AWF Chpt 116

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=Chapter 116=
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===Working Prisoners of ComStar===
Black Lion Class Battlecruiser, CSS Veil of Light
Jump Point
St. Ives System, St. Ives Compact
June, 3030
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Anastasia followed Demi-Precentor Myers as she led her through the warship. Anastasia, like her crewmates, had been forced to surrender her weapons and remove her armor and tactical vest. She was wearing her black coveralls. The shoulder patches for the McFinnigan and Sons, and the Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth were still on her coveralls as well as her name and rank badge. She still had a few personal items in her pockets, but she was for all intents and purposes a prisoner. Anastasia was also carrying two large manuals for the ECM devices.
"Demi-Precentor, Ma'am, what will happen to the crew of the Phaidin?" Anastasia asked.
"If it's up to me I'd confine them to their dropship. This vessel has limited facilities for holding captives, and my crew is too limited to guard anyone. Though I suspect Demi-Precentor Tempes may prefer to keep everyone somewhere he can see them. His cadre of agents probably need something to do anyway. Before you ask, the crew of the Excalibur drop ship will stay on their vessel, at least for the time being."
The two women walked in silence for a moment.
"Demi-Precentor Tempes believes you're a technical expert and have proficiency with lostech," Myers said. "May I ask how you gained your knowledge? I've heard New Avalon's Institute of Science has access to a digital library of Star League era data, however you seem young and, as I recall, they've only had that data for a few years ."
"I had a genius father who could seemingly teach himself and me anything. He could reverse-engineer any technology he could find, and replicate it. Often, he could even improve it. He encouraged my innate curiosity and desire to learn."
"That sounds wonderful." Myers smiled, "The day is coming when Blake's goal for a reunited mankind will be realized and we'll need smart young women like you to help restore the star league and usher in a new era of peace and prosperity. Have you ever considered joining our holy order? We could take your natural talents and skills and put them to great use. Great use for the greater good."
"I don't think so."
"Perhaps you should speak to your father. He sounds like the sort of man that would encourage his clever daughter to make wise choices."
"He was…until he was killed by members of ROM."
Myers stopped and looked Anastasia in the eyes, "That's absurd, ROM stopped…that's not something ComStar does."
"And yet Demi-Precentor Tempes just threatened to brutally massacre an entire planet all because I didn't want to help him potentially threaten other systems. Which brings up the next fact that we're standing on a war ship. It seems contradictory to claim your order's goals and aspirations are peaceful when we're preparing a warship for conducting clandestine operations, particularly if nuclear weapons are going to be involved."
Myers started walking again, "Tempers were running high, and I suspect Demi-Precentor Tempes rarely has anyone tell him no." Myers snapped, then sighed, "However, I can understand your perspective, and there is no excuse for Demi-Precentor Tempes comments, and I wasn't pleased with his outburst. I'll speak to him."
"I wouldn't speak to him alone. " Anastasia said.
"I'll keep my own counsel on how I interact with my peers." Myers replied.
"You mentioned you had a significantly reduced crew, but it appears that Demi-Precentor has at least a squad of heavily armed men. He's a dangerous man that may use-"
"Yes. I'm very familiar with his men, I was in the middle of the same fire fight that you were in."
"Do you have a personal security detachment?"
"I realize our ranks may be simple and difficult to understand when compared to your military's, but I'm captain of this vessel, Leftenant. You should treat me as you would a Sr. officer in your own Navy."
"Yes ma'am." Anastasia said realizing she likely over stepped multiple lines of military professionalism and decorum, but at the same time Myers seemed too trusting of Tempes.
They walked in silence for a few minutes before they came to the engineering section. There were several adepts and acolytes working at various stations. A large man with short curly brown hair seemed to be in charge. When he saw Demi-Precentor Myers he approached her."Ma'am, you need help?"
"Chief Engineer Adept Reilly," Myers greeted him, "This is Leftenant Anastasia Calahad. I need you to find Acolyte Corvus and have her work with the Leftenant to get the ECM installed. They are also going to need a few able spacemen to move the ECM from the Leopard to the engineering section."
Reilly nodded, "Yes Ma'am." He glanced around and looked downthe passageway. "Where is our comms section? Where's adapt Jones and adept Rayburn?"
"Demi-Precentor Tempes and his adepts…there was an exchange of weapon fire, and Adept Jones and Rayburn…Blake has willed that Jeremiah and Michael cease their labor."
Reilly whistled. "Damn. The comms section was already thin and running double duty for sensors and avionics, of course all our sections-" Reilly stopped himself. "Adept Jones and Rayburn were worthy adepts and laborers in Blake's work. They will be missed. They have earned their rest and Blake's peace."
"Peace of Blake." Myers said in agreement. "Can you spare any engineers from other sections?"
Reilly scratched the back of his head, "Propulsion team is struggling, because they've never worked with engines of this scale. My team and I are trying to make sure the battery is good, and we're prepping for the recharge operations. According to the log this is the first time this vessel has jumped in centuries. Power distro keeps chasing down weird anomalies, and Sub-systems and weapons team-"
Myers nodded impatiently. "I understand all hands are engaged, and not enough hands to go around. Take the Leftenant to the comms stations, and introduce her to acolyte Corvus. I need the ECM installed and operating as soon as possible."
