Aquaria - 12. Aqu Chapter 12

“I will see the Captain when I am ready, let him know I will see him in twenty minutes in the deck 2 conference room” I responded, as I walked past the officer and headed towards the forward elevators, to get to deck 6, quickly glancing at my watch as I did so.

Once in my suite lounge, with the two stewards removing the paper wrapping from each of the framed landscape artwork, I placed my other purchases on the table, before starting to look at my art purchases, trying to work out which are the best pictures for the suite lounge, and what are the best for my bedroom, and the office and meeting room, as I have plenty to decorate all of the rooms.

A loud knock at the door interrupted my thoughts, and Nigel went to open the door, which flew open pushing the steward back, as the Captain stormed into the suite. “How dare you fob me off, I am the Captain, and you will do as I command” the Captain roared.

I paused for a moment before turning to the stunned stewards, “Thanks gentlemen, I won’t need you for about half an hour” I said to them, and I waited for them to leave before turning to face the Captain. “I may remind you Captain, that although I am about twenty years younger than you, I am not an official crew member of this research vessel.

I am a major shareholder of the company that owns this research submarine, so don’t start trying to order me around, as I will just ignore you” I said calmly, and the Captain stared at me for a few moments before storming out of the suite.

“I hope he is not always like that” a female voice said from the doorway of the office, which made me jump in fright a little, “Oh Jocelyn, I was not aware that you were in the office, please come in, and don’t worry, I can handle him” I said to my administration staffer. “I have a fax from head office, with an itinerary of our journey for the next few months” Jocelyn informed me, as she approached and handed the fax over.

“So, you have everything in working order I take it?” I asked as I glanced at the fax briefly, then looked at the paintings scattered around the room. “These are wonderful sir, where are you going to put them all?” Jocelyn asked. “A very good question, which are your three favourite paintings out of this lot?” I responded, and after some closer inspection of all the 14 paintings in the room, she chose three.

“Good, those will go into the office, so you can enjoy them every work day, now how about selecting three more for the meeting room, three for my bedroom, and the remaining 5 will go in the lounge here” I said to Jocelyn. “I will be honoured to do that for you sir” she replied with a huge smile on her face, as I headed over to the dresser table and picked up the phone and dialled the number for maintenance.

“This is Mr Blackthorn in the executive suite, can I have someone come to my suite to put up some wall hanging hooks for paintings please?” I asked once the call was put through, “Would after lunch at 1pm be ok for you sir?” came a reply, “Yes that will be fine, it is Suite A on the starboard side, thank you” I responded, before ending the call.

“Right, time for a break, I will see you back here at 1pm, so you can show maintenance where to put the pictures” I said to Jocelyn, “Very good sir” she replied before leaving the suite. When she had gone, I dialled 22 on the phone, “Yes Mr Blackthorn, how may I help” came the voice on answering the call, “Yes, I will have lunch in my suite, in twenty minutes please” I replied, “Very good Sir, goodbye” came the reply and the call ended.

Taking a deep breath, I headed out of the suite and I made my way up to deck 2, to speak with the Captain, even though I didn’t want to after what happened earlier. As I stepped into the foyer, just outside the Captain’s office I heard his raised voice, “… I will not be spoken to in that manner, I don’t care who he is” I heard the Captain say, “Then I heard my father’s voice on loud speaker, “Calm down now Captain, we can talk about this without raised voices” I heard Dad say, and I chose that moment to walk into the office.

“Father, I heard the Captain’s last remark and yours that followed, I would like to put my version to you, before you make any decisions” I said loud enough so my father could hear me, “See, he can’t even have the decency to knock and wait for an answer, before entering” the Captain said loudly, “and what about you barging into my suite as soon as the door was opened, pushing the steward back, nearly causing him to fall” I snapped back in reply.

“That is enough from both of you, I think you can both have some manners, when addressing me since I am the managing director of this company. Now Trenton, can you tell me your version of events please” my father said to both of us.

“Sure, I can do that, I returned from a morning of shopping for clothes, footwear and some artwork for my suite and office, when a junior officer approached me the moment, I stepped into the entry foyer, and informed me that the Captain wished to speak to me right away.

I asked the officer to inform the Captain that I will come when I am ready, and that I would meet him in twenty minutes in the deck 2 conference room, and I headed to my suite with two stewards in tow with all of my purchases, then a few minutes later the Captain was knocking loudly on my suite door, which a steward answered and was nearly knocked over, by the force of the door opening” I responded.

“What a load of poppycock, all lies I tell you” the Captain responded, “Oh, and are two stewards and a junior officer going to confirm your lies” I replied. “That is enough… from now on the 1st officer will be the liaison between vessel movements and project management, so we can keep you both away from each other.

Captain from now on, Mr Blackthorn has my authorisation in regards to all project management issues, so when the research vessel is moored or anchored, he has the last word regarding the movements and activities of all the Science team, including the Science officers, and one last thing, Mr Blackthorns administration staff and two stewards are on a separate payroll, and as such are not part of your jurisdiction, do I make myself clear both of you?’ my father said.

