Chapter 2
First Meetings

After a long and uneventful flight, the Luterin’s landing craft touched down in one of the Ferlont’s craft bays. “There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Kaelor said to the pilot, who heaved a sigh of relief.
“Easy enough for you to say,” the pilot replied as he ran the final landing sequences, “You were the passenger on this flight. Still, I’m more than happy to go through that again than take your place here.”
Kaelor gave him a reproachful look, “Do you have something against one of our allies?” he asked accusingly.
“No! No, it’s not that,” the pilot assured him as one of the boarding ramps lowered, “I don’t have anything against the ‘Taurians or Fentians, it’s just…”
“Just what?” Kaelor asked when the pilot fell silent.
“It’s… it’s the Keltaurians. They’re-” he stopped short as a light-gold Fentian passed by the bottom of the lowered loading ramp, followed closely by a Keltaurian whose fur patters was nearly identical to his own. “It’s just… It’s creepy, you know?” he finished once the two were out of sight once more.
Kaelor gave the pilot a reassuring smile and was about to reply when he was interrupted by a female voice calling in Laurcic from the bottom of the loading ramp, “Commander Kaelor?”
Kaelor turned to see a Fentian female standing there, the same light-gold color as the one that had been leading the Keltaurian. “I’m not a commander anymore,” he replied in Fentic as he headed down the ramp, “I assume you are here to take me to the ship?”
“You assume correctly,” the Fentian confirmed with a nod, switching to Fentic as well. She then turned, her tasseled tail swaying slightly, “If you’ll follow me…”
Kaelor tuned and gave a quick salute to his pilot, then strode off after his Fentian guide, catching up easily and matching her pace. “So,” he began, “You know my name, may I have yours?”
“Tirna,” His guide replied shortly.
Kaelor nodded politely, abandoning conversation for the moment and looking around at the various groups also making their way through the craft bay to the inner wall. The size of the groups varied greatly, but all the groups consisted of a single species, evidence that each group had come from a different ship. Something that caught his attention was the fact that all the guides were the same light-gold race of Fentian as his own guide. “I know for a fact that Fentians are as diversified as Laurcians,” he began, making another attempt at conversation, “So why do I only see one kind working here?”
Tirna thought for a moment, “Have you ever heard of a Pride?” she asked.
Kaelor was caught off guard, not seeing how her question related to his, “I’ve only ever heard the word in passing; I don’t know what it refers to.”
“Our particular race of Fentian has a different family structure than you may be used to; it’s known as a Pride. A Pride consists of a single male, known as the Prime, and several females. In the past the females were completely subject to their Prime: he commanded, they obeyed. This concept conflicted with the Rights of Sentient Beings when they were conceived, and so, after some struggles, the females in Prides slowly gained many rights that had been denied them in the past, including the right to, if they wished, leave a Pride and go through life on their own. Prides are put to work as a group; they are rarely split apart to work different jobs.” Tirna indicated the other guides, “Their Pride is in charge of this craft bay. It was probably their Prime who contacted your ship when you approached.”
Her explanation lasted them to the back of the craft bay, and now they headed down the materials corridor that led from the craft bay to one of the construction bays at the heart of the Ferlont. “ ‘Their Pride’?” Kaelor asked pointedly.
Tirna smiled, “Since the load they need to deal with is above and beyond what is normal, other Prides whose work on the ship is complete have offered their service to help keep things moving.”
At that moment they stepped into what had once been one of the twenty construction bays contained within the Ferlont. What had originally been designed to construct a single mid-sized ship had been refitted to aid in the construction of the single, massive ship of which only a part could be seen from where they stood. Kaelor could feel his jaw drop as they continued to move forward and more of the huge ship came into view. “By the fifth moon…” he swore softly in Laurcic.
His guide gave him a curious look, “I thought Laurc had only four moons.”
