Firefly

Chapter 14

"If you would allow me to finish, Commander. I mean your help will be useful, however, your ship is not required. We use the Gateway to obtain everything we need. We have no real need for ships," Nassana stated.

"Gateway?" Now what did these people have that everyone else didn't?

"The Gateway is a variation of the jump drive. Though the Gateway is more stable and can remain open for longer periods of time. Think of it as a doorway to somewhere else that still involves instantaneous travel," Nassana tried to explain.

"Perhaps if you saw it in operation you would understand better. …Kalara take my station, please, while I assist the commander." Rick watched as one of the other androids, yet another female, stepped up the table.

"Follow me, Commander." Nassana was already at the door.

They went straight to the elevator. "Gateway deck," Nassana said and they were off.

When they stopped and stepped out Rick found himself in front of the double door they'd left behind so that Kate could get the sex that she needed, thanks to him.

"Place your hand on the plate, Commander."

Rick watched the two doors slide open after he did and the room lit up. What he saw was a massive space that was mostly empty but there were a number of things up against the walls.

Rick walked with Nassana to the far end of the room where she stopped at a pedestal and powered it up. He instantly saw something on the wall next to it light up as well.

"This is the Gateway, Commander."

Rick moved in closer and looked it over. It was thick looking and looked like a device. It was slightly arched. It was easily 9 feet tall in the center. There were columns on either side and the thing was easily 2 feet thick. But if he wanted to walk through the opening, he couldn't. There was a wall which Rick took to be the outer edge of the outpost. There were two large glowing panels facing each other. "So what does it do?"

"You can travel instantly to anyplace you wish to go that can be scanned. So where would you like to go?" Nassana responded.

"Alliance Military Command and Control room on planet Sihnon." Rick chose the most impossible room he could think of. Suddenly and instantaneously after a moment of time he saw a room that was full of people wearing Alliance military uniforms.

"No way!?" Then suddenly Rick stumbled back. "Can they hear and see me?" They were both dead if they could.

"Negative, Commander. This is simply a viewing. Until we actually create a link no one will be able to step through in either direction." Nassana ended the view of that space.

"And you can go anywhere with this thing and come back?" Rick was totally amazed at this level of technology. He'd never seen or even read about anything like it.

"So long as the space can be scanned we can create a portal, if you will, between both places. Travel, no matter the distance, is instantaneous. It is perfectly safe," Nassana assured him.

"Amazing!" Rick looked around. The space was large though there were a number of things that occupied it. "And these things?" He pointed to one.

"A few are robots meant to be sent through and used to achieve any number of items. Others are meant to contain material that is harmful to organic life. We used the Gateway to obtain the necessary materials to manufacture our power conduit.

"We need a year not just to fabricate the new power conduit but to remove the existing one. Then install the new one and run tests on it to verify it is functioning properly. Part of the challenge is where the power conduit is located while maintaining our cloaking device as best we can," Nassana explained.

"Go anywhere instantly." Rick was still amazed.

"Will there be anything else, Commander?" Nassana had other things she needed to be doing.

"Where's the airlock to my ship located?" He had yet to find it.

"One level above the medical deck," Nassana said. "There is one on each side. Airlocks are only used in emergencies. The Gateway is the primary means of travel. Secondary would be using a small shuttle that would land in the landing bay."

"And you don't have a problem with me being in command of this outpost?" Rick still really didn't get it.

"We are androids, Commander. It is our duty to obey the orders of the organics. You may not be our original commander, however, per Iconian law, a direct descendant of our commander is now in charge. You simply need time to become comfortable with your new command. That is what we are here for."

It didn't make any sense to Rick, but if this was how it worked he would go with it.

"Command room. I have a question." Rick strode to the elevator after opening the door to get back out first.

Rick even lead the way to the command room and went straight to the main table.

"Show me a list of materials you'll need to create the fighter I'm interested in," Rick asked and was taken to one of the side panels.

Rick sat down while Nassana manipulated the controls. "Here is the list, Commander." She left him and went back to the main table.

It allowed Rick to sit there and read the list. He immediately recognized one of them on the list. Then he looked down at the controls and worked out how much in the form of percentages they would need of each material.

Rick put his finger on one of them. "I know this one. Nassana?"

"Commander?" She was right behind him.

"I know most of these. This one in particular is being mined as raw ore by a friend of mine. I even know of at least one processing plant that converts the raw ore into a more refined material. If I could talk to him he might know where other items on this list are located." Rick looked up at her.

"Refined material would be very beneficial. We would not have to spend time processing the raw ore. As for talking to him that will not be permissible. This outpost must remain undetected at all times." Nassana was sure she had made that clear to him.

"Broadcast communication, I agree. What about using that Gateway of yours? Scan him then just walk through and talk to him. That wouldn't violate any of those rules would it?" Rick had an idea.

