Katja Pt. 22

After about a half-hour, Erik stopped and knocked on Tony's door to se if he was ready. Tony opened it and smiled as he saw who it was. "You ready to go?" Erik asked.

Tony nodded, "Yeah, just let me get my pack."

They walked over to the conference room and greeted the ones there, then they both got some coffee and waited on everyone else to show up. Once everyone did and got their coffee or tea, Erik opened up his tablet and started the meeting.

"Morning again to everyone, why don't we get some updates on what everyone did yesterday afternoon, this way everyone knows." He looked at his tablet, "Azlan, why don't you start."

Azlan smiled, "Well, as we said when we got back, the dining hall was in a little better shape, building wise, but it was empty like the rest though and it will need to be gone over, and updated if they decide to use it."

He flipped to another page on his tablet, "The two houses we looked at were empty like every other place we looked at, but they aren't in as bad of shape as the barracks, the townhouses were about the same as the single houses. And I don't remember if I mentioned it yesterday, but for the other houses and townhouses, once we were done inspecting the ones we looked at, we drove slowly past the rest just to have a quick look at the outsides of them and took some pictures. We didn't see anything drastically wrong, they looked like ones we did."

Erik nodded, "Good, so I guess you're done. Tikal, you said the clinic was the same as the med-center more or less?"

He nodded, "Yes, just about. Theo and myself did the walk-through, and it was empty like the med-center just like we were told. But the building was at least in good shape like the med-center."

Erik nodded and made some notes, "Good, so your done too." He flipped to a different page, "Okay, now for the important one. Mika, you and Axel tested about two-thirds of the airfield, I assume you won't be able to give me a solid report on it until you finish the other third today, along with the other site, correct?"

Mika and Axel nodded, "Correct, we've got the first landing grid almost done, and once we get the rest, we can average in all the readings. But as we said yesterday, so far, so good on the individual readings, I really don't think we'll have any problems landing the ships. We'll look at the rest today, then collate and average all the readings for each landing site. As we test each spot, we mark it, so it will all be laid out more permanently if we have to go back and recheck anything. The graphic we'll get once we run the readings through program will also be a... map, to all the test spots if we ever have to back over anything."

Mika looked at his tablet for a moment, then added, "However, I would also suggest between now and the times the ships land, that the landing sites should be relabeled again alpha-numerically, the original markings are basically gone. Also, it would be wise to mark them with solar powered strobes and locator beacons that the Avianne and Kannite's can sense to make it easier for them." He smiled, "After all, the ships don't have windows like the shuttles. Also, as we all noticed when we came in, the labeling on the main hanger should also be redone like the landing site."

Erik smiled, "Excellent, I agree with you. As I'm not familiar with them, are the strobes and locator beacons something we have? Or can we get them from somewhere here?"

Geoff smiled, "We have them Erik, it's something we all use to layout landing sites and things when there isn't anything else. They do have similar things here, but ours are a bit better, and of course they're tuned to the type of sensors we all use on the ships and shuttles."

Erik nodded, "Good, once I get all the info from everyone to write up the findings and report, I'll add that to it."

Axel smiled, "I'll get you the info on them Erik once we get home. As the commander said, they're common and we should have enough between us and New Tygris. All the shuttles normally carry a few to be used as emergency locator beacons if we need them in case something happens, this way the shuttle can be located."

Erik nodded once again. "Great. Tony, why don't you go with them and give Axel a hand, this way you can learn how it's done in case we ever have to do this again."

Tony nodded and told him okay.

Erik looked at his tablet once again. "Alright then. Mika, go ahead and finish up, and the others that are done, stay here and finish up compiling your data. Then save it and any of the pictures you took and give me a copy. Jim, do you and Jeff have any more to go over?"

Jim nodded, "A little, but it won't take me long and then I'll do the same as the others. Mainly it's just the two of us reviewing everything to make sure we didn't miss or forget anything and talking about the training my people will do on the force-field units when we get closer to landing day."

Erik nodded once again. "Great, I'll be here if anyone has any problems or needs anything. Nicholas, can we just get lunch again here like yesterday?"