Kaelor, however, was too engrossed in the sight before him to hear, “No wonder they kept this such a tight secret… If the Korlonians knew…”
“They’d do their best to destroy this station,” his guide finished for him, “and with it our ability to produce ships of this size. Over here, please,” she added, indicating one of a small group of landing crafts into which all the various groups were congregating. Kaelor followed obediently, unable to take his eyes off of the impressive sight in front of him. Soon the ship’s designation came into view. FS 0 0 0 1 ISE, UNITY. The Unity. What a fitting name. “How much crew does she need to run?” he asked.
“About five times as much as most mid-sized ships,” Tirna answered as they walked up a loading ramp into the landing craft, “But she can comfortably house another crew’s worth of non-working personnel as well.”
“Six times the capacity…” Kaelor marveled as the last couple groups came up the ramp, “So… a crew and a half from each planet?” he guessed.
“Not quite,” a nearby female Fentian with small, patterned spots said as the loading ramps came up, “They pulled the best candidate for each position from the whole of the four fleets to ensure a superior ship, rather than make a quota and fill it with less qualified personnel.”
Kaelor nodded, “Makes sense,” he agreed, steadying himself instinctually as the craft took off, “but how do you know this? I thought everything about this was kept secret.”
The Fentian smirked and gave a swish of her tail, “Benefit of working in the Command Center,” she boasted, then held out a hand, “Name’s Ajuet.”
“Central Commander of the Katon?” Kaelor asked as he shook the offered hand, eliciting a nod from the spotted female, “A pleasure to meet you, I’m-”
“Kaelor, Central Commander of the Luterin.” Ajuet finished.
A large, black-and-orange-striped Fentian male in one corner scoffed, “Where did they end up putting you? Ships cook?”
Kaelor hesitated, not knowing how to say that he had no idea what his position would be.
“Drujen…” Ajuet said with a sigh.
“What?” the male Fentian demanded, “It just seems that there’s a lot of wasted talent going into this crew; at least half of us were Central Commanders before being re-assigned. Won’t filling this ship with the best the planetary fleets have to offer weaken those fleets?”
“Only at first,” a lean, spotted Sholtaurian female answered in her native language, “Because of this, serving on a Federation ship will be a position held in the highest esteem, and it will become an aspiration that will have the new Central Commanders vying for any position on one, and those who fall short will just work all the harder to improve their chances for the next re-assignment.” The Sholtaurian shifted nervously when she saw that she’d drawn the attention of everyone aboard the landing craft, “That’s how it was on Sholtaur when interplanetary ships were first introduced,” she explained, switching to Fentic, “the concept still applies.”
“That does make a certain amount of sense,” Drujen admitted, “Still, Kaida was it? Doesn’t it seem rather silly to crew a ship with leaders?”
“We were all followers at one point,” Kaelor pointed out as a soft thud marked their landing aboard the ship, “we can be again.”
“That may be so,” Drujen said in a low voice, not enjoying how the argument had gone, “but not many will take kindly to the regression.”
“True,” Kaelor agreed as the loading ramps lowered once more, “but there’s not much they can do about it.”
The ship’s craft bay was filled to the brim with a chaotic mix of Laurcian, Fentian, Keltaurian and Sholtaurian crafts, all of which were being grouped into Flocks and being given the designation for their new ship. As the groups were led into the cacophony by their Fentian guides, Kaelor couldn’t help but feel relieved that he wasn’t in charge of this mess. When they finally reached the door that led from the craft bay to the rest of the ship, they were met by another of the light-gold Fentians, who was standing next to an open container, inside of which were stacked more WMCUs than Kaelor had ever seen in one place before.
“Everyone gets one?” Kaida asked in Sholtauric, surprised.
Kaelor shared her surprise. Typically, only the Central Commander wore a WMCU, occasionally his Secondary would have one as well. It had become the icon of leadership aboard all the ships in the orbital system. To change that unwritten rule and give WMCUs to more than just the Central Commander was a bold move, but as Kaelor glanced over to Drujen, he considered the possibility of it being more of an effort to placate those with bruised pride.
