Book 4: Chapter 179: Career Choices

Book 4: Chapter 179: Career Choices

USD: One day after a FUBAR ground mission

Location: Meltisar, Mil-1A, Naval Academy, Gathering Hall A1

Alex leaned against the wall, tapping her fingers nervously on her thigh as she glanced around at the other cadets. They were all in a spacious room with sleek metal walls and a high ceiling, waiting for their fates to be announced. A message from Tia beeped on her HUD, and Alex took the time to quietly read the news on her HUD. Elis and Thea were returning to orbit with the rogue NAI safely imprisoned, minus one Avatar. Alex frowned as she realized that they had been forced to kill the Avatar.

The news that Tias last in person meeting with the Solarian Envoy, Veliana, had gone well was almost an afterthought, despite its importance.

Rachel shifted on her feet enough to brush Alexs shoulder. Alex glanced at her friend and found Rachel wringing her hands together. An anxious shared glance hinted at the other girls anxiety. There had been too many applications for the command track, and now they were all waiting to see who would be selected for command positions and who would be assigned other roles for their early careers.

With only two command slots available in their cadre, there was a tense undercurrent hanging around the entire group like a fog. Alex felt a pang of guilt; she already knew that one of the two slots would be going to her. That had already been confirmed to her by Admiral Westlake several days earlier. Reaching up to pat Rachels shoulder to try to reassure her only earned her another anxious glance and a weak, fake smile.

She would have offered some words, but as Lieutenant Bridges entered the room, every cadet immediately fell silent. He carried a datapad with him containing the list of assignments he was about to announce.

One by one, he called out names followed by their assigned officer track. Each announcement caused waves of relief or disappointment among those listening closely; after all, these initial assignments could have significant impacts on their careers.

They all had received the chance to elect their top three choices, but it was the navy who would select what they got according to their aptitude and the navys needs.

Despite knowing that requests for specialty changes could be made later down the line this moment was critical and would set the tone for the rest of their careers. Command was obviously the most coveted position; but the others werent actually bad and many officers were eventually promoted from tactical, engineering, or other branches to senior command positions. Eventually.

Alex felt another pang of guilt as she considered her own situation; to her, it didnt matter what track she was assigned. She was merely trying to learn as much as possible, unsure of her future path. Lieutenant Bridges called Alexs name and confirmed she was tracked for command, but the words barely registered in her mind.

Lost in thought, Alex questioned what she truly wanted to do. She had decided to stay in Meltisar and help deal with the backlash from the events months earlier because there had been little other choice.

Anywhere else she went; she would be hunted just for existing. If and it was a very big if, they made a deal with the Solarians then maybe that wouldnt be true foreverthough trusting them wasnt going to be an easy or trivial thing. Nothing she had heard about any of the NAI rulers had been good, although that might have been tainted by her encounters with the Corpos and what she had heard from Tia.

Maybe Solaria was nice? Then again, the Solarians had been dumping the poor colonists on Dedia without much support for years it was hard to imagine that with as much control as Tia and Nameless had over things in Meltisar that Solaria could have missed that but maybe?

Alexs mind wandered back to her arrival. Even if she did manage to return to the frontier would 92 Pegasi be any safer? Doubts swirled within Alexs mind. If Meltisar fell and there were concerns about Tia handling things without Nameless what would stop the four powers from pursuing them into frontier systems?

She couldnt help but worry about Elis too. From what Alex had seen of the Imperium and Corpos vindictiveness and coldness, safety seemed unlikely for anyone involved. Especially after she had delivered an ultimatum to the Corpo spook to save Elis. They were going to need to watch their backs wherever they decided to go and whatever they decided to do.This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

And if she had to industrialize and fortify 92 Pegasi and had Nameless turn the place into a fortress, they would still be a few cut-off systems against the rest of human space and all the NAIs.

The exact same position they had in Meltisarexcept with far fewer warships and people available. They were still cut off from resources, but if they could strike a deal with the Solarians, then Meltisars strong industrial base and interstellar position might make a difference.

Suddenly, Rachel tensed beside her, breaking Alex out of her introspection.

Command TrackCadet Tamara Harding, Lieutenant Bridges announced. Engineering TrackCadet Benjamin Fields. Tactical TrackCadet Rachel Mackey.

Alex could see the disappointment on Rachels face. Her gut turned. She felt an odd bit of panic that Rachel might blame her or hate her for it. On the other side of the group of cadets, Cadet Harding was ecstatic about her assignment; friends congratulated her while Alex tried to maintain her stoic expression. Hoping to cheer Rachel up, she gave a gentle pat on the back, but Rachel was rigidly stiff, and her face was frozen like a statue.

They were all left to stand for a moment, but then the Lieutenant called her and Tamara over to speak with him. She gave Rachel a weak smile and the other girl gave her a nod.

Bridges wasted no time, turning to Tamara first.

Tamara, youll be going through the ACTCAdvanced Command and Tactical Coursefor five weeks, he explained. Then he looked at Alex with a slight frown. As for you, Cadet, youll be apprenticing directly with a senior officer. This is not standard procedure but was determined necessary by the training board.

Alex understood that her unique circumstances meant she couldnt follow the normal route like other cadets. She could feel the Lieutenants disapproval in this bending of the rules, but there really was no other choice, not if she wanted to remain in the service. She could have just started hopping around the system doing whatever she wanted on the Iron Horse; but she felt like that would have been an even worse choice than bending the rules.

