Chapter 8

“Just a sec DD and I’ll go with you and set it up. Did you read up on it or just browse over it? I imagine since it’s a “man toy”, that you studied it in depth hahaha.”

I look at her with a hurt expression causing more laughter.

“The first part of the simulation is just familiarizing you with the craft and its controls. That lasts about an hour followed by 20 minutes of flight controlled by Furst then 40 minutes flying on your own.”

“Cool let’s go, I can’t wait to try it out.”

Oh man that FAC (Fast Attack Craft) was something else! Such speed and power! What an incredible feeling to fly it. Too bad “it will be a cold day in hell” before I get to fly one in a combat situation. At least according to Sam it will be. According to her, my place is on my flagship in the CIC.

I’m going over the data for a second time to pick up what I missed the first time and I start to wonder about the Security detail Sam mentioned. “Sam, why don’t you tell me about the Security detail you mentioned this morning?”

“Well DD, you may think you don’t need a Security detail with you because of everything you are already using, but the Security detail can prevent or stop something from happening before it can get close enough to possibly harm you. Plus, you won’t be giving away the fact that you have other protection as well. The Security detail can be “invisible” security.”

“Makes sense. What is the Security detail though?”

“The detail consists of 4 teams of 6 Furst and a team will be with you 24x7x365. They usually rotate every 24 hours.”

“I take it they will be invisible when they are with me?”

“If you want them to be visible they can be. Normally they are not unless the situation calls for them to be.”

“Are they here on the ship now? If so I would like to meet them.”

“Yes, they are here onboard GP. They have been waiting for you to activate them. I can have them report here if you like?”

“Yes have them report here please.”

I jump when I hear many voices loudly say, “Sire!”

“Shit, you scared the crap outta me! Welcome Security, as you know I am Guardian Prime and 1^st of the Furst. My name is DeDeus Sanderson. Whenever on duty and it is not necessary to call me Sire or Guardian Prime I want you to address me as GP. When you are off duty you may call me by my name or by DD, which I prefer.

Please introduce yourself to me and let me know how you prefer to be called. I hope in the time to come we get to know each other and become comfortable around one another.”

They introduce themselves by teams and I find out they have no names. The previous Guardian Primes called them by their team and position in the team number. For example, the #1 Furst in team 1 is called 1-1, #2 is called 1-2, and so on. The same for the other 3 teams 2-1, 3-1, etc.

The correct way to say the names is to say each number individually, ie one one, or one two, not eleven or one dash one. I asked if that’s how they preferred to be called and they said they did.

I ask 1-1 (one one) to make up a rotation schedule and let me know when they would like to start. They will start immediately I was told. Ok then!

“I’d like all of you to talk with Sam about human forms you can choose to appear as, and also a uniform you’d like to wear when in your human form. Most of the time you will not be seen when guarding me but when you will be seen, at least for now, I’d prefer you were in humanoid form and clothed. Especially here on Earth.”

I told Team 1 that I was probably staying onboard until tomorrow morning and dismissed the rest.

“DD, the website is completed and the Furst are wondering if you want to have a look at it.”

“Sure, Sam. Where do we have to go to see it?”

“Check out the wall DD.”

I look over and see a whole bunch of stars appear on a large area of the wall. The home page comes up and I admit it looks damn nice. A voice says the site can be scrolled through manually or it can scroll each page in sequence automatically. At the moment it will run automatically.

The screen changes slowly, giving enough time to view the photo or read the text, before continuing to the next screen. I do see a control panel in the bottom corner with stop, start, rev, fwd, and pause buttons.

It looks like it covers everything I can think of. Sam does say it can be easily added to or changed when needed.

“That looks great Furst. Thank you for putting this together on such short notice. If you think of anything the site might need please let Sam or myself know. We will keep it offline for now but I would like it ready to go live at a moment’s notice.”

