The Supremum Factor: Book 1: Birth of the Empire

Chapter 14 Reconnaissance

For nearly a month the HAAT with it's crew, monitored the enemy while at the same time researching the belt. Karen had found a large viability to the asteroids and as they researched it all, she designed a plan that would enable them to them to mine it.
In the ship, with so much boredom, the crew often played games together, when all were awake. When it came time to sleep, there were always 2 awake at all times. Then on one shift as they monitored the area, Lynn caught a glimpse of a natural phenomenon. A meteor happen to turn in the light of the sun and for a brief moment, shone back at them in brilliance.
"Wow," she exclaimed. "Look at that."
Chris looked over, and said, "now that is a wonder. Looks like an image of a goddess forming."
"Yes it does doesn't it," she agreed.
Chris looked over at her and suddenly said, "that image, it almost looks like you."
"Like me?" she shrugged. "I really don't think so."
"It really does," he insisted. "I have always admired your beauty."
Shocked at his profession, she said, "oh really? And how long has that been?"
"Ever since the day you disembarked from the shuttle when you first arrived on the moon," Chris professed.
Lynn looked at him for a moment then said, "and you never bothered to say anything at all to me till now?"
"I didn't think it appropriate to. As well, I didn't want it to affect our work," explained Chris.
"Well I can understand that, but now the cat is out of the bag, so to say," said Lynn looking him in the eyes. "But to be honest, I have always been more wrapped up in my work than to try and pursue relationships."
"I think most people on the base are like that," added Chris.
Lynn looked over at Chris more, eyeing him up and down without him noticing. Then she asked, "what would you do if you had the opportunity to be in a romantic relationship with me?"
Taken by surprise he said, "I really don't know, to tell you the truth."
In her youth, Lynn had had a few boyfriends, but most had been shallow and only wished to sleep with her. She had slept and made love to one person ever, but it had been a long time. Looking at Chris, those feelings came back, desires for him beginning to mount. She moved over to him and said, "so right here right now, what do you want to do?"
Chris looked at her intently wondering what to do. She already had her face within an inch of his, staring right into his eyes. "I, uh, hmmmm....." was all he could mutter.
Lynn spread her legs around his, then sat in his lap, layed her hands on his shoulders. Looking down at him, she said, "come on Chris, there is just you and me here."
"Yes but, we are supposed to be monitoring the screens," said Chris.
"When was the last time you had a woman?" asked Lynn.
"I, ummmm, I really,...." was all he got to say.
Lynn interrupted him mid sentence saying, "oh my god, you never have." Leaning over him, she pressed a button on the panel behind him, locking down the flight cabin. "Now, we won't get interrupted." She leaned down and began kissing him on the lips. "Come on Chris, it's been a very long time for me."
Chris began kissing her back saying, "I can't believe you Lynn."
Both continued to kiss and as they did, disrobed each other. On the heap of clothing, Chris layed her down, pressing himself against her. He kissed her on the lips, cheek, nose neck, moving slowly down her body.
After nearly an hour of love making, the two lay on the floor, fully spent. She looked at him and said, "you were wonderful Chris."
"I have to admit, so were you, Lynn," he replied.
"I wish you had said something to me long before this," said Lynn running her hand through his hair. "We could have had a long relationship by now."
"I wish I had now," replied Chris gazing in her eyes. "So where do we go from here?"
Lynn approached him, kissing him one last time then said, "when it is our sleep time, we sleep together." Suddenly she looked at the screen noticing the time. "OMG, get dressed fast." She gathered her own garments, dressing as quickly as possible.
Chris looked at her while dressing and asked, "what's the rush?"
"They'll be up and here soon," replied Lynn.
"What? How long has it been?" Chris queried.
"Over an hour," she replied.
Chris hurried. After both looked fully dressed and proper, they sat at opposite ends beginning telling stories, laughing a bit loud, until there was a loud banging noise. Both went quiet for a moment listening.
"Hey, open up the door," Sam yelled from the other side.
Chris leaned back then pressed the switch on his panel to open the door. In came Sam looking at the 2 of them. Moments later, a tired looking Karen appeared.
"Why did you have the door closed?" asked Sam.
"Oh sorry about that, we were exchanging a lot of funny stories. I thought our laughter was going to wake the two of you, so we closed the door, to make sure we didn't wake either of you up," explained Lynn.
