End of the line.

[Hidamari]

End of the line - Part 1 - The Meeting with Eduardo Garcia



Claes stared out of the window from the empty bridge of her pride and glory, the Misericorde class experimental carrier vessel, La Fenice D'oro. Claes stood holding her baby daughter close to her bared bosom while she fed, watching the drones and maintenance craft of the Cartagena shipyard whizzing by while they worked on not only her ship, but the Storta destroyer about 50 meters ahead of the bow. She rubbed her daughters back while the child continued to suckle her, Claes' mind focusing on the upcoming meeting with the ships chief engineer and designer, scheduled for twelve o'clock.

The Fenice D'Oro was the home of the entire 75th mosquito scout squadron, every man woman and child that was part of Claes' organisation lived on board. As an experimental craft it was prone to unexpected and often unfortunate complications in its operation. However its current state of disrepair had gone on long enough and was really starting to hurt the squadron and its operations, due to the complications that had aroused La Fenice D'oro had to be moved to Cartagena shipyard where she was constructed in order to begin repairs. The squadron had missed out on critical action such as the opening of the jumphole to Omicron Delta and the Maltese invasion of that space. Claes felt that it was time to get answers from the only man she had that could fix the problems possibly without outsourcing, Eduardo Garcia, and he better have some good ones.

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::Ma'am, the meeting with signore Garcia is due in ten minutes:: Fenice stated above the commandantes head while she continued to look outside the window, "I know that... just you make sure he knows that, and get Erica up here" she demanded quietly in a absent minded voice, entranced by the goings on outside ::Certamente:: Fenice responded and was then gone.
Angelica -Claes daughter- stopped feeding and rested her head against her mothers bosom making content sounds, Claes looked down. "all done?" she asked her daughter rhetorically, not expecting an answer back. Carefully she slipped her arm back into the sleeve of her jumpsuit and pulled the zip up over her bosom, covering herself back up. she placed the baby over her shoulder and began to carefully wind her.
Erica appeared, climbing the stairs to the bridge and seeming a little out of breath, "I-im here my lady" she said with a slight curtesy. Erica was the one person on board that Claes trusted to take care of Angelica when herself and Horacio were busy with other things, as a wet nurse Erica was also able to feed Angelica herself if the situation was required. "here, take her" Claes said, carefully handing her daughter over to Erica, "I've just fed her but she needs to be winded" she instructed rolling her shoulder slightly. "yes ma'am" Erica said taking careful hold of Angelica.

"I'll be back later on baba" Claes mentioned leaning forwards and tickling her daughters cheek, though her voice was still distant, almost absent and uninterested. She then walked past Erica and her daughter and made for the stairs to the deck below the bridge and then walked slowly across the bridge to the observation tower where the meeting would be held.
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Eduardo sat in the modified hangar, tinkering with his latest project, sat in the middle of the deck. A drone floated nearby, it's welding torch alight. As Eduardos hands moved inside the panel, pulling on wires and reconnecting parts. He plugged a final wire in, the ship giving a shake. He pulled his hands free, quickly, alarmed. He got clear by a matter seconds before an electrostatic charge rippled out, making his hair stand on end, and disabling the thruster on the drone. It dropped to the floor with a hiss, a puff of smoke, and a few sparks flying from the gaps between panels.

