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The Great Restart - Dartes - 06-13-2023
The Great Restart
Since their meeting on Ames Martin had caught up on mostly everything that happened during the time they didn’t see eachother. Additionally he explained to Bulldog how what’s left of their group is now living on a mobile laboratory, the Aegus, an Aquilon class vessel. Most of the remaining crew that decided to stick together did so either to live there or was drawn back by the work that the Aegus provided them. Research, construction and even repairing. They had tried to work as efficiently in the condition they found themselves in.
The sight of the Aegus filled Martin with a sense of coming home, not unlike the brief moment of nostalgia Bulldog had experienced at the sight of the Bretonian Destroyers and the squadrons flanking them.
"This is it." Martin turned to Bob. "I have prepared a room for you and since your Dromedary is on Ames, I have left a temporary fix. I hope you enjoy it." he said with a curt smile.
"Tomorrow will be a long day, so I suggest you rest." Bob let out a boisterous, if somewhat too loud, laugh at Martins words and ran off almost immediately after. This did not bode well.
New day on a new era.
Martin did not expect to go on a military route, not in this manner, not against someone who had no chance of defending. He knew he had to play it smart or else there would be too many casualties.
After a night of almost no sleep, he got ready for his meeting with all the staff, hopefully sorting every detail out.
A light anxiety come onto Martin as he walked up to the meeting room, a giant room with an enormous table at the center. At the center of the table there was a hologram displayer, typically used for presentations and calls during the meeting.
He was apparently the first to arrive, so he started loading what he intended to show to everyone into the displayer. Only once he was halfway through his preparations did he notice telltale signs that Bob had been in the room; a dog print sticker on one of his consoles and a crudely drawn picture of what appeared to be a map of Pennsylvania. The drawing could easily be mistaken for that of a small child, barely qualifying as stick figure quality with a specific feature involve what Martin could only represent Bob with two socks on his hands flying one of the Destroyers, an egg that supposedly represented Martin himself on another and Bobs beloved volleyball close behind in some sort of vessel he could not possibly recognize. With a sigh Martin continued his preparations.
One by one everyone started arriving, filling almost all the seatings in the room. Engineers, researchers, captains and, well, Bob.
Even if everyone was trained or had some degree of military training, the presence of Bob, disturbing as it may be at occasion, did provide a nostalgic familiarity which made it easier for Martin. It also helped that while the man was clearly unstable, he always seemed to get results. Luck truly was with the stupid.
After everyone was seated, Martin got up and cleared his voice.
"Good morning everyone and thank you for coming here today. As many of you know, a situation has developed in Pennsylvania, especially on Planet Erie." Bob spat on the ground at the mere mention of the situation, even though the actual situation hadn’t been described yet. “Darn straight lad, dem Libbies went completely mad I tell ya!” He then proceeded to wink at the man next to him and chuckle in a softer tone “An’ that’s comin’ from me.”
Martin shook his head and continued after Bob’s little outburst, have long since learned it was best to just roll with it rather than trying to keep the man quiet during such occasions.
"Now, let's not even consider the fact that the Treaty of Bethlehem is now void. Going after innocent people, it's beyond inexcusable. Therefore I think it's time to intervene."
You could hear around everyone murmuring after his statement, except for Bob who remained uncharacteristically quiet.
"I know many would think of it as a suicide mission, but we do not have to make it turn out that way." He then pulled out a hologram of the system.
"You see, most of the system is surrounded by nebulas or asteroid fields, which give us a natural advantage. We can use those to conceal our forces and intervene if deemed necessary."
He took a long breath. "Now..." And he started pulling up some lists. "As you may expect, it's time to get re-armed." And he started giving the technical staff some tablets.
"Those are most of the modifications I thought could work. Let me know how it goes, and the destroyers have priority."
After finishing his statement, some of participants of the meeting got up, said their goodbyes to the rest and went off to start working.
