"It is human nature that there are those who are predators, and those who are preyed upon. Society, in order to protect itself from predators, organized and drafted people into armies to defend its territory from other marauding humans who were trying to expand into territory already claimed.

"As people grouped together for mutual protection, they also formed a service called a police force. While these men and woman were chosen for a willingness to serve and to protect, it is also known that a lot of the police were predators who were seeking some form of outlet for their instincts, and what better way to control this portion of their being than hunting for society, rather than against it? They had the added benefit of having the force of the law and society, behind them." I sighed and turned my monitor off.

"Tell me something I don't know," I thought to myself.

I glanced at the time and noted that I still had an hour before my watch started on the bridge. I got up, made a last minute adjustment to my uniform, and went to officer's mess for a pre-watch snack.

My first voyage as 2nd officer aboard a deep space combat vessel! True, it was nothing as grand as the Newcastle Empire's ships, but it was still a damned fine ship. It also had one or two surprises that an enemy might live long enough to regret.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view), the galaxy was experiencing peace. Promotion in the officer corps in a peace-time military, was difficult at best. It was even worse for the enlisted ranks.

I had always been slightly ahead of the promotion curve during my career to date. That's the way I planned it. I could have revealed my hidden talents to my superiors long ago. They would have been eager - no, ecstatic - at them. But I would not be in the Navy, which was where I wanted to be.

All persons having any type of extraordinary mental abilities, as demonstrated in the Newcastle Empire, were treated very well by the Trinic Confederation. But, they would not be allowed to pursue a career of their choice. No, they became wards of the state... for life, usually. While they were treated like kings or queens, their lives were controlled and regimented for the benefit of the state.

I had long been fascinated with the Newcastle Empire, and had studied it extensively. I knew all about the Emperor's mental abilities, as did the whole galaxy. With the introduction of the 'Battlespheres', he had shown that this talent was available for anyone. As for me? I had talent, and in spades; but I was smart enough to hide it, too.

The Trinic Confederation was not a repressive or dictatorial society. It had several bodies within its government designed to hold government excesses back. Still, security was always the primary worry of any government, and things were done in the name of state security that are better left unsaid.

Still, basic human and civil rights were the watchwords of the government, and it was serious about enforcing these rights within the borders of the confederation. We lived within a good system overall, if you asked me, and I was proud to serve it.

I ate a light meal, and went to relieve the watch officer, Commander William Everette. He had been second in command of this ship for almost a year now, the same length of time as the captain, Captain Marla Beel.

The captain was a very interesting and detail oriented person. While normally a quiet, studious person; when we trained, or were in a heightened alert level, she became very sharp, very concise, and authoritative. There was no hesitancy in any of her decisions and when she spoke, her voice rang with command and confidence. I wish I had the ability to pull off the ease she showed when she commanded. I was learning, though.

After relieving the executive officer, I settled to my station in the captain's chair, and started looking closely at the 'systems ready' board. One of the problems that we had was power management. Unlike the Newcastle Empire, or a few others I could name, the Confederation could not afford to build and install extra power plants on ships smaller than a heavy cruiser. We fell one class of ship-type below this level.

Normal ship operations were maintained at full power readiness. However, combat sections, and specialty equipment associated with combat, were powered down. To compensate, the confederation had developed accumulators that would store power for items such as the new battle screens, or offensive combat lasers and extended range battle sensors.

For some reason, the accumulators drained quickly while in hyperspace, and needed time to recharge after reentry into normal space. I noticed that the XO had not yet initiated recharge. I knew it was most likely a test, designed to see if I would catch it. Well, I did. The bridge engineering officer (1stLT Daniel Brampton) gave me a thumbs up and a quick grin when I had ordered a slight 2 percent overload of power from the reactor to the accumulators. Yes, a test, as I had thought. This slight overload would not seriously degrade the reactor, nor would it create much of a strain.

