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"Next steps? Suppose pass this into whoever knows more about ship design, get their input, see if it can actually be done."
A bolt falls off the Pulsar as the chat continues, a light "ting" is heard when it hits the floor.
"If that means the two of us visiting, so be it. Between me and that data-pad, I'm sure I can convey my idea across to the shipbuilders."
There was one other point Halpert remembers. Leon's strict use of non-House technologies, this includes the technology of the ship itself.
"There is one thing, to keep the neutral look of the ship intact. I'm sure you can understand, I don't want these ships with any particular colour. With the adjustments, I'm thinking the Junkers may have some stuff lying around that you can use. Though I want to hear from your shipbuilders first."
The shipbuilders. Right. That would mean, of course, they would have to cross through "the rift'" as Senor Kennedy called it. Most Maltese possessions (besides warships and outposts, of course) were inside Omicron Alpha, where they were safe and secure. To get a this done, they would have to consult one of the engineering sectors aboard Corsica, Malta, or perhaps Albegna.
Something irked him inside from that suggestion, however. Kennedy was an outsider, who was not Maltese, and did not even follow the Orange Dream. Most all who did not would be killed if they came close to Malta. However, the deal was enticing, and, after all, there could have been worse outsiders to venture inside their borders. He would not take him onto Malta itself, of course, but...
Very well then. I have a few contacts who might be able to assist with this. However, you might have to take a step forward.
You said your ship does not work, and will need assistance by the Eliminator? Very well. The place you are going will need you by my side anyways. You see, most of our ship designers do not work past the safety and security we have to offer. It is a dangerous world for us, and allies do not come easily. Due to this, all, including myself, are distrustful of outsiders here.
What I am saying is, if you want to tap into our combined ideas and utilities, we are going to need to pass through "the northern rift".
Unless you want to keep this hypothetical, or have anything else to add, you might want to attach the Pulsar to the Eliminator. Some might not see too kindly of you.
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"No promises, you can see this thing is beat to hell and back already."
Halpert enters the Kali-Class, initiates the engines and the all too familiar rattling begins. The Pulsar lifts off, rolls to the side and ever so slowly makes contact to the airlock of Alejandro's warship. With the clamp secured, Halpert hangs off the side of his ship and drops, landing not so gracefully onto the industrial floor.
"Ouch... not as bad as the rattling, but damn that hurt."
He rubs his arms and leans to the side, having his right leg rest a bit before shifting his weight and giving his other leg a rest.
Now that the vessels were connected, the journey began.
A silvery white backdrop behind them, the tangerine colored engines streaked through the nebula. As fast as they were going, the technology made it feel as if it was travelling as a ghost, surely a welcome relief for Kennedy. As the vessel was enveloped in a teal "cloud", they dropped off from conventional scanner range.
Harabero made his way toward the landing bay, to meet up with Senor Kennedy. The trip could take some time, his "guest" should not be waiting uncomfortably.
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3 hours. Now up to 37 seconds of the current minute. The Pulsar clamped firm against the Eliminator while in transit to god knows where. Alejandro makes their way over, about to speak, Halpert rudely jumps ahead.
"I've got no idea how long this'll take and I'm way behind on sleep, it was a 40 hour venture before arriving at the Freeport."
His injuries from falling off his own ship haven't gotten any better, nothing broken, though a bruise on his arm from falling onto his side.
"Don't bother with medical attention, just need a bed. Is one around?"
The silvery nebula melted away as the Tridente class gunship was sucked into the wormhole. Exiting through it there was the Eliminador. It set course for an orange looking planet.
Harabero was lightly shaken by the jump and bases himself out to gain a steadier stance. When the spectacle ends, he stands back straight and is able to offer him a smile in the unnerving Maltese way.
We are almost there. Once at Malta you may find rest in the embassy of the Starfleet Headquarters.
They were surely almost there. Docking operations were to be commenced.
Malta docking to Starfleet vessel Eliminador. You have been cleared to land.
Acknowledged. Proceeding.
As a steady descent was made (as much as it could for entering through), vast orange plantations filled with workers that looked miniscule from the distance appeared, as well as sprawling cities filled with all sorts of technologies.
It was quite the sight to behold. Harabero always loved the sight of Malta.
As they reached down the Starfleet Embassy, Kennedy was offered relief and a place to stay while the Don got things sorted out with the engineers.
