Chapter 24

Órarduine data – 8^th year, 2^nd month, 1^st clock cycle

It was shortly after Marthanóir’s and Fiontar’s return from their shake down excursion when Leann said, “Command Staffs, we need a few minutes of your time.”

“What’s up?” asked Sarah.

“We think we should scrap the idea of putting Gatling guns on the Badb cruisers.”

“Why is that?”

“If we make the projectiles hard enough to damage a space ship, then those that miss will turn into an unintended hazard to anyone else.”

“Makes sense,” replied Keriann. “We would still want these weapons if we were operating in a planet’s atmosphere. With that in mind, we should make provisions to easily mount them.”

“Isn’t there the same problem with rail guns?” asked Colleen of Maureen’s Clan.

“For the rail guns, the projectile is larger. Besides packing it with explosives, it has a timed self-destruct mechanism and a friend or foe detector. We looked at doing something similar for the Gatling gun, but we haven’t found a solution yet as we don’t have a lot of space.”

Chester said, “Let’s rethink what our goals are. We now have four classes of ships. We started this project to beef up the cruiser fire power without distinguishing between the Badb and Badb-2 cruisers. We don’t think we want to be careful how we change the Badb cruisers as they are optimized for Spec Ops work. You might want to call them a light cruiser since the upgrades increase their capabilities and reliability. So increasing weapon performance is a great idea but we need to be careful in adding energy to weapons. While for the Badb-2, they can handle weapons with more power as they have around three or four times the mass. So for them our efforts should focus on increasing the energy that they can throw at a target. So besides increasing the rate of laser fire, we should be focusing on increasing laser energy, higher energy A-Beam, faster photon torpedoes, longer range missiles and stronger shields.”

“We have all of those in the works. Our intent is for the weapons specialists to focus on those items while we travel to A-Celia. Our structural group is going to look at a different approach to ship construction, as well as preparing drawings for our settlement on A-Celia.”

“Leann,” said Conan of Siobhan’s Clan, “I think I can speak for all of us. Let’s not add the Gatling gun to the cruisers. In fact, why don’t we pull them off those that have them installed? The Star Fighters already have mounts for them as they will be useful in an atmosphere. Let’s just store the ones you’ve made along with their support systems as we can likely use them in Celia.”

“He does,” replied the Command Staffs in unison.

“Thanks.”

“Leann,” said Sarah, “are you short on staff?”

“At the moment, yes, but that is always the case, as more people just means more projects get completed. Our current situation is due to the contract staff getting their family issues sorted. Some have come back to work and its helping. Staffing has told us that more will be joining us in the next few weeks, so things are looking up.

“In getting ready for our voyage we have a diverse number of issues that need resolving each day, beyond our normal maintenance and development issues. So we are all focused on the things we need to complete before departing. All of us see this as a short term situation. As I alluded to earlier, during the trip to Celia we expect to have time to research and solidify the designs for improving some of our systems.”

“Have you thought about asking the children to assist?”

“You want us to stoop to using child labor. Oh, my...” Everyone laughed at Leann’s teasing. When the laughing died down she continued, “Seriously, yes. Some have expressed an interest and we are planning on following up with them once we begin our voyage.”

“Are you all aware that the children from our Earth surrogate mother project are now adult members of our family?” said Amy.

“Gosh, you’re right,” exclaimed Jill. “Sensing every one’s reaction gives me the impression that we never thought of them as being different.”

“You’re right,” said Tiff. “We knew of the group from reading about events before we arrived.”

Betsy said, “We don’t see any difference between them and any other children. They have the same abilities as the other children. All of them spent several days in the conversion tubes to ensure we hadn’t overlooked any health issues. It was a good thing we did as a few had potential problems in their genes. Those are all resolved, we think.”

“We have kind of gotten off track. Anything else for Engineering?”

“Not on my part. Do you have any questions for me?”

“Not at the moment,” said Sarah’s Clan which was quickly followed by similar comments from the other Command Staffs.

After Leann dropped her connection Amy said, “Before we go on our separate ways, I brought up the older children to remind us that we are beginning to add adults from within our family. Sarah’s Clan’s children, along with those from Ann’s Clan, ours, and several other clans, will be the second group of Órarduine children to make the transition to adults. To us, these additions are a significant measure of us moving toward sustainable growth from within.”

