KNF-T Seiran

[maclypse]

Brother and sister shared the same passion in life - the massive living, and breathing metal machines that slowly plow their way through the systems: capital ships. The Nakano siblings were much alike in this sense, but where the sister, Hitomi, had chosen the relatively peaceful existence of a trader for Kishiro and already commanded her own Kijiro-class transport - her older brother Akira had only reached a position as first mate on a navy cruiser. He took comfort in the fact that he got to pilot the ships he was passionate about, but just steering the thing was not enough; he wanted his own command.

The letter from the admiralty made his heart jump, the same way it always did when one of these letters landed in his lap. "Maybe this is the one." Many letters had come before this one. Not enough experience. Too young. Not enough piloting experience. Not enough experience on the various stations. Too many applicants for too few positions. The reasons had been many but the result had been the same: request for transfer denied.

Three of Akira's crewmates poked their heads into his small cabin, all of them in various states of concern, shock and surprise. Without realising it, Akira had been screaming out loud, making himself heard in the better part of the port-section of the ship. When they tried to ask what was going on, all Akira did was stare at a piece of paper. While usually very reserved and having a tremendous respect for personal space, one of the crewmen slipped into the cabin to see what was going on, placing his hand on Akira's shoulder. He finally reacted, and showed his friend the paper with a huge smile. "I'm in." he said softly, and a second later, the cabin was alive with talk and cheers.

---

Akira walked slowly through New Tokyo starport, constantly checking the time, even though he knew very well he had more than an hour to waste. The nerves were getting to him. After months in the academy, he had finally gotten a new stripe on his uniform and his transfer orders. Naval training gunboat KNF-T Seiran. "Officer in charge, Cpt Matsumoto. Navigation, Sgt Harada. Engineering, Sgt Nagamura. First mate, ..." Akira repeated his mantra over and over, desperate not to make a fool of himself on his very firts day, by forgetting any of the officers name. Constantly mumbling, and not concerned with the looks, he paced the navy section of the starport for the remainder of the hour, before heading off to the shuttlebay. He was as punctual as the shuttle, waiting only two minutes at the gate before the guards let him through to board.

"Domo Arigato, captain Matsumoto-sama!" he said with a deep bow, after being escorted to the bridge of the gunboat and introduced to the captain. He was feeling even more nervous now. He felt relieved that at least he recognised all the faces on the bridge from the orientation file, and that the names that went with them were still fresh in his head. "Ok, Lieutenant." the captain began calmly after formally introducing everyone on the bridge. "We are scheduled for docking with Yukawa Shipyards in Honshu in an hour, so I suggest you get started." Akira blinked his eyes a few times i confusion. "The normal thing to do at this point is request clearance to undock." the captain offered helpfully with a sarcastic smile, motioned to the captain's chair with his hand, and sat down in a small seat to the side.

He hadn't been shown his quarters, he had been on the ship less than fifteen minutes and apparently the bridge was his. The nerves his Akira like a ton of bricks, and it took all of his strength just to drag his feet to the captain's chair and sit down. For a moment he desperately tried to think, only to find his mind blank. When something at last popped into his head it was "I have my bag in my lap." He looked around for a moment, searching for a place to stow it. "You are in command!" he screamed inside his head. "You are on duty! You don't have to stow your own bag! Idiot!" Akira handed the bag to an ensign, asking for it to be taken to his quarters. A deep sigh of relief escaped him. "One down..." he thought to himself.

The gunboat slowly and steadily drifted backwards, away from the docking position. Akira tried to his very best to stay on top of things, but there was just so much to keep track of: communications, navigation, the piloting... He felt his mouth go dry from giving constant orders, and the nervousness didn't help. Under his command, the gunboat did an about face and headed for the first trade lane.

"You were first mate on the cruiser Fuji, correct?" Akira looked over his shoulder at captain and nodded. "Hai." he answered quickly. Matsumoto's followup question came just as quickly: "How many orders did you need to pilot the Fuji out of docking position?" Akira thought about it for a moment, trying to decide on wether he should answer one or two. The captain interrupted him with a new question: "How many orders have you given to the first mate so far?" Akira blinked his eyes and his head started spinning. "10...11...12..." he thought, and felt the embarrassment hit him. He began to blush, realising he had just made a complete fool of himself, despite his best effort. Once the bridge crew's laughter began to die down, the captain reached out and put a reassurring hand on his shoulder. "Not like the simulators, is it? Relax Akira; this happens to almost everyone the first time." Matsumoto sounded more like a father than an officer. "This is why you are here. Some things can't be learned from books and machines."