Big seemed like too small a word.
“It is huge,” observed Captain d’Foose. “You go away for one detached tour and come back to this?”
“That’s progress,” countered her Executive Officer and glibly added, “You can’t stop progress.”
Looming before them, so large it swelled up and filled ones entire perspective, Captain and XO alike stared out at Shipwright Colonial Shipyards. From their perspective aboard the observation bridge of the Colonial it was the predominant local object and due to their present orientation, dwarfed even the somewhat distant planet Gestalt I.
The orbital facility had swallowed up the former RDS Uniform which in turn had inspired its ungainly shape.
“And ugly,” supplied d’Foose sarcastically.
On the part of a prosperous economy and booming trade industry the Colonials had been able to embark upon an campaign of unbridled expansion within the Gestalt star system and the ‘yards were a direct extension of that prosperity. Kashan and the Hyper-Lane project had been two of the major contributors to their current age of fiscal success and, if Vice Commodore Shipwright could be trusted in the future as he had in the past, the Colonies would be looking at a bright future.
Kilometers of steel did not simply appear in space, though this seemed to have been the case above Gestalt I, without significant assistance.
The people had not complained, nor could they. Looking a gift-horse in the mouth, so they said, was quite the insult. Even the lowliest laborer, of which there were a great many, lived happily according to a healthy style of living. This too had been beneficial for the purposes of immigration.
As the Colonies continued to expand within the Gestalt system, now numbering almost a dozen in total (depending on accepted status) so too had their economy. Again, the ‘yards at Gestalt I stood as a testament to this, everything did…
“There she is.” Captain d’Foose raised a hand and pointed to one of the many slips.
Still under construction, and yet already tasked with the creation of new starships, the ‘yards were the final destination of Captain d’Foose current command, the Colonial Destroyer. Her ship had been recalled for long refit after less then a year’s active service. She knew the truth, that her old destroyer would likely be stripped and remarketed in favor of the new, larger line of starships which the Admiralty had commissioned to ‘enlarge’ the defensive capability of the Colonial Defense Fleet and it was to one of these, the ship which was to be her new command, to which she pointed.
Naked and still in the early stages of birth, the Commonwealth battleship was a flurry of construction activity, at over a kilometer long the distinct wedge shaped keel was already distinctly visible in the distance. This was to be the Colonial answer to full scale capital warship construction, a fully armored and armed battlecruiser capable of sustaining combat against large aggressors. Though it resembled the Imperial wedge, there was no mistake that this was a ship-of-the-line; favored for fleet actions if less diverse then those notorious planetary domination platforms.
“I guess that makes you a Commander,” remarked her XO off hand while fiddling with his crew reports, he played at nonchalance and waved his stylus at the one of the port slips. “I wonder what they’ll do with those?”
A trio of smaller keels, measuring eight hundred fifty meters long, were under construction, visible in the general vicinity of the XO gesturing. These were the new Colonial-class destroyers which would replace the line of ships currently in service and the current command of Captain d’Foose.
“One is for the Kashan Defense Fleet, one more for envoy service in the joint Coalition fleet and one for us,” d’Foose recited the order flawlessly. She was intimately familiar with all three commissions as, until launch, they would be under her direct administration. “Are you hinting at something, XO?”
It was no secret that he was up for a command of his own. With the current recruiting surplus generated from within the Colonies and with the help of the Kashans alike, the CDF had been promoting their skilled officers with some vigor. The positions were opening up daily and current plans called for a fifty percent increase in fleet strength.
“No sir, not hinting at anything,” he chuckled and looked up from his pad. “I am asking for your endorsement.”
He checked his chronometer, “asking you, I might add, for the fourth time this week.”
Indeed, fleet command had asked for her opinion regarding posting her previous XO as Captain aboard the new Colonial destroyer. He would be detailed to Gestalt II to protect the David Colony orbital platform which orbits the deep azure gas giant. David Colony had been a fairly massive effort; purchasing the old giant had been easy, transporting it to Gestalt II had been very, exceedingly difficult.
“Fine,” she caved without any ceremony furthering the joke that she had been holding out only because it was driving him absolutely crazy. “But you’ll have to wait until the after the ceremony.”
In less then a months time the Kashan Defense Fleet, at the behest of Jan Dodonna and Prime Minister Regrad, would escort the old Viscount-class flagship to Gestalt I where in they were to begin primary construction on the ships major structure. Once that was complete, a day d’Foose hoped would be fairly far off (doubtful given the madcap timelines laid down by the Vice Commodore), the massive monster would be shipped back to Kashan for final construction and shakedown.
With a sigh d’Foose ordered the XO to bring the ship in to dock. The parade would have to wait, she had work to do.
