The men's showers were mostly empty except for a few men that he nodded to before stripping and moving over to an empty shower head. The conversation which had paused at his arrival resumed, the officers talking shop about work they needed to do that day. Several more men arrived while Ianto was there. He missed the speculative looks as one of the new arrivals noticed the mostly healed claw marks from a Weevil which Ianto had on one shoulder that trailed down across his back.
Grabbing a free towel from the rack, Ianto used it to dry off before wrapping it around his waist. He moved over to the sinks and opened his kit to get his razor out. Working quickly as the room filled up as men arrived to prepare for their day, Ianto shaved, oblivious to the commotion around him. He picked up his things and padded back to his room to get ready for the day.
Back in his room, Ianto checked his suit for any wrinkles, though it looked like hanging it overnight saved it from any lasting problems. He finished his preparations for the day just as the whistle that signified a hail came over the local com system.
"Ianto Jones," he replied as he pushed the button.
"Ianto, Stan here. I was just heading to breakfast and wanted to know if you were interested in joining me," the voice of Major Seales came through the system.
"Thank you, but no. I was just headed down to the computer room to finish up before we test the navigational systems," Ianto apologized. "Still a lot to do today and Jack is expecting me home later this evening."
"I know the Captain is eager to get her systems up and running as well," Stan said. He understood completely. "How about I have something sent down to you so you can eat while you work?"
"Thank you, but I'll be fine," Ianto said. He was more interested in getting underway than eating at the moment. He signed off and left the cabin to head towards the computer centre. A new shift was on when he arrived. He nodded to them and checked the systems. He had some work to do up in command and control before they could test the systems. He disconnected his laptop from the system and packed it in his bag.
Turning to one of the ensigns, he asked for an escort to the command area. The ensign nodded and requested an escort for him. A woman arrived in short order to take him up.
They arrived just after the shift change. When they entered the room the captain was pacing back and forth, watching the consoles as her people worked. She turned her head and watched as he entered the room.
"Welcome to my lair, Agent Jones," she said with a smile. He met it with one of his own. "Have you arrived to break my systems up here as well?"
"Never that, Captain. I just need to tie some new code into these consoles so they'll talk with the new centre software and then we can test." Ianto told her. She nodded for him to proceed, watching curiously as he politely requested one of the officers to move so he could get to the access panel he needed. He knelt down so he could open the panel and retrieve some wires to connect his laptop into the system. He opened his laptop, knowing she was watching over his shoulder. Typing quickly, he uploaded the last bit of code that needed to be sent to complete the final transfer before pulling up a diagnostic display to test the connection back to the computer area.
"Captain, we are ready to test the navigational control," Ianto said, looking up to where the Captain stood. "On your mark I will transfer control back up here and you can do your trials of the control system while I monitor it for performance response." She nodded once before turning to bark a command across the room.
"Do it," she said. He pressed a command and the consoles in front of them sprung to life again. He moved out of the way for the officer who needed to work that area and monitored the performance levels as they flew the Valiant around in a series of maneuvers. The captain moved over to where he sat off to the side and looked at his screen.
"Well?" She asked. So far she was impressed with the level of increased response they had from the systems. No sooner has she asked for a command to be executed and was watching her people perform the command function than she saw the results. It was much better than before, but she wanted to hear what Ianto would tell her.
"You should be seeing at least a 43 percent increase in response to local control," Ianto said as he tracked the maneuvers. He turned and looked up at her. "Once I'm finished with the weapons system upgrade, you'll also see an increase there as well."
"Am I getting anything new with the upgrade?" She asked. Ianto nodded and proceeded to tell her about a few of the things that were added into the control functionality.
"Unfortunately we didn't have time to add in anything new, but at some point we can do that. We have some ideas that Jack would like to incorporate into your systems, but we need more time to work on them before we can add them in. Of course, there would need to be some hardware changes, which will take time as well. But you should be relatively pleased with the enhancements we're adding today."
"That will be enough for now," she acknowledged. "How long for the rest of the upgrade?"
"Believe it or not, this will actually be faster than the navigational code changes," Ianto said. "I'll need to tie into the controls up here and can do it in about an hour or so. "
"Good, do that and we'll keep on testing here, though I have to say I like what you've done so far," Captain Abrunjo said with a smile. "Please continue."
Ianto nodded and moved across the room to the weapons control array area. He tied into the system there and started to upload that control code that he had worked on several evenings before down in the Hub. Much of it had been something that Tosh had worked on in the past, but he had done a fair amount of changes on his own. Inwardly he marveled at how much he had picked up, just from going through her computer. She had left unbelievable documentation which explained what she had been doing and what she had hoped for in terms of augmentation for the systems so that he found it easy to pick up and continue it. While it didn't have the brilliance of the work she would have done, it had gotten to the same endpoint, even if he did have to take the longer route to get there.
He sat back in his chair and watched as the crew worked together. He was intrigued about how they responded to the Captain's commands. Many of the younger officers seemed to worship her, but others just treated her with the respect of long association. They worked well together.
He opened his personal log on the computer and made some notes about his experiences so far. He wanted to capture them so he could add them to his diary later.
By the time he was ready for them to check the new weapon array control, it was early afternoon. He stretched before standing up and approaching the Captain where she stood over the shoulders of two officers. All three were looking intently at the new options that they had and they looked up simultaneously as he approached.
"You people do good work, Ianto," the Captain said, a note of respect in her voice. "What else do you have for me?" The doors opened behind them, though she didn't glance at the motion but kept her gaze on the man in front of her. They heard an officer announce the arrival of the General and Major.
"Why don't you try it and see?" Ianto asked with a smile. He had a feeling she was going to like her new and improved controls. He nodded to the General as he approached.
"So Becca, didn't I tell you?" General Maddock laughed. Through long association with her he had seen that the Captain was thrilled with the upgrades. She didn't show it, but those who knew her well enough could see that she was pleased.
"Yes, Grant, your wonderful idea paid off. Good thing it did or I would have sent you out an airlock," she grumbled. "This is my baby you gentlemen are playing with, after all." The General roared with laughter at her comment. "Mr. Jones was just telling me we could test the systems. Are our targets set up for us to do that?"
"We can have them ready and can deploy them for you as soon as you are ready," Major Seales said, having approached them to hear the end of Captain Abrunjo's comment. "I can give your crew the coordinates." When she nodded he went off to do that. The General moved towards the weapons control area to monitor the test from there.
"Captain, I wanted to extend the invitation of my own captain for dinner this evening at our facilities," Ianto said to her. "Captain Harkness feels bad that he couldn't make it up here himself, so would be thrilled if you would consider attending, should your schedule permit it."
"I've heard a lot about Captain Harkness," she said with a smile that normally would have made Ianto nervous before he had met Jack. Now he just smiled at her. He knew that some of the stories about Jack would have come from Martha and others from her own crew who had been aboard the Valiant during the year that never was. From his own personal experience he knew that the stories didn't do justice to experiencing Jack in the flesh.
"So would that be a yes?" Ianto asked with a smile.
"Oh, most definitely," she said, her smile widening to a grin of anticipation. "I wouldn't miss meeting Jack Harkness for the world. I do have one condition, however," she said. At Ianto's raised eyebrow she nodded her chin in the direction of the major and general. "The boys stay topside."
"Well, it is your ship after all," Ianto said with a nod. "With your permission, I'll inform the captain of your acceptance along with an estimate for when we may be arriving." She nodded and he went off to do so, speaking into his com and telling Jack that they would be down for the evening meal.