We were actively looking for a pair of our patrolling destroyers, the TCN Swiftfoot, and the TCN Lightning. The Trinic Confederation always sent destroyers out in pairs in this part of space. Raiders and pirates seemed to be a perpetual problem out here.

We were at the last known coordinates for the two missing ships, and I ordered communications to do a general broadcast once again.

"TCN cruiser Angel, to TCN Swiftfoot and Lightning, respond, over."

I listened with half an ear as this went out. It was the prerecorded message the first officer had set up before leaving his shift, and it was short and to the point.

I was being distracted, though. We were only two hours into the search, and I was getting one of my precognitive flashes. I had let the Navy know about them, but never about how strong or clear they were. If I had, I would be in a controlled environment right now, and not one of my own choosing.

Actually, precog was only one of my abilities. I had several more that I kept hidden. A weak precognitive ability was not all that unusual, and the military was happy to have me on a ship, as I was useful there. I was getting a strong feeling, along with a set of coordinates.

I looked them up on the plot table. They were about two days space-normal drive time, or one micro jump, which would take about twenty minutes to program in. While I was authorized to do micro jumps, they were detectable by the onboard crew, as well as any ship in the vicinity of the jump.

Since we were currently in a sleep period for the majority of the crew, a majority would likely wake up, at least briefly during the slight disorientation of the in-system jump. This would include the captain, and she most likely would not be amused at having her sleep disturbed. Well, this is why I made the big bucks, as second officer of a TCN cruiser.

The first thing I did was order all departments currently crewed to go to battle alert. It was not a ship wide battle alert, just for those on duty. Nothing out of the ordinary here, and I was well within my rights and authority to institute a ship wide training alert for all crew on duty. This generally aggravated the crew to some extent, but I had a feeling we would need all systems manned and ready for when we came out of the jump. The feeling was getting stronger as the minutes went by. Pictures were even forming in my mind of what was going to happen. While the pictures were a fairly new development, they had proven their worth to me in the recent past.

I set up coordinates from the captain's plot, and fed them to the helmsman. He was startled and asked if I were sure I wanted to do a micro jump at this specific time. I looked at him. There had been a few muffled gasps from the assembled officers and crew, as he had actually voiced this concern aloud.

"Ensign Beaumont. I am not accustomed to having my orders questioned. Please feed the micro-jump into the system as ordered, and prepare to execute on my command. Is that understood?" I asked him coldly.

"Yes, Sir!" responded the Ensign with a snap, and a slight stiffness to his voice.

I understood his concern, but questioning a superior officer in front of the crew was not tolerated, by any officer, at anytime. If you had concerns, you expressed them either in a different form, or privately. The Ensign was totally out of line, and he had to know it.

I logged that I was giving the order to micro-jump at such and such a date and time. Since the bridge was recording continuously, I also logged in the O.O.W (Officer Of the Watch) log that I was going to have Ensign Beaumont report to my cabin for intensive revue of Military Customs and Courtesies. This would happen in lieu of an official reprimand being placed in his personnel file.

Since the bridge recorded everything, and as I had logged the action I wanted to take concerning the breach of etiquette, this would preclude anyone higher in the chain of command from taking any further action. If I had chosen not to take the course of action I had, by logging my decision; the first officer or the captain could have reviewed the bridge record - which they always did - and could have taken independent action. This made certain that no further action would be taken against the young Ensign Beaumont. I ended the O.O.W. log with my name and rank as follows, "Logged by, Commander Steve Lassiter, 2nd officer, Commander of the Watch."

"Inform all duty stations that we will micro-jump, in-system, in two minutes," I stated.

The communications section made the announcement quickly and quietly, and we all waited for the time. I told weapons to have all combat stations standing by, in the even of trouble. He reported they were already standing by. I nodded to him.

"All accumulator power to the shields, as soon as the micro-jump is complete. Be ready to go to full combat operations once we arrive," I ordered.

