Not A Cloud In the Sky

[Judah Dashiell]

Judah looked at the message across his datapad screen, detailing a request to meet in the near future. It was from [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] and [member="Tegaea Alcori"] , but he was fairly certain a number of the young "domestic servants" had written it for the two women. Last meeting involved a great deal of terrible news ; Kaeshana was to be destroyed by an asteroid. It was going to be a humanitarian nightmare. Salacia Consolidated offered up its services, mainly focusing on getting out as many underprivileged children as possible.


Those will money could easily flee. Orphans and those born to the extremely poor didn't have that luxury on Kaeshana. It had been quiet from the Kerrigan - Alcori household since. After all, what would the two women report on? Certain death and destruction expected, oh, and our daughter just got flying colors on her literature exams.


Not exactly normal conversation, then again, talks with the family always ended up skewed towards the interesting side of things.


Miss Alcori, Miss Kerrigan,


I will be happy to meet you at your desired location to discuss business. Its been too long and I hope this message finds you both well.

-J. Dashiell



There, probably best not to mention the killer astronomical event, just in case the message was intercepted by a Firemane worker who didn't know the news yet.

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Judah Dashiell"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Were it not for the impending doom of Kaeshana, Tegaea could really get used to Tygara. After her wife had arrived following the First Contact, they had set up a comfortable little structure in the newly explored northern lands. This territory, only now being fully mapped and starting to be cleared, still had problems from raids, meaning the first settlement was more of a fortress than a luxury home.
On the other hand, the Firemane pair had managed to get a very luxurious box house in the compound, and the sheer fresh wildness of the lands around were welcome. It had even rekindled the couple’s relationship a little in ways which cannot be explained in PG-13 terms.

As Tegaea rose one day she found Harmony waiting for her.
“Message from Mr Dashiell, Mistress!” she said.
Tegaea read it and nodded, then went looking for Siobhan. “Oh wifey, message from Judah. The holoprojector is working again if you wanted, we can contact him through that…and maybe go there if needed.”

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Judah Dashiell"], [member="Tegaea Alcori"]


"But that means I need to get dressed properly," Siobhan sulked, well, sulkily. This writer is clearly feeling tremendously witty today. Without giving too much away, she had a tendency to...sleep without wearing anything, though thankfully by the same she heard Tegaea she had thrown on a terribly brief and not particularly covering satin robe. Have no fear, kiddies, it covered her breasts and stuff. The past few days with Tegaea had been...a welcome respite from business.


Of course, she had obviously been unable to shirk the duty of helping run Firemane and deal with the evacuation. For one, the corporation was beginning to expand its base on Etti Four into a temp headquarters. Then there the occasional attaks from the Xioquo and Qadiri politics. But after a long time of separation they had been together again and she could not help but feel that having something to do again and getting some action of her own on Tygara had done her wife some good. Contrary to what might be thought, Siobhan did not regard Tegaea as a fainting blossom or someone who was fragile and needed protecting. If that were the case, she would not be attracted to her. Suffice to say she had been quite eager to hear about her wife clobbering assassins and it had been quite good for their lovemaking.


Silly kiddies should go to bed or do their homework, this one thinks. Anyhow Siobhan walked over to Tegaea and bent over the redhead while she stroked the woman's back and nuzzled her neck, reading the message. "That's sweet. This is about the space station you mentioned to me? You can call him, love. I'll go shower quick and put something on. Back in a bit." After all, the tadpole might be watching!

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Judah Dashiell"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

Sadly, one must always protect the kiddies, and adults acting like kiddies too.

Tegaea dressed and headed to the communication room. It was fairly basic, but was working well enough for her to call up a direct connection to Judah Dashiell.

When answered she offered a small bow.

“Judah, nice to see you again! How’s the wife and kid? I won’t take too much of your time, Siobhan will be here in a moment. I was interested in your idea for an atmospheric city, and was hoping you’d explain it to Siobhan. If we look to get one for Tygara, or more than one, it’ll be a great way of keeping people off the ground until the initial settlements are complete.”