“Not everyone,” Kaida’s guide answered, also in Sholtauric. She handed her a data card, “Everyone in the Command Center is issued one, as well as all other Commanders, Secondarys, and a few others.”
Drujen and Ajuet also received data cards from their guides, and the three of them were given their Computer Units and shown how to insert their data cards and access the instructions on them. Kaelor, however, was escorted through the door without receiving anything.
“Good luck!” Ajuet called after him.
“You’ll need it!” Drujen added.
A bend in the corridor separated Kaelor from the others as Tirna took him further into the ship. He followed in silence until they entered a lift. “I’m sorry, but, where are we going?” he asked.
“The Central Commander has asked that I leave you with him,” his guide explained as the lift ascended, “He’d like to be the one to introduce you to your duties.”
Kaelor nodded his understanding as the lift door opened, and he continued to follow Tirna through the ship. Soon they stopped at a door, and Tirna pressed the button beneath the room’s designation.
“Who is it?” a male voice inquired in Keltauric.
“Kaelor, as you requested, Commander,” Tirna replied in the same language.
“Ah, thank you, Tirna,” the voice continued, switching to Fentic, “You may return to your duties. I’ll be with Kaelor in a moment.”
Tirna turned and bowed slightly to Kaelor with her ears pulled back, then walked back toward the lift that had brought them here. As he watched her go, the door he was waiting at opened, making him quickly turn to face the now open doorway. “Come in, come in,” said the grey-furred Keltaurian who’d opened the door from the inside, speaking in Laurcic, “A pleasure to meet you,” he added as he stepped back to allow Kaelor to enter.
Kaelor stepped into the room and saluted, “I hereby offer myself to serve under your command,” he announced.
The Keltaurian returned the salute, “Are you prepared for the demands and responsibilities associated with such service?” he asked.
“I am,” Kaelor replied.
“Then I, Barthalon, Central Commander of the Unity, hereby accept your service,” the Keltaurian finished, ending the salute, “Now, relax. That’s an order. I’d heard you were fond of ceremony, so I looked up as much Laurcic ceremony as I could find,” he went on, moving further into the room. It was a bit larger than his old room on the Luterin, but that was to be expected since the ship needed to accommodate the larger build of the ‘Taurians. In one corner was the bunk, once again larger than his old one, in the corner next to it was a desk, in front of which sat what looked like a high-backed chair with the back folded down and back until it was level with the seat, making it look a bit ridiculous. On the other end of the room were a couple couches on either side of a low table, on which sat a data card and a WMCU, both of which, Kaelor assumed, were Barthalon’s. It was to one of the couches that Barthalon headed. “Unfortunately, there’s a slight problem. Please, have a seat,” he added, gesturing to one of the couches as he clambered onto the one across the table from it.
“A problem?” Kaelor repeated as he politely took the offered seat.
“Yes,” Barthalon continued, slightly uneasy, “All of that Laurcic ceremony is just that: Laurcic. As you know, this ship has crew from all four planets, not just Laurc. And since it’s the first ship to have such a crew, we don’t even have a standardized salute yet, let alone official ceremony.”
“Oh…” Kaelor said thoughtfully, “I’m… somewhat embarrassed… the thought had never occurred to me. Thank you for brining this up, I’ll be sure to keep it in mind.”
“Excellent!” Barthalon exclaimed, clearly relieved as his tail gave a pleased thump against the couch, “Now, with that out of the way, these are yours,” he continued, indicating the data card and WMCU sitting on the table between them, “It wasn’t an easy decision, I must tell you, but your record speaks for itself, and the name you’ve earned for yourself and the Luterin made you the perfect candidate.”
Kaelor’s gaze shifted from the WMCU on the table to the Keltaurian sitting across from him, “Perfect candidate for what?” he asked, slightly confused.
Barthalon paused for an instant, unsure, then smiled and chuckled to himself, “Silly me, I forgot that they wouldn’t tell you,” he said, half to himself, “Kaelor, you are to be the Secondary Central Commander of the Unity.”