Chapter 32
Resolute

 

“Captain.”

“Chief Engineer.”

Blake had brought Ellen Gosseyn up the Captain’s quarters to see Captain Durand. The two women looked at each other calmly. So calmly, Blake got the distinct feeling that, if she walked between them, she’d flash freeze in an instant. It was the kind of calm you only got when you approached zero Kelvin. 

“I was led to believe,” Cathérine said, “that you had something to say to me.”

“How interesting,” Ellen replied. “I guess I must have misunderstood, because I’m under a similar-yet-opposite impression.” The two of them looked at Blake, who rubbed the bridge of her nose. Two of the most brilliant women in the entire human fleet, and it was like watching two teenagers play out the titular scene in High Noon. 

“Both of you,” she said carefully, “would benefit from a conversation. Like I said.” 

Captain Durand crossed her arms. “Well, it seems that, if Chief Engineer Gosseyn is here, then she might want to start. After all, she’s a busy woman, and to come all the way up to my cabin to say something — well, one could be forgiven for seeing that as a sign of a guilty conscience.”

“My conscience is clear,” Ellen said, her hands on her hips. “Perhaps yours shouldn’t be.”

“Excuse me?” the Captain said in disbelief. “We all know what this is about, and it’s clear to me that now you’re trying to defuse the situation, despite obviously being too proud to go through with it! You’re lucky I haven’t ordered you thrown into the brig yet!” 

“Lucky?! You rule your throne from up on high thinking you’re the queen of this whole damned ship! You don’t own us, Captain! We are just as much a part of this crew as you are!”

“All well and good, Chief Engineer, but a ship can only have one Captain.”

“Exactly. There’s one of you. There’s over a thousand souls on this ship who aren’t. The way I see it, we outnumber you.” 

“I’m going to name myself CathérEllen,” Blake said. Both women looked at her like she’d slapped both of them.

“Really?!” both of them practically shouted at the same time. 

“Of course not,” Blake said. “That would be absurd.” She crossed her arms and stared them down. “I just needed to interrupt the flow of the conversation abruptly and definitively. Now sit.” She gestured at the table.

“Well, you certainly did that,” Ellen said sheepishly. Both of the women did as they were told, leaving Blake with her heart hammering in her chest, which she managed to hide quite well, if she said so herself. The two women, of course, sat down opposite each other, so Blake saw no better than to take the seat between them. 

“Listen,” Blake said, “a conversation that had to be had weeks ago is going to take place here and now. And it starts with a failing on our part.” She gestured between herself and the Captain. Cathérine’s eyes bored into her with fury, but there was a sense of confusion just underneath that.

“Explain,” the Captain said, and Blake did what she could to keep the woman’s attention on herself. If the Captain had seen the triumphant expression on Ellen’s face, she might have pulled her across the table by her collar. 

“When we approached The Core World, there was a sense of… wonder, from most of the crew,” Blake explained. “Most of the research crew was beyond excited to not only set foot on an alien world, but to meet alien lifeforms, on their own terms.”

“Of course,” Cathérine scoffed. “That’s our entire mission here.”

“Well, yes and no,” Blake said. “Our mission was to find life. You said so yourself. Slowly and carefully, so as not to disturb other life-forms and cultures.” She looked over at Ellen. “I worry we might have forgotten to consider one of those cultures.”

The Captain and the Chief Engineer looked at each other with a frown. Cathérine was the first to speak. “I was under the impression that everyone on this ship was here for the same reason.”

“Yeah,” Blake said. “That’s where we failed.” She tapped her fingers on the table. “I should have gone down to Engineering sooner. We should have insisted on Ellen’s — Chief Engineer Gosseyn’s — presence when discussing how to proceed after we’d met our alien escort. I think we all assumed that her purview was the engines.” She shot Ellen an apologetic smile. “Of course, that’s not entirely true. The Sollipsis has a lot of redundant systems. But it can’t function without its engineers, and those are what Chief Engineer Gosseyn is really in charge of.

“So we have to go through her if we want to know how her subordinates are feeling?” 

“Ostensibly, yes,” Blake said. “And that was her failing.” She looked at Elle. It was her turn to look shocked now. “You were aware that the people under you were dissatisfied, and you didn’t bring it to our attention. I get that there’s a lot of contention between the upper decks and those working in the bowels of the ship, but you absolutely should have said something.” Ellen was about to say something, but Blake wasn’t having it. “I’m not laying the blame squarely at your feet. But you hold responsibility. And a lot of it, too.”

“Agreed,” Cathérine said, and then, with almost the barest hint of a smile playing at the corner of her mouth, added, “Provisionally. How do we proceed? I’m assuming everyone at this table would prefer we not stay here, stranded indefinitely. Unless Chief Engineer Gosseyn attempts to challenge me to a duel, we need a practical solution to prevent this —” She waved her hand between them “— from happening again.”

