Tales From The Space Force Pt. 1

Haruki grinned, "My rooms are fine, it's not that much or that bulky."

They got to his rooms and went in. Haruki smiled as he looked around, "These are very nice, I'm a little surprised." Then he grinned as he saw a teapot and service.

Evelyn grinned as she hugged his arm, "Well, everything is so empty and bland outside, we try to make our quarters a little nicer to make up for it. I made sure they added the tea service and your favorite tea."

He smiled and patted her hand, "Thank you dear, that was very thoughtful." He looked around, "This is all very exciting, I've never been off the planet before."

Lucas grinned, "Well, I hope you enjoy your visit, even though the main reason for it isn't very pleasant."

Haruki nodded, "Yes, hopefully we can get all this unpleasantness done with quickly. Then we can get back to making things better, instead of for wars."

Lucas and Evelyn both nodded their agreement to that statement. Since it would be a couple hours yet until dinner, Evelyn made them a pot of tea. Once it was done, they talked of other people and things from earth for a bit, then Lucas asked, "What can tell us about the upgrade?"

Haruki grinned, then said to Evelyn, "I see my most brilliant student has not changed much. He was always concerned with business."

Evelyn grinned at Lucas, then said to Haruki, "I know, I've been trying, with some success, to change that."

Lucas grinned, "Yes, she has helped me in that a bit."

Haruki grinned once more, "Yes, I saw that at the ceremony making you a captain."

Lucas blushed as they laughed at him.

But afterwards, he went over the upgrade with them. It was a straight forward procedure, they would replace her tongue with the new one that had hundreds of micro-sensors molded into the skin of the tongue, that was the only real difference, except for the operating system update.

He set his tea cup down on the table, then taking his finger and running it from the bottom of his ear down and around under his chin. "We will slice open the Synth-skin like so, and the disconnect the jaw and replace the tongue. It's very simple really, and then we'll update the internal operating system so it can let the brain recognize the new inputs."

Lucas nodded, "That sounds straight forward enough. But why are we incising like that? It seems complicated. Why not do two slices from each corner of the mouth straight back, then just reach in with the tool to unhook the jaw joint dropping it down."

Haruki nodded, "Yes that is the easier way, but the other hides the incisions, where the other would result in two "scars". Most people wouldn't want that."

Lucas smiled and nodded, "That's true of course, unless you do it my way. Evelyn, could you please pull up your pants leg?"

Evelyn nodded, and pulled them up past her knee. The Lucas said, "Take look at her legs, they were all sliced and gashed up from the crash."

Haruki looked and his mouth dropped open, he saw no repairs at all except in one small spot where it looked like the skin was slightly lighter.

He looked up at him, "Lucas, how did you do this? It looks perfect, except for that little spot that's lighter."

Lucas smiled, "I figured out a better way to cure the skin after putting on the Synth-skin gel. The light spot is because I haven't got the tinting down pat yet, but I'm getting better. I found out by accident really, I had mixed up a batch of the gel and didn't add enough activator, so instead of throwing it out, I didn't have a lot left at the time, I decided to use it and just increased the curing time under the UV lamps. I found that the longer drying time with the smaller amount of activator, allowed the gel to smooth and settle itself out better, as it dried it flowed into the spaces."

Haruki shook his head, "It's amazing, and the bigger patch?"

Lucas nodded again, "I talked to the company that makes the gel and asked for some samples of the dyes they use to tint the skin and some samples of the actual skin. They were more than happy to send them to me, since it was just pieces of scrap skin and left-over dyes. Then by trial and error, I found the right mix of colors to tint it, but I still need to deepen the colors a little more, it tends to lighten when its cured due to the longer exposure. On slices and incisions its not bad, it's hardly noticeable. It's when I need to do bigger patch's that it is."

Haruki looked at him, "This may be a stupid question, but please tell me you kept notes on all this."

Lucas smiled, "Of course I did, you always said to keep notes on your work. I can send them to you along with my personnel logs of all the repairs I've done."

Haruki sighed and smiled at him. Then he stood and bowed to him, "The student now becomes the master."

Lucas blushed, "I don't think so, all I did was make a mistake, and get lucky."

