Stonerager Chronicles
By 2Charlie
This is a science fiction series that happens to include occasional erotic scenes. If you have not yet read previous chapters of this series, I highly recommend going back to do so before you read this chapter.
All characters in this story are of the age of majority.
Chapter 07
Dutch was impressed at how much the Rigellians were able to accomplish in just over a week. The day after his initial meeting with the Chancellor and her staff had been the catalyst for a great deal of activities, both on the surface of Rigellia as well as in orbit.
Deciding to start this engagement by betting all-in, Dutch brought a portable data cell to the Chancellor's Chief Director of Science and Engineering, Dresden Philson. On the data cell was information given to them by the Tao, including specs on the various upgrades to the Odyssey, information taken from the iShan'tal vessels, and from the Noraxi galleon. Philson's excitement at the vast array of knowledge he was being given was clear and palpable, as was that of his staff.
By the end of the first hour, multiple copies of the data were made, including a centralized copy that was made available to other arms of the government for review and analysis. By the end of the first day, actionable recommendations were returned directing the best quick-turn projects that should be prioritized that would yield the most effective results.
Planetary defense was one such priority. Initial assessments all agreed that the various weapons systems of the Odyssey required a significantly greater power source than what was currently available on their current fleet of defense craft.
Instead of undertaking a massive refit of the existing arsenal of ships, the decision was made to design and deploy a defensive network of orbiting platforms capable of supporting the necessary power source to support both shielding and plasma and ion-based weapons. The building and deployment of the Quantum Particle Cannon were deprioritized pending revision of power generators, which the engineers and scientists all agreed would require additional retooling and additional study of the foundational physics behind the Odyssey's power plant.
Parallel to the construction of the defensive satellites, the Rigellians took steps to return a mothballed portion of their ship-building facilities into service. The shipyards had long ago been hidden within Rogelia's largest moon during the war, and major construction activities were curtailed for fear of discovery and reprisals. Now, with the advent of the Treaty of Ganymede, and humanity's responsibilities under that treaty, it was certainly plausible that they would require starships capable of performing their duties.
Dutch and his crew kept busy during that initial week. The clones spent the better part of a day perfecting the hand-language primer for Prime, and Pheebs worked with Prime to develop a hypno-training course that could be used during sleep cycles to train Dutch literally overnight in this covert method of communication.
Dutch, meanwhile, spent time sifting through the data captured from the Noraxian galleon - a vessel designated as NRZ1152G, also named "Master's Whip" - striving to improve strategies for future encounters with the syndicate. He'd no idea how long before a search was launched by the Noraxians to determine the fate of their ships, but he was determined to be prepared for the inevitable.
The remains of the ships were dealt with by the Rigellian Defense Forces. Not much could be learned from the scout ships and destroyers, due to the considerable damage they'd sustained during the battle. The RDF seized the galleon, and the few dozen survivors were interred - likely for interrogation or perhaps future prisoner exchange, Dutch postulated. The remains of all the vessels were jettisoned into Rigel to erase any indication of their presence along with any evidence of what had transpired.
****Cestus, Rigellian Moon, RDF Shipbuilding Facilities****
For their first ship-building efforts, it was determined that the Odyssey would serve as the template for a new class of vessel, capable of fulfilling all treaty-related obligations and restoring humanity to its role of exploring space.
Having been invited to participate in the Keel Laying Ceremony for the first new vessel, Dutch and Pheebs traveled by shuttle to the RDF shipbuilding facility on Cestus, Rigellia's largest moon, sporting their newly-minted dress uniforms. Although both wore their personal shield generators, they'd left them deactivated and once again were unarmed.
The trip from the shuttle port to the shipyard was brief. As soon as they'd debarked from their shuttle, the two members of the Odyssey's crew were met by an escort sent by Director Philson who led them to a waiting transport pod, which quickly and silently delivered them to the Director himself.
