"You all know why we are here today!" said Jason as he pulled himself from his red leather seat "There is no surprise to anyone that our facility needs a bit of TLC and that every minute that passes will lead to more expensive repair costs. Furthermore..." as he points at some reports on the table "...Core nosed around more often lately. We need this upgrade more than anything and you all know it." He started walking around the table while staring in the database link in the middle. "Karl, please do the honors, after all is your Nucleus who made this proposal" said Jason. Karl pulled himself closer to the table. "We've worked these past couple of months on a plan to upgrade Thabit. This means a complete overhaul of the entire station coupled with the fabrication of a new Module - designated Module D. It's primary role - housing the Military Nucleus and all future defensive and offensive equipments. This operation has been discussed by me with the Directorate. Both, Daniel and Jason, agreed on this and since then my team worked day and night to come up with a design to fulfill our needs." as he stopped a little to catch his breath William intervened "How come I was not consulted? You say this module will house Military Operation quarters - am I to expect a complete shutdown of all operations?" A moment of silence followed as William was looking at Karl. "No operation will be stopped. If you stop a bit and listen you can see in the Project that all is considered. Karl?" Karl pulled the DATABASE monitor closer and selected Project CITADEL
#Your presence has been detected and reported |
#Your activity will be monitored and recorded |
#Initializing holographic feed |
#TAVIA interface online |
Thabit Autonomous Virtual Intelligence Assistant
| SELECT ENTRY [Project CITADEL]
| SUBJECT LISTS AS FOLLOWS
| [I.Overview]
| [II.Blueprints]
| [III.Tasks]
| [IV.Materials and Resources]
| [V.Contractors] ACCESSING [I.Overview]NAME: Upgrade plan #1025 for Thabit Command and Research Center DESIGNER: Logistic Nucleus DATE OF ISSUE: Stardate 2203 822 AS PURPOSE: Defense enhancement of Thabit Station and assembly of a new modular section - Module D LICENSE: O'Rhu Directorate internal communique #3035 based on Order Overwatch approval STARTING DATE: Stardate 3003 822 AS ESTIMATED COST: aprox. 500 000 000 $C ACCESSING [II.Blueprints]
Connecting Module D facility to Thabit: 10,000 IH, 5,000 HPA, 5,000 PFC, 5,000 NF
Organizing the new Operational Center into Module D: 10,000 IH, 10,000 RH, 2,500 OA
Rearranging Module B: 5,000 IH, 5,000 RH, 2,500 OA
ACCESSING [V.Contractors]
Considering the secrecy of the said installation, most of the hauling should be done via Logistics Nucleus. In order to procure materials out of O'Rhu reach, discussions have been made and the following groups have been identified as possible contractors: GMG|
(SolarR Update stardate 2904 822AS Contracted as per Official agreement for supplying the Station with 40,000 High Performance Alloy (HPA), 20,000 PlasFoam Conduits (PFC) and 20,000 Nanomembrane Filters (NF).
BD| Update stardate 3003 822AS Contracted as per Official agreement for supplying the Station with 40,000 Optronic Arrays (OA)
VWA| Update stardate 0503 822AS Contracted as per Official agreement for providing 100,000 Industrial Hardware (IH). Hauling will be done by O'Rhu vessels from the pick-up location in Frankfurt.
[C] Update stardate 2205 822AS Contracted as per Official agreement for providing 40,000 Heat Sinks (HS). Hauling will be done by O'Rhu vessels from the pick-up location in Maine.
Decisions towards employing this parties should be made as fast as possible in order to not delay the construction project.
