As tha battle died down Miss organized some tenders to start heading for the Hermes. “Hey Rivets” she said over the com, “heard you had things pretty rough, I’m sending some help to clear off your landing deck and get your planes home.  Was there anything we can bring you?”

  Rivets  snorted  at the COM...I don't have  one  bloody idea... don't know  how many of our birds   are comin' home, don't  know how many we can keep.. we're pushin some  lizard and  demon shuttles that got  shup up off our  dec, so me own one kin land.

In reply to IG (msg # 511):

I have some tenders coming your way.  They’ll pull what they can off.  I’ll bring over a pair of disarmed C-Bs to help push off, if you’re good with it.”

  If you 'ave the time.. yeah... we have of  treaded tractor,, i think its  beat up... and One Mech still on the Dec..... but we're  puttin' the  prisoners to work.

In reply to LG (msg # 513):

   “You didn’t get any engineers in the prisoners did you?”  Missy knew it was a long shot.

   ain't  no way of telling, , so says I... They all came chargin' an' shootin' and most of the  Manky  folks dead.... Admiral's lettinh' some go in a shuttle, after they clean off our dec..guessin' those  that don't  fit..well.. they'll havta walk...

   “We learned Techs are considered second class citizens.  It is unlikely they would be on a raid but if they were, they’d be bullied out of a position on the survival shuttle.   Fill their bellies with fatty meats, Garrat’s engine man loved breakfast sausage, and show them what’s really happening, and tell them you have a colony of women and children for them to go home to and you might get some longer term workers.”

      “The smarter ones are tired of being ordered around by bosses who don’t know $h!+ and will put up with being untrusted just for chance to finally get their hands on good Equipment and supplies.  Garrat’s mechanic says he also thinks the empire manipulates them to be more aggressive with diet.  There’s a file somewhere in the IS’s data dump about it.  Garrat tries to write things down, I think it’s a habit Spencer started him on.”

  well, Lassie? These here  folks are leaving in the shuttle...maybe..ifin they don't  get a fatal attack of stupid...right now?  ain't no one on this   ship think kindly of any of them.

(Flexed just a little )

   “As us.  Sorry I won’t be able to stay and help with the cleanup”

    After the battle the rush to claim materials was on.  The LG01 was far more precise than most.  The shuttles from the Hermes weee stowed for combat refitting.  Usually trash but the LG had access to Largan stats and schematics that allowed them an edge with the Largan shuttle and Missy was scrambling for information on the demon shuttles.

   The CBMs were set out for the crucial first structural repair and/or assessment that would decide if a ship was repairable, the two on the Hermes deck being picked up after the judgement.

   Shuttles and tenders scrambled to get safety pods and damaged fighters out of the void, both for salvage and rescue.  Priority on rescue of course.

  The total for the LG were 15  pilots found who were alive in thier Pods..1 One them was a Hermite..the rest, from various ships in  the Delta #1  section.

 another  14 were found with the piltos  dead, stitching of Largran hard  ammo along the Metaglass and cockpit told the story of the Pods being targeted , rather then   'stray rounds'

 at least 5 fighters from various ships were recovered that had, repairable damage, most others  were shot up badly.

The repair able ships were set up to be gone over with a fine toothed Comb and restored to better than new if possible.  The wrecks were pulled apart and the usable parts put aside with the hope of maybe assembling an entire craft.  Enemy craft rescued from the void were repaired, and upgraded to ESN standards for sale to the delta colonies or allied private parties.  Targeted pods that were shot up were recorded and put into fleet records.

Missy settled the crews into steady somewhat relaxed shifts around the clock.  An empty repair or construction bay was not making money.  While that was been organized she radioes the demolitions teams and offered compensation for any Largan mech frames and asked if any blockade runner frames were found intact.

    After that conversation was over Missy settled into double checking work and giving an extra hand here and there.  This was prime training time when pit members could learn about new systems.  It was cost effective to use every moment and to have trainees from the academy shadow some of the more experienced mechanics.

    In the short run the added attention to detail cost the LG01 Retrofit a fair amount of income, and it did not produce as much raw steel and supplies from a tonage point of view.  However the income from repairs and parts exceeded the other forge ships and the CBMs were earning good income as well as giving good experience to the older students at the academy.

