The UIC Tabitha hummed with a different tonal vibration as it began its steady deceleration. The transition from cruise speed to a tactical stop could constantly be felt in your whole body. The force of deceleration did that to you. Everyone knew they were approaching the coordinates of the rendezvous point.

  Captain Raymond Malone stood at the edge of the command walkway, his datapad in his hand. He was taking notes, not just on the ship’s tactical dispys, but on the young man standing in the centre of the CiC. He watched Commander Lochem Ahaffa with a kind but critical eye, the kind usually reserved for fathers and their sons. Raymond knew Lochem had the technical skills and tactical mind required to excel as a Captain, but Raymond could see the slight tension in the younger man’s shoulders. He cked the one thing a manual couldn’t teach: Confidence.

  “We’ve reached the rendezvous, sir,” a crew member reported from the pit below. “No sign of the Christopher IV yet.”

  Lochem checked his own console, and his brow furrowed. “They are probably still on their way. With the nebu’s interference, we just don’t know.”

  It was true. They couldn’t know for sure, but the Christopher IV was running te.

  Lochem paused, then turned and walked toward Raymond. His expression was guarded, his eyes searching the older Captain’s face for a reaction.

  “Can I speak with you freely, Captain?” Lochem asked quietly. “Off the evaluation record, sir?”

  Raymond tucked the datapad under his arm and nodded. “Of course.”

  “Did I make the wrong call, sir?”

  Raymond didn’t answer immediately. He let the silence hang for a moment, punctuated only by the melodic chirps of the various bridge consoles. “You know the answer.”

  Lochem looked down at the deck. “A captain always makes the right decision?”

  “Yes,” Raymond replied, a faint smile pying on his lips. “Even when it’s the wrong one.” He stepped closer, his voice dropping into a more intimate tone. “So, what do you want to do now? You made a decision, and it didn’t go as you had hoped. It happens. It’s important that you stay calm and decide on what your next course of action should be.”

  “I don’t know what the right course of action is,” Lochem confessed, his voice tight with stress from worrying over the missing transport ship.

  “You often won’t know,” Raymond said. “There will be plenty of situations that don’t have a clear right or wrong answer.”

  Lochem looked up, his confusion evident. “But you always know what to do? You always seem so confident?”

  Raymond reached out and put an arm around the young commander’s shoulders, pulling him aside, away from the prying eyes of the bridge crew.

  “Can I let you in on a secret, son? Something my first captain told me?”

  “Please, sir,” Lochem said, his posture rexing slightly. “I’ll take all the advice I can get.”

  “We’re all just following our gut.”

  Lochem blinked. “Excuse me, sir?”

  “Me,” Raymond said, gesturing to himself. “All the other captains. Lunar Command. Hell, I’m sure even the UIC Council. We’re all putting up a brave face. We make decisions that we think are right, and then we double down on those decisions. But the truth is, we’re all making it up as we go.”

  “I– that can’t be true? Sir.”

  “How old are you, Commander?”

  “I’m 31, sir.”

  “Correct me if I’m wrong,” Raymond said, leaning back against the railing. “You’re still waiting for that moment when you will suddenly feel all ‘grown-up,’ right?”

  Lochem paused, a look of realisation crossing his face. “I guess?”

  “It will never come. You look at other people– people older than you, more successful than you– and think they have their lives together. The truth is, they are just as insecure as you are now. It will be the same once you become a captain. You think everything will fall in pce and suddenly you’ll have more insight and wisdom to make the right decisions, but the truth is, you’ll still be just you.”

  “I can understand that,” Lochem said, “but surely you aren’t just making it up as you go, all the time?”

  “Well, we have operational manuals and guidelines,” Raymond chuckled. “And my experience does count. I make better decisions now compared to when I was younger and less experienced. But what I’m trying to tell you is that there will never come a time when you can look at a difficult situation and have zero doubt about how to fix it. In the end, you’ll have to go with your gut and wing it. It’ll make you feel like a fraud. Like you don’t deserve your position or rank.”

  Raymond’s expression turned serious. “But you need to be careful. It can consume you– self-doubt. Once you realise that everyone else also has the same doubts and insecurities, you can rally yourself. You’ll have to, in order to think things through and make the ‘right’ call.”

  “So even you,” Lochem whispered, “when you give some orders... You aren’t sure that they are the right ones?”

  Raymond ughed, a warm, reassuring sound. “Just some orders? Son. The secret is to trust yourself and to be confident. Be open to persuasion, but don’t fold to pressure just because it’s the ‘safe’ choice. Your crew needs to look up at you and feel like you have everything under control.”

  Lochem nodded, the weight on his shoulders seemingly lighter, though his concern still remained. “I understand. But I’m still not sure what to do now.”

  “What you need to do is to make a decision,” Raymond said firmly. “It’s your call, Commander. Whatever you choose, believe in it, and the crew will too.”

  “Thank you, Captain.”

  “So, what will you decide?”

  Lochem looked at the tactical map. The nebu was a shifting curtain of interference. “If we go looking for them, we might miss each other in transit due to the nebue. But if we wait, they might be out there, needing our help. There is no clear correct answer.”

  “There rarely is,” Raymond agreed.

  Lochem squared his shoulders and turned back to the command pit. He felt the eyes of the bridge crew on him. He took a breath, letting his gut settle.

  “OK. I’ve decided. Tabitha?”

  The AI’s voice chimed through the CiC. “Yes, Commander?”

  “Let’s wait at the rendezvous. If they don’t arrive soon, we can always go looking for them.”

  “Yes, Commander,” Tabitha responded.

  Raymond gave a small nod of approval. “A good choice.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Lochem said, then turned to the comms officer. “Tabitha, please open a comm channel so I can address the crew.”

  “Done,” the AI replied. “The crew are ready for you.”