As I walked to my office I paid close attention to my crewmates. I wanted to see how each was dealing with the fear. Most of them looked like they were struggling to focus on their work, but holding it together. Some just wandered in a daze, and a select few seemed to be so intently focused on what they were doing that the ship could be on fire and they would not notice. Like the honor guard, they seemed to be completely unaffected by the fear weapon.
As I approached my office I saw that some of the team leaders were there already. “Hello, gentlemen,” I said as I passed them to unlock the door. Once inside everyone filed into his place. Unlike the very formal atmosphere of most officers’ meetings, I tried to keep mine as casual as I could. There was no large table to sit around, just a collection of chairs with end tables. I always had some refreshments, and kept the lighting at a comfortable level.
Once everyone arrived and was seated I let them chat a bit amongst themselves. There were seven of them in all. To an outsider they must have looked like exact clones. All of them were perfect products of the best training that the Empire had to offer. Each had their strengths and weaknesses, but that was not apparent until you had worked with them for some time.
When I took over the department it was a much more linear structure, and officially it still was, but I did not run it that way. Instead I set it up so that each team leader was equal in rank and authority, with complete jurisdiction over their own team. Any conflict between leaders would be settled in a meeting like this with myself as the final authority if needed. Officially I still had to give them linear ranks, so I just named each team a color of the rainbow and their rank followed the color order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
“Okay, gentlemen, let’s get this meeting started,” I began, then gave everyone a moment to settle in. “First of all, thank you for coming at such short notice, especially those of you I had to wake up.” Since the department was required to function around the clock some of my team was asleep at any given time.
“There are two things I need to go over with you. The first is some rule and policy changes. I have already sent them to each of your message boxes for you to review in detail. The changes are fairly minor. I increased team cycle times to accommodate a longer rest cycle, shifted the balance of the reward and punishment system to give a bit more weight to the positive side, and a few other things of that nature. I do not want to waste our time going over that right now. When you get back to your offices you can review them and send questions in if need be.
“The second thing I need to discuss is the primary reason for this meeting. The Empire is sending me on a mission and I will be gone for an extended period of time. In fact, if the mission is successful, it could be several months before I can return to this post.”
“Sir, it seems a bit unusual for a ranking officer to be sent on such a mission,” interrupted red team’s leader.
“Yes it is, but these orders come from the Emperor himself. Everything about this mission is highly unusual. I cannot tell you much about it, but I do need to say that the mission is extremely dangerous. Therefore I must appoint my replacement, not only for the time I am away but also in case I do not return.”
I looked around the room. I knew that whichever choice I made would have the potential to cause jealousy from those not chosen. I remembered one of my professors explaining that in this kind of situation it is best if everyone else can be convinced that they made the decision. The trick would be getting them to make the same decision I had already made.
There was no doubt in my mind that red team’s leader was the best choice. From the first day I worked with him I knew he would replace me. He was a natural in his position, and well-liked by his teammates. I hoped I would not have to steer them to that realization, but rather that they would get there by themselves.
“Well, team leaders, you know each other well by now, as well as I do if not better. I would like to hear from you. Who do you think will make the best replacement for me?” This was where I would find out if all the work I put in encouraging honest and open communications had any real impact.
Unlike the typical, rigid structure of command teams, everything about my department was designed to be loose and casual. I hated all the formality of my job. It just got in the way of getting the job done and had a stifling effect on creativity and imagination, which were critical to my line of work. That was one reason I used colors to name my officer ranks instead of the official ranking system. It helped cover up the rigidness of the system a bit and allowed my officers to forget that there was a strict line of command.
“Sir, I think I can speak for all of us when I say that the best person for that position is Red,” replied Green.
“Anyone else have an opinion?” I asked, somewhat shocked at how easy that had been.
“Sir, Green is right. Red has out-performed all of us in your tests and challenges, and has a good, level head on his shoulders,” replied Blue.
“Well, Red, what do you have to say about your peers’ recommendations?” I asked.