"Oh I see," said Sam, sitting down.
As Karen entered, she looked around sniffing the air. "What is that odd odor in here? It's permeating everything."
Sam looked back at Karen and said, "I didn't notice till you mentioned it, but ya there is a funny and strange odor in here."
Thinking fast, Lynn replied, "I think that would be me. I was doing some rigorous exercises earlier, part of my attempts to stay fit."
Karen approached her, giving her a good sniff. She jumped back quickly saying, "It is you."
Looking at Lynn, then back at Karen, Chris slowly took a big breath in and realized that he as well had a little funny odor happening. He then added, "It's not all her fault, we had a bet going to see who could outlast who. Unfortunately, she is in better shape than I."
Karen approached him as well taking a smell then said, "you both need a shower. And not just a quick daily bathing, in the ship's sanitizing sink."
"I have to agree with Karen," said Sam looking at them both and their clothes. "Both your uniforms will need washing as well. The sweat is likely stained right through."
"Perhaps now is a good time to return back to base, for a proper rest for a day," suggested Karen.
"Seems like a good time to do that," agreed Sam. "It's been over four weeks since we left. I could use a good shower and the 2 of you need one really badly."
Lynn and Chris looked at each other, Lynn saying, "I guess we had better not engage in any more competitions like that without adequate cleansing facilities."
"I think I'll agree with that," said Chris.
"If we are going to depart, we likely should do a final observation scan to determine if the enemy is close to withdrawing or not," said Karen.
"Yes we had better," agreed Sam.
In the next few hours they moved in closer , scanning intensely into the area. The area was still bustling with activity, so it was decided they had plenty of time to withdraw then return again. As the ship left, Sam decided that Lynn and Chris should get some sleep, as their turn was closely approaching.
Once out of ear shot, Lynn said to Chris, "ready for some more fun before we actually sleep?"
Chris looked at her replying, "I'm up for it, but, do you think it's wise with them awake?"
"We can lock the door. If they come by, we can just say it must have been an accident," answered Lynn, beginning to move faster.
Within a few minutes, they were in the sleeping area, making love for nearly three hours. Afterwards, they snuggled up to each other till they woke up again, then made love to each other for another hour. When they finally emerged one at a time Karen noticed how their smell had gotten worse.
"I never realized how once it starts, it can get worse," commented Karen.
"Well at least we are almost at base now," remarked Sam.
Once at base, Lynn and Chris proceeded to the base showers and frolicked once more shower together. They could not let each other go. Their attraction had grown even stronger. Knowing this they made every moment count.
Karen immediately went searching for Orion. Having gone to the command centre, she asked Thor to open a com link to him.
"Zeenner here. What's the emergency Thor?" asked Orion.
"Sir, I have Karen here. She says she has some data for you," replied Thor.
"The HAAT is back already? I didn't expect them back for another week or more," said Orion.
"Sir, the enemy was still very active in the field. We also had a little bit of an emergency situation which required us to return early," said Karen.
"Well you can tell me all about it when you meet me in my lab in twenty minutes," said Orion.
As he arrived, Orion swiped his access card to open the door, which only he had access to. Karen followed behind.
"Now, tell me, what was this situation you had which required you to return so soon? You had plenty of supplies still," said Orion.
"Well sir, it was a situation involving aroma. Rigorous exercise with no proper bathing facilities became a problem," replied Karen.
"Rigorous exercises? Do tell me more," said Orion.
"Not much to tell sir. Lynn in an attempt to keep fit was doing exercises. Somehow Chris challenged her and they both ended up in some sort of competition to see who could best who. By the time Sam and I returned from our designated sleep time, the command deck had quite an offensive aroma. The two were permeating with their sweat," explained Karen.
"Yes, some good lengthy exercises can do that, especially in a confined place," said Orion.
"It was decided that we should return early after making sure the enemy was still quite dug into the belt," said Karen.
"I would have done the same considering the circumstances," said Orion, now looking at the data chip in her hand. "Now what do you have to report to me?"
"The viability of the asteroids is quite high. We have found high concentrations of usable ore. We can extract a lot of different minerals from the belt. On this data chip is all the minerals we found so far and what concentrations per asteroid it had," said Karen handing him the data chip.
