Chương 34: 020 – In The Launch Deck

"It's a bit strange, but I can see the logic behind it," Paladin Rain commented as they walked along the gradual 90-degree angle transition from the lateral lane that provided access to the other decks of the ship.

"Though why not simply create a hallway of microgravity?"

"I think the design committee decided that a microgravity passage would be dangerous if the ship were ever in combat or in maneuvers," Vocthuu said, though she privately agreed.

"I would think that if the ship were in combat, no one should be in the microgravity passage anyway?" Yes! Exactly!

"Nevertheless, this was what was eventually decided upon, as it could also be used to move cargo between decks." She recognized the expression on the Kaedekin's face as very similar to the human facial expression for 'I thought of something rude to say, but I'm not going to'.

"Well, nothing to be done about past decisions," Rain said, increasing Vocthuu's count of 'reasons why the Kaedekin are not actually humans'.

"You do not use anything similar in your ships?" Vochtuu asked. The expression Rain made was probably'thoughtful'.

"Well, we have stairwells, and we use the space in the middle for moving large components between levels. Smaller things go in freight elevators that take them to the level they need to be. But that's because our old gravity systems were more effective for large volumes, so having a small, isolated part of the ship have gravity at right angles to the rest would have been really inefficient, not to mention impractical. But now… huh. I need to bring this up with some people, this is a great idea!

Alien technology is amazing!" Oh, was this that 'uplift wank' that humans liked so much in those 'isekai' stories they mass produced? There was admittedly something ego-stroking about being praised so fervently for such a simple, everyday piece of technology. Vocthuu checked the textures on the floor, then the sign on the wall just outside of the lateral lane transition.

"This way, if you please," she said, following one of the lines of textures.

"Paladin Rain. It's good to finally meet you face to face," the captain said as he held out one hand.

"Captain Trout. It's an honor to be invited," the Kaedekin envoy said, reciprocating the gesture. The two shook hands as a fellow junior officer moved about with a small tablet, no doubt taking pictures. For a moment, Vocthuu wondered what the Kaedekin would have done if she'd greeted them with her left tentacles braided together. Would they have known what it signified?

Not that she would have, it was rude to do that to someone not carrying weapons, and she didn't even have a sidearm on her to reciprocate if they somehow managed to offer her something.

"Allow me to introduce the rest of the First Contact Team," Rain said as she gestured towards the other Kaedekin. Vocthuu had stepped back like a good junior officer should, letting herself blend into the woods with the other junior officers until she was called upon again.

"This is Doctor Namine, our medical expert and biochemist, and Paladin Captain Abyssal Glass, our infectious disease specialist. Paladins Yuki and Willow Wisp, our pilots and astrogator. Sorceresses Hale and Keystone, our engineer and science advisors, respectively. Sorceress Cloud and Quick Arts, our Earth culture specialist and historian, and our linguist and sophontologist, respectively." At each pair of names, one of the Kaedekin had stepped forward to shake the captain's hand.

"And finally these are Knight Captains Margaret and Bastion, our… well, you would call them our commanding officers." Well, that was another point on the 'not human and therefore truly alien' tally. She could perceive the captain pausing just the slightest bit at that last before shaking the hand of the final Kaedekin.

"Knight Captains," he said.

"I… admit your presence has raised a few questions, though we'll have to discuss them later." There was no mistaking it. The officer incrementally turned their head towards Rain before answering.

"We'd be happy to answer them, captain. None of us would turn down the novelty of speaking to actual aliens." For some reason, all the Kaedekin looked towards Rain, whose shoulders moved up and down. The gesture was most likely a human shrug, and not her preparing to start committing violence, which was how the rakido used that gesture.

"Why do you think I asked if you could all come?" Vocthuu was privy to the perception of four people making the exact same gesture of clenching both fists at chest height and giving them a short pump, and she got the feeling that the only reason their officer didn't do the same was because she was still shaking hands with the captain.

