Age of Lies (Original Version)

Chapter 2

Markelium and Robert finished writing up the supply list. Then Markelium sent the final draft to Captain Kelly along with a note about the fridge request. Heaving a heavy sigh Markelium turned to Robert and said, "Alright looks like that's it for today. I will catch you tomorrow when we dock for resupply and repairs." Roberts thanked Markelium and hurried off to the rest of the supply crew.

Markelium's stomach growled and he suddenly remembered that he had missed out on lunch due to having the meetings with Captain Kelly and Lt. Scott. "Might as well grab a bite or two in the mess hall. That should still be open. Maybe I can go over that new holo-book I found when I was planet-side." With these thoughts Markelium made his way through the cramped corridors till he reached the mess hall located in the middle of deck C. It looked like he was in luck for there were only a few people there at the moment, with plenty of open tables. So he walked over to a food dispenser and selected several small food items to help tide him over till dinner. As he turned around he saw the first and second lieutenant with a few officers that were not on third shift, enter the mess hall. Markelium then picked a table that was out of the way and began heading towards it. As he was walking over to the table, second lieutenant Thompson called out, "Why don't you join us Markelium? We wish to finally welcome you as part of the crew since we have not been able to properly celebrate with you yet."

Markelium changed course and walked over to sit in the open chair between the first and second lieutenants. As he began to sit down one of the officers behind Markelium pushed the chair roughly into his legs making him fall into his seat. After a second, three of the lower ranking officers of the ship ominously stood behind him to block his way.

The second lieutenant leaned toward Markelium and began talking "So welcome to our ship. She is bigger than any other ship you have been on and is better equipped. I doubt that you know much about her since you were only a lowly crewman previously, so let me tell you. The UPSF Prince, is a destroyer that is 268 meters long with a beam of 82 meters. There are two hundred and twenty eight crewmen and twenty six officers aboard. She has more armor than a typical destroyer due to some recent improvements and also we have -" Suddenly Markelium interrupted and starting stating ship details quickly continuing on with the sentence he had broken into.

"- a bay for that can fit up to five standard LSF-280 type fighters and two Remedy type troop transports. The ships also has two ARC-590's for its main engines and six ARC-286's as its secondary's. There are exactly fifty maneuvering thrusters, and six emergency thrusters located at key points along the hull. I was studying about all of the ship's ordinance and armaments since I found that I was getting transferred to her. I love how much progression there has been since my last voyage." After a moment Markelium realized his grave offense. "Sorry about that. Just got carried away since I was able to talk about it with someone else."

The second lieutenant was taken back by Markelium's outburst and the first lieutenant spoke up for the first time in his teenage sounding voice. "I get that you know those details Markelium, but did you know that interrupting a superior office is a grave offence among officers on our ship? And also you do not have an official officer license."

"Sorry sir. Was just showing that I have been studying our ship." replied the now cautious Markelium.

The first lieutenant looked at Markelium and said with a smug attitude, "Even if that is all it was, you still interrupted a superior officer. So go to the cargo hold and make sure it's in good condition. I have a feeling that there may be a few . . . loose ends. If there are, I expect you to stay till it's finished."

With this Markelium replied with a "Yes Sir," and he began trying to get out of the mess hall. The other officers that had been behind him loosely blocked his path and jeered a few insults, and one tried to trip him as he walked past. Markelium finally made it into the corridor and began making his way to the cargo hold fearing that they had been tampered with. He gave out a slight sigh as he reached the elevator and waited for it to open.

Beside him stood a young man with his head buried in a technical book on the LSF-292b star fighter. When the elevator chimed and opened Markelium and the young man entered the elevator and Markelium asked, "where you needing to go?"

"Deck F please," replied the man who still had his head in the book.

Markelium pressed the button and the elevator began its descent. The man finally looked up and then jumped when he saw Markelium. "Oh sorry sir, I did not know you were an officer I should have gotten the elevator for you," he exclaimed while throwing a salute as an apology. Markelium laughed and then said, "It is fine, I am just a low ranked officer, although I do not feel like one half the time. What's your name?"

"My name is Joey but everybody calls me Joe," replied the man.

"Well nice to meet you Joe. What were you reading there?"

"Oh just a book on the new fighters that we are going to get when we dock next time." replied Joe. "The LSF-280's have been around a long time and we are getting the newer version of them, the LSF-292b. I was just checking up on its specs since I'm going to fly one of these soon."

"Ahh so you are one of the ships fighter pilots," stated the impressed Markelium.

"Yes sir," replied Joe, "I've been a pilot since I was sixteen and worked with my dad at the airport as a starplane mechanic back in my hometown on Talloral." The elevator chimed opened and the two men walked out continuing their talk. They soon parted ways, Joe headed to the fighter bays while Markelium headed to the cargo holds.

Markelium began searching the cargo holds one by one for any problems. As he finished checking cargo holds A-1 through B-6, he began to think nothing was wrong. When he opened the door to cargo hold C-1 he groaned to himself. Cargo hold C-1 had become a mess of scattered crates and equipment. Markelium rolled up his sleeves and began to organize and clean up the place.

About thirty minutes later a voice called out, "Dear Lord what happened here?" The startled Markelium snapped his head up to find Joe standing just inside the doorway with his book in hand.

Markelium chuckled to himself for being spooked so easily and replied, "O just a bit of a packing accident happened. Just cleaning it up and making sure nothing is damaged."

"Well what you need me to do sir?" asked Joe.

"I can't ask you to do this. It's outside of your work duties."

"With respect sir, I think it may be outside of yours as well. So where do you need me sir?"

Markelium gave up with a sigh and a smile. "Thank you, Joe. Well since you insist let's start over here." With this the two began working on straightening the cargo hold.