Rasla circled an area of the photo with his manipulator pen. The image was magnified to fit the large wall display. "They act like helpless children, as if they are the only people in the universe. We have yet to locate any defensive structures built for the city." He paused momentarily scanning the image for the half dozen or so mounds located throughout the city. "They do appear to have underground shelters of some sort. There are six of these structures placed close to the mother ship. I believe they are more for use against bad weather than bombs." With the slash of the pen Rasla pulled out of the city, another slash sent the globe spinning slowly. "The planet itself is covered with the crumbling remains of two separate races. I'm glad we've yet to run into either of them. From the looks of remains they must have destroyed one another. We didn't send the drone very close to the surface so I can't be certain, but I would expect at least a few rounds of defensive fire from these locations." Rasla pointed at a set of very intact looking missile silos in the northern hemisphere. "And although highly unlikely, I'd avoid flying too close to this instillation here. I can't be sure but it appears to be some sort of inter-planetary cannon. I doubt its in working order but I'd rather not be wrong."
Contact Chief Vapra looked at the spinning globe for a moment "Do you know the extent of the target's investigation into the ruins?"
"I can't be certain. I believe it's minimal. My party did not find the permanent structures associated with any type of extensive investigation. Nor did the drone detect any traffic too or from any of the ruins."
"You have done well Analist Rasla. However, I cannot believe the target is so soft." Vapra shoved himself out of his seat. "The last time I saw that ship I spent the next ten cycles scraping sludge and vile out off the walls. Find me the fastest way to cripple them, specifically their communications." The war chief said, as he walked towards the opening hatch. "Take your time. We are not ready to mount an invasion, but soon we will be."
With the Contact Chief gone, Rasla tapped the wall display with his pen causing it to revert to the view of an external camera. Out side the home planet slowly drifted into view. He could just see the eastern most rim of the crater city. A crescent shaped sliver of sunlight glinted off the massive life support dome. He watched as the light was quickly blotted out. He knew it was one of the massive slammer storms how his people had survived under their deadly barrage he never knew.
Rasla turned the wall back to its default display of a massive stone pillar. If home worlds sky was oppressively heavy, space was entirely too empty. He preferred the dark caves he had been raised in.
Alarms sounded, a robotic female voice chimed in "Warning, Warning, altitude low altitude low."
"I know that you bloody computer!" Catalina said, as she worked the link's controls.
The small drone she piloted was new to the game. As news of the drone spread it had been an instant success. Catalina's flying however still needed major work. Only a few of the small grey aircraft could be in the game at a given time and she was almost always behind the controls.
She piloted the drone over the main drag towards a wisp of green smoke. Flying over the streets to the signal wasn't the hard part. It was flying the simple box over the target and maintaining altitude, airspeed, and a picture of the target area all at the same time that got difficult. She climbed to a relatively safe altitude and started her orbit.
Down in the bottom right hand corner of the screen she was able to keep an eye on her objective.
"PBYCat get in closer we can't see the enemy" A random player said.
"AHHG why couldn't you give this thing one of the cameras you use Alexei?" She said before carefully working the drone in closer to the target and the buildings surrounding it.
From the first day she had loaded the game up she found that her experiences of the game where different in many ways from the average player. For one She had been given her screen name. Alexei had commented that it came from earth history. After that she had only been given a crash course in how to play the ground game, before finding herself thrust into its newest add-on. "Flight training" Alexei had called it, before informing her that she would need additional training before she could get her claws on the fighter she had pulled out of a hanger.
"PBYCat you're drifting tighten it up." the same player said. A second latter she saw another puff of green smoke across the city.
"This is PBYCat Hope you got what you needed," Catalina typed. She hit the send key just before the drone hit the twisted remains of a rooftop.
Catalina's screen filled with static. "Your flight time has improved by 8.75% since your last sortie," 7352 LXE's text filled the bottom of the screen.
"At least I'm not crashing them on take off any more." Catalina replied.
"I predict a 43.76% chance of you successfully landing within the next three hours." A hint box appeared above Alexei's text. "When flying," It stated, "avoid unnecessary and distracting communication. Transmit only the needed information."
"Thanks I figured that one out. I just thought it was a good idea to communicate with the player below." Catalina typed.
The hint box changed to a clip of her drone banking towards the building. "You are correct. Communicating your intent with the people on the ground is the right thing to do. However, the message can wait until you're out of the turn."
"Right wait until the drone is on auto-pilot before chatting. Mind if I play the ground game a bit?"
"No I need you to check on the fighter, and look in on a few shops. I've sent the details to your coms unit." Catalina moved to shut down the game. A second line of text flashed into existence "Thank you Miss Teff."
"All I'm saying is that removing the guns would open up a very large cargo space. It wouldn't cost much more than the labor and a few caps for the hydrogen lines. Still not sure what those are for." The mechanic said.
"Look, You gave me plenty of space by modifying the missile bays. The only reason we went with that option is because there were no missiles to go off if you cut the wrong wire." Catalina pointed to the cannon sitting in the nose. "We don't know how it works or what it even fires. I have no desire to explain why a city block was leveled in the name of a bigger trunk. Do you?"
