A/N: So, another attempt at a Talent Fanfic... here goes... :)
Sitting in the Prime's chair, it was all Mik could do not to feel overwhelmed. He'd spent years training for this moment. His family had sent him to Terra to have his Talent trained, forcing him from the idyllic Deneb into the heart of the monstrosity Terrans called "The City." It had taken some time, almost a full year, before Mik could sleep the night through, with the constant hum of generators, traffic, the noises made by millions of people crowding into a few miles. Luckily, the student dormitories had psychic dampers to keep the mental noise out too.
Today, though, was his first posting, his first day of actively serving as an FT&T Prime, and he was on board the cruiser Tulsa, a fully loaded battleship that could fend off most Hiver vessels, unless they had another Leviathan hiding someone in deep space. This ship was to be his home for the next 18 months, and it was his duty to keep it supplied and in contact with High Command. Unfortunately, the ship was an older model, and so the 'dini facilities were so substandard that the vessel had left Dock without a single Mrdini ally on board. The goal was to have the facilities upgraded and prepared for 'dinis within 6 months.
The view panel blipped to life, sending a stream of information scrolling across the bottom of the screen. The details of the ship's mass, its generator output, what hours those generators could be tapped into for lifting things to and from the ship, and which personnel on board had any Talent at all. Surprisingly, there were quite a few. Engineers with a touch of kinetic ability, the ship's counselor was highly empathic with a large dose of telepathy (both sending and receiving), and even the Captain had some ability. Perhaps the Navy had learned it was cheaper to hire their own Talents than to go through FT&T. If that was the case, the Navy would have a long fight with Jeff Raven, another Denebian homebody who'd been dragged from his native soil to labor for this outfit.
Officially, Mik had a team of three Talents to assist him in his duties. First, his de facto Second in Command, Esme Pol, a sweet Terran girl who had a strong Kinetic thrust. When their minds linked, it was more than just adding each person's strengths to make a whole, their Talents merged forming a yet stronger Talent. Gollee Gren said that Earth Prime's daughter had a similar effect, whoever she linked with grew significantly stronger than their normal rating, and constant association made that boost permanent. His expediter was from the Calisto moon base, and had grown up around Talent, specifically the ever dramatic Rowan. Jake was a steady T-6, path and port, and he liked his job. What more could a Prime ask for? Their last team mate was another Terran, Bill Theise, and he was a T-8, mainly kinetic, but his skills were aimed at electronics. There wasn't a generator alive Bill couldn't rig to allow a Talent to tap into it, and surprisingly, Bill was the most humble man you'd ever meet.
As his team took their seats around him, Mik opened his mind up to theirs. Like fingers sliding into a warm glove, he felt their minds meshing with his. This was good, this was what Talents were meant to do. Grasping their mental energies and pulling lightly on the ship's generators, Mik wrapped the ship in a field of telekinetic force, and reached out with his mind to Jeff Raven.
'Earth Prime, this is Tulsa Prime. I am standing ready to lift the Tulsa to her destination, permission to lift?'
'Permission granted Tulsa Prime, journey well and safely.'
The mental 'smile' Jeff left floating in his mind almost made Mik giddy. Despite the fact that Jeff Raven was pushing 70, he was still an attractive man, and his wife, the Rowan, was just as beautiful.
Pulling deeper on the generators, Mik pressed the intercom button.
"All personnel, all personnel, we will be leaving this Solar System in 20 seconds. Please secure all loose items, and remain seated. This jump is safe, but when we leave Hyperspace, you might feel disoriented which could lead to injuries. 10 seconds."
Looking to his team, he smiled widely, and drew even deeper on the generators, gathering his mental muscles, bunching them like a sprinter at the blocks, and when his mental clock hit zero, the ship surged light-years across space, and perhaps time too. When they popped into Real Space, Mik smiled and released the power of the Generators, hearing them wind down slowly. With a grin, he looked at his team.
"So, not bad for our first jump, eh?"
"Mik, I don't see why you felt the need to jump us out here all on your own. Earth Prime's job is to send outbound traffic to Calisto, where the Rowan routes it to the closest Prime to its destination… we could have saved our energy and had the other Primes lift us as far as they were able." Bill liked to lecture, and as the oldest person on the team, he did often have to act as the voice of reason.
"Bill, it's simple… I wanted to begin working with the three of you as soon as I could. Yes, we trained together, and yes, our minds link well, but this is actual work, here we need to mesh and I wanted to start meshing. I spoke it over with Earth Prime and he felt my judgment was sound." Mik knew Bill just didn't like to exert himself too frequently, so he had to argue against any unnecessary use of mental power. "But, just so no one worries, we're spending two standard days here. We'll just use regular engines to lightly propel us. In two hours, we're to dine with the officers in the Captain's mess, so go get ready folks. I don't want these Navy types thinking we're surface bound slobs."