Taking it, Orion inserted it into his pad, extracting the information then looked at it. "Yes, this seems to show some great possibilities."
"Sir, while I was at it, I also devised a plan on how to make a facility in the belt to extract and process all the ore," said Karen.
"Yes, I am just looking at your idea now. It's a very good start to one," said Orion.
"Very good start? But I thought I covered most everything," said Karen.
"You did, but I have even greater plans for this mining facility," said Orion.
"More? But what more could you want?" asked Karen.
"First off, you need to add a habitat module. Then you need another for growing food and so on. It would not be very practical to have to ferry people back and forth all the time to work. The distance is also far, thus requires growing food as well to keep the people fed," said Orion.
"Oh. I wasn't thinking of that at all. I was thinking more of people living on a kind of ship parked next to it," said Karen.
"Yes, that will likely be the beginning of it till an appropriate complex is built," said Orion.
"Sir, if you don't mind me asking, when would you begin putting this whole new mining operation in effect?" asked Karen.
"Not until after we have phase three complete. We will require it to establish the mining operation," replied Orion.
"What exactly is phase three? I keep hearing talk of it," said Karen.
"Phase three is the next phase of our entire procedures, which will help to establish mining facilities where needed, among other things," replied Orion.
"That sounds intriguing. When do I get to see it?" asked Karen.
"When the time is right for you to see it," replied Orion.
"That sounds like everything else that has been going on here," commented Karen.
"I'm sorry, but for safety measures, in case we might have terrorist spies among us, information must remain limited until needed," said Orion.
"Understood, sir," said Karen with a large sigh. "Sir if that is all, I would like to get some nice proper sleep in my own quarters. The ship didn't exactly give me the best sleep."
"Yes, you may go Karen," said Orion. Once she was out of the lab, he pressed his wrist com and said, "link to Dale Forbman."
In moment a voice came through saying, "yes?"
"Dale, Orion here. I need you to gather some men to install a shower system aboard the HAAT in the next thirty six hours."
"Thirty six hours? What's the hurry?" asked Dale.
"The HAAT needs to return on it's mission right away. I'm delaying it one day as it is. It needs to return as soon as possible," replied Orion.
"Very well, sir. I'll get my people on it right away," said Dale.
"Great. When you are done I have another similar system for you to install elsewhere. But that one will require you and I conferencing about it first," said Orion.
"Very well, sir," said Dale.
That night, Lynn and Chris slept together in her quarter's. No one was the wiser. The next morning they helped reload the ship with supplies. As well, they loaded a few extra cleansing towels.
Before they could launch, Orion met with them in the hanger. "Getting ready to depart once more, I see."
"Yes sir," replied Sam. "We would have waited a little longer before returning, but Lynn and Chris decided to engage in a little physical competition, to see who could best who."
"Indeed," said Orion, looking at them both. "And who won?"
"Accordingly, Chris said it was Lynn," replied Sam.
"Very interesting," Orion mused, as he continued to look at Lynn and Chris in the short distance. "I'll have to have a talk with them, especially Chris about his physical shape."
"I was also thinking about that a bit as well sir," said Sam.
"Well carry on with what you are doing," said Orion as he walked over to Lynn and Chris, who were carrying supplies. As he he approached he waved to them.
"Sir," greeted Lynn.
"Getting ready for continuing your mission I see," said Orion.
"Yes, we are packing a lot of extra supplies for the trip," said Chris.
"Perhaps we should delay the mission, till we have a proper shower installed on the ship," said Orion, a big smirk on his face.
"Sir?" wondered Chris.
"Afraid you can't fool me," began Orion looking each in the eye. "You can maybe fool Sam, but I know better. I know all my staff very well."
"What do you think we are trying to fool?" asked Lynn.
"Let's just say, I seen how Chris here has been looking at you. I chose you both for this mission for two reasons. The second, which I was hoping the two of you would finally discover your feelings for each other."
"Sir!" said the two in unison.
"Be honest with me. The two of you were sleeping together on the ship, were you not?" asked Orion.
Looking down in shame, Lynn replied, "I'm sorry sir, we did."
Orion placed a hand under her chin, tilting her head back up for her to look into his eyes and said, "neither one of you have anything to fear. I was hoping this was going to happen."
"You expected this. Really sir?" said Chris surprised.
