Orion Gambit - Traci Ganner series book 2

Orion Gambit - Ch 15

Chapter 15

Repairs

Adamantine sat still and calm in the loving arms of the repair dock on Epsilon Hydrae. The yard was doing a splendid job tearing odd sections of the ship away to get at the deeper problems, but only because the ship had absolute priority. That was a comfort, since Traci was acutely aware that her ship was about to be called into the rift once more. And this time, the threat was far more serious.

Traci toured the ship’s aft section, where the damage was most severe. The repair hands did not enjoy having the ship’s captain looking over their shoulders, but they could not stop her from watching the progress of the repairs. She was accompanied by Captain Zuarit.

Zuarit had adapted quite well to a new apparatus designed and built for him on Epsilon. It was a transparent mask that fit over his head and rested gently on his shoulders. It provided him enough breathable atmosphere for short durations away from his environmental areas on the ship. Since the Valdi curtain spaces were only aboard Adamantine, he rarely disembarked. But Traci considered him to be part of her crew… almost. In fact, his loyalty to the mission had saved her and her crew. She would not forget this.

Zuarit walked in step with Traci, pointing to various assemblies on the hangar deck. She had to remind herself that Zuarit and his people had not had modern ships until six years ago. As a starship captain, he must certainly have enjoyed looking into the innards of a ship as complex as this one. Of course, there were some sections that were off limits to him, such as the cloaking device generators. Otherwise he was free to tour the ship, so long as he was accompanied by an Orion senior officer.

His own crewmen were working inside a much larger atmospheric curtain on the far side of the hangar deck. They mostly kept to themselves, working on flight deck assemblies for the strike fighters or working on the fighters themselves. That was also part of the agreement: only the Valdi were allowed to service the strike fighters. They even had a crew mess and makeshift bunks just off of the flight deck. The yard had done wonders turning the engineering team’s temporary fabrications into permanent installations.

Food preparations for the Valdi crew were a little more tenuous. It seemed that no matter how hard the Orion chefs tried—and they had tried very hard—everything they produced seemed to taste terrible to the Valdi, who ate only what they could stomach. In fact, many of the Valdi flight crew had stockpiled crate after crate of the terrible-smelling rations they had received from the Valdi supply ship.

On a more positive note, Captain Zuarit was now able to communicate more fluently through the breathing apparatus he wore. The linguistics team had installed a surprisingly commanding audio voice enunciator. In fact, when Zuarit spoke, he sounded like a great warrior chieftain addressing his people. Traci had to struggle not to laugh when she heard it, but it did get the attention of everyone around him, out of fear if nothing else.

And there was something more, a respect of sorts. It had become clear that Zuarit was officially assigned to her ship until they passed into the rift. That lent credibility to his story of what they would find on the far side. The Valdi had replaced the destroyed strike fighters and given her four spares, which would be sealed and interred at the Epsilon fleet base for the duration of her mission. They had also given her fresh pilots, and from the little she could gather from Zuarit, they were all aces, chosen specifically for this mission.

Captain Zuarit routinely accompanied her as she walked the decks of the ship during its repairs. He was becoming more comfortable with the design of the ship and with its senior staff. He did not spend much time with Michael or Lazarus, but he integrated with them on any duties they shared as a staff, including briefings and deck watch. He didn’t even seem to mind terribly that he was not currently commanding his own carrier, which made him something of an oddity.