#Connection to DATABASE was severed upon request | #Dumping temporary files from memory | #Terminating holographic feed | #TAVIA interface offline |
"Directorate considers this meeting to have come to an end" said Daniel after convincing himself that William understood all that implies this major undertaking "Anything else will have to wait for now. Karl make sure all available Logistic assets will be involved, the sooner we finish this the better." Daniel pulled himself off his chair and as he was headed to exit the office Jason said "Daniel, you should try contacting the Dragons, see if they can help us with some of those materials." Daniel nodded and replied "We will have a chat concerning this soon. The Runners also are a good alternative"
Location: Thabit Station, Jason Orack's personal quarters
Stardate: 3103 822AS
A buzzing noise was flooding the room and Jason woke up to find his own personal communicator was doing this annoying sound. Without looking at it he picked up the call. "What's all the fuss about?" said Jason as he yawned and stretched still recovering from a good night's sleep. "Jason, great news, the BD| are going to help us with the Optronics. I've just received news from one of their Leaders. They will start the supply runs as soon as possible. It all went smooth, it seems the terms of the initial request were good enough. I've already talked to Karl to inform him about this so he can make the necessary arrangements." Jason pulled himself from his bed and started walking around. "Daniel, any word from the VWA| Command concerning their Industrial Hardware. I remember Karl told me yesterday he had already assigned some transports to do just this." A moment of silence, followed by a shower of typing sounds and clicks. "Nothing for now, it might be the transmission never got through. I heard people on Akabat saying it was a strong ionic discharge near the Sigmas the other day. Maybe the relay got fried up. You should resend that one." And the call was disconnected from the other end. Jason stopped in front of the window as an O'Rhu transport was just approaching the station, most likely filled with materials for the overhaul project that was steadily advancing.
Location: Thabit Station, Logisitc Nucelus Main Office
Stardate: 0304 822AS
Karl entered the room in a rush, visibly concerned. He picked up the datapad laying around and started browsing. After a couple of minutes of feverish searches his hand started slowly scrolling down a message. One could have noticed a faint smile on Karl's face as he read the news. He took the datapad, sat himself comfortably at his desk and poweed up his computer. As the holographic screen made it's appearance with a low pitch tone, projecting Karl's shadow on the nearby office wall, Karl started typing in a message: "Jason
I am glad to announce we've finished hauling the necessary Hull Segments and Robotic Hardwares. The last shipment just came in a couple hours ago. Furthermore, I've procured those 10.000.000 $C for the Industrial Hardware over-fee. Just send me the credentials over the Neural net and I will wire them immediately.
On a different note, what's the word on those BD| Optronic Arrays transports? I made all the arrangements to have 2 cargo pods on hold for them and no cargo to fill them with as of yet.
Jason made good time plodding along the hallways. All this time Daniel was already in the control room of the Temerar Mark II shield generator having a word with Karl and a few specialists. "So you're saying we should consider an overhauling of the Shield Generator?" said Daniel. One of the specialists came forward. "It is necessary Sir, considering both the cyclotronic generator and the shield emitters are at their mid-lifespan." Karl looked over some of the maintenance checklists, nodding from time to time. "Well, he is right. And if you see it this way, Daniel, we better strip this thing apart now, see if any fatigue-related issues have cropped up. I'd rather repair it now than leave it be and have a breakdown right in the middle of an Ionic storm, or worse..." As Karl was doing his argumentation, Jason walked in the room, greeting everyone present. "Karl. I just got word from the Comms Center, the first transports of Industrial Haw are to arrive soon. Two of our ships requested permission to land just moments ago. Concerning the Optronics, the BD| said will start hauling them right away. Do you still have those warehouses free?" Karl nodded in reply. "So, now that is out of the way, what is going on here?" Jason looked over the room. Daniel approached him and said "The Shield Generator is approaching its mid-lifespan and the men told me a MRO is in order." Jason rubbed his chin a few seconds as he draw a deep breath. "Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul...well if it must be done, we shall have it done, don't you agree? We don't want this thing braking down in the middle of a storm or something..." Daniel was indeed on the same wave length as both Karl and Jason, but... "You realize this will mean credits, time, materials, personnel., all of which we are in short supply of right now." A moment of silence followed Daniel's remark. Jason looked at Karl and he saw confidence in his eyes that this can be done. "Karl will get us a report with all we need and the time frame. We can leave this as a final job, after all there are still two months left until the MRO deadline..." said Jason as he was heading towards the exit.