I smiled, knowing that I had won most of this verbal battle, “Yes father, understood loud and clear” I responded, and the Captain grumbled before reluctantly agreeing to the MD’s directions, “By the way father, that fax you sent earlier, that is all fine by me, just one question, what is the time scale of the first few stops?” I asked, “I will call you in your office in twenty minutes to discuss that, bye for now” my father said,and the line went dead, and I left the office as quickly as possible.

I checked in to see if the 1st officer was in his office, but he wasn’t, so I went into the Bridge, where he was in discussion with the Chief Navigator. “Commander Atkins, I have just finished a teleconference with the Captain and the MD of the company, and you are to be the Liaison between the Captain and myself, with any vessel and project operational matters, I have an itinerary for the next few months in my office, if you would mind calling in sometime this afternoon, when you are free” I said to the first officer.

“Yes Mr Blackthorn, I was in my office for most of that call, and it was hard not to hear what was being said, and I am happy to be the mediator between you and the Captain” the first officer replied, and I chucked at this, “Ok Dan, I appreciate that, it seems we have a bit of a clash of personalities, so your help will be appreciated, I will see you later” I said before leaving the bridge and heading back to my suite.

When I arrived, Travis was laying out my lunch on the small dining table in the lounge, “Thank you for, this Travis, and by the way you and Nigel are now entirely in my service, you do not answer to the Captain or any other officers, so just ignore what had happened earlier in the entry foyer, and with Nigel being forced away from the door, the issue has been sorted” I informed my steward.

“Thank you, sir, Nigel was a little worried about that” Travis replied, “Ok, now go and have your own lunch and I will see you and Nigel back here at 2pm, as I will have a duties list and roster for you both by then” I said, and Travis nodded and left.

After lunch, Jocelyn arrived just before the maintenance crewman, and they kept busy with selecting places for the artwork and placing hanging hooks in the wall for them to be hung, while I sat at my deck and looked at the itinerary one more time, and I sent an email to my father in Douglas.

“Dad, can I recommend a stopover in Halifax, Canada, and if ok can you arrange it please, your son, Trent” and less than five minutes after sending the email, the office phone rang. “SRV Aquaria, Trenton speaking” I said when I answered the call.

“Trent, it’s your father here, yes I think that is an excellent suggestion, and I will get onto organising the visit right away, and let you know the details, when do you expect to arrive there?” my father said, “Around four days after leaving Bermuda” I responded, as I had already checked the distance and expected arrival time for that journey. “Very well I will let you know, bye” my father said and ended the call.

When Travis and Nigel arrived, along with Jocelyn, we went into the meeting room next door, and sat down around the meeting table that has a total of six chairs around it. “Right, as you are probably aware, the Captain and I have had a bit of a personality clash, and so from now on, the first officer, Commander Atkins will be liaising between ships operations and project operations” I said to begin the meeting.

He will be down sometime today to have a look at the itinerary that the MD and I have put together, which is from tomorrow morning we leave Cape Town, and head for the remote Brazilian Island of Trindade, which is about 1,000 kilometres off their east coast, where we will be spending three weeks doing some research on the plant and animal life on the island.

From there we will be heading to St Helena Island and the Ascension Islands, which are UK Territory, staying for three days at each location, before heading to Bermuda, for one week of R & R. From there we are still finalising the next part of the journey, so I will let you know when that has been done.

Research teams will be put to work at Trindade, and for two days at St Helena and the Ascension Islands, while Bermuda will be entirely R & R. A reminder that the three of you are my staff, so you only answer to me. Any order given to you by an officer, except for passing on information to this office, is to be referred directly to me.

Here is your rosters and work duties, as you can see, you have half a day off on Saturdays and all of Sundays off, and lastly, the MD was kind enough to purchase 12 double and 12 single kayaks, so these can be used by crew when we are at some of the islands, and the crew will need to book the use of the kayaks through this office. That is all for now, thanks” I said and stood up and headed to my suite to relax for a little while.

The following morning, we set sail at 0800 as planned, and headed north west for the Brazilian Island ofTrindade, and just two hours into the journey, we received a fax from head office. “The Brazilian government has retracted their permission to visit Trindade Island, so change course for St Helena Island”.

After reading the message, I asked Jocelyn to call the bridge and let them know of the course change, while I checked the computer, to work out the travel time for the trip, which is 3 days and 5 hours, and before lunch time, I called the CSO - Chief Science Officer’s office.

“Mr Leonard, this is Trenton Blackthorn speaking, I would like to have a meeting with all of the science team at 1400 hours today please” I said when the call was answered, “Yes sir, I will arrange that, where do you want it to be held?” the Chief Science officer asked, “the Science work centre on deck 4 would be the best place I think” I responded, “Ok sir, I will organise it, goodbye” the CSO said.

“Jocelyn, can you please attend also, to minute the meeting, so we can keep track of everything please” I asked, “Yes sir, I will be there, do you want me to write up an agenda?” she replied, “No thanks, I will just use my notes for the meeting, and you can use them later for reference” I answered, just as there was a knock on the door, and Jocelyn went to open the door, with the first officer stepping inside.