It had been just a handful of days since his transfer to the Halcyon Warrior, and Senior Crewman Pherik Zail was learning that his Academy instructors had not lied about life on a Star Destroyer.  From the moment he climbed out of his bunk in the morning, to the moment he completed his personal journal in the evening, his day was full paced and stressful.  Meeting and working with the crew, learning the ropes, filling in endless reports.  He was glad he was so attentive at the Academy, otherwise he would have been overwhelmed.

He had been working that day in one of the bridge crew pits, shadowing the officers there and helping as best he could.  There was a lot to take in, but he was carefully attentive and did his best not to let his nerves show.  He was working hard to keep a calm and confident demeanour, and his blue eyes shone with intense focus on everything he did.

Suddenly, a voice called to him from the command walkway.  “Mr. Zail, a moment please!”

“Yes, sir!” Snapped the Senior Crewman, and hurried up the ladder to the walkway.  The man who had summoned him, Executive Officer Ongol, was standing there with a scowl on his face and a datapad in his hand.

“Mr. Zail,” Said Ongol.  “This is the main monthly supply report,” He said.  “Normally it is compiled by our Chief Logistics Officer, but Officer Lynch is on shore leave.  The subordinate she left the task to, Crewman Baines, has done a less than stellar job,” And as he spoke, anger danced in the Officer's eyes.  Zail sure did not want to be in that crewman’s shoes.

“You wish me to complete the report, sir?” Asked Zail, already wondering just how tough this would be but not shying away from it.

“Complete?  No,” Said Ongol.  “I wish you to redo it entirely.  Even the parts Baines did manage to finish may not be accurate, and what this report needs is a new eye.  I want you to liaise with department heads, have them resubmit supply requests ASAP, and submit them to Fleet Supply.  Then I want a complete inventory of all of the Halcyon’s cargo bays, in preparation for the arrival of our new supplies.  They will arrive two days after you submit the requests, and you will personally oversee their receipt and storage.  Understood?”

Zail suddenly knew that, as busy as his first few days were, the next few were going to be totally chaotic.  “I shall get on it immediately sir!” He said boldly, taking the datapad and saluting smartly.

“Excellent.  Dismissed, Mr. Zail,” Said Ongol and watched the Senior Crewman swiftly depart the bridge.


Zail rode the turbolift down to the central decks, and emerged to the level upon which the ship’s large medical facilities were located.  Barely looking where he was going, his focus was on the datapad before him.  So many different departments to liaise with, it was mindboggling.  He had decided to start at the top, and approached the medbay.

Inside the extensive facilities, which dominated dozens of rooms across the deck, he found a human nurse (rather than a droid) and asked her for help.

“The medical supply requisition?” She said.  “Sure, we still have it on file here.  Why do you want it, didn’t Baines take care of it already?”

“Baines made some errors,” Said Zail.  “I shall be handling the report from now on.”

The nurse, a tall and elegant woman with shining auburn hair piled atop her head, accepted this and accessed a nearby data terminal, transmitting the relevant data to his pad.  “There you go, that’s all we need for the next month.  Just two points though.  Firstly, item 37 on the list is a special prosthetic for one of our pilots, a cybernetic eye of highest quality.  He needs that replacement ASAP to be certified for duty again.  The moment it arrives on the Halcyon we want it brought here.  Understood?”

“Of course,” Said Zail, noting the item for his special attention.  “And the second point?”

“I take it you’ve never done the monthly supply report before?” She asked, and he confirmed with a nod of his head.  “Okay.  Then be certain to remember that all medical requisitions must be copied to Navy Medical Central for their approval.  They will then okay your request to the supply centre.”

“So I need to send it to two places?” He checked, learning every second.

“Exactly,” She said.  “Now, if there is anything else...?”

He assured her there was not, and hurried off to the next place on the list.


Evening came all too soon, but Zail was far from finished.  By the time he returned to his quarters, long after his shift had officially finished, his three bunkmates were fast asleep and he was careful not to disturb them.

He had assembled quite a lot of information, and had seen more of the Halcyon Warrior and its crew than he ever dreamed he would in a single day.  Engineering had made a big fuss about an order of power couplings and cooling units.  The catering department needed a huge order of Nerf Sausages for next month’s Corellian-themed menu.  Even the ship’s Stormtrooper detachment had demanded he do something about the shortage of blaster rifle powerpacks.

Zail slumped down in front of his quarters’ computer terminal, and began accessing the ship’s database of relevant forms.  He knew it would take two whole days for the supply ship to actually arrive, so it was best to do it now before he went to bed.  He shoved thoughts of sleep from his mind and forced his exhausted body to continue working, though even moving his hands across a keyboard took great effort at this late hour.

It was a far longer and more complicated task than he had dared imagine.  It was not just the medical supply request, but almost all of the forms had to be sent to two or three different places.

“For the completion of form 275-XR-02, see file reference JR-9482,” He whispered aloud as the gibberish continued to scroll before him.  It seemed that the Vast Empire Navy not only had forms, but had forms to get information to get other forms.

Slowly but surely he got through them all, though it took hours.  Finally he reached the last stage, filling out the main requisition to which all others were attached.  This was the one that would go to the supply base on Abrae.  Eventually he trawled through the details, and paused at one key point.

“Where will your vessel be in two days when the supply ship arrives?” He read, then cursed so loudly he almost woke his roommates.  How could he have been this stupid?  He forgot to speak to navigation about the Halcyon’s projected course!

He sent a com message to the bridge and was delighted when a duty office responded promptly.  Entering the relevant coordinates, he arranged for the resupply rendezvous and finally sent the SEND button.

Exhausted, he slumped down at the workstation and fell asleep.


