19:47 January 8th, 1648 AC Batavian Standard Meridian Date TimeHMCS Bonaventure (DSC 013), Senior officer Wardroom on the command deck
Cassandra felt the lingering fatigue on her shoulders as she stepped through the door leading to the officer wardroom on the command deck of the ship. The wardroom itself was an important part of the life of a navy officer in the Commonwealth portion of the San Batavia Republic. While it used the same long Navy-issue tables and benches bolted to the floor common for the entirety of the Republic, Corlain’s shipyards and crews kept the walls more decorated, giving their spaces a different character from the other navy ships. Set between the recessed screens was the banner of the Commonwealth: a compass star, gleaming gold, with symbols representing the planets of the Caerleon system on a navy blue field, with a stripe of white separating the dark red upper left corner of the flag.
After that, finally, at the far bulkhead was the true crowning jewel of every wardroom and relief to all of the overworked officer corps aboard the ship. A coffee machine made of polished metal and black composite that shone in the light, with its sacred valves and dispensers, softly hissed in the background, while delivering steaming mugs of the precious revitalizing brew that kept the bridge crew and officers alert and functioning. Cassandra would swear on the stars and waves that it was the most important piece of equipment in the room, daresay even the bridge itself. And truly, she wasn’t alone focusing on the revered coffee machine.
Right in front of the machine stood two navy officers, both bearing the insignia of a full Commander like herself. The first was a tall man with close-cropped blond hair and piercing light blue eyes, his standard-issue Shine almost lost in their natural color. To her surprise Cassandra noticed a few faint scars tracing his face as he casually drank from a large mug of black coffee. Beside him stood a woman about her own height, her brown hair tied neatly into a navy reg bun with her square low rim glasses muting the glow of her own Shine in her green eyes. She stepped closer and nodded to Cassie in a polite greeting. The woman eyed her up and down, most likely using her Ghost to search the database before giving Cassandra a light smile.
“Commander van Ness, is that right? The name is Marion Anderson, I am Bonaventure's Combat Systems Officer.”
She introduced herself politely as Cassandra joined the pair at the sacred place of casual evening discussions, the coffee machine, pressing a few buttons to get herself her own cup of the revitalizing brew.
“It is good to add a face to the name. We heard you arrived today but couldn’t quite talk to you yet. This is Commander Elias Croes, the ship’s operations officer. We used to serve on the same ship before getting reassigned to Bonaventure.”
She gestured to the man who just slowly nodded and took another sip of his own coffee. Cassandra felt a bit of relief from how the pair of officers greeted her in the wardroom: it seemed that at the very least the Navy personnel were a bit more… friendly towards the Reservists aboard, at least compared to the regular pilots she saw before.
Tides be praised that she could have met them before the main meeting itself.
“Cassandra van Ness, yes. I arrived earlier today. It was a bit hectic getting all of the papers in order, so I couldn’t introduce myself yet. I also got delayed by a few meetings and duties. It’s a pleasure to meet you both as well,” She responded with a genuine smile that surprised even herself as she reached over to the machine to pick up her own cup of the hot beverage. Curiously, Cassandra noticed that while Croes was definitely drinking coffee, the beverage of choice for Anderson wasn't the same. It was… tea?
“Ah- Are you surprised?” The brunette in front of her said with a slight grin, raising her cup over to her mouth, taking a short sip of the reddish liquid before continuing.
“I know it’s not traditional, but I can’t stand the taste of coffee. About a third of my mass allowance aboard the ship is tea. The one that the Navy usually has aboard the ships tastes terrible.”
Cassandra chuckled and shrugged her shoulders casually. While she herself preferred coffee, she met quite a few officers who decided that coffee wasn’t quite for them and the tea wasn’t up to their standard. Naturally there were also those who decided to stick with water, but tea and coffee were the traditional beverages one could find in the wardroom of the bridge. There were even rumours that on Old Terra, in the land of the forefathers of the original Corlain colonists, there were those who preferred to add milk to their tea or just drank plain hot water with milk. Those born on Corlain preferred the local coffee beans and tended to sweeten their beverages with a spoon of maple syrup—bottles of which always found their way to the navy’s wardrooms and mess halls.