Location: Thabit Station, Storage Pod 2
Stardate: 2204 822AS
Karl just arrived on the unloading platform as the final transport of Optronic Arrays from the BD| berthed. Two girls stepped down from the ship and presented the cargo manifest to the Quartermaster. As the cargo was unloaded by the automated cranes, a few dock workers were inspecting the crates. "As usual, top quality, chief!" said one of the workers. The Quartermaster then punched in some numbers in a datapad. The two girls bowed quickly while smiling, made a short 180-turn and went up the ship as fast as they came down. While all this was taking place, Karl headed towards another area of the Storage Pod 2. He pulled up his datapad and started browsing it. While doing so he closed near an almost full warehouse. "....just 3 more transports and the IH is going to be done as well. I'd estimate in 3 days...and we can move on with the building part of the Project. I shall have a word with Jason." said Karl while inspecting the stockpiles of materials in Cargo Pod 2.
The work started exactly as Karl said, 2 days after. It has been decided to tackle the problem of replacing the outer-hull firstly. The job had to be made with great haste and to satisfactory results. Groups have been made to work on the exterior of the station and a Repair Ship brought from Evora Shipyard to assist in the process. The major risk for this particular part of the job would be an Ion Storm taking place right as the Station's outer shell was taken apart. This could mean a great deal of trouble for all the equipment in the areas unprotected. Another downfall would be the downtime of the kinetic barrier as long as there were men on the Station's exterior.
In the meantime, other teams were tasked with stripping down the inner walls to grant access to the framework. Consolidating and repairing the Station's main framework was a tedious job. Miles of cables and tight corridors, hundreds of panels and connectors, all to be carefully taken apart so to grant access to the inner-core.
William and Jason were flying a shuttle to the exterior of the space, to check up on the progress made. "You know Jason, I consider this to go according to plan. The guys are doing their best and the work seems to advance steadily. We'll have this done in no-time." Jason looked over the window to a group replacing the hull panels of a Module. However he did not seem that confident as William was. "The Council has yet to reply to our request. We need those Heat Sinks if we are to advance any further. This new coating will mean diddly-squat without repairing the broken heat vents as well. Those dissipators are how long...2 years now?"
Nevertheless, the construction work that started just 2 days before was already showing progress.
"You know Daniel, I'm again looking over those scans...the shell spectral scans. The extent to which the wear and tear affected the outer-shelling just bothers me...." said Jason as he was browsing some of the documents for the base upgrade project. "Good thing we're doing the overhaul I guess...I must agree, some of the panels replaced there were a complete mess, what is even more surprising is those were the middle-layer panels. Any idea what caused it, must not be just the external factors, maybe the panels overall quality?" added Daniel as he was browsing the mail. "It could be...that could be as good as any explanation, Daniel. I've had a chat with Karl the other day and he mentioned something about curring the outer-layer panels with a cobalt coat. That would make them highly resilient against corrosion made by vacuum, ultraviolets and highly charged particles from the Ionic discharges and moreover protect the middle-layer against penetrating radiation. He estimated he would need about 300 bars of that. I'll let him know tonight he should go ahead with that. I wonder if those Junkers in New Berlin have the material available...that is worth a try." Daniel approached to see the documents concerning the base upgrade. Looking over them, he stopped at the list of materials needed. "That reminded me, Jason...has the Council contact you got from Commander Hellion responded yet?" Jason remained silent with that look on his face when one knows something just does not go intended. "I'm expecting an answer from the SolarR somewhere tomorrow...they've asked for a higher price per unit...I guess those Nanomembrane Filters are a bit more difficult to find, even for them" continued Daniel. "Do you think we should go on with the framework strengthening while waiting on those Heat Sinks?" Jason looked up from the documents and raised his shoulders. "I think we should ask Karl about that...if it is possible, it would momentarily solve the problem created by the delay of commodity delivery. Still, we can't finish the job without repairing those dissipaters."concluded Jason.
Three rheinbiers on the table, all opened and half full were a pretty darn good cue showing that the three persons at the table were very concentrated on the discussion. Daniel was browsing some files whilst William and Jason were not exactly agreeing on some details, Jason trying to make his point clear in a rather harsh and loud way.