"Aye Aye Ma'am." Reilly leaned in closer and half whispered, "She's one of the mercenaries, right? Is she a prisoner, or how should we handle her? I don't really have anyone to spare to guard or babysit-."
"I promise to not cause problems." Anastasia said, "It's been made evident that any misbehavior or noncompliance from me will have significant consequences for my friends or home world."
Myers shook her head, "I appreciate your willingness to assist us, and I'm certain you understand that on a space vessel we all have collective responsibility to keep the ship operating. That said, I will not allow Demi-Precentor Tempes to harm you, your colleagues, or your home world."
Anastasia was unconvinced but she politely nodded, "Thank you."
"On that note, I need to have a long talk with my fellow Demi-Precentor. I also need that system online without delay, give the Leftenant and acolyte whatever assistance they need."
"Ma'am, Acolyte Corvus isn't exactly…have you talked to her for any length of time?"
"Acolyte Corvus has some of the highest technical marks I've ever seen. I had to quickly gather this crew, and I chose her because of her technical abilities. From what I understand she'd be an Adept if she'd put forth more effort." Myers said. "If Demi-Precentor Tempes is correct about the Leftenant, they should have no problem with installing this equipment."
"Yes Ma'am, I'll get them moving." Reilly motioned to Anastasia. He led her through the engineering section. As they walked Anatasia could feel the eyes of the crew on her. She felt conspicuous as they all wore similar white or yellow coveralls with various piping and accouterments that had a vaguely military look about it.
Anastasia and Reilly came to a juncture of passageways that had a large column. It was like a tower that stretched up several decks, and an access ladder led down several more. Multiple cables and conduits ran into the tower, and Anastasia could see this was probably the nexus of a great many electronic systems on the warship. She also thought it might even extend outside the ship's super structure and be part of the vessel's antenna array.
"Acolyte Corvus." Reilly called out, "Where are you?"
A woman's head appeared over the tower's second deck railing.
"Come down. I have a task for you."
A young woman in white coveralls came down the ladder and approached Reilly and Anastasia. She was short, and had blue eyes and blonde hair. Her coveralls had few embellishments and as near as Anastasia could understand she was a very junior or low-ranking member of ComStar.
"Acolyte Corvus, this is Leftenant Calahad, she'll be assisting you in installing the Electronic Counter Measure. This was the equipment you were briefed that your section would install once it was delivered. Do you remember the briefing?
As Reilly spoke Corvus simply nodded. Anastasia couldn't determine if her look was patronizing or if she was a simpleton.
"Right well, Adept Jones and Adept Rayburn suffered some misfortune and they are no longer with us. So Calahad here is going to help you, do you have any questions?"
Corvus simply shook her head.
"Acolyte Corvus?" Anastasia said, "Hello, my name is Anastasia. We've been tasked to install an experimental ECM device." She held out the technical manuals she was carrying, "These manuals contain the instructions we'll need to perform the install. I'm told you can read Russian?"
Corvus nodded again as she took the books that Anastasia offered her. She seemed to be ignoring both of them as she opened the top book and began examining the contents.
Reilly turned to Anastasia, "The Skipper told me to give you whatever you needed, so, what do you need?"
"The ECM is still on the Leopard dropship. It's located in a transportation container in the port aerobay. If you could send a detail to bring it here, that's the first step." Anastasia answered.
Reilly nodded, "I'll get some of the boys to bring it here. How long do you estimate this will take?"
"There was an appendix that appeared to describe how to install the equipment, and I believe it stated 36 hours."
"You 'believe' it's states 36 hours? The appendix 'appears' to describe? Are you a technical expert? Do you know how to read?"
"These manuals are written in Russian and Chinese, which are two languages I can't read. However based on the diagrams and formatting it looked like installation instructions. I can understand numbers, math, diagrams, and symbols. I just can't read the specific details."
"The details you actually need install the system."
"I apologize, I can only read English, French, Spanish, Italian, and German. Can you read Russian or Chinese?"
"We're not talking about me here." Reilly said.
"No we're talking about someone who can be helpful." Anastasia said as she felt her annoyance grow. Acolyte Corvus looked up from the book and looked at Anastasia curiously. Anastasia thought she saw a hint of a smile.
"Be careful, Leftenant." Reilly threatened.
"I apologize." Anastasia said, she felt annoyed with herself for again overstepping the bounds of military professionalism, decorum, and good manners.
Anastasia took in a deep breath, "The fact remains, I need the help of someone who can read Chinese or Russian. I also need someone who understands this vessel. However, to go back to your original question, I doubt this equipment was intended for a warship, and from my understanding the equipment has to be installed in different sections of the vessel. Therefore, I suspect 72 – 80 hours is more realistic estimation."
"Skipper said without delay, I read that as you got 10, maybe 12." Reilly said.
"Where was this appendix?" Corvus asked.
"It was in the back of the second manual. After the OV graphics."
Corvus switched books and quickly flipped pages, as she quietly said "after the operational viewpoint graphics." She stopped and nodded quickly . "Yes. You're correct about the 36 hours and the installation guide calls for a team of 5 techs."
"I'll talk to the Skipper, make sure she understands this may take some time, but I don't have any techs to spare." Reilly said. "Start figuring out where you want that equipment brought." He turned and walked away.
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