The Captain closed her eyes taking a deep breath as she fiddled with her stogie. She had already gotten dozens of requests to take over parts of the Greedly Park sections and the bodies were not even buried yet. “We will be discussing that very subject today Doctor. Please bring it up then.” She knew that they would spend hours on that subject no matter how hard she tried to keep it on the topic of getting the damn ship off the ground. But then she could not blame them. She had gotten completely out of touch with just how crowded the ship had become over the years with all her pressing concerns outside the ship. And then that damn boy Collins had turned around and rubbed her nose into the shit she had unwittingly been turning her nose from. She was starting to lean toward turning the damn old Water Tank or what they now knew was actually Car parking Compartments, into new 2 and 3 bedroom cabins. Seeing even the Greedly bunker with 3 and even 4 kids stacked dead in one closet sized bedroom was beyond belief. She had always been waiting, knowing that once they split the ship into a new transport, the crowding would not be a problem. But the deaths had simply made her realize that even one more month was too long for the crowded conditions to continue aboard her ship.
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Shaking her head again as she waited for the rest of the officers and councilmen to take their seats. She thought back to the fiasco the day after she had made a certain boy become an Ensign and found out that he had created an officers’ country south just so he would not have to move from his cozy little Cabin inside a good sized dorm. Chuckling at herself now for thinking that then. She had spent part of the morning chewing the birthing department butts and thinking about lynching the boy until she started getting mobbed at the birthing offices by grateful parent’s and then stopped everyplace she went by young families thanking her for getting them out of the closets they had been in and then getting harangued by a snot nosed ensign with breasts too big for her own good, wanting to know why she had been moved out of a nice one bedroom cabin with a shower and living room and shoved into a puny Godstar Damn closet without even a private shower.
She had finally taken a look into the closets they had been talking about and then the single bedroom cabins the families had been moved into. Not that she had not looked at the tween decks cabins when they had first started building them but she had simply not realized how small and crowded they were for more than one person, two at the most let alone adding a baby or two.
Kicking herself for how out of touch with the crew she had become. She had decided that she would not kill Ensign Collins after all. At least for a few more hours. Though it was not an hour later that he seemed to test that decision with the hold battle that had almost gotten the ship blown up.
Then afterword’s when she had finally had time for a late lunch in a much less crowded Officers Mess that she could actually hear herself think. She overheard a couple of lieutenants talking about the exercise equipment they each had in their second bedrooms. Looking at them for a few seconds as they went on about how their exercise equipment was better than the other’s as she remembered seeing three kids with their parents packed into a single bedroom cabin. She had to shake her head. Turning to her second officer. “Harry, if I remember right, you have a 3 bedroom sweat don’t you. What are you doing with your extra bedrooms?”
The First Officer turned to the Captain. “Let me see. I have a study and exorcise equipment in one and my two kids in the other.”
“Ok that sounds reasonable if you use your study as much as I use mine. Though I could use my office for that matter.” Turning the Executive Officer on the other side of her. “Art. What are you doing with your extra bedrooms? Oh never mind, you have 4 kids don’t you. So how crowded are you with 3 bedrooms?”
Giving Captain Cook a baffled look as he said. “The 3 boys are in one with my older daughter in the other. And it is not crowded even though my daughter thinks it is intolerable having the three boys in the same cabin sweet with her.” The Exec smiled at the last part.
Turning to a lieutenant that was just standing up to leave. “Lieutenant Macoroy, do you have a two bedroom cabin and if so what do you do with your second?”
“Aaa. Sir? I do not do anything with my extra bedroom but maybe storage.” Seeing the Captain raise her eyebrows a little he continued. “Some of the other lieutenants have exorcise equipment with a few a hot tubs or a Jacuzzis. I know of several that have some hellish simulators complete with motion platforms and environmental simulators that will make you feel like you are actually crawling through a jungle or getting shot at in a fighter. I have been thinking of installing one of those when I save up enough credits but for now I spend a lot of time on my buddies Sims.”
“Thank you Lieutenant. Please stand next to the exit hatch and have everyone that leaves tell me what they use their 2nd or third bedrooms for if they have them. Make sure they talk loud enough for me to hear them from clear up here, even if I don’t seem like I am listening. Carry on Lieutenant.”
She spent the next half hour listening to a never ending string of statements trying to justify their use of their second or even third bedrooms. Twenty years before when she became Captain, the ship had plenty of room for every one with Officers Country long before created from the luxury cabin sweats in the bow decks and no one had bothered to give the accommodations a second thought as the ships family crew slowly grew in numbers. Now she was being forced to look at it whether she wanted to or not.
After that lunch she had immediately started checking and found out there were a lot of families with two and three children living in single bedroom cabins with most two bedroom cabins having 3 to 5 kids in them and finally realized why Doctor Wells kept demanding they enlarge the maternity section. While half the cabins in officer country where two and three bedroom sweats with only a single bachelor officer assigned to each. Even if they were senior. She immediately started shuffling cabins and officially sanctioned and expanding Officer Country South, closing one upper Officer Country deck immediately moving families around to cabins befitting more their size. With a few sections of a second Officer Country deck closed and other sections scheduled for closing later after the first reorganization had time to settle and the needs of the families became clearer. The main point was that she got all the married couples out of the closets and most of the families down to separating the male children from the female children into separate bedrooms at least with no one sleeping in a living room or parents’ bedroom outside of infants.
