Kell watched the construction crews at work from the view port in his cabin on board the Neith II. He was observing the construction of the Aquilon Class Carrier Hestia's Fire, his new flagship.
How fitting, she's named the Hestia, after the Greek goddess of the Hearth, quite right with her mission i'd say. She's a departure from our standard operating doctrine, but then again, we're intelligence, we always operate different Kell thought.
A moment later, Kell heard a knock on his door, he walked over and opened the bulk head, revealing a young and slender human female, Rebecca Tainer, his wife.
Seeing her, he immediately embraced her.
Letting go of his embrace, he spoke
"What are you doing here dear? I thought you were aboard the Hestia handling the installation of her new systems?" He asked.
"I came here to give you the update you requested" She said smiling, and handing him a datapad with a list of things on it.
"So the IRIS and Gravity Cloak Systems are installed, the new comm array is installed, our wormhole scanner is installed, the MEGIDDO system is installed" He read off the pad.
"When can we have her operational?" Kell asked insistently.
"By the end of the week at the latest, we still have a few systems that need installing, plus configuration of the new AI, however, propulsion, life support, and shields are active." She replied.
"Good to hear, keep me posted" Kell returned.
Sensing his desire to be alone, Rebecca turned around and left the room, closing the bulkhead behind her.
Kell then returned to looking at his new flagship, then looked down at the personnel roster.
So it's going to take more to run this thing isn't it? Well lets see, need a CAG, and adding an Executive Officer wouldn't be a bad idea, and maybe a communication's officer as well... Kell let the thought trail off and gazed back at the carrier.
She marks a new step in Wedjat doctrine, using mobile bases of operations to strike at our enemies....it'll be useful for Provider and subsequent operations, choose the battleground, just the way we should fight He again let the thought trail off into the maelstrom of his mind and watched the ordered chaos below in the drydock.
Kell awoke to the sound of the intercom active on his desk. Slowly, he got up and walked over to the desk. So not to wake Rebecca, he threw on his uniform quickly, grabbed his comlink and headed to the bridge.
Realizing the comm was still beeping, Kell hit the response key.
"This is Tainer, go ahead" Kell said into the mic.
"Thought you'd want to be present when we started up the VI" A female voice replied.
Donnelly, of course she'd call me this early Kell thought, annoyed at being woken up so early.
"I wish to be yes, but Jessica, why this early?" Kell replied coldly.
The comm was silent for a brief moment, before the response came.
"The VI was installed quicker than we thought she'd be, the techs want to get her fully operational by noon." Donelly replied earnestly.
"Alright, I'm on my way" Kell finished.
Kell immediately changed direction and began heading to the Hestia's drydock.
A few minutes later he arrived, to be greeted by a trio of technicians in their characteristic white lab coats, and Commander Jessica Donnelly, his chief engineer.
"Took you long enough Colonel" she said with a smile barely containing laughter.
"Get it out Commander, it's been a long day" Kell remarked dryly on his un-kempt appearance.
It has been a long day, this Corsair-Zoner conflict has worn us all out, we'll all take shore leave after the Hestia is finished Kell thought.
"So get to it" Kell said.
Immediately Donnelly regained her composure and walked over to a terminal, that looked to be a holoprojector and waved Kell over
"Colonel, meet EVI, Enhanced Virtual Intelligence, or as the Techs call her, EDI 3.0, she's an amalgamation of EDI's experiences, and several notable improvements upon the EDI 2.0 program put together by Michal's techs, just a warning Colonel, she's more personable than EDI is" Donnelly answered.
"Turn her on then, lets get this over with" Kell replied woefully, thinking of getting more sleep.
Without hesitation, Donnelly hit a button on the terminal, and a holographic projection of a young woman, with brown hair and blue eyes appeared, wearing a pearl white jumpsuit.
"Evening, I am the Hestia's Enhanced Virtual Intelligence, or EVI, frankly, i don't like either moniker, they smack of discrimination" the VI said.
Kell nodded, looking amused and turned to donnelly
"You weren't kidding Jessica, she is more personable than EDI is" Kell said, laughing slightly.
"If you don't mind, I would like a name, besides EVI" the VI cut in.
Donnelly and Kell turned to the VI, Kell was the first to speak
"Well why not, there have been several improvements made to her from what I understand" Kell put in.
Donnelly turned to Kell
"What's the point Colonel, she's a machine, just like EDI, EDI never asked to be named" Donnelly remarked.
"But remember, EVI is more intelligent than even EDI is, and she's sentient from what I gather" Kell responded.
Having a resigned look on her face, Donelly accepted Kell's judgment. A moment later, her face flashed with inspiration.
"Why not Rhea?, She was one of the Titans in Greek mythology, the mother of the gods and the mother of Hestia" Donnelly said.
"I like it, it has a ring to it" Kell said, looking at the VI.
"It fits nicely for my role, as the "mother" of the Hestia and I like the name" the VI said.
"Good then, If that is all, I will now go back to sleep, Jessica, take care of Rhea" Kell said.
Donelly looked at Kell and nodded, this prompted Kell to leave the room and go back to the Neith to get some more sleep.
