Repairs Edited11-9-2018

Medical was busy. Not only were those on both sides of the “Mutiny” reporting to Medical, but those that were being thawed to be additional combat elements were also present. The cancellation of the alert for threat was welcome news for everyone. Those being thawed were grateful if a little grumpy for having been thawed for no reason.

Because I was only slightly leaking human fluids, and not gushing, it took a while for me to get stitched up. I was back to a wheelchair for a while. I didn’t mind so much as I was able to keep my prosthetics this time. As I was getting ready to leave, Asimov entered with four Marines. Two of which took up guard at the compartments interior hatch.

“All Medical Personnel, please finish your immediate duties and see Chief Asimov.” Rasputin’s voice came through the speaker in Medical.

“There is a mandatory update for our Neurals which includes a security patch to prevent data hijacking,” Asimov added once Rasputin was done.

At the mention on “Hijacking,” the medical professionals stopped, curious. A couple of the nurses and a doctor walked over to discuss what it the interruption was about. After a couple moments of animated discussion, I see Asimov offer a data jack connector to one of the nurses. I roll through the hatch, and it closes behind me.

My first stop would have to be to collect my arm at Yama’s Primary Core compartment where I had left it. If it were still there, then my next stop would to a fabricator that can handle recreating the arm, so that I will have full use again. I should also drop off my leg so that it can be repaired. The rounds that had hit it had punctured the casing but missed the important internal connectors. That’s the only way I was able to walk to medical on my own two feet.

When I arrived back at Yama’s Core room, I notice the bodies of my fire team, left where they had fallen. I realize I never even knew their names. The weapons had been picked up, and the disabled Marines were already gone.

I checked the names, memorizing them so I could remember who died. I felt it was a part of my duty. I then tried to access my logs to see who I had shot, realizing that out of Game I wouldn’t have access to any so I would have to go down and look.

When I get to the exterior hatch to Rasputin’s Secondary Core room, I noted that the Marine I had killed had been collected. The fact that we had been acting to protect the ship and crew yet treated like garbage got my anger up. I sat there torn between rage, anger, guilt, and grief for a while.

Finally, I made my way to get a replacement arm built, using the collected scrap that used to be mine. I went with a basic model that would have only the necessary use functions and would be made out of what was left of the old arm and ballistic shield. Using some of the additional material I created patch plates for the shell of my leg.

“Miss Jax, the Captain would like you to join him for dinner. His quarters, private function. It is recommended to take your hand-held.” Rasputin called out as I was finishing getting ready to leave for some chow.

“Asimov already patched him, right?” I asked. I knew the schedule, but I still had to be sure before I joined him. Otherwise, I would need to insist on patching him myself.

“Yes, he was patched two days ago as per the schedule.”

“How many more?” I asked.

“We are down to the Civilians, now. Roughly another ten thousand left.”

The last three days had been a pain in the ass. We started with all the awake medical personnel, then everyone that was thawed. From there, we started getting everyone who was logged in, starting with senior officers first. Colonel White had organized his Marines quickly and was right pissed once he realized that the old Rasputin had ordered his men to kill other Marines. He ripped me a new asshole as well for having defended myself. Surprisingly, Commander Watson was on my side and took the heat off me.

The only Navy that had died was due to a freak accident when he dove onto an EMP grenade. The grenade itself didn’t do any harm, but when it didn’t “explode” he stood up, THEN the grenade went off, and when he collapsed from vertigo he hit his head on the hatch controls. No helmet. On the other end of the spectrum, Colonel White had lost just shy of a full platoon. All of which was due to “friendly” fire.

“Please let the Captain know that it will be my pleasure to join him.” Knowing I would be dining with the captain, I had to verify. “Rassie, we’re in Working Blues, for duty today, correct?” I started changing out of my duty fatigues.

“Precisely, Miss Jax. There will be some questions, I am sure, during this meal. An informal interrogation, perhaps.”

