April 12th, 004 SDE; EFS Enterprise
Williams slipped into a chair and looked around briefly. This was her inner council so to speak, on her left was Sanchez, her former navigator on the Baltimore, across from her was General Evanov and beside him was Commander Jameson. The newest recruit who’d taken the final seat was Commander Cutter, a young lady and former second officer on the EFS Bismarck.
She smiled, all of them had been wronged by that damn machine, but it wouldn’t be much longer before that injustice was corrected. They were so close to being able to remove that damned machine from power, and then she’d be able to steer humanity back onto a more proper course. There was a lot to do, of course, reclaiming the homeworld wouldn’t be easy. They were going to need a fleet.
Cutter leaned forward, “I’ve been doing some digging and was able to pull some files on Richard’s Project Hammer. I think it will be just what we are looking for.”
“Oh? I haven’t heard much about that one. What is it?”
Cutter looked around, then placed a holoprojector onto the table before activating it. “You asked me to look into how we might acquire additional forces after we get the machine out. Richards has been holding out on us. She’s got an entire team working on the perfect solution.”
The girl paused for effect, as the display of a rugged hull rotated. It featured an elongated saucer section, two secondary hulls and four separated nacelles. “I present to you the Hammer class yardship. The blueprints aren’t entirely finished, but the core details are all here.”
Evanov leaned forward, “Impressive, I’ve seen a lot of ships before, but this is something else.”
Williams noted the berths, the multiple docking arms and the vast industrial bays the ship was going to have. “Is that? A mobile shipyard?”
“Yup, the machine and his people have been looking into the very thing we were thinking about. Three ships isn’t really enough for much of anything.” She gestured at the display. “This is their solution.”
Williams smiled, there wasn’t anything really wrong with the idea. Using that machine’s base for a proper moving shipyard would be an acceptable shortcut to getting one up and running. Such a vessel would solve a lot of problems too. Sure, the Enterprise had a decent industrial capacity, but she was never really designed to build ships. A fact that showed when you considered her limitations in that department. “Looks like a good start, think you can finish her?”
“I’m not the most versed in ship design, but I have a couple of people in mind that could fill in the blanks.” She shifted, “I presume you wouldn’t want the robot manufacturing bay.”
She grimaced as she was suddenly reminded of the machine’s plans to replace perfectly good people with machines. Rose being a rather stark reminder, that damnable robot girl and her sisters were a subject Williams didn’t want to think much about. If given the chance, turning them off would be one of the first things she’d do. They didn’t need delusional robotic babysitters or what they would implicate. Besides those damn contraptions were eating valuable fuel, yet the council didn’t even consider turning them off. When she’d brought up the suggestion, she’d been laughed at. The gall of those morons. “No, we aren’t going to replace perfectly good people with machines. Instead we will do the proper thing and employ cloning to boost our population growth.”
Jameson interjected, “On a different note, my men are in place. We can start whenever you want.”
“As much as I’d like to give the order, the moment isn’t right. People are unhappy, which is good for us, but...”
Evanov nodded and smiled, “Right if we are too slow to turn things around, it would be our necks.”
“Exactly, a mutiny only works if timed right, but I think our moment will be soon.”
Jameson frowned, “So when do you want to move?”
“Not this month, May might be better, but we will see. Ideally, we should move in June as we’d be getting close to Krall space. Loathsome as it is, we can use the lizards to refuel and get somewhere away from that machine’s foolish war.”
Cutter pulled out a map, “I don’t know, if we use their plan we aren’t really doing anything.”
“Yes, but unfortunately, we are kinda set on this course, right into the fucking Valorian core. Insane morons, the lot of them.”
Cutter tapped at a region labeled: Velosa Cluster. “This area is largely ignored by all the local powers. If there is anywhere we can lay low it will be here, and this course already brings us within a hundred lightyears of the near edge.”
Williams frowned, “The Velosa Cluster? I think I heard mention of that.”
“It doesn’t sound the most pleasant, it’s a vast stellar region roughly a thousand lightyears long and four hundred deep. The entire area is dominated by a dense nebula and subjected to dangerous interstellar phenomena, notably plasma storms. Navigation through the area is reportedly difficult and many ships have been lost attempting to cross it.”
Evanov said what they were all thinking, “Sounds like the place the desperate go.”
“Well, we are desperate aren’t we? I mean the Krall are the machine’s allies not ours.”
“Right, but the real question. Can we find fuel there?”
“I’d wager yes, the charts don’t really say what can be found there. The region is largely... uncharted.”
“Great, well better than nothing I’d say.”
The group exchanged looks, “I guess that plan is better than none.”
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Sali stared at the ceiling and let out a breath. She was kinda bored and was finding herself missing the factories a little. Working in the factories had certainly brought some excitement to her day, and yet here she was utterly bored. There wasn’t much of anything to do with the factories having been shut down. It left her wondering what she was going to do with herself.
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Footsteps echoed down the corridor and she looked up. Just as a familiar figure appeared on the other side of the grid that kept her in here. She blinked, “Reia? What are you doing here?”
