RP: NovaCorp/Horizon City Paranoia

[Silence]

The CO and XO glanced at each other briefly, before Taisa Ishida spoke back into the microphone.

"This is the Tamashi Yume; while we're unable to leave our assigned patrol route for now, we would be happy to interact once our mission is complete. We will refrain from firing upon your Kantes, and merely ask that they refrain as well from firing upon us. Tamashi Yume out."

 

[Zakalwe]

"They won't fire on you, I wouldn't worry about that. Anyway so what needs to be achieved for your mission to be 'over', and what are you going to be doing? And you've given me your name! Yay, this is an unexpected pleasure, I mean I've asked you every time we've talked but this is the first time you've answered, Mr. Tamashi Yume. And is your route around and around the cloud, or centred on the Horizon? I don't expect you to tell me your route of course, I asume that would be a breach of some rule or another," Kip actualy knew all the laws, and knew that it most likely would depending on interpretation, "but I'm sure you can give me a vague hint. Here I'll send you the most likely ones and you can tell me which one is closest." Kip had, in a micro-second, calculated the three hundred most efficient and likely routes, and sent them to the Ender.

 

[Silence]

"All I can say for the moment is that we have orders to aggressively patrol this area. When and how we'll be relieved has yet to be explained to me," Taisa Ishida replied.

Glancing at the navigation officer, who was waving at him, Ishida made his way over to the younger man, and listened as the officer quickly explained to patrol routes they were given.

"Given the coverage their Kantes will soon have in place, we should be able to alter our route to save on time and energy."

"Yessir!" The younger officer replied, turning to the navigation computer.

"No Taii, I want you to draw this route up by hand. They still cover things like manual navigation back at the academy, don't they?"

"Yes, Taisa. I'll have it to you as soon as it's ready," the Taii replied, glancing at the computer he was forced to ignore, and pulling out the latest star charts. After a few minutes of work, referencing the likely location of future Kantes as well as the ones already deployed, the young man made his way over to the Taisa and presented his projected course.

"Well, Taii, let's have it," The Taisa said, taking the proposal and studying it for a moment.

"Not bad... not bad at all," Ishida said with a grin. Pointing to one area, he turned to the younger officer, "With the debris here, it'll probably a little difficult to get positive sensor feeds from this stretch here," he pointed, "to here. Modify out course so we cut through this area, and you're free to run it."

After saluting, the Taii made his way back to his station, quickly implementing the Taisa's changes (and glad his proposal was close to perfect) and punching them in, where the helm would put them to use.

"Taii?" The Taisa called, when he was finished.

"Yessir?"

"Go ahead and run down to the lounge for an hour."

"I-" he started, before nodding, "aye, sir." With that, he left the bridge, the hint of a smile on his face.

"Sir?" Makoto asked, quirking a brow.

Lowering his voice so only his XO could hear him, Ishida grinned, "navigation isn't something we'll need manned at all times, unlike Weapons," he said, glancing at the fully staffed and ready Weapons station, "besides, that was a damn good course plot for someone fresh out of the academy. My alteration was almost a 50/50 on the 'need' side of things."

"Don't want to look like you aren't in control?" Chusa Makoto asked with a crooked grin.

Ishida shrugged, then sighed. "Not really... with those Kantes up, we're going to have a little less space to patrol, but if something gets through, I'd rather not have to run around a cloud of debris to get to where we need to be."

"Understood, sir," Makoto nodded, once, before making his way over to the Weapons station.

Turning back to the forward view ports, Taisa Ishida stared at the expanse of stars for a moment, then flicked his headset back on to the broadcast frequency, "Horizon, we're beginning our patrol route now. When our situation changes, or new orders arrive, we'll do our best to alert you. Tamashi Yume out."

 

[Zakalwe]

Kip was reasonably happy with this, they hadn't done what he asked, but he hadn't really expected them to. However after thinking about it he realised that 36 wasn't going to be enough. If there where Mishu attacking they'd need more. Much more. He communicated with the Hephaestus' AI's.

"What do you want Kip?" Their joint voices asked.

"Well I've decided that 36 isn't enough. Sorry about changing my mind."

"It really isn't a suprise. How many do you want?"

"Well ..." He worked out what he'd need to make a geosphere around the cloud, made up from triangles of Kantes, "I'm thinking around ... 1800."

"Really?"

"No, 900."

"Fine. That will take a while we're afraid, it takes a day per bay per Kante, and we can have three Kantes in a bay at onces, we have six bays on each of our selves, which comes up to 12 bays. That's 36 a day. For the numbers you want it will take around 25 days. However the resource drain will be considerable."

"That's alright, or would you prefer to be vaporised by Mishu?"

"Not really."

"Good. Happy building."

Kip looked at the beautiful shape that the nine hundred would make. So pretty.

 

[Silence]

Taisa Ishida sighed with relief as his new orders came through. While there'd not been any incursions, keeping a round-the-clock crew manning the telemetry and weapons systems was slowly eating away at his crew's morale.

The opportunity to place the weapons in standby and head off to their next station was a welcome change, and one that the crew would appreciate as well. Grabbing the headset he'd tossed onto the armrest of his chair, he fit it in place, cleared his throat, and began informing the crew of their new orders.

"Attention, this is Captain Ishida... as you are all aware, we've been here in the Fenyar cloud to spearhead the defenses against a possible SMX invasion. Our new orders have been received. We are to make our way back to the Galaxy Expeditionary Group, and rejoin the fleet."

Ishida paused for a moment, then grinned at his XO, who looked as tired as he did, "During our transit, I'm going to turn most controls over to the AI. Unless specifically ordered otherwise, everyone aboard is to consider themselves off-duty until we are an hour from our destination. That is all."

Makoto, who looked as pleased with the idea of some time to relax and unwind as the rest of the bridge crew, made his way over when Ishida motioned him over.

"Yes Captain?"

"Gather all shift heads. I want a list of those who are going to man essential systems. Standard merit-based procedures," Ishida ordered, to which the Chusa saluted and spun, heading off to comply.

"Communications- get me in touch with the Horizon. Navigation, plot a course for the GEG, departure time in half an hour. We don't have a set arrival time, but I don't want to get there in any more than 2 days."

Keying his headset back on, and glancing at the Communications Officer who gave him a thumbs up, Taisa Ishida began his transmission to the Horizon.

"Horizon, this is the Tamashi Yume, new orders have come in, and I'm afraid we must depart without taking you up on your offer of hospitality. On behalf of the Star Army, and especially my crew, I thank you for your cooperation and understanding. Tamashi Yume out."

Turning back to the entrance, where Chusa Makoto had just re-entered, Ishida returned the headset to the spot he'd gotten it, and slipped out the door to arrange the crew shifts.

 

[Zakalwe]

"Oh, that's alright. Your efforts are apreciated," Kip sent back instantly. NovaCorp was worried about the Mishu, their attacks on Hoshi no Iori and Tami. They were strongly considering moving.