Past, Present, Future.
“ How are things over there ? “ Marianna asked through the comms, taking a breather from the Terran situation as things seemed to settle, for now.
“ Good so far. He’s tested his ability earlier today. Made some robotic unit move about, repaired it too. Already gave Aria a full report on that though. “ Kira responded, and then shook her head as she heard the sounds coming from Anthony’s shower.
“ Ugh, and they are at it again. “ She remarked with a hint of annoyance.
“ Do I hear jealousy ? “ Marianna teased.
“ Not interested, thanks. We should consider another problem. He inquired about possible resource acquisition. “ Kira reported, watching her own hand briefly turning into a clawed, fur covered version of itself, just to turn human again, like she was considering the prospect after all.
“ That would be hard, unless we could get his vessels over to Nahor, plenty of asteroids he could mine. “ Marianna suggested.
“ Don’t think we can get his ship through the catapult. His ship would melt around him before he even approaches the gate. And Eden’s catapult is to small to carry him through. “ Kira objected.
The Catapult, as they called it, was an ancient design of a transportation gate, that worked on a similar principal then the Phase lane system the Commonwealth was currently using. It could easily bridge a distance of near 300 Light-years.
Problem was, while it could expedite travel times of any ship headed towards it, if outfitted with the appropriate signal emitter. It could not send ships at faster then light speeds, unless the other side had a Catapult as well.
The Cradle System had two of these, a smaller one around Eden, helping to expedite logistics towards the planet, as well as the Primary Catapult around Cradle’s sun.
One being to small, and the other to close to the sun for Anthony’s ship’s to approach it. For him to use it, they either had to install a Signal emitter, or reinforce his ship. And problem was, the Signal emitter, like the Catapult itself, required an extremely rare resource that only the oldest of the Nah’Rahan could replicate, crystallized aether.
“ Lyria has some decent deposits. “ Kira suggested as Anthony was currently orbiting that rocky planet anyway. It was a dead world, to small for worthwhile atmosphere.
Siren’s did not truly need the resources anyway, they could replicate most of what they needed themselves, and for that, they usually consumed Asteroids, taking the resources from them, while converting the remaining matter into anything else they needed, and most of it came from Nahor, as it was a young system that was still in the planetary formation phase.
“ That leaves us with the same problem, he needs resources just to get started. “ Marianna noted.
“ Not exactly, he just needs a little push. A Mineral composition mapping of Lyria. His robots can not work independently right now, but he can directly control them. And soon as he got his hands on a bit of gold, he can start repairs on his ship systems. “ Kira offered.
“ His ship is supposed to be run by an AI, and he is not familiar with many of the systems. “ Marianna countered.
“ He’s into programming, he’ll figure it out. It will keep him busy, and give him the chance to explore his ability further. And we can still assist with dangerous systems like the Reactors. We got personal here for the Shield tech anyway. “ Kira responded, causing Marianna to remain silent for a few moments.
“ Ok, I have Aria prepare the relevant Data. “ Marianna finally relented.
“ How is it going in Merag ? “ Kira asked, Merag being the furthest of the four Systems that where connected to Cradle via the Catapult, and the closest to the Terran border.
It was a Natural bottleneck, as the Commonwealth would need a long time to connect a new System through their Phase bores, and Merag had a natural Phase lane connected to the Terran Systems.
Vigal, the closest Terran System to them, at around eight Light years from Merag, would take one of their phase bore ship about 70 years to traverse on conventional drive. 40 for their Military vessels, but the Phase lane, it cut that down to a two hour journey.
That fact alone made Merag a system of tactical importance, as a Phase bore would have to traverse multiple times back and forth to establish a stable phase lane. Even if every time the Phase bore covered the distance, it would effectively half the time needed for the next journey, it was still implausible to use for the current conflict.
“ Took out near half of the hidden missile batteries. At this pace, actual combat becomes inevitable. “ Marianna admitted, frustrated about this development.
“ How many ships did they send this time ? “ Kira inquired.
“ Six, Frigates by the looks of it. They just been testing our defenses. Turned tail only before the damage was getting to any significant level. “ Marianna responded.
“ Well, they would not be wrong to assume more hidden placements, especially around the Catapult. “ Kira suggested.
“ Something feels off though. The Missile emplacements where just a trap, and they know that by now. I doubt they send frigates just to remind us of their presence. “ Marianna noted.
“ Maybe Thomas will find some informations. How long until he’s back anyway ? “ Kira, to Marianna.
“ Few more days, should be on Rendar Station right now to meet his contact. “ Marianna responded.
“ Think we can trust those pirates ? “ Kira asked.
“ No, but we can trust Thomas. If he has a Psyker there he can trust, then so can we. “ Marianna assured.
“ Well then. “ Kira mused, and heard Tilly giggling, leaving the Shower by the sound of it, which suggested that those two where done.
“ Need to cut it short here. Can you have Aria send me the data ? “ Kira requested.
“ Already send, check your Padd. “ Aria interjected.
“ Thanks Aria. “ Kira spoke, and then to Marianna, “ I’ll ping you if anything else develops here, Marianna. “
“ You do that. “ Marianna responded, and then cut the connection from her side.
