WCGW Chpt 215

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==Chapter 215 - What Could Go Wrong==
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Thazi (Independent System)
10th December, 3045
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Reginald Traveline eyed the 700-meter-long maintenance slip they had built on site. He had worked for Clyde Shipyards for twenty years and with only a 3 year break where he had worked for Federated Boeing Interstellar over Galax before returning to Clyde Shipyards. He had seen many maintenance and construction slips in his time in the industry, but never one that had been literally ripped from a station and reassembled somewhere else, all while keeping it pressurized for easier working conditions. While his professional eye was critical of the "crude" nature of the actual work and look of the completed slip, he had to give them some serious accolades for what they had accomplished. This was only further enhanced when he learned that the work had been done by JumpShip crew and Zero G trained Marines and Infantry. Not a single professional shipyard worker had touched their actual work.
"We had to make do with what we had. She is not the prettiest construction, but by god she works." Chief Engineer Vincent Zuniga said
"I think you and your people did a marvelous job. You said not a single person here was a professional shipyard worker? Astounding. Please tell your people that if anyone needs a job, I would be proud to have them. You said you gutted a wrecked Olympus Recharge Station? Here?" Reginald Traveline replied
"Not here, close by. We had to cart it all back here and rebuild it into what we wanted to create." Chief Zuniga said
"Not in this system. That makes what you all did even more astounding. I am more an expert on Dropships, but we have all helped service Jumpships. Tell me, how are you planning to examine the Jump Cores?" Reginald Traveline asked
"We have the sounding equipment from the Olympus. We extended it's normal track the length of the repair bay. Just like you normally would, we open the entire side of the Jumpship up to expose the core itself and walk the sounding equipment down the side like normal. Fully motorized forward and reverse. We should have no problems checking for micro cracks. If we find some, well that is an entirely different problem. No way to grind or recast a core. The ship will just have to be deadlined until a new core is ferry jumped to us." Chief Zuniga said
"Ouch. Expensive. Grinding a core is not hard, just a matter of powerful teeth that grind away at it until they are pebble sized. I have no clue about recasting one. We could build you a core grinder. At least you would be able to recoup some of your expense by selling the ground core to whoever was building you the new one. Of course, your talking thousands tons of ground up germanium and titanium pebble to haul to them. Catching all the pebble will be a problem, a big one in Zero G." Reginald Traveline replied
"Be nice to have one. Think it could be attached to an Olympus? Dump the pebble directly into say an expanded cargo bay until it can be loaded and carried away?" Chief Zuniga asked
"I do not see why now. Might need some extra station keeping drives to counter the grinder's movements. Why do you ask?" Reginald Traveline replied
"Cause we have an Olympus here, in this system, but my little tug does not have the power to break the gravitational pull of where it is orbiting." Chief Zuniga said
"You have the main part needed, the Tug Adapter. Just need a Dropship with powerful enough engines to push the Olympus. Million tons, figure a 4g max thrust profile. A 3g should be able to push the Olympus around, not sure it will have the ability to break a gravity pull but a 4g profile should be able to handle it. You get a Dropship that has that sort of profile, it is not too hard to make the modifications to mount the Tug Adapter." Reginald Traveline replied
"What if I told you I did have a Dropship that exceeds that 4g profile?" Chief Zuniga asked
"Two, maybe three weeks and I could have her modified with the Tug Adapter. Move that Olympus and then decide to keep her like that or another couple weeks both ships are back like they were." Reginald Traveline replied
"You make it sound so easy." Chief Zuniga said
"It's what I and my people do for a living. You would not believe the modifications we have made in the field to get a battle damaged Dropship back to a proper facility. This would be fairly straight forward." Reginald Traveline replied
"Then let me go show you our baby. Ever heard of a Pentagon Dropship?" Chief Zuniga asked
"Never have. But let's go take a look at it." Reginald Traveline replied
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