RSC-2W-0063 in Krigertenkere parking orbit
Sinn'Are'Sen shamelessly stripped off the RSC jumpsuit for a far more comfortable set of baggy boxers, pulled his robe back on, and stretched.
“Dara Tonn, would you mind giving me a guided tour of your interior? The RSC orientation course covers the dash zero one models and the newer dash zero twos, but not the dash zero zeros.”
“Not a problem Sinn'Are'Sen. Head back out into the hall and come forward, we'll start at the bow and work aft.”
“Please, call me Sinn.”
“As you wish Sinn.”
Sinn steps back into the passageway and turns left to head towards the airlock and the bow of Dara Tonn.
“You look hexagonal from the outside, but square on the inside. I know some of the extra space is set aside for ducts, sensors, and the like...”
“If you are asking about construction details, I can give you the overview while you familiarize yourself with the cockpit. Through the hatch at the fore end of the passageway please. I am constructed from an outer armored pressure hull, hexagonal in cross section for strength, and an inner light hull to give attachment points for all of my internal systems such as crew quarters. The space between is filled with a honeycomb backing layer that also houses the needed conduits for external systems such as sensors. Republic ship designers, regardless of Command, bureau, or department, still favor rectangular internal spaces. Hexagons would be much more material efficient but they are beings of flesh, habits, and regulations so I forgive them their blindness.”
Sinn opens the hatch that leads to the cockpit and finds himself on the left hand side of a roughly triangular shape. The back wall was a plain bulkhead while the angled bow walls were covered in displays showing the space outside the Dara Tonn overlaid with all of the needed tracking and data codes.
“I'm seeing a piloting station, a navigation station, and a communications station, but only one chair fixed in the middle of all three...?”
“This is intended. The command chair is placed central to all three essential stations in the dash zero zero series. The Republic Void Navy standard stations were combined and condensed in later models when the decision to keep the crew to a single individual was confirmed. All three stations posses integral direct data links as well as standard links to my mainframe for the ease of transferring data as required. Let us continue the tour however, you will have time enough to familiarize yourself with the cockpit arrangements while working out our course to the Hylli system.”
Sinn turns back to the hatch and heads for the next compartment aft, directly across from the airlock.
“You have been sitting in orbit with not much to do Dara Tonn. Don't you already have a course mapped out and a warpjump calculated?”
“I do. However I would like to see a demonstration of your skills in this matter. Predictive algorithms are useful but can use a 'reality check' every so often. This hatch leads into the archaeology lab. I know the yard technician described it as 'stocked up' but be aware that it is limited to field work and by space available. Expect dated equipment compared to what you may have been shown during RSC orientation.”
Sinn cracks the hatch and shrugs, “most of what the RSC expects me to do is catalog and store finds anyways. Let's see what tools they gave me... whoa!”
“Yes?”
“Maddening mix of primitive and leading edge here. Analysis tools are... 'dated' is being generous. Field tools are all standard issue, if a bit battered. I don't really have time to file the paperwork to get them replaced.”
“I have filed said paperwork multiple times, listing them as components of a crew service system in need of replacement.”
“Clever, but I can see why the RSC wouldn't bother with the paperwork or the expense. A dented wooden handle on a shovel will still work fine so long as it isn't rotted or cracked. The sample storage capsules are cutting edge though. Looks like plenty of containers and sub containers and a general-purpose isolation field?”
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“Plus a biological sample array with separate cryogenic storage capability. My refit record indicate that the standard used to be two large bio containers that could be subdivided, one of which had cryostorage capability. The current standard is about two years old and I was refitted with it twenty months ago.”
“That was quick. I guess you were between deployments at the time?”
“Correct.”
“Let me see here. Looks like two large capsules still, as well as four medium capsules. All of which can be sub-divided as needed and all of which have cryostorage capability. The RSC really did expand that since I was recovered and adopted. I think my mother mentioned having to call in her one and only biological sample capsule to move me back up to her ship, and then had to figure out how to get me into cryostorage for the trip back to Republic space.”
