Re: Part 12 - Osmur
Alates smile falters, then makes a brave attempt to rally as an opportunity presents itself, "There was an incident at the manufacturing facility, an explosion in their power generator, I believe, and several days' production were lost, so the final unit was not completed in time for the last shipment. The admiral ordered the completed units delivered on schedule. He decided it would be better to install the ones we had, while waiting for delivery of the missing one, rather than delaying installation of all of them."
The officer starts up the stairs, still explaining, "We are expecting the missing unit to arrive in approximately ten hours. Work will begin immediately on installation, after which the last of the connections will be made, and everything will be powered up." There, that should do it... a failure at the manufacturing facility, an a decision by the admiral. In no way could either of those be blamed on Captain Alates.
The ascent of the stairs is gruelling, the climb itself is arduous, and the temperature rises as they get higher in the structure, even as the air quality declines. UY-3P0 and R2-O0 stay at ground level, neither of them being particularly suited for prolonged stair climbing.
At the top of the stairs is a small platform, filled with a series of man-high equipment cases, all of them linked to the outer wall by large conduits, and beyond the platform, several cables, each as thick as one of Juragga's arms, lead upwards a ring of irregularly shaped cases attached to the roof of the tower, each one about the size of of a landspeeder. Below, at the lower end of the cables, are perhaps a dozen or so massive structures, which look somewhat menacing, in spite of being (currently) inert machinery.
"This platform will, of course, be off-limits to all personnel while the shield is in operation due to high levels of thermal radiation from the equipment." Alates points to the equipment cases on the platform. "These are the cooling system for the array of large shield generators below, while above are the control relays which allow for manipulation of the diameter and strength of the shield. All of this is monitored and regulated from the control room."