Nicholas nodded, "Sure Erik, that's not a problem. Say the same time as yesterday?"

Erik looked around and everyone agreed, so he nodded yes. "That would be good, thanks Nicholas. Okay then, as I said, let me know if there's any problems or if anyone needs to go and relook at something once you start reviewing things."

All the ones that still had something to do, got up and headed out. Which left, Azlan, Tikal, Theo, and Strix behind, along with uncle Geoff, Nigel and Mr. Hayes.

Erik pulled his computer out of his backpack and started that up. While it was booting up, he refilled his coffee mug and came back. Uncle Geoff moved over and asked, "Erik, how do you plan on writing this all up?"

Erik smiled, "Well, as I normally fall back on my prior Navy training, and it's going to take me a while to do a complete report, I'll do a preliminary report first. Then follow up with a full-blown one, since it may take me a week to ten days to do the final version. This way you'll have something to give out that will give a summary of what we found. Like the air field for example, it won't go into a lot of detail, it'll just say that its able to or not able to handle the ships. The final report will have all the details and include different pictures, or charts or whatever we have or need. It'll be the same with the other things we looked at, but I'll probably add a picture or two for them to see what it looks like."

"If we leave tomorrow afternoon after we do the wrap-up meeting in the morning, I should have the preliminary one to you by hopefully late Friday or possibly Monday morning. It all depends on just how much detail I'll have to go into to get the point across. This way you can look it over before we send it out to whoever it'll go too."

He smiled, "It always makes it easier in the long run. The people you send it to, have something to read that will give them the basics and they don't bother you about it that much because they know the full report follows."

Uncle Geoff laughed at that, "I still think I ought to have you teach that also. That's sounds good to me."

Erik nodded, "If everything was fine, I'd hold off on the preliminary one. But since we know there's some problems, the final report needs to be a lot more detailed. Like what Azlan said about the barracks, its one thing to say it's in sorry shape, but it's better to have a picture or three to point to. And that's what takes the most time, so you can cross refence the pictures, charts or spreadsheets to the text."

Uncle Geoff nodded, "Okay, let me know if I can help you any."

Erik smiled once more, "Alright, I probably will once I get the format drawn up today." He rolled his eyes slightly, "That always the part that takes me longest to get right, I've got a bad habit of rewriting it half-dozen times until I'm satisfied." Then he snorted a laugh, "But what usually happens, is that I end up using the first one I came up with."

Geoff laughed at that, then he went to go over some notes he made as well, and Erik started his report. After about an hour and a half, Erik stood and stretched his back, it was a little stiff from his habit of leaning over to much when he was typing. He laughed to himself as he remembered Bast saying when she came to talk to him, "If you sat up straighter, your back wouldn't hurt."

He smiled and looked up at the clock, it was almost time for lunch, maybe another forty-five minutes. He warmed up his coffee and sat back down, then scrolled slowly through what he had so far seeing how it flowed and read. Satisfied, he'd only retyped it three times, he started to finally fill it out. He started with the background, and added what they knew and didn't know before they started, then added about how they didn't know at this time what the others would need or want to do. Then he started to write about each area they had inspected, and wrote a short description of what they found, then started listing the problems they found and what could or should be done to make it usable. Then finally, he listed what it would need to be brought up to the how they did New Lyonn and New Tygris.

Since the first section was the most important, the condition of the airfields and hangers, he held off doing that one until they could give him the data on it. He had added some about the hanger and control tower condition and what it needed to be updated, and what they said should be done to mark the sites permanently along with the addition of the strobes and locators Axel and Mika told him about. That only took about fifteen minutes to do since he really didn't know anything yet, then he started on the base housing. He had divided that in each type, and started to note down things that Azlan told him about, but he'd add more once Azlan finished getting all his notes together. He had asked him and he said he'd have most of it done after lunch.

That was fine by him, as he told uncle Geoff, he wouldn't be done with the preliminary report until at least Friday or maybe Monday. The preliminary would be a shortened version of what he was working on now, all he had to do was cut and paste sections from this one as he wrote it. He looked at the clock, and saved everything as it was just about time for lunch and he was getting stiff from sitting. He walked over to were Uncle Geoff was talking to Nigel and Mr. Hayes. Geoff smiled and asked, "How's it going son?"

