the
troops?"
"No, why?"
"Just wondered." She laughed.
"Also, have the best troops billeted
on Custer. John Wayne will be on detached service for some of the time, so we
may have to do without them. It might be possible to rotate troops at some
point, but don’t bank on it. If you're not sure of loyalties, better we just
take the fifty best. Oh, and make sure we've food for them all. Custer was only
provisioned for twenty, for a month."
"Will do."
"Can you arrange for the station's
civilian population to be returned please?"
"Certainly. When are we leaving?"
"The station will leave as soon as its
repairs are done. Sometime in the morning I expect. We'll leave as soon as
Gunbus is ready. If there are still civilians outstanding by then, we'll leave
the Liner behind for them. It can catch us up."
"I'll get on with it."
She left.
"Jane, can you move the two freighters
back to the station when it arrives. And have one of your security droids
pretend to be a Liner Captain."
"What's this pretend business? I'll
duplicate my avatar, and use a Liner Captain's uniform. In fact, I could do
that for the freighters as well, since they're not technically up to spec for
humans to use. The cargo bays are fine, so an avatar could run the ships just
as well as a human could. Better in fact. Both ships have deliverables. My
other selves can deliver once we arrive back in Australian space. You've done
drone Battleships and fighters, why not freighters as well?"
"Good point. Fine, organize it. Better
empty their cargo bays as well. Put the cargoes with those other deliverables
we have from Miami, and organize them by destination. Once back in Aussie
space, you can load up for destinations, and deliver systematically, regardless
of where the station ends up. Have the station's repair droids go over both
freighters. They won’t need life support or crew spaces. Those could be gutted,
and used for more storage space. And see if they can increase their speed.
Faster is better. If you need, pull some repairable power plants, and anything
else you need, from some of the hulls we retrieved today."
"I feel the need. The need, for
speed."
She mangled the cry on the end of it. But
then, only an American could get it right.
Eight
We docked at the Avon Orbital a little
after seven.
I was in the shower when George pulsed me a
suit file for approval. After drying off, and pulling on briefs and socks, I
activated the file to see what he'd done.
'Slinky red' became 'swanky red'.
He'd taken the Dress uniform Annabelle and
I'd been sent, and combined it with 'slinky red' to create a new dress uniform
everyone else could wear. It looked like the Sci-Fi dress uniform, but was in
the Hunter dull red colour, with three white stripes down the sleeves. I liked
it, and told George. I made up an epaulette with just the large ship captain
badge on it, only bigger than normal, and sent it, and the 'swanky red', to
Jane. I added it to my uniforms collection, for future use.
"Confirmed," I heard Jane say
through the ship coms.
I set my suit to Sci-Fi Dress and wandered
out to find Angel. She wasn’t in my suite at all, and I tracked her down to her
pad on the Bridge console. She was fast asleep, so I didn’t bother her. I
headed down to the Rec Room on Deck Two.
Amanda and Aleesha were waiting there, and
for the first time I saw medal ribbons on them.
"Why don’t you wear your ribbons on
your normal uniforms?" I asked.
"Just never did," said Amanda.
"The suit is normal wear, and apart from rank, nothing else is needed.
Within the team, flaunting medals doesn’t achieve anything. Truth be told, we
don’t need the rank insignia either."
"What she said," added Aleesha
with a grin.
"You will from now on. We're taking
troops with us in case stations need retaking. You may find yourselves in
command of troop units. They'll need to see rank insignia. Even on board ship,
the fifty who move in downstairs need to know you're officers from moment
troops?"
"No, why?"
"Just wondered." She laughed.
"Also, have the best troops billeted
on Custer. John Wayne will be on detached service for some of the time, so we
may have to do without them. It might be possible to rotate troops at some
point, but don’t bank on it. If you're not sure of loyalties, better we just
take the fifty best. Oh, and make sure we've food for them all. Custer was only
provisioned for twenty, for a month."
"Will do."
"Can you arrange for the station's
civilian population to be returned please?"
"Certainly. When are we leaving?"
"The station will leave as soon as its
repairs are done. Sometime in the morning I expect. We'll leave as soon as
Gunbus is ready. If there are still civilians outstanding by then, we'll leave
the Liner behind for them. It can catch us up."
"I'll get on with it."
She left.
"Jane, can you move the two freighters
back to the station when it arrives. And have one of your security droids
pretend to be a Liner Captain."
"What's this pretend business? I'll
duplicate my avatar, and use a Liner Captain's uniform. In fact, I could do
that for the freighters as well, since they're not technically up to spec for
humans to use. The cargo bays are fine, so an avatar could run the ships just
as well as a human could. Better in fact. Both ships have deliverables. My
other selves can deliver once we arrive back in Australian space. You've done
drone Battleships and fighters, why not freighters as well?"
"Good point. Fine, organize it. Better
empty their cargo bays as well. Put the cargoes with those other deliverables
we have from Miami, and organize them by destination. Once back in Aussie
space, you can load up for destinations, and deliver systematically, regardless
of where the station ends up. Have the station's repair droids go over both
freighters. They won’t need life support or crew spaces. Those could be gutted,
and used for more storage space. And see if they can increase their speed.
Faster is better. If you need, pull some repairable power plants, and anything
else you need, from some of the hulls we retrieved today."
"I feel the need. The need, for
speed."
She mangled the cry on the end of it. But
then, only an American could get it right.
Eight
We docked at the Avon Orbital a little
after seven.
I was in the shower when George pulsed me a
suit file for approval. After drying off, and pulling on briefs and socks, I
activated the file to see what he'd done.
'Slinky red' became 'swanky red'.
He'd taken the Dress uniform Annabelle and
I'd been sent, and combined it with 'slinky red' to create a new dress uniform
everyone else could wear. It looked like the Sci-Fi dress uniform, but was in
the Hunter dull red colour, with three white stripes down the sleeves. I liked
it, and told George. I made up an epaulette with just the large ship captain
badge on it, only bigger than normal, and sent it, and the 'swanky red', to
Jane. I added it to my uniforms collection, for future use.
"Confirmed," I heard Jane say
through the ship coms.
I set my suit to Sci-Fi Dress and wandered
out to find Angel. She wasn’t in my suite at all, and I tracked her down to her
pad on the Bridge console. She was fast asleep, so I didn’t bother her. I
headed down to the Rec Room on Deck Two.
Amanda and Aleesha were waiting there, and
for the first time I saw medal ribbons on them.
"Why don’t you wear your ribbons on
your normal uniforms?" I asked.
"Just never did," said Amanda.
"The suit is normal wear, and apart from rank, nothing else is needed.
Within the team, flaunting medals doesn’t achieve anything. Truth be told, we
don’t need the rank insignia either."
"What she said," added Aleesha
with a grin.
"You will from now on. We're taking
troops with us in case stations need retaking. You may find yourselves in
command of troop units. They'll need to see rank insignia. Even on board ship,
the fifty who move in downstairs need to know you're officers from moment
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