The Interview

Joe felt a bit nervous, she'd admit that. Sitting in the waiting area outside a Commodore's Office, just being told to show up at a certain time with no further details. She still did not really feel at home in her new fleet-issue-jumpsuit. It's not that it is scratchy or anything, She was just not used to it yet. You can't get rid of 20 years wearing and doing what you like simply by joining the fleet. Being alone in the an empty outer office didn't really help at all, not even another nervous ensign to talk to.

The door swooshed open, revealing a beautiful dark skinned woman, tall and slim. "Ensign 9?" She need a moment to refocus, the tall goddess was talking to her. At second glance she was wearing the rank insignia of a Lieutenant-Commander. Joe crisply snapped to it. "Yes, mam", shouting a bit too loud. "They're ready for you." She smiled, Joe might not have been the first jumpy ensign she greeted that day. She motioned Joe to the inner door, taking a seat behind the receptionist desk and left Joe to her fate.

Joe entered the office, facing a large desk in front of a very large window looking out into space. She glanced around the quite large shipyard crowding Mars orbit. "Quite a view, isn't it?" Mentally kicking herself she came to attention and addressed the Commodore "Ensign 9 reporting for duty." "At ease, son. These are Lieutenants Smike and Sunblast." He motioned to two men standing at the side. "Lieutenants." "Ensign." Curtly nods given to her, acknowledging my existence.

Off to such a good start.

The Commodore motioned to a conference desk with 6 seats, "Have a seat so we can get started." She noticed the layout, 3 sets of pen and paper on one side, a single one on the other. So she took the single seat, the Commodore the one opposite to her. "First, Ensign, please relax. If you become any more nervous you might have a stroke." He smiled, she almost managed to smile back. "This is an Interview, not a court martial. Earth is about to start a new initiative and we think you might be a good match."

"Ok, sir. New initiative? That does sound intriguing, sir."

"Something very different than we did before, Ensign. Can you please give us a summary of your vita?"

"Of course, sir. There is not so much to talk about. I was born on the Bethany, a Y-class freighter that is operated by my family now in the third generation. We usually do the Mars-Vega run, transporting pretty much anything that there's to transport. I grew up doing every job that needed doing, work never ends on the Betty. My Grandmother set up a school for the children, i attended the standard curriculum. I even qualified for University, but decided against it."

"Why did you decide against University?" Lieutenant Smyke asked.

"It didn't feel right leaving space. On our trips we usually get on shore-leaves, which are quite nice. A bunch of new faces, fresh air, a blue sky. But after a couple of days I usually grow restless. It's too quiet for me. Nothing to do. I can't sit on my hands that long, sir."

"Ensign, what can you tell me about the Y-class freighters?" Lieutenant Sunblast asked.

"Well, it is the first interstellar freighter built by earth. It uses the original Warp-drive with a top speed of Warp 1.1. Capable of carrying a cargo of 200.000 metric tons in different containers.

The design is modular, like a old-style freight-train. A ship housing engine, crew and life-support connects to a spinal strut that has the warp-nacelles in the back. The freight-containers are connected to the strut, magnetically locked to it."

She lectured them, anyone who grew up on one the old freighters knows them by heart. Noticing their eyes starting to glaze over she decided to take a chance.

"Sirs, I don't think I'm here to lecture you on the Y-class, am I?"

The three looked at each other, the lieutenants clearly taken aback. The Commodore facesd her with a grim look on his face.

"No Ensign, that is correct. What is your personal opinion on the Y-class?"

"Honestly, sir?"

He nods.

"They're relics. They've been built with only a rudimentary understanding of warp-physics. The whole layout is directly out of the history books. The worst thing? They have not been any serious upgrades in 60 Years for them. I tried to talk my father into upgrading the ship. I managed to get an upgrade for the life-support system. That was marginal and it took me three months of talking. It is about time that they're replaced."

Now the three are smiling at each other.

"Ensign, what do you know of Earth's colonies?"

"I know all three of them, if you do count Mars. As it is still undergoing the terraforming process it is marginally habitable, with a population of about 5 Million. Mars orbit, as we can see-", she pointed to the viewscreen "is a mayor shipyard in the Sol-system. Mainly used for fleet but also civilian construction.