The gesture vaguely reminded her of the opening stance of one the humans' ritualized bloodsports—so ritualized it was boring, but humans were like that—but from the expressions she could perceive through the Kaedekin's helmets and by context was probably meant to convey victory or celebration. It was a surprisingly pajhadinizing moment, letting them know the Kaedekin were just as eager to speak to them.

"Before we do move to the launch deck, allow me to introduce some of my own officers," the captain said, gesturing towards the officers who'd been waiting with him and had stood when the Kaedekin had entered.

"This is Captain Nemoy, my Executive Officer; Captain Hamm, the ship's Wing Commander; Commander Bronze, the Ship's Intelligence Officer; and Commander Mussel of the Disease Control Lab." There was another round of shaking hands with the Kaedekin, but before people could get settled around the wardroom table, Paladin Rain had turned towards the assembled junior officers and said, "And you are?", making another mark on the 'not human' tally.

Fortunately, the captain took it in stride, and fellow junior officers and enlisted who had expected to just stand around and get a look at the aliens up close found themselves being asked to introduce themselves, with the Kaedekin showing as much enthusiasm at meeting them as they had for the senior officers. Admittedly, it made things a bit awkward when the Kaedekin asked where everyone else would sit. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Perhaps to prevent any further awkward inclusions, the captain quickly led the way out of the ward room and towards the launch deck, Paladin Rain walking next to him as the other Kaedekin—including Rain's admitted superior officer—trailed behind, with Vocthuu and the other junior officers trying to keep a discreet distance so they wouldn't intrude. This close to the lateral lane, the launch deck looked more like the bunk room areas of the ship.

In addition to the wardroom they'd just left, there were the heads, the mess hall, a small gym, and a business center for when people needed to do paperwork. However, it wasn't long before they reached the large double airlock that led to the rest of the launch deck. Two of the security detail had gone ahead of them to hold the doors open for them, which had gotten a cheerful "Thank you!" from each of the Kaedekin as they passed. Beyond was the launch deck proper, which Vocthuu hadn't really been to before.

It was a wide-open space with high ceilings to fit both the variety of spaceboats that the ship housed as well as the multiple tracks for cranes. The space filled with a fraction of the ship's complement of boats, such as missile boats, sniper craft, bombers, and utility boats, among other things. Not far from the airlock was the long cylinder of the maildrone, or so Vocthuu assumed and bleed the Confederacy's overreliance on electromagnetic wavelengths to identify things!

Two meters wide and twelve long, in the standardized measure the humans insisted on and rumor said everyone else let them have so they'd stop whining about all the other sensible decisions being made for everyone's good, panels had been removed from the drone to allow access to its computers and quantum drive. An external terminal had been plugged into the drone's banks, along with an external power source, and engineers were crowded around the drive as they examined instruments that Vocthuu couldn't decipher.

More electromagnetic wavelength emitters, ugh. Her tongue flicked out, and she tasted weld-burned paint, five different kinds of sweat, a mixed oily flavor from all the fluids used in ship maintenance blending together despite the air recycling, and hot metal. Well, that last was no surprise. The so-called quantum drive was right there.

"This is the maildrone," the lieutenant who'd been overseeing the work on the drone said, taking charge of explaining the device.

"We use it to send messages over long interstellar distances, where transmissions would take too long. Because this star system is further out than what the drone is designed to travel, we've needed to modify it to increase its range so it can go back along the course we took." All the Kaedekin were focusing on the drone, looking like eager children who'd perceived something interesting.

"If I may ask," one of the Kaedekin said, holding up their hand, "about what percent of the drone's volume consists of its drive system?" The lieutenant took a moment to turn towards the drone, as if reaffirming its dimensions for himself.

"Counting expanded fuel storage and control systems, right now the quantum drive on this drone consists of more than sixty percent of its internal volume. We had to remove the batteries for the memory banks and transmitters, and then rearrange some of the remaining components to be able to fit in all the fuel it will need to get to where it's going." The Kaedekin who'd asked nodded, while another seemed to be using a finger to write something in the air.

