GP Snippet

FYI you will see this snippet again as a sneak peek at the end of BSC2. (GP is... evolving a bit so I don't want to post something that might change. This part won't.)

Ghosts of the Past:

Here is a clipping from the first chapter:

 

Sprite came up from her record research to find the Admiral elbow deep in a repair project. She was concerned he was back sliding, forgetting his duty to the big picture. She would have to do something about it she thought. First she pinged Lobsterman for a quick status update and then made an ahem sound.

“Yes, what is it Commander,” The Admiral asked, clearly distracted.

“Admiral a moment.”

“I'm a bit busy here,” he said, pointing out the control runs to the tech. “Can it wait?”

“I'd actually like to talk to you about what you are currently doing,” she said.

“See this ODN cable with the green and white fittings? It has a candy cane stripe. That's a data line. Part of the subnet actually. If you plug your tester here into this port...” He plugged a tester into a junction. Red LED's began to flicker madly. “Okay, we have activity, but it is unstable. If it was stable we'd see the top light which is the net light be constantly on. Something is hinky here. It could be software related or hardware. Now, we push diagnose on the tablet, and the tester probe links to the tablet in your hand and will give you a reading.”

The Veraxin looked down at the tablet and then up. “It is hash.”

“That's the code sample,” Irons frowned, looking over the bug's shoulder to see it. He could always access the wifi signal directly but he wanted his student to learn it himself. He recognized the code string. It wasn't jumbled, but if you weren't a native coder you wouldn't understand it. “Okay, I'm guessing you aren't a coder?”

“No sir. I took the basic course, but I barely passed it. I was planning on taking another when I was transferred to Firefly.. and well...” The Veraxin shrugged and motioned third level chagrin and embarrassment with both sets of upper arms.

“Okay. Well, you can call a coder in, or we can do a test run of the line with someone else. Basically they hook up another probe to their end of the Optical Data Network line and then you hit test. Your probe would send a series of pulses down the line to their kit and then you would pool the results. But we've got a clean line here, so either something is hashed up in the code, or in the hardware.”

“Okay. And how do we figure that out sir?”

“Well, since you aren't a coder, you have two choices, pull in someone who is, or pull hardware, swap it, and then put it on a bench and check it later. But since someone might be using this computer node, say, an AI, we don't know what is going on. So...”

“So call an expert in sir.”

“Got it. You do that, I'll just check in with the Commander for a moment,” Irons said. He got up and patted the Veraxin on the upper shoulder and then went off to the corner for a modicum of relative privacy.”

“All right Commander. What is it?”

“Admiral, you should be focused on the big picture not doing grunt work.”

Irons frowned thoughtfully but didn't reply.

“You have to delegate situations like this. Not just the basic repair, which by the way is code, the line is fine we're using it, but also the training.”

“He lacks confidence. He's young. He's getting it.”

“I know that sir, but you shouldn't be the one to have to deal with it. We need you doing your job. There are people to make certain he does his.”

“And I seem to recall the chain of command is a bit messed up right now,” Irons replied.

“True. And yes, this ship is damaged.... but...”

Irons held up a hand. “Status of the fleet?”

“Unchanged since last update four hours ago.”

“And the same can be said for the past day and week correct? There isn't a lot I can do as an Admiral in hyper.”

“There is paperwork.”

“Which you should be handling as my chief of staff. You and the AI. I'm currently acting Captain until we find someone to fill the slot, so my responsibility is to this ship and crew too Commander.”

“What about planning for the future Admiral?” Sprite pointed out. “And yes, I am the chief of staff, so my job is to keep you on task and on the mission.”

“Okay, first of all, I refuse to plan anymore than we already have. The basic outline is there, I don't need another endless meeting rehashing the same old dog and pony show again. Been there, done that. There is only so far you can take planning.”

“Admiral, Prior Planning...”

“Yeah yeah, prevents piss pour performance. But I can't coordinate with the other ships in hyper right now, so we can't be on the same page.”

“True.”

“They are each taking their course heading and speed from Maine. Which means Maine needs to be functional.”

“Yes sir, but...”

“My ass, your ass, is riding on the line here. I can do a lot getting this ship functional again while also bonding with the crew and assessing them.”

“I see...”

“I want to make certain this is done correctly Commander. I don't want someone snipping a line to oh, say the hyperdrive.”

“Um, okay, good point.”

The Admiral smiled sourly. “So we're good?”

“Yes, you can go play hooky as long as you eat your veggies and attend at least the morning meetings,” Sprite replied, clearly exasperated.

The Admiral exhaled noisily and ran a hand through his hair. “Glad we've cleared the air.”

“I just thought you were backsliding. Going back to old habits, burying yourself in small problems and leaving the big picture alone.”

“I can't do much about the big picture while in hyper. I refuse to worry about it anymore than I already have, some things are just out of my hands right now. I can't change that until we get Maine sorted out. One problem at a time Commander.”

“Aye sir. Don't rub it in,” she growled. “...Admiral.”

He snorted and went back to work. After a moment Sprite flipped back into the net and decided a check with Lobsterman on the other work parties might be in order.

Maine had a lot of damage to repair, and unfortunately, her chain of command left a lot to be desired. It was something they had attempted to work out prior to leaving B101a1, but Firefly had been tasked to return to Pyrax in a certain window, and the Admiral had wanted to clear out to B100 omega in order to facilitate repairs better there, refuel the fleet with his automated refinery he had left in orbit, and to send a relief force to Hidoshi's World to follow up the one led by Lieutenant Lewis.

Maine had a navigator, ops officer, Tactical officer, and some very junior officers, but she lacked a properly trained Chief Engineer, Captain, and XO. To be fair, most of the ships in their fleet had similar manning issues.

The fleet had a dedicated core of former slaves turns sailors and Marines as well as transferred personnel from Firefly. To thicken things up they had two hundred former slaves from the Horathian fleet, many still on the ships they had been enslaved on. Each and everyone had volunteered for the posting. The Admiral had taken the most experienced of these to thicken the ship's companies, but each ship was still undermanned, with what was barely a skeleton crew on many.

Things were definitely going to be interesting, the AI thought. Now that they had gotten over the emotional high of liberation, many were starting to strain under the pressure of the work load. Oh, many of the organics had dealt with living and working on a damaged ship for most of their lives, but in this case they had to deal with training along with residual psychological trauma issues. It was only a matter of time before someone somewhere broke. She just hoped it wouldn't be too bad...