At times like this I was glad that all AI were direct. Had the invitation come from a person, that last part may have been left out.

Arriving at the Captains Quarters, my handheld terminal in hand, the Marines on duty let me in. The Captain waved me over to the “big kids” table. Commander Watson and Colonel White were with him, as well as the “Governor” for the city we would be building when we got to our destination. Wherever that was now going to be.

“Thank you for accepting my invitation Lieutenant.” Captain Wallace said. “Have you met Governor Korir yet?

“Sir, not yet. Governor, it is a pleasure to meet you. Before sitting, have you already received the security patch?” I asked, pulling up the Civilian schedule.

“Oh, that won’t be necessary.” The Governor replied.

“Governor, I must insist.” I stared at him. “Once patched I will explain why it was necessary, and then we can discuss why I will not have any dealings with the unpatched.” My tone of voice must have clued him into the fact that I was not going to compromise.

“If it is the case, then you can join the Captain at a later time.” He shrugged, nonplussed.

“Lieutenant is that entirely necessary?” Colonel White stated, more than asked.

“Rasputin, has senior command been briefed at this point? I asked over the Colonel.

“Only Commander Watson as he was already thawed during the reboot.” The reply came from the speakers in my terminal. “I was hoping you would be able to brief the rest, tonight. I can only strongly suggest that the Governor is restrained until patched.” That sounded a little cold.

“Rasputin, you are aware of the penalties for suggesting such action?” The Governor asked.

“Colonel, Commander, and Captain. The Governor could currently be classified as a security threat. I recommend that he is detained so that we can patch him to clear him of that status. Miss Jax is capable of delivering the patch.”

“Sirs,” I started, “let me provide you some data so that you are aware of what this is about.” I handed the tablet to the XO, who was sitting to the left of the seat I was standing behind. The Governor would be at my right.

Commander Watsons face blanched as he was reading the notes I had pulled up.

“Lieutenant, this is accurate?” He asked.

“I have firsthand knowledge of this, sir. As a witness, seeing that happen, is interesting, to say the least.” The XO passed the terminal to Colonel White.

“Well, that answers a few questions.” Finally, the terminal was passed to the Captain.

“You say that you have firsthand experience with this?” Captain Wallace asked.

“Yes, sir. On at least one occasion. Possibly more.”

The Governor reached for the hand-held, and the Captain raised an inquiring eyebrow towards me.

“Not unless you’re patched, Sir.” I stated, “There is data there that is a potential security concern.”

The Captain kept hold of the terminal.

“Colonel, if you would.” The Captain started.

The Colonel waved the Marines on guard at the interior hatch over to the table.

“Detain the Governor.” Colonel White commanded.

The Governor began to stand as the two Marines grabbed his arms and shoulders, placing him down into the chair. The Captain offered me my terminal back, gesturing to the Governor, who had started shouting. I plugged in and ran the patch.

“You can’t do this to me; you have no authority! I will see…” The Governor stopped suddenly.

“Captain?” The Governor stopped struggling almost immediately. His voice was full of confusion.

“Yes, Governor?” The Captain answered.

Everyone was staring at the Governor while I finished up.

“He’s clear, now.” I unplugged from the Governor. “Sirs, I believe that this reinforces the data I showed you. Now that the Governor has been patched, it would be my pleasure to join you.” I took my seat.

Over the informal dinner, I explained what had happened with the entire reboot operation. I brought up that there was no information on the Escort ships. They had been in the game, and that our AI had been compromised at one point. I also explained how I noticed the “puppet” behavior with the Captain, while he had no knowledge of the previous conversation, and how that conversation had informed me that there was something wrong, to begin with.

Alert lights started flashing in the cabin, Rasputin’s voice then came over the ship systems.

“RED ALERT! RED ALERT! We are under attack.”

The ship stuttered. We all equipped our helmets.

“Status!” Captain Wallace called out, standing and making his way to the hatch, his dinner forgotten.

