Naia gripped the arms of her seat tightly. The warp transit had been over for a while - long enough for the doors to open and staff to start unloading the cargo. She couldn't move yet. The woman wished she could get over her trauma with repetition, but it didn't seem to be the way things would work.
When her tension decreased and her shaking finally stopped, she felt as embarrassed as always. The Navigator picked up her staff and then exited the vehicle. She'd been ordered to report to the processing plant immediately upon arrival.
The woman hesitated for a moment. Command was a lot closer... and she could ask questions. But that might mean confronting her pseudo-mentor.
She found herself walking through the halls of heading out of the base. It was bustling with activity as usual. The place was always a hive of people and she thought it was impressive.
It was also intimidating. Knowing the weight of their importance. The weight of their secrets.
Her footsteps carried her to the large complex of buildings and facilities that were there to make the primary water source for the green-zone. Stabilized Water was something of a necessity in the Confluence.
While the universes were merging, the people themselves had subtle energy differences from the result. Water that sat in the region of space had a tendency to harmonize with the 'new' universe and lead to problems when consumed.
Like their effects on chaotic space, a Harmony Navigator could stabilize the vital substance and temporarily remove its tendency to align to the new energy patterns. It was important... but it wasn't work for a fully trained Operative. The facilities were packed with low-aptitude power users, toiling away in shifts.
So why was she being brought here?
Naia approached the building where the largest of the resonance generators was housed. The architecture was strange and she knew from her studies that it had been a design salvaged from a Mnemonic Crystal.
The door slid open automatically, which was an indication of how much trust was placed in those with harmonic abilities. It wouldn't have opened if the sensors didn't pick up her power.
She walked past the generators, filled with churning liquids that were pure water when they entered and stabilized when they left. Or that's how it should be... how it had been when she was taking her required shift during her training. Back then, the woman felt a strong sense that she did not want to be doing this for the rest of her life. It was so... tedious.
"Where is everyone?"
There were no signs of the workers she expected to see. The facility was empty of all but the machinery. Her terminal sounded off, and her orders had been updated. She was to go to the main water reserve chamber. With a sigh, she headed deeper inside the facility.
The door she approached was already open and a decrepit figure was leaning against it. He had a hunch in his back and looked as if he'd been asleep before he'd heard her steps. Naia slowed and waited for their response.
"You're late. What took you so long?"
Her eyes narrowed at the harsh words. But he was right. She had wasted time getting off the transport.
"Harmony Navigator Naia."
"Don't need your salute. I'm not one of you. I just work here."
She frowned a little. Even if he was a civilian, her duty led her here... so the procedure was to show officials respect. The black haired woman had recognized his outfit as a plant supervisor.
"You must at least know why I was called here if you were waiting?"
"Of course I do. Whole shift is down. Food poisoning - every one."
Naia blinked in surprise.
"All of them?"For... food poisoning? How could they all get sick at the same time? Isn't there some kind of-"
The man scoffed at her question.
"Contaminated Ba-S breach. The spore farmers ruined the day again. Can't even listen to prescribed dates on stabilized water storage."
The Navigator was aware of the kind of rivalry that existed with the two factions of lesser power users. While those with her ability kept the water as something usable, those with a level of Tactical Omniscience that did not warrant enough investment to be used militarily by V/O were assigned as Bioadaptive Spore farmers.
"O-okay. I understand that this is a problem, but what exactly is-"
"You can do the same thing as they could. So get to it."
The supervisor didn't give her a chance to respond. He just turned and shuffled out of the frame. The woman stepped forward and looked down into the massive vat of water. A small amount of movement in the liquid was from the water cycling through traditional filters.
She knew that this would be the entire shift's goal... and assuming that things hadn't changed in the worker's scheduling...
"He... and the commander want me to do all of this alone in half the time?"
It felt irresponsible, but there was nothing on her orders about any extra help coming. She glanced back toward the room with all the resonance generators. She just had to... do it, right? It would be difficult... but not impossible.
Naia marched back that way and activated three of them. Cerulean energy swirled out of her form and manipulated the devices. After a few minutes of becoming sure in her control and the total strain... she activated four more. Her staff was planted in the center of the room and used like a signal repeater.
From her terminal, she monitored the specifics of all of the generators. The prescribed flow rate, the currents of energy, and the adjustments she was making. All of it had to be precise for the stabilization to take. But there was still a lot of water to work through... and seven out of ten might not cut it.
'I have to keep it up.'
It was easy to forget about the time passing. Throwing herself into the work of ten people and focusing on the flows of power. Naia became so absorbed in her efforts that she barely heard the alert from Command. Her power receded, and the generators shut down.
She let out a heavy breath of relief. Naia decided, again, that this really wasn't something she wanted to do for a living.