Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Angel's Gift ❯ Chapter 24

Angel's Gift Part Twenty-three

The black haired young man smiled slightly as they strode down the corridor together, both of their black with silver trim uniforms crisp and neat. "So what do you think of our new arrivals?" Alex Keron asked curiously.

Kayla Shen raised a delicate eyebrow, "I haven't seen enough to judge." A bit more sternly the pink haired woman added, "You might be careful making that sort of comment, this is a military vessel not one of our usual Corps of Engineer ships."

"You're right," Alex admitted.

They entered the ship's mess hall and headed to the banks, tapping in requests then watching as the trays slid out loaded with food. The seats were mostly empty, reflecting the skeleton crew that currently staffed the Liberty's Sword.

"I noticed you were working with our new tactical officer," Kayla noted as she began to methodically cut and eat her vegetable.

"Amara," Alex nodded to herself thoughtfully. He leaned forward to add, "You know, I'm pretty certain that she must have had some military experience," he paused to eat a bite before adding, "or else was a privateer."

Kayla looked amused, "The privateer wouldn't surprise me, actually."

"She does have that... rebellious look," Alex agreed as he took a drink. "Sharin should be good on the helm, though," he mused.

"Her file ratings are impressive," Kayla quietly admitted, "but as a Questor I think she'd have some authority issues."

"Hmm," Alex nodded glumly.

"Well, let's just hope we don't run into a fight before we get back to the Throne," Kayla sighed, slicing her serving of fish carefully.

"Wouldn't bet on it," Alex said.

"Incoming," Kayla murmured as the two women walked inside, talking quietly.

Kat held Roma's hand, the brown haired young woman smiling to herself happily. "You know," she said gently, "I've been waiting for you to finally say something."

If Roma could blush, she probably would have. "I was worried about how you felt," she scolded, "we do come from very different worlds."

"Fair enough," Kat conceded as they sat down at a table to talk, keeping a respectful distance from the other officers. "I'm really surprised at how few people there are on board."

Roma nodded thoughtfully, "This ship is running below even the minimum requirements for crew." At Kat's curious look she continued, "According to the regulations I downloaded, a vessel of this class should have at least fifty-one officers."

"And how many do they actually have?" Kat asked.

"Twenty-five," Roma answered, "stretched thinly over three shifts."

"That explains the relieved looks some of the bridge crew got when they heard we're joining," Kat blinked, digesting that.

"Exactly," Roma agreed. She tilted her head to the side and asked, "How is the reviewing of medical guides going?"

"It's remarkably simple," Kat said with a relieved smile, "the equipment in there can handle almost any sort of injury." She paused, "Though sorting through all of the alien species on board is going to take me some time."

"How many are there?" Roma looked curious.

"All seven of the Empire's major species," Kat frowned as she tried to remember them all, "Throneworld natives, Rimborians, D'Kenites, the Catwomen of Grimbor, some Magi, Erehwon colonists and you, a synthoid."

Roma quietly chuckled to herself, "I'm not sure that Synthoids count as a species, but I thank you for the compliment."

"I was glad to read some of the information on you," Kat added, "it was very informative."

"Like?" Roma blinked.

Kat smiled with pure wickedness, "Not only are your people anatomically correct, you can restructure your bodies for other... functions."

It took Roma only a second to get that then she scolded, "Kat!"

Kat just smirked.

The engine room, Allison had to admit to herself, really did remind her of some science fiction she had read. The brown haired woman had quietly entered to look around, scrolling through a hand-held data file on the systems as she looked around.

The engine itself operated via hyperspace, more or less. It generated a unique energy field that interacted with the fabric of space, creating gates into another realm with very different physical laws. Traveling just a short distance there equated to much larger distances here, allowing for rapid but not instant travel across space.

Throughout the ship flux nodes were in place, modules that helped produce the field that opened the gate to hyperspace. Their power consumption was hideous, however, which was what required these massive generators. There were three fusion reactors, columns that towered above the crew around them, each one able to run a massive city.

"What are you doing in here?" a curious voice asked, calling Allison's attention away from the technology she was studying.

The golden haired woman was rake thin, almost delicate, but her eyes were sharp as she looked Allison over. 'Glad I didn't wear my rank insignia,' Allison thought as she said, "I'm one of the new arrivals, I wanted to try and see where I could help out."

"Chief Engineer Lucas Anais," she introduced herself distractedly, "sorry I haven't been up to greet you all, but I've been pretty busy."

"Hopefully my friends can help put some of your engineers back to doing their regular jobs," Allison offered.

"It'll be nice," Lucas nodded, then looked down at her curiously to ask, "what is your job going to be, anyway?"

"Ah...." Allison looked sheepish.

"Captain," the lift popped open as Lauren emerged, looking around the room until she saw Allison, "what are you doing down here?"

"Captain?" Lucas blinked at Allison in surprise.

"It's new to me," Allison sighed as Lauren rushed up. To her second in command she said, "Sorry, I wanted to take a look around."

"You might want to give me some warning next time," Lauren frowned.

Allison smiled slightly, "I left Sam in command, he didn't object."

Lucas smiled slightly, watching the two of them interacting. "You're not quite what I was expecting," she conceded.

"Let me know what I can do to help," Allison smiled wryly, "as it seems my attempt to covertly find out what's going on failed."

"Don't make blanket promises," Lauren quietly added, "any engineer usually has a shopping list of things they want."

"Pretty much," Lucas smirked.

"All right," Allison conceded the point, "how about a reasonable list of requests? Considering we're leaving in a day or so...."

"I'll pass it on," Lucas frowned as another officer signaled her then excused herself.

Allison meekly followed Laurel to step into the lift, the fields swiftly drawing them upwards through the ship. "Any emergencies?" she asked crisply.

"Not yet," Lauren smiled, "but the day is young."

To be continued....