Project GARDENING

[Wulthus]

It was one of those long and busy days at the hangar. The days that everyone hated, for obvious reasons. The order is one of those type of organizations that run rather low on resources, be it material or manpower, because of nature of their operations... thus, it promoted a policy of maximum efficiency. Everyone was expected to be maximally efficient, especially in this part of Thabit.

The Republican Shipping management wing employees included one interesting factor in their calculation of probable project's execution efficiency. It was equal to total number of 18 gram coffee units divided by total number of personnel involved in the project. Results close to number two were taken as satisfactory. Here, no abstract calculations were necessary, you only needed to just take a pick at the provisions to tell that the engineers of Thabit did not work as effeciently as they could.

Coffee was not the only "essential resource" that was lacking aboard, but no one really bragged about it. That was a feature of living in the Edgeworlds. Coffiee was seen as an luxurious item, thus little care was given to it's shipping. Surprisingly enough, alcohol was never in lacking... but this could be explained as a necessity due to lack of ways to release the tension caused by living in constant danger of attack and enormous workload (and of course, it is cheaper than a therapy).
Danger was very real indeed. Minor assault is still an assault, so hellhound pilots will still need R&R (which stands for "rearm and repair") in the aftermath. This time it was The Core who broke the pilots' moods ... and ships. it's funny for outsiders to see signs of a relief when the battle alarm rings and the announcer reports Core vessels sighted. Remember, it's just because these people know what forces they are bound to face someday...

Anyway ... a Turmoil in the hangars tired almost every engineer in the repair crew, except one, the new guy. Colleagues just called him "Unionier". No one really talked to him, for few reasons. Rumors spread quickly on a small space stations like this, thus his criminal past was never a mystery. If this was not enough to discourage a potential talker, then his awful confidence did... the confidence just unnatural and ... disrespectful in this kind of environment. Not to mention the actions and vocabulary clearly exposing a sociopathic behavior... Even the command was hesitant with his recruitment. Everyone asked themselves the same question: why was he here anyway? It looks like the answers might come faster than they expect.
Steven Sanders, proud, young member of the repair crew, noticed a flashing datapad in the turmoil. Unfortunately, it belonged to the infamous Unionier.

It was a "coffee break" time, so everyone was involved in almost sacred break activities, such as smoking a cigarette while standing beside the wall (again, a luxury!), trying to drink up the cold, black pulp, which was pretty much all that was left of the coffee made few hours ago; and of course cursing and complaining about every possible reason to be found. Every engineer was present in the messroom, except the Unioner. He never really liked the company of humans, they make those irritating noises which the professionals call emotional communication, and are generally impractical in nature. Mechanisms are different. They are melodic in their work rhythm, and usually just need few material parts replaced to be fully functional again. Machines are his truest friends, as they are never unpredictable. This is why he really rested by doing his work, alone. Besides, with nothing to focus on, the mind starts to overtking things, which, in some cases, is best to be avoided.

Steven decided to take a risk and to disturb the Unionier by giving him his abandoned, flashing datapad (someone just had to do it, besides, he was the youngest of the repair crew). The device was constantly flashing as it made it's way to it's owner trough 200 meter walk. There, a person half-way submerged in 042D Bastet's propulsion plant was visible, clearly messing around with something.
-"Ekhm... You've got a message!", shouted the young one.
Anger, frustration, irritation, hatred, resignation. An incredible, still unnamed combination of these emotions raced through Alexander's (or Just "Unionier's") head. Here he is, in his sweet 30 minutes of isolation, and this brat just walks in and wakes him up from his "meditation" just using his voice. Waking him up in a matter so incredibly important to him, that he decided to just keep it 200 meters away from himself.
-"Oh great!" He Answered. "I thank you so much for bringing this flashing device to me on my brake. It's not like you're disturbing me right now, oh no!-
-It's form the high command, and you want to see it ASAP, prick!" Steven interrupted, throwing the Unionier's datapad at him.
Unionier managed to grab the thrown object, and started reading the message. Indeed, it was about the meeting in the Jason's office. It was his "invitation" to be exact. Without delay, he crawled out of the engine of the fighter and jumped out of the wing, to the hangar's floor, with a datapad in his hand.
-I got to go, take care of this" He said, pointing at the spaceship he just left. Steven just stood there unmoved, clearly with anger on his face.
-"Look, I'm sorry, I ... I really got to go now" He added, as he was leaving, but the boy just continued to stand there. Alexander just waved his hands and entered the hallway. Did he really forget the boy still had 12 minutes of braketime?
This station's hallway was a strange place to him. In his previous "occupation", everyone seemed to use it as another place to perform inactive activities usually conducted in the messooms or bars. Here, he just passed by smartly looking people gazing in their datapads. Everyone was rushed, but not a single of them let it be visible, which enhanced already clearly present atmosphere of professionalism.
Finally, he reached the Elevator. While riding it, he noticed an open maintenance console with "override" status. "Isaac..." he said to himself. Finally, elevator doors opened, he was almost there.

This corridor seemed to be even more peculiar than the lower one. it certainly was more quiet, mainly because there was less personel assigned here, but it also seemed somewhat... darker. Still, it was short enough for the Unioner not to start thinking about it.
He didn't nock at the director's office. He just opened the door slowly and took a pick. There was a man visible sitting by the desk, busy enough with thinking to not notice the door opening. In front of the desk, were standing a couple of people he didn't really know, or recognise... with exeption of Isaac of course. He opened the door widely, this time getting the Jason's attention. Unionier gently nodded his head and joined the rest in a line.