Vessel Control Part II

The light slowly faded on the gray hairs and black skin of Rear Admiral Rodney Carr. He donned a full dinner dress uniform. He walked along the corridors of the ship and saw the rest of the fleet passing by underneath him. He smiled. Captain Melita Vereen looked at him. It was a look of respect, understanding, and truth. She approached him where he sat alone in the spacecraft Diamond Cutter.

“Sir, your food’s going to get cold,” she said with a knowing smirk and a wink.

He waved away the captain. She looked down and up again.

“Sir, if you don’t want to eat you don’t have to, but––”

“I wanted that giant. I wanted Jupiter. But even getting near it would have meant being sucked in and crushed like a soda can. I would've never wiped out an entire fleet for a go around with that gas orb. You knew that….”

Melita smiled. “Yes, Rod, I did. We have prepared for you a meal to commemorate your––”

“Thirty-five years of service. Yes, I know. You all didn’t want to surprise an old man. That’s wise. I’ll be there in a minute. I just want to enjoy this moment.”

“Yes, sir.” Melita performed an about face and headed towards the mess hall.

Carr sighed and relaxed. He looked at the burning balls of gas that must’ve died eons ago but now became visible. His uniform consisted of a white jacket and trousers. The colors of his ribbons displayed on his chest looked like light waves striking water and oil, swirling on the street. He missed the Earth. He knew that he would never command another mission there again. He could deal with that, he asserted to himself.

Once he entered the mess hall, every rank from enlisted to officer shot to his or her feet.

“Please be seated,” Admiral Carr announced this but instead, they stood and applauded him. Some faces streaked with tears, others beamed with quiet admiration.

“Have a seat. Have a seat,” Carr commanded as he strolled into the hall. The room found their seats.

A microphone attached to his uniform allowed the man to speak. He walked. “I don’t know how you thought about giving me my favorite meal, freeze-dried ice cream and red wine from a plastic container….” Laughs and whoops arose after he said these words. “Anyway, thank you.” He shielded his eyes with his left hand. “I see Rear Admiral Adela Aims and Captain Lisa Nicks. Thanks for visiting us.” The two women stood at the position of attention.

“Go ahead and sit. We sure have had our times out here in the black wonder.” The two women smiled and sat.

“Anyway, this is all excellent what you’ve done. I wish to thank you all, again. I wouldn’t be the man I am without acknowledging every one of you and saluting you all for putting your trust in me all these years. I’m not going to get sappy on you. You deserve more than that. I appreciate everything. Thank you, once more.” Carr then moved towards the exit to thunderous applause and continued out of the hatch and entered into the passageway. Everyone seemed perplexed, stunned. Murmurs turned to shouts for the now absent leader of the ship. People began making their way towards the hatch. Like metal shavings attracted to a magnet, they began to cling further near the exit. In the clamor, Captain Melita restored order. She spoke into her own microphone.

“Attention!”

Everyone turned to ice. “We will not make this evening honoring a man of Admiral Carr’s stature to be interrupted by our rumblings of displeasure. I will go to him. Sit. Eat. As you were.” Melita ran through the hall and opened the hatch. Carr had already stripped down to his skivvies. His gray Caesar haircut reflected off the lights as he continued to take off articles of clothing, this time, his shirt.

“Sir! Rodney!”

“Don’t mind me, Melita. ‘I’m just doing what I gotta do’. Isn’t that what you young people say?” He asked with a grin. His words dripped with sincerity and a bit of contempt.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going out as I'd like.”

“You’re going to just open the airlock and get out of here? You know there’s the three step process for opening any of the ship’s hatches to the airlock….”

“That’s why I thought of my actions in advance.”

He stood tall in the bay of the ship. A hatch still allowed Melita to talk to the rear admiral. He was toned for his fifty-six-year-old self. It looked as if fitness treated him well. He laid his uniform on a seat and straightened it. He folded each article with precision.

Melita charged over to the control center and got in Lieutenant Commander Vera Lin’s face.

“What did you do?! You didn’t receive my command!”

Vera stood to her feet. “I received the order from the rear admiral!”

“Do you know what he’s prepared to do?!”

Commander Lin’s face darkened. “Yes….We all do.” The members of the control center looked solemn.

Captain Melita looked up and around at the control center who possessed the same amount of knowledge as she.

Melita frowned and then grinned. “Alright, Vera. Complete the instructions he issued you….”

The control center rose to their feet and looked at the images from the camera where Carr had totally disrobed. Melita saw the screen.

“Wait!” Melita commanded Vera. “On my signal, proceed with the instructions. Just wait for my cue.”

“Aye, ma’am,” Vera said.

Melita returned to see her superior who stood completely in the nude. His figure struck like a younger man and he stood as if he modeled for an artist about to shape a statue.

“Sir. If you do this….”

“If I do what? I told you. I’m going out on what I see is the best route for me. We never had to fire our weapons in anger. We never lost a vessel. And I’ve never been ill in space.”

Melita’s green eyes wetted. Her brown face furrowed. “Rodney…if you do this….”

“When I do this, I’ll be able to show you all how to go out on top, no regrets, and since I’ve never had to say sorry, no remorse.” he grinned and then progressed further to the airlock that released out into the vacuum.

“You’d hate me if I got sappy on you,” Melita refrained and brushed away a tear. “All I’m going to say is that,” she laughed. “This was all a fantasy, a dream, almost nightmares, and a splendid time in reality to share with you.”

The admiral grinned. “Then don’t get sappy!" he snapped and laughed. "No, that’s about right. We had a wondrous time through shock and near horror to moments of sheer grace. You did it, Melita.”

“Sir, you rose up from the slums of Wilmington, Delaware to become an explorer of the stars. What other words are there to say?”

“Extol and farewell.”

Melita looked into the camera and issued the signal. The airlock opened and Carr was sucked out into the great void. The captain composed herself and journeyed back to the mess hall as the skipper, the commanding officer, the highest ranking position on her spacecraft.