The first Friday of Summer, and what a beautiful day it is, Aaen thought. The anticipation of returning to Starbase One caused the day to pass by seemingly quickly, though otherwise positively eventfully. The sound of the postal carrier's vehicle continuing along its particular route acted as a cue to Aaen.
Aaen went outside through the front door, checked the postal mail. After sifting through a handful of letter-sized envelopes, Aaen found one bore the logo of Starbase One. Bursting with excitement, he rushed back inside to the kitchen, retrieved an old butter knife and then opened the envelope. Extracting the envelope's contents revealed one document. Aaen unfolded the document and then scanned the document. He grinned, particularly after reading the last paragraph. After getting ready for the day, donning a fresh cadet's uniform, Aaen retrieved his rank certificate from one of multiple sliding drawers, and then proceeded to collect his sleeping bag, and then wrapped it around one of his pillows and tied the sleeping bag around the pillow with the laces attached to the foot of the sleeping bag. Aaen rushed down the house's main staircase to the shuttle port. The flight from home to Starbase One took a half an hour. The shuttle approached its docking arm with Starbase One, Aaen looked right at the twin transparent loading doors, enjoying the bold purr of the shuttle's impulse engines in tandem with the hiss of the maneuvering thrusters within the pressurized cabin as he aligned the doors with the docking arm. The flat-ended docking clamps looked like a six-point star. The port thrusters inched the shuttle towards its destination until the docking clamps closed on the hull. The doors opened five seconds later. Aaen showed his rank certificate to the black shirt to the docking master. The docking master gestured him to proceed. Aaen proceeded right for seventy-five feet, hearing eager footsteps behind him—some new and familiar faces, most were enthusiastic about what was to come, others were merely curious, but more than passively interested, and actively attentive to everything going on around them. Aaen grinned.
Aaen was given a hand gesture direction by a newly-enlisted trainee to proceed to Aaen's left to the main cargo bay. Aaen and those following him were immediately greeted by three other enlisted men sitting at a table, each wearing lightly decorated uniform jackets. One, female, Aaen guessed was in her mid-20's seated in the middle next to the table looked at Aaen and extended her hand to accept Aaen's document.
"May I have your rank certificate?" Aaen handed the document over. She placed the document on the table, examined it, and then pulled another piece of paper from one of three identical stacks along with a calculator, then started doing two brief calculations. Aaen read the second paper, it featured a list of ranks oriented on the bottom center of the document. She circled one of the ranks, signed the bottom of the paper then gave it to Aaen.
"Go ahead and leave your sleeping back at the edge of the wall to my right, then have a seat at the front of the room."
Aaen followed the instructions. The front edge of the room featured three large elevated steps. The other attendees followed the same instructions. The room was quickly abuzz with excited chatter.
Aaen was happy to hear so much enthusiasm and excitement. He looked at his paper, which showed his current rank: Lieutenant–almost one-third up the chain to Rear Admiral. He pictured himself on the bridge of the Odyssey wearing a fine black uniform jacket with polished rectangular insignia on the collar, and gold shoulder boards to match. Normally, Admirals were desk jockeys by general reputation but could stay in the field—as it were—if they wanted to. A perk of a flag officer, as his research before entering Spacefleet, had revealed.
"Hey, Aaen!" a voice called from nearby. Aaen looked in the direction of the voice to find a familiar face two steps below and to the right.
Aaen walked down the steps then sat next to a fellow classmate.
"Hey, Jason, how's it going?"
"Funny seeing you here." he grinned.
"Is this your first assignment?" Aaen asked.
"No, this is my second time here." he looked at Aaen's paper. "What's your rank?"
Aaen showed him his rank paper. The boy compared it to his own, displaying a surprised look.
"Wow. You outrank me. You come here a lot?"
"All the time. I practically live here." Aaen replied. The two laughed. The cargo bay's population gradually increased to its intended capacity. All three steps filled in five minutes. Autopilot undoubtedly engaged and brought the shuttle back to the homestead by now. Aaen thought.
A loud whistle interrupted the excited chatter. The room quickly became silent.
"Attention on deck!" a female voice said from near the twin door entrance.
All in the room stood at attention as Fleet Admiral Williamson entered the room with a two-person escort—one wore a green uniform with a collar, the other wore a black short-sleeved shirt.
Four others entered the room shortly after, forming a neatly spaced line adjacent to and behind him. Three of the four were male, two wore green shirts the other two wore dark navy blue, each had a curved collar. Those wearing black shirts did not.
"At ease. Be seated." All those on the three steps sat down. "Troops, welcome to Starbase One. For those who are here for the first time, I am Fleet Admiral Williamson. I am the boss. Behind me are the four Admirals who will be supervising each ship's activities on your respective missions. There are five ships deploying tonight: the Falcon, Odyssey, Voyager, Magellan, and Galileo." He turned right, then extended his hand as if to direct everyone's attention to the Admiral on the far left end of the line. "This is Admiral Herring," those sitting on the steps observed a short, thin male with an insect-like face. Aaen didn't even bother guessing his age. "he will be overseeing the Voyager's mission. The Voyager holds twelve! The Voyager's mission is codename:...?"
"Greenpeace!" Admiral Herring exclaimed.
"Who wants to be on the Voyager?" Fleet Admiral Williamson asked aloud. A number of hands went up with impressive speed. Aaen kept his hand down. Jason's hand went up partially, then lowered it after noticing Aaen's was still down.
"You don't want to be on the Voyager, Aaen?"
Aaen turned his head. "No–" he determinedly answered, "I want the Odyssey."
"Okay. Let's both go for the Odyssey!" he whispered excitedly, with a facial expression to match.
"Sure." Aaen agreed with a small grin, turning his attention to Fleet Admiral Williamson.
"Are you going to be the captain?"
"If all goes well."
After sorting out seniority among those interested in the Voyager, Fleet Admiral Williamson gestured for the fifteen to line up behind Admiral Herring. They rushed to form an enthusiastic, single-file line.
Admiral Williamson gestured everyone's attention to the next Admiral in the lineup, a female with short brown hair whom Aaen quietly and passively guessed to be only a few years older than he.
"This is Rear Admiral, Warner. She will be overseeing the Falcon's mission tonight. The Falcon holds six bridge crew members. The Falcon's mission is codename:....?"
"Supernova!" she exclaimed, enthusiastically.
The same sorting and assigning process garnered an enthusiastic line of six.
The proverbial spotlight fell on the next Admiral in the lineup. Aaen's heart felt like it was going to explode with anticipation, considering the ship whose operations were overseen by the next Admiral in the lineup.
"This is Admiral Call, he will be overseeing the Odyssey's mission tonight." The Odyssey holds eight bridge crew members. The Odyssey's mission is codename:—?"
"Bug Hunt!"
"Who wants to be on the Odyssey?"
NOW! Aaen sharply raised his hand, and then Jason and several others sitting behind Aaen.
*****
Steve H. told Jordan Foutin, "You are the next Tom Clancy. You really are a gifted writer."
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