Star Thrust ch. 3

Meeting the Maintenance Crew

Hawke stood from his captain's chair and stretched. The bridge crew had settled into their respective jobs stupendously. Darla was running simulations at the helm while humming something catchy under her breath, which some captains might complain about but he found charming. Meanwhile, Shayden, the Horukar, monitored her tactical displays with nearly unblinking focus. Moxie, his shy cutie of a Tribb, swayed her antennae gently as she reviewed her sensor data and submitted it to Hawke for approval. And then there was Galadria. That beauty of a woman sat at her station like a statue, perfectly still except for her eyes tracking information across her screens.

They didn't need him hovering. They were doing great. Honestly, they were doing better than he did his first day on a bridge. What they needed was a captain who made an effort to care about all his people. He figured it was about time to meet a few more members of his crew.

"Commander Rem," he said.

Galadria turned her head precisely thirty degrees to face him. "Yes, Captain?"

"You have the bridge. I'm going to introduce myself to the rest of the crew."

Her eyebrow raised a fraction, which seemed to indicate that she didn’t really like that fact, but he wasn’t going to back down based on a single twitch. "Acknowledged. I will contact you if anything requires your attention."

"I'm sure you will."

He headed for the turbolift. The doors slid shut behind him, and he selected the deck where crew quarters and the mess hall were located. The ship emitted a low hum around him as he descended. Everything about the Bruce Campbell felt new. Pristine, even. The kind of “clean” that wouldn't last once they actually started running missions, but for now it was nice.

The corridor was quiet when he stepped out. Most of the crew quarters had nameplates already installed. He passed a few closed doors and studied the names. Ensign Mirra Tollen. Ensign Kessa Vray. Ensign Miaora Thess. All women, as expected. Likely all aliens of various species. All part of this unusual mission, whether they'd be directly involved with him or not.

Voices drifted from around the corner. They were young voices, laughing. The mess hall must be just ahead.

Hawke followed the sound and found the entrance. He paused at the door for just a moment, then hit the panel. The door slid open.

Three young women sat at one of the tables with food trays in front of them. They were mid-conversation when they noticed him. All three froze in horror or shock or something. Then they launched into action.

Chairs scraped. Bodies lurched upright. One of them started to bring her hand up in a salute, then stopped halfway when her compatriots didn’t seem poised to do the same. Another went rigid at attention but her posture was all wrong. The third just stood there with wide eyes like she'd been caught doing something illegal.

Hawke took in the scene and the three women in front of him with a bemused look on his face, then schooled his expression.

The one who'd almost saluted was clearly Felinarian. She had tawny skin and auburn hair, but the most prominent feature was the pair of furry cat ears sprouting from the top of her head. They had white tips and were currently pinned back in a show of submission or just plain old nerves. A long tail swished behind her. She had bright, catlike, amber eyes that seemed almost luminous, and her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Her figure was what the pornographic holo-sims databases would tag as “busty petite”.

Next to her stood a young woman with lavender-tinted skin. Delicate silver patterns ran along her cheekbones and down her neck like natural tattoos or maybe birthmarks. Her eyes were an unusual violet color with vertical pupils that reminded him vaguely of a cat's, though she clearly wasn't Felinarian like her counterpart. Her ears were pointed but curved backward rather than up, and her slender, small-chested frame was a bit too girlish for his liking, but she wasn’t unattractive.

The third was shorter and more athletic in build. Her skin had a peach tone to it, and her eyes were golden with small black pupils at the center. She had what looked like small iridescent scales along her temples. Her copper-colored hair was cut short and practical in a pixie cut.

All three of them looked young. Oddly young. Fresh-faced and uncertain.

"At ease," Hawke said, smiling gently to try and relax them.

The tension broke like a snapped cable. The Felinarian's ears popped back up, the lavender-skinned girl let out a long sigh, and the third relaxed her shoulders but kept her eyes on him.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked.