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-- Timeskip: Three weeks. Location: Planet Malta, Omicron Alpha System --
It was never one of Halpert's strong suits, patience. Being that he times his flights around Sirius when performing tasks for the Starfliers, his device has a program open showing how long he's spent on Malta. 23 solar rotations, at least what counts as 23 rotations on Planet Manhattan, has passed so far. Though Planet Malta rotates slowly around the sun, having days and nights last longer, was most preferred as Halpert liked to stay awake and get things done.
Many notable things have happened during Halpert's stay within the Starfleet Embassy. Notable in the sense that it passed the time for him. The biggest one for Halpert was feeling very uneasy and weird about 13 hours in. Many times he's heeled over coughing and taking very deep breaths. On occasion he'd stare at his hands just to check if all of his fingers were still there. Something felt off, and he couldn't quite place it. Three weeks is a long time to spend waiting, especially when he's fully aware that shipyards are busy building god knows what for who knows what. In any case, Halpert has recorded a few of the details here for himself, to keep track of what's going on around him.
Rin Miyazaki stared up at the Maltese sky. The faint traces of cardamine in the air was especially strong this season when the spores of grass were being carried on the wind. This was the first time since many months that she had the time to take a break from here spacefaring trade of cardamine throughout the northern sectors of Sirius. Her secondary job as GC ambassador on Malta has been pushed to the background after the dissolution of Hispania Imperial, but right now she venture into the embassy that has she had visited often in days past.
Amongst the people, crew and other individuals going about their day, Halpert leant on a wall just staring at all the pockets of commotion within the Starfleet Embassy. A handful of crew loudly disputing something, a craft being loaded with cargo and a few Junkers having fun stacking scrap metal. There was one thing that stood out to Halpert, another person. Looking similar, but different to another Gen'an Chrysanthemum they had met a few months ago, Halpert approached them.
"Hey, you one of those Golden Girls?"
Rin noticed the man approaching her. He didn't look like the typical outcast, and perhaps just as out of place as she was. Apparantly, he wanted something from her, so she stopped and looked at him with an observant gaze.
"So I am. With whom do I have the pleasure?"
"Halpert Kennedy, Starfliers. Didn't expect to find one of you all the way out here."
"Greetings mister Kennedy. I am Rin Miyazaki. Of course I am here. Where else would we obtain our cardamine?"
"Huh... is that why I feel all weird being here? Doesn't matter. How are you girls doing? Last I met with one of you it was with Misaki. Been a while since then."
"Oh, Misaki-san. She can be a handful. Anything in particular happened? I can vaguely remember the Starfliers having a presence in Kepler."
"Long story short, we left that hellhole. I almost got serious radiation sickness. Some of us got it worse. Glad to be out of there."
"Ah yes. I have witnessed for myself what that radiation can do to my ship's hull, let alone the long term exposure to a human body. This does not your explain your presence at Malta, however." She took a look around. "I never expected you to be in the smuggling business."
"Smuggling? No, I'm not interested in Cardamine. I'm here for something else. Can't go into specifics, not even sure if it'll move ahead."
Halpert leans over, takes a few quick breaths and stands back up.
"God, what is going on here? Anyways, what are you Golden Girls up to? Helping out Starfleet?"
"What is going on, you say? I do not know what you are refering to, but I somehow have the idea that things aren't going as you had planned on your end. As for my business here... I am head of the GC's logistics division, and also an ambassador for the GC here on Malta."
"Not only did I find a Golden Girl, I found THE Golden Girl on this planet. Well, whatever the case. You do your thing and I'll continue to wait on my thing. Been here a few days already and there's no update yet. Guess I'll see you around here again, maybe."
Didn't take long for things to get very quiet, and with quiet, comes impatience. Halpert organized to have a transport take him off Malta to the Freeport within Tau-37. In the past he has enjoyed the food and drinks there, and the flight itself would suck up a bit of time. Three hours into the journey, Halpert started to get sick. It began with slow wheezing and developed into borderline asphyxiation. Luckily, the Freighter Halpert was on was equipped with boosted engines and the return trip was just has fast, if not faster back to Malta.
The pilot of the Freighter knew what was happening to Halpert, but did not disclose this to him. A short time later, Halpert awoke in his bed feeling completely fine. Nothing abnormal lingering after the incident on board the Freighter. Little did Halpert know that his DNA was very quickly being re-written by the strong traces of Cardamine on Malta - since he's located on planet with the only source of it within Sirius. He hasn't put two and two together yet, and after his little trip to Malta for his meet and greet with the Maltese shipbuilders, Halpert's life would be forever changed by Cardamine.
