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Time passed quickly for Garrison as she started the hard work of keeping her business going while the new ship was built. Subcontracting jobs to other couriers let her fulfill those jobs she'd taken prior to the accident, and kept some income flowing. She had to meet with her investors, and finalise the agreements. Then, of course, there was the crew. On a place like Home, which held ability in high esteem, this was difficult. Of course, most of the best went into business for themselves, but there were always those who wanted nothing more than to do their job superlatively. In the end, the selection process took three and a half months to complete. This left less time than she preferred to work in simulation with her new crew, but they proved a crew in much less time than she expected. Artemis accepted Garrison's occasional absences as a given, making up for lost time whenever possible, and giving Garrison a foretaste of homecomings to be. One morning, waking up with absolutely nothing planned for the day, Garrison woke up Artemis and they spent the day together on the beach, relaxing like cats. Finally, though, the ship was ready for naming and builder's trials, so Garrison got her kit together, packing carefully. She watched Artemis watching her, and smiled. Artemis laughed fondly. Garrison smiled, but with a definite touch of wistfulness. Artemis nodded, stepping forward to put her hands on Garrison's shoulders. "I'd like that," Garrison smiled, then shrugged. "But it won't happen until I am rich. And that means leaving." With a final, longing kiss, Garrison left Artemis and flew to New Galt to begin the Acceptance and Builder's trials. First, of course, came the Naming. Garrison arrived at Duquesne shipyards with time to spare, and quickly found the slip where her new ship was resting. Gleaming white, the large crescent fairly glowed in the noonday sun. The Builder's representative, a tall Perseid, came up to her and bowed. Garrison, still looking at her new ship, answered him absently. The representative's eyes widened slightly. He guided her then to the front of the ship, where a bottle of Old Earth champagne waited. Well, technically champagne, anyway. In fact, it was probably not very good to drink, but served it's purpose for tradition well enough. Garrison stepped onto the platform beside the builder's representative. She could see her crew, standing beside the main airlock, and the workers, scattered around the ship, their work done, except for the name – which, by tradition, would be placed after the christening. Garrison, prompted by the Perseid, stepped forward with the champagne and slammed the bottle into the ship. The breaking of the bottle was lost in the cheers and applause from the workers, the crew, and – behind her, having arrived just now – the investors. With a nod of greeting for them, Garrison put the remains of the bottle in the recycler, and walked to meet her crew. Her crew waited at the airlock, to let her be the first onboard the new ship. She paused for a moment to review the people she'd finally selected. She'd finally settled on a crew of five, if unhappily. Her First Mate and Gunner, Gawaine Penderan, was a Sapiens with a sharp mind and an uncanny knack with spatial relationships. He was also the shortest human she'd ever seen. With a ready grin and an unshakeable self-esteem, he had already begun to bring the rest of the crew into his confidences, making him a good, solid First. Her Engineer – full time – was Gael Pendragon out of Ivanova by Piotr. Gael was the tallest Invictus Garrison had ever seen, topping 7 feet, and carried the nickname of Tree, but he was also a fast, competent engineer, in love with his work. He had left the Prides behind because he wanted nothing more than to work with machines – and didn't care to fight for position. Despite Pride attitudes, he cared little for anything save competence, in himself or others. Her Medic, Snow through the passes on an Autumn day, was a Than – and her attitude towards humans easily matched Gael's attitude towards machines. A Xenologist of the first order, she joined solely for an opportunity to work on humans. The last two members of her crew were late additions, after Garrison got a better idea of the cargo capacity of her new ship. Given the sheer size of it, she decided to also hire a Supercargo and a Cargo Handler. The Supercargo – also her Quartermaster – was a small, fussy bald man, with so tight an attention to detail that he sometimes forgot to care for himself. Despite this minor flaw, Greyson Luc fit in quite well, as Snow through the passes was well able to hector him into paying attention. Her Cargo Handler, Suzanne Langley, also doubled as her Comm officer. Looking at the freckled redhead through a screen, though, never prepared you for the impact of her actual presence. A heavy worlder, Suzanne was tall and very solidly built. And out of that immense shell came one of the most beautiful, gentlest, most calming sopranos that Garrison had ever heard. Garrison pleased with her crew despite her initial reluctance, and led them into the ship, followed by the builder's representative. A flight plan had already been filed with the Duquesne port authority, so it took them only moments to lift off and head into space. Garrison delighted in piloting the 'Moon. The oversized engines gave her a sense of bridled power, and gave the ship the smoothest lift Garrison had ever felt. Within a few minutes, they achieved orbit, and Garrison smiled. The two crewmembers 'commed their acknowledgements, and Garrison took the ship up to full speed, rocketing towards the asteroids. Not content with merely pushing the engines, Garrison slewed and slalomed, testing the maneuverability of the ship. Despite the ship's movements, Gawaine managed to destroy over 80% of the asteroids – with only point defense. An hour out, approaching the edges of the system, Garrison slewed into a tight turn and pushed the engines into redline. The builder's rep winced, licked his lips, and remained silent as he recalled Garrison's reputation, and consoled himself with the fact that she was only running at 120%, instead of 150%. At the end of her headlong rush lay a station, and Garrison slowed the ship into the dock with a flawless perfection that left her crew breathless. "All right folks. First part of the test is over. Gael, how'd we do?" Gael's voice came over the 'comm – slightly strained. Garrison nodded. Gawaine's face was set, and his voice glum as he turned to her and responded. Garrison chuckled and shook her head. Gawaine looked down at his pad briefly, then raised his eyes to meet Garrison's. Garrison's voice held definite undertones of approval. The two cargo-handlers went to work, getting the cargo bay filled in less than 5 hours, and the ship left the station once more. Garrison headed the ship outsystem at full, then entered Slipstream. The ship spent nearly 5 minutes in 'stream before she brought it out. Hovering in the main screen was the blue beauty of Avalon, the second Clan colony. Garrison brought them into the world, and the cargo was offloaded. "Very good, ladies and gentlemen," Garrison was obviously pleased. "We'll take half a day here, then head back to Home. We have another week of trials, but Slipstream handled well." The half day of liberty – unexpected – was used by the crew as a social gathering more than anything else. It wasn't long before all of them were back on the 'Moon, impatient to continue. (The Dividing Line is an unauthorized non-commercial story set in GENE RODDENBERRY'S ANDROMEDA. GENE RODDENBERRY'S ANDROMEDA and all related characters and situations are copyright (C) 2000 by Tribune ------------------ Galen: "I don't. I have no surviving enemies. At all." |
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OK, this was great like all the others... but i have to do this. *SMITE* You just HAD to slip in a tree reference didn't you. I know I had to keep my eye on you, Raven. ------------------ Choose your enemies carefully but choose your friends even more carefully... for you can always kill your enemies. I am XxTyrxX, out of Baelr, beget by Cormac of the Aurelius Bloodline of Pride Al-Sharif. Mate to Geal Firinne, RommieRules amd Anastashia - TYRant Pride Commander of the SMITE Team. |
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lol! Hey, XT, "Tree" was a compliment {{{{{Stormraven}}}}} Great work ------------------ |
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Still liking this Storm, keep this up. ------------------ |
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