Meanwhile, Martin was pulling other tablets with different lists on them and was giving it to the rest of the group, except Bob who seemed slightly insulted he didn’t get to tinker on the Destroyers.
"We also need to think of the safety of our people on board of the vessels. We need to properly arm them and give them the proper protection. Others are possible engagement tactics, recon possible patterns and to be blunt, everything else you can think of that might be of help."
The remaining staff nodded in agreement before also leaving to get to work, leaving Martin and Bob in the room.
"Now Bob, don't even think I forgot about you." With a sly little smile Martin added "Today you are spending your day with me overseeing the destroyer's rework. Afterall, you have to know the ship you're going to command."
And he started walking towards the exit of the room.
"Meet you there."
CV-Caladbolg.
One of Martin's best accomplishments as an engineer. He was really proud of this project and, despite the fact that it was a Destroyer classed vessel, he never expected to have found a use like this to them.
While walking towards the bridge Martin was explaining some details to Bob.
"I know focus is not exactly your forte Bob, but this time I need you to give me your attention.” Bob meanwhile had already wondered off, handing a dog biscuit to one of the engineers at work before sheepishly grinning at Martin. Martin took a brief pause, rubbing his forehead as he felt a small migraine coming up." Now, the Caladbolg and the Fragarach are not exactly your standard issue Crecy. They are very much modified, reinforced with the same alloy Ames is made of and each using two powercells as power supply. So while in most ships you have to worry about resupply, on this one you won’t."
The duo continued to walk and talk, eventually ending up on the bridge.
"I don't have to explain exactly where we are, but I need to explain you something else as well." Martin went to a board computer. "These ships are having their original weaponry mounted. However, those are experimental weaponry, so just be careful with them."
Two files appeared on the screen in front of them. "Those are the notes on the weaponry, so you know what exactly happens when you fire them."
He turns back to Bob.
"Other than that, it's pretty standard. I really think you'll get the hang of it." And he smiled. "Any question?"
Bob let out one of his signature laughs, he never really was one for questions for better or for worse, not when it came to tweaking ships at any rate. “Yer alright Eggeh.” was all he said before rushing off to only god knows where on the ship.
The next few days were particularly hectic for the crew assigned to the Caladbolg. Bulldogs seemingly erratic instructions were hard to accept by the more scientific minds among them, but for every insane demand he made he also seemed to upgrade a system in some unexpected way or finish something significantly faster than he had any right to.
To say things did not go swimmingly despite these improvements however would have been an understatement. There were the occasional demands for transfers, citing inhumane working conditions, unsafe labor practices and a distinct excess of dog biscuits. However, once all the ‘troublemakers had gone’ the rest of the crew, just like Martin, slowly started to resign to their fate at the hands of Bulldog.
In the end however, the Caladbolg stood proud, and as Bob would put it, as a fully armed ship of destruction alongside its significantly less cooler but equally as ready sistership the Fragarach, which didn’t even have flames painted on the side. Bob had considered having a repairdrone welded to the side of the vessel much like he had done with his Dromedary, given the fact that the Caladbolg had two powercells it would have been a breeze, but unfortunately he had been unable to locate any.
With a content smirk Bulldog walked over to Martin's office and said with a proud grin “Oi Eggeh, she’s ready!” before practically dragging off the poor scientist so he could show off his work. The rest of the crew had made sure that Bulldogs typical ducttape-esque solutions were properly finished, preventing the ship from looking quite as horrendous on the inside as Bobs ships typically did. The bridge however was something he considered his prized jewel. The captains chair, famously very luxurious in Bretonian ship design, had been replaced with a more modest and efficient chair that was placed slightly to the side. In the center of the bridge however, on full display, was what could only be described as a massive over the top throne with a velvet pillow which had a Velvet™ logo embroidered on it. The ideal seat for Milleh the volleyball.
With a single manly tear in his right eye Bulldog turned back to Martin and said, slightly chocked up still from the majestic sight. “Oh, and we got the weapons all sorted out as well.”