“Interesting. I was built with, and still have, a singe tube cryosleep system. My data indicates that this was standard for all hulls in my class built after RSC-2W-0049. That's through the next hatch aft along the passageway if you would care to investigate.”
Sinn nods in comprehension as he heads for the indicated hatch.
“I believe, but would have to check records to confirm, that the pre -0050 hulls had a twin tube cryosleep array for redundancy. I guess the second tube could also serve as cryostorage for biological samples or as a source of spare parts if required. Where is the dreamshaper module?”
“It is located below and behind the crosleep tube, inside of the angled pedestal that holds it upright.”
“I always found it a tad odd to be sleeping at an angle, but getting out after waking up is a lot easier then rolling over the side and hoping you don't break your nose.”
“The angle also assists with draining fluids and other cryosleep byproducts.”
“Thank you for stating the obvious Dana Tonn.”
“My Pleasure Sinn. It is a relief to be able to act instead of simply reacting. I hope you will forgive my interjections.”
“Not a problem Dana Tonn, so long as nothing actually critical gets interrupted. I can't multitask in the same way you can.”
“Noted. Room four is your private quarters, which you are already familiar with, so please proceed to room five which is the engineering compartment.
“What's so special about me being familiar with engineering? I certainly have no idea how to maintain any of the equipment in there.”
“But I do, and you have hands. That means you can fix anything in there with the proper instructions from yours truly. It is also how you get into the dorsal and ventral maintenance spaces and the port side service area. Many components are easier to service in a semi-open space rather then in place.”
“Dorsal and ventral?”
“Do note that the inner light hull is hexagonal in cross section not square. And yet you are in a square-sided space. The upper and lower 'triangles' of the hexagon are reserved as maintenance areas, though the gravity generators are not usually active in those areas. I keep them off unless needed to save on reactor mass. Hydrogen may be the most common material element in the universe, but my storage tanks are not infinite.”
“Understood. Leave them off unless we actually need gravity in those spaces. For that matter you can probably turn off gravity in the engineering and engine spaces when it's not required. I'm fine with bouts of low- or zero- gravity.”
Sinn promptly bounced higher into the air with his next step as the gravity was cut back. He calmly put a hand above his head and pushed off the ceiling without breaking stride.
“I see that you are indeed apt in maneuvering in low-gravity environments. Might that have something to do with your unusual skin coloration?”
Sinn sighs in resignation that the topic had come up. “Possibly. I do not know why I have gray skin instead of pale or tan or brown. Not born in the Republic, no medical history before recovery, so on. Perhaps Ovaettr will yield some answers.”
“Understood. And apologies.”
“Accepted. Time until departure?”
“Seventeen hours and twelve minutes.”
“Alright, give me the highlights of the engineering space and then I'll give the engine room a once-over.”
“Please pay attention to the spotlight. Main reactor is here, with hydrogen feeds here and here. Integral gravity generator for the fusion chamber is there. Lose or damage any of those components and we will both turn into a fair approximation of the heart of a star for a brief instant. Inertial compensator is there along the port bulkhead. Loss or damage to that will leave you with no gravity at all or turn you into a stain on the deck depending on the acceleration of my hull at that moment. Life support is to your left and right along the starboard bulkhead and extends into the dorsal and ventral maintenance spaces. Despite recycling equipment I carry only enough water and air for three months of deployment at standard usage rates outside of a compatible atmosphere. Once we get to Steinhull I recommend that you place me in low orbit, if not landing outright, so that I can top off and maintain those supplies.”
“I didn't note a cooking space or food storage in my personal quarters. Where is that?”
“Food consumable storage access and the food perpetration area is actually in the engine compartment. The bulk of the ion thrusters are exterior to the living spaces, so the ship designers decided to make use of that area for other purposes.”
“That makes about as much sense as having three separate bridge stations in the cockpit but only one chair.”
“I can not calculate the logic involved in either decisions.”
Sinn rolls his eyes.
“Bureaucratic regulations probably. Something along the lines of 'food can not be stored or prepared inside of a sleeping or work space.'”
“But why the engine room?”
“Everything else is a sleep or work space. And if the engines explode you have bigger problems then running out of food.”