“Sir, Ark-19 has fired on us. Arks 2,3,7 and 12 are coming around for what appears to be an attack run. Currently, no weapons lock. Ark-9 and Ark-11 have dropped out of formation and have fled. We are locked out of all fleet communications!”

That was the last I heard as I was left with the Governor in the Captains Quarters, the XO, Colonel, and Captain all running out the door to get to the CIC.

“Governor, may I escort you back to your quarters? I am afraid that I will have to get to work shortly.”

The governor was sweating, showing signs of panic.

“On your feet, sir. Let me get you to a safe compartment.”

“Huh? Oh, yes. There has been a lot to take in.”

Another shudder in the ship as the Governor was standing. I spent fifteen minutes walking the Governor to the secure Civilian compartments of the ship, then headed to the nearest Engineering Bay to help as needed.

Over the next seven hours, our Ark was attacked again and again. Parts fabrication was a priority. Several DC teams had minor injuries, and I found myself subbing in and helping everywhere on the ship. The worst of it I found out later was when Rasputin detected a digital attack and had to kill several of the sensor arrays for defense, which caused the pilots to miss the kinetic strike aimed at our cargo bays.

That attack forced us to kill our engines and do an emergency braking maneuver. The pilot then did a quick burst to change directions and started up the acceleration again, a new solar system in sight. It was a good thing that so many were still awake, waiting to be placed back into cryo. Without the extra hands, we had available to us; we would have lost several areas of the ship. We were fortunate that we had already been in evasive maneuvers, so the hit wasn’t direct.

Unfortunately, we did end up losing half of our supplies we would need for the new colony. The cargo bay that had been hit was vaporized. There was a hangar for mining ships that was heavily damaged from the shocks of that impact, and we had also lost most of our fuel pellets for the Thorium generators. Fortunately, the radiation splash from that would only require a single high-dosage injection of potassium and an IV drip/flush over 14 hours.

In total seven died from the first set of impacts. Over five hundred died from the attack on our cargo bay, and the related secondary damages it caaused. The consensus from command was that all the other Arks were compromised. I can’t say I disagree.

We had another two weeks of travel before we hit the discovered solar system. We needed supplies.

“Private Yavuz, good to see you again!” Entering the remains of the cargo bay, I greeted the first person I recognized. “Who’s in charge today? I am hoping to verify some data.”

After a quick greeting Pvt. Yavuz walked me into what had once been a small cabin or office that was newly reconstructed.

“LS3, this here is Lieutenant Jax. LT, this is Petty Officer Marx.” With that, Yavuz went back to sorting the scrap to be recycled.

“PO3 Marx, how’s it going today? Rasputin should have sent you an update. I’ll be helping get the recyclers set up along with some new Fab units.”

“Lieutenant, glad to have the help. Here’s the list of what is still usable. Yes, that is the accurate count as well, and yes, I’m sure.” Marx responded.

“Calm down; I’m not here to piss in your breakfast. I understand you have been working 18-hour shifts, but I am here to help. Maybe I’ll actually be useful.”

“Sorry, Ma’am. The Marines had a Lieutenant in here yesterday to help, and I’m still trying to figure out how in his three hours here, he managed to add sixteen man-hours of work.” Frustration was clear in his voice. “Okay, so sorry. The list is the only three items that survived the impact. Fortunately, two of those were Thorium bins. The last bin was full of cobalt for the fabs.”

“Do we have a list yet of salvaged items?”

“Yeah, that’s going to be here for now. As you can see it keeps updating as materials are scanned. I figure that tomorrow we should be stabilized as to what we have.”

Okay, we were going to have me here for a little bit then.

“Great, so, let’s talk about creating a functional layout in here. We will need to set up a recycler as well as some new fab units. We’ll also be bringing in the damaged craft from the hangers that can’t be fixed.”

“Ma’am…”

“Before you tell me there’s no room, the craft will be broken down, brought in and fed into the recyclers. Have you considered a split gravity bay?”