A wink for Esme, a smile for Jake, and a rueful grin for Bill sent the three other FT&T Talents on their way to their own cabins. Ever since the Hiver threat emerged, Talents have been given honorary rank while serving onboard Navy vessels. Primes were the equals of Captains, Seconds were usually Lieutenants, and the back up personnel were somewhere in the rankings, but always outranking the enlisted men. All of that meant his team would have to work quick to get to know Navy protocols, hierarchy, and discipline.
Walking back to his own cabin, Mik had to hide a grin as he opened the door. His rooms were magnificent. A sitting room attached to a large bedroom with a walk in closet, a small private bathroom, and a larger public bathroom for when he had company. The sitting room had a dining table large enough for eight to comfortably sit, and several reclining chairs near a set of shelves with genuine paperbound books. There were of course some data tablets, but the books were what made Mik smile the most. He loved to read, and if he could get actual paper between his fingers he would be in heaven. All in all, his rooms were better than anything he'd ever lived in before. Deneb was still recovering from the various Hiver incursions, and would not get to have luxuries like books for another few years, and the generations who lived through the incursions still preferred to live cheek by jowl with their families, sometimes three people to a bedroom.
He quickly stripped and neatly tossed his clothing into a hamper. He had reached, mentally, from the "Tower" to his cabin to start the shower, so when he walked into his private bathroom, it was already hot and steaming. One of the minor perks of being Talented was being able to soap up one's body, shampoo one's hair, and brush one's teeth all at the same time without sprouting another pair of arms, and Mik loved to use his gift like that, testing his abilities, his skill. Not every Talent was able to work so close to their body, and some didn't have the fine control needed to hold just a dab of shampoo, but Mik had both. When his shower was done, he stepped out, clearing the mirror with a soft mental swipe, looking at his frame, noticing where he'd put on weight since he left Deneb, where he'd lost muscle tone. With a sigh, he pulled out a razor, and carefully began scraping his face free of the light scattering of stubble. He disliked the feel of that short, scratchy hair, and did his best to never have it for long. Rubbing a small dollop of gel through his hair, he gently formed it into a semi-fashionable look. He didn't want the Officers thinking he was some kind of pretty boy here to catch himself an officer for a spouse.
Back in his room, he pulled out the official FT&T Uniform, enjoying the crisp pants, the thick, soft button up shirt, and the insignia across the chest. Yes, he'd worked hard for that uniform. Pulling it on, he buttoned it up, and then stepped in front of the full length mirror.
"Yes, Mik Castro, you do look quite dashing today." He had to laugh at himself.
After stopping to put on his shoes, Mik stepped into the Hallway, and let his door close behind him. Across the hall, he knocked on the door. A long moment later, the door slid open to reveal Esme, also in her official uniform, but with her hair worked into dozens of tiny braids that she had neatly coiled into a chaotic pile on top of her head. As they closed her door, Bill and Jake both stepped out of their rooms, almost as if they'd been waiting for their Prime and his Second.
"Well, gentlemen, my lady, we're off to make an impression."
The four of them walked down the hall, smiling to the other officers they saw along the way, accepting the salutes of those beneath their rank. None of the officers they met here would outrank them, but once they reached the Captain's mess, that would change. The Captain himself, and his Second in Command would both outrank Esme, Jake, and Bill, and only the Captain himself outranked Mik. When they arrived, they paused outside the door.
"Remember, we're representing all civilians… try not to make too poor an impression." Bill was of course cheerful.
The door slid open, and the four Talents entered, walking to their seats at the head table where the Captain was already seated. Taking their seats, they made some small talk, chatting about how they were adapting to shipboard life, how they were enjoying the views from their windows, and what they had done before working with FT&T. The captain seemed honestly interested and kind, which was not what Mik had been taught to expect. Military folks carried the reputation for rudeness, gruff behavior, and a lack of sensitivity to Talent, but perhaps the Captain's own weak Talent made him more amenable.
The Captain and Esme were chatting about different regions on Terra they'd visited, when the mess door slid open again, and the most beautiful man Mik had ever seen entered the mess. He was tall, with short, dark hair, and big, beautiful green eyes, that matched his dark blue uniform well. The man kept walking towards their table, smiling now, and Mik's concentration snapped when he heard the Captain's voice.
"Talents, may I introduce my Second, Lieutenant Gabriel Roberts."
Gabriel just smiled, showing his perfect teeth, and making Mik's heart flutter.