The Director seemed comfortably in his element, dressed in what appeared to be practical business attire beneath a lab coat - what appeared to be protective, if shined, footwear, slacks, and a button-up shirt - although modern fashion seemed to have done away with arrowed collars and neckties. Philson stood perhaps a centimeter or two shorter than Dutch, with a much slimmer physique, and appeared to be roughly similar in age, though his hair was thinning.
Dutch was very impressed at what he could see of the dock before him - a large slipway, 300 meters deep, one hundred and fifty meters wide, and another hundred and fifty meters tall. The space was crammed full of various gantries, moving booms, and mechanical armatures, and running more than half the length of the chamber was a three-dimensional image being portrayed of the skeletal framework of what would soon become the next Odyssey-class starship.
Director Philson turned to face the small gathering present to celebrate the Laying of the Keel of their first new ship in ages. "Ladies, Gentlemen, gathered associates, allow me to introduce what will become the Alliance Starship Aurora Dancer!" The crowd broke out into a smattering of applause and muted cheers.
As he and Pheebs looked on, a large circular grouping of nozzles began laying the initial foundational layer of the ship's keel - the longest single spar of the framework, running from the bow of the vessel to the stern, a length of over two hundred fifty meters. The nozzles moved at a quick pace of about five meters per second, leaving behind a brilliant hot-white glowing stream of metal. A second set of armatures trailed immediately behind, manipulating the still-hot material to apply the fine-grained shape to the printed layer, with a third set of arms smoothly following the first two, bombarding all surfaces of the printed and shaped keel with high-energy photons, forcing the material to transition to its final, hardened state.
Dutch whistled quietly to himself, impressed at the mechanical wonder the process represented, while also amazed at the simple obviousness of the method. Multiple secondary printing rigs joined the first one, laying down various conduits and secondary systems, and the very essentials of the ship began to take shape before his eyes.
Reflecting back more than a millennium, Dutch remembered how his Odyssey had looked during her construction in orbit above the Earth. It seemed forever ago, although subjectively only a few years had passed for him. This new process was certainly faster, and he shook his head in wonder at all the changes he was observing. He stood and watched, amazed at the engineering behind it all, until Director Philson stepped up to him and cleared his throat.
As Dutch turned his attention to the Chief of Science, the man leaned in close to speak in a low, private tone of voice, "The folks in the lab think they've worked out the micro star reactor - they've got a test rig setup on an orbiting platform beyond the orbit of the Rigel Six's moon, along with a newly built Quantum Particle Cannon. Would you like to come with me to observe the first test of the reactor and the weapon?"
"I've got a better idea, Director," Dutch countered. "How about instead we shuttle back to the Odyssey and observe the test from her bridge? I can drop you off for your next meeting afterward, and you get a quick tour of the ship in the meantime."
"That would be acceptable," the Director responded pensively, "so long as you would be open to extending the invitation to include Fleet Admiral Cathrice Bearing. I'm told she wants to speak with you regarding a few matters of importance about her new fleet academy."
"Of course," Dutch consented, "the more, the merrier. Is the Admiral nearby, or must we swing past Rigellia to pick her up?"
The Director checked his small data pad before replying, "It looks like her shuttle has just docked at this station. She will meet us at your shuttle, Captain."
****
"As I was saying, Captain," the older woman continued, as the four of them stepped onto the bridge of the Odyssey, "the new Odyssey class starships, fully crewed, will be expected to hold a compliment of fifty officers and crew, including a detachment of Alliance Marines."
The woman physically appeared to be perhaps a decade senior to Dutch, though she clearly kept herself in good physical shape. Her hair was dark, though streaked with silver, and she possessed an athletic build, though just a tad top-heavy. Her uniform seemed influenced somewhat by the maritime uniforms of the past. Navy blue trousers with gold piping on the seams, polished black footwear, a white blouse beneath a navy blue jacket, brass buttons on the jacket, rank insignia on shoulder boards, and something that resembled ribbons completing the package.
"Admiral, how do you envision the role of the Marine detachment aboard a starship?" Dutch wanted to know. "Will they be there strictly to serve a kinetic role, or will they rotate into the watch bill along with regular crew watch standers?"
