The ship exited FTL, and Jacob sighed in relief when he saw the station in the distance. At some point, he had started thinking of the place as his home away from home.
The Abyss Pearl had performed wonderfully on the trip to Earth, and even during his visit, but Jacob’s constant transitions to hop around the planet to save time had taxed both the phase coils and the ship’s hull.
The damage wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been with the transport, but he would be loath to take the vessel out again until it received a full overhaul, and maybe a slight modification.
Similar to the shuttle and the hauler that Xing’che’s people had arrived in, Chalto’s former ship had only a single phase coil. The phase coil could be swapped out, and Jacob had done so twice during the journey, but he would really prefer to have redundant units already in place in case the coils failed mid-transition.
He would have to spend some time figuring out how to make that happen, but he didn’t plan on going anywhere, so that shouldn’t be too much of an issue.
A message popped up on the display on the bridge. “Welcome back, Captain. You have twenty-two thousand six hundred and fifty-six messages in your inbox.”
Jacob was momentarily stunned by the number of issues that had cropped up in his short time away, but then he remembered the eight centuries of backlog he had yet to look through. He knew why the AI hadn’t mentioned this during his trips back to speak with Barry, Katherine, and deal with the eiraxin refugees. The AI was smart enough to differentiate between his virtual avatar and the host drone he occupied when he departed.
For a moment, Jacob wondered what would have happened if that drone had been destroyed on Earth. Nothing good, probably. He made a mental note to keep whatever drone he occupied when he departed out of danger.
The Astryx warships pinged his vessel, but that was the extent of their interactions.
“It seems they learned their lessons,” Jacob chuckled.
If they kept up their good behavior, he might lower their additional fees back down to the amount he set when he first made an agreement with Judicator Ghrroaqq to host the Astryx ships.
Jacob also spotted the section where Barry had placed the massive shield generator. The sections looked slightly newer than the areas around them. That slight discrepancy wouldn’t have been obvious to anyone unfamiliar with the station, but Jacob had spent months working on placing the small shield generators, so he had plenty of time to get acquainted with the armored exterior.
He activated the ship-wide comm. “If anyone’s interested, I’ve transferred the cockpit display to every terminal so you can see your new home away from home.”
Since the ship lacked merging, Jacob couldn’t tell if anyone actually took him up on his offer, but he assumed they would. It wasn’t every day you arrived at a massive space station floating in the void of space.
Jacob received a transmission that included the shield frequency and docking instructions. That was a bit of a surprise. He hadn’t gotten anything like that when he visited Vorlos Station. Then again, that shield was only designed to keep atmosphere in, while this shield was designed for defense.
Did that mean Vorlos Station wasn’t shielded?
As the ship neared the station shield, Abyss Pearl’s shield actually latched onto it like two soap bubbles colliding and joining. It was interesting to watch, as it was only visible around the edges as a slight light distortion where the two shields connected.
As the vessel finished passing through the shield, the two separated once again, with a tear of rainbow light. Jacob would have to ask Barry how the shield kept unwanted guests from picking up the transmitted frequencies and bypassing the shield.
Soon enough, the Abyss Pearl coasted into the hangar where the transport used to reside. There were plenty of other hangars Jacob could have used, but he had grown attached to this one. It was also fitting that Franky would be returned to the same hangar he escaped from so many months ago, even if the man had no recollection of those events.
Jacob powered down the vessel as the hangar repressurized. He should ask Barry to look into environmental shields for all the hangars; it would certainly simplify arrivals and departures. Sha’la might also have some insights on how to streamline the process, thanks to her time spent as a port liaison. They didn’t have all that many visitors, but there was no reason to wait until it became an issue.
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Jacob joined the rest of the passengers as they waited in the cargo hold. General Roberts and his soldiers looked ready for anything, while the civilians looked eager, with a hint of uncertainty. As soon as he got confirmation that the hangar atmosphere was stable, he activated the ramp. There was a hiss as the locking bolts retracted, and then the ramp smoothly descended.
“It’s bigger than I thought it would be,” Roberts commented. “It makes the holds inside an aircraft carrier look tiny.”
They could only see a small section of the hangar. Just wait until they step outside the ship. Jacob did a quick mental calculation and nodded. “You could fit a super-carrier inside this hangar lengthwise. And this isn’t even the largest hangar.”
The General turned to him, one eyebrow raised. “I know you said the station was fifteen kilometers across, but a part of me assumed most of that was support systems.”
