Day 8
Travis was checking the gauges for the Dee-Hee Engines on the Galileo and then said, “Dr. Andrews, I know you are quite proficient at a variety of craft but I’ll bet you’ve never flown something this large, a 240’ long, a 3,000 ton freighter capable of carrying 20,000 deadweight tonnage in cargo! Care to try your hand? I’d like as many as possible cross-trained in case anything happens to the rest of us.”

“Well Capt, I have flown ‘Trash Haulers’ but I have to admit this is quite a bit larger than the Milspec. L-30’s I qualified on. Still it never hurts you to have as many people current in type as possible. Let’s start with the -10 manual basics, what’s the power up sequence?”

Travis said, “On ships like this, the Lancer, and the Mayflower, the engines are normally never really ‘off’ of course, just in idle so to speak or else it takes a full day to warm them up enough for the plasma reactors to function. Currently, naturally, the Lancer is shut down and this was, during the long voyage here but now we leave it in neutral. Please, take the co-pilot seat – you have all the duplicate controls at your fingertips. Just remember that it’ll feel quite sluggish compared to the sleek fighters and cruisers you’re used to.”

“I have no doubt, bet she handles like a really good truck though, load her up and save for the mass she pretty well flies the same. Ok, two questions; do you guys have a standard acceleration warning and do you have a pre-plotted lowest fuel approach template?”

Travis just grinned and typed on his control console and my display’s popped up with a course and a schedule of pilot alerts.

I ran through the pre-lift sequence and looked for the 1MC switch. Ops Ash, civilian craft not mil. Scanned again looking for the GA, found it, and toggled, “Attention all hands, prepare for acceleration in 60 seconds repeat acceleration in 60 seconds. Yall got an outta practice Fighter Jock up here, might not be as smooth as normal!” I went into my version of the zone, what Andy called speed and rolled the power in. Travis was right, this baby was a little sluggish, but she was honest. I fought her up through atmosphere and into the close orbit phase, slapped her on Auto and relaxed out of the zone. “Twenty minuets to next maneuver, Yall can relax a bit,” I said over the GA.

I turned in the seat and said to Travis, “When we get up there I need to get that firewall installed, then brief whoever your physics Guru is and get some sleep. I would love to set in the lounge and swap war stories with the ‘Galloping Ghost of the Belt’, yeah Andy briefed us last night. I never did know your name; Andy is going to need help down there. He only has three Badged Operators on the planet and Mariana is going to be too busy to be a field trainer. I actually don’t want to be here now but this is too important. If your guy can put my math in hardware, that shield is gonna surprise somebody.”

Travis said, “Monroe is our communications maven so you’ll be meeting with him first, to install the firewall. Dr. Hibbes, ‘The Mad Scientist’ as we refer to him, is our physics guy and is also in charge of programming the CNC to produce parts and also the CAD circuit builders for the building of electronics for the shuttles we’re retrofitting. He’ll also incorporate your shielding plans into the new Ex-Fighters he’s designing. You’ll like those if they actually come to fruition.”

Ash looked a little worn, “I am not worried about the firewall tracer, Andy and myself are the best there are at that. We are putting everything critical on the ground behind the security wall we developed for the SOCOM OPLAN database. It’s never come close to being cracked. If Monroe is as good as you say, it will take me about an hour to show him the Op System for the tracer so he can monitor your end. I hope your Dr. Hibbes really is the ‘Mad Scientist’. I only ran this math up on hardware with a Lab test rig; couldn’t go any farther without my UNWG boss catching on. But, with a 220V 10 Amp power supply, I stopped an issue .30 Cal Penetration round cold!”

Travis looked impressed. Then, he flicked the radio switch and called on Mayflower Control to open the cargo bay doors. Turning to Ash, he said, “Docking maneuver coming up. You’re doing well so just continue and bring us in easy.”

Once on board, Steven joined them as they rode the railroad cart to the mining cavern where, four years before, a rather dramatic shootout had occurred. From there it was a short walk to ship’s Control Room.