Kira sighed at that, agreeing with her Mothers assessment.
The Terran standard frigates where hardened against missiles. They had a bunch of weaponry just for defensive purposes, perfect to shield larger vessels against slow projectiles and even fighter craft. It was pointless to send them out alone.
But that did not matter for now, if the Terran’s broke through somehow, they could still blow up the Catapult in Merag. It be a painful loss, but it would set the Terran’s back by a few hundred years, probably.
“ Well then. “ She uttered under her breath, pulling her Padd from the storage pocket on her left thigh to check for the relevant data. And satisfied with her findings, she would move to enter Anthony’s quarters.
“ So much for letting her rest for a while, huh ? “ She spoke toward Anthony, a smirk on her lips as she stepped through the open doorway.
“ Things happened ? “ Anthony responded with a seemingly radiant smile.
Tilly was leaning against his right side, and the hand on her right hip was showing how well those two were getting along. It nearly made the impression to Kira that Tilly may actually end up with him for good, despite the Vixen’s influence that had robbed her of that choice initially.
“ Right, things. Happens a lot lately it seems. “ Kira muttered, rolling her eyes up as she shook her head, actually feeling a little vexed now.
“ Anyway, I got good news. “ Kira near insisted, shoving her Padd towards Anthony, displaying the geological map with all mapped resource deposits on Lyria.
“ What is it ? “ Anthony asked as he took the Padd, having to remove his hand from Tilly’s hip so he could navigate through the information displayed.
“ Oh, I see. “ He then remarked, already considering how to get the various resources off planet and into the Hope.
“ May take you a bit of time, but once you got the first round of resources, you can get started on fixing up your ship. “ Kira suggested.
“ No, I think I have a quick way for that. I don’t really like the idea, but I still should have four functional mining units, those can take care of at least surface level mining for now. And given no unforeseen circumstances, I could probably reuse the ships Virtual intelligence. “ Anthony mused, as if thinking out aloud.
“ That is, if it’s still running. “ He wondered, and then looked towards the speaker system above his doorway.
“ Vita, Status report ! “ He called out, just like when he woke up alone on the ship, and just like it did back then, it responded.
“ Local Vita System Compromised, AI unreachable. Please report to the bridge for further instructions. “ The Vi responded, causing Kira to look behind herself as that was the first time she heard that particular voice call out.
“ Looks like it survived. If I copy the code, strip it down to the basic functions, and then implement the controls for the Androids step by step. I might be able to get them back to working condition. “ He muttered, and then looked at Kira, “ Two weeks, maybe three ? “
Kira looked at him in surprise, Anthony was like, switched out. He was spilling out words, and the moment she dared to try open her mouth to say something, he started to blurrt out more words.
“ No, I need Maggie, we need to get the NH 03 docked, so I can get access to her. “ He begun anew, starting to move towards the door.
“ I can have her run detection software once I have control software for the actuators, she can set up the timing software for me. The build in tools would be a bit more difficult. Scanners, optical sensors, I thing binding them back into the system could be trouble too. They have to recognize the optical input. “ He considered verbally, about to leave the room now.
“ For Mothers sake, wear some pants already ! “ Kira near shouted at that point, yanking Anthony out of his current plans and stopping him in his track. At first to look at Kira in confusion, but then her words registered as he looked down on himself to recognize that he was still undressed.
“ Oh, right. “ He uttered, quickly getting back into his cabin to pick up his pants.
“ Actually, if I use the recognition software from the Haunts. “ He suggested to himself, pausing the process to getting himself dressed.
“ Pants, Now ! “ Kira insisted, her face near red now, which caused Tilly to giggle.
“ Argh, for goodness sake, Nerd ! “ Kira groaned.
“ Why thank you ! “ Anthony responded lightly amused, finally to pull his pants on, and even bother to grab a shirt.
He was suddenly so enthusiastic, the moment he had slipped into his boots, he’d simply give Tilly a firm grope to her behind, alongside a brief, “ Rest. “ whispered towards her, before he headed right out his quarters, planning to reach the front hangar where the MK II Haunt’s where stored.
Kira stood there, utterly perplexed now, looking between Anthony as he left, and then Tilly, signing something along the lines of, “ Is he for real ?! “ with hands and facial expression alone.
The amused smile she received from Tilly in return did not help the matter at all. So that she groaned loudly in frustration, before she turned around to chase after Anthony, her task in mind to keep an eye on him, something that was getting her really upset right now.
“ Anthony, wait ! What are those, Mining units ? “ She called out as she moves to catch up with him.
“ Ah, the Haunt MK II. A large robotic unit thats located at the front of the ship. If I am right, it should have been shielded in it’s storage unit. It has a transportation unit to make planet-fall. Getting it back up would be a problem, but one should be enough. “ Anthony explained.
He was moving towards an access hatch to the lower levels of the ship, as the lift that would have carried them down under normal circumstances, was amongst the current list of inoperable equipment.
“ And, why did you say you don’t like the idea ? “ Kira asked carefully.
“ Because those things give me the creeps. “ Anthony admitted, opening the hatch to start the descent into the ships lower levels.