Gabatrix: The Pirates of Palora

Chapter 4: A Night to Rest

Petty Officer Ramirez looked at the door to his quarters. The label that declared him a "Fascist" was gone, replaced with a new layer of fresh gray paint. His fingers pressed against the dried layer before he tapped the panel near his door.

"I hope you're caught," Ramirez said with some anger. He walked into his quarters and looked at the interior. It wasn't a set of guest quarters, but it was adequate. It consisted of two alcoves, one on the left and one on the right, where the bed mattresses were located. There were lockers and cabinets in the far corners, a table with displays and chairs in the center, and a display mounted on the wall. The back consisted of a basic small restroom and shower stall. All in all, even for a cramped two-person room, it wasn't bad to live in and probably put some older UHN warship rooms to shame.

It was shortly after the conclusion of the officer's briefing on the ship. Ramirez had little care for it, except for the assignment that he had to take care of.

The man walked to his table. Just before he was going to sit down, there was a knock on his door.

"Oh man....can I get a break?" Ramirez groaned. He walked over to the panel and opened the door.

Standing before him was an all too familiar face, at least for the current day. The orange Shal'rein had her hands pressed to her side. A big grin was on her pointed shark-like face, her shark-like teeth exposed in a big smile as she looked down upon him.

"Nir'vina....," Ramirez remarked with a mild hint of agitation. "What is it now?"

"I heard we have a mission coming up," Nir'vina said in her raspy, thin voice. "I wanted to offer a new list of parts we should have sent to us before we start making boom-booms." She pulled out her tilon and was preparing to turn it on.

"Nir'vina....," the man waved his hand at her. "I'm off duty."

"I know. I was thinking of other things we could use on this ship. Micro-missiles that could be mounted on the wings. I even have ideas of creating some with nuclear-tipped warheads. Heh, heh."

The Shal'rein was giddy at best, eager to get started. However, the man was tired and simply not interested in the moment.

"Can we save this till tomorrow?" Ramirez practically pleaded. "We aren't taking off for another couple of days."

"But, you're the ordinance officer," the Shal'rein countered. "At least check what I have."

The man relented a little bit. Nir'vina pulled the two strips of her tilon apart and turned it on. A profile of the top layout of the Lifen lander was displayed. There were red lights highlighting the wings. Ramirez took the tilon and looked at it.

"Ugh....You're trying to turn this ship into a N'Jip Assault Carrier, aren't you?" Ramirez asked. "It won't work. Those Itrean carriers' wings are missile launchers. The Lifen had its wings designed as basic stabilizers for atmospheric flight."

"I know, but I'm working on a pair of box launchers," Nir'vina said. "They can be mounted on the wings and rigged to launch."

"Missile pods....but we would have a hard time reloading them in space. I know what you're trying to do, but it won't work. It would be easier to deploy munitions from the front bay doors than this."

"But you can't fire missiles that way when flying through the atmosphere. These missile launchers can fire while in an atmosphere."

"And trying to rig Itrean warheads with UHN equipment? It's very hard to do."