If not waiting in the foyer of the embassy, or enjoying the sunlight outside near the landing pads, Halpert would be working on his "Vector"-Class page on his portable device. After flying around the "Kali"-Class for quite some time, he has grown fond of the ship's look. However the response from the Temporary Autonomous Zoners about his complaints annoyed him enough to scrap the three-winged look and brainstorm a new look for the Starfliers' new ship. Spending a few hours each day, all iterations Halpert would come up with would get binned. Hitting reset one final time reverts the screen back to the initial altered "Kali"-Class ship.
"Eventually... something will come round where it all makes sense and just clicks."
All the specifications remain the same, and with Halpert not knowing anything at all about shipbuilding and what an enormous process it is - he may not reach a final result in the end. But... he keeps trying, as he considers the "Kali"-Class a piece of shit.
After the 23 Solar Rotations, no progress was made with the ship, though he did record a location of where the ship could be purchased from. Obviously not the Research Complex has he knows the Starfliers don't have space to house a plethora of ships to sell, but somewhere closeby where both the Starfliers and their allies could easily acquire them if needed. Another 45 hour awake window, all it took was a faceplant into his bed for Halpert's lights to get knocked out.
Some time had passed since Kennedy had come to Malta. Harabero had quite some business to do in his time there. The project had taken a backseat in perspective to everything else. Not to say he didn't make any progress.
Or rather... mixed progress. The air around the lesser shipyard in the logistical division of the Starfleet headquarters seemed to stiffen. Several glances were caught on the Don and the logistics overseer.
You must know we've been, ah, very busy with the vessel, but there were other more prominent focuses-
You've had plenty of time. Do you require more "provided labor"? Is that it? No. Don't try and pretend you don't have enough resources, or time. This is Malta, remember? Now, lets see what you've done, then?
There is, ah, still a little bit left of finalizing to do, I might need a little more time, perhaps it might be given tomorrow..?
It will be given today. That is an order.
Sweat was visible on the overseer. He nervously tried to compose himself.
Ah, yes, uh, yes Don Harabero. I will grant you all that we currently have in the development stages, and will give you the finished product by the end of today. No later.
Good.
As the glances started to dissipate, Harabero turned away. He noticed the update on his neural net. This better be done in time. I've got to meet back up with Kennedy today.
The time to re-meet was now. Harabero sent a signal to Kennedy's room, a repeating buzz and a message to be uploaded should be sent shortly, detailing their meeting location; one of the inlets of the embassy, an elevated reinforced clear room, usually used for meeting with ambassadors. There they could discuss the progress...
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Buzz. All it got was to turn in his bed. A few hours later a couple buzzes came through. This time Halpert wakes and sees the notification light blinking green on his room's communicator. It's go time. This is the day. Though, he never shared the new visual design of the ship, Halpert's concept was one he wanted to see in person. He got dressed in his kinda smelly clothes and left the dorm to go to the room indicated by the message left by Harabero.
"This better be good. New ship, new stuff, hope to god they didn't actually use the Kali. Wait... my ship was already falling apart... did they use that? How the hell am I getting off the planet?"
His thoughts started positive and started to dip into the worst case scenario. Given that Halpert's three week stay in a Cardamine-rich environment has already passed the point of no return for a worse case scenario ten times over. He asked some people for directions to the room, with the only response being a pointed finger to the room clearly within line of sight, appropriately signed. Halpert opens the door, walking in he starts things off with a big sigh and a smile on his face.
As Kennedy enters the room, he sees Alejandro standing over an overlook of a small drydock, housing a few fighters. The Don is standing with his hands behind his back. His voice is calm and pleasant.
There you are. Was wondering when you would show up. I was waiting for you.
Upon closer inspection, Harabero was looking at a very particular ship under construction.
A modified Kali class fighter.
He motions for Kennedy to look at it beside him.
Your new "Vector" class. Reinforced plating, special attention to detail taken in the cockpit, engines maxed out, and upgraded radar systems. The specs should be uploaded to your neural net. As well, you can take a look and make any further requests.
The ship almost seemed to shine. (Probably because the Maltese engineers had sprayed it do so). Alejandro turned to Kennedy.
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Talking to a Golden Girl