Mutineer's Fate: No Last Place

episode 108

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                                         “No, cadet, with your ranking, you’ll be lucky to get an auxiliary position on a support ship.” Lt. Ferra sneered and slapped a data pad down on his desk in the personnel office of the Terran Space Academy.

              T’Wun was not surprised, nor upset, but she had long known to register some type of disappointment because terran academy instructors were often incensed by her lack of emotional response. “Surely, sir,” she said. “My academic record should qualify me for a posting on a science vessel. My performance in the final examinations...”

              “No, Cadet, this is the terran fleet, not your little Vulcan science flotilla.” The caitian snorted. “We expect all our officers to be able to fight.”

              “I thought I had proved that in…” she hesitated. “…by earning my slot in the fleet.”

              The caitian uttered a low growl. T’Wun was slightly surprised; during her time at the academy, most of the “alien” faculty personnel were a lot less hostile than their terran counterparts. As often had been the case she had seemed to make an enemy by simply existing.

              “Yessss, Vulcan,” Ferra’s eyes narrowed. “You seem to have found your teeth at last. Perhaps we’ll find something for you on the Klingon front.”

              Despite her the training she had secretly undergone in the Vulcan philosophy of logic, T’Wun felt her heartbeat begin to quicken at the threat. She reminded herself that the fleet would not risk losing her talents so soon after graduation by sending her to the front. And even if they did, she would likely be used as a medic and as such would hardly see any combat situations. One moment and she got herself under control, steadying her pulse.

              Ferras whiskers twitched eagerly as he registered her fear. “Let’s ssssee, Cadet T’Wun, there is the ISS Will O’ the Wisp, just about to ship back out to the front… or maybe the Colossus, it isss a ssscience vessel though you would never know it from Captain Rikersss high engagement numberssss…”

              The odds that she would be placed on one of those prestigious ships were extremely low         , she told herself, Ferra was only using them as examples because they were well known for losing young officers during their missions.

              “I will serve wherever the empire needs me,” was all she said. Ferra wiggled his nose, watching her regain her composure but smelling her fear. To most, vulcans were a cold race of automatons, but caitians knew better. Unlike the terran faculty, they did not depend on just their eyes to assess cadets. A caitians sense of smell was second to none in the galaxy and right then, Ferra was inhaling the vulcan girls acrid fear stench.

              “Yesss, you will, cadet.” Ferra’s paws flew over his console, scrolling past ship after ship posting until, “Ahh... the Willowbrook One-One is heading back to salvage duty. Re-engineering always needs fresh minds. You did a tour aboard the Edison, I believe, for your senior crew qualification. Sshhould be an easy first assignment then.”

              She did not allow herself to respond for a moment, but her heart quickened. Salvage ships... “breakers” would follow behind the warships along the front with the purpose of salvaging enemy ships for resources and secret technologies. There were some that said the empire itself had come to prominence off the theft of advanced technology from some unknown source. Whether it was true or not, the fleet certainly had an entire task unit dedicated for breaking down and re-engineering alien tech. It was the most dangerous work in the fleet.

              Breaker ships worked in unsecured, contested space with little support and often came under attack by backtracking enemy vessels and soldiers. Centuries of taking enemy technology had made the empire notorious for the practice which lead to enemy forces rigging their abandoned and lost ships with dangerous, hidden traps and explosives. Fleet ships were so often lost to these deadman bombs over the years, that the fleet had stopped giving out new names to the salvage ships and simply numbered them. The Willowbrook One-One was the eleventh ship to carry the name.

              She had indeed already crewed aboard one such ship. All cadets get assigned to ships, one tour each year of the last four at the academy. The last tour being a make or break assignment. Ten cadets were assigned to the Edison when it left Terra for the Archanis system, deep in Klingon territory. Only two made it back. As harsh and violent as her academy career had been the salvage duty assignment had been galactically worse. It wasn’t just cadets that had not survived, but they had been the only ones sacrificed on orders.

              “The Willowbrook is set for the Regulas system… not much of an assignment, but still close to Romulan activity. They must have found something…” Ferra muffed and then, after a dismissive twitch of his nose, looked over the fleet personnel requests again. His whiskers pricked up at the sight of another possible assignment. “Or perhaps you’d like a more challenging assignment, cadet?” he said, managing to keep his whiskers from twitching. Calmly he swiped the information from his console to the pad in the cadets hands which accepted the data with a chirp.

              T’Wun tapped on the pad and read the optional assignment stoically. “The Barbaruss... Forge class, utility... science ship?” Ferras only answer was to stare hard into her eyes.

              The young Vulcan tried to keep her relief from registering. The Forgiana class utility ships sailed notoriously tedious tour of duties. Theirs were not the expeditions that plunged into the black in search of conquest, instead they usually cleaned up the messes left behind by those more valorous ships. The science version of those utility ships could be expected to sail in behind after an encounter was made by an expedition ship, and set up warning buoys, deliver research teams or extract exotic materials. Even better, they usually operated well inside conquered or secured territory.

              But Ferra’s teeth were showing in what T’Wun had learned to interpret as the way caitains smile. “Looks like she’s set to return to the Bad Lands, cadet, and they need more hardworking data processors. Sss-Soundssss like a nice fit to me.”

              The sector may have been a notoriously rough patch of space and but T’Wun knew that the crew losses there were only marginally higher than others. But it was the reason the for the losses that inspired fear. The was none.

              “Lotsss of ship don’t come back from the Bad Lands. Top brass won’t say why.”

              “Then if it is a mystery,” T’Wun said as stoically as she could. “I will help the empire to solve it.”

              “Not a mystery, cadet,” Ferra looked her up and down, taking note of her bruises and bandaged wounds with a new appreciation. She held herself upright and strong, despite her thin frame. The acrid tinge of fear still dominated her scent but her breathing and heart rate was under control. A suspiciously high level of control for even a vulcan. “A SECRET, and secrets are not solved, they are either kept or revealed. And woe to those charged with either of those tasks.”