What he saw took him completely by surprise. A frame had been built right on top of the door. It housed hundreds of ancient capacitors, quick discharge battery units and the most simple control circuitry he had seen since primary school. He chuckled to himself. “What am I seeing?”
The bay doors were three meters across and the whole machine was made to be pushed through by three very basic piston arms. He walked around it with a flat scanning pad he had tuned himself for electronics. “There's enough power here to run the ship for two days.”
He looked at it again, inspecting it a little closer. There were a few capacitors that weighed a few hundred kilograms at the centre, but most were smaller. They had been screwed, welded, and glued on randomly, a few were even affixed with tape, a lot of tape. Quick release cables were attached to a panel above, leading to the main port capacitors where a great deal of the ship's energy was stored. “It must be another redundant system,” he said to himself, scratching his head.
The inner door opened and one of the maintenance crew members walked in. His vacsuit was sealed as well. “What are you doing in here?”
“I saw something on the weapons control station I wanted to check out, it lead me here.”
“Ah, the Big Surprise. I've never seen anyone track it down before. They usually just ask about it.” He crossed over to Finn and shook hands with him. “I'm Agameg Price, maintenance and occasional boarding. I'm usually down here during hyperspace. I like to make sure our emitters are in good shape. I get paranoid when we're moving past the speed of light. I hear the Captain's grooming you to be his new Chief.”
“Not that I've heard.”
“Well, the rumours are making the rounds.”
“I hope not, everyone here has more experience.”
“Well, I remember my old Staff Sergeant used to say he'd rather train a grunt to be an officer than train an officer to be a better officer. I think the Captain might just be training you to do things his way. I hear you graduated from an engineering program.”
“I did, but I don't talk about it. Some of the crew don't seem happy about me getting time on the bridge after being on board for less than a month.”
“Some of them are pretty petty. A few don't understand what kind of training someone who finishes an engineering program has. They can maintain most of these systems, sure, but you're trained to build them.”
“Did you go to school for this?”
“Yup, two years accelerated training then straight into the military. I did damage control on a big Galta Battle Cruiser.”
“Wow, I've only seen those in the news.”
“They're bigger up close, trust me. Three kilometres of guns, drop ships, and stasis bays for infantry. One of those things make it into orbit and they have twenty five thousand troops and fifteen armoured divisions on the ground in thirty minutes. Every fleet needs one.”
“So how did you end up here?”
“The war ended, open conflict was over. I could have gone back home but I didn't get to see much of the galaxy while I was in the service, so here I am.”
“Couldn't you have gotten onto an exploration vessel or something? I mean, this isn't the safest way to see the galaxy,” Finn whispered. If it weren't for his vacsuit's proximity radio Agameg wouldn't have heard him.
Agameg laughed and clapped Finn on the shoulder. His touch, despite being quick, was very light. “The issyrian Home Systems don't send survey ships out anymore, not since we ran into humans two hundred forty or so years ago.”
“You're issyrian?”
“I am, I just hold human form because it makes everyone else more comfortable. I've gotten used to it too.”
“I'm sorry, I've never met any of your people before.”
“This is your first time out in space?”
“Outside my system. That obvious huh?”
“To the people here, sure. We've been out here a while. For most of us this isn't our first ship. I know at least one of us was hired right out of an escape shuttle.”
“Really?”
“Yup, Mara, I call her Hitcher when she's in a bad mood. It reminds her things could be worse.”
“She's a gunner, isn't she?”
“She is, keeps to herself though. Likes those sims a bit too much I think.”
“Oh, I used to play, but now I just use them for practice unless someone else invites me into one.”
“We'll have to play Embargo Five sometime. I can't find many people who are any good.”
“Sounds good, though I've never played.”
“It's a strategic game, lots of diplomacy involved. You'd probably do very well. I have to inspect the emitters soon, so I should be going, but before I do, let me introduce you to the Big Surprise, ” Agameg said, gesturing to the long, messy machine in the middle of the cramped room.
“Well, I know I was surprised when I first saw it, but I'm still not sure I know why it's on the weapons station.”
“It's an Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb.”
“Whoa,” Finn exclaimed quietly, stepping back. “There's got to be enough power there to fry someone at this range. I'm guessing you build one of these and drop it through the doors.”
“Exactly, only this one's been used twice.”
“So you go back and pick it up when things calm down.”
“Yes, and when we're not using it to fry another ship's systems it serves as a source of reserve power. It stays charged by leeching less than a percent of the ship's energy and it's wired two way, so if we need a bit more juice we can tap in.”
“Smart.”
“The rumour is that the Captain hatched this idea and a couple of his engineers got together and built it. They're not aboard any longer, I think one is working on board one of his haulers.”
“So they built it here right under the port power systems so sensors wouldn't see it as a weapon.”
“Again, exactly right. Both times I've seen this used it came as a complete surprise. It's non-lethal at optimum range, but most ship systems are neutralized, especially weapons, sensors and engines since they're always built into the outer hulls.”
“It's genius, most of these parts are ready for the scrap pile, so it must have cost nothing to build.”
“The crew used to add a part to it, normally a small capacitor and sign it after they had been aboard a month or served in some kind of combat. We stopped doing it about a year ago, I don't know why. Here's my signature,” he said, pointing.
“On that old reserve battery?” Finn said, looking at the tiny component welded to another capacitor.
“Yes, as they say, every little bit helps.”
“I guess so.”
“Well, I have to go and check the emitters.”
“Mind if I go with? I haven't seen all those systems yet.”
“Certainly.”
The pair left the Big Surprise behind and began their inspection. Finn was full of questions and once he realized that Agameg enjoyed answering them they never stopped coming.
Longennes Station
The Samson lazily followed one of the outer holding patterns around the cluster of drifting station segments. The primary section of the station was originally designed to have a more streamlined look. With round segmented view ports in all directions and spirals extending out from the oval center pieces leading to entertainment centers and housing.
Over time expansions had been built and they didn't match the original design. Long, angular spokes extended from one side of the main complex, joining it to several dry dock areas and dozens of mooring pylons. It made the whole thing look lopsided but that didn't matter so much to the travellers who relied on the outpost for fuel, supplies and general transportation. It was a critical transfer point for commercial travel, tens of thousands of passengers disembarked and met with connecting space transports.