Wings of Fire: Dragons, Steel, and Pom-Poms

XIV - Can't Stop Progress

> BEGINNING OF PART 2

>Aboard USS Sampson, US Navy Destroyer, anchored off Safe Harbor_

"Well gentlemen, this is all... extensive. Don't you think that we may be getting ahead of ourselves, here?" Captain Robert Drake said as he wafted through a small stack of papers given to him by the small and diverse crowd of subordinate officers that were standing at ease across from his cramped desk.

It was a somewhat ironic statement, coming from him. During the initial days after arriving in this strange place, he had been one of the biggest proponents for long-term planning as far as their stay here was concerned. However, that was almost a month ago. It would seem that most Earthen personnel had switched to a similar line of thinking by now.

And judging by what the collection of men had just presented to him, he might just be willing to wager they were even a little strangely excited by it. The long-term planning, that is.

The stack of papers largely consisted of a loose collection of drawings and written information and notes, some typed and printed, others stenciled, yet more handwritten. All of it regarding the local town they had set up base camp in.

It would be nomenclature to call them blueprints, exactly. What they were instead were a bunch of drawings, outlines, concepts and 'bright ideas' that were probably the result of an hours-long brainstorming session between at least a dozen personnel that had a background in structural engineering. The theoretical buildings and structures varied heavily in their specific purpose and design.

The only collective similarity between all of them was that they all had to do with infrastructure.

"Permission to speak, sir?" Lieutenant Junior Grade Albert Harvy piped up.

"Granted."

"With all due respect sir, that is at least partially the point."

Drake cocked an eyebrow.

"What I mean by that is: I'm certain you're aware of some concerns floating around about us running out of several... eh... vital commodities required to keep our machinery running in the eventual future.

"Now, as I'm certain you're also aware, there is very little risk of us running out of anything in the near future. Given that we have 32 Liberty ships full of raw materials, supplies, ammunition and a whole bunch of other stuff, totaling roughly 345,800 tons of cargo. Ignoring what we already carry on all the escort ships.

"Obviously, that all isn't evenly divided. Most of the ships, 18 to be exact, that came through are standard cargo configuration. 5 of them are fuel tankers, 2 of them are tank carriers, 2 troopships, and we have an aircraft transporter and a single collier ship.

"Given how few of us are here, relatively speaking, all that gives us not only more than what we need to last for a long time, but also gives us room to expand, sir."

"I see where you're going with this." Drake cut in. "You want to start setting up production facilities as soon as reasonably possible? Is that tenable?"

"Well, sir, that's what we're investigating with the design concepts you're looking at, sir." The lieutenant junior grade shuffled slightly in place, considering.

"At the moment, the vital commodity type that we are closest to running out of is foodstuffs, as we carry little of it beyond the provisions already stored within each ship. However, even that can last us a while, and our plans for increasing the local's sustenance crop yields by retrofitting a handful of jeeps and half-tracks for tractor work, utilizing chemical fertilizers and simply providing local farm hands with air defense cover are projected to work out in all our favors, sir."