Zero by J. S. Collyer

formulate your plan involving me.”
    “ You have no idea how to play this game yet, Captain,” Webb said, infuriatingly cool. “You nearly made Jaeger into an enemy yesterday. By the time you learn how quickly short fuses burn out around here, you'll be too dead to appreciate it.”
    Hugo clenched his fists.
    “You have your orders, Commander Webb,” he ground out. “Consult with Rami and Spinn. Gather more data. We meet back here in two hours when we will formulate the plan. Under my supervision.”
    “ Very well,” Webb said eventually.
    “ 'Very well, sir' .”
    Hugo saw Webb grind his own teeth. There was a dangerous flicker in the commander's eyes.
    “Very well, sir.”
    Hugo took himself off to the bridge and spent time going through the Albion Integrated data provided by Luscombe, memorising what there was. It wasn't nearly enough to plan anything. The Service would never launch an official campaign on so little. He gripped his hair in frustration and got up and paced over to the viewscreen.
    The Zero was on a nowhere-course, drifting in a remote spaceway. More was at the controls but he just kept a cursory eye on their course, working mainly on a technical manifest for the mission. Hugo couldn't make much out of what he could read on the sub-lieutenant’s display so he paced back along the bridge and dropped himself again into the new command chair. He fiddled with the controls on the arm display, then used it to go through the Zero 's vitals and camera feeds.
    Hugo couldn't quite ignore the slight chill that began to rise under his belly. Every member of the crew was bent to some task that was being executed with the ease of something done a thousand times. When he switched to the feed from the hold he saw that Sub and Bolt were actually laughing as they checked over the contents of the weapons locker. A bitterness underpinned by uncertainty bubbled up inside him and he had to grip the chair arms to restrain himself from once again running his hands nervously through his hair.
    “It's alright sir,” More's voice was quiet, but it still startled Hugo. The older man was looking at him. Hugo eased his scowl and More smiled. “You're not the first, is all sir. We've been told that the Zero 's learning curve is like jumping off a cliff.”
    “ Is that how you found it?”
    More frowned slightly. “It wasn't for me sir, but that's because I was trained especially for this.”
    “ How long ago was that?”
    More looked up at the ceiling, thinking. “Coming up on twenty years now, captain. Just after the revolution.”
    Hugo raised an eyebrow. “How old were you when you were recruited?”
    “ Twelve, sir. I was sent for training on the Endeavour then assigned to the Zero .”
    “ You were recruited into undercover-ops training at twelve?”
    More nodded. “Yes, sir.”
    “ No schooling?”
    More gave a small shrug as he went back to his work. “There wasn't much point, sir. Formal education is of little use in this game. The youth unit had taught me all I needed to know.”
    Hugo looked up. “You were recruited from a youth unit?”
    “ Yes, sir,” he said. “We all were.”
    “ All of you?”
    More turned in his chair, scratching his stubble. “Well, we picked up Kinjo on Haven and Sub and Bolt were recruited older. But none of us have any family.”
    “ No one has any ties to exploit, then? And nothing to divide their loyalty?”
    “ I think that was the admiral's thinking sir, yes,” More replied. Hugo drummed his fingers on the command chair, watching his sub-lieutenant skim his way through fuel inventories and tech checks on the display. More tapped a couple more keys and the display went blank. He turned in his chair to face Hugo. “That's two hours, Captain,” he said.
    Hugo nodded, blinked up at the overhead bulkhead for a moment, then rose.
    “Captain?”
    “ Yes?”
    More just looked at him for a moment, eyes unreadable. “No matter how the commander acts...we all know that