"You know Jason?" said Daniel, "We should proceed with other parts of the construction, we're still sitting on those Heat Sinks and the outer-platting job will not be done until we get those anyhow." Jason looked at Daniel for a moment, gulped some bier and replied. "We have all other materials needed? We could move ahead with module D fabrication. William, is your team done with the new Military Quarters blueprints?" William pulled himself from the table, made it clearly that he will be back in a few moments and left the room. "Well, SolarR's are moving ahead with their part of the bargain. I'd estimate in 1 week's time they will have all materials hauled in. We've already started getting in HPA's and some Filters. I say we have enough for constructing the bulkhead, strengthening the inner framework and starting on the Module D, Jason." Jason picked up a file from the document case he had with him and looked at it. It was the blueprint for the bulkhead in Module B.
"Did Karl told you how he managed to get the RA hauled in, Daniel?" asked Jason. "God knows how he managed to do that but I am glad he did it. I assume not all Zoners around Delta are against us." Jason considered Daniel's proposal to be entitled, after all the job was already taking longer than planned. "I'll announce the others concerning this. You are right. We should continue with whatever else we can and keep the schedule. Though, I do hope we will get some Sinks pretty soon, else..."
Just at that moment William stormed back in the bar as fast as he exited it previously. "Here you go, Mr. Know-it-all!" It seems those petty arguments were not doing well to the relation between Jason and William. "Now, now gents!" Daniel intervened while pouring some more bier in his glass. Jason agreed not to answer back even though his nature was not so indulging, many of the arguments existing because of his own hardheadedness. He took the one of the files brought by William and had a look over it. It depicted a nicely made layout of the new Military Command Center.
"Nice work!" said Jason, in a calm voice and as if he forgot the whole argue he had with William just moments ago, before he left to bring the blueprints. It was maybe his weird nature. William was sitting there a bit baffled and said plainly "Thanks, I guess!"
With Karl being on a leave for some days to take care of other business that needed completion as soon as possible, keeping the work up to schedule was left to Jason. SolarR's were delivering stuff as they agreed upon, even faster than expected. Today, the last shipment of High Performance Alloy was due to come in. Jason was at the docks, listing materials, checking the stockpiles - Karl had kept a tight shop, everything was in order, all goods accounted for. As he was looking at the datapad, running some numbers, a acute beep pulled him out of his trans-like state of mind.
"What is is Daniel?" said Jason, picking up his personal communicator that stopped doing that horrific sound he never been found of. "We might be late on the outer-platting, Jason, but the progress on the other tasks we've started is decent. I'd say by tomorrow the bulkhead door will be finished, half of the guys are already working on the framework for Module D and it seems the station framework didn't needed all that much work either. Just a few spots here and there are still troublesome. In rest, renewing the framework structure went as a dream." Jason stopped a bit and babbled something as he was thinking at what God knows, probably trying to put together all he heard just now. "Well, that makes it up, as you said...indeed it makes it up for all the ti..."
Ever more loud an engine noise abruptly interrupted the conversation. A big, white ship was just pulling over at the dock near Jason carrying the markings of the Solar Runners. "Those must be the last HPA's!" said Jason, more like for him, and closed the communicator...
Location: Thabit Station, Jason Orack's personal quarters
Stardate: 0905 822AS
Six more days passed and still no answer from the Council side. This time, the transmission got through as an automatic reply was received, but for whatever reason an actual answer still did not come through. The works were delayed because of this, even though progress was being made in other sides of the station. Jason was not happy with the situation and was starting to consider an alternative way of getting the so much needed Heat Sinks. Just as he was browsing through some files, a message pops up on his console. Jason's face lighten up in an instant. The message was directed from a Council relay. In no time Jason read the response and sent a message back. all of a sudden things were not that bad anymore. with Council finally responding, the Heat Sinks were now just some days from being shipped in and the project could continue at last. Jason grabbed his personal communicator and called Daniel. "We got them, soon enough we will have the Heat Sinks we need. I just got word from an official." " Great news, Jason! Meanwhile, we've finished the bulkhead doors and the connector for the Module D. The framework has been completed also. We are advancing steadily with the module, but you know, it takes time as this is a bit more difficult than anything else. No worries, we will have it done soon enough." concluded Daniel.