The shipdock engineering crew were doing last minute
changes to the medical bay section before liftoff, expanding and adding
privacy to examination rooms. There was a large, red handprint on Jared's
left cheek as he supervised the putting into place of his new plans.
They's begun clamping on girders, welding in a subassembly that rather resembled the Starship Enterprise's photon torpedo deck. He was getting as much space as an entire level of the cargo bay, though in the final shakedown he'd probably end up sharing extra space with an expanded galley and rec facilities.
For that reason he'd requested a bank of escape shuttles to be placed along the new module. Just in case of critical ship damage, there could be alot of crew here needing to be evacuated.
But resolving that was actually part of his problem.
Jared was here for a simple reason. This was one of the few human societies ever to learn the secrets of phase technology and he was here to pick up what they knew - which involved him not sidetracking them by going off on all the tech he DID know and showing them alternates to stuff they might otherwise learn, which cut out any possibility of participation in engineering and most scientific roles.
Fortunately, discretionary powers within those limits were vast.
And so, Jared had warped in as a kid, adopted by a scientist couple who were in on the thick of the technological developments on Mars, and played roughly the part he did growing up on that Robotech timeline, that of an eager child always in a position to listen to the theorizing going on between scientists, an active mind his parents saw as a sounding board for their own ideas, and someone who passed unnoticed into the hearts of the most secret labs.
Frankly, there was scarcely a person alive who knew as much about phase tech as him at this point, but they were still learning it, so he was still listening in on developments. Actually, for the most part bugs and recording devices were doing the listening, as his life, following the peculiar twists it often does, led him to Earth where he'd just fallen in as medical officer of the very first phase-technology battleship of the timeline.
An excellent position to observe, as he no longer had scientific parent leading him secret labs everywhere.
They's begun clamping on girders, welding in a subassembly that rather resembled the Starship Enterprise's photon torpedo deck. He was getting as much space as an entire level of the cargo bay, though in the final shakedown he'd probably end up sharing extra space with an expanded galley and rec facilities.
For that reason he'd requested a bank of escape shuttles to be placed along the new module. Just in case of critical ship damage, there could be alot of crew here needing to be evacuated.
But resolving that was actually part of his problem.
Jared was here for a simple reason. This was one of the few human societies ever to learn the secrets of phase technology and he was here to pick up what they knew - which involved him not sidetracking them by going off on all the tech he DID know and showing them alternates to stuff they might otherwise learn, which cut out any possibility of participation in engineering and most scientific roles.
Fortunately, discretionary powers within those limits were vast.
And so, Jared had warped in as a kid, adopted by a scientist couple who were in on the thick of the technological developments on Mars, and played roughly the part he did growing up on that Robotech timeline, that of an eager child always in a position to listen to the theorizing going on between scientists, an active mind his parents saw as a sounding board for their own ideas, and someone who passed unnoticed into the hearts of the most secret labs.
Frankly, there was scarcely a person alive who knew as much about phase tech as him at this point, but they were still learning it, so he was still listening in on developments. Actually, for the most part bugs and recording devices were doing the listening, as his life, following the peculiar twists it often does, led him to Earth where he'd just fallen in as medical officer of the very first phase-technology battleship of the timeline.
An excellent position to observe, as he no longer had scientific parent leading him secret labs everywhere.
"We'll launch in the morning. The new medical bay is almost complete.
We'll then rendezvous with the fleet to take on any last minute observers
before heading out into orbit to complete filling out our Aestivalis compliment
and crew roster at the Nergal orbital station before beginning our mission
to Mars. Any questions?"
"Yah," one of the nameless engineers raised an arm. "What happened
to your hand?"
Yurika tried to hide the crudely bandaged lump and her sudden
blush both at the same time. "Oh, it... it was nothing, really."
"You ought to have your doctor look at that." Another nameless
character broke in.
"WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH...." Yurika took off running and streaming
tears out of the briefing room and down the hall.