The Band Tunes Up

[Kallah Ramson 0]

An orchestra of noise echoed throughout the flight decks as they never had before. The port and starboard prep decks were filled with Gamma squads conversion to the Crispin-Stealth system. The stealth modules lay neatly waiting attachment with a new one being quickly added to the rows as they came from the replication/fabrication department. They had learned much with the first fighter to be outfitted with the device that Kallah once flew. It was still slow going as each system had to be configured for the limitations placed on them for everything to work properly. Crispin's dream of a ground up design would have been much more desirable... but they had to work with what they had.

 

The loud humming of loader units coming from farther up as runabouts Towy and Usk were having their roll bars equipped served as the bass line to the symphony of sound. The ever unstable drumline was coming from the landing bays where Alpha Squad was being patched up from their last sortie. Filling out the band was the sounds of testing scanners going over runabout Severn and Beta Squad's new sensor suites. This is where Kallah was heading.

 

The deck crews nodded with smiles to Lt. Ramson. Of all the tasks suddenly handed out by the C.A.G., this one was at least routine. The extra shielding and buffering to handle the extremes of electromagnetic "hell" about to be experienced wasn't but that too was going well. The lead techie approached Kallah. "System integration complete. Beefing the safety systems up should be done within the hour. We should also have the networking between the runabout and fighters done by then."

 

"Good work. Please have the paperwork ready for the pilots. Beta squad comes off their sleep shift in 3 hours and mission brief will be in 4. As soon as you're done here assist the other crews. I want at least 2 wings of Gamma Squad and a runnabout ready to launch if we need them. Then, get some rest yourselves." Kallah smiled as she turned towards the exit ramp.

 

She took a moment to sense the mental state of her crews. With all she had thrown at them they were remarkably focuses and unphased. There were still questions in their minds about this mission that had brought them so far from home. There were the lingering grudges and anger at the loss of Epsilon Squad. Added to all that a young C.A.G. throwing double shifts onto them, she had expected more glares and irritation. She felt none of that. As she stepped to the ramp gate leading off the flight deck she saw why. Some self appointed motivational officer had posted a picture at most of the entrances and exits. Kallah nodded and headed to get herself ready for the upcoming mission.

 

A photo of an empty cradle spoke clearer than any speech or words of encouragement she or any other could give.