"As I said, I chose the two of you on purpose for this mission. A nice quiet, secluded place. I'm surprised it took this long for it to happen," said Orion putting a hand on each of their shoulders. "Now, I will give the two of you the option to return on this mission, or stay here. What will it be?"
"Well, sir, the mission was exciting. But it doesn't have any proper bathing facilities," said Lynn.
"Which is why I said I am having a proper shower installed at this very time," said Orion.
"You were really serious when you said that?" asked Chris.
"But how did you know we would need one?" asked Lynn.
"You had enough supplies to last almost another week. On top of that, word got out fast that the two of you smelled something awful on your arrival. Proper deducing indicated some fornication activity. The two of you have my blessing to be wed, here at the base if you so choose it. Anyone you wish to invite will be transported here as well."
"That's awful generous of you sir. But I have to ask why," said Lynn.
"If I told you all my secrets, then nothing would come as a surprise to you," said Orion. "But I will say, I have foreseen the future. Parts of it anyway, with the two of you together in it."
"We're honored sir and we will think more of it," said Chris.
"Very well then. But for now, load up what the two of you are carrying right now then take the rest of the day off. Go enjoy some very personal time together. At least here on the base you can have far more privacy than on the ship. I'll let Sam and Karen know none of you will be departing till tomorrow, after the shower is installed in part of the cargo hold, " said Orion.
"Thank you sir," said both Lynn and Chris together, before proceeding.
Orion followed going into the ship. He checked in on the progress, then met with Sam again, letting him know that they wouldn't be leaving till the next day, in order to complete the installation. The next day, the HAAT departed, returning on it's surveillance mission.
After seeing the HAAT off, Orion went to find Zoi. He found her in the lab, aiding in new research. As he entered he said, "Zoi, I need your help."
"My help? For what sir?" she asked.
"My special project. I am way behind at the moment. I can use your help for the next week or two," replied Orion.
"If it means getting a look at what you have been working on, then by all means, lead the way," said Zoi anxiously.
Orion lead the way into the hanger bay, into his secured corner that required his pass card to enter. Entering he closed the door then opened the next door.
"Why is it so dark?" asked Zoi.
"To keep things a mystery," Orion replied, walking down the stairs to the next room then to the ramp and up it.
"What's all this stuff for?" asked Zoi, looking around the entire storage area.
"All kinds of equipment that needs to be installed," replied Orion.
"What are you building in here anyway?" Zoi queried. "You have been so mysterious about it."
"He won't tell me either," said Caroline, having appeared out of nowhere.
"Caroline? What are you doing in here?" asked Zoi.
"I've been helping Mr Zeenner for weeks doing assembly in here," replied Caroline.
"Weeks?" said Zoi turning to Orion surprised. "How is it that you have allowed her in here for so long while keeping the rest of us out?"
"She was dying of curiosity, almost begging me to see what's in here. I told her if she was to see, she would have to continuously help me till it was finished," replied Orion.
"When I first arrived, there was only the floor above here complete, nothing else. We put in many floors and created rooms on each level. Some are weird shaped, others kinda normal. But it has been an interesting experience," said Caroline.
"I bet it has. You're not one that I would have expected to see get their hands dirty doing construction stuff like this," said Zoi.
"Normally I wouldn't. But I really wanted to see what was going on in here. So I got my hands dirty. The learning experience has been quite interesting however," said Caroline.
Looking around some more, Zoi asked, "are those storage cabinets over there?"
"They are," replied Orion moving towards the staircase. "Follow me so that I can show you your task. It's up a few levels ."
Following they entered into a room with boxes full of instrument panels. Zoi looked around as well saying, "this whole complex seems strangely familiar."
"This is your task. I need all these consoles installed and hooked up together. Caroline can remain with you, as you will need help to mount the main screen up," said Orion.
"Main screen? Where?" asked Zoi.
Pointing Orion said, "right there. You will have to assemble the framing for it tho. I have a diagram here for you indicating where everything should be installed. What's not up here already, should be down below with all the rest of the equipment," giving her the diagram.
Looking at it Zoi said, "this is a layout similar to the HAAT's command deck. Why are you replicating it in here." Then she began to think of a lot of the layout she saw on the way up. "This all has a very vague similarity to the HAAT's design, but on a larger scale. What are you building anyway? Is it an upgrade to the HAAT?"