Haruki smiled once again, "Almost all the greatest discoveries have been by mistake. Don't belittle your accomplishments. We will do it your way instead and you will teach me."

Haruki smiled once more, "Then between your notes and mine, I will bring this back to Yamato and have them perfect the "Torson Repair method" and put out to all the others."

Lucas really blushed this time. "You don't have to do that. I mean it's simple and every one should know it. I don't want anything for it."

Haruki sighed and looked at Evelyn, "You know, if my student was this dense when I was teaching him, I think I would have thrown him out of my class."

"Lucas, so it has your name on it. When you finally come and work with me, I can guarantee more things will also. It's inevitable."

Then he smiled, "Also, from the way I saw you two acting towards each other, you will one day need the extra things that comes with things like that."

Then he turned to Evelyn, "Now, once we do this, you'll be able to taste again. However, it's not perfect, you'll be able to sense salty, sour, bitter, sweet, then the taste receptor cells will send information detected by the clusters of the receptors to the gustatory areas of the brain. However, you also taste with the soft palate, upper esophagus, the cheeks, and epiglottis. So, you won't have them, but newer models of bodies may. It all depends on our research with you and others who've had this upgrade. So, what you taste may be a little different than you we're used to because you don't have all of them.

Evelyn nodded, "That's fine, some is better than nothing, it will be nice to be able to eat and drink some things again, like a nice cup of tea."

Then she made a face, "And as long as I can shut them down when eating the nourishment bars."

Haruki grinned, "Yes, we know that. But we suggested to the company that makes them to improve the flavor since you'll be able to taste them now. But, if this all tests out well, you may just have to eat normally and maybe take vitamins instead."

The he added, "But this doesn't mean you can eat as much as you want, the tank for leaching the nourishment out and you need to empty afterwards is not made to hold a lot. We are looking into that also, but we don't have an answer yet as there isn't much room for a bigger one."

Lucas thought for a moment, "Nakamura-san, have you looked into using a bladder instead of a tank?"

Haruki nodded, "Yes, but we need one impervious to damage in case something happens."

Lucas nodded, "How about the using the same material we use for the waste bladders on the ships? Their puncture proof and shrink to almost flat when empty, and expand to... I believe four times the size."

Haruki looked at him, "Torson-san, are you sure you can't come work with me earlier?? That's brilliant, I will bring it up when I get home. I want all your notes, logs, or anything you've thought about before I leave."

Lucas blushed again and nodded. Though he didn't like getting praised for just thinking of things to help.

Soon it was time for dinner and they headed out to the officers dining hall. Once they entered, they saw a few of the others there and joined the table. They talked for a bit, then a lieutenant walked over, "Excuse me Captain Torson, I'm lieutenant Franks from Admin. I just wanted to let you and Pilot Saito know that your new quarters are ready whenever you want to move in. The Bio-locks have been changed and both of your info inputted. I was going to message you, but it seems a little silly since we're all here."

Lucas smiled, "Thank you lieutenant, we appreciate it. We'll move as soon as we get a chance, maybe tomorrow, it all depends on the what the CO has planned."

The lieutenant smiled back, "Yes, I understand that perfectly. Well, enjoy your dinner and just let me know once you get moved in so I can get them to clear your old rooms."

Lucas nodded and Evelyn told him thank you also. Then the door slid open and Evelyn smiled as she saw Steve Evens walk through the door. He looked around, saw her and walked over to the table grinning.

"Evelyn, it's good to see you." He said grinning. "I heard about you crashing another ship, you need to stop that or their going to start taking it out of your pay."

Then he got serious, "All kidding aside, are you alright?"

Evelyn nodded grinning back, "Yes Steve, thanks to my personal repair tech here." She twined her arm through Lucas's.

Steve smiled, "Yes, I heard about that. Congratulations." The he smiled at Lucas, "You've got a wonderful girl here, and congrats on your promotion."

Evelyn smiled, "Lucas, this is one of my closest friends, Pilot Steve Evens."

Lucas smiled and held out his hand, "Nice to meet you Steve, and thanks. Any friends of Evelyn, are friends of mine."

Steve pulled out a chair and joined them. Once he sat down, Evelyn asked, "So, how were things on Earth?"

