On the Crosspath

[RedEclipse]

Christian swirled his glass of Rheinbier-and although the taste of normal food and light hops slightly clouded his mind, he immediately understood the idea that stirred the thoughts of the old friend - Donagan. It was more of a speculative guess than a direct statement, given that the specifics of the Vega's prior repairs were classified. . "Hm, I see what you're getting at. We have a chance to get help, as before our departure to the Great Voyage, we were able to put Vega onto rails in limited time - but back then we had more spare resources. Only a few people know this, but Daumann Heavy Construction helped us with it. And although it was a hell of a long time ago, it's worth a shot - I'll try to reestablish diplomatic contacts with them. It's been quite a while since Vega was rebuilt, and during the reconstruction of Kadesh, no one even mentioned our cooperation in passing. I'm quite sure I'll find a way to approach them - I have reached out to Rheinlanders officials before and they were interested in our region. So it'll be beneficial for everyone involved."

He stretched and crossed his arms behind his back. Feeling a huge burden of uncertainty lifted from his shoulders. "James," he continued, "as I said, its been some time since civil war in Rheinland. As far as I know, everything related to the restoration of the Bismarck and Donau used ready-made equipment kits, and I strongly suspect that they have long since run out or been stolen by Junkers, given the fate of the Munch system. Otherwise, ALG Waste Disposal offered additional services, seeing our hopeless situation. They helped us recreate what they are truly professionals at-I have no ulterior motives or agreements in this regard."

Jack downed his glass of beer. "Rheinlanders are famous for their shipbuilding capacity and service credibility, even judging by their beer. Moreover taking into account that all work should be done as soon as possible… So, if we have a plan in place, we'll get parts delivered from outside, which will completely overcome all our obstacles. And the deadlines may be quite feasible, but I have a feeling you'll have problems - despite all our partnerships with them, they won't lift a finger without approval from the Rheinwehr." Christian interrupted him. "Proceed as soon as the teams are ready to dismantle all the avionics, all damaged systems, or non-original equipment. We only have a chance to rebuild the ship and maintain our operations in Omiсrons with help of outsiders." Christian looked calm, pretending that the deal was already in the bag, although the seed of uncertainty had already been sown deep inside, but too much was at stake. "Everyone does their job, James. You're responsible for the report on the dismantled equipment in the near future, and don't worry about the rest."

Christian focused on the idea further - "If we take into account that we have production capacity and that the next batch of Zoners that would arrive at Livadia won't be so grumpy when they see Bismarck in the dry dock at Livadia, what will our budget and timeline look like?" Christian slowly placed his hands on the table and folded them together, slowly running his fingers through them. "With the possibility of a complete reconstruction, we can extend it for longer than 2 months. But the reconstruction schedule should be tight and well planned. All time investments should be justified. The last thing we need is delays and/or major equipment problems, which will ultimately lead to even more downtime, so approach quality over quantity/speed is still mandatory.." He leaned back in his chair again. "Let's not forget about our iridium extraction and processing capabilities at Athens Station. What do you think, Daniel, do we have the ability to upgrade our composite armor standards given our resources? Giving bulky skeleton structure of Vega we could innovate our armor. Again, we can let our imaginations run wild, assuming in advance that we have no production problems."