Erik smiled back, "I've got both reports sort of started and laid out, and I'm kind of proud of myself, it only took me three times."

The three of them laughed at that, and they talked a little more until everyone started to walk in talking to each other. The greeted everyone, then they went to go wash up as lunch should be here any minute. Like yesterday, one of Nicholas's men came in and asked for some help, then they went out and carried the bags and boxes into the room. Then they all sat and talked while they ate and relaxed a bit before they would go and finish up.

Erik asked Mika how it was going and he smiled as he told them they'd be done in about another hour or so and as of right now, they hadn't found any problems. Then he added that since Tony was helping, he'd have all the data compiled hopefully before they were done for the day as they'd been entering the data into their computer while Axel and Tony tested each section. Erik nodded and thanked him for the update.

Everyone finally finished their lunch and relaxed a little bit more, then headed back out and the ones still in the conference room went back to doing what they were before everyone came back. All and all, it didn't take much longer for them to finish what they were doing. Once done, they all talk a bit more between them until the Mika and his crew came back and told them everything was good.

Mika smiled, "We didn't get any bad readings, and I just have to enter a few more things into the computer and run the program so I can get the final readings. But like I said, we didn't find anything wrong so it'll just give us the average numbers for your report, along with a spreadsheet and detailed graph of all the test points, if you want and need to us it."

Erik smiled, "Great news, just send me the readings once you have them and any pictures." Then he asked the rest, "Does anyone have anything else?"

"Azlan?" He shook his head no, "Everything's good, and I have it all saved, including the pictures. Do you want it now? Or later?"

"If you have it now, give it to me." Erik answered. Azlan nodded and slid a flash drive over to him. "There's too much to send."

Erik nodded, "That's fine by me, thanks." Then he said, "Tikal, you have anything else?"

Tikal shook his head no, "No, Theo and I are done. Nothings different than what we already told you."

Erik nodded again, "Great, have you sent it to me? Or is there too much?"

Tikal cocked his head, "I think I'll do what Azlan did, we took a lot of pictures."

Erik slid the flash drive Azlan gave him over to Tikal, "Copy it to this than. Uh... why doesn't everyone do that; it'll make it easier." They all nodded their agreement.

Then Erik asked the rest of them their status and once they told him, they copied their info to the flash drive. Erik finally smiled, "Well then, I guess were more or less done. Mika, if you want, just take the drive with you and copy the files once you finish and give it to me in the morning."

Then Erik asked uncle Geoff, "You have anything uncle Geoff?"

Geoff smiled, he certainly seemed in a much better mood now. He shook his head, "Not really, you and I can talk Thursday morning after we get back in. I've got Nigel's and Mr. Hayes notes on my tablet so we can go over that then and I'll give you a copy. "

Erik nodded, "Okay, sounds good to me. As I said, I guess we're done. We'll meet here after breakfast to wrap things up. Nicholas, do you have anything now, or do you want to wait until tomorrow?"

Nicholas smiled, glad that this was over himself. "Tomorrow's fine Erik, while your out getting breakfast, I'll just finish going over the stuff I want to give you before you leave. It's mainly just some of the lists we have on the buildings and what's been done on our end since me and my people took over a couple years ago. It's nothing that you probably don't already know, but better to have to much, than not enough."

Erik nodded, "My feelings exactly. Okay then, I guess I'll see you all in a bit to go and get dinner."

Everyone got up and started putting their things away, then they headed back to their rooms. As Erik and Tony walked toward theirs, Erik asked, "So, how was the testing? Interesting?"

Tony smiled and rocked his hand back and forth, "Not real interesting, kinda boring really. It's really simple, you put the emitter on the test point, and press the button on the machine. Let it run for a few minutes and the reading shows up on the display. Then you enter the data into the computer and you're done. Mika explained to me what the computer program did afterwards and that's pretty much simple and straightforward also. You could do it by hand if you wanted, but the computer gives you a data spreadsheet and a graphic with everything laid out. And since what we tested was huge, there were a lot of data points."