"You are correct, Commander, it would not. We can scan for him at any time of your choosing," Nassana offered.

Rick was quite happy with that and he was interested in his fighter. It was just that they didn't even have a design for one yet.

"Would you please begin work on a design for this fighter? Perhaps get a more detailed list of the materials you would need?" Rick asked her.

"Of course, Commander. We can start immediately. May I ask what a potential target is so that your fighter is not under powered?" Nassana was interested in parameters for his fighter.

"Per Iconian law slavery is forbidden, correct?" Rick started there.

"Correct, Commander. I believe that is why the female is undergoing an operation at this time," Nassana pointed out.

"Her name is Kate, please. …Are you aware there was a war fought recently between the Alliance and the Browns?" Rick queried.

"Of course, Commander. We monitored every aspect of the battle that we could. We needed to make sure that this outpost was not detected during the conflict," Nassana confirmed.

"The war was fought because the Alliance was treating the outer planets as slaves to the core planets. After the Browns lost it became worse. They took out their frustrations of the war on those same planets.

"Maybe one fighter isn't enough to win the war. Though maybe it will be enough to gain a better result. At least less slavery if not eliminating it altogether," Rick explained. "Try and gain better terms for the planets outside of the core."

"You require a fighter to defeat one or more Alliance cruisers in a single battle then repeat that over and over again. I believe I understand. I will adjust the parameters of your fighter to achieve the results you require," Nassana informed him.

"You'll do it?" Rick was actually a little shocked.

"So long as this outpost location is not given away, you are our commander. We will construct your fighter to try and obtain the result you require," Nassana assured him.

"Thanks!" Rick was amazed yet again. "I believe I will go check on Kate. We can discuss scanning for my friend later."

"As you wish, Commander. One of us will start the design for your fighter immediately. I'm am sure Kate will be fine. Liara is highly skilled when it comes to organics." Nassana had faith in Liara's skills.

"What about you and the other androids? Surely you have someone who can repair you as well?" He wasn't going to achieve anything here without them.

"Each of us in capable of repairing any of us. Including Liara." He didn't need to worry about them.

"So why only 10 of you? I get that this outpost isn't all that big, but why just 10?" Rick was curious.

"The organics are in command of this outpost. We are only here to support them. Given the size of this outpost 10 was all that was required." The organics had made that decision.

"I see. Well, I require more than just 10 of you. So talk to the others then inform me what it takes to make more of you. Ten isn't enough," Rick said.

"As you require, Commander." Nassana was still watching him as he left the command room and headed for medical. "Interesting."

( ][ )( ][ )( ~ ][ ~ )( ][ )( ][ )

Rick walked into the medical bay and saw Kate still on a bed with Liara and the other one; he forgot her name and kicked himself for it. He really needed to learn all their names and commit them to memory.

However it wasn't difficult to tell that they weren't done yet. There really wasn't any waiting room that he could see. So he could lie down on the other diagnostic bed, sit down at her work desk, or go to his cabin.

Rick chose the latter so as not to get in the way. He went to what looked like a work desk and sat down. Since he could read everything now it wasn't so hard to turn everything on, including the large screen behind him.

He really wasn't sure just what he was looking for so it was more hit or miss than anything. Then he decided on something. Floor plans of the outpost he was in. It even gave him what each room was.

Each room looked to be designed to hold only 2 people. Every room was a suite. A small living area, bedroom, and bathroom. His was simply twice as big as any of the others. It looked like only his space had a dining room and a replicator for food.

Based on 2 per room there was space for 28 people while he couldn't find rooms for the androids. Maybe they didn't really need one but he made a mental note to ask if they did. They certainly had room for each of them to have their own room.

He found an entire level directly under the control deck that he didn't remember ever seeing. Though to be honest they had started on the medical deck and went down. It turned out to be all computer core. He couldn't help but wonder just how big this computer was and what it was capable of. For them to be this advanced he was thinking that the computer had to be far more advanced as well. Yet if it was this big physically just what was it capable of?

"Maybe it needs to be to make that Gateway work," Rick said to himself.

Next level down had him opening his eyes wide. It was a park as far as he could tell. Since only androids remained he wondered if they'd let it die or if it was all still alive? He decided to wait until Kate was better to go see it.

Next level down looked to be a lounge area, a game room, and a theater room. "I wonder if they have the latest movies or are they all 200,000-year-old Iconian movies?" Rick said to himself again.

After that it was all rooms they'd already seen. He did, however, see where the access doors to the corridor that led to his ship were located. So he now knew how to reach his ship if he wanted.

That gave him an idea. But instead of going across the hall he worked at how to talk to the control room from here.

He knew Nassana was likely back there but he didn't know for certain. "Hello?" Rick knew it was weak but what else was he supposed to do?

"Commander, how can we help you?" someone answered.