“Are you suggesting that we shouldn’t have encouraged our family to wait on starting families?”

“Not at all. While nearly all of those who joined us were adults on arriving, they were somewhat like children in our environment. Yes, they were knowledgeable, smart and well educated, which made their adaptation to an adult Órarduine almost unnoticeable. It did take some time to learn how things worked in this environment. We think we made a wise choice in asking them to wait until we were in Celia system before adding children.”

“Additional children could have delayed our move to Celia system,” responded Kelly of Keriann’s Clan.

“Why do you say that?” asked Eleánóir of Keriann’s Clan.

“Raising children reduces the time available to complete the tasks needed to make the move,” replied Brandan of Maureen’s Clan. “We think everyone agreed to wait because they saw a settlement in Celia system providing a friendlier and more secure environment.”

“We have been very fortunate to have had so few fatal accidents,” said Connie of Amy’s Clan.

“Agreed,” replied everyone.

“A good part of the credit goes to the quality and depth of the technology information in our library,” said Conan of Siobhan’s Clan.

“We will connect later,” said Jamie of Kathryn’s Clan. “We are needed to take care of some other issues.”

“Okay, we need to be going as well,” said Tara. “Considering the shift in our activities in preparation for the upcoming departure, we should actively link each evening before dinner.”

“Agreed,” replied everyone.

It was a week after Fiontar and Marthanóir had returned that the Command Staffs gathered to go over their current status. “Good morning,” said Siobhan’s Clan as they entered the conference room on Dóchas.

“Good morning,” came the reply from Sarah’s, Molly’s and Keriann’s Clans.

“We were afraid we were going to be late.”

“Nope,” replied Terry. “The others are on their way. It seems like everyone has had last minute issues arise as they were leaving. I am sure glad we are actively linking each evening.”

Tiff laughed and said, “We agree. I think everyone will be glad when the journey begins. Even though our departure date is a year away, there are certainly a lot of odd problems popping up.”

“I understand that Blaine, Selena and Eilidh will be moving to Dóchas,” said Siobhan.

“Yes,” replied Sarah. “The move won’t really be complete for a couple of months, but in the mean time they will be here a lot. Blaine and Eilidh want to spend time with James and Clarence. We suspect that they will join our security group. However, they haven’t chosen which ship they will live on for the trip yet. They have talked about moving over to Phoenix, for obvious reasons.

“Doug and Virginia will host their last show on Earth in 4 weeks’ time. They will likely chose either Iarracht or Marthanóir as their home. As for the show, they are going to continue from here as long as there are sponsors. During all of this they have quite a few loose ends to wrap up on Earth.”

“Good morning,” said the remaining Command Staffs on entering the room.

“Good morning,” replied the group as they began to hug each other in greeting.

Maureen said, “So, is it true that Doug and Virginia are joining us?”

“In a way,” replied Sally. “As I was just saying, in 4 weeks’ time they are moving their show so that it originates from here. When we depart it will be handed over to a team in Grand View. They are planning on traveling with us as humans for the journey to A-Celia. Their plan is to put together a documentary of the voyage and arrival in Celia, along with photos of the island and a commentary. When we send a group back here they will return with them so that they can offer the documentary to Grand View TV station and news papers. They think the documentary will have better acceptance if they are still in human form when they return.”

“What do the rest of you think of their plan?” asked Terry.

“Before we go any further, you should know that we have had a few requests from other reporters to accompany us on the journey to Celia,” added Aoife.

Amy said, “We don’t see any issue accommodating Doug and Virginia. We think that anyone who accompanies us should meet the minimum requirements for an Órarduine. If they have a family, it is important that all of them make the trip as well. Before we leave they should also tidy up all their affairs on Earth, because they could be gone several years from Earth’s perspective.”

“That’s right, our ages relative to those on Earth will change,” said Siobhan.

“Yes, that is one reason our ships were mostly staffed with families,” responded Amy. “There were a few exceptions but not many. Those from Alliance of Worlds appear to take a different approach.”