That made him pause. Marx started punching some data into his terminal.

“No Ma’am, I hadn’t thought about it. I guess I’m still earthbound. Shit. Am I reading this correctly, up to a sixty percent increase in capacity?

“’Up to,’ is the key of that statement. My estimates would place it closer to 45 percent, but you have to be clever about it. Remember, also, that with null gravity, you will have to secure EVERYTHING. And we can’t use magnetic locks and crates on all of it. We don’t have the materials to create them. We’ll have to use fabric weaves to create tie down straps, and we’ll have to weld tie down mounts into the ceiling, bulkheads, and deck. My estimate on the mounts is five minutes each, though that is only for the installation. The planning is what will take your time.”

I let that hang in the air for a few moments.

“So, care to start planning, or do you want to continue on in an earthbound mind frame?”

“I’ll have to review with the Purser, to ensure it is something that we can all accept.”

“Great, where is the Purser?”

“Warrant Sato is currently off duty, she worked a 20 and left about an hour ago.”

“Well, shit. Okay then. I don't expect an answer today then. Let’s get started reviewing where we want to put everything.”

We spent the next hour planning out where we were going to place everything; recyclers, fabs, supply caches, how we would section everything into the types of metals for which containers, and a few other logistical nightmares.

From there I spent the next several hours with some spacers and marines assembling the recycler that was delivered. This was one of the newer models that took advantage of using the crystals for power regulation as well as additional processing. Some of the scientists and techs were working with Hera to see if the software could be updated to also add or remove ions, changing the elemental makeup without destabilizing the atomic structures now that there was much more powerful computing power available for it. As it stood, this recycler was way over specifications.

“Marx, I hear there’s a Lieutenant here to screw up my cargo bay!” I feel the yell more than hear it.

Finishing up the installation of the recycler, would take a few more minutes with or without me, and Yavuz knew what needed to be done, so I left them all to go meet, who I assumed was, Warrant Officer Sato. Repairs - Original

Medical was busy. Not only were those on both sides of the “Mutiny” reporting to Medical, but those that were being thawed to be additional combat elements were also present. The cancellation of the alert for threat was welcome news for everyone. Those being thawed were grateful if a little grumpy for having been thawed for no reason.

Because I was only slightly leaking human fluids, and not gushing, it took a while for me to get stitched up. I was back to a wheel chair for a while. I didn’t mind so much as I was able to keep my prosthetics this time. As I was getting ready to leave, Asimov entered with four Marines. Two of which took up guard at the compartments interior hatch.

“All Medical Personnel, please finish your immediate duties and see Chief Asimov.” Rasputin’s voice came through the speaker in Medical.

“There is a mandatory update for our Neurals which includes a security patch to prevent data hijacking.” Asimov added once Rasputin was done.

At the mention on “Hijacking” the medical professionals stopped, curious. A couple of the nurses and a doctor walked over to discuss what it the interruption was about. After a couple moments of animated discussion, I see Asimov offer a data jack connector to one of the nurses. I roll through the hatch and it closes behind me.

My first stop would have to be to collect my arm at Yama’s Primary Core compartment where I had left it. If it was still there, then my next stop would to a fabricator that can handle recreating the arm, so that I will have full use again. I should also drop off my leg so that it can be repaired. The rounds that had hit it had punctured the casing but missed the important internal connectors. That’s the only way I was able to walk to medical on my own two feet.

When I arrived back at Yama’s Core room, I notice the bodies of my fire team, left where they had fallen. I realize I never even knew their names. The weapons had been picked up and the disabled Marines were already gone.

I checked the names, memorizing them so I could remember who died. I felt it was a part of my duty. I then tried to access my logs to see who I had shot, realizing that out of Game I wouldn’t have access to any, so I would have to go down and look.