The mechanic took a step back "All right, all right at least let me fill the barrels with epoxy then."
Catalina paused for a moment. Alexei had made it very clear that the guns were to be left fully operational. "No that won't work we plan on studying. The techs think we can use the technology, we need to see how it works." She looked at the man for a moment and smiled. "Besides you remember all the trouble it was to convert the missile bays. Thought you wouldn't want to do that again."
The mechanic groaned it had taken them two weeks to rig the bays to work properly as storage, not to mention the materials and documentation that had gone along with the project. The documents created were for the mechanics benefit. They helped maintain the image of a research project, while also discouraging additional modifications.
"Hmm. Alright I'll leave it alone. We'll need two weeks to finish the repairs and then we should be able to paint. I'll be glad to that stripe on it then my racer might be able to see this thing coming."
Catalina growled under her breath. She ducked under the fighter's wing to inspect the gun bay. The interior had been marked with notes and cut diagrams. 'Cap' had been written at the junction of the firewall and the hydrogen lines. "You guys board or what?" She tapped the sidewall where a cut mark had been made.
"This whole business is weird as hell. Salvaging one of these human wrecks, leaving the guns intact the boys tend to get uncomfortable around that part of this bird. We'd all be happier if this thing was disarmed." The Mechanic ran a degreaser through the fur on his hands.
Catalina made a final check of the fighter. It looked like it was in fine condition, but she had to admit it had looked like it was in fine condition when she had found it. She headed for the door "I'll let my employer know about your concerns. But he's still wants the guns. Call me if you run into any more complications."
The ride over to Razz's Grease Emporium and Metal Shaving Shop was short. The Industrial section of town was located near the tail end of the Hope, where, during the beginning of the colony, it was easy to pull power from the ships engines. Today this sector of the city had it's own dedicated power plant, however the ships old engines did still add a boost of power when required. When she landed the racer at the shop she could see the air distortions created by the Hopes massive radiator plates. For a time it had been popular for younger drivers to fly over the plates and let the updrafts throw the racer or airovan or what ever vehicle they where flying around. A series of crashes and heavy fines had decreased the popularity of the sport however.
As Catalina entered the shop she noted that shops name was accurate in sprit only. On the wall directly in front of her a giant collection of gears, pulleys, and servos worked to meticulously drop guide and then collect a collection of various metal balls. What she saw was neither greasy nor covered in metal shavings or powder. She watched the ridiculous machine for a while before pressing the bell button. From behind the shop door she heard the sound of a machine powering down. Catalina opened the door and looked in. She took a while to savor the sent of the shop the beautiful collection of solvents, oils, metals, and just a hint of rust and welding fumes permeated the air. In her mind she began working on various methods of collecting the sent to be released in her own room.
"Oh hello mama, what can we do for you? Are you here to collect Mr. Tsen's drive modulator?" A young felite man said. He wiped at his paws with a degreaser.
"No Actually I need to place an order for some custom datapad stands. I've got the prints with me. Are you the owner?" Catalina asked?
"I am now. My father opened this shop just a few years after the landing. He taught me all I know. Unfortunately he died last year. Took me a bit to get the place cleaned up. Took me even longer to build the ball race out front. Dad would never have allowed such a thing. 'A shop should impress people with the quality of its product not the look of its office.'" Razz lead Catalina over to his work bench and pointed to the modulator. "We never stopped impressing people with quality but now our customers don't have to worry about getting covered in dirty grease just by looking at the place. So what have you got for me?"
Catalina pulled out the prints. "This is what we had in mind. A weatherproof datapad stand with improved link hardware. The style needs to closely match these renderings." She pointed at the images attached to the prints.
Razz looked over the documents making notes in the margins and circling important design features. "These prints are beautiful who ever did these must have done work in a shop before."
"I doubt Alexei has ever been in a machine shop but he's good." Catalina picked up the modulator and examined it. "looks like I've come to the right place though. How quickly do you think you could make six of these things?"
Razz looked at the prints once more. "If I rush it fourteen thousand credits another thousand for installation labor more if I need additional supplies. The whole project would take me two weeks maybe two and a half if the installation gives me trouble."
"Fifteen for the whole job." Catalina looked around at the shop. Even with ongoing projects the place was well organized and efficient looking. "Ok do it. I'll get the installation locations for you when the units are built."
She followed him into the office area where they signed the appropriate documentation. It had taken her a while to get used to Alexei's style of business. She was used to haggling over price for everything down to a simple bag of roca. This, swipe the credit chip and go, business was hard to work with at times. She was certain she could have gotten the installation done for free if she had dickered for a few minutes.
"You know I don't think I've ever seen those stylistic features before, where did this Alexei get his inspiration from?" Razz asked as he handed Catalina a copy of the invoice.
"It looks like something you'd pull out of the human ruins, probably from the industrial or military districts." Catalina said.
"Ahh that explains why there isn't a single curve in the design. Still makes it easy to build." Razz smiled at her. Catalina smiled back. She knew she should have haggled.