Chapter 5

"So we're going to go in as partners with Dar?" Pete asked.

"Sure," Ross replied. "What else can we do? What else makes sense? Would you want to ask him to just drop us off at Tenerif Station and thank him for the ride? Our creditors would love that."

"No, I agree, its the smart thing to do, and its not like we're all that attached to anyplace or anyone."

"And this ship will give us an edge we could never have dreamed of, Pete!"

"Yeah, but we're going to get questions. This ship definitely will look odd, compared to what people are used to. Lots of questions."

"There are four known non-human races that Humanity has contact with. Would it be believable to claim any one of them built this ship?"

"The Ardali, maybe," Ross considered. "They're known for their ships having smooth skins, and they do like them on the large size."

"Yeah, but they like to build theirs globular too, this thing is way too flat and sleek to be an Ardali design. Dar would never be mistaken for an Ardali either."

"Nothing says the ship has to be Ardali operated, just Ardali built. If it comes down to it, we pretend that Dar is just a mascot, or pet or something."

"Yeah, he'd love that, wouldn't he? It better not come too that."

"I hope it never does. We'll have to see."

Their quarters on the Eudoxus were quickly abandoned in favor of far more spacious accommodations aboard the Kadamon. Dar had the captain's quarters, obviously, and those quarters included a ready room which would certainly serve them well as a meeting and conference room. There were three more cabins almost as big, though not so well outfitted. Two of them had been shared by the four officers who commanded the space marines. The other had belonged to the Chief Engineer, but he had seldom used it, preferring to sleep in the engineering bay.

They took to meeting in the officer's mess more often than not, and they shared their meals together. Dar didn't seem any more prone to meat in his diet than the humans, but it was noted that most of the vegetables in his diet were much woodier and fibrous than what the humans were used to. There were several they couldn't eat at all, finding them too tough to chew. At the same time, Dar marveled that the men seemed so fond of soft foods. Especially some that were so soft they could almost be sucked through a straw. The very thought made Dar shudder. While he found a few of their foods repulsive, and they the same for some of his, for the most part they found themselves surprisingly compatible. The analyzer in sick bay had formulated dietary supplements for all of them that compensated for the deficiencies they encountered from each other's stores, but it was nothing more than mineral and vitamin supplements.

"We've got schematics that can tell you exactly what the physical requirements are for interfacing with our computer systems, but you'll have to do the programming on your side that allows the actual passing of data back and forth."

"I can do the programming," Ship inserted. "If you all will trust me to?"

"Of course," came the collective answer, though not without some mental reservations. They all would have been surprised to know that it was Dar who had the most doubts.

"I'm not very handy with this sort of work," Dar moaned. "Wires and pins and circuitry." I can do it, to a satisfactory level as far as Fleet was concerned, but I was never more than just barely competent."

"I can do it," Pete offered. "If you'll assist?"

"Pete's a wiz with wiring and circuitry," Ross pounded his partner on the back. "He's rebuilt most of the systems aboard the Eudoxus, bit by bit."

"What are you going to be doing in the meantime?" Pete raised an eyebrow.

"Well, since this ship doesn't look like it was designed for mounting equipment externally, I'm taking a couple of repair drones and Ship and I are going to see if we can rig up an external tether platform."

"The external platform will allow us to load cargo in the roughest of conditions, even if the cargo is sitting in open space."

"Which is a pretty accurate description of what our average asteroid mining scenario was like. Our debris salvage operations too, for that matter."

"I'm thinking that if we cut the command module off the Eudoxus, we'd have a good start to our external platform," Ross offered.

"Wow," Pete said after a while. "I guess I hadn't thought that far ahead, but we can't just leave her sitting in Drop Bay Two."

"Our two former drop bays are going to become our primary cargo bays," Dar reminded. "It would be best if we began calling them that."

Ross and Pete spent most of their 'free' hours in their quarters, undertaking intensive language lessons in Dimau, the predominant Sondag language. Dimau was the language of the Sondag government and of the fleet, and Dar's native tongue, so it made sense that it was the language they learned.

Dar learned English, though he did so with more help from Pete and Ross than from Ship. Ship, too was learning English. Some aspects of his existence as an EI made such learning almost trivial, but other aspects made it difficult. Learning the words and the basics of syntax and grammar were trivial. Conversational nuances were another matter. His ability to engage in conversational Dimau was programmed in, not a learned behavior. He struggled sometimes to adjust those programmed parameters when faced with new situations and new social jargon. It was a credit to his original programmers that he did find it possible with only a little resistance.

While they all endured their language lessons, Ross and Pete were also determined to get a good working knowledge of the Kadamon. They had hours of study to look forward to, once their grasp of Dimau was sufficient, reading and viewing the various technical manuals and the huge number of procedural manuals as well.

It was frustrating for all four of them, but at least the three flesh and blood beings had regular sessions in the regen unit to boost their comprehension and retention levels. Ship simply had to keep plugging away at the same pace and with the same persistence and quietly be grateful for his electronic advantages.

In familiarizing themselves with their new home, Ross and Pete toured her from one end to the other.

"Dar, the marine barracks..." Pete began. "How many marines exactly were supposed to be quartered aboard the Catamount?"

This was a conversation Dar had been anticipating, and in some way dreading for days.

"The Kadamon was officially classified as an assault troop transport," he began. "Her role within the fleet was to transport a full forward assault company of Space Marines and their gear.