When I get to the exterior hatch to Rasputin’s Secondary Core room, I noted that the Marine I had killed had been collected. The fact that we had been acting to protect the ship and crew yet treated like garbage got my anger up. I sat there torn between rage, anger, guilt, and grief for a while.

Finally, I made my way to get a replacement arm built, using the collected scrap that used to be mine. I went with a basic model that would have basic use functions and would be built out of what was left of the old arm and ballistic shield. Using some of the spare material I created patch plates for the shell of my leg.

“Miss Jax, the Captain would like you to join him for dinner. His quarters, private function. It is recommended to take your hand-held.” Rasputin called out as I was finishing getting ready to leave for some chow.

“Asimov already patched him, right?” I asked. I knew the schedule, but I still had to be sure before I joined him. Otherwise I would need to insist on patching him myself.

“Yes, he was patched two days ago as per the schedule.”

“How many more?” I asked.

“We are down to the Civilians, now. Roughly another ten thousand left.”

The last three days had been a pain in the ass. We started with all the awake medical personnel, then everyone that was thawed. From there, we started getting everyone who was logged in, starting with senior officers first. Colonel White had organized his Marines quickly and was right pissed once he realized that the old Rasputin had ordered his men to kill other Marines. He ripped me a new asshole as well for having defended myself. Surprisingly, Commander Watson was on my side and took the heat off me.

The only Navy that had died was due to a freak accident when he dove onto an EMP grenade. The grenade itself didn’t do the harm, but when it didn’t “explode” he stood up, THEN the grenade went off, and when he collapsed from the vertigo he hit is head on the hatch controls. No helmet. On the other end of the spectrum, Colonel White had lost just shy of a full platoon. All of which was due to “friendly” fire.

“Please let the Captain know that it will be my pleasure to join him.” Knowing I would be dining with the captain, I had to verify. “Rassie, we’re in Working Blues, for duty today, correct?” I started changing out of my duty fatigues.

“Precisely, Miss Jax. There will be some questions, I am sure, during this meal. An informal interrogation, perhaps.”

Times like this I was glad that the AI were direct. Had the invitation come from a person, that last part may have been left out.

Arriving at the Captains Quarters, terminal in hand, the Marines on duty let me in. The Captain waved me over to the “big kids” table. Commander Watson and Colonel White were with him, as well as the “Governor” for the city we would be building when we got to our destination. Wherever that was now going to be.

“Thank you for accepting my invitation Lieutenant.” Captain Wallace said. “Have you met Governor Korir yet?

“Sir, not yet. Governor it’s a pleasure to meet you. Before sitting, have you already received the security patch?” I asked, pulling up the Civilian schedule.

“Oh, that won’t be necessary.” The Governor replied.

“Governor, I must insist.” I stared at him. “Once patched I will explain why it was necessary, and then I we can discuss why I will not have any dealings with the unpatched.” My tone of voice must have clued him into the fact that I was not going to compromise.

“If it is the case, then you can join the Captain at a later time.” He shrugged, nonplussed.

“Lieutenant is that entirely necessary?” Colonel White stated, more than asked.

“Rasputin, has senior command been briefed at this point? I asked over the Colonel.

“Only Commander Watson as he was already thawed during the reboot.” The reply came from the speakers in my terminal. “I was hoping you would be able to brief the rest, tonight. I can only strongly suggest that the Governor is restrained until patched.” That sounded a little cold.

“Rasputin, you are aware of the penalties for suggesting such action?” The Governor asked.

“Colonel, Commander, and Captain. The Governor could currently be classified as a security threat. I recommend that he is detained so that we can patch him to clear him of that status. Miss Jax is capable of delivering the patch.”

“Sirs,” I started, “let me provide you some data so that you are aware of what this is about.” I handed the tablet to the XO, who was sitting to the left of the seat I was standing behind. The Governor would be at my right.

Commander Watsons face blanched as he was reading the notes I had pulled up.

“Lieutenant, this is accurate?” He asked.