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Turning around she looked at the Chief again and noticed that one of the seats next to the Chief was still empty. One of the four Engine room Commanders was not present. Mr. Collins was missing. She just hopped that the Chief had not done him in. No; he knew the Chief was not a physically violent man. No, after the last few days, she was more worried about Collins getting into more trouble than the Chief harming him. Especially when he was not where he was supposed to be. “Chief Scott”
The Chief looked up from reading some sheets, moving his head slightly as he touched his temple for several seconds as he answered. “Yes Captain.” His head turning ever so slightly looking for the Captain.
“You seem to be missing the newest member of the Engineering staff.”
“Yes Captain.” The Chief just sat their finally finding her and sat starring at the Captain. Since bionic eyes did not need blinking eyelids to keep them moistened even though he still had eyelids. The Chief always looked like he was in a starring contest.
After waiting for several seconds the Captain continued. “Well, where is Mr. Collins?”
“I have not a clue Captain. I saw him a few days ago for a few seconds before he fled... I mean left engineering. And then he had the balls to show up that afternoon in a uniform that was disgusting to say the least. I can’t believe you are scrapping the bottom of the barrel like that Captain. I heard he even threatened one of his men with a pipe when they tried to help him break open a
n upgrade crate. Instead of using the proper tool, he used a pipe that could have damaged valuable irreplaceable equipment. Then left with important kit documents required for the upgrade ignoring protests by his men. I have heard of him skulking around engine room 3 a couple of times now but I have not seen him since." A smile came briefly to his lips. "No; I left a message in the com system telling him about this meeting but I am not surprised he has not showed up Sir.” Smiling since he had not given Mark the code so he could get into the system to read it. “He seems a bit young and unstable to me. I have several suggestions for a replacement sir, if you would like to see them. Captain.”
Shaking her head sadly the Captain took a deep breath. “After the meeting Chief if you please.” The boy was showing such good progress with all the lives he had saved over the last week but the fight plastered all over the news the day before was confusing even though she knew the men in question were not the young boys the news had kept showing. And then the gas attack the day before. "Maybe all that had happened to the boy over the last few days was too much for the boy and he was suffering after battle stress." But then the Chief had said fled at the beginning and he knew how big of a bastard he could be. Yes it was becoming more obvious every day that the Admiral was very wrong about appointing the boy MP-3's Commander. Even though the Collins kid was doing some incredible things outside the Engineering spaces. She just hopped that his engine was still being upgraded with the rest. Luckily the legal department thought they had found a loop hole that would allow her to relieve the boy tomorrow. That was on today’s agenda as well. But; turning her mind back to more important matters she called the meeting back to order.
It was well after lunch before the Captain finely got to the Chiefs Engineering reports and then the Chief seemed to take forever to get started as he shuffled through pages on the sheet screen laying in front of him. Then finely started listing all the upgrades they had been doing to the ships auxiliary equipment over the last month. Renewing controllers and motors and more efficient Air Conditioning, water purification, power and a hundred other systems needed on every ship to operate. Most of the equipment had come from second hand if not outright junk yards at scrap metal prices. Not making the Captain happy but that was all they could afford at the moment but at least most of it was hundreds of years newer than what had broken down long ago, with some only a few years. But the old equipment had to be replaced before they lifted for the outback and the long distances between systems. Or they would not be allowed to leave the damn planet.
She had known that they had to have a few upgrades when they pitted which they had been doing for months, but she had thought that if they failed to get the permit to enter the outback they could at least return back toward the core of the Empire. Then they found out that without certain upgrades they could not even leave the Planet let alone the star system.
One of those requirements was having Main Propulsion Engines that were not 300 year old pieces of junk upgraded. Luckily they knew about that requirement and had already used the ships last few million credits to purchase the basic kits to overhaul their old engines, upgrading them to something almost modern at least as modern as the old Engine cores would allow without major yard work. The kits also increasing the engines thrust at the same time and could be done by the ship’s crew. That is if they would just do it. All she was getting out of the Engine rooms were confusing reports and a Chief engineer that kept sidestepping the issue. She was almost wishing they had gone with the alternative.
They had considered simply replacing the 300 year old engines with engines a lot newer but newer engines, even out of a junk yard, would have cost almost as much as the kits and then it would have required at least a month in an actual fitting dock they simply did not have the credits for. Not to mention the credits lost from sitting when they had over 6000 mouths to feed.
Luckily the more advanced, more automated auxiliary systems they had been installing around the ship was cutting down the weight of consumables (including water) while saving hundreds of tons simply from the difference in weight between the newer/used equipment and the junk they were getting rid of. The additional weight for cargo would earn them credits as well, paying for the newer/used equipment in a short few months to the Captain’s surprise. Especially as cheap as they had paid for the systems out of junk and scrap yards. She had not realized what the difference even a couple hundred years could make.