Though the ancient history of Terra felt very odd. Even the land of someone’s forefather could be called a ‘colony’ despite being on the same planet their parents were born on. This seemed strange to those who had their cultures defined by their home planet, or even the home star system. The Caerleon system was blessed with two habitable worlds with a number of large stations. The culture differed from place to place, of course, but the word ‘colony’ seemed to lack the same meaning it once had.
“So, it is tea for you. I’ll keep it in mind.” Cassandra said as she made a mental note besides Commander Anderson’s name.
“You mentioned that you and Croes served aboard the same ship, can’t say I know which one that was.” Cassandra admitted. Although she could have easily looked the information up herself, it was considered polite among the officer core of the Commonwealth to keep your Ghost off the service record of your rank peers.
“It was the escort carrier HMCS Northwest Passage. It was an older ship, one of the larger conversions of the fast freighters subsidized by the government. Even the bureaucrats can be clever at times… it was quite the reliable ship. We got the orders to transfer after our latest trip to the Ontario system. The mining settlements there had been requesting more navy presence for ages.” Commander Croes replied for the first time.
The transfer made sense to Cassandra as well. Carrier officers were sent to newer carriers. “It was hard to see her being sent on another patrol without us,” Anderson added, “But on the other hand, the Bonaventure is quite a step up. And Croes couldn’t stop talking about how much better the coffee tastes!” she finished with a mischievous grin.
She wasn’t wrong. From what Cassandra could see, the Bonaventure’s senior officer wardroom was stocked with coffee beans grown on Crestfall itself. The planet had a genetically engineered type of coffee plant which was grown along its equator, which seemed to have a hint of orange peel that proved a popular taste among the locals. She once read that it was based on old Terra’s Sumatra coffee, which was known for its earthy, herbaceous and spicy notes, with the orange peel taste being caused by Crestfall’s soil chemistry.
Croes coughed as a faint blush appeared on the stern, professional officer’s face, his friend’s remark clearly making the sanity giving liquid flow down the wrong entrance.
“Anderson… Please refrain…” he began to scold his fellow officer and friend, before a group of other uniformed men abruptly entered the room, cutting his spiel short. Cassandra quickly noticed the insignia and types of uniforms they were wearing; there was a mix of both Starfighter Corps and Navy Officers. She recognized the Captain of Bonaventure from the orders she received, the other people with the rank of Captain, or Commander like herself… there was also Radish in that group, of course… and then she noticed one man. Her Shine flagged him before she even consciously registered the face. It felt almost like her own Ghost itself had lit up.
He was a large man, who looked like he belonged at home on the high seas of an ancient naval vessel. He had short orange hair and a patchy ginger beard. The last time she had seen him, he had one blind and scarred eye, and it seemed that he had finally gotten around to getting a Shine fitted for that eye. The familiar look of Commander Connor Horstra, the former chief engineer of Starlight, was like a familiar pillar in a sea of unknown. Cassandra even felt a sense of calm return to her as she nodded over to him in a greeting.
The Captain was an older man, with snow white hair and clear green eyes, with a Shine that seemed quite recently replaced. He gave everyone a light smile as he entered the room and took his own cup of coffee and added a spoonful of maple syrup to it before speaking.
“Well then! I believe I haven’t met some of you yet,” he said, the warm and cheerful tone of voice contrasting with some of the past commanding officers Cassandra had served under. “I am Captain Boudewijn Kruger," he began with a polite nod as he began introducing himself as the naval code of the Commonwealth dictated.
The Autumn Stars of the Commonwealth very much loved their ceremonies and traditions, which separated them from the rest of the Republic.
“Appointed by Her Majesty, the Queen of the Commonwealth of Corlain, as the commanding officer of the HMCS Bonaventure, Deep Space Carrier zero one three. In honour and with dedication, we will serve as the flagship of the Lord Rear Admiral of the Commonwealth Starfleet, commander of Task Force 14 of the San Batavia Republic. May God, Stars and the Tides guide his command,” he finished with a firm nod at the end. Everyone gave him a formal salute before receiving a salute back from the older officer.
“Very well then, seems everyone is gathered. Shall we proceed to the diner?” he asked with a smile, easing the tension before simply nodding over to his steward, a younger, brown haired officer who clearly felt a bit out of place around all of the higher ranking officers in the room. “Very well, Steward Carter, would you lead us in?” Carter quickly nodded and opened the door to the Captain’s Cabin. Naturally, no one objected, and everyone followed him through the door into the room.