“Thank you, Sire, we enjoyed working on this project for you. You can have Sam tell us when to go live or you can tell us yourself through your Comms implant. Please remember us if you need anything similar in the future.”

“I most certainly will. Thank you again.”

“Sam, can I contact Ryker from here?”

“Give it a try DD. It might take a while before you can, but eventually, you will be able to contact any Furst anywhere, just as we can.”

I give it a try but nothing. Oh well, maybe next time. I do ask Sam to contact Ryker for an update and to update him as well.

I contact my Commander and he reports everything is quiet except for the news people on Earth. Sam informs me Ryker says everything is on schedule. Excellent, no major hiccups ... yet.

I ask Sam how the screen on the wall works and can I get Earth TV channels on it.

She tells me I can turn it on and off by saying “screen on” or “screen off,” and that every Earth channel is available. I have to tell the screen what country or city and channel I want to watch, or if I know the Broadcasting Company I want to see I can say that and what country. For example, I could say Russia 1, BBC London, or Fox Washington DC and be watching whatever they were broadcasting at that moment.

Cool, I’m going to give that a try. I tell Sam I want to see what the newsies are saying now about my ships out here.

“Screen on,” the section of the wall where the screen is, gets a little lighter than the rest of the wall.

“Fox News Washington DC,” and I can see the Fox talking heads going on about the possible firepower my ships have, how long it must have taken to get here bla bla bla.

I don’t want to but let’s try CNN.

“CNN Washington DC,” and now I see the CNN talking heads on the wall and they are wondering if I’m a grey or white alien. OMG, I knew they were idiots but really? Wondering if I am a grey or white alien?”

“Screen off. I swear I never want to watch TV again.” I hear Sam snicker.

I start going over the data from Sam until I’m tired enough to go to sleep. I tell Sam I’m off to bed and I’ll see her in the morning.

Huh, no cell alarm yet I’m wide awake. If I’m not able to sleep I may as well get my day started. There is nothing major happening today that I can think of and I hope it remains that way.

I see Sam is awake and say good morning. I wonder if she ever sleeps. I go to the replicator to get a coffee and see there is a lot more available. I ask Sam if she can show me quickly how the thing works now.

She shows me how to use the video menu, how I can browse by breakfast, lunch, or dinner, by restaurant, by food groups, by cuisine ethnicity, by type of dish, and how to add a “custom” item, like the “DD coffee” she added yesterday. Totally awesome!

I grab a DD coffee for now and contact my ship Commanders who report all is tranquil in the system. I tell them to have the Shields break into pairs and, heading in opposite directions, do a slow circuit around the system. I think it will be a good thing to show our “presence” in the system to the Confederacy. Just so no one starts getting any bright ideas again.

I tell them that each ship may protect itself and the others from any hostility. Each Commander signals they understand and the 4 Shields break into pairs and start their cruise of the solar system. I make quick contact with Trank as a courtesy letting him know the 4 Shields are just doing a slow cruise around the solar system if that was ok with him.

Trank said that was fine so I thanked him and broke contact.

Next up I thought I’d try and contact Ryker again and see how things were coming. Bingo! I was able to contact him this time! He told me everything was on schedule. I told him to send the Cruiseship as soon as it was done even though it wouldn’t be needed for a while.

I also told him to let me know when the 2^nd PG was close to being finished, and yes I knew the 1^st PG wasn’t even started yet!

Wow, it feels like I’ve accomplished so much already and my coffee is still hot! I decide to go see if the gym is set up yet and maybe get in a workout.

It is set up and everything looks good! It is too big really, but I guess if the ship was fully staffed with bodies and not Furst that would be a different matter.

I start out with a 30 minute run on the treadmill, but after a minute or 2, I have to increase my speed and keep increasing it to feel like I’m working at it. Damn, I am running at 22 km/h!

I tried out the free weights next and there is a noticeable increase in kilograms above what I usually used there as well. I will have to get some heavier plates made!