Briefing Room, Carrier Hestia's Fire, September 24th, 818 A.S.
Kell looked over the crowd gathered before him. They were all Wedjat personnel, Pilots, Technicians, Agents, the whole nine yards. They were gathered here to be briefed on their mission, the purpose of the Hestia's Fire, and of the two new officers that had been added to the bridge crew. To his left were the current bridge crew, Colonel Rebecca Tainer, Chief Science Officer, Commander Matthias Shaw, the Tactical Officer, Major Rachel Whitcomb, the Medical Officer, Commander Jessica Donnelly, the Chief Engineer, and Lieutenant Jack "Ghost" Williams, the helmsman. To his immediate right was the projection of Rhea, the Hestia's VI, and next to her stood the man and woman that were his new Executive Officer, and the Hestia's CAG.
Kell readied to make his speech, and motioned to the assembled personnel to be silent.
"Evening Men and Women of the Order Wedjat, what you stand in is your new home" Kell began.
"This is the Aquilon Class Carrier Hestia's Fire, the new Wedjat homebase" Kell continued.
"She's a state-of-the-art warship, packed full of the latest technology from the OSD and our own labs, Fleet Admiral Osborne can tout how advanced the Primary is, but they'll never compare to the Hestia" Kell paused, hearing a rumble of approval through the audience.
"However, this is not a matter of 'who has the bigger ship', the Primary is to deal only with the Phantoms and the Slomon K'hara, we have to fight not only them, but the rest of the enemies of mankind." Kell paused again, letting it soak in and mentally naming off the list of the new groups on the horizon, Gallia being foremost on the list.
"I could give you a day long talk on the Hestia and her capabilities, but we must get to the business at hand." Kell finished, waiting a moment to collect his thoughts.
"Now I know all of you have heard of Operation Provider, if not directly, then through scuttlebutt. For that matter you may even think it's been canceled because of the Zoner Debacle. Well, I tell you, these rumors are incorrect, it is still alive and kicking, and will be set in motion shortly. " Kell spoke.
"For the moment, what I can tell you all, is that our mission is to begin preparing for hostilities, as such, combat drills will occur every other day, starting tomorrow" Kell paused again, catching his breath, and heard the audience make a collective groan.
"Finally, next week, you all will be receiving a week of shore leave before the Operation begins" Kell waited again, hearing this time, a collective sigh of relief from the audience.
"Now to the last order of business, I wish to introduce two new people, starting with the new Executive Officer, Major Lorne Cutter" Kell said.
On cue, the man next to Rhea took a step forward and nodded his head
"The second I wish to introduce, is our CAG, Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Young" Kell finished.
At the end of the sentence, the female officer next to Lorne stepped forward, the audience took in the new additions to the crew and became silence.
"I believe we are finished here, dismissed" Kell ended.
Well now let's see what they make of the new chain of command, but, back to work for me, there is much more to handle still Kell thought as the room emptied.
October 1st, 818 A.S, Carrier Hestia's Fire, Captain's Quarters[
Kell looked down at the report in his hands, mentally going down the list inscribed on the paper. VI fully initialized, Cloaking systems have been installed, data storage installed, strikecraft....Kell thought, briefly pausing over the word "strikecraft" and looking up at the woman sitting across from him, Lt. Commander Jennifer Young, the CAG for the Hestia.
"So we're still lacking strikecraft for the Hestia?" Kell said inquisitively.
"Yes Sir, as it stands, we only have two fighter craft aboard, your personal Bastet and my Sabre." the commander replied.
Kell nodded his head and looked back down at the report again and continued
"So how many will we need?" Kell asked
"I would say at least three full squadrons of strikecraft Colonel, two would be acceptable, but a third squadron would be preferred, especially with the strike being planned" She answered.
"How do you intend to procure them?" Kell asked, looking up from the report and leveling his gaze with the CAG.
"So far we've been attempted to procure a few Nyx Space Superiority Fighters from the Colonial Remnant, but that has been stonewalled." She said, pausing briefly. "The current contenders are the Charon Heavy Fighter and the Sabre, which we can simply procure through the Zoners" She finished.
Kell nodded after hearing about the Nyx's, he wasn't surprised, highly interested in the procuring of the fighter, he'd been paying close attention to the developing situation.
"Focus on getting us Sabre's and Charon's, High Command is working on getting the Nyx's for us" Kell replied.
The commander nodded
"If that's all then, commander, you are dismissed" Kell said.
Taking the cue to leave, Jennifer got up and gave Kell a salute, which he promptly returned. Closing the door behind her, Kell, turned to a console on the desk behind him and hit one of the buttons on the panel.
In a split second, the projection of a young woman materialized in front of him, this was Rhea, the ship's Virtual Intelligence
"Evening Colonel, what can I do for you?" She asked.
"Display all data related to Project Broadsword, Phase Alpha" Kell replied.
Immediately, a series of projections appeared in front of him, seeing one, a map of a solar system, Kell touched it, bringing it to the centre.
The projection showed a series of structures of nomad-human origin. In the centre of the map was a glowing object, the objective.
Looking at it, a grin formed on Kell's face.
There's our prize, now we just have to get it....Kell thought as he began to mark things down.
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