“Well, I figured you would be getting rather bored. Vera and I have a bit of a girl’s night planned and I was...”
“Oh? Sounds fun, anything would be better than being in here.”
“Great! I’ll let the guard know.”
Reia vanished and was back a minute later with a guard. They were wearing the helmet, but Sali was pretty sure she knew who the guard was. It was one of the kinder ones. The man opened the cell and said, “Enjoy the girl’s night. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Thank you,” she replied as she joined Reia, while inwardly she was quite happy for the privilege. Months of good behavior had certainly earned her some extras that she enjoyed. The fact that they were going to let her go out and have fun with friends was a sure sign of that. Life here was actually pretty good and she couldn’t understand why she had wanted to escape. What had her clan ever done for her? It wasn’t like anyone who actually mattered to her was still around.
The path out of the cell block was pretty familiar and it wasn’t long before they were out and heading for the lift. Sali barely even noticed the dim lighting, it was rather normal after all these months living on the human vessel. As they entered the lift, Reia broke the silence, “So um, how have you been holding up lately?”
Sali smiled, “Well the factories closing has been... a bit of a drag. I mean there’s nothing to do. Not many people come to visit, well there’s Robert and you and... well I think that’s it.”
“Oh? Whose this Robert?”
Sali grinned, “Oh I met him in the factories, he’s been sweet. Always helping me and keeping me company. I’ve had a lot of fun chats with him. I think he likes me, if you know what I mean.”
Reia giggled, “Oh? Are you interested in him too?”
“I don’t know, maybe? He’s cute... it’s just...”
“You never really thought about it?” Asked Reia as she manipulated the controls.
“Well, um, no.”
Reia chuckled. “You should live a little more. Next time you see him, ask him out or something.”
“I guess, but...”
“Just think about it then.”
Sali nodded, “Yeah, I’ll think about it.”
“So how cute is this Robert anyway?”
Settling on the floor she looked up at the light strip and thought for a moment. Then Sali started to gush about him. Starting with his lovely eyes, his sturdy-looking build, and the way his hair looked.
Reia giggled just before the lift opened, “Someone sounds rather smitten.”
“Am not!”
“What are you? A high school girl?”
Sali gave her a look, but didn’t say anything as they stepped off the lift. Entering the corridor she noted the area was rather busy with people going either direction. Most of them not in uniform. She saw a mix of outfits with people in various styles. A young lady passed them wearing a long skirt, no shoes, and a thin tube top that barely covered her breasts. Next to her was her friend who wore only a short dress.
Then a guy in shorts and an old shirt came from the other direction with a woman closely following him. Sali noticed that her outfit looked a little worse for the wear as well. Noting that she took another look around and noticed a number of people were wearing things that looked a little old.
“Is it old clothing day or something?”
Reia laughed and led her into the crowd, “No nothing like that, clothing isn’t cheap these days and there is a bit of a shortage. Last I looked, a pair of panties was fifteen credits and it’s likely going to go up with the factories being shut down.”
Sali frowned, “Fifteen?”
Reia looked back, “Oh right, you don’t visit the market. The local economy is run on credits, ration credits specifically. Anyway for perspective you can get a good meal for a single credit.”
Sali blinked, then took another look around as she suddenly realized what that meant. If a meal was a credit, that meant, “You're joking right? That’s absurd.”
“Sadly not, clothing is pretty hard to come by. I could use a couple outfits myself, but I’m not sure if it is better to go now or wait till the end of the month.”
“I think you should save your credits, wait for prices to go down and then buy a bunch all at once.”
Reia giggled, “Save my credits, good one.”
Sali frowned, “That...”
“Oh? You were serious?” She sighed, “Well I guess being in jail means you don’t really need to bother with credits.”
“I heard something about the captain managing mine, but what are you getting at?”
“Well Human currency expires. My credits are only good for a month, and I’m paid monthly. However, my credit gains are calculated daily. I earned forty yesterday! That’s really good by the way.”
“It is?”
“Yeah, 22 a day is considered enough to scrape by, while 38 is where you want to be for a nice comfortable lifestyle.”
She frowned, “I see, but I guess that means I’m not getting rich.”
“Ah, the captain strikes me as a good sort, I’m sure he’s been wise with your credits. You could always ask him. In fact, I think I see him over there.”
She looked over, and saw his familiar figure standing beside a stall along the side of the passage. Beyond which she could see a larger, more open area. “Sure, I’ll ask.”
The captain saw her approach, and smiled, “Sali, you seem to be doing well, and oh Reia? Glad to see you two getting along.”
“Yeah Reia invited me out to a girl’s night with Vera. We were just heading out to meet with her.”
“Oh? Well have fun, you’ve earned it.”
“Right speaking of earning. Reia just told me about how local credits expire.”
“Ah! And you want to know what I did with your extra credits?”
She nodded.
“I’ve been building you a starter set for when you get out of jail. Nothing crazy, but I’ve got just about everything you’ll need purchased and set aside for you.”
“Oh? I guess I should take a look sometime.”
“Sure, just ask whenever.”
“I will,” she said before they went their separate ways.