The Ringed Quest for the Legend, part 4 - The logistic
18 Dec 2024Claude Lecardunoie
... continued from Duamta
Forbes Terminal - Algorab - 7th of december 3310
Two fleet carriers, the SWS Arc Raider and the SWS Ops Fleet Carrier and their staff, 170 pilots and at least as many ships embedded were ready to leave Algorab by the 8th of december 3310. In the expedition roster, there were many contracted explorers, like myself, but also fleet carriers navigators, exploration planners, scouts, refuellers, mining prospectors and fighter pilots, just in case.
Fortunately, Algorab, the Ringed Quest for the Legend departure system, is ruled by the Sidewinder Syndicate, the very same organisation at the heart of the expedition. Therefore the whole system infrastructure, from main spaceports to the tinest planetary installation were helping to the preparation. From many of the landing pads there, small freighters were taking off, heading toward the two flag ships of this galactic trek loaded with basic goods, like food, ammunitions, drugs and medecines, various consumables and spare parts for ships and SRVs...
Other vessels, carefully escorted by gunships, were transporting more sensitive and expensive cargo: muon imagers, centrifuges, genetic samplers, quantic microscopes, laser telescopes and other scientific devices.
Finally, some tanker ships were replenishing the huge tritium deposits of the Arc Raider and the Ops.
From centrifuges, to complete tool sets, from medical consumables to water supplies, all kind of boxes, containers and crates were shipped to the SWS//Arc Raider and the SWS//Ops Fleet Carrier
Forbes Terminal was no exception in this feverish preparation. With all this mess on the docks, I decided to contract Algorab Ships Concierge, one of the many companies here which were offering full ship revision packages. It included:
- Fuel and consumables resupply
- Core modules reparation
- Basic food, like protein gels, synthetic cereals and water for 6 weeks
- Various spare parts such as SRV tires
- Ship LAN backup components: cables, CPUs, routers and switches
- Composites and alloys for the onboard 3D printer, should an element of ship had to be remolded and replaced
On my side, I just had to worry about the extra. First, at a local Pioneer Supplies retailer, I found an upgraded Artemis exploration exo-suit. Then, I walked through the station luxury shops district, where I found some nice treats to improve my diet on the weeks to come: 6 bottles of Chateau de Aegon, 2 boxes of Goman Yaupon Coffee and 3kg of Karsuki Locusts. All this at a bargain price, once I mentionned I was taking part to the Ringed Quest for the legend.
I was now ready to board the Arc Raider. There, I met Nova Russel, the Traffic Control senior operator:
- "Lecardunoie, right? And the Steve Zissou Explorer. Yep, you're on the list. Welcome on the Arc Raider. You'll be assigned to landing pads 10 and 11. Since you're a contracted pilot, no accomodation for you, you'll have to sleep in your ship cabin."
- "No problem, thrilled to be here", I answered
- "Ok, get yourself familiar with onboard life regulation: fleet carrier commander and crew quarters are restricted areas, access only on invites, no hand weapons allowed outside of your ship. Oh, and, we had to check in for you two containers. And that's against regulation to, but it came from Aegis Core, and we have a lot of respect for the pilots who fought in Sol and Duamta, so we made an exception", she said, with a wink.
Indeed the crates were a small, but nice reward from Aegis after my contribution in the battle of Duamta (read Duamta). They contained samples of antimony, tellurium and military alloys. And something actually much more precious, packed in a little deep blue box, with an note on it saying: "Probably one of the last batches of BelgoStar chocolates, made in Namur, Belgium, Earth. Aegis Core thanks you for your efforts defending Duamta against the Targoids".
Onboard of the SWS//Arc Raider, waiting for the first jump toward Colonia and all the systems to discover on the way there
Yes, Earth, Mars, the whole Sol system and many around were gone. It was now up to us to discover new ones, habitable, or systems that could be terraformed. And this expedition was only the first step to this new era.
... to be continued in The local news