    There was a developing demand for the CBMs as an export as well as pilots to operate them.  However, Missy didn’t have any to move on at this point.

    Missy was was deep into overhauling a landing skid hydraulic system when she heard the business supervisor clear hi throat.  She nearly banged her head.  “Is it that time already?”

    The man chuckled “Most women I know take half a day to prepare for a ball, you just have over two hours.”

     “I can do it.”  She said confidently and commed Ki-Ki’s saloon to schedule a hair treatment and a makeover.  “Okay, who’s going to be there?”  She said getting out of her tool belt and making sure she had a replacement.

     “The usual suspects.”  He sends the list from his wrist computer to hers.   “Everyone who can make buck is going to be there schmoozing the brass and trying to ignore each other.”  He looks at the list "I'm afraid I won't be going with you this time.  I'm putting Fry on the job.  He works better with you from hangar experience and frankly, Is ESN.  Better trained to deal with it when Shadow raises a little hell.  I still have grey hairs from last time."

      Missy looked up.  "You sure he's up for ballroom politics?"

      "Sure,"  He said, "He can put up with you right?  Besides the guy knows a lot about military craft.  I've often felt out of depth talking mechanics.  I'll just monitor you through your wrist comms and feed you any information I can find on the people your talking to.  just keep your ear pieces in."

      "deal with me indeed." Missy mumbles under her breath as she looks over the list of commercial attendees. “Some of these companies produce crap.  Others,”…. She boots up relevant information, “Huh, could we purchase two fighters from each of these three companies?  And tell them we need it ready to go for replacing ships in battle.” (will change if necessary)

     “Whoa, that’s expensive.  Way too expensive”

     Missy nods, “I completely agree, but We have been getting preferred treatment because I have been working my a$$ off to raise the quality of our product.  We need to do this, pull them apart, and scrutinize every aspect.  We also need to keep an eye out for production line sabotage.”

    The manager thinks a bit “we’ll see what we can do.  You better get going on preparations.”

    “So the event is taking place in the main hangar?”  She asks thoughtfully

     The manager nods “They are going to pipe it around the room to compensate for the acoustics.”

     Missy shakes her head “ There’s still going to be a lot of natural reverb.  I’m going to have to alter my song selection to take advantage of it.  Maybe I can get some friends to help.  I better get to work.   Catch you at departure.” She moves off.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:53, Fri 31 Dec 2021.

Missy has been busy with the dogged attention to detail known to the porcine.  She has been pushing her crews efficiency and backing them with redundant accountability.  Speed is important but quality is more so.  Still, the mech staff at the academy had gotten wind of new power suit systems on the Hermes and wanted access to the schematics.  She wasn’t sure that was a good idea but if the LG01 Retrofit could machine parts to keep them running then that was less down time for gear that could save lives.  She gave Rivets a calll.  “Hey handsome, how are you holding out over there?”

 Rivets didn't answer  for a good Half  Hour,Just got out of  a Meeting. Gonna be some  sparks flyin' an' that's me sayin'.Lots  of   people are gonna get shot up this time  around, I'm just hopin. In Mostly the bad guys..

Missy paused a moment, then went on soberly “it’s a brutal path we’ve chosen for ourselves…sending our machines into the nine hells with people we care about.  I at least am a little removed.  I don’t know how you keep doing it Rivets but I hope you know we are all gratefull.  And I am grateful for what you have taught me and my team about bringing our pilots back safely.  Meanwhile I hear you are running power suits now.  I have some people here who want to help you keep them running.  Just tell us what you need and we will keep you stocked.”

  Rivets  continued , sipping the hot  tea ,in between.Yeah?  I looked them over... they have a bit of the  same ideas  that  the other guy tied to do, but there are a bit more ....I dunno..'slender".  They are a step up  from heavy boarding armor, but not as  Bulky, but not near  armored  like a mech... whether they work or not?  they'll be  gettin' their feet wet.