Steve rocked his hand back and forth, "About the same as you'd expect. The people are a little nervous about possible fighting closer to earth now that Phoban's are supposedly working their way there."

He shrugged, "That's understandable, I guess. And of course, the country is divided about what to do. The right wants to bring it to them, the left wants to wait and see what happens, and luckily, the independents are the voice of reason. But between us here and the bases on earth, and the assistance from the Vagan's, we should be ready whatever and whenever it comes."

"That is if they can figure out what's been happening with the new fighters. We still have the older version, but I'd rather have the new ones."

Evelyn looked quickly at Lucas, but he shook his head slightly. She squeezed his hand and she asked him a few more questions about people they knew at the earth base he just left.

Lucas listen, but he was thinking to himself, "Well, it looks like the plan is engaged at home. Hopefully we'll hear more after dinner."

He watched and listened slightly as Evelyn and Steve talked. He seemed like a nice guy, a typical pilot. Apparently, Evelyn and him had been stationed together on earth before they both got transferred here. He looked around the room, seeing some of the other officers he knew by sight, but hadn't dealt with on a personal level. Then the XO, Major Harris, walked in and looked around, then head towards their table.

Major Linda Harris was a good-looking woman in her mid-thirty's. She had short brown hair, with some red highlights, and was about five-seven. Lucas had met with her a couple times for inspections and the normal routine. She was nice and very capable from what he knew and heard. Like Cassidy, she was also ex-Navy and most of her experience was on Navy Destroyers. She smiled as she came up, "Captain Torson, Pilot Saito, I didn't really have a chance to say anything before, but congratulations on your relationship becoming permanent, and for your promotion Torson, you deserved it. Plus, I'm glad to see your well after your rough landing Pilot Saito."

Evelyn chuckled, "Yes ma'am, it was fairly rough. But thanks to titanium and my personal repair tech here, I'm no worse for wear."

The XO smiled, "That's good, we wouldn't want you to miss out on anything."

She looked around once more, "The Colonel should be here any minute, he had to take a quick call from Space Command."

Lucas's eyebrows went up as she said this, and he looked at her questionably. She saw the look, and shrugged slightly, and continued talking. About five minutes later, the Colonel walked in and told everyone not to stand as the XO was about to call attention on deck.

The all looked towards Colonels table as the XO joined him. The Colonel stood and greeted the guests and the new member of the officer corps to the Officers dining hall. "Lets just enjoy dinner for now, then we can all talk about the things going on."

Then he smiled, "We also need to thank Pilot Evens for his resourcefulness, in acquiring some rations for our and the crew's meal tonight. We have honest to god real steaks for dinner."

Everyone smiled and the conversation buzzed, except for Evelyn. Granted, she had always like chicken or fish better, but she wouldn't have turned her nose up on a real steak. Hopefully she'd be able to soon."

Then the Colonel added, "Pilot Saito, fear not, I had them hold one back for you for after your upgrade. I hope it works out well for you and the others as it's perfected."

Evelyn nodded, "Thank you sir. I hope so also."

Haruki patted her hand, "Soon Evelyn, will we do it as soon as we can."

Evelyn smiled and squeezed his hand gently.

They had their dinner and everyone talked together about things. Mainly, it was like the conversation Lucas and Evelyn had with her friend. How were things on earth.

The Colonel let them all play catch-up for a while, then he stood and said, "I hope you all enjoyed your dinner. But now, I need Captains, Hampton, Snider, Torson along with Pilot Saito, Lieutenant Cassidy, and Doctor Nakamura to stay here with me and the XO, and the rest can leave."

The ones that weren't asked to stay looked curious as to the reason, but followed the colonel's orders. Once they had all cleared out, Hampton secured the doors and sat back down.

The colonel smiled, "Well, I guess you all know why I asked you to stay. Major Harris, Doctor Nakamura and I met with the general and his people about the plan that Captain Torson suggested. They were very happy with your idea captain and they're taking action on it just the way you said with only a few minor changes. They have also gotten a lead on who was responsible, and like was thought, it seems it may be the company that supplies the parts to the card company, or at least that's where it's pointing to, like we figured."

He took a drink of water, then continued, "Since it's not an American company, we have Doctor Nakamura and the Japanese Defense Force to thank for the info leading us to it, and they'll be the ones do something about it since it's their country."

