Fiction Fragment Friday
Well we officially have a series. Let’s see how long this can go. I am fully invested in the world of the Oddity and her crew. While writing this story I also discovered my theme for the overall tale and continued to learn more about just who Captain Moss is. It feels good to be this invested in worldbuilding again. I am three stories in, but I have plans for so many more.
“So Chief Lumsdon, what keeps you up at night?” My very large chief of engineering sat in my office across the desk from me. He was leaning back with his feet up on the corner of my desk. My instinct was to shove them off and put him in his place, however something told me that would not be the best approach in this case. Not to start with at least.
“Captain? Not sure what you mean. I sleep just fine.”
“What I’m asking is what are your concerns.”
“Do you mean about my division, the ship itself, or in general?”
I wasn’t sure if he was seriously asking or if he was trying to control the conversation. I decided that for the moment I would give him the benefit of the doubt. “I would like to hear the answer for all of those, but let’s start with the ship. Trying to use the oven and jump at the same time takes out the power systems. What other stumbling blocks should I expect with the systems?”
“Oh, where do I start? The biggest issue is that the Oddity is old. They don’t make the parts anymore, so we either retrofit from other models or have something custom printed. We don’t have the printer files, so it never fits quite right first time.” He thought for a moment before continuing. “After and related to that has to be the power plant. Our efficiency is so poor we barely have enough power to keep the important systems running. She’s structurally solid though if you don’t count the millions of micro impact dents peppering the hull.”
“Is that all?” I asked hoping it would be but knowing it wouldn’t.
He actually laughed. “Not even close. Environmentals are flakey so it’s always too hot or too cold depending where you are. Ship systems have had three viruses in the last year. No permanent damage, but some of our displays down in engineering are in Portuguese and we can’t change them back. There’s a half second lag to thruster controls that I haven’t been able to track down. Oh, and some of the doors stick. Need to be pushed the rest of the way open.”
I had my tablet up and was making notes as he spoke. It took me a moment to finish before looking up at his smirking face. “What about your division? How are your crew?”
“Worthless bunch of burnouts. Look Captain, I know you’ve heard this ship’s reputation. Well, it’s deserved. You don’t get sent here except for three reasons.” He held up one finger at a time as he named them off. “You’re a burnout with nowhere else to go. They want to fire you, but your contract won’t let them, so they put you here to suffer until you quit. Or you’re being taught a lesson with a punishment posting. Anyone worth a damn wouldn’t be on this ship.”
“Which of those describes you Mr. Lumsdon?”
I saw a look of anger come across his face before his smirk returned. “Mix of all three if I’m being honest. Though I didn’t burn out until I got here.”
“Well thank you for your honesty.” I stood up and started pacing behind my desk. “Let me be clear about something though. I do know of this ship’s reputation, and I don’t plan on keeping it that way. No one wants to be here, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to let things continue as they have been. We may not be able to control what ship we’re on” I chose that moment to push his feet off the corner of my desk. They hit the ground with a satisfying thud. “But we can control our actions and our attitudes. You, Mr. Lumsdon, most assuredly, have an attitude problem. Now are you going to be able to work with me to make things a bit more palatable around here or am I going to have to find a new Chief Engineer?”
“You don’t think you’re the first captain we’ve had that thought he could rehabilitate this ship, do you? I’ll do what you order, but don’t expect me to your cheerleader.”
I stopped my pacing and slammed my hands down on my desk. “That doesn’t work for me Mr. Lumsdon. I need my senior officers to be on the same page as me. I need to trust that they are going to treat their subordinates with respect and be able to motivate them. Right now, I don’t think you can do that.”
“What’s your angle captain? You wanna prove yourself so you can get off the ship? That ain’t gonna happen and you know it.”
“My angle Mr. Lumsdon is that I have a ship of miserable people who deserve better. Make no mistake this is my ship now and they will have better. My angle, Mr. Lumsdon is that the owner of this company thinks that this ship is a punishment and I am going to prove him wrong. This ship will be successful because I am not going to let Austin Van Eisenburg win. Now you’ve got a lot of resentment piled up inside you. Are you going to let eat away at you or are you going to use it to give that pompous jerk the middle finger and make this a ship people want to serve on? I will ask you one last time. Are you going to work with me or am I going to have to find a new Chief Engineer?”
He smirked at me, but there was no humor in it. I could see that his hands were in fists. “You can’t fire me. My contract has clauses in it. If I could be fired that easy Eisenburg would have done so a long time ago. You’re stuck with me.”
It was my turn to smile. “That Mr. Lumsdon is where you are wrong. See this ship has resources that previous captains have failed to utilize to their potential. Take Miss Southerland for example. I’d wager that there is not another person in this fleet that knowns the fine details of regulations and contract clauses better than her. Past captains have been frustrated by how she uses that knowledge against them. I on the other hand have had a few long conversations about how she can use that knowledge to improve things around here.”
“What are you going on about?”
“Well, you are correct that I can not fire you. However, I’m not stuck with you either. Your contract has a clause that Miss Southerland gleefully pointed out to me. She does not like you very much. See you are required to be certified on all classes of engines utilized by the company. The company is required to pay for your training and certification. It turns out that your certifications are lapsed for two models and you never held them for three others. That means that while I cannot fire you, I can arrange for you to be removed from duty until such time that you meet those clauses. Since the ship cannot wait for you to do so I have the opportunity to replace you.” I reached down to my tablet and hit a waiting submit button.
“You think you can find someone better than me willing to work on this ship?”
“I don’t think I could find worse.” I looked at the tablet. “Congratulations Mr. Lumsdon you are officially enrolled in the training program right here at Profen station. For the next year you’re a college student again.” I let the smile leave my face and with the most serious expression I could muster I leaned in close. “Now get your things and get off my ship.”
“You think you’ve won. I get paid to leave and you’re still stuck on this deathtrap.”
He stormed out of my office without saying another word slamming the door on his way out. Once alone I sat back down and let out a huge sign of relief. Part of me was worried that he would punch me. Another part of me was hoping he would because that was a clause that Miss Southerland had found that would have allowed me to fire him. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was right though as I looked down at his training acceptance. Did he get the better end of our confrontation?
My office door buzzed, and I answered, “come in” before really thinking about it. I looked up trying to put on a neutral face and found Miss Southerland standing across my desk.
“I just wanted to thank you Captain.” Her head was down, and she was not making eye contact. Her hands were crossed in front of her.
“For getting rid of Chief Lumsdon?”
“No sir. Well yes, but not just that. For seeing something in me and asking for my help. No one has ever relied on me before.” There was a tear forming in her eye. “It was just nice to feel valued sir.”
“Miss Southerland the fact that your previous captains didn’t see the potential in you is a crime. Today was just the first step though. Can I count on you to continue helping me turn this ship around?”
“Yes sir.” She said it fiercely and added a salute as she did. The timid crewman who was just in front of me vanished to be replaced by a confident ally.
“Excellent. Then let’s join Pablo on the bridge. The three of us have some scheming to do.”