Chpt. 8) Unloading

A notification resounded through the ship as we came in to land on my tiny moon, which prompted me to get out of bed and get dressed. Although I didn’t have anything worth wearing on the ship. So, I had to settle for a green mechanic jumpsuit. Once I had that on, I tied my hair in a ponytail to pull the look together and waited by the boarding ramp as the ship landed with a small lurch.

The ramp extended, and Sam’s smiling face greeted me, “Good evening, Ms.Ricme. Shall I give you today’s reports?”

“Sure,” I said as I walked down the ramp with Haru close behind me, “but first, is Alexandra’s project finished?”

“Yes, ma’am. It is,” Sam answered promptly.

“Excellent! Get cargo ship E-233 prepped for take-off and the cargo in Freighter VJ-623 moved to the ship along with Alexandra’s project, 100 gallons of synthetic embryotic fluid and water, and five healing tanks. Now, about those reports?” I said as we got onto the elevator, and I selected my private offices.

Sam pressed a few buttons on his pad before saying, “The ship will be ready for take-off in two hours. As I recall, the laser and Gauss rifles were supposed to be tested today … let me see here,” Sam took a few seconds to pull up the reports as the elevator stopped, and we walked into my office. “Ah, here they are,” Sam said as he found the reports, and I sat at my desk, pulling up the same reports, “The laser rifle was a complete success, with only slight overheating after ten shots. But the Gauss rifle was only partially successful, as it broke after two shots. But a slightly bigger version worked like a dream, according to R&D. They’re considering marketing it for small space fighters as a Guass canon.”

I reviewed the reports and said, “The laser rifle could be improved by twenty percent if they re-route the supercapacitors with the main battery and the vent simultaneously, and the Gauss canon would put too much strain on a small fighter with the energy requirements. Mark it as a failure and tell R&D to reduce the power of the rifle by ten percent, incorporate additional batteries to reduce the power drain on the ships, and tell them not to market anything ever again.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Sam nodded, writing down everything I said. “Also, there are some—”

“Oh my god! You’re such a nerd!” Haru groaned from beside my desk, interrupting Sam.

Sam and I turned to her and stared at her exasperated and bored expression. “You know you don’t have to be here. Right?” I said shortly.

“Good,” Haru said, walking away as she started to take off her clothes, “You still have wine, right?”

“None of the good stuff!” I called after her as she walked up the stairs.

“Fuck!” Haru groaned as she disappeared upstairs.

I turned to Sam and said, “Please continue.”

Sam took a moment to respond but soon nodded, “Y-yes, of course. Umm … with Alexandra working in R&D, we have twelve new projects to research, from mining lasers to neutron energy. Also, Marketing has contacted several companies to get project funding. All of them want to meet with you.”

“I am too busy to deal with them. Let Sales handle them,” I said, then out of curiosity, asked, “Let me see the list of companies.” Sam swiped his hand forward on his pad, and a list of companies willing to contribute to the projects appeared on my computer screen. Looking at all seventy-five companies, one caught my eye. “Charles Mining Corp,” I mumbled, and a small smile worked at the corner of my lips, “Set up a meeting with the CEO of Charles Mining Corp. next month. I’d like to talk with them and have a Marketing deal with everyone else.”

“Yes, Ma’am. Is there anything else you’d ask of me?” Sam asked.

I leaned back in my chair and said, “Once all the cargo is removed from freighter VJ-623, remove the black box, wipe the navigation data, delete the computer memory, dump the ship in a scrap yard, and report it stolen twenty-four hours ago. Hire some more people for R&D. And when you see Alexandra next, tell her to see me. That’ll be all.”

Sam nodded and walked away, taking the elevator down. I tapped a few buttons on my computer and entered a call. Jin picked up after a few seconds, and I could see into his hidden workshop as he stood on the ceiling with a welding torch working on his half of the project on the other side of the room. The thing he worked on looked like a large cylindrical aquarium with control panels and microcomputers on the top or bottom of the cylinder. “Yes? Who’s calling?” Jin said, his spider legs moving him to the cylinder’s other side.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“It’s me, Violet,” I answered, “I have the requested materials.”

Jin stopped working and quickly approached the computer screen, “You have everything? Did the young apprentice, girl finish her half of the device?”

I chuckled at Jin, not knowing Sparky’s name, “Yes, Sparky finished her half of the project. We’ll head off in about two hours and arrive five hours later. Let’s pick you up and your equipment. We’ll bring them to our main ship.”