Standing, he ran his hands through his hair before uttering one word. "Merda." It was at this point that the hologram activated beside him. ::Another failure, Señor?:: It asked, in monotone.
"Si Fenice. If the Commandante wants an update, I've got repair crews 5, 7, and 9 in the engine bay and generator rooms respectively. It's a delicate process that cannot be interrupted, and the drones work better alone... You know you could replace me Fenice? The only person that knows this ship better than me... I don't know why Commandante Leslie doesn't... Or if she knows..."
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Claes entered the observation deck, it was a large room lined with consoles and visual scanning equipment, from gamma beta and alpha radiation scopes, all the way up to high end radiowave finders. "Fenice, conference mode" she said walking around the outsides of the room as a large silver metallic table rose from the ground, a laser swept the surface of the table removing all dirt traces as it stopped in position. Claes pulled two chairs from one of the consoles to the table, putting one at the head of the table for herself and one just to the left of the corner for Eduardo when he were to arrive. "Time?" Claes asked sitting on the seat and crossing a leg over the other. ::Eleven fifty seven A M:: Fenice reported.
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Fenice also repeated the time for Eduardo down in the hangar, ::11:57 Universal time:: it spoke, the reminder suddenly making sense to Eduardo. "Merda... Fenice, clear the corridors... Observation deck right?" he asked in a frenzy, The hologram simply nodded at him.
"Okay... Oh she'll have my head for this..." He jumped onto one of the transport carts, setting it at full speed and powering through the ship. It took him 4 minutes to reach the observation deck, even using the shortcuts he knew around the ship. Leaping from the cart, he sprinted the final couple meters to the door. It opened with a hiss, and he heard Fenice speak the dreaded words ::12:01 Commandante.:: it answered her second call for the time as she grew weary of waiting.
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Claes looked up as Eduardo walked into the room out of breath, she turned around on the seat, her eyes were clearly unaffected by his being late, expecting it to some degree which made a vein appear on her forehead. She exhaled slowly and rubbed her temples for a moment, obviously trying to remain calm. Eduardo always exhausted her when she saw him, however Claes couldnt deny that he appeared to always be busy, but never knew what he was busy with, or if he ever had any success despite the amount of money 75th provided for his R&D division. "Sit, signore Garcia" she stated flatly lifting her head back up, eager to start the meeting.
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He bowed his head slightly "...Si, Commandante.."
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She waited for him to sit in the seat before uncrossing her legs and pulling herself towards the table, leaning over it forebodingly. "Signore, this ship has performed spectacularly for over a year now, however these recent performance problems are costing us immensely, what exactly is going on?" Claes asked bluntly, her gazed fixed on his eyes intensely.
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"Well.." He swallowed, trying to find the words. "We're... Fenice is being pushed beyond the limits of his power core... We could replace it.. But that's far more expensive..."
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That was something Claes really didn't want to hear, "We can't afford to replace anything Signore, you know that already, and the longer we stay here the less money we will have to work with" Claes stated bluntly, taking a quiet sigh. "So the problem is with the core of the ship?" she asked to re-confirm his drivel into a pointed sentence.
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"There's another solution of course... Cheaper, but I doubt you'll like that either.." he spoke, trailing off a little and going quiet.
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"Well.. what is it..." Claes asked incredulously, whilst trying to keep herself calm.
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"We.. Uh-I-mean you" He bowed his head quickly, hoping the discrepancy would pass "could source another, lighter power core. This secondary power output could be dedicated to the non-essential systems. Scimitar weapon recharge... Life support..." He trailed off. "But" he paused, looking at her before continuing.
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"That is your job Eduardo!" Claes snapped, banging the table loudly, "You know I trust you to be able to acquire the components we need to build this ship, if we need extra parts use the money you are supplied for R&D and get this ship back into space!"
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"Y-yes, Commandante..." He looked at her again, before continuing "Then we have a choice... Either sacrifice hangar bay space... Or extend the 'block' on the underside, to house it... I also need to make a request, dear Commandante..." He looked sheepish.
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Claes was livid but after speaking with the doctor on board she realised that she had to calm down, taking a deep breath she exhaled slowly. gradually she was again calm. "We can't sacrifice hangar bay space, we don't really have enough as it is, I'm sure even you can attest to that much" Claes reasoned motioning her hand as it left her temple. "Fenice show us a hologram of the ships hull." she asked the computer.
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The orange projection appeared roughly a metre above the table, before zooming in on the hangar bay and beginning a slow rotation

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"The engine room and core containment on board this ship is already 50% larger than on the storta, as you know we have much more power on board this ship than a regular cruiser, are you really telling me with 50% extra power we are still in a deficit??" Claes asked, pointing to the engine core section of the ship, which happened to be beneath them on the image.
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"It's not so much a power deficit.. But a bottle necking effect... I don't have the technology or equipment to overcome it... We aren't the Liberty Navy..." He caught himself, but after he said it.
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"do you know where the bottleneck is?" Claes asked looking at him after studying the diagram, she really loved her ship a lot and seeing it all at once calmed her further and made her want to give Eduardo a break.
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"Well... Si... Y non" Eduardo answered, again not giving her a straight answer.
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"What do you mean by that?" Claes asked looking at him, massaging her temples slowly and breathing methodically, as the doctor had instructed whenever she found herself getting worked up.
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"Well.." He bit his lip, unsure for a moment, but deciding that pushing on would bring less pain "I have a theory... I believe that the hardware we have for the power siphon is... less than okay. rough shares between the systems mean it /could/ change in action.. meaning a reduction in power.. say.. to the weapon systems?" he explained, continuing further, "That, or... well the whole wiring itself.. Either way... we have to take every power line out of the ship..." He glances at the hologram and mutters a short "sorry Fenice" before looking down at his feet
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"You want to re-wire the entire ship?!" Claes asked in despair, her face a mixture of horror and pain as the stress began to wash over her. she exhaled slowly and massaged deeper against her temples, her eyes closed for a moment.
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"Or... we get a second power core, and wire that up to the non essential systems..." he suggested quickly to try and lessen the blow somewhat, "I uh.. I don't make the rules Commandante... I just follow them..." Something flashed across his face.. perhaps he remembered something.
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"but thats just burying the issue that is going to come back to get us later" Claes grumbled, not at all liking the fact that it was no small operation he was proposing. "how... long is it going to take?"
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"A.. uhhh... I.." He seemed to fumble with his words, searching for the best way to put it
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She opened her eyes and looked at him, "Eduardo." she demanded flatly, knowing why he was stumbling but she needed to know and didn't appreciate him wasting her time.
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He swallowed again, probably loud enough for her to hear "A.. couple months.. Commandante.." He braced, raising his arms ever so slightly. He almost expected her to shoot him, that's what he'd get back home
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Claes was always troubled by Eduardo's paranoia, his sometimes insane bouts of depression and selfsacrifice really denounced a man of his position on board the ship, for a long time she had wanted to do something about it, and it was clear that it was affecting his judgement and ability to work, so it was long overdue for fixing.