Only three hours later, a very tired Senior Crewman Zail reported in to the bridge, and informed an impressed XO Ongol that the requisitions had been sent, and he had confirmed a rendezvous with the navigation officer.

“Excellent,” Said Ongol.  He looked intently at Zail, and if he noticed any fatigue in his subordinate’s eyes he did not mention it.  “Okay, so you have two days to complete the inventory of the ship’s storage.  Make sure it’s finished before the new supplies arrive.  Now get to it!”

“Yes, sir!” Said Zail, and hurried off.


Pherik Zail, like many young Imperials in the navy, had dreamed of serving on a Star Destroyer, and as such had studied them intently while at the Academy.  Because of this he was well aware of how extensive the storage hold of the Halcyon Warrior could be.  However, when standing there in the vast Cargo Bay One, the size and scope of it truly hit him.

“This is it?” He asked the Crewman at his side, voice full of awe.

“This is the first,” Said the individual who both looked and sounded bored.  Watching over a cargo bay was clearly not the most stimulating assignment on the Halcyon.  “There are others, but this is the biggest.  Mostly spare parts are housed here.”

Line after line of steel crates, stacked high from deck to ceiling, formed up in row after row that stretched for a length of a few hundred meters.  “Let’s get to it,” Said Zail.


The two crewmen moved swiftly, each armed with an electronic tagging device.  Each crate had a small data core containing a list of what was within the crate, and the handheld datapad-like devices could read that data and update the list of inventory instantly.  It was a major time saver, but running it over every crate still took ages.

Zail read a jet-black crate, the first of a whole stack of them, and observed the message that flashed up.  He frowned.  “Alluvial Dampers?” He said aloud, and looked at the insignia on the crate.  “That’s not an Engineering Corps logo.  It’s a weapons manufacturer.”  Curious, he opened the crate and scowled at the contents.

“Hey!” He shouted, calling over the other crewman.  “These crates aren’t tagged right!  This one is full of blaster pistols!”

The Crewman glanced at him.  “You think we should do something about it?” He asked lazily.

“Of course we kriffing should!” Roared Zail, his lack of sleep and frustration boiling up inside him as pure anger.  “Go back and check one crate of each section.  Actually open the damn things!  I want to be certain that every tag matches the contents!  If it doesn’t, go through every crate and update the tags.”

“But that will take ages!” Protested the Crewman.

“Then I suggest you start immediately!” Barked Zail, and sent the terrified man hurtling off back to the start of the row.

He sighed and tried to calm himself but struggled.  He was just too tired and under too much stress.  His right hand was now twitching, a sign of his Spice addiction coming back, and he forced thoughts of Ryll Spice from his mind.  He did not need that stuff to calm him!  He had not even brought any aboard!  He did not need it!

Slowly he forced his hand to cease its trembling and brought his craving under control.  With a few long and deep breaths, he steadied himself and refocused on his work.


It took the full two days to go through the cargo bays of the Halcyon, and thankfully the crew assigned to the others were more helpful than the fool in bay one.  Zail only uncovered that one lot of incorrectly tagged crates and preyed he did not miss any more.  Still, both nights he had to work late to cover everything, and wondered if he had managed even 10 hours sleep over the last three days.

Again exhausted and trying to hide it, Zail was once more serving on the bridge when the Halcyon Warrior came out of hyperspace and Officer Ongol summoned him over.

“Mr Zail,” He said, gesturing out of the viewports, “We have arrived.  The transport Steel Kame will be here shortly.  Please go to the main port docking station to help receive the cargo.”

“Right away, sir!” Said Zail and he turned and hurried off.  He felt a bit confused though.  Why would the transport be docking alongside the Halcyon, and not simply entering the main docking bay?

Half an hour later and he understood.  The truth was that the Steel Kame was a Star Galleon – class transport, and at three hundred meters was just too big even for the vast docking bay of an Imp Star Deuce.  Standing with a team of human and droid subordinates, he met the Logistics Officer of the support vessel.

“How long to unload?” Said Zail.

The other man shrugged.  “Hard to say.  Three or four hours, give or take.”

“How much cargo is there?” Asked Zail, shocked by the answer and struggling to recall just how much he had ordered.

The Logistics Officer frowned.  “How you ever seen a month of food for 37,000 people?  Add in spare parts for a ship this big, plus medical, weapons and other goods.  Trust me, this is a standard supply run.”

Droids began filling past, guiding repulsor sleds laden with crates.  Zail stared in horror, and then composed himself.  Time to get to work.  Lifting his datapad, he turned to the Halcyon Crewmen he had assembled to help him.  “Okay, spare parts to cargo bay one.  Food to bay three.  I’ve put aside room in both for the new stuff.  I want to check their contents before we mix them in with the existing cargo so for now, keep it all separate!  Now, the blaster powerpacks...”


Finally, the cargo was stored and he ensured that their contents were checked.  Back on the bridge, Zail handed his report to XO Ongol.

“This is the complete revised inventory of the ship’s cargo,” He declared.  “I have also personally delivered a new cybernetic eye to the medical bay.  Please also note I uncovered some mislabelled crates, so I have informed engineering that they will need to order extra Alluvial Dampers next month.”

Ongol nodded as he ran his eye over the report.  “Let’s hope there are no hyperdrive problems in the meantime,” He said.  “Okay, that looks fine.”

Fine?  Zail had barely slept in four days and all he got from his superior was fine?  Life on a Star Destroyer really was hard.

“Thank you for doing that, Mr Zail.  Next time Officer Lynch is on leave I shall have to remember you for the Supply Report.”

“Thank you, sir,” Said the exhausted Senior Crewman.  “Anytime.”

OOC:

2316 Words. This was my first post to learn an Ancillary Skill.  Any feedback/comments are welcome.  Hope its okay!