Hope

First Day on the Job

"Okay, well I am taking the conn so you can go get some sleep." Cooper said. "Go and get some rest."

"Yes, sir!" Simmons said with a smirk. "Cooper, you have the conn."

After saying that, Simmons stood up and made way to the door. "I'll see you in twelve hours."

"See you then Captain."

"Make the Alterday changeover announcement," Cooper ordered the female communications officer.

"Gladly," the officer in question responded. She also looked exhausted, just like Simmons had. However, she hid it a little better than the captain had.

"All hands, it is now Alterday. Please change shifts in an orderly fashion. I repeat, all hands, it is now Alterday. Please change shifts in an orderly fashion."

As soon as the communications officer made the ship wide announcement, people began filling in and out of the bridge. As they did so, Cooper did her best to recognize people from the photos from their personnel records. 'There are only one hundred and four crew people onboard,' she thought as pulled up the records on her handheld. 'It shouldn't take long to recognize each and every one of them.'

By the time her shift was over Cooper had memorized the names and ranks of the entire bridge crew. She had also gotten to know some of them.

'It feels a little strange to see the crew equally split across the three empires,' Cooper mused. 'Both the Lexington and the Sendai had crews almost exclusively from the GUSA and the Empire of Nippon, respectfully. This is truly an Alliance mission.'

A few minutes later, Simmons showed up to relieve her. "How did it go?" he asked.

"It went quite well," Cooper said. "However, I did spend most of my time looking at the personnel files via my handheld. Heck, I even got to talk with each one of them."

"Showoff," Simmons replied.

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After her shift was over, she had to decide what to do. 'Should I grab a bite to eat or go to my suite for some shut-eye and grab a tray later?' After a moment, she made her decision. 'I think I will go grab a tray in the mess hall and then go back to my cabin.'

"All hands, it is now Mainday. Please change shifts in an orderly fashion. I repeat, all hands, it is now Mainday. Please change shifts in an orderly fashion."

'I should hurry to the galley,' Cooper realized. 'Otherwise, there is going to be a line.'

Once Cooper got to the galley, she grabbed a dinner meal and took it into the mess hall. 'Wow, I did get here early.' she thought as she surveyed the mostly empty room. 'I guess I will just have to sit at the unofficial officer's table.'

As she sat down and opened her tray. 'Hmm, meatloaf. I really hope that it is better than what they served on the Lexington.' After she hesitantly took a fork full of the mystery meat, she was pleasantly surprised. "Wow, this is great!" she exclaimed. "It's real beef!"

The other crewmembers in the mess hall laughed at her exclamation until they looked up and realized who she was. Then they started whispering amongst themselves.

Cooper paid them no mind as she enjoyed her dinner. 'While the mashed potatoes are instant, the green beans are excellent,' she thought. 'They must have been flash frozen.'

Despite being in the belt, it was easy for Ceres to get certain supplies from Earth. Dried goods like instant potatoes, rice, and flour were the easiest to get, followed by flash frozen vegetables, flavored soy, and meat dishes. That was because of the solar sail network that moved throughout the inner Sol system. While slow, the robotic sails cost no fuel or reaction mass. Thus, if you didn't mind waiting a year or two for the items to arrive it was the cheapest way to get foodstuffs way out here.

'I know that our foodstuffs have to last us almost forty-five years, but if all of it is this high quality, then it must have cost a fortune,' Cooper realized. 'Heck, it probably took two or three solar sails full of provisions just to get Hope fully supplied.'

Someone asking, "Is this seat taken?" pulled out of her reverie. Looking up, she saw her friend Anderson standing next to her with an unopened tray of food.

"Blondie!" Cooper said. "Please, join me."

"So, what's for dinner?" Anderson asked as she opened her tray. "Meatloaf?" she said in a dejected voice.

"Trust me, you'll like it. Just try a fork full."

"MMMM," Anderson replied. "This is nothing like the 'meatloaf' they had on the Lexington."

"Nope," Cooper said before asking, "How was your first shift as head of engineering?"

Back on the Lexington Anderson had scored well enough to attain the rank of lieutenant commander. As a result of some rescheduling, they had made her the Alterday commander of engineering.

"Luckily, I have a lot of very capable junior officers to show me the ropes," Anderson admitted. "Overall, I think things went well. How about you?"

"Boring as all get out," Cooper said. "Of course, we are just in orbit around Ceres waiting to get our tanks topped off. What could go wrong?"

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