ADS: Like A Phoenix

[Thexare]

"Well there's your problem. Your thrust manifold is thoroughly flunted," a middle-aged redhead explained to the pilot of an Aquila Defense Systems escort fighter. "It'll take a while to fix it, but at least we can."

"What are you talking about, Wrench?"

She sighed, he shoulder twitching a little as she did. "We have two dozen light miners and three Hegemon heavy excavators. All of them have broken mining systems. Most of them can't be fixed without rebuilding the entire ship."

Another man cleared his throat from behind Wrench, and she jumped to attention. "Seriously, you can't fix them at all?"

"'fraid not, boss. The internal mineral processors are all just ruined. They need regular maintenance, and we didn't have time. The light craft took a while to finally give up, but we had to deal with the escorts as our first priority. The Hegemons? They were doomed when we started. No way to get replacement parts out here."

The Director shook his head. "Damn. That's going to complicate things."

"'Complicate things'? Boss, we're dead if we can't get more metal out here."

"Not as much as you think. It's been a long road, but home's at the end." Jones was unusually calm suddenly, which was kind of creeping the rest of the crew out. He'd been just as worried as the rest of them.

"The hell you talkin' about?"

He smiled a bit and shook his head again. "Sorry, Wrench, can't tell you just yet. But there's negotiations going on. Brush up on the finer details of Raven and Rook maintenance, though."

Realization slowly dawned on the mechanic and escort pilot as their boss turned and walked away. He stopped a few yards away and looked back. "Get one of those Surveyors refitted for combat while the Glass Soldier is in for repairs. The rest of the Surveyor works, right?"

"Yeah, we can do that. Come on, Dale, let's get this thing set up."