Before Ellen could respond to the ‘duel’ comment, Blake leaned forward. “This vessel is different from the ones you’ve previously served on, Captain. This isn’t a military ship. While it’s true that the Captain gets final say, of course, I think the fact that this ship also houses a one-of-a-kind engine means we should more clearly listen to the voices that bounce around it.”

“So… what then? Daily meetings?”

Blake shrugged. “For example. I’ll also make it a part of my routine to come down to the engine room regularly.” She looked at Ellen. “And instead of sending reports up the tubes, I’d like informal meetings between the officers far more regularly.” 

“What, like, lunch?” Gosseyn asked. 

“If you like,” Blake said. “The point is to improve communication between the two people this ship needs most to keep going. And it seems that, in order for the ship to keep going, maybe those two people need to meet on equal ground.”

“I—” Cathérine started, leaning on her elbows, stopped, and then ran her thumb along her jaw thoughtfully, and then sat back again. “I can see the wisdom in that, yes.”

“I can as well,” Ellen responded. “Of course, I’d offer that the Captain come down to Engineering for lunch. As you said, Captain, I’m a busy woman.” The temperature in the room dropped by another degree and Blake almost groaned audibly. If these women weren’t both almost twice her age, she would have yelled at them for being so petty already. 

“Perhaps you can alternate,” she said diplomatically. “Meet upstairs, then downstairs, then in the middle. Think of it as joint custody or something.” She stood up. 

“You’re leaving?” Cathérine said, standing up too. Blake held up her hand, and to her surprise the Captain sat back down.

“I am,” she said. “You’re not. The two of you have a lot to talk about, so I’ve requested reports from the major involved departments be brought up here along with your dinner, Captain. For two.” The two grown women who had been officers since before Blake had finished high school looked at each other like a pair of trapped cats. 

“You can’t just do that,” Cathérine said. 

“I can,” Blake said. "As First Officer, I am within my duty to enforce obligations if and when I believe you may not act with the ship’s best interests in mind. So I did. Captain. Listen to what Ellen has to say. She genuinely has real grievances that deserve to be listened to, and I think you’ll find that the two of you have a lot in common.”

“Yes ma’am,” Cathérine said with a very soft laugh.

“And Chief Engineer.”

“Yes?”

“The Captain has a duty to uphold, to herself, to the mission, to the crew and to humanity. Try to see things from her point of view. You look at screens and engines all day, but the Captain has to keep her eye on the stars.” She turned away, then stopped. “Oh, and one more thing.”

“What is it?”

“Turn the fucking engines back on.”

Ellen and Cathérine stared at her in shock, then at each other, and then back at her. Then, they both laughed. “Very well, Blake,” Chief Engineer Gosseyn said, and then held up her hand. “Did you ever figure out something for a name?” 

“I did,” Blake said with a smile, then stepped out of the room, narrowly avoiding the three members of the crew holding reports and the two holding dinner. She heard the women groan behind her as she escaped, making her way down the corridors. 

It wasn’t fixed, of course. The two women were both incredibly headstrong, and incredibly clever. That was a dangerous combination, but there was a reason they’d ascended to their respective positions the way they had. And that reason was also why they’d conflicted. But Blake was more than willing to sit them down like a couple of eighth graders until at the very least they were able to communicate without getting snippy. 

There was a very slight jolt as the engines came back to life. She stopped to look out the window. The stars were moving again. Good. Ellen had done her part then, at the very least, which implied that Cathérine had as well. It was a difficult situation to manage. Meeting alien life had shaken everyone, and while they might not change direction, it had to be agreed on. 

Because going forward meant going there together. They were truly treading into the unknown now. The course of humanity’s history would change with every day they progressed, and Blake hoped they were up to the task. But she had hope, even if it meant she would have to mediate between hard-headed women like them. She wasn’t sure what it was that had made it easy for both of them to talk to her, but she wasn’t going to look that particular gift horse in the mouth.

She rounded the corner to her quarters and opened the door. Andromeda looked up from the book she was reading, her legs tucked under her on the couch. “Hey, you,” Andy said with a smile.

“Hey Andromeda,” Blake said, scooting up next to her. Andromeda wrapped her arms around her, and the two lay in silence like that for a bit. There was no need to talk for a little bit. The quiet was soothing, especially with the dull, distant hum of the engine playing through the air.

“How did the conversation with Cathérine and the Chief Engineer go?” Andromeda asked. Blake had kept her in the loop on what had been going on.

“It went well. They’re both stubborn, but at the end of the day, I don’t think their pride is going to let them not work together. It’ll make them look bad if they can’t get anything done.”

“Good,” Andy said. “That’s good. You did good, love.”

“Thank you,” Blake said, and she snuggled against Andromeda a little. “I think I’ve got a name.”

Andromeda ran her fingers through Blake’s hair. “What are you thinking?”

“Diana,” Blake said. “Diana Blake.” She tasted the name in her mouth. 

“Oh? Any reason? Named after someone? Or like, does it have a meaning you like?”

“No,” Blake said. “I just like the sound of it.”

“Sounds perfect.”