Captain Monroe was there and his and Ash’s meeting was rather more cordial than previously – four years prior – in the Lounge, before the big sleep. Travis left the three of them.

Ash said, “I never did thank you, Captain Monroe, for saving my neck from the wrath of Rocco…”

Monroe smiled and said, “All part of the service here, Dr. Andrews. By the way, there’s fresh coffee in the pot over there. Now, shall we get to work?”

Day 8

Joint post between Andrew Stuart and Jaisa Benjamin

Andy

We assembled at the base of the rapids. “Get the ‘bots connected and meet me at the top of the ridge.” I wanted to see how they went up the ridge. Jai, Summer and Ryu quartered their way across the face of the rise, while the dummy’s fought straight up the slope.

“Now that we are all here, the project is this. First, put a slab Dam across the North Face of the rapids. Then dig a diversion Channel down to the big ass hole in the side of the slope you have to dig. Check your e-mails! The Specs are there! Then you have to dig in a covered exit channel away from the Plant site. Then we will build the Hydro Plant and run the Distribution Wiring. Anybody here think this was going to be easy?” The faces I saw were stunned. “There used to be an old Military Group called the Seabees. They were the Combat Engineers of the Navy and Marines. Their unofficial motto was ‘First we dig ‘em, then We Die in ‘em.”

“Dig it people! Sgt Benjamin, Front, and Center! Post!”

Jai’s eyes widened, but only a hair – her version of shocked. She knew how to keep her reactions to herself, that was for sure, which was good considering she’d already proved that she knew how to do the opposite. And she didn’t waste any time moving either – another good sign.

“Nice 7.62 you have, here are a couple of shells for you.” I pulled a bag of 20 HE rounds out and handed them to her. I could tell she recognized the red tips. As she was shuffling them into her ready mags I told her, “We are going hunting Slizzard! I want at least a 20 Footer. You game or what?”

As Jai looked up, she saw a face she had never seen before; the warm Brown Eyes were those of a Teacher. She had expected the cold Black Eyes of a killer. “Looks like it’s time to learn the rest of this game,” she thought.

The warm eyed stare caught her eyes and the low whisper caught her ears only, “Learn LT., First you Teach!”

I motioned for her to follow and moved till we were out of hearing range of the others. “OK, couple of levels here. First, I know you can organize. Question is can anyone else in that crowd; this construction is a great training exercise. Second, we really do need to find a big Slizzard and not for the boots I owe Travis. There was a Science Fiction series of books based on the old Starfire game series that had an off world creature called a Doomwhale. It was the source of endless medical miracles. According to Mariana the Slizzard could make it look like a second rate piker. If I let this one bleed out on the ground I am going be walking funny for weeks. If you get first shot at a big one put two of those HE’s right between its ugly eyes, don’t hesitate. If I get first shot, get a pressure tie around the neck as fast as possible. I have point, let’s go!”

Jaisa

We had not gone 100 yards when I realized that this man was almost as quiet as Chavez. I watched the way he moved; it was not Sin’s smooth flowing grace, it was hard taught care and control. Uncle Gabe had told me once that killing was not all there was to being a Warrior; I was watching a real Warrior in action. He would beat you with his mind, with his training or his beating bleeding heart if necessary. That mountain called Angel had told me, “I will never be more than the top NCO; I hope someday you can meet the real Officer!” As I concentrated to move as quietly and as fast as the Chameleon clad figure in front of me I thought, “Oh, I have Gabe; I damn sure have!” We moved for about a mile when he suddenly stopped and his left hand waved me forward. He gestured with his gloved hands at the claw marks on the tree in front of us. Indicating the vertical size he mouthed, “Bigger!”

As he motioned for me to un-sling the Tavor we moved forward with him on the right and me on the left. We had only gone about another 250 yards when the brush erupted with the biggest set of teeth I had ever seen. I was already fast slinging the 7.62 to my shoulder when I saw the thing, but had only just started to pull the trigger when the world exploded. I am here to tell you that being 20 feet away from a .50 going off was not my favorite experience.

