route. "Working on anything interesting?" he asked.

"I finished a couple of problems. I was taking a break for a moment, sir. I don't like to get too deep into a problem and then go off shift. They tend to haunt me," the Veraxin replied.

The XO nodded sagely. "Especially the tricky ones. Okay, gotcha. I'm not pushing the due date back though," he warned.

"Understood, sir. I'll get the assignment in on time."

"Good. You've got an hour before you are relieved?"

"Yes, sir. Ensign Iwazaru will be on deck once he's finished his downtime," the Veraxin said, referring to the ship's A.I. He wasn't certain how other ships ran it but Captain Yasuno had insisted the A.I. stand a watch just like everyone else. And since he was an officer, he stood a bridge watch.

Glen nodded once. "Okay. I'm going off shift. Ring me if you need me but it better be important."

"Right," the bug said, making a note in the small duty log that the XO was going off shift. Technically, the XO and skipper never went off shift; they were always on call. But everyone needed sleep, even the ship's A.I.

He heard the human's receding footfalls fade off into the distance and then returned his attention to the ship's systems. Three passes were all he could stand at looking at the numbers, so he brought up the problems one more time.

Maybe if he took a different approach …

{#}^{#}

Lieutenant JG David Hamerschtel remembered Admiral Irons' speech when Meridian launched several years prior. Out of boredom he brought the file up and replayed it to refresh his memory of the time, that heady time of triumph he'd felt.

They'd been assembled as a crew for the first time. Meridian hadn't even finished her building trials yet. Right up until he'd been assigned to her he'd thought he'd been assigned to a different ship. To the current day, he still didn't know if that had been a cover or he'd been a last-minute addition.

It didn't matter. None of what had happened then really mattered anymore. He would like to think he'd grown a bit since then. He was definitely a little bit older and hopefully a little bit wiser. Though sometimes, when he got called out by the skipper, he had doubts. His finger hovered over the button before moving the slider to the bookmarked place. He then hit the play button and sat back to watch.

"The job of ONI is a thankless one. You sift through petabytes of data, interviews, video and audio files, images, decrypt files, stare at star charts until your eyes bleed, and do so much more for that one nugget of information that will make the difference."

Admiral Irons surveyed the group. "And you have to do it all the while keeping the enemy and sometimes the public unaware of what you are doing. On the public's behalf, I thank you."

"I'm not going to lie to you, what would be the point? You are going into a long-range, difficult, and some would say, impossible mission. You will be away from your friends and family for years. You might never come back. Hopefully, that doesn't happen, but the risk is there. A lot can happen in the outer dark and running into pirates is just one danger among all too many."

"The Ptah mission has been delayed multiple times. Your ship is going to blaze a trail for her and others to follow. We have already sent a single, oversized mixed squadron of cruisers in to the sector, but you will be going far farther than any of them. We have identified the possible locations of four of the six known pirate bases in the sector. It's up to you to confirm them. It is dangerous; I won't lie to you. That will take you away from your friends and families for years. I thank you for your sacrifice in that regard."

David snorted and hit pause. Yeah. You thank us he thought. But we're the ones making the sacrifice. I was an idiot for volunteering he thought with a pang of regret.

"Sour grapes?" Bright Day, his partner, asked as he scuttled into the room.

"You know me so well," the human said as he flipped the tablet down.

"Yes. We have been roommates for years after all. I know when you snore and when you need a break. And other times, like that time you caught a glimpse of some human females on a beach …"

"Yeah," David interrupted hastily. He'd had a hard time with that one, almost literally and almost embarrassingly in front of the skipper. He'd learned the hard way not to zoom in to planets and especially nude beaches.

And it wasn't just the fear of being caught as a voyeur either. It was the remorse over not being down there with them, living it up.

Two years. Two years in the ship. Two long years with no shore leave. No time off and their fresh food had gone in the first six months. Two years of breathing the same stale air, dealing with the stink, the boredom, and the same faces.

They had gotten to Pi, jumped up the chain and verified Daikoku. Along the way they'd identified a pirate-only known jump route. He didn't regret that part. But did the skipper really have to go the long haul to verify all of the bases? All in one go?

At least the skipper had insisted on dropping the occasional buoy or updating ones they ran into with their logs. That way the intelligence they were gathering would get into the navy's hands in theory. If all had gone as planned, at least one of the buoys had been stripped and its contents were on their way back to the Federation.

"Anything happen?" he asked as Bright Day removed his duty harness and then scuttled into the head.

"No. The usual. You can check the log."

"Ah," David replied in a slightly disappointed tone of voice. "Of course not."

"Trust me, Dave, you don't want something interesting to happen while in hyper. Interesting things tend to make you dead. Usually with the ship too. I'll take my chances with being bored and alive, thank you very much," the Veraxin replied from the head.

"You would. That's the problem with you. You are lazy," David retorted in mock exasperation.

"I'm not lazy; I just like playing it safe. Risks are only worth the reward when there is one to be had. Taking risks without need is just asking for trouble. Wasn't it one of your species’ ancestors who came up with the curse about living in interesting times?"

"Yeah. Sometimes I wonder about that," David muttered remembering the Chinese curse. "I'd rather have a little action then be bored to tears."

"Really? You've been crying?"

"It's an expression," David said testily as the bug flushed and then turned the sink on to finish up. He was well aware of the fact that he was being teased. "I think we've hit every movie in the database at least twice. Some more than ten times."

"Time to create mash-ups? Or pursue other entertainment? Virtual games or something?"

"When you spend so much time staring at a computer screen … I don't know," David said with a shake of his head. "I just don't know."

"And it doesn't help that this is a dry ship. I know I miss going to the bars," the bug said, surprising David as he scuttled out. "Yes, I know that is your line. I'm going off script."

David thought about it and then snorted. "Okay, so we've had this conversation before."

"Yes and will likely have it again. My suggestion is to either rack out or go for a walk."

"A walk."

"Yes, move those pudgy legs of yours—the fleshy extremities," the bug said with a wave of one lobster claw.

"You know I technically outrank you," David mocked as he put his feet down on the deck.

"So? Oh, wait, are you now threatening me to get some of the action you want? A captain's report?"

"Yeah, no, pass," David said with a shake of his head. "I wish we had more than the usual four bulkheads to look at."

"True. You could hook up a VR headset and have it guide you down a forest lane. I understand Yoki does something like that when she is jogging. Or you could do something else. Or go meditate in one of the cargo bays."

"In other words, anywhere but here?" David asked, amused as he caught on to the bug's thrust.

"Exactly. I just ate after coming off shift. I don't want to hear your gripes and have them ruin my digestion," the Veraxin said, indicating second-degree truth with third-degree amused exasperation. "I'm going to rack out unlike you. I plan to work out before my next shift tomorrow."

"Okay, okay. Maybe I'll hit the gym or something. No walks though, the XO sees me wandering and he'll think I'm bored and need extra work to keep my mind occupied again."

"I could put in a good word," the Veraxin suggested as the human slipped his footwear on. The bug buzzed in amusement as David threw his pillow at him. He easily fended it off and then picked it up to toss it back on the human's bed.

"Right," David said as he pulled out a towel. "Be seeing you."

"Not if I'm not awake and don't wake me," the bug said as he settled himself for some much-needed rest.

{#}^{#}