Data Trader Handbook
This document is intended to serve as a study guide for the Data Traders Guild Journeyman's exam. This exam is composed of four parts, each of which are addressed separately in this guide. The Data Trader's guild is one of the oldest and most respected guilds in the known galaxy. To be accepted as a Journeyman in this honored profession is one of the highest honors any human can aspire to.
Excerpted With Permission
Data Trader's Handbook
Copyright 3250, Interstellar Data Trader Guild
Leo quickly checked his uniform as he waited next to the starboard personnel receiving lock. His utilities were fairly clean and the DA Reginald O'Rourke patch was attached on his right shoulder just like the manual said it should be. Glancing down at his chest, the certification tabs he'd earned in brokerage and security were aligned correctly above his RFID tag. His black ship boots probably could have looked better, but they were reasonably clean and had been polished a few weeks back. They'd do to greet a dirty foot apprentice, he reckoned.
Looking down, he consulted the datapad he carried. The picture of the newbie looked pretty ordinary. Short blond hair over a nice-looking face showed a young woman of mixed ethnic descent. Not too uncommon here in Theta quadrant. She had a single tattoo shaped like a diamond below her left eye but was otherwise unremarkable. Glancing at the file again, Trader Apprentice Candidate Ramona Eddington seemed pretty normal. No noted genetic engineering, also pretty normal for this region but the standard augments for health and etc.. Two meters tall was pretty standard for non-augmented humans and the blond hair and blue eyes were not unheard of if a bit uncommon on worlds mostly populated by outcasts from lower down on the spiral arm. The file was pretty vague on her past experience which was unusual. She was listed as an Apprentice Candidate which meant that she had passed her Apprentice written exam but was not yet a member of the Guild. The transfer from field was blank which implied she had no current ship which made sense for a fresh nugget. However she also had a couple of spacer qualifications that you cannot get on the ground (Life Saving, Vacuum; EVA; etc.). This implied spacer experience, but lack of current ship implied she was a dirtyfoot.
Apprentice Spacers born dirtside were not uncommon in the Guild. Leo had been born aboard an Ark to a Trader family but about half the Reggie's current crew were "dirtyfoots" instead of spacers born. There was a definite bias against those not space born, but in general the Guild was a meritocracy. There was just too much to do and not enough hands to do it for anything else.
Leo glanced at the time. The seconds were ticking away. Time for Apprentice Eddington's first test. Traders were notoriously compulsive about time and being late to a meeting was considered tantamount to a slap in the face. Operating in an environment where success was measured in milliseconds could do that to you. Three… Two.. One…
The hatch cycled open.
Leo looked up from his pad and did a quick double take. Ramona took a hesitant step into the inner lock and looked tentatively around. Leo shook his head and hoped he looked more dignified than he felt. It wasn't that Ramona was crazy sexy or even model beautiful. For some reason, she had a presence that had an impact on Leo that went beyond the physical. At 32, Leo thought he had women and dating pretty much figured out even though he had never entered into a long-term contract with anyone. This was something different though. Trying to cover up his consternation, he cleared his throat and put his best "Master to Apprentice" face on. "Apprentice Candidate Eddington? Welcome to the Reggie. I am Journeyman Timur; Leo Timur."
Ramona turned to see Leo properly. He fervently hoped that his moment of stupidity went unnoticed. A hesitant smile and an extended hand matched her words. "Thank you Journeyman Timur. I am very glad to be here."
Unlike a military ship, Data Arks were run on a fairly informal basis. This meant no saluting and very little deference to rank, except for the masters who basically ran the show. This is not to say there was no discipline onboard. It was still a working ship and commands sometimes had life and death consequences which meant that the chain of command was always present. After a brief handshake, Leo proceeded with the legal forms necessary to onboard Ramona onto the Reggie. The i's dotted and t's crossed, Leo began a very brief tour on the way to Apprentice spaces. As he pointed out the locked hatch to Data Store 10, he asked the question that came to mind when he first read her file. "I assume that this is your first Data Ark since you're not a member of the Guild but you seem to have some space experience. Have you served on a deep space vessel before?"
She looked down, seemingly embarrassed by the innocuous question. "I served eight years in the Raeburn Guard. Enlisted when I was eighteen and served my time." Ah, that explained a bit of the file. No official deep space experience with the Guild but plenty of practical experience on a ship. Sometimes ex-military types wound up in the Guild which paid much better and had better amenities when compared to military vessels. Leo didn't know why she found this embarrassing but was smart enough not to ask about it. Assuming they served together at the trading desk, they would have plenty of time to get to know each other if that's what she wanted.
"Ah, great. Shouldn't have any problems with the Apprentice Practicum then." Leo and Ramona proceed up deck to the Apprentice spaces (female). "We're a bit old fashioned here on the Reggie, Apprentice Spaces are separated by sex. Female spaces here, Male spaces up on 18. Your deck captain is Olufunke Channah. Just call her Ollu." With that, he touched the data pad that he'd been carrying so that it showed her berthing space and handed it to her. "Orientation is at 08:00 tomorrow on the trading floor. You have zero level clearance now so you can get to all the common spaces and use the lifts. Anything really interesting is still off limits until you qual in. Questions?" Ramona shook her head with a little smile. Not knowing what the smile meant, Leo nodded and turned back down the corridor.