"I have several food packets on my ship. Is there a way for the replicator system learn how to make them?" Rick asked whoever it was that answered him.

"Of course, Commander. Just retrieve one of each, place it in the device, and activate the system. It will scan it and signal when it is complete. Then you will be able to input a name so you can recall it later. Keep in mind that even after it is scanned there will be small errors if you try and recreate it using the replicator."

"Excellent." Like Kate, Rick wasn't sure just what they had been eating.

"Is there anything else Commander?" Rick is asked.

"I noticed we have a cafeteria with what looks like a kitchen to cook real food in. Does that system still work and how do we accomplish that?" Something besides replicated food might be better.

"All systems on the outpost are operational. To restart the kitchen you will need all the material to do cooking with. All of the cooking utensils are still there, however all of the food was disposed of 199,999.5 years ago after all of the organics left the station."

That told Rick he had one more problem to solve. How to get fresh food here and from where?

"Thank you that will do for now," Rick told whoever it was.

"My pleasure, Commander."

"Wait, wait." Rick had one more thing he wanted to ask about.

"Yes, Commander?" She was still there.

"Do you and the other androids have a place to stay? All I can find are rooms meant for the organics, as you call them. I wanted you to know that each of you can select a room and make it yours. Have a place to retreat to if you need."

"I understand, Commander. I will inform the others of your decision."

"That's all thank you." Rick ended the communication and didn't see the androids in the control room looking at each other.

( ][ )( ][ )( ~ ][ ~ )( ][ )( ][ )

He really wasn't sure just one lone fighter was going to do. A jump drive suggested it could bounce around all over the place. One of the questions he thought of was could the fighter attack while still being invisible. If it could do that his little fighter just might manage to do more than he was thinking. He hoped for a lot.

Typing in one single word, Alliance, got him a large number of subtopics. He was amazed that this place knew so much about the Alliance. Then he typed in Browns and got an almost equal number of subtopics. This place knew almost as much about the Browns as they did the Alliance.

He leaned back. Knowing just what to do was almost more than he could imagine. To get the Alliance to come to the table and create a new deal, what did he attack?

Just who was going to be at that table? How long was it going to take? What if they took it out on the planets and made things worse before he could get them to concede to a new deal. He already had thousands of souls haunting him. He wasn't sure he could handle more.

A voice he guessed was Niara's sounded off suddenly. "Commander, our operation is complete. The female, Kate, is resting comfortably. She is sleeping though you may visit her if you wish."

Rick didn't bother replying. He was up, leaving everything on, out his door, and down to the medical deck.

Walking in he found Liara at her desk and Kate still on the medical bed. He went to Kate first. She was dressed in a gown instead of her clothes. Her hands were wrapped except for her finger tips.

Rick didn't dare touch her hands but he did have a few questions. "Did it work?" He looked up and watched as Liara gracefully got up and joined him.

"We need to monitor her Fallopian tubes to make sure that they do not collapse. However, they should not. As for her hands, we have removed the material, repaired the burns, and injected a chemical that will help her system repair her hands. In a few weeks she will be back and we will cover her hands with new skin that has been grown specifically for her from her DNA.

"At that time we will also verify that all of her hand functions are still viable. If not we will need to do another operation to try and recover those functions. She is lucky that her hands worked as well as they did. The people that did this did considerable damage to her hands," Liara informed him.

"She will sleep for a few more hours. Her hands will be uncomfortable for several days. But eventually no one will ever know that anything was done to her hands."

"Thank you!" Rick felt tears well up and if he thought he could get away with it he would hug Liara and kiss her cheek for this.

"I am happy to help, Commander." Liara turned to go back to her desk.

"Liara, you said slavery is not allowed in Iconian law."

"Correct, Commander."

"Yet you, please forgive me if I'm wrong, but you act like you're slaves since I've been here," Rick mentioned.

"We are androids, Commander. Anti-slavery laws do not apply to us in Inconian law. We are constructs," Liara replied.

"That's going to change," Rick said. "Life is life. If you were a Brown you would understand that. We fought to prevent slavery for everyone. To prevent the Alliance core planets from feeding off of the other planets. The Alliance effectively made slaves of everyone outside of the core planets. I'm not going to sit here and allow you to think of yourselves like slaves.

"You call me Commander and yet I couldn't run this place without you. I barely understand even a fraction of the technology this place has.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're not slaves to me and never will be. So what I need for you and the others to do is decide how you want to be treated from here on out.

"Nassana was very helpful and you've been very kind since we're arrived. I'm sure each of you are still doing the jobs you've been doing for the last 200,000 years. What I want each of you to do is decide how you want to be treated that doesn't make it sound like you're slaves.

"Is that simple enough?" They could work out the details after they came to terms with what Rick wanted.

"Yes, Commander. Thank you, Commander. We will discuss your wish," Liara informed him.