Aoife said, “What do you think about setting the following conditions in order to be considered? They would be: They need to be telepathic and pass a crew member physical. They will be expected to function as a part of the crew and their position will depend on their skill set and education. If married, then it is preferred that their family comes as well.”

Keriann said, “Do we really want to do this? I’m all for Virginia and Doug as they are aware of the conditions and are telepathic. I am not so sure the others will know what they are getting into. What is their motivation?”

“The conditions are really no different than those we have for contract workers. As to requests, they are from reporters who attended the conference to meet the Alliance of World visitors,” replied Aoife. “They should have some idea of what they are getting into.”

“Let’s do this,” said Jackie. “Let’s set them up for our standard interview on New Comrie. They will need to schedule a period of two weeks for that. If married, the visit should include their whole family, although it could just be close friend. We will transport them to New Comrie for the preliminary evaluation, orientation and interviews. If they meet the requirements and are still interested, then we bring them up to one of our ships for a week as an apprentice crew member. During the whole time they are here we will closely monitor their adaptation to our environment.”

“Will that interfere with our preparations?” said Kelly.

“It shouldn’t,” replied Sally. “We can set out the schedule and suggest that they may want to limit who they tell. So let’s set dates for their visits to New Comrie and stagger them. This will make it easier on us. Oh, and only one family to a ship when they try out as apprentice crew members.

“Our Security Teams could fill the role as host while they are on board a ship. While they would most likely be candidates for Communications, they may have skills in other areas. Obviously their telepathy has to be enabled before coming on board.”

“Good points Kathy. Aoife, I’ll help you with the project.”

“Thanks Kendra. I did review the observations we made of them when they were at An Clochán. Of the ten, there are at least three that won’t meet the criteria. There are two others that I have reservations about.”

“So Aoife, you’ve already screened them?” questioned Kathryn.

“Not really. I just looked at the way they mingled when they were at An Clochán. All I essentially did was look at their body language and used that as a basis for my conclusions. Those could be off by miles as it was not a normal situation. It will be interesting to see how good my perceptions are.”

“Do we want to go forward with this?” asked Sarah.

“We are agreeable,” said Siobhan, “as long as we are certain that they meet the criteria and fit in with the crew members. I want to say with no reservations but, if there are any, we need to talk about them beforehand, because even if they join us a month before departure that isn’t much time for them to adjust.”

“Oh, I definitely agree,” said Aoife.

“Agreed,” replied the group.

Siobhan said, “Our next item is Anna and Mark’s friends visiting next week. There are 27 children plus their foster parents and siblings. The foster parents are from the military community. They will stay with us and be here for three full days. We left the details of the children’s activities to Anna and Mark, with assistance from the children of Sarah’s Clan.”

“What about the parents?” asked Molly.

“We thought about pairing them up with a Security Team as their backgrounds would be similar. The difficulty is, what should we plan for their activities?”

“Well first thing, they all need to see the orientation videos before they do anything else,” said Judy.

“Already in the program. Anna and Mark are planning on having a question and answer session after the parents leave for other activities as they thought their friends would be more comfortable without them there.”

“Good point, as they may be embarrassed by what they were forced to do at the school.”

“Anna and Mark had the same idea.”

“There should be a question and answer period when everyone is together as well.”

Jackie said, “We think a tour of the ship, with special emphasis on the viewing area, would be a great start. You can offer a ride in the Star Fighters configured for pilot training. We can loan you some trainers. They should also have an opportunity to experience a session in a simulator as that doesn’t require them to be an Órarduine. Once you have covered all of that ask them what they would like to do. There is volleyball, basketball and swimming. Are any of the singing groups going to perform?”

“So, you think that will be enough?” asked Tiff with a smile.

“We do,” replied quite a few of those in the room.

“Are you a little nervous about this?” said Keriann.

“Well, yes, we are,” replied Kendra of Siobhan’s Clans. “We’ve never had visitors that we didn’t already know.”

“Your crew will do just fine. Your guests are probably even more nervous than you guys are.”

“True,” replied Siobhan. “We are sure it will all work out, but...”

“Oh, I didn’t think of it earlier,” said Jackie. “They should all have an opportunity to experience the weightless room and EVA training area.”

“Good idea.”

“Siobhan, if you guys want us to visit while they are here let us know,” said Alison.