"O-of course not, s-sir!" the Felinarian stammered quickly. She reached for her chair and almost knocked over her drink in the process. Her tail lashed once in apparent frustration at herself, and she let out a pathetic little whimper.

"Please, sit," the copper-haired one said more calmly.

Hawke grabbed a chair from a nearby table and pulled it over. He sat down and rested his forearms on the table in a casual posture. No need to make this feel more formal than it had to.

"I'm Captain Hawke. I know we're all new to this ship, but I wanted to introduce myself to everyone aboard."

The Felinarian spoke first. "I'm Ensign Miaora Thess, sir. Engineering assistant." Her tail swished behind her anxiously. "It's an honor to meet you. I mean, I've read about you in preparation for this mission, and you seem so cool, and I just think it's so amazing that you're our captain now, and—" She stopped herself. "Sorry. I'm rambling."

"It's fine," Hawke said. He wasn't used to people being starstruck by him. "And you are?"

The lavender-skinned girl ducked her head slightly. "Ensign Lyria Venn, sir. Maintenance technician." Her voice was soft and careful. When she looked up at him, her violet eyes were striking. "Welcome aboard."

"Ensign Tessa Kole," the third one said. "Power systems specialist." She had more composure than the other two, but Hawke could still see the nervousness in the way she held herself. She was trying hard to project professionalism.

"Engineering, maintenance, and power systems," Hawke said. "Sounds like you three are pretty important to keeping this ship running."

Miaora’s ears perked up. "We do our best! I mean, there's not much to do right now. The ship is brand new. Everything works perfectly. But once we start actually going places and using the warp drive and running into space debris and all that, then we'll have a bit more going on." She grinned, showing teeth that were slightly more pointed than a human's. "I'm looking forward to it, honestly. I didn't join Star Force to sit around doing nothing."

"I respect that. How are you all settling in?" Hawke asked. "Getting to know the rest of the crew?"

Lyria and Tessa exchanged a glance. Kira's tail went still.

"We mostly only just boarded yesterday, actually," Lyria said quietly. "Most of us haven't really had a chance to get to know each other yet."

"Same for me," Tessa added. "I met these two at breakfast this morning. Before that I'd only seen a couple other crew members in passing."

That was interesting. Hawke had assumed they'd all trained together or at least had some time to bond before coming aboard. But if they were all arriving separately and recently, that partially explained the lack of cohesion. He figured that what had happened was that they identified him as the ideal captain for this mission and then scrambled a crew together in a rush once it was clear the mission was actually happening.

He studied the three of them more carefully. They were indeed young. Not just in appearance but in the way they carried themselves. There was an eagerness there, a kind of unpolished enthusiasm that reminded him of cadets fresh out of the academy. But they were wearing ensign uniforms, which meant they'd graduated. So why did they seem so green?

"If you don't mind me asking," he said carefully, "how long have you all been out of the academy?"

Another glance between them. Miaora's ears flattened slightly. Tessa was the one who answered.

"About two weeks, sir."

Hawke blinked. "Two weeks only."

"For me, yes sir." Tessa's golden eyes met his steadily. "Lyria and Miaora were rushed to graduate early around the same time to take this mission. Most of the maintenance crew is the same story, actually."

"Most of the maintenance crew was rushed to graduation from the academy just to take this mission?" Hawke repeated. He was starting to get a picture he didn't particularly like.

"Not exactly, sir," Lyria said. Her lavender skin had darkened slightly around her cheeks. Was she blushing? "We're not really even true graduates. I mean, we are now. But we were cadets until very recently and given provisional diplomas on an emergency basis just to be here."

Miaora jumped in. "They promoted us to ensign and rushed us through the final evaluations so we could take this assignment. Star Force had a hard time finding established maintenance workers who..." She trailed off as she realized she was heading into awkward territory.

"Who met the unique mission criteria," Hawke finished for her.

"Yes sir," the cat-alien said quietly.

