Aquaria - 11. Aqu Chapter 11

Once they were happy with my answers, they gave us the clearance for the crew to come ashore for some Rest & Relaxation, with some two senior and two junior officers and 2 security guards staying, to keep the sub secure, and 1Bosun and 4 deck crew staying to bring all the supplies onboard. Dad and I headed up to deck 2 to find Captain Hunter, who we found in his office.

“Good afternoon Mr Lloyd” the Captain said as we walked into his office, “Glen, I would like you to meet my son, Lt Commander Trenton Blackthorn, he will be the Aquaria Project Director from now on, so he will be in-charge of Science projects, and deciding where the Aquaria will go, and you will be in charge of operation of the vessel and its crew when at sea” Dad said to the captain.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lt Commander” the Captain said as he held out his hand, which I shook. I will be residing in the Starboard Executive suite, the lounge room behind it will be my administration office, and the lounge on the port side will be a meeting room. Some office furniture and supplies will be arriving early tomorrow, can you make sure they are placed in the correct rooms” I said to the Captain.

“As you wish Lt Commander” the Captain replied, “Your 1st officer has the rank of Commander, is that correct?” my father asked the Captain, “Yes sir, and the 2nd officer, chief navigator and chief engineer all hold the rank of Lt Commander” the Captain replied.

“I see, well you better drop the rank for Trenton, since he will be holding a more administrative role on the submarine, so just Mr Blackthorn will be acceptable” my Dad said, “Very good sir” the Captain replied, “I am heading back to the hotel for a while, I will see you both later” I announced, and I left the office, and headed forward to the main bridge, and behind the large screen, to where the forward Senior officers Elevator is located.

Pulling out my ID card, I held it up to the sensor, which beeped, and the door opened, allowing me to stepped inside, and pressed the button for deck 6, and a few moments later I stepped out onto deck 6 and turned right, and opened the door into the Starboard Executive lounge, part of my personal living space, and I entered my suite, which is very large and comfortable.

After a quick look at the lounge, that will soon become my administration centre, I moved the lounge suite and coffee table to the front corner of the room, giving me space for the 2 office desks, chairs and cabinet, plus office equipment, that will be arriving tomorrow, along with the meeting table and 4 chairs, that will go into the lounge next door, and I decided that the lounge suite from that room can be taken to the nearby guest observation lounge.

Re-entering my main executive lounge, I picked up the phone and dialled the Captain’s office. “Captain, this is Mr Blackthorn speaking, is my father still there?” I asked when the call was answered, and a moment later I heard my father speak. “Lloyd here” he said in a stern voice, “Dad can you try and organise with the Captain for one or two crew that may be interested in working in administration, and if they are onboard, send them down to me please?” I asked.

“We were just talking about that actually, we have two crew wives, that don’t have any official position onboard, I will get the Captain to check if they are onboard or on shore leave, and I will let you know, and by the way, your admin office and the meeting room have both been fixed with all the communication connections, to allow you to keep in contact with me in Douglas” Dad replied, before he ended the call.

I headed back to where my administration office will be, and I just relaxed for about twenty minutes, untilthere was a knock on the main door from the passageway, “Enter” I responded, and a lady walked in dressed nicely, with hardly any makeup on, and wearing deck shoes, which seemed to clash with her clothes.
“Hello Mr Blackthorn, my name is Jocelyn Overton, my husband is Derek, is the 2nd Science officer” thelady said as she approached and held out her hand for me to shake.

“Yes, I have worked with Derek when I was last onboard, I left the sub at Rio, before the families joined the sub, please sit” I replied. “Yes sir, I recall him talking about you in some of his emails to me. As you know I have just joined the submarine today, after completing my deep-water training, so I am still settling in, we don’t have any children, so I am happy to be dedicated entirely to work.

I have a degree in business administration and spent 9 years working for a law firm, at their Auckland, Hong Kong and Sydney offices, before being retrenched 4 months ago” Jocelyn said to me, “Well it sounds like you will fit in just perfectly as my senior administration officer.

As you may be aware, Lloyd Corporation is 64% family owned, with my father being based in Douglas, on the Isle of Man, the other share-holders in the family, apart from myself, are my two aunts who have no operational involvement with the company.

I have my late mother’s surname, and my father and I have only recently been reunited after a long period of time. I have been appointed the Aquaria Project Director, which means that I organise everything to do with research projects, including selecting the locations.

Captain Hunter has operational command of the Aquaria, and once we are at a new research location, I take over with organising the Science team, which consists of 4 science officers and 16 scientists, with your husband being one of those. Your job will be to assist me with liaising with the science team and with thehead office in Douglas, does that sound ok to you?” I said.

“Yes sir, that sounds fine, but where will I be working from?” Jocelyn replied, which made me chuckle a little, “we have office furniture and equipment arriving tomorrow morning, the deck crew will be bringing it all down, and setting it up, we will have to remove one of these lounge suites to make room, but I would like to keep a two-seater and the coffee table.

