The Exiles:A New Power

The One-Year War Part 5:Escalation

Above Ingalls

Shipyard 4

Floating in the void amidst the ribcage-like metallic cradles that held military support vessels in their claws for refurbishment, a pair of Techs checked the plasma cannon on one of the destroyers, running diagnostics. The ship had taken a few hits on her armor and the scarring from the few times kinetic batteries had managed to damage it were in full view. Part of the UNSC 'eagle' emblem was faded and darkened after a superhot slug from the sole new Batarian ship they could've run into struck the angular side plate of the dagger-shaped warship.

"Hit knocked a couple coils out of alignment," The lead Tech, a Quarian by the name of Kim'Rum, spoke as he lifted his Datapad. He was wearing his family's Enviro-Suit as a way to get out into the unforgiving cold void of space. Holding onto one of the handles attached to the ship's side, he threw the tablet to his co-worker, a Human by the name of Quinn Rose.

Quinn caught the datapad and pored through it, noting some other discrepancies. He said, "A loose reactor shielding system here, a cracked focusing lens on one of the laser turrets there, a capacitor misaligned on the MAC..." then he sighed deeply and rubbed the front of his own suit's enviro-helmet. He said, "Guess the local mass drivers do hit hard when they break through."

"All of this stuff is minor, surprisingly. Microns of misalignment," Kim said as he pushed himself toward the man and joined him next to the ship's main barrel. He told him, "The ship would've run fine for another few weeks through onboard maintenance alone. They only came back when the supply train failed to catch up with the Sixteenth Destroyer Division."

"Guess the Captain decided to be cautious," Quinn replied as he approached the plasma battery on the maw of the vessel. The front of the hull had to be expanded in order to allow both the MAC and the plasma lance to be attached, meaning there were now two 'barrels'. One for the MAC that was large enough to fit a man inside, and one for the energy weapon. The latter was thinner, smaller. It was why Kim had brought his drone, which he activated and sent in.

The small robot skittered into the weapon's barrel and started doing repairs while Kim added, "It's odd, seeing a ship like this powered down. Didn't this one just come out of her shakedown cruise when she hit the front with a new captain?"

"Yep," The human said, struggling as he squeezed himself into the barrel of the MAC to clean it out. Finding the two misaligned coils and capacitors, the man pulled a spanner up from his breast pocket and started setting things up. He told the Quarian, "The Captain's a human, but this ship's mostly run through AIs, both Geth and human. I do think the cap has a Quarian XO."

"Heh," Kim snorted as he looked into the gun, all while keeping his visor online to watch his automated repair drone working its magic. He told his buddy, "Man, just a few years ago, we were seventeen million people that came in to supplement colonies as the last of them is about to hit its first billion. Humanity and my people are lucky we found each-other," then he looked overhead as a Longsword fighter-bomber buzzed by, the pilots giving a wiggle of their wings to say hello before turning toward one of the myriad hangars of Shipyard Four. He asked, "Say, Quinn, you ever think of dating a Quarian?"

"You offering?" Joked the man. He then grunted as he finally settled the last coil into its place. He slid back and called, "Comin' out!"

Kim snorted and shook his head, "Not offering. You're not my type," then he 'leaned' against the ship's side, holding onto one of the handles while the man slowly climbed back out. He stated, "My sister's single now, though. Figured, since they just announced we're xeno-compatible..." and nudged his buddy. If Kim could see Quinn's eyes, they'd be rolling.