Hawke sat back in his chair. He was the captain of a ship where his bridge crew consisted of experienced officers specifically selected for a secret reproductive experiment, and his maintenance crew was apparently made up of teenagers who'd been hastily promoted because Star Force couldn't find anyone else willing to sign up for potential impregnation by their commanding officer.

"So when you say you're two weeks out of the academy," he said slowly, "what you mean is that you were students two weeks ago, and you're essentially..." He searched for a diplomatic way to phrase it. "How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Barely legal, sir. I just turned the Felinarian equivalent of eighteen three days ago," Miaora said. Her tail had started swishing again. "I know I’m young, and I look young too, but to be fair I'll probably look exactly like this for another forty years because of the way my species develops once we hit fertility age."

"I'm almost nineteen in Terran years," Tessa said. "My species ages at about the same rate as humans. A bit slower, maybe, but we have the same legal age for… this kind of stuff."

Lyria was still blushing. "I’m twenty in Terran years. I’m actually one of the oldest. But I only entered the academy a year and a half ago. I was on the accelerated track because I previously did an apprenticeship in my field that transferred over."

Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty. Hawke felt something heavy settle in his chest.

"How did Star Force even identify you for this mission?" he asked. "I can't imagine they just put out a general call for volunteers on the academy PA system one day."

Tessa leaned forward slightly. "There was a survey. They gave it to all the cadets with at least a year of classes and honors-level grades. There were maybe a hundred questions. Most of them were normal stuff. Career goals, preferred assignments, technical specializations, post-grad goals. But scattered throughout were these really weird questions."

"Weird how?"

"Questions about random stuff. Favorite colors, food. But also sexuality," Lyria said quietly. "I think the other questions were red herrings meant to throw us off the trail. The important questions were about whether we'd be willing to have children during our service as part of a research mission. How obedient we were to Star Force. How much the physical attractiveness of a captain influenced our obedience. Also about our opinions on Terran relations. About how open we'd be to unconventional assignments. That sort of thing."

Miaora nodded enthusiastically. "I remember thinking it was strange at the time, but I just answered everything honestly. I didn't think much of it. Then a few weeks later I got pulled into this private meeting with a Vultarian general or something. She explained the mission and showed me all the paperwork after swearing my secrecy and gauging my interest. She made sure I understood what I was agreeing to." Her eyes were bright. "I said yes immediately!"

"I thought it was about some kind of diplomatic mission at first," Lyria admitted. "Some of the survey questions made it seem like maybe we'd be working on an embassy ship or something, with all the Terran relations stuff. I almost didn't answer honestly because the questions about sex and pregnancy seemed so inappropriate. But my roommate convinced me that Star Force wouldn't ask things like that unless they had a good reason."

"And here you are," Hawke said.

"Here we are," Tessa echoed. “And there was a good reason indeed.”

Hawke took a breath. He needed to be clear with them. They deserved that much.

"I want you all to understand something," he said. "My mission objectives are explicitly focused on the bridge crew. The four officers you saw up there, that's where the primary... biological research will be conducted." He watched their reactions carefully.

Kira's ears drooped with disappointment, which kind of broke his heart a bit. Her whole posture shifted, tail going still again. She was crushed.

On the other hand, Lyria's shoulders relaxed. Relief flooded her features, though she tried to hide it by looking down at her tray.

Tessa just nodded, seeming comparatively neutral about the whole thing. "We understand, sir. But if you do need any of us, you can page one or all of us to your quarters at any time. We're all willing to do our duty for Star Force. And for you."

The casual way she said it made Hawke's throat go dry. These young women had signed up for something he still wasn't entirely comfortable with, and they were treating it like just another assignment. That’s why they were selected, he figured. Maybe for them it was just a job. But the weight of it hit him differently.

He turned his attention to Lyria. "You looked relieved when I said my focus was on the bridge crew. Can I ask why? If you’d like a transfer, it might not be too late to—"

“No, sir.” She glanced up at him. Her violet eyes were wide and honest. "It’s just that I'm not in a hurry to get pregnant, sir. That's all. I'm willing to do my job, maintenance and… otherwise, but I'm glad there's no pressure to... to start that part of the mission right away. Three weeks ago, I was just a cadet minding my own business. Pregnancy and children were something I hoped to address a bit later in my career."