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]


To say he was caught off guard by the holotransmission was an understatement. Judah was lounging around in what he liked to consider his 'day off' collection, ratty wannabe beach bum wear. Probably a stain on his shirt from breakfast. Hopefully the Kerrigan-Alcori household would overlook this fact. Or maybe it would look better across the 'verse in a holotransmission, filtered and what not.


"The family is fine. What about yours? I still can't picture Siobhan being a mother. I suppose we all need offspring to teach our roof-dropping skills to, a legacy." Judah grinned like a young boy, joking. " I'd be happy to talk about those atmospheric stations. Just 'donated' one not too far from here. Basically I wanted to test out the technology before going to market, but what they don't know won't hurt them."


"More than one? Are you expecting a large population? What would you do with them after the settlements are created? I suppose they could be sold and towed to their new owners if one desired."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Judah Dashiell"], [member="Tegaea Alcori"]


At this point in time Siobhan entered room. Appropriately dressed, though her hair was a bit damp. Her dark brown mane was just as unruly as its owner. She made a face when Shaggy questioned her abilities to be the perfect mother! What a naughty man he was. "I am a great mother. I even read my girls bedtime stories. Tegs, tell him I'm great at being a mother," she insisted a bit petulantly.


Anyhow, then it seemed to click inside Sio's brain that they actually had business things to discuss. Still, her wife better praise her parenting skills! "We're talking about a massive population transfer. That said, I'm not that familiar with these stations. Can either of you clue me in? They're essentially atmospheric cities, aren't they?"

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"] | @Siobahn Kerrigan


Judah wasn't insulting any parenting skills on the Kerrigan side of the family.It was just hard to picture the Butcher of....Whatever planet, reading bedtime stories and worrying about concerns such as parent-teacher conferences. It wasn't an unwelcome change, just an odd one for the folks in the 'verse to get used to. Although one could say change is good, being a death machine probably got boring after a certain period.


"Back to business at hand. These are atmospheric stations that can hold roughly six million sentient residents, I'm not including a droid count. Now....the station is set up for both residential and manufacturing needs. In your case it may be wise to cut back the traditional manufacturing on one city and put in more agribusiness. I've seen some great techniques, maybe a building completely out of this new glass [member="Danger Arceneau"] is toying with."


"It would cut down on having to haul so much in, at least until Tygara gets settled. Even then, it still may prove useful. We all know how rough it is getting anything out to Sanctum space."

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Judah Dashiell"]

Tegaea sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yes, dear, you're a fantastic mother. The fact that both our daughters are adults doesn't invalidate your reading of bedtime stories either!" she said with a chuckle.

"The manufacturing is what is of primary importance to us at the start. On Tygara we will have no facilities on the ground, so an orbital station able to produce basic items as well as acting as an intermediary from space could be quite useful. It could also, as you say, act as a temporary agri development until we have the ground settled appropriately."

"I do have one question though - if these are atmospheric, are they able to resist the severe storms that might whip up? I've been told that during winter there can be quite intense low-pressure systems with high winds, lightning and hail. I trust the stations can resist that?"

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"], [member="Judah Dashiell"]


Siobhan felt like pointing out that in some adorable ways Galina was still very much a child and that Nato was seventeen, but held her tongue. She also taught them cool and practical stuff such as the use of guns and she made sure their rooms were kept in order! Well, mostly. [member="Natoline Kerrigan"] had a habit of hoarding things.


"They'll also be useful to faciliate trade and commerce more easier than on the ground. It'll be a while till the settlements planetside are suitable." For one, Tygara was a fractious planet split between various kingdoms and fiefdoms and even more tempestuous politically than Kaeshana had been. She gave Tegaea a nod after she had spoken. "Do the atmopsheric cities come with any defences and how strong would these be? Likewise how strong are the shields and how vulnerable would the station be to EMP, system shutdown and the like. Alas, trying to drop stations onto planets has become a trend lately." She supposed that defences would be limited, but wanted confirmation. It was true that Firemane would have the Tirathana, but that would be located in orbit not the atmosphere.