Nakamura smile slightly, "Your welcome colonel, but it's more because our country lost face as a whole if it turns out to be true. Treason to the human race is deplorable."

The colonel nodded and bowed slightly to him out of curtesy. Then he added, "So until we know for sure, we're going to keep acting like we can't find the problem or what to do. Oh, and Torson, we took you and your sergeants' advice and they checked the spare cards in the warehouses, discreetly of course. About 25% or so of them were bad, and half of them had both chips."

Lucas nodded, "Did they report on the manufacture dates of them? Here it was only the recently received ones."

The colonel nodded, "Yes they did, and that was another good piece of advice, since that's what led the investigators to the suspect."

Nakamura nodded, "Lucas, the suspect had only been working there a few months. He took the place of someone that had been hurt."

Lucas thought about this, "The one that got hurt, was it an accident? Just something that happened. Or was it made to happen to him by an accomplice working there before the suspect got hired.

Nakamura looked at his student, "I'm afraid I don't know Lucas. I agree, we need to find out for sure. Hopefully the inspectors also thought of this."

Lucas nodded, "I would hope so."

The Colonel looked at him and pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, "Your bucking for my job, right?"

Lucas grinned, "Absolutely not. The Gods forbid. It's just when you asked me once how I learned all the things we talked about, I told you it was because I like to read. Well, besides history books, I like the old murder mysteries and espionage stories."

He grinned, "They always seemed to have a, "Someone on the inside" type of character. That made sense to me, so the question comes down to, did someone do it to get someone else inside, or was it just random and they took advantage of the situation."

The colonel and captain Hampton both agreed with his thoughts. Then Hampton smiled, "You know Lucas, if you weren't so good at your normal job, I'd try to convince you to come work in security, you have the mind for it."

Hampton looked at the colonel, "You want me to contact them and find out? Or should that come from you sir?"

The colonel nodded, "No, you go ahead." Then he grinned, "Oh, and Frank, don't tell them our ideas about it, I'm sure they've thought about already and it was nothing."

Then he turned to Nakamura, "You might do the same doctor and the same way, I'd hate for anyone to think we don't trust them or that we're trying to do their job."

He looked to the rest, "I'm sure that's why we weren't told, because it's nothing. But this has been laid on so fast, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Nakamura nodded, "Yes sir, I agree. I will just ask if they know of anyone else involved, since we haven't heard."

The colonel smiled, "Yes, very good, Frank you might do the same."

Hampton nodded, "I was planning on basically the same thing."

The colonel nodded, "Good. Now, the general has asked that I contact the Vagan's here personally and tell them what we've found. Lucas, is that something your contact can help arrange? I haven't had much dealing with them except on base things."

Lucas nodded and rocked his hand back and forth, "I'm not exactly sure sir, my contact is basically the same as I was if I understood their rank structure right. But I can go over and talk to him and ask if you wish. At least find out who we should talk to first. I'd expect it would Captain Hamptons counterpart."

Then Evelyn said, "Lucas, you also might want to ask him if they've had any problems similar to ours. He might talk to you about it."

Lucas nodded, "Good idea Evie, I'll do that. If that's alright with you sir? I won't say exactly what, just mention we've been having problems. It sort of goes with what we're doing."

The colonel nodded, "Yes, that sounds reasonable, keep it on friendly terms at first."

Lucas nodded, "Okay then, will do sir. I'll go over first thing tomorrow after quarters and getting things started here."

Then he thought for a moment, "Sir, I think I might have a better idea, as long as you're all right with it. They had me over for a meal, how about I reciprocate and invite him here instead? As I said, he basically does the same as I do, he'd probably love meeting doctor Nakamura. They know of him also from when they were giving us information."

The colonel smiled, "Yes, I have no problem with that, actually it might be better since we'll eventually be working closer with them, hopefully. Okay then, and just in case it gets that far, whenever they want to meet is good by me."

Lucas nodded, "Yes sir, I'll take care of it." Then he smiled, "And if I can get him here, it might not be a bad idea for you to make a visit to the enlisted hall during lunch. You know, just to see how everything is with the crew."

The colonel laughed, "A very good idea Captain, the CO should know how his people are doing."