Author notes:
Next chapter is up. Me sleepy. New pics
https://photos.app.goo.gl/waZgkRa3UQhqKQBi9
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"This is Shuttle Alpha," Said the astronaut manning the helm of one of four Belkan space shuttles. "Requesting permission to dock with BSS."
Floating by a console is Commander Lily Maine, the one in charge of the first-ever space station in the history of mankind, the BSS Richthofen. "This is Station Commander, docking signal green. You're good to make an approach."
"Roger that, Commander, making rendezvous." Said the astronaut aboard Shuttle Alpha.
"Commander." Commander Maine was greeted by another astronaut floating over a bulkhead. "Thanks for the relief effort, ma'am. I'll take care of Alpha from here."
Maine nods before removing her headset with a light smile. "No problem, Schmidt." She then hands over the headset to her fellow astronaut. "Shuttle Alpha is on a rendezvous with us. Just make sure they don't bang the airlock this time around."
Schmidt replies with seriousness. "You got it, Commander." The man then put on the headset as Maine pushed herself away from the console, moving toward the same bulkhead Schmidt arrived in.
"Oh, commander!" Schimdt suddenly called out to Maine. "You should go see Lightning. It seems like she has something to show you."
"Thanks for the tip, Schmidt." Maine waved back at the comms officer before disappearing behind the bulkhead.
Ever so slowly, the station commander navigates the pathways of the Richthofen by virtue of her hands and feet pushing and pulling on objects. Along the way to see her dwarven specialist, Maine comes across fellow astronauts like her from all sorts of races. They're either hard at work to maintain the station's efficiency or are at ease, having just ended their shift. The astronauts all try to give her a salute or a smile and some light banters if they can. Actions to which Maine returns promptly and warmly. They respect each other not just because of what they do but because the crew members of the Richthofen are one big family.
While Maine is making good headway to meet with Specialist Lightning, she habitually peers through every single viewing port she comes across. The action has now been ingrained into her instinct, having been the first wave to be stationed in space. Nonetheless, Maine has never gotten bored of seeing Gaia in all of her glory. The planet below her seems to be everchanging every time she looks. It's a notion that is shared by the other astronauts, much to her delight.
The view is quite simply worth dying for, it's precisely because of such a reason that day by day, astronauts like Maine brave zero-G and solar radiation with bright smiles on their faces. There's also the occasional micro-meteorite, a residual of Yggdrasil's Seed when the World Tree made landfall on Gaia. Thankfully, the space station and its equipment are built to last. The shuttles too, though trying to offer enough protection for an EVA suit to be safe against meteorites is a tall order. It's why an early warning system is set up to provide astronauts outside the safety of armor platings a forewarning period. Maine can only thank the Mother Goddess for such a system, lives have been saved, including her own, many times.
Her train of thought about the system also leads her to reminisce about the astronauts' first foray into the verse. Back when they first came up, the station was much smaller than it is now. Once they were in the Low Gaia Orbit, the first thing they had to do was task the Jar of Oz, the nickname for their detachment of Takodachis, to construct a camouflage screen beneath the station. Maine remembers fondly that, while it had been a quick setup, it has been jaws-dropping to see the efficiency of the Takodachis at work. In a mere half an hour, the Takodachis built a screen that took the astronauts two hours to construct in training.
Once the veil of secrecy is in place to deter curious viewers on the ground, everything expands from there. First, it had been small-scale resource mining operations. In other terms, mining of mineral-rich asteroids using the Takodachis. Maine thought back to the time when the few astronauts they had up in space, had only the sole duties of maintaining the station and kept the Takodachis well-groomed and fed. Honestly, it's a far cry from what they're doing right now.
But that's to be expected. They were in uncharted territory, and training could only get them so far. Letting the Takodachis do the heavy lifting until a proper base is set was the most important rule of thumb back then. Hence for the first months, Takodachis spearheaded the mining, refining, and expansion of the station. Once a proper safety net was in place, this meant recovery options for astronauts and early-warning systems, Maine and the rest were allowed to venture outside in extravehicular activity. From then on out, Takodachis are almost always accompanied by astronauts. With the latter supervising or helping the Takodachis in whatever task at hand.
With both hands and tentacles working together, the station then grew large enough to be christened with the name Richthofen. Back then, it had been such a monumental occasion for the astronauts and members of the BSC. It was also the time when the first wave of additional astronauts were sent to aid Maine and her veteran crew. Maine was then made the Commander-in-chief of the Richthofen, a promotion she had never even dreamt of. After the celebration and the indoctrination of new members, Maine, and her original crew then began the process of instructing the new arrivals and making bonds with them. Coincidentally, there are at least two pairs of romantically interested astronauts on the Richthofen right now. With one pulling a marriage-in-space stunt, much to the pleasant surprise of those on and below the station. The Marshal got wind of this and actually congratulated the pair personally through a video call.
Suffice to say, that particular pairing has decided to name their first child with a name based on the Marshal's name.
Instructing the newcomers had been fun. Maine fondly remembers their awe and earnest expressions in learning the rope, unwilling to accept nothing but the best from themselves. They started small, from learning the do-and-don't to larger matters like maintaining and constructing modules and even satellites. Right, Maine still sometimes stares at their space construction yard in disbelief. They're literally using the Takodachis as food-powered, mining, refining, and construction staffers to power their space expansion efforts. It's why Belka now has satellites covering most of the planet's surface and fulfilling the growing military needs of the nation. Granted, areas that are heavily hindered by asteroids and meteorites are still a no-go to them. It will take time to extract or displace the debris, though with the four shuttles they have recently refurbished and constructed, the job can be made much easier. Of the shuttles, Shuttle Alpha and Bravo are ground-launched and renovated with new techs in space. Shuttle Charlie and Delta were constructed in space to be bigger and able to accommodate more tasks than their predecessors.