Admittedly Tygara was out of the way and thus would hopefully be of less interest to the madmen of the Galaxy. Like those who had dropped shipyards on Druckenwell or a former Lord Protector who had done the same to Corellia. Eldorai troops would stationed in the atmospheric cities. Not only to guard them against external attacks, but also for planetside power projection if their unwieldy Qadiri allies got uppity.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]



"They are able to resist the storms that reach heights up to 50,000 feet. Ideally the station will sit at 30,000 feet or so. With the engines running on the station along with the tractors beams, its not going to swing wildly in multiple directions. Like a skyscraper, it has been designed to sway and flex a little however. It shouldn't be noticeable to most."


"At that height, the station will also have an atmospheric dome to scrub and supply extra oxygen as well as heat. Much like a large capital ship would in space."



Judah paused and thought about the defense question.



"This is a civilian station, so the defenses are light. Light shields, light armaments. If pirates show up...well, it can hold its own without a second thought. If a military shows up.....you might want to bring in heavy reinforcements. EMP from the outside of the station is almost null. An EMP attack from the inside, in the control center, would cripple the station. Those who get the station are under heavy advisement to secure the control center with the highest security. Highest security levels for the workers....you might want to have some big guns waiting as well."


"The station can operate without a certain percentage of power, engines, and so on for a period of time. Once you get bombardment on top of that though, it won't be pretty."

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Judah Dashiell"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

"I think all we have left to consider is the cost. I think starting with one would be wise. The last thing we want is to run out of hard currency in the middle of the evacuation. We are fortunate though that Tygara has a lot of gold which we can use to help pay for our expenses. One of our first priorities is to get some modern mining equipment down there and processing."

"Oh, one final question as well, Judah - does it have any internal hangers for storing fighters or other transports?"

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]



"Certainly you would receive a discount off the entire station. Its mainly for refugees, so I couldn't charge the population full price for the station. Besides, its new. Its worth getting my name out there, especially if this becomes a central hub for the mining trade in the sector."


"No internal hangars. I tried to keep all the controls and comforts internal to the station itself and that ate up quite a bit of space. Plus, I was thinking if this was a civilian station, private hangars and docks would lend well to business minded folks. The station does have several docking arms for large vessels. I suppose it would be easy enough for the government to control the docks instead of private merchants. I mean, the layout and purpose is flexible enough to accommodate what a government wants."

 

[Tegaea Alcori]

[member="Judah Dashiell"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]

“I think we’re in agreement then, Judah. We will order one, with the option of a second once we see how they work out.”
She extended a hand to the hologram. “Always a pleasure, Judah.” She grinned at the absurdity of their holograms shaking hands, then looked to her wife.

“Anything else we need Mr Dashiell for, Sio? I was planning on inviting Thessa to our next bookclub, but I don’t think I’d want to be shown up by her,” she joked.

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"]



"Do let me know what you'd like to see changed, if anything. I'll let the factories on Tabaqui and Laekia know to immediately start work on the engines and base at least, as its going to take a moment to get it built and in place. I'm sure we'll be in close contact over the coming months as this is being completed. Feel free to contact the project managers for this station at anytime, I'll send you their contact information."


Shaking his head at both the handshake and Thessa comment, Judah couldn't resist a comment of his own.



"I don't think the pair of you can handle her. She is...uh....great to say the least."

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Tegaea Alcori"], [member="Judah Dashiell"]


Was Siobhan supposed to say something the along the lines that no woman could possibly show Tegaea up at book club because she was the most gourgeous lady ever? Well, if yes then she did not provide the desired fawning.


That said, she could not resist making a 'witty' comment in response to Judah. "If I did not know any better, I'd say that sounds like a challenge, Mr Dashiell. Say hi to your wifey and Makai from us. Perhaps someday one of my daughters can baby-sit. Been a pleasure doing business with you."

 

[Judah Dashiell]

[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="Tegaea Alcori"]


"A pleasure as well Miss Kerrigan, I'll be sure to give the family my regards. Babysitting would be most welcome anytime your girls are available."


While they had Ferox, the bodyguard droid, there was only so much a young boy could do in playing with and asking questions. Having someone trusted to focus on the boy and keep him entertained while he spent a night out with the wife would be a great idea. Weren't teenage girls always looking to make money for the mall or some nonsense? It was win-win.


"We will be touch soon."


With that, the holocall ended. An order would go in immediately to start work on another station for the Kaeshana people.