“I am honored by their respect and compliments but no one could replace you, sir. If I am chosen I will do my best to serve as well as you have,” replied Red.
“Are there any comments against Red’s appointment? Speak now; you will not get another chance. I leave in less than forty-eight hours.” I waited, but received no reply. “Very well, then. Effective in forty-eight hours, Red will take my place. I will let him choose his own replacement as Red leader after he takes over.
“The mission I am about to embark on carries a high risk of capture by a hostile force. While we all like to think that we could never be forced to give up the secrets we hold, the reality of modern day drug-induced interrogation is that everyone can be broken. Because of this all my access, all secure passwords, all encryption keys, and so forth must be changed immediately after Red takes over. Furthermore, I will not be contacting any of you for any reason. All communications from me will be directly to the captain. If you do receive a communication from me it will be a signal that I was captured. Inform the captain immediately. He will know what to do.”
“Sir, you do not expect to return, do you?” asked Red.
“Well, the odds are stacked pretty highly against me right now, but that will not stop me from doing all I can to complete the mission successfully.” I paused a moment, then plowed on. “The appointment of Red will stand uncontested until such time as it is determined that I am dead. If that should happen, a different replacement for me may be chosen, and if that is the case it is likely to come from outside our department. I am telling you this now so that if it happens you do not see it as a reflection on you. High Command prefers to bring leaders in from outside a given department in order to keep ideas and methods fresh and new.
“Inform all your teams that we will be having a department-wide meeting at 1800 hours tomorrow. I will be announcing Red’s promotion there. Until then do not speak of it outside these chambers to prevent the rumor mill from going into overdrive.
“That will be all for tonight. Everyone other than Red is dismissed.”
After goodbyes and well-wishes were exchanged and everyone had left the room, I locked the door and turned off all internal recording. What I planned to talk about was not something I wanted on record.
“Red, I guess that title no longer fits. Lieutenant Commander Peter is more appropriate. As you will be taking my position, you will need to be more fully briefed. Soon the captain will be looking to you to solve the problems that we currently face.
“The mission I will be leading is codenamed Quiet Storm. I will be leading a small assault force to penetrate the planet where the Magi are at present, with the goal of establishing a foothold there. I have prepared a data disk for you with all the information that we have on the Magi, and the logs of all the command meetings about them to date. You should know that this is considered a suicide mission, and our last chance to prevent war with the Magi. A war with the Magi could be a very bad thing. They have displayed technology that is at least a century beyond what we have reached. I do not need to tell you what that means for our chances of winning such a war.
“You will know the success or failure of my mission in about two weeks. The captain has orders to destroy the planet if I am not successful. If at any point he launches this attack you will know that he has reason to believe I have failed and am probably dead.
“High Command believes that the Magi are presently contained on this planet only, and if that is true the war can be won there. If the captain’s attack fails, we can expect a full retaliation from the Magi, and we really do not know what that means yet. I would say we have good reason to think that we would suffer many casualties.
“As you know I always look for a backup plan, and in this case you are it. Do you recall all the cycles of decryption challenges we did, especially the one I called the Duck Code?”
“Yes, sir. As I recall no one, not even the central computers, ever cracked it,” he responded.
“Also on that disk is a complete explanation of the Duck Code, including how to encrypt and decrypt it. It is actually a fairly simple code. But it is specifically designed to take advantage of a weakness I found in our decryption methods. Because of this, no computer in the Empire can decode it; it has to be done by hand. I am giving you this code so that if I should need to contact you, you will know it is from me. Of course, there will always remain the possibility that I have been captured and broken. You will just have to do your best to determine that for yourself. Do not share the Duck Code with anyone; do not even admit knowing of its existence, ever. After you have memorized it, destroy that disk completely.”
He took the disk and stared at it for a long while, then slipped it in his inner jacket pocket. After that I gave him some advice on how to run the department and how to choose a new red team leader, then sent him on his way. It was getting near the end of Dr. Rannor’s shift, and if I hoped to catch him I would have to move quickly.