The Peacekeeper Initiative (Peacekeepers of Sol Book 2) by Glynn Stewart

Author:Glynn Stewart [Stewart, Glynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Faolan's Pen Publishing
Published: 2020-06-08T16:00:00+00:00

“All right, Song, what do we need from the locals?” Henry asked as he stepped into his chief engineer’s office.

Lieutenant Colonel Anna Song looked up from her desk with clear bags under her eyes. Her skin was almost the same darker shade as Henry’s, which meant it had to be bad for her to be that visibly exhausted.

“A new engine assembly?” she suggested. “Everything else I can fab up, given time and raw materials. We didn’t even expend standard missiles, boss.”

“What about the laser?” Henry asked.

“If they’ve got them, I could use a new core optical assembly,” she admitted. “We’re fabricating replacement parts right now, but it might be faster to just yank the entire assembly and replace it.”

“They’re probably the Kenmiri version,” he told her. “Would that work?”

“It’s a set of mirrors and a giant synthetic diamond, boss,” Song said with a laugh. “Laws of physics say the component is basically the same for everyone’s lasers. I can adjust for any variations without too much difficulty.”

“I’ll ask,” he said. “We’re asking for a lot from them over the next few days, but I should be able to get you any parts you need for the repairs.”

“So, an engine assembly?” Song asked again.

“I’m not sure I’d trust a Kenmiri-designed engine on my ship, regardless of who built it,” Henry admitted. “I’m guessing we can’t fabricate ourselves a new one?”

“Give me three months and a mid-sized nickel-iron asteroid cluster nobody cares about, sure,” she told him. “Of course, I’m basically building a shipyard at that point, so…”

“Fair,” he conceded. “Give me a list of what you need. I’ll run it by the locals. They seem to like us so far, so we’ll see what we can get. Assume they can’t build anything the Kenmiri couldn’t, though.”

“I’m not asking for engines or gravity projectors, I know,” she said. “Most of what I need is just hull plating. Some of the holes in Raven’s hull are covered by glorified tarps, still.”

That was an exaggeration of the nature of an emergency hull patch…but not as much of one as Henry would like.

“We’ll have a couple of days here, but not more than that,” he warned. “Can you get us back to fighting shape in that?”

“Forty-eight hours with the engines off and the ship in standby will let me do a lot, but I don’t know if I’d call it fighting shape, ser,” she warned him. “I can’t fix the feed tube to the launchers without a proper repair slip, and the engine is best replaced in the same place.

“Take us back to Base Fallout and I can have us in full fighting shape in about three weeks. Two days here? We’re going to come up short on any rational standard.”

“So I expected,” Henry conceded. “What can you promise me? We don’t have much choice in this.”

“If the locals can handle my shopping list, I should have the holes in the armor closed up, the starboard laser online, and the radiators and sensors replaced,” she told him.

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