The high durability, multi layered reinforced carbon nose of a Uriel fighter was being wheeled out of one of the materializers just then and Jake couldn't help but be in awe as the predatory, sharp angled section was guided to the assembly point where other portions of the hull waited to be put together. In less than a day the Triton would have another brand new heavy fighter.
Chief Vercelli noticed him. “They're fine looking ships once we get them assembled. What brings you down here Captain?”
“I just thought I should come down and see this part of the ship. I've never seen a mass materializer this size before and after getting the last parts for the Samson I had to see where they came from.”
“Everything up to spec?”
“That's just it; the Samson is made mostly from spare parts and what you and Liam sent down just looked too new. Nothing matches, now I'll have to do the whole ship.”
It took Chief Vercelli a moment, but he got the joke and nodded. “We aim to impress.”
“I hear you picked up a few pilots on your recruiting run.” Jake said as the front half of a fighter engine pod began to emerge from the materializer. He could feel the vibrations from deep within the machine in his teeth.
“Aye, twenty three all told. Only two failed qualification once they came aboard, they're signed up with Frost.”
“Do they have fighters assigned to them yet?”
“This one here is for one of them, aye.”
“Why isn't the pilot down here watching how it's put together?”
Chief Vercelli just looked at Jake for a moment before returning his attention to the sections of hull and interior component packages being gradually laid out in the shape of the fighter to be. “You're right Captain. To be honest we never built fighters from scratch on my old assignment. We got 'em from a factory like most outfits. I'll get him down here so he can learn what his machine's made of.”
“Good. How are the rest of them doing?”
“What? The nineteen pilots we have flying? Pretty good. Only had one tried to steal his rig. He was surprised to find that the hyperspace and wormhole systems were locked out from the Flight Control Centre.”
“I caught that in your report a few days ago. The playback of the conversation between him and Paula was hilarious. I think she really enjoyed shutting his fighter down remotely and having him dragged back with the Cold Reaver.”
“What did you end up doing with him?”
“Ashley's dropping him off outside Sheffield.”
“That one's taking care of that sort of business?”
“Leland's doing the dirty work, but she's running the show.” Captain Valance nodded.
“Will wonders never cease.”
The pair watched the mind crushingly loud ballet of manufacturing, assembling and machining continue in front of them. The other materializer was making parts for the main emitter array. The complex, dense components were taking much longer to manufacture and had to be treated with much more care than the sections of the fighter that were coming out like clockwork from the other large machine.
“I was wondering, what are you going to do with the Samson? I know she's being outfitted as a shield ship and she's got the power of a small tug, but you haven't assigned a pilot to her or put it on the patrol rotation.”
“It's driving Paula crazy isn't it?”
Chief Vercelli laughed and nodded. “Aye, she likes to have everything in order.”
“You'll know exactly why that ship's being rebuilt when she goes into action.”
“How much work is left on her?”
“Finn and Price are putting the final touches on her tonight and I'm hoping to have her out in space for some testing-” Captain Valance stopped and answered a priority call from the bridge. “Go ahead.”
“Sir, we have a transmission from the Silkworm Four. You should get up here,” Stephanie informed him.
“I'm on my way,” Captain Valance answered. “I'm sorry Chief, I'll be back to do an inspection when things quiet down.”
“Aye sir, the boys'll like that. In the meantime I'll have someone track down this pilot so he can see how his fighter's put together.”
The communications station on the bridge was surrounded by Cynthia, Stephanie, Paula, Laura and Price. As Captain Valance approached they parted so he could see the scratchy message for himself. “-it burned out our hyperspace systems so we'll be going to Pandem using the wormhole system and conventional engines. I'm hoping you have a long range patrol out in our direction so you receive this before moving on. If not, Oz and I will track you down. Love you Laura, hope to see you soon.”
“Would you like me to play it back for you sir?” Cynthia asked.
“No, I got the gist and I can review it later. Who picked this up?”
“Tanner and his copilot sir,” Paula answered. “They were doing scans along our outer radius and testing their wormhole drive. Your friend is lucky we had a trustworthy pilot out that end, otherwise it would have taken a month for his message to get to us. Will that be all?”
“Have they returned yet?”
“No, they're actually a couple hours out. They used a high compression micro wormhole to relay this back to us as soon as they got it. They couldn't decrypt it but recognized that it had a Freeground tag and thought it might be for you, Captain.”
“Thank you Assistant Chief, that'll be all,” Captain Valance said with a nod. It was that way between them all the time, absolutely business like. On the brighter side, Paula had seemed to calm down, to accept the fact that he was Captain and there was no changing her place on the ship unless she left entirely. No one complained about her attitude shift whenever Captain Valance walked onto the bridge.
“Tell me we're going after them,” Laura said quietly.
“Our main emitters are still offline, we can't make it to Pandem in a reasonable amount of time in the Triton,” answered Captain Valance.
“We can make it there in twelve days if we push the engines, that's a start.”
“The Cold Reaver is out on a recruiting mission. She won't be back until tomorrow. Besides, I think I know a way to make it there in a lot less time. I'll take a fighter.”
“No,” Stephanie said firmly in a low whisper.
Captain Valance looked at her coolly. “What?”
“Whether you realize it or not you've been the one holding the ship together. You watch the reports, skim the operations figures, visit the crew while they're working to boost morale and design entire training regimens. Even the Chiefs turn to you for a decision when they know it'll go past their sections. It's bad enough that we've been sitting here for weeks in training. If you leave people might feel that Triton has no direction, no momentum.”
“Alice has been working just as hard as I have.”
“Because she has to. This ship needs every able hand aboard.”
Jake paused a moment and just looked at Stephanie. She was showing her stern side, something everyone had gotten used to seeing with her as the Chief of Security, but there was something else. “What is it Steph?”
“It's a bad call, you leaving. That's it.”
“Well it's my call. Laura will help keep things together in command while I take a fighter and go pick up Jason and Oz.”
“I'll need your help, Chief,” Laura said to Stephanie quietly.