“You’re not wrong,” Jacob added, stepping onto the now extended ramp. “I would say about sixty percent of the station is support systems, but forty percent is still a whole lot of space for ships to park and people to live. I suspect in its heyday, there were tens if not hundreds of thousands of people stationed here.”
“And you said there was a little over two thousand?” the General asked as he walked down the ramp beside Jacob, his eyes scanning the massive space.
“Yup,” Jacob admitted.
The general glanced back at his people and grunted. “Let’s hope they can all complete this merging process, or we’re going to be spread way too thin to police effectively.”
“You may have some additional help on that front.”
“From the aliens?” The general guessed.
“Yes. Although that entirely depends on you. I want you to evaluate the alien soldiers and see if they are capable of policing not only themselves, but also other aliens.”
“Will you be giving them access to merge?”
“No,” Jacob replied flatly. “That’s only for you and your soldiers.” He didn’t entirely trust Xing’che or her people. They would have to earn that. The only reason he was even considering allowing them to do low-level policing was because of Barry. He convinced Jacob that allowing them to police themselves would go much further toward integrating them than replacing one overlord with another. The man made far too many good points.
“Good,” Roberts said.
The group was greeted at the hangar exit by a maintenance drone carrying a small case. Jacob opened the case and stepped aside to address the soldiers. “Please take one of these and place it at the base of your skull.”
They had all been familiarized with the neural scanners.
“What are those?” Min-Jun asked.
“You’ll learn about those in time,” Jacob deflected, “Shall I show you to your rooms?”
***
Getting the soldiers situated was easy. They were used to being told what to do. Doing the same for the civilians was much harder.
“Where is this in relation to the commercial district?” Oliver Mercer asked as he examined the room with a critical eye.
“It’s a few kilometers away, why?” Jacob asked.
“Why so far away?” Min-Jun questioned.
“I wanted to give you time to acclimate before introducing you.”
The group of civilians shared a look and shook their heads. Even Bob shook his head despite still recovering from what had been done to him.
“The best way to integrate is to fully immerse yourself in a culture,” Bob said.
Jacob looked at him in shock.
“Your friend is not wrong," Dr. Tanaka said. "When my parents moved from Japan to America, I was forced to adapt rather quickly. It will be much harder since adult minds are not quite as flexible, but if there is no hand-holding, we will be forced to adapt.”
“And you’re all okay with this?” Jacob scanned the group.
They looked at each other for a moment, then nodded once again.
“I mean, okay. Can I at least provide you with a translation program?”
Dr. Tanaka shook his head. “A basic primer would be best. Even that might slow our ability to learn the language, but it will help prevent misunderstandings.”
Jacob nodded and threw together a quick primer on Trade-Common. The language was rather simple; it had to be for every species in the Astryx to be able to speak it properly. It also lacked any sort of cultural idioms or other specifics, although he assumed it had grown its own after being in use for so long.
With their mind made up, Jacob led the group to the eiraxin wing. It wasn’t long before they ran across one of the refugees. The man looked startled by the appearance of unfamiliar faces, and he stared in surprise as they walked past.
To be fair, most of his group was just as surprised.
“They’re so… human,” Dr. Tanaka remarked.
The farther they moved into the housing area, the larger their audience of vibrant pink-skinned eiraxins became.
They were almost to the empty block of rooms when a familiar face approached. Jacob almost demanded to know why Xing’che was not in her cell when he remembered what Barry was planning.
The woman bowed in deference. “Captain Jacob.”
“Xing’che.” He replied flatly. “What brings you here?”
If she was put off by his tone, she didn’t show it. “My people told me that strange-looking eiraxins had arrived, so I came to see for myself. These are your people, aren’t they? The humans?” she asked, slowly pronouncing the strange word.
“They are,” he admitted.
She turned to the group and put on a thousand-watt smile. “Welcome. I hope that we may form many friendships,” she said in English.
The humans with him looked surprised, but pleased by the exchange.
Jacob just rolled his eyes. Of course, she would try to ingratiate herself with his people.
The only thing that surprised Jacob was the fact that she knew any English. Barry must have taught her or given her an English primer.
“Are you done?” he asked in eiraxin.
She didn’t lose her smile, but she did turn to address Jacob. “I apologize if my actions upset you. I didn’t mean for them to. I only wish for our two people to become friends and to help wash away the shame of what I have done.”
“You’re going to need more than a few fake smiles to wash away the fact that you murdered someone in front of me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I do have to show them to their cabins.”
She bowed and stepped aside. “I will work to earn your trust, Captain, for that you can be assured.”
Jacob didn’t respond as he led the gawking humans past the beautiful woman.