The Slizzard’s head just disappeared in a cloud of vapor, and I was running forward. Grabbing a piece of strapping off of my pack, I tried to pull a tourniquet type constraint on the open neck. I was unable to get it tight enough till a big boot landed on the neck and grabbed the end of the strap.

Slamming his boot down and grabbing the strap Andy pulled for all he was worth. He grunted as he pulled, “Dammit Gabe, where are you when I need you?” With one last jerk the liquid flow stopped.

Andy

I looked at the figure grasping the improvised stop and said, “Not bad Candidate, you were about 2 milliseconds from getting off a shot. Best I’ve seen since your Uncle. Now I am going to get this sucker back to Mariana. Gonna have to steal R. Nug to help me get this sucker back, he’s 26 feet if he’s an inch. Get the troops home before dark. Be ready to work up here for several days. You will hit some rock in your digging; Joe or I will come up here and use the rock removal as an Explosives Training Class. I have to get the clinic extension started. You think you are up to it Candidate?”

She looked me right in the eyes and replied, “Yes, but why this push?”

I grinned and replied, “Right Question Young Candidate, I just expended something we can not yet replace. Tell me, what does a modern Ammunition Plant need to exist?”

Jai stared for a moment and said, “Power, right?”

“Logistics, Young Candidate are what makes the world go around. Remember, first, you have to build it. See you at Hanna’s tonight.” With that, I started giving orders to R. Nug over the wrist comp.

Day 8 Early Morning
I thought I would be the one to turn on the lights in the Lab this morning, I never expected Mariana to be there with the coffee going. “I thought I was going to be early bird today.”

Mariana gave me a look that would have curdled milk, “You didn’t have the big lummox going around at ‘Oh Dark Thirty’ getting in full kit.”

I was actually a little stunned, why would he go full rig today. I even made a mistake, “Lord having seen that rig I can imagine the racket he made!” I knew it was a mistake the instant that head whipped in my direction and those eyes went cold. I had seen the Walt Davis incident and knew what was coming. I was saved by Linda Parker walking in with Jules Sr. in tow.

“Kurt,” she said, “Sorry to hit you with this first thing in the morning but, Dad’s not been doing too well the last few days.”

If she missed the sigh of relief, she was not looking. “Well, let’s get him over to Diagnostic and take a look. You will be pleasantly surprised Mr. Parker how little blood we need to take. This rig is really something and Linda already has your info and history in the data bank. She really is good, Sir!”

It only took about 5 min. to get a full picture. “Mr. Parker, you system is having some problems adjusting to the shorter Alchibah day and the biggest one seems to be self-induced. Your medication schedule needs to be adjusted to match that shorter day. That and a few more days should see you through this quite well. Linda, the adjusted dosages and times should be printing in Primary. I think you can do a better job of explaining it that I can.”

She laughed, “Oh yes, I am well versed in dealing with Dad. I just sic Mom on him.” She took the printout and said she would be back as soon as she got him home safely.

I gestured at the screen and asked Mariana, “You see what he really needs don’t you?” Her reply floored me.

“Yeah, what he really needs is Andy to get me enough power to bring up Bay 4 so I can start making drugs!”

“What are you talking about Woman?”

“What got me Blackballed by the UNWG, Anti-Agathics!”

I was puzzled, “But all the best of those will do is retard aging, what goods that going for do him?”

Her face was as cold as the killer I knew she was, “Not the ones I got hounded out for!”

OH, my God was all I could think! “But, what of the components you need, that stuff has to be complicated?”

Her voice was as level as they came, “Between Connor Benjamin and Andy everything I need has processed through the Lab already. Believe it or not, Slizzard blood is going to have a lot of uses. You didn’t think Andy was going Slizzard hunting over a pair of boots did you?”