Alex swallowed, thinking of Rachel. Why cant an additional command track slot be freed up if Im doing an alternative? she asked, keeping her voice polite.

Bridges glanced at her before his eyes slid toward Rachel. He sighed and his disapproval softened. You should trust the training boards decisions on assignments. Everyone has been placed according to their aptitudes and potentialno one was bumped because of you.

As Bridges meaning became clearthat they believed Rachel would make a better tactical officer than captainAlex found herself wanting to argue but restrained herself.

Yes sir, she responded respectfully instead.

USD: A week later

Location: Meltisar, Meltisar A, MNS Alacrity, CIC

Alex leaned over her petty officers sensor console, looking for any sign of irregularities. There were only the same old blips shed been staring at for the last hour, representing Meltisars regular traffic.

The worst thing about her apprenticeship and everyone receiving their training tracks was that it had split them all up. That included Rachel, and despite a level of nepotism that even Alex was finding hard to ignore, the other girl was whisked away to the tactical training course. Rachel would be learning everything from the history of naval warfare to the specifics of each weapon system the Meltisar navy employed on its warships, and even the ones employed by the other powers.

Alex was receiving a crash course at every division; it wasnt quite as deep in any one field as Rachel would be pushed down; but it covered everything. From naval etiquette to sensor reading and theoretical tactical exercises. The latter of those tended to suit her well. She often gave a silent prayer of thanks to whoever her ancestors had been for giving her at least one edge that she could count on.

[Informative: Avatar hair-length adjustment is possible if current length is undesired.]

Alex hesitated for a minute to think it over. She did want her long hair back eventually; she knew that much. But it would be bothersome to deal with the regulations for long hair if she did so now. Netting it all in a hairbun would be annoying and not any better than what she had now.

No, thank you.

[Informative: Available ANUF units are sufficient for variable length hair modification in real time.]

Alex blew at a stray hair before continuing to brush. Yeah, I dont need people looking at me funny any more than they already do.

Taking her dirty laundry, she tossed it into the bin for cleaning, then headed back to her quarters.

There were several important bits of information she needed to look over. The entire purpose of the new shipworks was to expand the Meltisar Fleets numbers. Nameless, can you pull up the system fleet roster? I want to go over it.

||Current Meltisar Fleet Roster||

| Type | Class | Number in Fleet | Dimensions (L x W x H) | Example

| Dreadnought | IS FL | 1 | 36km x 6km x 6km | MNS Aegis

| Battleship | IS FL | 5 | 14km x 4km x 3km | MNS Solion

| Battleship | IS RR | 48 | 12km x 3km x 2.5km |

| Battlecruiser| IS RR | 24 | 8km x 2km x 2km |

| Cruiser | IS HA | 1088 | 2km x 800m x 800m |

| Cruiser | IS FA | 587 | 2km x 800m x 800m |

| Cruiser | IS RR | 487 | 1.8km x 700m x 700m | MNS Alacrity

| Destroyer | IS HE | 4873 | 1km x 500m x 500m |

| Destroyer | IS HA | 2011 | 1km x 500m x 500m |

| Destroyer | IS RR | 1878 | 800m x 500m x 250m |

| Corvette | IS HE | 8382 | 400m x 200m x 150m |

| Corvette | IS HA | 6783 | 400m x 180m x 150m |

| Corvette | IS RR | 3211 | 300m x 150m x 120m |

| Corvette | IS C | 468 | 200m x 75m x 75m |

| Cruiser | OS P | 28 | 300m x 200m x 100m |

| Corvette | OS P | 32 | 120m x 60m x 60m |

The MNS Alacrity, the ship she was currently aboard for training, had played a significant role in her life beforeit had miraculously chased down the Corpo cutter that had fled with Elis during the AGAI incident. Things had been close, but somehow, shed managed to snatch her sister back from the Corporate spook whod abducted her.

Meltisars fleet consisted of nearly 80 capital ships, over two thousand cruisers, and more than twenty-five thousand smaller warships. It was an impressive number for the system and easily surpassed any offensive fleets that the four powers could musterexcept maybe for the Imperium.

As Alex reviewed force estimates, she realized that while all other powers had more warships overall, a large portion of their units were required to protect their interests and assets. Meltisars advantage lay in having everything localized within one area. However, if all opposing forces combined efforts against Meltisar, they would be outnumberedbadly.

Veliana had seemed like a potential ally; Alex hoped they would have luck forming a pact with the Solarians. Tia spent an extra day at negotiations before meetings were called off; this deliberate move ensured other envoys remained unaware of their talks with Solarians. Because of the limitations on their firewalls, communications and negotiations were stifled slightly, although from what Alex understood, Tia had continued to meet with her over audio-video feed.

Sitting there studying fleet numbers and considering political alliances weighed on Alexs mind as she tried to envision possible outcomes and strategies to secure Meltisars future safety.

It made her inspection of their new shipyard even more important. Meltisar was going to need more ships. The third moon had large amounts of the basic resources needed to build things; the main issue were more sensitive and rare minerals required for exotic systems.

You could surround yourself with a kilometer of steel, but if you didnt have the required material to build a thruster that could push that it wouldnt be that useful.

Still, she had to try.

Nameless, can you help me figure out how we can optimize the materials we have?

It seemed like the colors on her holographic monitor began to flicker a little faster.