Chapter 13

I awoke to the sound of my alarm filling the room and despite the dreamless sleep I’d had, I still felt a bit exhausted. Even with the enhancements I had been given when all this had started, the physical and emotional strain of the last few days had taken their toll. Seeing Linda hadn’t really affected me much as I had thought it could have, which kinda surprised me because her betrayal still felt rather raw. What had shocked me the most during my little trip to Earth was everything that happened with my sister when I had arrived at the house. Thinking about what I had learned from her, I wondered if I should even call her my sister anymore? While it is true that we did grow up together, there was no blood relation that bound us. It explained how she developed feelings for me as we got older, and, since I had no clue about my birth, she would need to hide those feelings to keep the peace. Mind you, there were plenty of examples on our planet of the fact that two people who were blood relatives did not prevent sexual relationships within families, but I wasn’t going to think about that. Then there was Vish’ala and her surprising revelation about her own feelings towards me when we had returned, which still had me rather confused.

Regardless of the drama that had begun to unfold since I brought Eva here, I still had duties to perform as the ranking officer: I had tasks to complete.

After a nice, hearty breakfast from my personal fabricator, I donned my work clothes and left my quarters. These were a less military uniform and more functional, given the physical tasks that I was currently performing. I had Tali make them because of that fact, and they were designed to breathe and help me regulate my body temperature while I worked. It had proven to be useful when we had been working to clear the corridors a few months ago. We had felt the drones were better used for collecting materials for the reactors and mass-fabricators, though there was very little debris left on the station. I had surprised many by my engaging in what many would have considered menial chores, but it took my mind off things and gave me something to do. You would be surprised how doing a task that is unrelated to what you are thinking of can help your mind focus on things you are trying to deal with.

After a few days, some of the Mac’skarian work crews began asking about my clothes, and I explained how they were designed and why. This started a stir in many of the other work crews and soon Tali and Alta were being bombarded with requests for the same kinds of clothing, only tailored to the needs of a Mac’skarian. Soon we had most of the work crews who were not dealing with the more technical aspect of the repairs garbed in the new clothing. This sparked both of the AIs to look into changes to make to military and civilian clothing on the station. They seemed excited at the idea and would join me at dinner to go over ideas and get my approval on their various new projects.

Today, I was heading over to the White Claw to check in with the various work crews and see what kind of assistance I could provide. Eva should be there soon to start familiarizing herself with the new hybrid systems and the upgrades that we were installing on the ship. She liked to sleep in, and, since she was still getting used to things here, I didn’t want to push her out of her comfort zone just yet. I trammed over to the main corridor at the space dock that led to where the White Claw was housed and marvelled at the sheer size of the ship. When all was said and done, she would be roughly three hundred and seventy-fiver meters long with twelve decks. She would be armed with moving turrets to ensure that the port and starboard sides could effectively attack incoming fighters. She had six fore and aft torpedo tubes armed with the new missiles we created from the secrets we learned from the enemy ship.

I stopped to look out a nearby window and watch as drones were going to and from the ship. They went zipping in all directions as they delivered components or removed various outdated parts of the ship. There was a mass fabricator built into the space dock, but, given the sheer number of parts needing to be created, Alta had well over half of the station’s fabricators dedicated to getting the White Claw operational. I greeted the various Mac’skarians that I encountered as I passed, with some doing their traditional Mac’skarian salute, while others used the newly adopted human version. It took me nearly a half hour to navigate through the safe corridors and reach the engineering core, due to nearly every one of the safe corridors being filled with various parts and panels. The rest were open to the vacuum of space. We were cycling reactors at the moment while we installed upgrades we had created via the research of the enemy vessel. As I passed through the space dock, the various repair crews worked to install the various systems and power conduits into the corresponding walls. When I entered the engine core, I found Eva going over some plans with one of the work crews working there. I was shocked to see that she had done away with her uniform and seemed to have mechanic’s coveralls on. The idea that she was in something other than the military uniform was fine, but I wondered where she came up with those. I remembered that Tali had basically downloaded a vast amount of data from Earth so I was sure she was able to find what Ev would have asked for.

The work crew saluted me as I neared, causing Eva to turn and finally notice my arrival. She smiled and I noticed that she fought her usual urge to hug me, instead giving me a salute of her own.

“Good morning, Chief Stewart,” I said, returning her salute. “What is the current status of our progress on the refit of the White Claw?”

Her smile faltered at the formality I used when addressing her, but she replied, “Work is progressing on schedule, sir. We should have the main power conduits installed within the next week or so. That is with crew working round the clock, while the drones that Tali and Alta gave us work on the hull. Due to the lack of available power to run the security fields, we can only install in sections right now, but Alta thinks she should have that problem solved in the next few months. We don’t have the spare materials to make enough enclosure suits to be able to equip our entire work crew complement. We have so many projects on the go we have spread ourselves a little thin, especially with the power plants cycling through refits. Even with the drones collecting minerals, metals and gasses from the system, there are certain materials that are missing which are not found here in this system. The sooner we get this ship up and running the sooner we can start really collecting the missing ingredients.”

“If we got you some of those needed materials and minerals, would it help speed things along?” I asked, lost in thought.

