"It has been a while since I used this log; seems all my entries recently had been for the JWRP and Hirschel in the official log book.
Anyway, after a brief jaunt down to Gran Canaria to visit mom, Silk_Road and I ended up in the Taus. The IMG and I still get along well, and we even maintained the social fiction that there are no political difficulties in our collective past. In their defense, I don't think anyone from the current bunch except Jack actually knows our collective past. I am pretty sure those were all newer members."
Chuck snorted, then continued on.
"Jack actually offered to induct me into the IMG. Not sure whether that is meant to be a subtle apology, or looking to snap up what he sees as a useful talent. Jack is about the most political miner I've ever met, so it could be some or more of the above.
With a go ahead from the man, I went deeper into the IMG turf than I have ever been before, and am currently on the IMG shipyard, Singapore. The bar isn't any great shakes, but then, most of them aren't. With a hologram of a fusion torus projecting from my pad and a bottle of whiskey and some unused glasses on the table, it didn't take long to gather a couple of friends. I spent most of the afternoon discussing ways to optimize output, going back and forth in that way that engineers do.
I don't think we came to any great new insights, but the banter was nice. The shipyard folks have a much different perspective than the Junkers I've been working with for the last six months, and that helped put some distance between work and the people I lost last week. I am still waking up in the middle of the night, a useless scream of, "No!" as the image of Contraption disappearing in a flash of heavy weapons fire and the energy release of a ruptured fusion bottle dances painfully across my mind's eye."
A quick pause, obvious determination not go down that road, and Chuck settled into a more professional mindset.
"I think I'll take Jack up on working with the IMG, although I don't think I want to formally join the organization. I've never yet been to a shipyard that didn't need at least five more senior engineers than it had, and having prior experience as a Naval Architect will be a plus.
It will also get me a look at how the IMG goes about their various technologies. Having a good understanding of Zoner, IMG, Hessian and Corsair techniques will definitely be useful for working with the power distribution aspects of the plant when it comes time to build the prototype. My biggest concern there is that the IMG mindset on jump drives isn't what I'd call positive."
Chuck leaned back, taking a sip of his drink.
"That seems to be it for now. Life is what happens in between the plans."