She looked at the hologram and exhaled deeply, "you've got six weeks, and if you dont fix the ship by then im going to stab you through the heart with this stylus, do you understand me?" She said without raising her voice however waving a control pad stylus at him. Claes very rarely swore, especially now she had a child, not wanting it growing up like she did, but the contempt she had felt in that moment for Eduardo shone through.
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He lowered his arms, something glistening in the corner of his eye "I.. Of course, Commandante" His voice resigned, he stood and turned to the ladder hatch.
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"You know i trust that you are capable of that, have some more faith in your own ability" Claes said as he turned to the door.
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"That's..." He looked down "..not the problem..." He muttered and began to crouch in order to decend the ladders out, looking lower, more slumped.
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Claes knew she was about to regret something but she just couldnt leave him alone when he acted like this. "Eduardo come back here" she demanded abruptly.
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He stopped, more of a flinch. He didn't turn right away, but moved his hand up, before lowering it and looking down at the floor, not daring to glance at her "Yes, Commandante"
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"Sit" she asked in a voice that was a little more gentle as she had calmed down again.
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He sat, but shuffled ever so slightly further away, still looking down so she couldn't focus on his face
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Claes reached over to him and put her index finger under his chin and lifted it up and made him face her. "Eduardo, signore, you have been a part of my crew for how long now? three years?" she asked in a softer voice, unable to keep the mother in her from coming out, even after just threatening to kill him.
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"Si, Commandante" He wouldn't meet her gaze
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"Look into my eyes, Eduardo" she asked calmly
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His eyes looked at her, then they flicked down, and he mouthed "I know my place"
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"Eduardo" she asked in a way that told him again she wanted him to look at her.
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He looked at her, and she could see the primal fear in his eyes, deep within him.
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"You have been with me since the beginning, and even though, you have troubles within you, you have never let me down, I might not show it and indeed what I just said to you was my venting frustration.. But ive always trusted in you to be able to handle anything I throw at you." Claes said in a soft motherly voice, partially appologising for threatening to kill him. "However..." she began her eyes taking on a more stern look for a moment. "However it is clear, and has been clear to me for a while now, that you are troubled." Claes said again back to her calm mothering tone. "If there is something troubling you, if somebody is threatening, or hurting you, I want you to show the same trust in me, that I show in you, and confide in me.... Tell me what is going on." she asked in a quiet almost begging tone. wanting him to actually trust her for once.
Claes could feel him shaking as her finger rested against the underside of his chin, "in that time, have I ever laid a finger on you?" she asked honestly, never recalling a time where she had so much as hit him, as opposed to Signore Borgia who annoyed her so much she locked him in a cell with just under the amount of Cardamine in the life support he needed until he suffered.
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"n-non... Commandante" he whispered solemnly.
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["The only reason for that is, you have never let me down regardless of how much trust i've put in you" Claes smiled kindly. "so, will you put your trust in me? and let me help you" she continued in her motherly tone.
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"I... I did" He looked down once more
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"then, tell me.. what is happening in your life?" she asked kindly, her finger again gently raising his head.
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He refused to look her in the eye "You... sounded just like mi padre.."
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"I know... those are my problems to bare, and im still coping with them, you've seen them come out im sure.. however I talk to people that can help me, kind of.. but I listen to their advice.. and do as they say, and its helped me a lot, most of you would probably be dead if I didnt do that after what happened with my family." She revealed calmly, her smile a little less obvious now but still there subtly.
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"Senor Garcia doesn't help people" Eduardo commented nervously, shifting a little in his seat.
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"Does he threaten you?" Claes asked flatly forgetting that she needed to stay calm or this wasnt going to work, she exhaled slowly and asked again, "does he hurt or threaten to hurt you?" she asked again in a calming tone having recomposed herself.
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Eduardo nodded sadly, "S-si... I am el pequeno de la camada (//the runt of the litter) in mi familia.. mi padre... mis hermanos.. I... What you say... I have been threatened before... I am always at the bottom, and threatened by the top... mi familia... I was a slave... whipped.. shot.. beaten.. left to bleed..." He shuddered
