M.T. Decker

29-Valkyrie’s View: A Year Among the Stars

January 29th, 2552 A con, an Einherjar, and a mechanic walk into a bar
Pilot Mechanic Katherine ‘Kat’ James Reporting

It seems my understanding of rank and divisions within the fleet was an oversimplified version of things.

The Fleet itself follows the old Maritime divisions of rank – from command to support where support includes medical, research, and law enforcement.

The Scientific community has its own hierarchy involving education, experience, and seniority and also comes with its own support staff and security.

The military branch follows military rank and chain of command and is responsible for overall security and strategic defense.

The exploration project itself follows a tribunal with three representatives from each branch, which have to agree on how the mission is enacted.

All of this led to a massive staff meeting on the Valhalla – with me ferrying Einherjar representatives, Support Staff and Science officers to and from their respective ships.

Each representative brought their support staff with them, but when the meeting actually started, the staff was all told to go back to their ship or wait in the canteen.

As taxi driver, I took those returning to their ships where they were headed and came back to the canteen to wait for my final charges.

It could have been a boring assignment, but I really liked getting to see Cookie in a more relaxed, less responsible position and I got to talk with Sgt “Tower” Carlyle, the platoon leader of the Einherjar stationed on the Valkyrie’s view.

He and Cookie decided that questioning me on my training and \history would be a good use of their time. The best reaction had to be Cookie’s, “So, you’re telling me that you ended up here because you rendered aid to an officer who was trying to capture you, and in the process, you freed the woman you were accused of kidnapping?’… that explains a lot.”

I wasn’t sure if I should be insulted or confused by this.