“I have firsthand knowledge of this, sir. As a witness, seeing that happen, is interesting to say the least.” The XO passed the terminal to Colonel White.

“Well, that answers a few questions.” Finally, the terminal was passed to the Captain.

“You say that you have first hand experience with this?” Captain Wallace asked.

“Yes, sir. On at least one occasion. Possibly more.”

The Governor reached for the hand-held and the Captain raised an inquiring eyebrow towards me.

“Not unless you’re patched Sir.” I stated, “There is data there that is a potential security concern.”

The Captain kept hold of the terminal.

“Colonel, if you would.” The Captain started.

The Colonel waved the Marines on guard at the interior hatch over to the table.

“Detain the Governor.” Colonel White commanded.

The Governor began to stand as the two Marines grabbed his arms and shoulders, placing him down into the chair. The Captain offered me my terminal back, gesturing to the Governor, who had started shouting. I plugged in and ran the patch.

“You can’t do this to me, you have no authority! I will see…” The Governor stopped suddenly.

“Captain?” The Governor stopped struggling almost immediately. His voice was full of confusion.

“Yes, Governor?” The Captain answered.

Everyone was staring at the Governor while I finished up.

“He’s clear, now.” I unplugged from the Governor. “Sirs, I believe that this reinforces the data I showed you. Now that the Governor has been patched, it would be my pleasure to join you.” I took my seat.

Over the informal dinner, I explained what had happened with the entire reboot operation. I brought up that there was no information on the Escort ships. They had been in the game, and that our AI had been compromised at one point. I also explained how I noticed the “puppet” behavior with the Captain, while he had no knowledge of previous conversation, and how that conversation had informed me that there was something wrong to begin with.

Alert lights started flashing in the cabin, Rasputin’s voice then came over the ship systems.

“RED ALERT! RED ALERT! We are under attack.”

The ship stuttered. We all equipped our helmets.

“Status!” Captain Wallace called out, standing and making his way to the hatch, his dinner forgotten.

“Sir, Ark-19 has fired on us. Arks 2,3,7 and 12 are coming around for what appears to be an attack run. Currently no weapons lock. Ark-9 and Ark-11 have dropped out of formation and have fled. We are locked out of all fleet communications!”

That was the last I heard as I was left with the Governor in the Captains Quarters, the XO, Colonel and Captain all running out the door to get to the CIC.

“Governor, may I escort you back to your quarters? I am afraid that I will have to get to work shortly.”

The governor was sweating, showing signs of a panic.

“On your feet, sir. Let me get you to a safe compartment.”

“Huh? Ohh, yes. There has been a lot to take in.”

Another shudder in the ship as the Governor was standing. I spent fifteen minutes walking the Governor to the secure Civilian compartments of the ship, then headed to the nearest Engineering Bay to help as needed.

Over the next seven hours, our Ark was attacked again and again. Parts fabrication was a priority. Several DC teams had minor injuries and I found myself subbing in and helping everywhere on the ship. The worst of it I found out later was when Rasputin detected a digital attack and had to kill several of the sensor arrays for defense, which caused the pilots to miss the kinetic strike aimed at our cargo bays.

That strike forced us to kill our engines and do an emergency braking maneuver. The pilot then did a quick burst to change directions, and started up the acceleration again, a new solar system in sight. It was a good thing that so many were still awake, waiting to be placed back into cryo. Without the extra hands we had available to us, we would have lost several areas of the ship. We were fortunate that we had already been in evasive maneuvers so the hit wasn’t direct.

Unfortunately, we did end up losing half of our supplies we would need for the new colony. The cargo bay that had been hit was vaporized. There was a hangar for mining ships that was heavily damaged from the shocks of that strike, and we had also lost most of our fuel pellets for the Thorium generators. Fortunately, the radiation splash from that would only require a single high-dosage injection of potassium and an IV drip/flush over 14 hours.

