Prominence

Part 1 - Jump Master

"Ensign Fexl reporting for duty sir!"

Tanlen pulled his head and shoulders out from the access panel that he was trying unsuccessfully to squeeze his broad shoulders through. He peered back to see the shiny boots of a fresh recruit. Annoyed, he wriggled back out from under the drive consol and stood up, muttering under his breath about his sore knees as he did so. He wiped the back of a dirty hand across his forehead to clear away the sweat.

"My title is Jump Master not sir. This is the exploration corps not the military."

"Yes sir...I mean Jump Master," replied the cadet as he threw a salute that he quickly tried to retract along with the sir.

"So...you are my new rookie then hmm," said Tanlen as he circled the boy, stern faced, in a mock military inspection just to keep the kid uneasy. He was barely an adult by the look of him, his head plumage had barely even started to show colour let alone harden into the bony armoured spikes of a real man. He was on the short side and weedishly thin. Tanlen by comparison was a head taller with strong arms and a solid build that was bordering on podgy. "What's your first name?"

"Relv, sir...I mean Jump Master," Relv replied nervously.

"So what exactly do they teach you at the academy these days?"

"Um...it's a university not an academy anymore," the rookie corrected sheepishly.

"Well that's just dandy, perhaps we can hang your degree over the gravity drive," replied Tanlen his words dripping with sarcasm. "I asked you what you learned."

"I majored in advanced gravity wave dynamics. After that I specialised in jump drive operation," replied Relv, the nervousness in his voice giving way momentarily to a hint of pride.

"All theory and no practice then?"

"I also had to complete over 1000 hours of jump drive simulation training to qualify for the corps."

"I bet there have been some wonderful little advances in jump drives since I was last on Vaslus and I bet they only taught you how to operate the latest drives in all those simulations too."

"Yes sir that that is correct," replied Relv his pride and confidence short lived.

"Well you can throw all that great education out the window right now. From your point of view the Abarath is 180 year old technology and nothing like what you trained on. You must have really upset someone to end up on this bucket of bolts for your first tour...or are you just some trouble maker they want out of the way?"

"Neither sir. I asked to be assigned to this ship."

"You're kidding?"

"No sir, I have been a jump drive enthusiast ever since I watched my first holoreel about the mission of the colony ships," replied Relv with the unabashed enthusiasm of someone obsessed. "I have read everything I can find about every jump ship that has even been constructed. The Interstellar 5 series like the Abarath is my absolute favourite! When was I likely to get another opportunity to fly one?"

"You won't be flying or touching anything in this drive room unless I expressly allow it," corrected Tanlen pointing a stern finger to emphasis the point. "This old girl has been on twelve voyages out into the deep black and in real terms is about 25 years old. Considering her jump drive was not meant to last beyond her first trip it's getting to be quite a challenge to keep her operational. That means you need to listen carefully and learn fast. Now let's get to work, we are behind schedule already, you can stow your gear in the corner for now. You can worry about finding your quarters later."

~*~

Tanlen handed Relv a dynamic driver and grabbed another for himself.

"All these access panels need to come off so we can replace all of the optical circuit boards with these new generation nano-circuit matrix sets."