I eventually reached over to grab my Guide off the nightstand without bothering to get out of bed. Out of curiosity, I pulled up a list of the work tickets across the various areas. Most of the crew had the same shift during the day hours, although there was always someone in the Bridge or on call in case of an emergency.

There wasn't much, and all of it was rather minor or regular tasks. I began to realize just how much I had done in the way of maintenance tickets on the Tyndel that were technically supposed to be the job of other departments.

Despite having only a third of a full crew complement for a ship of this size, all of the areas were managing the workload with plenty of time for the training modules Starsong had set up.

"I am doing quite a few of the tasks without them realizing it, although I am making sure that they get a chance to try different things as they learn."

I scrolled idly through the list. "How many areas don't have Overseers or Officers yet?"

He reverted to using the speakers since I had spoken out loud. "Twelve Overseer and two Officer positions are still vacant. Those people should be at our next two stops."

I paused. "How are they all so conveniently waiting at those places? I assume you are arranging for them to get there?"

"Yes. I paid for flight tickets between planets to ensure they would be at their designated stop. Some of them traveled for over a week on a SuperExpress Passenger Jet for pickup."

"Wow..." I hadn't realized how far some of them had traveled or how much effort some had put into getting to the port we would be stopping at. The majority of those on board were Overseers or Officers though... "I assume that we will be picking up more assistants as time goes by?"

"Yes, I am allowing the Overseers time to learn our systems and get to know one another before giving them assistants. This also allows me more time to find assistants with the best potential - ones who won't transfer into larger companies. The other difficulty is that we came this way because most of the better and more experienced applicants were in this direction, but the star systems in this area have a fairly low population and not many are ideal for the assistant positions we have left."

That made sense in a way. "How was it that so many higher ranking people were at the first two stops? I honestly thought that it would take us a month to get half of those positions filled. Good Officers or Overseers are almost always employed or they are widely scattered."

I had a hard time seeing the five big intergalactic companies missing so many experienced people. Starsong continued to use the speakers near me.

"I beat the intergalactic companies to them. Those companies are notorious for moving into certain star systems in such a fashion that their presence pushes many of the local companies and spaceships into bankruptcy – and they often do it just to obtain the experienced crew members and have their pick of the junior ones. The companies wait until the newly-unemployed people start putting out resumes and promptly hire them within the hour. I simply sent letters of offer to the ones I wanted while they were employed, offering to pay for travel and accommodations. They knew full well that the spaceship they were on was sinking in debt, and they bailed with the offer."

He was clever... I had heard of the intergalactic companies' tendency to do that, but it never occurred to me that Starsong had purposefully sought out those areas and gathered all of those people into one spot long in advance for an easy pickup. He had probably emptied most of this entire section of space of every talented person as he hired the best of the best.

"The DawnBreak Company has been pushing its way into this corner of the universe with determination. Hundreds of individually owned spaceships, as well as small companies, are failing due to the added competition. Finding under a hundred qualified people across such a vast section of space wasn't nearly as difficult as it could have been."

I nodded in realization. "The people you hired knew what the company was doing too, so I suspect that they hadn't been looking forward to joining one of the five big companies who were responsible for them losing their job in the first place."

"Most responded very promptly to my offer. They have a grudge against those companies, which also means they won't be applying there. They were grateful for the job, and I am quite certain that they will be very loyal. The younger ones were already applying to the DawnBreak Company, and I did not extend the offers to them as they would have still continued to apply there."

I murmured the old saying that my university teachers had drummed into my head. "As soon as you can, get onto the ship you want to work your last years on. Most ships will not look at older applicants."

Older people may have experience, but technology changed fast, and they were not always as adaptable. They often also requested higher salaries to go with their experience, which deterred many cheap Captains.

Crew members often got benefits or a retirement plan from the ship when they retired, and many ships with such plans would not hire someone who would be retiring in less than a decade simply to avoid paying those fees. And ships too cheap to have such plans would be too cheap to pay the requested wage... It was a bad scenario for an aging spacecraft worker in any position.

Most of my current crew were well into their middle years or past them, and they would have been scrambling to find such a ship in a fairly remote area of space. Starsong's offer of employment would have seemed like a dream, albeit a dream with an insanely young Captain.

Either way, you would need a prybar to get them to leave willingly. I was pretty sure that I could safely bet that they weren't going anywhere anytime soon.

        My alarm predictably went off while I was still skimming through the Guide. With a sigh, I got out of bed and grabbed a new set of clothing. One perk of being part of the Bridge crew was that I had my own bathroom. My room was no bigger than any of the others in the Bridge crew group, which was done on purpose to eliminate any jealousy.

My personal quarters consisted of a sitting room for guests, which was by the entrance. The bedroom was on the far side, and the bathroom was connected to the side of the sitting area. It may have only been three rooms, but it was more than I had ever had before.

I headed down for breakfast, choosing the upper dining area for higher ranked people this morning. I often alternated which room I ate in, as well as which table I sat at. This allowed me to mingle with the crew on a routine and fairly-informal basis.

I sat with the Maintenance Overseer and the Janitorial Overseer, listening to their discussion on the air vents and which potential cleaners and polishes would look the best while not causing any dust to stick to them.

The Janitorial Overseer tried to include me in the conversation. "Many cleaning supplies or polishes leave residues, which tend to trap dust, especially with the constant airflow through an air vent."

I considered how to respond. "That doesn't overly surprise me. Dust is always around, regardless of how good the air filters are. I would take a look at the database of cleaning supplies on your Guide. I think I recall seeing a section that mentioned which ones were best for which purposes."

Technically, they could search the database by task, and it would suggest the best supplies and techniques, but I suspected that he hadn't gotten to that part of his training module yet. He hadn't had much time for training either, since port stops meant dirt and dust, and he didn't have an assistant yet. I knew his new assistant was waiting at our next stop though.

"You are needed on the Bridge."

Before I had a chance to question Starsong, one of the Communications Officers called me via my communication device. "Captain, your presence is requested on the Bridge."

I tapped my device. "I am on my way."

I got up and put my mostly empty plate in the dishes bin before heading out the door.

'What's up?'

"Possible pirates ahead, but they are hiding behind a planet, so we are not having an easy time even pinpointing their location, let alone managing a proper scan."

I groaned internally. 'I have been Captain for what? Two weeks? And I already have to deal with pirates?'

"Sixteen and a half days actually. It is a very small ship. A dozen crew max, and there is no chance of them having anything that can even strain my shields."

I continued walking towards the Bridge, hoping that these pirates weren't stupid enough to take on a large trading vessel with a tiny star jumper ship...