Eva thought for a moment, “Well, if we had the gear and equipment to work unimpeded, then we could cut our work down by a third. Even then, there would be the lost time created making the suits, as well as the loss of Tali’s drones, since she would be the only ship that could do it.”

“True, but a temporary loss for a much-needed gain will be more beneficial in the long run,” I replied with a smile. “Tali, I am sure you and Alta heard all of that, so I want you to come up with the most viable options to ensure the success of this. Use the star charts that we have in your databases to choose a system that will have most of the crucial materials that we will need. That way, we can collect what we need in one trip, at least for now.”

“Yes, Captain,” Tali responded over the comms. “Alta and I should be able to give you a plan of action in a few hours. We want to make sure that we go over the computations thoroughly before we present it to you.”

“Thank you, Tali,” I replied. “I will go with you for that, along with some of the new trainees so they get some practical experience.”

“Will you be taking Vish’ala with you?” Eva asked, with an expression I couldn’t read.

“I am not entirely sure,” I replied. “It depends on the possible threat the system they choose could be. If it should be a cake walk, then I can go with just the trainees, but, if they are concerned of a possible altercation, I will need a well-trained pilot.”

She frowned, “Then I should go, too. You will need my help if the ship ends up damaged.”

“You are needed here more, and you know it, “I said with a smile. “Your outside of the box thinking is how we will get this ship ready and have a chance to survive out there.”

She nodded and I gave her a wink before I left to move about the ship and check the progress of various sections. I knew roughly which areas were currently filled with atmosphere. We had all other areas locked off until the hull was completed, and we could get life support systems active through the whole ship. If we could get the power core running it would help us expand the force fields and increase our work area. Hopefully my plan will speed up that process because we were limited at the moment. Given the scope of the repairs we had made to the station, along with building the shipyard and arming the station, we had exhausted most of the stores of materials. There was no debris left in the system to scavenge and even the bodies of the deceased had all been processed and reused. We needed to visit a habitable planet and collect what we needed. However, we might need to resort to more primitive methods in some cases.

“Tali,” I called, as I was walking. “When was the last time the Mac’skarians kept animals to feed themselves?”

Tali appeared beside me and replied, “Not since they gained the ability to fabricate food. Other than certain planets that housed specific delicacies, they didn’t feel the need to keep animals for food.”

“Well we may want to start doing that again,” I responded. “Until we have a steady stream of materials to ensure the mass fabricators can do their jobs in all things, we need to limit the use to essentials. If we repurpose areas that are currently not occupied, we can designate one area for animals and another for horticulture.”

Alta appeared at my other side, “That would take a bit of time, but if we did that, it would lower our material consumption considerably. However, I don’t think that the Obsidian would be able to bring much in the way of cargo. As it stands, we will need to fill space that won’t be used during the trip with materials.”

“I will be handling the system’s controls and will ensure that you will have appropriate medical supplies on the bridge,” Tali explained. “This will allow the drones to load the engineering and medical sections with raw materials.”

I thought for a moment and then asked, “How long would we need to be gone? Would you be able to quickly install a food fabricator on the bridge? If it is just, you and me, we can also fill the entire crew section as well.”

“That can be done,” Tali replied with a nod. “If I also have toilet facilities installed, there should be no issue with filling the entire ship with materials. Once we return, Alta can send her drones to clear the ship, once the path out for you is clear. If we do that, we can triple the expected yield.”

I smiled, “That is fantastic, but the real question is how much will we need to collect to ensure that the White Claw is completed and that we can keep the people fed until the White Claw can begin doing collection runs?”

“I estimate four trips will ensure that the station could have a reasonable store of materials,” Alta replied. “Since the White Claw will be able to run with just a skeleton crew, we can do the same with her. I estimate that with four trips, we would have enough materials for the next four years. Once we establish our food stores, then it would be doubled.”

I nodded. “Then we have a plan in place. Tali, please start the preparations and make the necessary changes to the bridge of the Obsidian. Let me know when the ship is ready for our voyage. Alta, please generate a list based on priority of the materials and minerals that we need to collect. Also, use the new sensor array to locate a suitable planet to collect from. I know that you may have many planets registered in your data banks, but we can’t be certain they are still safe.”

“I thought your plan was to take some of the trainees. “Tali asked.

“You are correct,” I replied. “However, that increases the materials used on the ship, so the best way to increase the yield we return with would be the least amount of crew members. Now I will leave you to your work, and I will see you soon.”

Both replied with a ‘yes, sir’ and disappeared from sight. I knew that my next stop was going to be a frustrating one. I headed back to the station, and, after asking a few people, I was able to locate where Vish’ala was. She was assisting with some maintenance on one of the corridors. When she noticed me arriving, there was a hesitance on her face, as if she didn’t know the proper thing to do. I took pity on her and gave her a quick salute that she quickly returned, and I saw some tension release. Unfortunately, I was about to ramp her anxiety back up once I told her the plan.

“Are you crazy?” she yelled, once I finished telling her what was going to happen. “It is bad enough that you went without me to Earth, but now you want to do it again, only this time into an unknown region?”