Full Circle Snippet 4

Sitrep:
So, I've sent Full Circle out to just about all of the proofreaders. I also did the cover today, I just sent it to Wayne to have a look-see. :)

   I've got a lot of kin in the path of the hurricane. If you are in the path, please play it safe and batten down the hatches and get out to a safe place if possible. My gram didn't even know it was coming! They don't have TV at my uncle's house. (she's visiting until the end of the month) We called and warned them last night.

On to the snippet!

Chapter 3

“The more things change, the more they stay the same,” Rear Admiral Brunswick grumbled, scratching an itch on his side.

Horatio looked over to the visiting Neobear. The bear had hopped a return flight on one of the ships that had jumped to Bek B to run a test. It was stated as a consult, which it was. He had left Captain Walengrad in charge of the repair yard while he came over and had a chat with Horatio and Zek and visited his family briefly.

The bear had spent the past six months in Bek A before he'd been sent back to Bek B.

“I take it you ran into a problem?” Zek asked mildly.

“Only the usual bullshit. Politics rearing its ugly head. Some foot dragging going on. Some of it is to do with the courts too,” the bear grumbled as he picked some lint off with his long claws and then flicked it away.

“Ah. Well, you have to give them their due,” Zek replied dryly.

“Right, or they'll take it anyway,” the bear grumbled.

“True,” Zek replied with a brief snort. “What gives?”

“A bit of the same you were dealing with here. Remember how they did the set up in Bek B?”

“I'm a bit fuzzy.”

“Cute. You mean I am,” the bear chuffed. Zek snorted. “Standard practice back in the day was for the yards to update periodically. They'd sell their cast-offs either to a lower start-up or to be recycled. But, sometimes they would pack up the old gear and send it to Bek B.”

“Ah. So, you are what, three generations behind?”

“Something like that. Or, at least we were. Captain Walengrad had a hand in updating us during Childress's mutiny.”

Zek nodded, eyes hooded.

Captain Alice Walengrad had definitely shaken things up in Bek B. The infrastructure and fleet had been updated with a little help from Captain Thistle and her own ingenuity. But, now that Bek A had gotten a kick in the pants from Admiral Irons, the navy had done its best to straighten itself out and get the rebuild and restructuring program going with full steam.

So, Bek B was starting to fall behind.

“Well, some bright-ass paper pusher recognized our good fortune and tried to reverse the flow. I put the kyboshes to that. But now we've got more problems. The new equipment is in short supply as you know.”

Zek nodded. Bek B was now independent, at least on paper. That meant they had their own budget to deal with, though the civilians were still sorting that out. It would most likely take years. “But the old isn't.”

“Right, but only because a lot of contractors and yards tanked. The only reason they backed Childress was because they thought he'd maintain the status quo. Some thought he'd give them first dibs on what tech they would allow. When Irons showed up, that went out the window.”

Zek nodded. A lot of civilian yards and contractors had gone bankrupt during the crash and investigations that had followed. Half of the corporations that had backed Childress had their boards under house arrest or in prison.

Many of them were selling off their old equipment to settle some of their debts. A few might come out of bankruptcy in some semblance of their previous self down the line. But others that worked too close to the margins had been burned and were done for.

Horatio had talked him into taking advantage of it. He'd convinced Admiral Irons to buy up some of the facilities and keep some of the personnel employed. That had been a minor positive bump against a tide of workers suddenly being thrown into an unemployment tailspin. One of the other factors that was handing the current administration such a headache.

In fact, their little brainstorm was getting drawn out in court. Horatio had moved forward to update the yards and retrain the workforce. They had become the nucleus of two new production lines. The workforce had been a showcase for the civilians to follow and imitate.

Not all of the equipment could be rebuilt. Some of it had ended up recycled, but some had been sold. However, with the market the way it was, they'd gotten a pittance as a return. He knew some of the equipment had been bought up by rival yards and even star systems in the outer Federation via the ansible. ETMI and Senka had bought a lot of equipment and were paying to have it stored until they could arrange shipping. Credit exchange debates were still ongoing as well he knew.

And then there were other facilities like the orbital warehouses, factories, and habitats. A habitat was a habitat; it would function as a shelter just fine. The same for an orbital warehouse. They might not be as efficient as a modern one but they could do something about that later.

“So, what's on your mind?”

“I need a line into the new equipment. And we need shipments of parts on our end too. And we need to start modest production facilities there as well.”

Zek nodded slowly. “Okay, I think I can see a few things we can do to help you.”

“A few?”

“The art of compromise, my friend,” Zek said. The bear snorted. “Besides, it gives you the excuse to come over and see us and your family again later.”

“Well, there is that,” the bear chuffed.

“Give me a list, and I'll see what I can do. Do you need people too? We released some of the training requirements, and some of the vocational schools are working-up new programs. I think we've got a few people who you could borrow to train your own workforce on the new gear …”

The bear looked at him and then nodded slowly. “I think I just might appreciate that,” he said.

“Good. Now …”

~~(O)~~