Thinking of tasks, Maine is reminded of their current standing orders. Space Station Richthofen is to be the pioneer for space exploration and expansion of Belka's interest. Other than that, the station acts as a perfect intelligence gathering and military support tool with its network of satellites and spyglasses. Exploring and expanding have been ongoing ever since Maine first came here. The Commander also has her fair share of EVA before taking the backseat to direct ops outside the station. It was Maine that sent out a team on Shuttle Alpha to fix up a solar panel for one of their GPS satellites. The mission went off without a hitch this time around, earning Maine another small win.
However, if Maine is asked about it, she would say that it was a team effort and luck.
Lost in her thoughts but still very conscious of her surroundings, the Commander soon finds herself in the military section of the station, not that everything isn't partly military due to their connection to ONI. Nodding at a marine, basically the station's internal security, Maine maneuvers to Lightning's workstation after rounding a corridor. Seeing the dwarven specialist looking at a multitude of readings showing across a few screens with a frown, Maine stops herself by the door, knocking on the frame a couple of times.
"Am I interrupting something?" Maine asked while leaning on the frame. The action is a bit skewed when her feet aren't touching the floor though.
Specialist Lightning looks up from the screens and turns around, gesturing a hand to invite Maine in. "You're not interrupting when I was the one that asked for your presence. Come in."
"Alrighty then," Maine accepted the invite. "What got you in a twist?" The Commander eyed the instruments, trying to get a read of her own.
Lightning, who has graduated from taking care of the Jar of Oz and the Takodachis that inhabit it, is now a proper specialist. The dwarven girl is the one to sparse the large influx of information received by the satellites over Gaia before summarizing it for both Maine and Berlin Space Command. It's a load of work, but Lightning takes to it like fish in the water as much as she likes building stuff. There's just something nice about unraveling a bunch of data in front of your eyes, as Lightning has said many times before.
It won't surprise Maine if Lightning comes across a weird bit of data that needs her supervision.
"Well, are you informed of the operation we are conducting on Sardegnian soils?" The dwarf asked, earning a nod from Maine. "The one where we have to retask more than half of our scopes to support it? Heard that combat is intense down there. There's also talks about a WMD being launched."
Lightning nods. "Yeah. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to catch it. But that's beside the point." The dwarf works the console, bringing up a comparison chart for Maine to see. "This is the geographical reading of Sardegna prior to the operation, and now. And the readings from the mana sensors."
501st Airborne Infantry: Hey, why are the roads cracking up?!
Sardegnian Vehicle Crew: You feel that? That shaking? Are those secondaries from that explosion?!
Maine looks at the charts, comparing the information with a raised eyebrow, saying. "Heightened in tremors and underground heat level? Wait..." Maine turns to Lightning with a frown. "Is this localized?"
Lightning shakes her head. She then pulls up the tectonic map and readings of the entire planet. "Unfortunately, it's not."
The more Maine looks at them, the more she pales.
Geological Monitoring Station: This is... Marco Station, out by the Gulf of Naples, this is a regionwide alert to anyone on this frequency, we have tremors spreading out rapidly from...the Campanian volcanic arc, stand by for further updates.
Geological Monitoring Station: This is Doctor Marc Dominguez of the University of Naples Federico II to all monitoring stations on both sides of the frontline, look, I don't care about the war, we all need to talk to each other through this.
Geological Monitoring Station: Reports of...[stutters] latent ground tremors, uh, uh, everyone is advised to take shelter indoors effective, uh...[stutters] immediately.
Geological Monitoring Station: Taranto's monitoring station went dark last week, we can only assume what's going on down there right now.
"My gods..." Maine said slowly, stunned at the premonition."
Lightning too, blanch at the prospect. "Yeah, my thought exactly. I've taken the liberty to inform ONI and Berlin of my findings. I hope that's fine with you?"
Maine tries to put on a smile, she visibly struggles with it, however. "Honestly, that would be the last of my concerns right now."
Geological Monitoring Station: Uh, Phlegraean Fields isn't active, though?! It shouldn't be...
Geological Monitoring Station: Who knows, Eurasian and African plates meet and grate against each other again, just a dormant volcano that's been inert until now?
Geological Monitoring Station: What would set it off, uh, the ridiculous flash and explosion? Who would do that?!
Geological Monitoring Station: We've never seen this reaction outside the zones before...
Maine swallows hard though, having failed to smile. She then puts out her hypothesis. "You know that Sardegna is a hotbed for volcanic and tectonic activity, right?"
The specialist nods. "Of course, I am, what kind of dwarf am I not to know that? At the rate things are going, the planet itself will be quaking."
Maine wryly smiles. "Well, I've theorized something more troublesome than just a quake or two. Whatever's happening in Sardegna, it's causing a chain reaction in the dirt beneath them, a... Butterfly effect, line grates upon line, old volcano being triggered, and if enough of it becomes active, it'll cause a fiery tectonic event that-"
Lightning's eyebrows shoot upward. "Y-You don't mean...?"
Maine nods with a heavy heart. "Get on the radio, warn everyone, Belka, Spain, Sardegna, whatever's happening won't discriminate."
"May the Mother Goddess shelter us for what's about to come." Maine said breathlessly as Lightning dashed for the communication console.
Geological Monitoring Station: The Campanian Volcanic arc is going active in Sardegna, it's cooking off!