I received acknowledgment of the order and knew that while it was standard operating procedure during combat operations, things were different during training runs. This time there would be no variance from an actual combat mission. The time came down and I ordered the jump.

There was that slight strange twisting sensation of almost getting into hyper, but not quite getting there, but this would give us a new position as we traveled a huge amount of space in a short time. That's when it happened.

"Sir! The TCN Lightning is under attack! The Swiftfoot has suffered severe damage and is pulling away from the battle, but is still firing," the combat officer reported.

"Go to battle stations, immediately. This is not a drill. Engineering, I want the reactor brought up to 130 percent, as quickly as possible," I ordered calmly.

I fielded a call from the captain wanting to know the status. I informed her of what transpired, our status, and the fact that two of our ships were under attack. She acknowledged and said she was on her way.

She arrived about two minutes later, wearing her combat pressure suit. She took her place, and told me she relieved me. I relinquished command, and took my leave of the bridge.

I had an alternate duty station, and that was in the CIC. (Combat information Center). It would not be wise to have all the officers who were in direct line of command to gather in one area during combat. If an enemy got lucky, they could take out the entire command structure that way. So, the TCN had very strict guidelines. It said once the captain was in command during combat, the exec officer was to report to the captain and assume his duty station on the bridge, but the 2nd officer would be located in an alternate location with the ability to assume command in the event that the CO and the executive officer were taken out simultaneously. The Exec had to be on the bridge, in the event that the Captain was incapacitated. He (or she) would continue with the battle or the captain's battle plan, keeping the chain of command and the battle plan going.

Once we entered the battle, the frigates tried to withdraw, but were now unable to do so without leaving one or the other open to direct fire. As it was, the damaged TCN destroyer was moving for a better shot.

I kept trying to get communications established with the two destroyers, but electronic jamming was too severe, and direct laser line of sight communications was not getting a response from the destroyers. Both were damaged at this point, and they might not have that capability any longer.

I kept my team working on updating the bridge plot. They seemed satisfied with our effort, as the bridge never called a query to us during the battle. I watched the large master plot closely. We cheered as a frigate ceased to exist within four minutes of the captain assuming command. She had launched a peculiar missile pattern, and not one, but two missiles got through the defender's umbrella to destroy the center most frigate.

I watched as the destroyers increased their fire and started pouring onto the remaining right hand target in relation to the destroyers. This must have been something they had previously worked out together during their patrol. They were working well, despite the damage they had taken.

The frigates changed tactics on our arrival. While they threw the occasional small medium-range attack missiles at the two TCN destroyers, most of the offensive missiles were coming towards my ship, The Angel.

Something must have gotten through from the destroyers, because the right hand frigate suddenly decelerated sharply. A good portion of its anti-missile fire stopped, which allowed a missile the destroyers had fired earlier to impact that same frigate! It ceased to exist.

The communications man in CIC excitedly reported that the communications interference had cleared, and the remaining frigate was signaling surrender. All offensive fire had stopped from it, only anti missile defenses still operated until all offensive missiles were destroyed or accounted for.

"This is Captain Beel of the TCN cruiser Angel. Surrender is accepted, conditionally. Do not delete or destroy your data base. All on-board weapons will be locked up, and you will cooperate with the boarding party, is that understood," the captain asked in a steely tone of voice.

""Privateer Hapgood, executive officer Starling accepts your terms, and surrenders to Captain Beel of the Trinic Confederated navy."

That was all that was said between our ships and the enemy vessel, until the boarding party transferred to the privateer.

In the meantime, CIC was getting updates from both the destroyers. The damage assessments came in, now that communication had been restored. I winced as I looked the list over. All departments aboard the Angel were also reporting equipment status to the bridge, and to our computers, simultaneously. I was surprised at the expenditure of missiles. We had used the entire external ordnance, and were thirty-seven percent down on offensive capital missiles. We were down forty-one percent on defensive anti missile missiles. That last number did startle me, as our missiles in both offense and defense were thought to be only a couple generations behind the Newcastle Empire, or the Terran's. We were rated 3rd, galaxy wide, in missile technology. Something was not right, here. We should not have had to use this many missiles in either offense of defense. It was only a force of three frigates, after all.

