Leviathan's Reach Crew Up
09 Jun 2020Rex-Cramer
I step up to the makeshift podium of a short toolbox in the hanger and look out at the 80 or so staff of the area chiefs. Take a deep breath and take it all in. My crew. The crew of Titan's Reach that will make the magic happen. At least the most technical magic."Good afternoon gentlemen, ladies. I didn't call you down here for anything formal. Just a chance to meet with you all and let you see and talk to the man behind the curtain. I know you have all met the captain and the bridge crew but the team here represents the ownership of Titan's Reach. Kayley and myself will be resident on the Carrier for the most part, Asher here will be along on our science and exploration trips but will stay behind on int the commercial deployments. We are open and available if you have questions or concerns but if there are operational issues to discuss it is appropriate to address those through the command crew."
A few murmurs rippled through the gathering but no real grumbles.
"I know the first question on everyone's mind is what the first destination is. The exact system is still being discussed but we expect a roughly 4000LY round trip core-wards as the shakedown cruise. We may, if time and fueling permit, ride along with the initial wave of the DSSA initiative boats. This is not expected to be a long-duration deployment so our stores will not be fully stocked. Final hand-over of Titan's Reach is expected to occur in roughly 10hrs time frame. We would like to have it fueled, ships transfered aboard and crew packed and racked in the following 24hrs."
This time some grumbling was heard but the chiefs shut it down very quickly.
"I know this is an ambitious schedule but I trust that the captain has hired an exemplary group and I know that all effort will be made to get us underway as soon as possible. After the shakedown we expect to depart for Colonia for an extended deployment in about 60 days. From there we will be running both commercial and exploration/mining deployments for at least 6 months. More details will be forth coming in the next couple of weeks.
In around 11hrs Guanshiyin and Norikura will both begin shuttle operations the moment we have go-ahead to take possession of the boat. Your assignment sheets are marked with either G or N indicating the ship providing your shuttle. Order is by crew-id numbers and your terminal app should alert you 12,6,3, and 1hr prior to departure." Those of you with numbers starting below 300XXX will need to be prepared to take the first shuttles of the run.
"Folks that is all I have for you tonight. Welcome to the crew and to I hope a long and profitable adventure"!
On that mark the catering staff brought in the buffet carts and I dismissed the group to a surf-n-turf dinner buffet which resulted in a lot of big smiles. After a walk through and chit-chat session with them that lasted 2hrs longer than I had planned in my mind I shambled back to my hab and poured over the design prints one more time to make sure I had not missed anything for the inspection tour checklist. The captain and I had worked on this for weeks trying to be sure we would have every critical system checked out and confirmed before the final hand-over.
Shaking my head and grabbing another coffee i muttered "I'll sleep when I'm dead".