Erik nodded, "Good, that means it'll be easier for me to write about in my report. I'm just glad this is done, I can't wait to get home, and neither can the family."

Tony nodded, "I hear you; I'm looking forward to it also." He laughed, "I really can't wait to sleep in my own bed and with Ariel." He laughed, "It's amazing really, I don't remember these types of beds being that uncomfortable. I guess we're just getting old and we're spoiled."

Erik laughed and nodded his agreement as the stopped at their rooms. "I'll see you in a bit. Tell Ariel and the kids I said hi when you talk to them."

Tony smiled, "You too, see you in a bit."

Erik walked in and put his backpack on the table. Once he did that, he made coffee, and made a head call while waiting on his coffee to be done. He got his coffee, then sat down on the couch to read a little and enjoy a good cup of coffee. The stuff from the restaurant and what they had here was alright, but it wasn't as good as his. He put his feet up on the coffee table and sighed, "I'm so damn glad this is over with."

Brigit had just finished eating and was enjoying another mug of nectar when there was a knock on her door and she smiled as she told Bast to come in. Bast smiled as she walked in and Brigit asked, "Would you like some nectar?"

Bast smiled, "Sure, that sounds good to me. I could use a cup."

Brigit got up and filled another mug and topped hers off. She carried both mugs over and handed Bast hers and they both sat down. Bast took a drink and sighed, "Oh... that's good. I don't know why yours always tastes so much better."

Brigit grinned, "That's because I get mine from Athena, I trade her some mead for it. She brews the best nectar."

They talked a bit and finished their nectar, then Brigit asked, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Bast set her mug down on the table, "I'm trying to decide when to tell them about Aron. You've been through this and I talked to Erik about it, he gave me some good advice, but what do you think?"

Brigit smiled, "Yes, I don't think he's capable of giving bad advice, due to his background. But I'm not too sure, do you think they're ready to know?" Then she grinned, "And do you plan to do what I did?"

Bast blushed, "Well, I was thinking about it, but I don't really think about Geoff like you do Erik." Then she grinned adding, "But as a playmate, I think I might."

Brigit nodded smiling, "Understandable, though you might have a little harder time with his mate, then I do with ours. Katja's background means she at least understands about "sharing" but I don't know about Geoff's. Victoria is human, they normally don't do that."

Then she shrugged, "Granted, since she's been mated for a while, she might except it, especially since it's you and not another of their females. If you wish, I can talk to Erik's sister Helen, she's mine and slightly yours, so I may be able to get a more human outlook on it for you."

Bast looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, why don't you, she knows you better than me. And the other?"

Brigit shrugged, "Well, I sort of waited until Erik had started to wonder more about our son. Are you getting any of that yet?"

Bast nodded a little, "Yes, but no more than the others have with theirs."

Brigit thought for a moment, "Well, if you want to do it sooner, you may want to start talking to Aron. He is very young though, so you may want to wait a little longer to tell them, say before the others they're waiting on get here, this is more for him to be able to understand it better first. That's about the same length of time I waited, can I assume Briast has been talking to them also?"

Bast nodded yes, "Yes, of course. She's doing the same with all of them, but a little more with the more important ones. I guess I'll follow your and Erik's advice for now." She stood, "Thanks sister."

Brigit smiled, "You're welcome, now I need to go and jump my mate." She giggled, "He's getting ready to shower and there are certain parts I want to help him with."

Bast laughed and shook her head, and Brigit grinned, "Don't worry, you'll know how fun it is soon."

Erik finished his coffee and put his tablet on the table. He got up and rinsed out the cup and then set it back by the coffee maker for later. He looked at the time, and decided to take a shower before they went to dinner. He got a change of clothes out and undressed, then went into the bathroom. He smiled as he turned on the shower to let the water heat up, since there was none of the cleansing units installed, they all had to use the showers. That was another thing he'd have to add to his report, updating the available rooms and some of the others they'd need to setup for any of the people that will be here before the others get here, with cleansing units.