"... and so, there is no hard evidence at this time, as to where these people got their missile technology. While similar to Terran missile tech, it is generations behind it, and is also behind ours.

"Conclusion? High probability that someone familiar with either Terran or Empire missile tech did the improvements on these 'privateer' ships that we took on. The improvement was enough to offset our advantage in tech with the numbers of missiles thrown at us and that curious hybrid technology they are using," Lt. Commander Eileen Brennan, tactical officer reported and then sat.

The captain nodded her head, thoughtfully. It was now four days after our rescue of the two destroyers. They were still undergoing emergency repairs, prior to departing. The captain had loaned the captain of the Swiftfoot our damage control party, and assistant engineer. Their engineer had been killed in the action.

Both destroyers were going to make the trip back to the sector repair base directly from here, as soon as the Swiftfoot had made another serious repair. According to all reports, they would be ready for departure in twenty hours at the current rate of repair.

"Good reports, all. Everyone is dismissed to your stations. Commander Lassiter? A word with you?" The captain said as we all stood.

The captain and I waited until the others cleared the compartment, then he motioned for me to sit. I resumed my seat and she came down and sat a bit closer to me.

"I must say, reviewing the log of the day the battle began - particularly your orders and dealings with young Ensign Beaumont - was interesting, to say the least. I concur whole-heartedly with your handling of the ensign.

"It is your subsequent orders that have me curious. More of your wild precog abilities?" she asked me seriously.

I hesitated for a moment. I was unsure how to proceed, really.

"Before you answer, I want you to be aware of something. I was told to keep an eye on you, and report any obvious psychic ability usage on your part. This qualifies, and I am sure command will review the entire bridge logs as to what happened up to and including the battle," she finished.

"Ma'am, I can't control when these things come to me. I have learned to pay attention when they do, but they are so rare and far between, and so uncontrollable, that it seems pointless for Confederation security to be this interested in me," I stated.

"If you ask me, it would be a waste of talent to put you in the damned Psy corps. If you could actually control this and use it willingly, I might understand. I would not agree, but I understand their policy towards psychic persons.

"In your case, it would be a criminal waste, and I intend to say so in my 'After Action Report'. I do have to report this, but I am going to play it down a bit. I have full confidence in your abilities as my 2nd officer, and as a member of my crew. As such, you have my full support," she said and stood.

Meeting over.

I "yes ma'amed", and got out of there. I had the captain's confidence! That made me feel very good indeed. I respected the captain. She had enough pull and seniority within the service, to make waves for me if she so desired. Cruiser captains were listened to, seriously, by the command. That she was going to put her thoughts into her 'After Action Report' spoke volumes to me!

I couldn't help myself. I sent a silent tendril of thought to the captain to see what she was thinking and doing. I had never done this before. My jaw dropped in shock, and I came to a halt where I was in the corridor. Not only was the captain thinking about me, she felt my thought tendril and answered me!

<Commander!> her mental voice said sternly. <Do not make me regret my decision. Any further abuses on your part, mentally, will be dealt with harshly! Do you understand?> she snapped silently at me.

<Yes, Ma'am. Sorry, Ma'am, > I replied humbled.

<Up to this point, you have used your abilities in a responsible way. Don't make me do something I will regret, do you understand?> she asked forcefully.

I "yes ma'amed" her again.

<Good. Up 'till now, you have done well, controlling yourself. From now on, I suggest you redouble the effort on your part to stay 'incognito'. Confederation security will be watching you even closer from this point, understand?>

With that, her silent voice and presence was gone, and I found myself firmly back in my head. I'll be damned! The captain was a psychic herself! Who'd of thought it possible?

Edited by TeNderLoin