Missy shrugs, “I guess it will all come down to how you look at it.  I got to see Garrat’s old suit.  On him it would have been about the size of one of the light Mechs.  All shoulder and torso armor with antimatter cores turning out massive BTUs to power it’s energy hogging system.  Not necessarily a good fit for tight spaces but it would have been a monster on the open battle field.  It depends on what you need at the moment, and does carrying the extra gear make sense.” She looks down the line at her crews, “do you have enough teams, is there anything we can do to support you in this upcoming battle?”

  don't know  fer sure. But  one thing  we'll be needed in  aircraft gettin' fixed, that is  out of  our normal wheel hose.  patchin'  and circyits  and such we can do. but we dunno 'ave  alot of  wings and Tail fins handy

“Wings and tail fins, got it.”  She adds dryly “With all the rewields we are doing on factory parts I’ve almost got my supervisor convinced it would be more cost effective to start retooling to be our own parts factory but we’ll order more in and see what we can fabricate.  We have some kids in robotics that are testing some internal probes that roll around on the inside of the ships and look at the wields from the inside.  We’re seeing that dimpling you were talking about on the inside with no dimpling on the outside.  That’s nearly twice as much problems as we originally thought.  I hope the bad guys are having even more of a problem with their ships because this is ridiculous.”

  Rivets  snorted, and frowned that his  tea was done.. he taked the SEC trooper  , handed him the   cup  asking for another.

  someways,  we want to thing they  are the end  all, know all. But  when the LC  and His Pilots  do that 'screw' thing, they bad  guys lose  wings and  fins faster then they should... 'course, they  were ready for hard  ammo neither. sooner or later , they will catch on.

In reply to Rivets (msg # 530):

Only if they care about their grunts.  I don’t think they do. But if they do will just have to stay a couple steps ahead of them.  I’ll look into that parts production order, don’t forget to tell the power suit people that we are here for them if they give us the specs on their equipment. And rivets, take care of yourself. I worry about you sometimes, I’ll have to join up with you at one of these parties again.

  ..I'll let the   mech-armor  folks  know... we'll see  what Happens. an' ye don't have ta  woory 'but me, I had that lads and Lasses  keeping  the bad  guys awa  as much as they can..be just deal with  over flow.

    Missy had been working like a mad woman.  She’d been putting together, revamping, and repairing every fighter she could get her hands on.  She acquired the parts Rivets wanted in excess and made sure they were top quality.  She had warned the foundry of an impending offensive and sparred as many workers as she could when she could to make plates for the big ships and supporters for restoring structural integrity to stricken vessels and patch pieces for shoring up hull breaches.

    Slick had stepped up the training on structural engineering and the Construction Battalion Mechs were serviced to an inch of their existence.  Primary pilots were trained mercilessly with understudies training almost as intensely in the off hours.  Scrappers did their jobs and made sure their collision armor was in good condition.

    The LG-01 Retrofit had done what she could to prepare for war.

     As the battle approached the ship suddenly became quiet.  All mechanics, repair personnel, foundry workers, retired for a much needed rest.  Only the ESN presence worked to do final prep on the defense systems then they too rested and waited.

The repair deck was busy. Just the way Missy liked to keep it. If it wasn’t busy, they weren’t making money.  factory ships were being torn apart, inspected, reweilded.  Miniature drones designed by the academy robotics department magnetized themselves to the inside compartments and scanned for weaknesses.  Any and all problems were recorded and cross checked against the factory and batch they were produced in.

     Missy was massaging her temples as one of the drone operators showed her a concave seam only seen from the inside.  “ANOTHER  incomplete dorsal wield?  Okay pull her apart and fix it.  I need to check on teams three and six.  if they are done I’ll send them over to help.”

     She walks to the next bay “What’s the news Bob?”

     Robert rolled his eyes but didn’t comment on the nickname.  “It was a long call, but we’re ready for the last check before we button up.  I swear this would be faster and less expensive if we just bought the parts and put it together ourselves.”

     “I’ve made that comment to myself.” Missy said “I’m going to have to crunch the numbers a little more, I might be able to float it by Acquisitions.”

     “Say boss?”  Robert asked

      “Yes?”

     “Do the bad guys have the same problems with production?”

      missy thought about that.  “ I have no idea. But I might know someone who does.”

      after the shift was over she caught a shuttle over to the Hermes with some peace offerings from Graceland noodles
 ====> Hermès flight deck