Eden

Chapter 2 (Decisons)

And so He, to preserve the Power of the Fist, destroyed Eden, and thus prevented those who would oppose him from ruling Eden. This paved the way for the luxury that we now live in. Praise to Him. Inscription on the Great Fist
         Janie Akbar sat alone at a table for two. It was 2153 hours, and Maddie was supposed to be there in 2 minutes. Janie was worried. She had a full crew for the ship. She wanted to cast off as soon as possible, but she needed to talk to Maddie. She needed to work some things out. Maddie walked into the lounge. She spotted Janie, and she walked over to her.
"Janie! I've missed you," Maddie exclaimed.
“I've missed you too,” Janie replied.
"You look good."
"Yeah: it's from lifting particle cannons. You know how long it took me to convince Command to let me have them? To think they'd let a cruiser go into Anark territory without cannons . . . . II
"You're going into Anark territory"
"You didn't know? Oh... yeah ... you wouldn't know. You've been gimping that ship of yours back here for the last two weeks. We've won a bid for the Intergalactic Archaeological Association. We're going to go in to search for that probe you and your precious fleetheads managed to push into Anark space."
"Wow. I don't envy you."
"Thanks. We're going in with full force. No fleetheads. All private vessels. We've
been given permission to use all personnel we need to complete our mission. And we need you to command."
"Me? But ... why? I don't know anything about fleet ops."
"There will be no fleet ops. We're just using the fleet to get into Anark space. Once we've received the probe, well .... let's just say we'll go from there. We'll need a commander. "
"But, what about you? This is your project."
"My project, yes. Exactly. I need to be in the lab, not on the bridge. Look, I don't want you to make your decision now. You've a few days to make up your mind. The fleet will be here in 3 days, and we'll ship out in 4."
"I'll have to talk it over with the Admiral."
"Sure, but I've already spoken to him. It's approved."
"You spoke with him already? That would explain the odd message he left on my machine. He asked me to check in anyways."
"Fine. Call me when you're finished. Or-hey-better yet- just stop by. I'm in BSC. I know Rob really wants to see you. Well, I mean; not really see. Y'know."
"Yeah. I'll do that." "Bye." "Bye." Maddie stood up from the table.
Eden by David Morris 4
         Maddie's meeting with the Admiral wasn't for a few hours, and she wanted to see how her ship was doing. It was a long walk to the docking bay which contained the Endevour. She could have taken the turbot ram, but she needed to think things over. Janie's proposition had taken her completely by surprise. She had come to the meeting, thinking she was going to ask her to help her find Eden. Which she had, if not directly. Maddie had known Janie for a very long time. They had grown up together, back home on Podi IV. She knew that "we'll go from there" meant that Janie thought that this probe was the last piece to the puzzle. She thought that she was going to find Eden with that probe. Did Maddie want to go and find Eden? Of course she did. But was she willing to scrap her command of the Endevour? Did she still have a command? With the recent battle, it had become obvious that the Nokturn-class vessels were just not updated enough to fight, and because of their hull design, they didn't have room for anything else. They could be stripped of all weapons and converted to Science Vessels, but in that case, Maddie would no longer have command anyway. Science vessels were commanded by the commander of the mission, and escorted by a  warbird. Nokturns couldn't even escort; their firing arcs were all wrong, and, once again, the hull
configuration, perfect for cruiser combat, didn't allow for better arcs. No. If the Endevour couldn't be repaired within a week, she would be scrapped. Maddie would be reassigned, maybe.