Character Perspective: Curtis

“Thank you all for joining me here today,” Captain Reed said from the front of a room that was way too big for the three people that had been called in. While I didn’t immediately recognize the Captain, Kara’s presence alongside the MEGALODON’s Captain, the senior instructor for our group of flights was quick to place.

“While Captain Armstrong is used to spending time with me one on one, you two have been spending your Captain training time with your Training Admirals. This was of course important for establishing a base relationship between the training staff and you, however the one on one nature of those periods means you all are lacking the same training opportunities as the rest of your crews,” the Captain continued, leaning on the desk at the front of the class as he spoke. “Namely, being able to pick the brains of your peers.”

“But why wait until the day before our second trial to begin this?” Armstrong asked. While I hadn’t had time to get familiar with the other Captains, I had at least some familiarity with Kara through Mendez’s interactions with her. Armstrong was an unknown and every time I had seen him in the Mess Hall or when passing in the passageways, he always seemed a bit distant.

Though to be fair, my ship had accidentally caused his ship to take last place, so maybe I was just sensing his annoyance with my crew in general. I knew if the situation was reversed, I might have had a chip on my own shoulder.

“Well let’s see if you three can figure that out, you all are Captains now, at least in some manners, why would we structure your training like this compared to the others in your crew?” the Captain mused, reaching for a black mug with stars on it that was steaming with what must have been coffee. As Kara went to raise her hand Captain Reed just shook his head, “Please let’s just let this be a discussion, no need for that.”

“Sorry, force of habit sir,” Kara apologized quickly. “There’s a few reasons I can think of that the training staff would outline our training this way. Firstly, as you mentioned, it allowed us Captains a chance to get a feel for how our personal Training Admirals operated and settle in to the command structure. While Star Launch isn’t necessarily a military, a proper chain of command for passing information and instruction is always going to be a vital piece of the puzzle and thus allowing our Training Admirals time to form some foundation of trust expediated the process of establishing the command structure within our own ships.”

“I have felt like I could breath a bit more, especially when our command lines were practically decided for us from the get go. That’s where Star Launch majorly differentiates from a common military though. If you look at something like the Old American Navy by comparison, Capitans would take command of a vessel for a set period of time and eventually move on. The ships weren’t designed for a single crew to helm for it’s entire lifetime,” I added in, leaning back into my chair and tapping a pen against paper.

“Yeah, but neither of those things would explain why we were only brought into this setting the day before our next major trial,” Armstrong said. “I don’t know what the two of you have been getting out of your Training Admiral’s these last eleven days, but Captain Reed has only given me sparse notes on my Trial Plans.”

“In my defense, you only asked sparse questions,” Captain Reed interjected before he took another sip from his cup.

“That’s what Commander Goodwin has been doing for me as well though,” Kara said as a thoughtful look passed over his face. “But that brings me to my other thoughts on why it’s setup this way. I think our bonds with our Training Admirals is important, but unlike the others in our crews, learning from each other should be a secondary goal as opposed to the shared knowledge that is beneficial for say, our Weapons Officers.”

“How so?” I asked, scratching the side of my head. “I mean, we all went through the same basic specialization training for Captain, so in theory the strategies we all have are more or less compatible, minus maybe the difference between our personal instructors.”

“True, but it doesn’t change our preferred leadership styles,” she replied quickly. “We can all adapt and change our styles of course, I’m not saying necessarily that we can’t, but nature is hard to change. If someone is, by their nature, going to be a bit more direct of a leader, then that is basically how they always will be without very specific and dedicated concentrated training.”

“So you’re thought is that they didn’t mix us together for these first few weeks to allow us to… what, maintain our own personal style?” Armstrong asked, a single, overly bushy eyebrow raised. “I suppose that would probably do the trick since we have each spent the time since learning of the next trial at least presumably sequestered off and just handing off orders or preparing for the trial however we saw fit.”

“The first trial was about catching us off guard, that much is pretty obvious to me,” Kara nodded. “And the second is about what we do when we have time to prepare. It’s about letting us as the Captains, since we were the ones that were given the trial briefing, time to show how we will act as the Captains.”

“Very astutely put Captain Stevens,” Captain Reed said as he stood back up and walked around to the board behind his desk. He began writing what looked like a schedule. “We won’t be changing your day to day time with your Training Admirals. It is important that you each have that one on one time, however moving forward we will be conducting twice weekly group sessions like this one. Sometimes I will be your instructor, sometimes it will be either Commander Allen or Commander Goodwin, but the goal of these meetings is to primarily present you with general ideas and to prompt discussion. While we do not expect the Star Launch ship Captain’s to all act and react the exact same way, it is beneficial to share that knowledge.”

“Is that why the Senior Captain’s host their bi-weekly captain’s gathering thing?” I asked. While I had wanted to take Trent up on his offer this past weekend, it seemed like a bad idea to do without the other Captains from this year. I could have of course sought them out and invited them along, but with my own plans already taking shape I just didn’t really have the time. Both Kara and Armstrong looked at me curiously before their eyes turned back to Captain Reed.

“Surprised one of you already knows about those meetings,” he said with an actual amused look on his face. “Yes, those have been a longstanding tradition here at Star Launch, though typically first years don’t get invited until they have completed their first semester.”

“How’d you find out about them?” Armstrong asked curiously.

“Ran into one of the fifth year captains on my first day here and then again last week when he told me about the meetings,” I answered honestly. “There was supposed to be one this past weekend but..”

“But none of us would have been in the mental headspace to be involved,” Kara picked up where I trailed off from. “It was probably the best decision and after this trial would probably be a better time for us to join that meeting group… assuming nobody would complain if we went there before the end of the first semester?” she added, though it came off as a question as she looked between Captain Reed and myself.

“Technically it’s nothing that the academy is actively organizing. So if you all know about it and are invited, then I’d say it’s never to early,” Captain Reed answered for her. “Now, enough of that, let me finish going over the schedule here.”

“What else is there to go over sir?” Armstrong asked as his training admiral returned to the front of the desk. Looking past him, the schedule seemed to indicate we would meet on Mondays and Fridays.

“Only one thing really,” he replied quickly. “On the final class session of each month, be it either a Monday or a Friday, you will each bring your entire crews with. Their classes will each be aware of this of course and the training staff on that day will generally include all three of us Training Admirals. The purpose of this is to go over previous trials and to have larger, group discussions that are better done with entire crews.”

“I did wonder why we didn’t have anything like that already on the books…” Kara said thoughtfully. “I mean, three person classes are good and all but you only get so much out of two extra voices.”

“Does that mean that next Friday we will have the entire crews here?” I asked as I scratched the scheduled onto my pad.

“Indeed it does,” Captain Reed replied, “So make sure everyone pays attention during your trial tomorrow as well as the debriefing as the topic for discussion will be the trial itself, however, when we convene for that meeting, I must insist that all three of you do not offer any opinions or remarks of your own.”

“Huh? But why Sir?” Armstrong asked, genuine confusion on his face. “Wouldn’t we want to be a part of the discussion?”

“You do, but your jobs as Captains means that you three are always the ones talking. And while I’m sure each of you will have spent your own time with your crews planning and listening, it never hurts to listen to everybody,” Captain Reed quickly explained. “But you will understand better next week. Now, that’s all I have for today. I recommend each of you take the afternoon off from planning as to not burn yourself out prior to the trial tomorrow.”

“Yes sir!” we all chanted as we began to rise from our seats.

“Oh, and good luck.”