“Us as well,” said Kelly.

“Add us to those available too,” added Molly.

“Okay,” said Siobhan, “I think we have some ideas on how to proceed. Thanks.”

Rusty said, “Moving on to the next item. Commander Egulle has invited us to visit their Martian supply depot sometime during the next 2 to 3 weeks. I suggested that we visit in three groups that include representatives from each Command Staff.”

“Why?”

“My impression is that they are pretty proud of their creation. While it is based on a standard design, the crew had a lot of input in tailoring it to this location. It is my impression that they seldom have the opportunity to be in on the setup from the beginning. So they’ve addressed a number of short comings they’ve had to deal with in the past. I suspect we will get to see much more of this site than we could of their ships.”

“But that was a space issue,” responded Kelly.

“Yes, but they feel that we were not treated as well as they were, both on our ships and at An Clochán. It is sort of an ego thing, but I am not sure ego is the right word.”

Caitlyn of Keriann’s Clan said, “It will be nice to see how someone else lays out their habitat.”

“An excellent reason for going. I’ll confirm the dates, presuming everyone is comfortable with doing this.”

“We are okay with it,” said Keriann. “While some of us have been on their ships since the Durale incident, we should make it clear that we are willing to enter their facilities or ships.”

“We agree. Rusty go ahead and set it up,” said Conan and the others indicated their agreement.

“In six weeks they are going to have an open house. Our family has been invited, along with those from Earth who came to the conference. For the opening ceremony, they are asking that all ships have command representatives there. In our case, he thought a couple from each Command Staff would be a good match to those from their ships. The open house is to run for several days. This is so that after the guests leave their crews can spend some time away from their ships. It is spread over a week to limit the number of people there at any one time.”

“Any particular reason?” asked Keriann remembering the last time Órarduine Command Staff visited an Iridien ship.

“They believe that the open house serves several purposes. It is a reward to the crew for completing the base ahead of schedule. Another is its dedication. The celebration gives their crews some time to relax away from their ships. He also views it as a way to celebrate our upcoming voyage to Celia system, even though that is still a ways off. As to the visitors from Earth, they are handling all arrangements but have asked for assistance from our Security groups.”

“We saw that,” said Kathryn. “Do you know who is coming?”

“Commander Orgaine said that the Irish, Russians, Chinese, British, Israelis and Australians accepted almost immediately. Several have not responded.”

“That is going to be a big party with all of their people attending, even when you spread it over several days. Their base must be pretty large to handle that many people. Let’s have Communications group find out who wants to go, and then set up a rotation.”

“You know this almost sounds like a county fair,” said Tiff of Siobhan’s Clan.

“Very much like a county fair. So for the opening, are we going to send two from each Command Staff?”

“We agree,” replied Keriann then Chester added, “But I think three would be better, and accompanied by a Security Team.”

“We are much more comfortable with that addition,” said Molly. “So, we now agree with it.”

“We agree with Keriann’s Clan,” replied the others.

Maureen said, “When our groups are set up to go, there should be a full Security team with each one.” Several looked puzzled. “We should look at this as shore leave. There will be a lot of people there from at least six different civilizations. On Earth this would mean that there is a significant potential for misunderstandings. We believe that those from the Alliance are more accepting of different groups than those from Earth, but let’s be prepared in case we are wrong.”

“Good point,” replied several.

“I’ll speak to the Iridiens Security group,” said Sally, “and see what their plans are. The discussion will likely provide an opening so we can offer assistance.”

It was right after breakfast when the representatives from the Órarduine Command Staffs arrived at An Clochán. Christina’s Security Team joined them as they boarded a shuttle for the relatively short trip to the Alliance of Worlds’ new outpost.

Today was the official opening of the new outpost. The Command Staffs had visited it during construction, and last week each had had an extensive tour of the site. During their most recent tour the Iridien’s gave them an orientation on the site’s capabilities. This was similar to the tour of An Clochán that they had given the Iridiens after they decided on mutual aide. Last week both Commanders Egulle and Orgaine had asked them to arrive well before the other guests. The Órarduine understood the pride the Iridien’s had in successfully completing what their crew thought was the ideal base. Their visitors from Earth would arrive later for an overnight stay.