Chronicles of Sol: The Fall-Chapter 200 - One Sixty-Six Overhauls and Charts

Richards leaned over the console, a massive diagnostic was running at the moment. The discussions with the merchants had gone well, and they'd been getting plenty of new parts for the overhaul of the entire structural integrity grid.

She'd gone into that expecting she'd need to just order materials and do all the construction herself, but the Krall foundries were pretty good. There were still some components that she'd had to build herself, but most of them could be custom-ordered from Krall factories. That had helped cut down a lot of time on the repair.

Naturally, she didn't just trust the parts out of the box, she'd had each and every one checked before it was cleared for use in the overhaul. Work teams were crawling all over the hull now, replacing the outer layers of hull plating, rebuilding AIF generators, and replacing burned-out components.

The console beeped, highlighting a few errors. She turned to the crew. "Adjust that last component, two percent negative."

"Aye, ma'am, two percent negative."

A second later the console cleared an error, but she still had a dozen more for it. "Power flow is too low, boost the voltage by six percent."

The crewman nodded, and adjusted the flow. Just as she heard footsteps. Looking back she saw Countryman step into the room, "So how are things going in here?"

"Well enough. Mostly making adjustments. The local field strength in this section is now at sixty-five percent of nominal."

He smiled, "That sounds like quite the improvement. How long before you have everything purring again?"

"A couple of hours maybe, we got all the parts installed, it's just a matter of working the kinks out."

"In that case, I will leave you to it."

She turned back to the console, "I'll let you know when we are done."

As Countryman left she went back to addressing the errors that had turned up.

It took the rest of the afternoon to fix all the errors. Stretching, she turned to the crewman who had been helping her. The man chuckled, "I can't say I'd want to do this again."

"Well would you rather be shot dead because you were too lazy to make sure the..."

"Good point, but this job still sucks."

"Not really, it's just tedious. Now it's the poor sods working on the waste management systems I feel sorry for."

The guy nodded, "In that case, this job is lovely. Anything else we can do?"

"I think this just about covers it. I'm going to inform the captain that we have full hull plating again. Just run another set of diagnostics in case we missed anything."

"Will do."

Richards found the captain in his home office getting ready for a council meeting. She didn't often visit his quarters, idly she recalled that one of the few times she'd been here was with Ruri and Greyman to discuss the future. The place still looked pretty much the same, as a high-ranking officer, Countryman had a multiroom luxury suite. At least by standards set on the Enterprise. Back on Earth, this would have been a modest apartment, albeit one with a museum display in the foyer.

Her own quarters were just down the hall, and aside from being a little smaller, were pretty much the same. They both had a nice foyer, a central multipurpose room, an office, a private bath, and a bedroom.

Seeing his foyer made her feel like her own was rather basic. He had a lovely seating area right there in the first room, and the museum display was tastefully done. It was a real conversation piece, full of ancient electronics, back on Earth that piece would have been worth millions. Countryman had said they were all functional, and the disks that had been carefully organized on the display made her wonder how it would feel to play some of those games.

For a moment she wondered why they hadn't sat down in here for a gaming night. It wasn't like they never had time. Traveling between systems could get pretty boring, but now that she thought about it, they always found something to do.

Countryman's home office was just off the multi-purpose room, which was set up with a nice kitchen, and a living area. His home office was somewhat different from his ready room that was off the bridge. Most notable were the rows of shelves on either side of the room, stuffed full of old books with varied titles on numerous subjects. There was everything from fiction to engineering manuals in here. Off to one side was a recliner and a table, and Countryman had a large desk with integrated terminals off in the corner. It even came with multiple displays, something his work desk just off the bridge didn't have.

Countryman smiled when she came in, "Evening, how's the hull plating look?"

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"I'm willing to sign off on it. I have them doing one last check, but everything reads nominal. We shouldn't have any issues with high warp or the occasional firefight," she replied while settling into the recliner.

"Good, the council will enjoy hearing that. I think most of us would like be underway sooner rather than later."

"Right, I almost forgot about that. Did you find what you needed?"

Countryman pulled a pad out of a drawer. "Updated star charts and as much info as I could find on the war. From the sound of it, we are going to have to pass through a war zone to reach Brathra."