Hawke found himself respecting her honesty. "I appreciate you telling me that. And I want you to know that even in my Vultarian first officer's most optimistic estimate, we're looking at about a year and a half before anyone is likely to conceive, even if I were to sleep with the participants every single day. This serum I've been given needs time to adapt. The whole process is gradual. It’ll be years of semi-regular…activity before you need to worry about that."

Lyria's entire demeanor changed. She actually smiled, and it transformed her face. "That's... that should be more than enough time for me to adjust. Thank you for telling me, sir. I feel much, much better."

"Of course."

Hawke looked at all three of them again. "So just to be absolutely clear. Most of the crew on this ship, aside from the bridge officers and presumably some of the senior engineering staff, are essentially glorified cadets with limited practical experience?"

All three nodded.

"But you're capable of doing your jobs, at least?" he pressed.

"Yes sir," Tessa said firmly. "Our technical training is solid. Most of us are more than capable of handling a new ship like this one. We know our systems. We can handle repairs, diagnostics, whatever you need. Our decorum and protocol might suffer at first, but we'll get better. Our chief officer, Commander Mariata, is keeping everyone in line. She's very experienced. Very strict."

Miaora nodded enthusiastically. "Commander Mariata is amazing. She's been doing this for like twelve years. She knows everything about everything. If any of us mess up, she'll fix it."

Hawke chuckled. "Commander Mariata. So she outranks my first officer."

"Yes sir," Miaora said.

"She outranks me, too. Or at least she did until a few days ago when I got promoted to captain."

The three young women looked at him blankly. Then they smiled, clearly trying to show they appreciated what he'd said even though they didn't quite get the irony in it.

He stood up. "I should let you finish your meal and see about visiting the engine room. Thank you for your time and for being honest with me. It helps to know where everyone stands."

"Thank you, sir," Lyria said softly.

Tessa nodded. "Welcome aboard, Captain."

Hawke turned to leave, but before he could take more than a step, Miaora shot to her feet. Her chair scraped loudly against the floor.

"Sir?"

He turned back. "Yes, Ensign?"

Her tail swished behind her in quick, excited movements. "Will you call for me soon? I mean, I know you said the bridge crew is your priority, but..." She bit her lower lip, revealing those slightly pointed teeth again. "I really love the idea of having kittens. Being paid by Star Force to raise them on a cozy ship like this, it sounds amazing. I'm eager to get started whenever you're ready."

Lyria looked mortified. Her lavender face had gone even darker. Tessa just watched calmly.

Hawke felt the full weight of Kira's hope pressing against him. She was looking at him with those bright catlike eyes, ears perked forward, tail moving constantly. She was so youthful, and so eager. So completely unaware of how complicated this whole thing was going to be.

"Like I said before, Ensign, my priority has to be the bridge crew," he said gently. "But I'll keep you in mind. When I do start working with the maintenance crew and engine room teams more closely, anyone like you who actively wants to participate will be right at the top of my list."

Miaora’s ears shot up even higher. "Really?"

He furrowed his brow and clenched his jaw, trying not to do a final once-over of her frankly uncommonly sexy body. "Really."

She beamed at him. "Thank you, sir! I won’t let you down! I’ll—I’ll do those kegel exercises, and practice my technique with a simulation of you in the holoroom!"

Hawke gave her a nod, then turned. His erection unfortunately knocked over one of the girls’ glasses, and he muttered an apology and left the mess hall before anyone else could say anything that would make this situation even more awkward than it already was.

He sighed and wiped the earl grey tea off his groin once he was out in the main corridor once more. As he walked back toward the turbolift en route to the engine room, Captain Hawke couldn’t help but wonder what he’d gotten himself into.