---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rowan leaned back in his chair as he studied his new design. It was a crude design, basically just a net deploying drill with a few sensors, really. But without knowing more about his capture target, it was the best he could come up with on such a short timeframe. All he needed now was someone dumb enough to walk into the forest and deploy it, be it from a mech or tank. "How's this?" He asked, sending the design over to Tanda. "Isn't there too many moving parts? If anything gets jammed, it won't work." Tanda replied, taking a few minutes to alter the design slightly before sending it back. "How's this?" Rowan looked over the change and shook his head in disagreement, though he was unsure if Tanda was observing him from the bridge. "This will work, but if it doesn't, we won't get any information from the attempt. I'd rather keep the seismic sensors." "Can't we just outfit a tank to have one?" Tanda replied, pulling up the new Luna class tank designs. "These things have room for a seismic sensor suite if we remove the thermal smoke." "Ohh, right... That's such a great idea! Remove a defensive system against creatures we can't even detect properly. Super great idea..... It could work." Rowan replied, looking up the design himself. Tanda chuckled, beginning the redesign of the tank. "They're just bugs. I mean, it's not like they can get through tank or mech armour." "Oh, sure... Just like how hardened Voktlix fur can't get through the thin parts of our combat armour." Rowan replied. " The planet has this shitty new metal that doesn't work like regular minerals, Mr. Tanda. If I recall, your wife Viscia hasn't left the science suite since she recently shut herself in to study the stuff, remember?" "She gets like that." Tanda said, moving the position of the smokes to a different area of the tank. "This will give less coverage, but they'll still be on board. That better?" "Who said we're using a tank? A mech will do just fine." Rowan replied with a laugh, studying the new design change. "This will do perfectly. I'll get right on it." Tanda looked through his standing orders and sighed. "Thanks, the Captain is just finishing up the finalizations of his meeting, so we might be getting some new orders soon... Or we might be allowed to go investigate the city, who knows." "Yeah, wandering through a city with a bunch of walking switchblades sounds like fun." Rowan replied, waving his crew over. " I'll get back to ya when I'm done here." "Alright, later Rowan." Tanda replied, ending the com and turning towards Ops. "Find any better ways of detecting our hidden friends?" Steven shook his head and put a new area map on the main display. " Unless we get that seismic scanner out there, I don't think we'll make any headway since the metal these things are coated in is scatting our scanners. I'm only able to detect them because I'm looking specifically for the metal, not the bug." As the two talked amongst themselves, Michael finally reached the bridge, keying the door open and revealing himself as he walked onto the bridge with his entourage, Srettia, Jack, the Voktlix leaders and Aylen. "Jack's familiarized me with what's been going on on my way here... Can we launch a scanner into the forest?" He asked, taking up his seat and waving the Voktlix leaders to the guest seats. "Captain." Ekianei interrupted. "While this is undoubtedly fascinating to you, why are you worried about the Stydun. As long as one does not venture into the forest and stays within the wall during their mating season, it is relatively safe." She said, taking her seat in the odd chair and leaning back into it. "This is a rather comfortable chair." "Because when our forces make planetfall." Michael began. "They will need room to operate. Unless your city can house a few million Terrans and the equipment that comes with them, the forest will be the best option." He replied, looking back to Tanda. "Launch sensor?" Tanda put up a replay of his first and second attempt at launching a scanner and leaned back into his couch. "Negative. We tried it, and they went offline instantly. The Stydun, is it? They don't seem to like certain things, and I'm not quite sure why yet." Ekianei sighed in comfort as she sank into the crash couch, wiggling slightly before looking over to Michael. "Well, you're more than welcome to try to understand the pests. However, Captain, I will need to leave soon to release my people from the shelters that are still under lockdown. As such, I will be requesting you assist in our food shortage in the near future." "The wall, as well." Basthin added, sitting on the edge of the seat. "Though they are most active when mating, It would be quite dangerous if a Stydun where to wander into the city." "Captain." Jack spoke, gaining the attention of his friend. " I Suggest partially flooding the hangar to allow an easy exit. We can switch to an aquatic launch loadout on both fighters and the shuttle. This way, we can have a quick response force as well as a way to get the tank safely to land through the shuttle." Basthin raised an eye at Jack and looked to Michael for clarification. "What is a fighter and explain the concept of a tank. How will a shuttle allow it to safely make landfall?" "Tanda, make it happen." Michael ordered, watching as Tanda rose from his seat and exited the bridge. " Jack, can you put up a picture of ou.. Yea, thanks... General, Lady Ekianei. This is a tank, shuttle and a fighter." For the next hour and a bit, Michael answered questions about the new vehicles. Explaining the concepts of armoured support and air support to the leaders as Srettia listened closely as if to confirm her military knowledge. She knew getting onto this ship things would be different compared to Aasteran discipline. In fact, it was rather lax, though she chalked it up to it being a mixed crew nearly thrown together at a moment's notice. Upon closing his explanation, Michael looked down at his panel, frowning as an alert rang across the vessel, and the ship shuddered slightly. "Hangar flooded Captain." Srettia hastily reported as the message flashed across her panel." "Status Tanda!" Michael announced, perturbed at the lack of warning. "Sorry, Captain, miscommunication on my part." Tanda replied, shaking water out of his boot. " Translator still needs a bit of work when it comes to engineer jargon, it seems." Michael sighed and made a note in his log. "Don't let it happen again and inform your crew to speak clearly for the time being until it all gets sorted out." Looking over to Jack, Michael saw he was already pretending to work at his console on something and sighed. "How long until the bugs get sorted out?" "That depends. Terran standard is very loose compared to Aasteran. Words that reference words are quite common, whereas Aasteran standard is direct to the extreme." Jack replied. "I have gone through common slang and have made updates. It should fix the minor issues until a professional goes through my work." "We have the shuttle ready for launch, Captain. The tank will take approximately another half hour." Rowan reported from the refit suite, his body covered in hard light equipment as the machine tore apart the tank as directed. "Maybe a bit longer." Michael sighed, rubbing his temples as he rose from his couch. "Would either of you be hungry? Perhaps a light meal may do us all some good." Ekianei eyes widened as she stood from her couch, happily walking towards the bridge door. "I would not miss the chance to sample your people's cookery." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tanda looked at the flooded hangar and sighed as the newly created pumps pushed excess water out. "That was a bit too close." He whispered. "You said 'gimme a sec' I thought you meant to activate the hangar in a second." The dusty orange-brown male repeated once again. "Yes, I know. It was my fault." Tanda replied, watching the unilateral barrier slowly descended as the water was pushed out. "We'll have to work on our language skills, but for now, let's be happy the entire hangar isn't flooded, and the captain doesn't know." Jack immediately spawned beside Tanda with a frown, placing his hand on the engineer's shoulder. "He may not know. But I do. I have fixed the language problem, but I will be marking this down in my own log for future reference. You as well, Ensign." Jack declared, looking at the orange-brown male. "You should have used your eyes and discerned that Tanda had not activated the barrier or alerted the crew. Nervousness aside, please think before you act." "Yes, sir!" The engineer replied, straightening his back. "Now. While the Captain and our guests eat, please apprise me of our true situation." Jack stated, walking over to the shuttle. "Yes, sir, it won't happen again." Tanda replied, motioning him towards the shuttle. "The shuttle is complete, and we'll be able to attach the tank to it with no problems. We'll also be using the shuttle's shields to keep the water away from the tank. That way, we keep it at full capacity when we drop it off outside the wall." "It is a rather complex plan when we could have used the tank's shields to achieve the same results." Jack replied, standing in front of the modified shuttle. "The tanks aren't rated for aquatic use, so just attaching it to the shuttle wouldn't work the same as the fighter or shuttle loadouts would. It actually would have been a massive drain on shield and reactor energy unless we modified a few systems, and we're already struggling for space with the sensor suite Rowan is installing." Tanda replied, slapping the hull of the shuttle. "I see. Carry on then." Jack said, pretending to look around the room before disengaging his body. "Shit. Jack is scary when he's unhappy." Tanda stated, leaning against the shuttle. "That's the AI you told me about?" The Aasteran male asked, trying his best not to look frightened. "Can he just pop in and out like that whenever he wants?" Tanda straightened himself and began walking over to one of the pumps, eyeing it with caution. "He can, but if you're wondering if he's everywhere, I can assure you he is not. He's kind of like a person who can do a few things at once but not everything, I guess... Alright, we're at the proper level now." Tanda stated, turning the pump off. "So he's not always watching me?" The male asked, powering down a pump. "Nope. He just does his own stuff. He even has his own room." Tanda replied. The two continued working to ready the hangar for operations, talking when they needed to but mostly keeping it work-related, possibly in fear of Jack watching them, but mainly due to having messed up earlier and not wanting a repeat visit from an angry AI. "You two done messing around?" Rowan announced, walking out of the refit bay with a few of his crew and lifting the shield. "I'm good to go!" "We're good to go!" Tanda replied, walking over to greet the man. "Have any problems?" "Nope. It was a good design. Wanna get the Captain down here?" Rowan said, walking over to his favourite chair and frowning. "Why is my chair wet?" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "What a wonderful dish!" Ekianei declared, biting into her lemon square. "The colour is quite lovely as well." Basthin nodded as he sipped his coffee. "I may have to find something of ours to trade for this drink... You say it has caffeine in it? It does not quite translate well, but I can understand its effects." Michael sighed, watching as the two leaders sampled a vast amount of dishes unknown to them or their world, nearly having to pull the two away from the fabricator as they continuously browsed the catalogue. "We're still unsure of the effects of it on your people, but our doctors insist that it's safe." "Even if it had minor side effects, I may still drink it. The taste is rather splendid." Basthin replied, printing off a slice of Ceres. "This fowl... It looks fatty." Deciding to break up the monotony, Jack spawned beside Michael, taking a seat next to the annoyed Captain. "Tanda and Rowan are finishing their preparations. They should be done within ten minutes." Michael exhaled a long breath and stood from his chair, Stretching in relief as he sent a ping to Ankiah, notifying her of their soon departure. "General Basthin, Lady Ekianei. Our preparations to return you to your home are nearly complete. If you could please finish up, I will be happy to take you home personally." Deciding to finish off their meal quickly, finding the task of leading their people more important than their earthly desires, Basthin and Ekianei rose from their seats, walking slowly to the door as Michael finished off some minor orders. "I can hardly contain myself! To see the bottom of our ancestral lake from the safety of a vehicle... It is quite the concept." Ekianei said, bumping into Aylen with a grin. Michael walked out the door and towards the lift, waving at Ankiah as it arrived and revealed her to be standing in it, her Mech gear at the ready. "You ready to walk your mech into a lake?" He asked, stepping through the door. "Nope. But there is a first time for everything... Is how it goes right?" Ankiah replied, eyeing Ekianei as she held Aylen tightly. " I honestly can't see through that lady." Michael smiled, holding the door as Basthin and Ekianei arrived, waiting for a moment before entering the hangar in. " Well, Tanda reports that everything is ready. We'll have you back in the city in no time." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------