Jin looked hesitantly at his aquarium thing as he nibbled on his thumb. Then he sighed, “Very well, having a mobile work area for this project would be more beneficial. I’ll be packed and ready by the time you arrive.”

I nodded and ended the call. I then stood and went upstairs to my penthouse, where Haru was relaxing. As I went up the stairs, I heard her talking, “No, really, I’m fine. I’ll see you soon, I promise,” as I walked into the room, Haru turned around quickly to see me and said sweetly, “I’ll have to call you back babe. Love you.”

Once she hung up, I asked, “Who was that?”

Haru groaned, “Gah, a mark with abandonment issues. I’d abandon him if he weren’t loaded with more than just money if you know what I mean.”

I stared at her for a moment and said, “No. No, I really don’t.”

“Oh, right,” Haru said, blushing a little before adding, “He’s got a really big—”

“I don’t need to know that!”

“Heart. He’s super-rich,” Haru finished, talking over me.

“Oh, well, good for you, I guess,” I said, a little surprised by what she said.

After a second of awkward silence, Haru quickly added, “And he’s got a big dick.”

“OKAY!” I exclaimed as I turned away from her, “I’m going to go change. I suggest you do the same half-naked.”

Haru looked down at herself, noticing she only wore a long dress shirt and a lacy black thong. “I’m right behind you,” she said, quickly following me to the closet.

***

After several minutes of picking out what Haru would wear, she decided on a ruby-red cheongsam that tastefully showed off her legs and chest while accentuating the rose tattoo. The dress had been decorated with golden flowers, and the shoulders were black with intricate lines of gold. While I just put on my skin-tight black shirt, black cargo pants, and my trusty old brown leather jacket with lots of pockets and places to hide things. Then I heard the elevator ding as it reached my office. I clapped my hands once and yelled, “HEY! SPARKY! WE’RE UP HERE!”

“FUCK YOU!” the impudent little child yelled back to me as she started ascending the stairs.

I laughed, walked over to the sofa, plopped myself down, and waited for Haru to join me, but she was busy picking out a wine. Sparky walked in, and she wore something new. She still wore a skin-tight black suit, but without the baggy cargo pants, she was now barefoot and wore an exoskeletal frame. The frame was made of black metal with exposed wires all over it, and it ran along the outside of her arms, down her torso, and the sides of her legs. On her left forearm was a small computer, and I could just barely see a pair of barrels sticking over her shoulders.

I clapped slowly for her and said, “WHOA! That’s an impressive exoskeleton. Is that one of the things you’ve been working on?”

Sparky rolled her eyes and said, “Yes. It’s going to be the first and only exo-suit of its kind. But right now, it’s in its prototype stage.”

“What’s the gun emplacements you have?” I asked, and Sparky tapped a button on her command pad.

Two three-foot-long rifles came over her shoulders. They had broad, open barrels with rings every few centimeters and gold and blue lights running along the length of the guns. “Two shoulder-mounted Gauss rifles. The targeting and firing system hasn’t been installed yet, but they work perfectly.”

I tapped my fingers on the sofa and rested my head against my fist, “Sparky,” I said seriously, “Why did the other Gauss rifles I had in R&D for the past several years fail?”

Sparky went silent for a moment as she looked away towards Haru for help. Haru just shrugged and popped a cork out of some wine. “Well,” Sparky began, sounding more than a little nervous, “There may have been a problem with the energy requirements to make the rifles as small as you wanted them.”

“And why is that?” I asked, my voice still deadly serious.

Sparky was silent a moment longer before reluctantly saying, “Because I don’t like sharing.”

I took a deep, calming breath before I said what I had to say, “Sparky, you have a little less than two hours to fix the Gauss rifles we’ve been working on, gather all the materials you need to finish the suit, and get everything you need onto the ship. If you don’t finish everything by that time, I will personally kill you. Understood?”

“Understood!” Sparky said as she quickly turned and jogged out the door to the elevator.

Once she was gone, Haru handed me a glass of wine and asked, “You’re not really going to kill her, are you?”

“No,” I snorted as I sipped the wine, “At least not until I find a super genius that can replace her.” Haru chuckled at that, and we clinked our glasses together. I quickly downed my wine and got up, going to my equipment room to re-equip all my usual gear before we set off again.

***