Ramona turned away from Leo and attempted to access the door to the Apprentice Spaces. The hatch reported as locked and refused to open. Was this a gag for the new nugget? In the guard, there had been plenty of rough gags and outright hazing in some cases, so she expected some amount of rough treatment here in her new ship but she was surprised that it had begun so soon. Before she could formulate a plan, the hatch cycled open and a small woman of African heritage stepped through. To say she was black was a complete misnomer. Although she had the darkest skin of any woman Ramona had ever met, her skin was a dark mahogany. The color of excellent coffee or perhaps the darkest wood you had ever seen. Ramona was instantly jealous of her skin which looked flawless. She was obviously ship-born. There was no way that face had ever seen natural sunlight. The woman caught up short. "Are you Apprentice Eddington?" Ramona could only nod. "Why are you standing in the passageway? I was expecting you in the Apprentice Spaces."
Ramona wasn't sure what to say. Any admission of ignorance could be fatal for a new nugget but seeming arrogant or cocky was never a good idea with a new crewmember either. The simple truth was usually best. "The hatch was locked."
Ollu snorted. "Of course it's locked. Don't want some horny apprentice trader showing up at three AM looking for panties, do ya?" Ramona wasn't sure what to say. She had heard that things could be very loose on a trader ship, but panty raids seemed a bit out of line even for their loose moral code. At least she hadn't mentioned rape. Not unheard of on Guard vessels, but normally very harshly dealt with. The captain could order summary execution in extreme cases which kept all but the most deranged in check. Ramona had a moment of indecision, had she made a horrible mistake? Ollu noticed her look of horror and took pity on her. "Relax. Some of the youngsters act more like boys than men. The lock is just simpler than giving them punishment duty for being stupid or taking a dare to go into the girl's shower. Think naughty puppy, not rapist. Just tap your RFID and the door will unlock. Same as any authorized space in the ship." Looking over to where Ramona's salad board should be, she saw nothing. Realizing her mistake, she swore in a language that Ramona didn't understand. "Aw crap. Didn't Timur give you a RFID? Obviously not, you're not wearing it. OK.. OK.. Come in out of the corridor and we'll get you fixed up." Ollu led her into the compartment which actually proved to be a series of smaller berthing spaces. Walking down the corridor, Ramona peeked into the open doors and saw that the spaces where quite generous by her standards. Each one had a single bunk, a small desk and some built in cabinets for personal storage. Considering her bunk as a new spacer in the guard was a "hot bunk" she shared with another woman, the Apprentice Spaces aboard the Reggie seemed quite luxurious.
Ollu walked back to the Fab station and interacted with the wall mounted terminal. A few minutes later the Fab produced a small white square with Ramona's name and picture on the front. "Here's your RFID." She pronounced it "are-fid" like it was an actual word. "This technology is ancient but it's guaranteed to work even in complete vacuum and under any sort of nasty environmental condition. The device is sealed and completely passive, no internal power whatsoever. As you can see, the Fab node for the Apprentice spaces is here and you can feel free to print out whatever you need while you're housed in this unit. We all have a mass limit but you'll have full archive access once you're logged in and you've posted your Guild papers."
The last sentence perked Ramona's ears. She had accepted this berth because it meant an automatic acceptance into The Guild. Her contract had specified that she'd be accepted into the guild as part of the agreement, but she was still dubious it would actually happen that easily. Over the centuries The Guild had gained almost mythical proportions. The idea that a "dirtyfoot" would be allowed to join just by passing a few tests seemed impossible. She had no idea that almost half the ship's compliment were born planetside, same as her.
She had heard dozens of stories on the transfer station about people who had applied but been rejected for spacer posts on Guild vessels. While she trusted that The Guild would back up her contract, she still was a bit in awe of the whole thing. A dark, distrustful part of her expected a cruel trick to play out any second. A bad drama called "Space Slavers" came to mind. The absolutely horrible drama had made the rounds while Ramona was in school. Just the thought that she might be in the clutches of a space slaver made her smile a bit inside. Nothing showed on her face. Growing up in her father's household had taught her to school her expressions and maintain a calm façade despite the chaos around her.
Ollu gave her a brief but comprehensive tour of the spaces including her cabin and a quick introduction to her neighbors on both sides. Wrapping up with instructions on how to reach her duty station the next morning, Ollu managed to surprise Ramona one last time. "Remember, these are the Female Apprentice Spaces. No males allowed. You're welcome to fuck your brains out outside the spaces, but please keep it outside. Same goes for sexual relations with your other Female Apprentices. Hands off. Bad sexual behavior is grounds for dismissal and you will lose your Guild membership."