Looking at her then at Caroline, Orion said, "you're absolutely correct. This is phase two point five. A ship in between two and three."
"Between both? How can it be between both?" asked Zoi.
"This one will hopefully have an experimental FTL drive," replied Orion.
"FTL? What is that?" asked Caroline.
"FTL stands for faster than light," replied Zoi looking intently at Orion. "You're going to use this to develop a functioning FTL drive?"
"Not develop but create and test. I have the whole design in my head. Had it for a long time, but I lacked certain information that became known shortly after we reverse engineered the alien craft," replied Orion.
"So you are saying you have the knowledge to build an FTL drive," said Zoi.
"Yes. But I can only build it for this ship. I can see it so clearly in my visions now," said Orion.
"Then why don't you give the plans to the research team and have them develop it for phase three?" asked Zoi.
"The visions complete themselves as I continue the assembly. I have no idea how it will look in the end. I just assemble each piece as I see it arrive in the visions, completing them. I don't know how it will look in the end." said Orion.
"So we have to wait till you finish it in order for us to figure out how it actually works?" said Zoi.
"That about sums it up," said Orion.
"What if it doesn't work?" asked Zoi.
"His visions are never wrong. I thought you knew that by now?" replied Caroline.
"I'm not sure what to believe. But how is it you are so sure?" said Zoi.
"It's what his mother said to me a long time ago," replied Caroline.
"Wait, what? You know his mother?" asked Zoi.
"Not exactly. When we first met he offered me an exclusive and flew me to Zee Corp headquarters. He offered me and Barry to stay with him the night. We accepted not realizing he was talking about the family farm. That was when I met her," replied Caroline.
"So you only met his mother?" asked Zoi.
"Oh no, Barry and I also met his father and sister. In fact we met his sister at the same time as we first met him," replied Caroline.
"That was the start of a couple of good month's," said Orion.
"Good month's? How so?" asked Zoi.
"That was when the fusion generator at Altera Labs exploded from their tampering with it. Over this, the law suit and the damages they caused, I ended up buying Altera labs through the court, by having the CEO sign it over with all affiliates, to Zee Corp, Zee Corp paying the twenty three million owed to the state for damages which they could not pay," said Orion.
"I recall hearing something about the takeover, but I didn't know the details of how it happened," said Zoi.
"The best part was when the CEO tried to enter one of the affiliate companies, finding out he couldn't, which was where he kept a lot of incriminating evidence for other court cases that had yet to come up. The look on his face was so precious," said Caroline.
"I would have loved to have see that," said Zoi.
"Oh you can. Barry recorded the whole thing," said Caroline.
"You allowed them to record it all?" said Zoi turning to Orion again.
"Anything they record is technically Zee Corp property," replied Orion.
"Oh yes. I forgot that you did happen to mention Zee Corp owns most of the State News network," said Zoi.
"In any event, Zee Corp made out like bandits when we got Altera Labs and the affiliates. It was worth more than we paid for it, including the research and other technologies they had of great value," said Orion.
"What's Zee Corp worth anyway?" asked Zoi.
"I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to. My sister runs the company now and takes care of it all.," replied Orion.
"You don't even have a rough idea?" asked Zoi.
"It's worth trillions, that's for sure," said Caroline.
"I assumed that already," said Zoi.
"Anyway, I have to get back to the engine compartment to continue my work there. I'll leave the two of you to continue with the plans I left you both," said Orion.
"Wait. This ship seemed very big as we walked through it," Zoi commented.
"It is," Orion confirmed. "The size is considerably bigger than the HAAT."
"This section of the hanger didn't seem to be very big to compare," said Zoi.
"It actually is. This whole section of the hanger is also submerged three levels below the hanger bay's floor level," explained Orion. "There is actually a lower level entry point, where I have had people enter in order to help me over time."
"But why all the secrecy sir?" asked Zoi.
"I don't like to let everyone know of new experiments. In this fashion, if someone is captured and tortured for information, they know very little," explained Orion.
"Understood sir," said Zoi.
Over the next few weeks, with the added help from Zoi most of the ship's systems were assembled. Orion also got other random help from day to day, each of them not knowing where they were. Work progressed daily, with Zoi partially in charge, Caroline aiding her.