Alpha-Centauri was the first colony founded when the warp drive was developed and deemed save for use. It has a population of 3 Million and is self-sufficient. It also has a small Space-station in orbit which is mainly used for Cargo transfer.

Vega is pretty much the same, but younger and smaller. As it is not yet self-sufficient it is receiving quite a bit more traffic."

The Commodore nodded, looking at his notes.

"That about sums it up, why do think that is, Ensign? Let me be more specific. Why do you think we have only 2 Colonies outside our Home-System with a population of barely 5 Million when we've had the capability to travel at Warp for 80 Years?"

She gulped, that had to be a trap!

"Sir, I'm not sure I understand the question. Every colony is a huge effort, a colony ship is constructed, equipped and staffed. The ship then travels to its target-location and lands on the planet, where it is disassembled to form the first buildings of the colony. It is quite an effort, Sir. Although, honestly I never understood why it takes 40 Years for a colony ship to be launched."

All three looked at each other, nodding. The Commodore leaned forward.

"Ensign, what we tell you now is something only a very few people outside this room are aware of, you'd be advised to keep it that way. Do you understand?"

Only a moment of hesitation before she nodded.

"Good. There are certain powers that don't want Earth to become too strong, they don't think we're ready to venture out into space. They think we'd bring chaos and war to the galaxy."

She wanted to argue but his raised hand stopped her short.

"That may or may not be true, Ensign. The point is that we can't stay limited to just 4 Planets any longer. If Earth is attacked, billions could die, the colonies are not even nearly self-sufficient enough. That's what we are about to change. We'll make sure that mankind gets to the stars."

She blinked. Whatever she had expected, this was something utterly different.

"That sounds all nice and good Sir, but where do I come in?"

He slid a datapad over, showing schematics that looked very different.

"That's how. Have you heard of the Hermes-Project?"

"No, Sir. Not that I recall."

"Good, the Hermes-Class is a next generation freighter which is quite different from the old Y-Class."

"I can see that, Sir. The design is very different. It looks to be more flexible, how big is it?"

"It is about 3 times the length of a Y-Class, about 600 meters in the starting configuration."

"Wow, that is big", she started to zoom into the schematics.

"Basic design is simple enough, the cargo is connected externally?"

"Yes, the ship is basically consists of the drive/crew section and a modular spine holding the cargo bays, the bow is formed by the deflector assembly. It allows to store containers in a pressurized environment and allows for much greater flexibility. The cargo it can carry can be a lot bigger. We are currently in the design phase for colonization modules to be place instead of the cargo bays. This gives us a very flexibly, reusable colony ship."

He stood up, pointing me to follow him to the window. Touching it he activates a zoom-window showing a ship that looks very much like the schematics.

"That is the Hermes, first of her class."

It sure looked impressive. Light-grey instead of the bronze of the old ones. Large crew-section at the end, a long and narrow spine holding six orange cargo bays.

"Won't the Vulcans object to this?"

"Ensign that is a bit above your clearance level don't you think? The Vulcans don't run Earth, not if I have something to say about it."

She nodded.

"I couldn't agree more, Sir. But still, what do you want with me?"

Lt. Sunblast had approached and was handing me a new datapad.

"This would the maiden voyage of the Hermes, you'd be on board at her helm. We need people with deep space experiance, like you. It is still a prototype."

She looked over it, noticing a rough course already plotted leading to a star cluster quite a bit off.

"The mission is to the Tartus-Cluster, ever heard of it?"

She could only nod her head no.

"Doesn't surprise me, it is about 200 LY from Earth, 220 from Vulcan. As far as we know no one has a claim to it. You'll help lay that claim, Ensign. The LTs. will form the senior command crew with you, Ensign. Normally we'd put a Captain in Command, but to keep it low profile it'll be ca Lt.-Cmdr. billet. Officially the mission is to open trade opportunities with the natives. Unofficially you'll scout every habitable planet you find that is not occupied or claimed otherwise. The ship will be provisioned for an extended journey. We expect it to be about 1 year until you return to Earth."

Her mind started wandering, to go out there, into the unknown.

"Ensign, you're still with us?"

"Sorry, Sir. Of course. Sir? Where do I sign?"