Also, the lounge suites and table in the room next door need to be moved, to make room for the meeting table and chairs, I think to the Observation Lounge on this deck will do, now are you on deck 2 or deck 5?” I said to Jocelyn, “Deck 2, mainly because Derek is a junior officer, and they do have a nice lounge and dining area there” Jocelyn replied.

“Ok, good, well the furniture arrives some time tomorrow morning, so how about we start after lunch tomorrow, say at 1300 hours, that is 1pm if you don’t know the 24-hour clock” I said. “Yes sir, I do actually, I look forward to working for you, and thank you for this great opportunity” Jocelyn said before standing up and leaving.

Pleased that I now have a capable administration staff member, I headed up to deck three, and down the stairs to the wharf, where I presented my passport to one of the security officers standing nearby, before being allowed to continue. Back at my hotel, I relaxed for a while, wondering what the future will lead to, as I drifted into a happy sleep.

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing, and I glanced at the clock, which read a little after 4,15pm, as I reached for my phone. “Trent, it is your father, are you ok?” I hear the familiar voice ask, “Yes Dad, I am fine, I am at the hotel, I must have dozed off for a couple of hours” I replied.

“Good, we are having dinner with the senior officers on the sub tonight, as I have to return to the UK tomorrow morning, so be in the Senior officer’s dining room on deck 1 at 1900 hours” Dad said to me, “Ok Dad, I will be there” I said, and I ended the call.

By the time that I arrived at the sub, just over 90 minutes later, along with all my luggage, it was almost dark, and once I had past customs and quarantine, I headed towards the stairs, with my two suitcases and backpack. I was pleased when one of the deck crew arrived at the base of the stairs to assist me with my luggage, “Good afternoon, are you one of the new crew members, if so, do you know which deck you are on?” the deck crew member asked me.

“No, I have been onboard before and I am on deck 6” I replied, giving a small smile, “The executive suites? You must be Mr Blackthorn, the Project Director then” the deck crew member responded, “Yes that is correct” I replied, “Welcome back in that case sir, I hope you will enjoy your return” the crewman stated as he led the way up the stairs carrying one of my suitcases.

To get to the forward section of deck 6, we had to travel a good length of the submarine to the main forward elevators, and down to deck 6, and forward some more till we reached the passage way between the guest recreation lounge and the library, were the main entry to the suites is located, and using my ID card, I unlocked the door, and walked in, dumping the suitcase near the door, while I put the backpack in the coffee table.

“Thank you for your assistance” I said to the crewman, “Its Travis, and you are most welcome sir” he replied before leaving. I spent the next half an hour unpacking most of my luggage, before heading to the bathroom for a shower and getting dressed in nice casual clothes and heading up to deck one for dinner.

Dinner was very pleasant and enjoyable, with some very delicious food. There are three new senior officers, with two from the UK and one from Spain, who seem to be nice, as Dad informed the senior officers of our plans for the submarine, for the next few months, which includes a transit of the Suez Canal, where the Aquaria will spend some time doing marine research around the many islands in this ocean.

After dinner, I said goodbye to my father and wished him a safe trip back to the UK, and I headed to my suite, and shortly after sitting down in the lounge, there was a knock on the door, “Come in” I said automatically, forgetting that I needed to open the door as it has a security lock on it, but before I could reach the door, I heard a beep and the door opened.

“Good evening sir, I am one of the two VIP stewards, is there anything that you need before you retire?” Travis said to me. “Why have I not heard about this from the Managing Director” I asked referring to my father, “He wanted to keep it a surprise for you sir, we are in the Bow section of deck 7, so we are close enough to get here quickly, just dial 22 on the phone to get one of us” Travis replied.

“Thank you, and I don’t need anything, so you can retire for the night, goodnight” I said, “by the way sir, the crew have nicknamed this deck the caterpillar deck because of its shape” Travis added before he left moments later.

Not feeling very tired, I sat down, and I thought about what Travis had said and finally got the meaning of it and I laughed out loud at the nickname. I read my book for about an hour, before heading to bed, and surprisingly drifted to sleep soon after.

The next morning after breakfast in the junior officers dining room, I grabbed my wallet and passport, and headed off the submarine, and I headed for the centre of town to do some clothes shopping, get some more shoes and boots, and also to find some art galleries to get some art work to brighten up my suite and also the office.

By the time that I returned to the submarine just before lunch time, I had over $8000 worth of artwork, as well as the clothes and footwear. “Good morning sir, my name is Nigel, I am one of the VIP stewards, let me assist you with all of these” one of the crew said to me as I climbed out of the transport van, and soon after Travis arrived to assist.

“All the art work can go into the suite lounge for now, until I decide what goes where” I said to the two stewards, “Yes sir, all of your office furniture has arrived and is in place, along with office equipment and stationary supplies, Mrs Overton is just finishing setting everything up” Nigel informed me, as he led the way up the stairs.

As I stepped into the entry foyer, one of the senior officers, who I could not recall his name approached me, “Mr Blackthorn, the Captain would like to speak to you right away” the officer informed me.