Gabatrix: The Shira Maneuver

Chapter 8: The Gathering Audience

On the outside of the Jian Seng, the few crewmembers that were outside were bundled up for warmth. Most of the crew that worked at the facility wore some form of thermal protection that overlapped their jumpsuit uniforms. The internal heating, however, was slow to kick in as it slowly warming everything up.

Steam was rising from the transport, especially near the heated thrusters. The collected ice and snow on the sides and top were melting. The main bow door was open and lowered to the deck, with the large container section currently opening up. The armor plates began to retract inward as a loading ramp was being deployed to the deck as well.

Shira, the chief engineer, Obasi, and Manthan were both out discussing and pointing out the different areas of the ship. Taking careful note, the goal was to assess and affirm that the vessel was in operational status. In the distance was Lifen, who was talking with some scientist dressed in white lab clothes. The male scientist had a pale complexion and a small thin mustache to him. He almost had a prudish look to him. His hands were waving about whenever he spoke to the captain. Shira also recognized another engineer that was a distance from her that was busy assessing the ship but not part of the group.

She recognized this individual as Bertram or the right-hand man to Obasi. He was busy rubbing his cheek. Her fin-like ear was aimed at both the Captain that spoke and Bertram rather than the team of engineers.

"I am still concerned about the sensor network," Obasi told the chief engineer. "Manthan, was it working alright during your watch?"

"It would occasionally flicker on and off," Manthan replied. "As soon as it did, the secondary system would turn on."

"I wouldn't worry about that," Whittaker replied with his gruff voice. "The new parts will be coming shortly."

"Even then," Obasi warned. "It is a sign that the system is fully degraded now than ever."

"You worry too much," Manthan replied with glee. "We can conduct all the repairs in space."

Obasi slapped his signs. "Fine.....just don't make me work overtime like last night. Sick of that shit."

Whittaker said nothing at first as his eyes went and looked at the protruding antennas. Getting the main communications array online was quickly being overridden by the sensors that were falling apart. Lack of parts made this nearly impossible to fix, and the chief engineer was fully aware of it.

"I don't suppose you have any ideas on how to fix the system, Shira?" Whittaker asked her without turning his head to her.

Obasi and Manthan both looked at her. Obasi didn't seem to hold the anger and hatred towards her after proving pivotal in fixing the communications array. Manthan already showed renowned confidence in the alien woman. With Shira, however, she was quiet at first. Her attention seemed somewhat diverted.

"The answer to fixing it will come soon enough," Shira replied.

"See? I knew it," Obasi almost mocked her. "She can't solve all of our problems."

The words almost fell on deaf ears. His tone was not a display of anger, and nobody seemed annoyed by it. He was not angry but not happy with her either. His tone, while accusatory, was primarily neutral.

"Ah, Obasi, stop being mean to her," Manthan tried to stop him. "She helped the engineers out yesterday. These problems require all of us to work together."

Obasi sighed a little bit. Even for Shira, the words just seemed too much to say. She felt no insult by Obasi and only remained focused on the events going on in the hangar bay. She could see a large mobile vehicular crane that was heading to the bow of the ship. On one of the magnetic latches was a large sphere-like device. On its side were a control panel and latching network. There were two additional sphere-like objects in the distance as well. The scientist continued to walk with the captain with a look of concern on his face.