Carpathia IV: Episode 69 - The Tour
Space, NCCS Shadowdancer
Introduction of the crew accompanying the tour went well enough, with only a minimal amount of grumbling from Rhalma and his compatriots. Aire knew it would be foolish indeed to expect the rest of the tour to be this uneventful and thus was proven his suspicions when they arrived in Engineering.
Rhalma: What is this death trap?
To Minnie's credit, she did not betray any hint that the jab irritated her, though Aire knew it surely did, and proceeded with her explanation.
Minnie: This is a Class 6 quantum antimatter reaction core. It is capable of over Q12, which is about 750 million kilometers per second or about 2500 times the speed of light. Since the fight with the vashta ship, we've added a fast-transfer secondary core and more advanced shielding around both to increase resistance to damage.
Rhalma gazed up at the multi-deck core with its blue light shimmering on all the handrails leading upward.
Rhalma: So, it's basically a giant bomb which, by my calculation, could decimate half a continent. What's to prevent you from using it against us?
Unquestionably, Aire thought, this question was meant more as grandstanding by a politician than any genuine concern of attack. Nevertheless, it was necessary to answer.
Aire: Minister, we are allies. Even if we weren't, we are not in the business of wholesale extermination.
Minnie: It would also take a considerable amount of effort to alter this design to make it practical as a weapon. It's designed in such a way that it automatically shuts down in an atmospheric environment. This not only makes it impractical for a terrestrial attack, but it's also good for safety. Naturally, we always do a full shut down before we get that close anyway.
Rhalma gave a skeptical long blink.
Rhalma: Nevertheless, I remain wary. It's amazing enough that you lot have managed to construct something like this, primitive though it may be.
To Aire's surprise, Minnie took Rhalma's continuous jabs at her beloved engines with grace and good humor.
Minnie: In less than 200 years, humans have gone from a strictly terrestrial race to being part of a multi-species society spread across space. In another 200 years, all of this will seem very primitive indeed, and I will be glad of it. I'll be very proud of being part of making this obsolete.
While Rhalma grumbled at this unexpected retort, Aire's communicator beeped. It was from Teren.
Aire: Excuse me for a moment, everyone.
After a brief acknowledgement, Aire slipped away and found a quiet corner of Engineering. So as not to be overheard, he slipped an earpiece into his ear and spoke quietly into the communicator.
Aire: What is it, Commander?
Though it wasn't difficult to hear Teren's voice, there was a great deal of chaos going on in the background.
Teren: It is chaos up here, Captain. I'm going to call in some additional security. The three tokki seem intent on not only taking samples of our food, but tearing apart our entire kitchen to make sure it meets their standards. It's like managing a kindergarten. As soon as I stop one from taking apart a stove, another immediately tries to get into something else.
A kindergarten would be an apt description of what Aire was facing as well, though of a different sort, Rhalma being more like a petulant child obsessed with having everything just so.
Aire: Understood. Do what you have to do and let me know if things get any worse. I'll have no problem throwing them out if it comes to that.
Weapons Storage
The visit continued much along the same lines, with Aire's crew doing their best to give a professional tour and Rhalma delivering snarky quips in response whenever he could. Minnie was glad to be rid of them from Engineering while they moved on to other parts of the ship and Rhalma displayed special irritation with the tour of the weapons facilities, for that was Nalma's speciality.
Just before the lecture on the weapons bay started, Rhalma had a quick peek at a device he kept in his belt, and then folded his arms across his chest, waiting for Nalma to begin. For his part, Nalma was the only one having a lot of fun, detailing the explosive yield of each antimatter warhead, which wasn't exactly a secret, but definitely had Rhalma on edge. Also not in the department of secrets was that Rhalma believed that friendly relations between Tokkastra and Carpathia was just a pretext for Carpathia to start a war and Rhalma squirmed visibly at the lecture on the Shadowdancer's destructive power.
Nalma: Our antimatter torpedoes were at least on par with the Vashta weaponry, which is one of the reasons why we were able to survive the battle.
Until now, Rhalma listened to each presentation on the tour with rapt attention, but this time, he seemed distracted, constantly glancing toward his silent, antsy subordinates with narrowed eyes. Nalma continued his speech, even though he knew Rhalma wasn't really listening and, judging by the increasing frequency of his facial ticks, growing increasingly irritated at something. Finally, with no warning, Rhalma snapped, facing his subordinates in a purple-faced rage.
Rhalma: What is this nonsense? You will stand straight and still as a proud Savea tokki should!
The subordinates all lowered their heads, still saying nothing, until Rhalma pointed one of them out.
Rhalma: You, kneel!
The tokki in question stepped forward and got onto his knees, to which Rhalma responded with a hard slap to the top of his head. Aire, having seen more than enough, decided that this visit was over.
Aire: Thank you very much for your visit today, Minister. Shall I show you back to your shuttle?
The words were polite, but the tone and speed of Aire's delivery demonstrated that was less of a request than a demand. Aire braced himself for Rhalma to argue the point, but, happily, he did not.
Rhalma: We've seen all we need to see. Come.
Rhalma and his subordinates marched quickly out of the room, followed by Nalma. Aire hung back just for a moment and took out his communicator.
Aire: Teren, our guests are leaving now. Please escort them to the shuttle bay immediately.
Teren: Understood, Captain.
Shuttle Bay
Profound disinterest on both sides kept the goodbyes short. There probably wouldn't have been any sort of closing at all had Rhalma not waited for his kitchen dispatch to return before he boarded his own shuttle. They didn't have to wait long, for the final three tokki sent to the kitchen returned, the large bag now full causing the tokki carrying it to wobble precariously.
Aire: Teren, I presume you've scanned their bag.
Teren: Scanned and searched, Captain. They took a sample of nearly every non-meat item on our menu.
Aire turned back to Rhalma, who was already halfway to his shuttle, giving his subordinates a few more smacks to the head for good measure.
Aire: Well, no fond farewell, then. Teek, close the doors as soon as they're out so that we can resume our normal activity.
Teek: Yes, Captain.
Aire put his hand on Teren's shoulder and steered him out of the shuttle bay.
Aire: What happened up there?
Teren sighed and began his woeful tale.
Teren: As soon as we got up there, the three tokki immediately split up and started what could only be described as a raid. They not only took samples of the food, but started trying to pull apart the kitchen equipment to inspect it. Regular meal service was impossible. Once I got extra security in, we were able to temporarily close down the line and supervise more, but it was still bedlam all the way through. I was quite relieved when you called and said it was time for them to leave.
Aire: Please put a priority on your full report. I want to send it to Admiral Zhang along with mine as soon as possible. Hopefully, Lord Anai can be persuaded to exercise a little discrimination as to who and who is not allowed to tour our ship.
Commissioned art in this episode from:
AvareonArt
Zelbunnii
Thatwildmary
Colourbrand
