The Wakefield Shipyard was beaming with life, a very hectic life. There wasn't any civilian traffic at the moment, which was rare, but this was also how exactly why the shipyard had descended into a sort of organized chaos. From Upper-Management all the way down to the lower dock workers, everyone was busting their asses for the final preparations. Colonel Ryker's fleet will be making their final light-jump soon, it was crunch time.
All the workers were freshly shaved with their uniforms freshly pressed, fully presentable for their esteemed guest. Even Mayor Harland was there with the Wakefield City-Council and the top Security heads. To say nothing of what Wakefield's Elite in the Upper-Station had planned for him at their banquet later that evening. Everyone big and small was ready to give Basileus Ryker the Royal treatment when he finally arrived.
'All except for one'. Francis Harcrow thought to himself as he walked through the worker's corridors with his little brother's uniform in hand. He knew exactly where Denys was though, hiding out in the Salvage Docks again. The Salvage Docks were where old ships were taken to be decommissioned. Denys loved sneaking aboard the ships, salvaging some parts for his little contraptions and even tinkering with the ships themselves. There was one ship in particular that Denys had taken an interest in recently and Frank knew exactly where it was.
Frank swiped his card and scanned his handprint at an automatic security door to exit the main administrative area of the shipyard and enter the Salvage Docks. The Salvage Docks were basically abandoned during Rhea-Day weekend, none of the ships were scheduled for decommissioning until late next week. A well-earned vacation for those who worked on the Salvage Docks. Frank had spent some time here when he was first interning at the shipyard, it was a difficult, hands-on job. He had suggested to Denys, the auto-phobe that he was, to working salvage full time when he was done with school. But Denys didn't have any love for destroying things, only building them.
Frank reached the dock where an old cargo ship was stationed. This was the ship that Denys had taken a liking to in recent months, though Frank certainly didn't understand why. it was a rather ugly ship, it's hull was worn out and discolored by the radiation of space. It was decent in size though for what seemed to originally be a private cargo transport. About the size of a corvette-class ship, it had a rather bulky, blocky design to its hull and had two large thrusters fixed into the back. It was an old ship but it was also, quite clearly, a ship built long after the Death of Earth. It didn't seem to be designed to enter any planet's atmosphere.
After walking up to the loading tunnel to swipe his security card and scan he had, Frank saw that Denys had left the door to the tunnel open. He chuckled and said to himself. "Of course, don't want anyone to see where your hiding in the security logs."
Frank strolled down the tunnel and through the airlock of the ship, which was also open. "Denys!"
The interior of the ship wasn't any prettier than the exteriors. The halls were in shambles, panels had been taken off the walls and ceiling with wiring hanging from above. The Salvage crew had started to go to work on the ship. The process of decommissioning a ship was a rather disorganized one. Most old ships would sit in the docks for decades, only having parts taken out of them if they were needed if newer ships. Many old vessels, with their hulls ruined by extended exposure to waves of space radiation, are left as withered husks until it came time for humanity to move on to another region of space. Before making the coordinated, long-range light-jump, the City-Stations would jettison all the decommissioned ships and leave them behind. After that, the pirates of the 'Rogue Sectors' would move in and attempt to salvage what they could. As humanity moved from region to region, the Rogue Sectors grew larger. But they never grew particularly stronger. They certainly weren't able to become a serious threat to the Union.
"Denys!' Frank yelled again. He checked the various storage-rooms, the cargo hold, and crew-quarters. Denys was definitely staying on the ship. one of the beds had sheets on them. Frank then moved down to the engineering deck. "Denys!"
"What!?" His younger brother responded with a groan. He was on the ground tinkering with the Jump-Engine, the engine that would allow the ship to make Light-Jumps through space.
"Can I have my security card?"
"You came all the way down here for that. You have a spare, don't you? Oh, wait...you're already down here so, you do have a spare."
"Very funny." Frank said dryly. "How did you get by the hand-scanners? Or the retinal scanner at the entrance of the shipyard?"
"I didn't." Denys explained as he sat upright and look at his older brother. "Once the system clears you at the entrance, your card is good for the rest of the shipyard...or, at least, the parts of the shipyard you have access to. The extra hand-scanners are completely redundant."
"Well, that's not how the system is supposed to work."
"I know, that's why no one notices it. Sure I was stuck here after you signed off yesterday, but I have a bed here. And don't act like you didn't already know about that glitch. Tell me, how did you get a duplicate security-badge? More importantly, why do you have a duplicate security-badge? Could it be so a certain someone can visit you while you're working the night shift?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Frank answered with a big smile on his face.
Denys laughed. "Yeah, good answer. How is Karen, by the way?"
"I'll let you know if she ever messages me back."
Denys stood himself up, wiping the grease from his hands as he did. He was shirtless and sweating from working on the engine. Denys didn't spend enough time under the UV lights, he was as white as a ghost as the sweat dripped down from his red hair. Frank wasn't tan by any stretch, but he wasn't nearly as pale as his younger brother who spent so much hidden away with his tools and gadgets. He was certainly fitter than he was though, his love of heavy lifting gave him much more muscle than the leaner Frank and he did take his vitamin-D pills to compensate for the lack of sunlight. He also stuttered a lot less when it was just the two of them.
"Were you sent here to give me my lashings?" Denys asked while putting on his shirt.
"You did skip school yesterday."
"Oh, we weren't learning anything."
"Dad's still pissed."
Denys shrugged, "He pissed at me most days. It's good for me to give him a reason every once and a while. Besides, I'd rather be here."
"On this pile of junk planning, you're big dramatic 'run away from home' moment?"
"This pile of junk has a name." Denys corrected. "It's 'Maid Marian'."
"That's what you called it?"
"No, that's what the person built this ship called her. Respect the artist, Frank."
Frank glanced around the deck. "I have no idea who Marian was but I'm sure she was prettier than this tin can."
"Maybe she was named for an ex-wife or something. Besides, doesn't matter how she looks. It only matters how she flies."
"No way this thing is space-worthy."
"She is." Denys assured. "I guarantee it. She'll fly."
Frank saw the enthusiasm in his brother for the ship. "I can assure you, she won't. But you can. If you enlist."
Denys scoffed at that. "Enlist?"
"Why not?" Frank argued. "You clearly have no love for Shipyard-Management."
"Not that it matters to Dad."
"So, enlist with Union-Security. Work your way up to chief engineer on one of those new battlecruisers they're building. I'm sure that'll matter to the old man."
Denys shook his head. "I don't want to just throw myself into military life for the sake of the 'old man'."
"What do you want then?" Frank asked. "Look, I've done my best to encourage this. I've even kept my mouth shut about this little project you have going on here."
"And I appreciate that."
"But, at some point, you're going to have to decide what you want to do with this interest of yours. You're 18 years old now. This hiding in the corner tinkering with shit shtick isn't cute anymore."
"I know, I know." Denys conceded. "Maybe I can look into getting an engineering job on one of those civilian transports or something."
"Hey, I'll support whatever decision you make, provided that you make one." Frank tossed Denys' uniform on the workbench at the aft side of the deck. "Now, get dressed. Dad wants the entire family their when the Colonel comes is, which should be very soon."
Frank left the ship as Denys got himself cleaned up. He showered in the ship's crew-deck, wondering if Frank knew that he had secretly restocked the ship's water supply. Once he was clean and freshly shaven, Denys got himself dressed in the uniform that he was apparently supposed to wear. It was a Union-Security Uniform, the shipyard was generally considered a military facility but the people working on it weren't enlisted members of Union-Security. Denys couldn't think of a single time that he had seen any of the shipyard workers wear military uniforms. Though that was about that to change.
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