Character Perspective: Reagan

“McCarthy, Bennett, LaFountain, Aries, Saturn. What do these five things have in common?” A tan skinned, lanky man with wildly curly hair atop his head asked as he wrote each of the five names up onto a whiteboard at the front of our small three person class.

The classroom was filled with posters and diagrams of various shipboard systems, but primarily the large assortment of different weapons that these ships could be outfitted with. In hindsight, I never really had considered just why our “exploratory vessels” had to be armed with these kind of systems, but now that I had the Parasitum squarely in mind it started to make just a bit of sense.

There were only three seats facing toward the front of the classroom and we were evenly spaced out, but I could see Nieves, a short Hispanic guy with buzzed hair and thick square glasses with purple trim in his uniform, raise his hand almost as soon as the question had been asked out of the corner of my eye, “They are the five classes of starships that the Star Launch Fleet has, Lt. Nester,” he answered.

“That is correct, though commonly most only know of the McCarthy, Bennett and LaFountain class ships. Aris are our forward ship repair and replenishment ships, and Saturn class ships are those operated by the fleet Admirals and there are currently only two of those,” Lt. Nester said without even turning around. “The McCarthy class as the smallest ship size would only be home to what currently consists of your bridge crew and there are fourteen of them currently within the fleet,” he continued to drone on.

I let out an exasperated sigh. I knew that this was our first day, of course I did, but I didn’t think we’d be going over the rudimentary details so completely for so long either. I wanted to go check out some of the weapons or head to a simulated range. I wanted more time firing and practicing, I mean, was that really so much to ask?

“Now, what is the largest weapon system that can be housed on a McCarthy class vessel?” the Lt asked as he turned to face us. Even he seemed bored by all of this, but he was continuing forward with it making it clear this really was simply a part of the first day’s class.

“A Valkyrie three port torpedo system,” I said, speaking up before Nieves could raise his hand.

“No way! Can’t you fit a Unicorn rail beam from a top mount?” A pale guy with spiky blonde hair, quite a bit more acne than I might have expected, and a nametag that said Bailey on it spoke up before the Lt. could validate my answer.

“Well yeah, but a Unicorn’s gross weight is like, only three quarters of a Valkyrie and that’s before you even account for the ammunition storage. With the Unicorn you’re drawing from ship’s power like you would be with a swivel modified rail-rifle,” I answered back with a smirk. Lt. Nester had circled his own desk and was leaning against it with his lips sealed as he watched our exchange. “Not to mention if we are discussing “largest” in terms of destructive ability, a well fired Valkyrie torpedo can do in one shot what a Unicorn might do in four and that’s if you get lucky enough to maintain your shot for that long.”

Both Bailey and Nieves were staring at me now, their eyes a mixture of confused and impressed. A let out a sigh. Somethings never changed and the assumption that Weapons was a “Guy’s Club” was one that just never went away.

“Reagan is correct,” Lt. Nester said when neither of the guys spoke up. “The Valkyrie is also the most expensive and least used for that very reason though. I believe records indicate it has only been installed on two ships in the last twenty years and the cost of it can often be a limiting factor as well. One thing they don’t tell most of the students is that you guys are given an upper limit on your ship’s final build cost depending on the class of ship you end up qualifying for, but that is a discussion for a later year of your training.”

“C’est nul!” Bailey said with an almost wispy accent that must have been from somewhere in the Northern American Regions. “So we can’t just build the most expensive, badass ship?” he complained.

“Nope, board has final approval on ship plans, though those will get submitted when you all are sixth years,” the Lt. replied quickly.

“But aren’t only two of our ships going to end up being built?” Nieves perked up.

“They are, but you don’t go right from graduation into the fleet either, once you graduate, you will return to the ground for a few months to go over final induction with ground command as well as giving you time to see your families before departing for deep space. During that time, shipwrights will be working around the clock on finalizing your ships for departure. They can move quite quickly actually,” Lt. Nester explained further.

I let out a long, low whistle, “Dang, never really thought about the construction process and all that.”

“That’s cause you spent all your time learning weapons systems like a good specialist,” Lt. Nester said with a crooked grin as he pushed himself off the desk and circled back to the board. “Now, the reason I ask specifically about the McCarthy class ship’s upper limits is because it allows for a scale of reference. You see, while the McCarthy class can in fact house a Valkyrie system, operating it is another story as the ammunition is incredibly heavy. This is where operating off of a Bennett or LaFountain class has its benefits as those ships have the added benefits of enlisted crew onboard. Who knows the crew numbers for these ships?”

“Fifty for Bennett and One Hundred Fifty for the LaFountain Class,” Nieves answered quickly. “Is it true that the crew come from Ground Crew and others who didn’t qualify to come up to the Command school here?”

“As well as those of you who don’t have their ships christened at the end of this. Even though you won’t be in command of a bridge, you may still find qualification to act as a crew leader for your field. In fact, this is typically where many that are on that “failing” bridge crew end up,” the Lt. replied, actually using air quotes around the word failing. “You all still have years of training and many still want to go into deep space, this is how Star Fleet manages their resources to the best of their ability,” he added, turning back from the whiteboard after adding crew sizes next to the ships.

“Then why did Admiral Williams make it seem like the group of us that failed was destined for the ground and the whole spiel about only the best of the best that he did?” Bailey asked, scratching at the side of his head.

“It’s his job to foster competition, it’s our job as teachers to manage expectations,” Lt. Nester replied as if he had been expecting the question. “It is important to note that you all are in competition with each other, however that’s not to say at the end of all of this you won’t have seen each other’s ability and qualifications. It almost goes without saying that often times the “losing” crew gets quickly swooped up by the other two crews heading out, at least during the years where those crews choose to go with larger class ships. But the choosing of those classes is a topic for later,” he turned back to the board and circled the top three ship classes.

“That makes sense I suppose,” Bailey replied as he leaned back into his chair and stretched, only stopping when the Lt. tapped his marker against the board.

“You all will want to focus on weapon systems for these three ships, however for this first semester we will be working primarily within the abilities of the McCarthy class ships, we are going to go about this gradually but swiftly over the next week as most of this should be refreshers for you at this point, but protocol is protocol,” he said with a sigh, the slight bit of interest he had in the conversation seeming to finally diminish. Before he could speak again, a DING echoed through the room alerting us to the end of this period. “I will send initial study materials to your dorm consoles, head on out for Lunch mess, class dismissed,” he said.