Vocthuu didn't know if they were using some kind of advanced technology to actually write on the air or if it was just some idiosyncratic gesture they did while doing math in their head. Another raised their hand, and waited to be acknowledged before speaking, which didn't strictly bar the Ranger from being psychologically distinct from humans.

"Is this a mass-produced drive system that's being used for the drone, or is it a specially built model specifically designed to be compact?" The lieutenant hesitated a bit at the question, turning towards the captain for a moment before answering.

"The quantum drive on the maildrone is purpose built for use in un-piloted craft, so it doesn't have the safeties that would keep any passengers from getting hurt. Quantum drives for piloted craft need to be bigger, and have additional components for the safety of passengers." A third Kaedekin raised their hand, and also waited to be acknowledged. All right, this was going on the 'not human' list.

"You said that you needed to expand the fuel storage. How much additional fuel did the maildrone need?"

"Fuel storage needed be expanded 700%," the lieutenant said, now addressing both the Kaedekin and the captain, who nodded.

"We had to remove some of the non-essential components such as the high-density data transmitters and 75% of data storage to be able to get it all to fit while still keeping the QEC magazines from anything that might cause them to ignite." The Kaedekin all turned to look at the maildrone as one when the possibility of igniting was mentioned.

"Do you use anything to prevent ignition?"

"Yes, we'll be lining the modified fuel storage with panels filled with a water-based, non-flammable insulation gel specially formulated for use with quantum systems."

"I see. You mentioned something called QEC. May I inquire as to what that is?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid we can't elaborate on that further at the moment," the captain interrupted, probably almost giving the lieutenant a heart attack.

"My apologies, but some technologies we can't just discuss freely."

"We understand completely, captain," Paladin Rain said. Vocthuu had made sure to keep track of them so there wouldn't be any embarrassing incidents.

"Though to be perfectly honest, we have heard of QEC before in the transmissions from Confederacy space. We're simply curious as to what exactly it was, since… well, it shows up in a lot of transmissions we're pretty sure are fictional, and it's always exploding, becoming unstable and exploding, getting struck by lighting and exploding, or getting dropped and exploding." Through their helmet, Vocthuu perceived the alien's expression turn into something that approximated human worry.

"I hope you understand why we'd be worried."

"Ah, well let me assure you that QEC is nowhere near as explosively volatile as they make it out to be in the movies," the captain said.

"So you can rest assured we're very unlikely to get blown up just from having some around. Actually… while we can't really explain the mechanics of how we use it, I don't see any harm in letting you see what it looks like. Will that be a problem, lieutenant?" The lieutenant shook his head.

"No, captain. We're supposed to check that they've been properly packed in their magazines before we put them in anyway. I'll have someone get one of the magazines." All the Kaedekin immediately straightened, and from the expressions inside their helmets, either they were making a threat display or were just excited. One of the magazines of QEC was retrieved, and Vocthuu moved her head to better keep it within her cone of perception.

Two engineers were sent to get a worktable to put the magazine on so that the Kaedekin could see it better. The Kaedekin remained at a respectful distance without being prompted as the engineers went to carefully open the magazine. The rods holding the push plate inside were double checked before the top panel was unscrewed and carefully lifted off the rods inside the magazine it was attached to.

As the aliens waited expectantly, one of the engineers used a pair of insulated tweezers to reach into the magazine and lifted out… The nightstone was perfectly defined in Vocthuu's perceptions, every line and plain perfect to her soul as it was carefully placed on a non-metal dish. Glass, a part of her idly supplied.

About the size of a river rock that could fit perfectly in her palm with her fingers closed, the nightstone seemed solid in a way that surpassed the cold night under a cloudy sky—"Wait," one of the Kaedekin said, sounding confused.

"So QEC is just venecite?"