Chapter 7 - Ship Roles
The only central building is the Administration & Simulation Centre (ASC), with the rest of the buildings and facilities scattered throughout the city. It took some time before Jako manages to find the dormitory and the cafeteria. Luckily the food is free and he take advantage of the opportunity to fill his plate before heading to his room.
The Academy practice free timetable, any student can join any module and class in any term. Settling himself into his room, Jako finds himself finally having some time to rest. 'IRIS, I recall you mention a special services offer only to me?'
"Oh how nice of you to recall, but unfortunately, what is available to you is very limited.", for some reason Jako finds himself wanting to struggle something.
IRIS happily continues, 'However... I'm authorised to release the Personal Files for this year's cohort to you for 60 IP. I would suggest you spend the points, the files will be very useful in your task to gather your first crew members, however, do note that the files are only for this year's cohort. More files will be available for purchase when you meet the requirements.'
Jako realizes that to get the certificate for Corvette command he will eventually need to gather his own crew. What IRIS said make sense and he have to harden his resolve and spend the recently acquired points on a file that has an unknown level of usefulness.
"Here is some free advise as thank you for your purchase. Your current task will require you to recruit the following roles,
Captain - No explanation required for this.
Pilot - Someone to fly your ship what else.
Navigation Officer - You will need someone to plot your course, read your maps, calculate and monitor your warp destinations. Let's find those strange new worlds, explore the universe
Weapon Officer - Bang, Bang, Bang... shoot those that shoot you or just shoot whatever you want.
Signal Officer (detection), your eyesight isn't good enough to see that ship 100 kilometre away or the gamma radiation all around you. Get someone to read the data off the screen.
Engineering (structure) - He who will keep your ship afloat and fix the water heater.
Engineering (propulsion) - Warp drive, thrusters, anti-gravitation anything that gets us moving.
Engineering (sub-system) - The more complex equipment like life support need special people to maintain.
Each member is allowed to cover 2 roles with the restriction that the captain can only cover bridge roles. Thus at the minimum, you need 3 other crew members to fill these 8 roles.' IRIS ends her monologue.
Jako wonder where he should start from... the only person he knows is Marcus, "IRIS, I will pay the 60 IP. Now, help me pull up Marcus's file. Only Marcus got close to me from the moment I came to this Academy. I got a strong feeling that him guiding me is no coincidence."
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Name: Marcus Casteer
Citizenship: 2nd Class ITI Citizen
Age: 19 Years
Specializations: Fleet Command
Key Background: Born into the secondary branch of the prestigious Casteer family, Marcus is the second child of Jones Casteer and Jennie Kai. Their household is doing well, however his family's prestige is limited compared to the more prominent members of the Casteer dynasty.
Marcus had a natural talent for fleet command, and it became apparent from a young age. So much so, that the main branch of the Casteer family took notice and sponsored his education at the prestigious J&J institute. There, he honed his skills and received certification in commanding Corvettes before the young age of 16. This is a testament to his talent and promise as a future leader in the fleet.
Last known status registered into First Fleet Academy under the name 'Marcus C. Jones', exact objective unknown. No known criminal activities, no known genes modification, no known official affiliation, no known...(more)
Ranking: Unranked (Corvette Class)
[Certification]
Corvette Certification (Completed)
Basic Frigate Certification (7.1%)
Basic Firearms (75.2%)
Basic Unarmed combat (81.1%)
Adv. Weaponry (11.7%)
Int. Navigation (61%)
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"Marus... this confirms it, he is likely a agent planted beside me by Chloe Casteer. Since they know I have IRIS and I will find out eventually... so why?", Jako ponders for a moment and decides it doesn't matter. He needs information and Marcus is the answer. Jako gave Marcus a call even after knowing he is secretly affiliated with the Chloe and the Casteer family.
The phone rang for a few seconds and the call was connected. Jako didn't bother with the pleasantry and got straight to his question, "Marcus, I'm trying to recruit some crew mates, where do you think I should start?", however, Marcus didn't answer in the tone Jako was expecting, "The first thing you call me is to ask for information, I'm not your personal assistance bro *sigh*... but I'm a helpful guy so let me help you this time, next time you better buy me lunch or something." Marcus suggests a few routes.
First option is to join the class associated with the crew he needs to enlist. The standard class is usually super dry and boring but has a good mix of crew and cadet attending. It was obvious many others will have the same idea.
The second method is to seek for recruitment in the fountain square or the guild. There is a huge notice board in both area where it displays recruitment notices. Payment is needed to put up an advertisement and you will usually need some reputation for it to be effective.
The last method is finding and engage cadet that is dropping or has dropped out. Since 3 out of 4 students will fall out within 3 months there is usually a huge recruitment pool later in the term. even if they have dropped out of the race to be captains, this group should have some certificate under their belt thus making easy recruits.
There is one more possibility that is very uncommon. There is a cafe near the academy where student 'trade' crew members. Even Marcus does not have a clear picture of how that works.
For now, the first method can only be done gradually over the term, the first lessons are scheduled to start tomorrow but there is no rush. The second method is out, he has neither credits nor reputation, nevertheless, he can still check out the location. The third method isn't feasible either, the term has just begun so no one is dropping out... and he knew no one.
Not wanting to waste time he could only try that last method, he is curious anyhow on what it is all about. "Marcus, want to check out that cafe? It's still early in the evening, we could have some food there too, my treat", Marcus agreed quickly as they ended the call and headed towards their rendezvous point outside the dormitory.
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Academy City of Selene (outside Café de Salute) - Evening
Before long, they arrived at the bustling café, filled with students coming and going. Marcus was eager for a taste of the culinary delights within while Jako hope to catch something this evening. They entered and quickly realize the place is larger then they thought. The café is layout in multiple different sections.
The waitress came over to the pair when she notice Jako and Marcus looking around with curiosity. When she realize the two wasn't here just for food, she points to a corner of the café and said, "Let go over there and find a seat for you two gentleman."
After being seated the waitress continues, "Every table here has a cardholder. Each card has two box, the first field 'To trade' is what is being offered while the second field 'Exchange' is the payment. There is also two type of cards, orange is a one to one trade where all party involve have to agree. Purple is a conditional trade, only the captains have the say and the trade could be one-sided.
The orange card is still palatable but the purple one feels more like slave trading... Where is the camaraderie, where the mutual trust?", for Jako which was once a soldier, he could not understand the current situation.
"Normally when the team are set there is a sort of agreement between the captain and the crew member. This agreement is enforced by the Academy and the Fleets. It works to be a discipline guideline, in the end, this is still a military fleet Academy. Leaving your captain is considered desertion, similarly, mutiny rules also apply. Once you agreed to serve a captain you are bound by the contract terms."
"Even so, after being together for awhile people might not work well together and the member might want to leave. Captain ain't going to release their member without replacement or benefits and thus this café works like a manpower market. Or they can wait till their contract expires."
"I guess that just how it is, still the way it is being done feels wrong", Jako can only live in his new world and accept it's new rules. Joining the army was the same, even if the officer is unethical there is nothing much he could do. Reporting up to the chain of command? It's not as if they were blind, they knew and have let it happen. Guess time doesn't change anything.
Jako is thinking of leaving after walking one round in the café where the tables are showing oranges card, when he started to think he should leave, he notice there a purple card. 'Engineers to trade, navigator or IP as exchange.' since he has already come to this place why not approach and do something interesting.
At this moment IRIS commented, 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained.'
'...'