She winced, "Doesn't sound that fun."

"No it doesn't, which leaves us with three options. We either press on, find a new destination, or make ourselves comfortable and wait."

Megumi sighed, "As fun as the Krall are, I don't think we should stay here too long."

He chuckled, "I don't think they'd mind the company."

She grinned, "Nor I, but..."

She trailed off, as she tried but failed to figure out how best to vocalize her thoughts.

Countryman after a moment said, "I think I get what you were trying to say, but that leaves us with two options. Pick another destination or trudge forward regardless."

"Fishing for my thoughts before the meeting?"

He chuckled, "So you caught me."

She grinned, "Well if you want my opinion, we should trudge through. The Enterprise is a tough ship and she's stealthy. The Valorians really had to pull out the stops to hunt us. Now that they are distracted, we have every chance to get past them unnoticed."

"Mostly stealthy, we are hard to spot, but they've figured out how to track our engine signature."

She sighed, as he reminded her of that, "I know, but there isn't much I can do. Standard wake reducers only do so much and we just blew through most of our trade budget."

"I asked Ruri to look into organizing a project for that. So far she's got three different teams looking into solving our problem."

"That's nice and all, but we really need a solution now. We can't afford to sit around while the science types run their simulations and dot their I's."

Countryman stood up, "I'm quite aware. Some species have cloaking technology. I did look on the market, but obtaining a Krall cloaking device isn't in the cards. That's a military technology, and the sale of such devices is naturally restricted."

"Did you talk to Tika?"

"Sure did, there isn't much she can do about that. She said we'd have to put in a request and that the Imperium council would discuss it. Unfortunately they aren't really meeting people right now due to the Imperium's current state of general mobilization."

"Well can't say I blame them. If the positions were reversed I'm not sure I'd be willing to trade vital military technologies either."

Countryman quickly agreed, "Yes, well that's always the risk. Military technologies represent a vital advantage, and while we have known them for five years, our interactions have been sparse. Generally positive, but sparse nonetheless."

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"So if the council decides not to proceed to Brathra, do we have any alternates in mind?"

"There are two sectors near Krall space that look potentially promising, but we will have to contend with neighbors. The first is within spitting distance of the Malora, whom we've had very little contact with and the other? Well it's a fair journey from here and would put us in close proximity to the Vok Alliance."

"The Vok Alliance? Can't say I've heard much about them."

"I've heard a bit, and none of it makes living near them sound that appealing. Apparently they are known for their aggressive recruiting tactics. I have a feeling that if we tried to settle near there, they would attempt to bully us into joining their," he paused, and made air quotes, "Alliance."

She frowned, "Not an ideal place, I think we've all had enough of aggressive neighbors."

"Agreed, and that sector would force us to either join the Vok Alliance or petition the Krall for status as a protectorate. Of the two, joining the Imperium seems preferable, but I'd rather we stand on our own."

Shifting her weight out of the recliner, she stretched, "I think a lot of us would. I guess that leaves us with the Malora."

"A wild card, I don't know enough about them to even predict how they'd respond to a human colony within spitting distance of their colonies."

"I think that really makes my original case stronger. Crossing that war zone is feeling far more appealing by the minute."

Countryman opened the door, "I noticed, but at least I haven't heard anything negative about the Malora. I'm just uncomfortable with the idea of settling near a major power I know only from rumors and words on a page."

The two of them made their way out of the room, heading for the meeting. Yet Richards found those words sticking with her. The Malora had basically been a nonfactor to them for the last five years and now they actually had to consider this other race, whom they'd never actually met. Given how things had gone with the Cathamari and the Valorians, she was left wondering if they'd be another hostile power to deal with. The Vok were a little easier to figure out, they were known for bullying weaker states into joining the alliance. It seemed they prescribed to good old gunboat diplomacy.

Those same points ended up being central to the meeting, where officers thoroughly discussed the pros and cons of their every option. Several ideas were also floated about what to do with their remaining trade budget. In the end, they decided they were going to cross the war zone, but first they would use their remaining trade budget to purchase additional fuel supplies. The Enterprise already had a solid reserve, but just in case they figured it would be good to top off their reserves. It would ensure they would have enough gas in the tank for whatever they needed to do.