She found that the upgrades also allowed her to not only switch crewmen to other duties that would be much more important when they got into the Outback, but to start separating and training a second crew now that they had no choice and had to split the crew into another ship within a year or start converting that damn water tank into family decks signaling the eventual death of the ship simply from the freight tonnage lost. Though Mr. Collins’s creation of the Junior Bachelor’s Officer’s Country South and then the tragic deaths of over a hundred crewmen looks to have delayed that possibility another few months.
Which brought up another heated topic that would keep the meeting going half the night. What to do with the murderers. Their lawyers were pushing to keep them out of the brig, on their own recognizance after such a tragedy of losing most of their family. She simply could not believe it. The only reason the defendants were even alive to grieve for their families was because most of them, including the Greedly Councilman sitting at the other end of the table, were at their damn whore compartment and even admitting that they were screwing the women instead of home with their families dying as an alibi for the murder that was being committed in the tank deck. Though that was only because they wanted to make sure everyone knew they had alibies by the looks of it. The fact that one of those alibies was a young girl swearing Chet was with her when they had him locked up down on the Quarter deck with enough evidence to get him executed was disturbing. The shame was they could not prove the Councilman was in on it as well or even knew about it though why else would he need a confirmed alibi. Or was he simply screwing around on his wife in the first place. The records were showing he spent an inordinate amount of time sleeping in the brothel. The shame was that a couple of the ship’s Judges were resisting the warrant to have the Brothel girls minds examined for brain washing. Doing their best to allow the Greedly’s attorneys every lawyer’s stupid excuse they could come up with to delay the warrant. Luckily Frank had the women locked up where they were safe from tampering with for now. Though the Greedly’s lawyers were doing their best to get them released.
Listening to the Chief drown on about the progress of the upgrades around the ship. Most of which she already knew about. Her mind turned again to the damn Main Propulsion Engines.
She was counting on the Chief to be well along doing the upgrades to engines 1, 2 and 4 so she could have one of the other engine room commanders take over for the boy, to at least get it started after reading Ensign Collin’s engineering report with detailed plans for upgrading his engine. Admitting he had not even started the upgrade as of the day before. But first she had to find out how fare along they were in upgrading the other engines and with the Chief going into great detail on the auxiliary equipment upgrades without saying more than a few words about the engines every time she talked to him, she was starting to lose what patience she had.
Finely completely exasperated as the Chief started in about the benefits and minute details of some new used air purifier equipment, Captain Cook finely cut him off and asked pointedly. “Chief. How are the upgrades going for the Main Propulsion Engines?”
Taking a few second to compose himself the Chief started shuffling through more pages until he finely looked up and said. “We have lost or it was never delivered; one of the crates containing a very important part of the overhaul upgrade kits for the Main Propulsion engines.” As the Captain's mouth dropped open the room became dead silent, quiet enough to hear a pin drop. “We have torn the engine spaces apart looking for them without finding a clue and the Master at arms has done an inv
estigation looking for them in the rest of the ship with no better success. Luckily we have not touched the engines and as it stands now they are still operational but we will only be able to lift a payload of 16,540 tons out of this gravity well. Some 7,000 tons less than what is scheduled to be aboard at lift off Captain.” Getting indignant as he puffed out his chest. “I told you not to add those heavy central braces in the holds and book more cargo until we finished with the engine up grades Captain.” He said with satisfaction that verged on gloating.
Chapter 23 Replacing the Replacements
Mark turned around and closed his mouth. “Get a replacement crate from one of the other engine rooms.”
“Sorry Sir. I tried that and all the number 10 crates are gone sir. I checked the shipping inventory records and the crates were delivered, inventoried and signed for. They have to be here someplace sir.”
“What the Hell….. Number 10 is the injector sleeves aren’t they. Shit. One of the smaller seemingly minor boxes that held key pieces of equipment. Crap! Admiral can you help find them? You must have seen something even if they are only a foot square?” Mark said to himself.
“I saw one of the Engine room personnel take them out of the engine rooms but I could not track them with so many monitors none operational. Nor could I tell who it was with 100% certainty. And they did not show up on any of my other working sensors or camera’s. But I can help in another and much better way Mark. I have several engineering degrees as well and spent much time designing improvements to engines while I had nothing better to do between the stars since I had access to the designs of most of the pre-collapse engines of the ships I was on. Though I was never able to us that knowledge simply because the technology was never advanced enough for me to help much. But I can use that knowledge to make improvements in your engines using current technology. I have a much improved design for your injector fusion sleeves and combustion chamber than what was to be provided in the kit. They can be produced in my machine shop on your numerical molti-axis-lathe by ships machinists using materials recently developed during the war. I can down load the designs when you are ready Mark. The installation settings of the other kit peace's and hardware will have to be changed to accommodate the more powerful flow through the fusion chambers but are well within the engines tolerances. I also have other improvements if time permits including lengthening the engine fusion chamber into an acceleration tube several feet longer using technology that is now possible with the advanced materials available. You will have the revised work material lists in a few minutes as well as the order receipts for the needed materials that should be delivered in a few hours.”
Tramp Wars: The Enemy Page 67