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Claes began to feel the rage building inside of her, she could feel herself snapping, trembling a little she smiled "okay, well... up here, in this family when this ship is concerned, you're top dog, so we are going to 'fix' your 'family'.. Are you in?"
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He looks torn. On the one hand, he could rid himself of those who had hurt him so many times, those who had made his life a misery.. but at the same time, they where his blood, and in some twisted sense, he had been 'brainwashed' into believing that he had deserved it... "I... uhh..." his eyes seemed to gloss over "I deserved what happened to me Commandante. I was their property, and I made my mistakes..." His voice trembled.
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Claes frowned deeply, she stood up immediately after he finished, she was rubbing her temples and circling in a small arc, she exhaled several times and chuckled a little "Fenice get Bianchi in here now" she demanded, asking the computer to summon her security captain to the observation deck.
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The AI didn't even respond. He'd already calculated everything and had contacted another part of himself in the security room. Projecting himself from one of the ports on the wall, he addressed the marine Captain ::Captain Bianchi. You have been requested by Commandante Leslie. Observation Deck::
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Bianchi was in the middle of a push up when the AI sounded in her room, she looked up to the ceiling, not really expecting to be summoned by Claes at all today, "Uh Si... I'll be there immediately" she responded standing up and wiping her face with a towel she quick stepped into the bathroom washing her face briefly. Quickly putting on her black overalls she ran from her quarters to the observation deck, in a few moments Bianchi had entered the room below the observation deck and quickly climbed the ladder up into the room.
Claes was still circling and Bianchi could tell she was not happy, across the room there was a man she recognised and saw a lot but didnt know the name of, he was looking very sorry for himself. Bianchi was out of breath but having always kept herself in peak physical form it didnt bother her, she saluted respectfully to Claes. Claes turned around as Bianchi saluted. "Arietta, I want every marine.. and I do mean every marine we have fully suited, and ready for full ground combat in thirty minutes, I want them in heavy reflective armour and armed with as much firepower as we can muster" Claes said gravely to Bianchi who was stood wondering what was going on, but maintained her pose in the salute.
"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" Bianchi shouted enthusiastically, glad to be able to give her men the good news. "Go!" Claes said angrilly, Bianchi nodded and ducked down to the ladders and slid down them and disappeared.
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"I should have left earlier" Eduardo muttered under his breath
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Claes, turned in a aggressive sweeping motion to Eduardo, pointing a finger at him. "Signore Garcia, you will take over the piloting of the Espectro..." she commanded without giving him an opinion in the matter, "Fenice!.. is signore Luciani in the hangar bay right now?" she asked angrilly. Claes was furious, and the longer the thought of somebody hurting, abusing one of her family members continued to circle in her mind the madder she became. ::SI commandante, him and the flight crew are unloading equipment for the repair processes:: the machine revealed, "Tell him hes got twenty five minutes to empty that ship and get it ready for marine deployment planetside or hes in a fucking cell for two weeks with low cardamine!" She shouted up at the AI still circling around her calming methods simply not working. She pointed at Eduardo again "You, go and get ready, full flight gear" she said pointing to the door afterwards.
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He stepped out of the room, hopping back onto the cart and heading back towards the hangar, wondering if he did the right thing sharing everything. Upon reaching the hangar, he climbed aboard the freighter, pulling his overalls off, revealing the skintight flight suit beneath. He moved to grab a helmet, somewhat resigned, then had a thought. Closing the cockpit door, and activating the holo-terminal, he contacted the ships AI "Fenice!" he shouted, ::Si?:: replied the monotone voice. "Fenice, I need you to pilot this freighter" He peered back into the cargo bay, looking at the hold, his minds eye seeing the filth and smelling the stench of a slavers hold, even when the ship was immaculately clean "I.. I can't be on here.. But I'll be back, soon... if we reach the planet before the Commandante does, then she won't need to find out..." he stated, the machine overhead refused. ::Senor, I cannot do that.:: it responded, "Fenice... You're not going against orders. Look at me, I'm not fit to follow orders, I'm a wreck. I just need to go for a quick flight, unwind, then I'll be back to do whatever the Commandante requires.." Eduardo stated near begging, the AI paused, then answered with ::I concur with your assessment::
Eduardo breathed a sigh of relief, then climbed out of the Espectro. Heading over to the racking that held his Scimitar, he activated the gantry, pulling the ship out and prepping it for launch. He clambered in, provisionally checking, and then jetting out into space...

~To be continued...

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