In total seven died from the first strikes. Over five hundred died from the strike and complications from the strike on the cargo bay.

The consensus from command was that all the other Arks were compromised. I can’t say I disagree.

We had another two weeks of travel before we hit the discovered solar system. We needed supplies.

“Private Yavuz, good to see you again!” Entering the remains of the cargo bay, I greeted the first person I recognized. “Who’s in charge today? I am hoping to verify some data.”

After a quick greeting Pvt. Yavuz walked me into what had once been a small cabin or office that was newly reconstructed.

“LS3, this here is Lieutenant Jax. LT, this is Petty Officer Marx.” With that, Yavuz went back to sorting the scrap to be recycled.

“PO3 Marx, how’s it going today? Rasputin should have sent you an update. I’ll be helping get the recyclers set up along with some new Fab units.”

“Lieutenant, glad to have the help. Here’s the list of what is still usable. Yes, that is the accurate count as well, and yes, I’m sure.” Marx responded.

“Calm down, I’m not here to piss in your breakfast. I understand you have been working 18 hour shifts, but I am here to help. Maybe I’ll actually be useful.”

“Sorry, Ma’am. The Marines had a Lieutenant in here yesterday to help and I’m still trying to figure out how in his three hours here he managed to add sixteen man hours of work.” Frustration was clear in his voice. “Okay, so sorry. The list is the only three items that survived the impact. Fortunately, two of those were Thorium bins. The last was a bin of cobalt for the fabs.”

“Do we have a list yet of salvaged items?”

“Yeah, that’s going to be here for now. As you can see it keeps updating as materials are scanned. I figure that tomorrow we should be stabilized as to what we have.”

Okay, we were going to have me here for a little bit then.

“Great, so, let’s talk about creating a functional layout in here. We will need to set up a recycler as well as some new fab units. We’ll also be bringing in the damaged craft from the hangers that can’t be fixed.”

“Ma’am…”

“Before you tell me there’s no room, the craft will be broken down, brought in and fed into the recyclers. Have you considered a split gravity bay?”

That made him pause. Marx started punching some data into his terminal.

“No Ma’am, I hadn’t thought about it. I guess I’m still earth bound. Shit. Am I reading this correctly, up to a sixty percent increase in capacity?

“Up to, being key. My estimates would place it closer to 45 percent, but you have to be clever about it. Remember, also, that with null gravity, you will have to secure EVERYTHING. And we can’t use magnetic locks and crates on all of it. We don’t have the materials to create them. We’ll have to use fabric weaves to create tie down straps, and we’ll have to weld tie down mounts into the ceiling, walls, and deck. My estimate on the mounts is five minutes a piece, though that is only for the installation. The planning is what will take you time.”

I let that hang in the air for a few moments.

“So, care to start planning, or do you want to continue on in an earthbound mind frame?”

“I’ll have to review with the Purser, to ensure it is something that we can all accept.”

“Great, where is the Purser?”

“Warrant Sato is currently off duty, she worked a 20 and left about an hour ago.”

“Well, shit. Okay then. I won’t expect an answer today then. Let’s get started reviewing where we want to put everything.”

We spent the next hour planning out where we were going to place everything; recyclers, fabs, supply caches, how we would section everything into the types of metals for which containers, and a few other logistical nightmares.

From there I spent the next several hours with some spacers and marines assembling the recycler that was delivered. This was one of the newer models that took advantage of using the crystals for power regulation as well as additional processing. Some of the scientists and techs were working with Hera to see if software could be updated to also add or remove ions to change the elemental makeup without destabilizing the atomic structures now that there was much more powerful computing power available for it. As it stood, this recycler was way over specifications.

“Marx, I hear there’s a Lieutenant here to screw up my cargo bay!” I feel the yell more than hear it.

Finishing up the installation of the recycler, would take a few more minutes with or without me, and Yavuz knew what needed to be done, so I left them all to go meet, who I assumed was, Warrant Officer Sato.