Special delivery

There are times when the biggest obstacle to getting anything done is simply logistics. Take, for example, the logistics involved in deploying a modular maintenance depot. The depots, as a concept, have been around for at least two centuries. You pre-fabricate all the components you'll need to put together a small orbital platform with all the spare parts and equipment you'd need for servicing a broad range of small to medium spacecraft. You haul it out into some convenient and reasonably safe orbit, then assemble it on site into a functional compact orbital.

All it takes is the facilities to pre-fab the modules and a Heavy Lift spacecraft to haul it out to your designated orbit. For us, getting the modular installation was actually the easy part. Kawanishi Heavy Industries LTD already had a program in place to deploy modulars to strategic locations in the Border and Rim systems that were ill served by existing facilities.

Getting onto the short list was a matter of two waves. Getting the modular out here was a different matter.

Heavy Lift transports were big and expensive to operate. But they were also in demand and could usually be counted on to turn a steady, if not excessive, profit. Unfortunately, all of the big Company transports were booked weeks to months in advance. We had our refurbished modular facility. There just wasn't any transport big enough to get it out to us in a reasonable timeframe.

At least until General told us that someone had backed out of a contract for his Heavy Lifter, and he now had a big boat with an idle crew. And no, diverting the boat to Ariel would be no trouble at all and, in fact, would be a good chance for his crew to take a couple days leave on a Core world.

Murphy, it seems, smiles upon us.

Fortunately, there were some Company technicians available to help our crews assemble the modules when they deployed them in a high, stable, orbit around Hale's. The installation was, admittedly, relatively spartan as far as accommodations went. It wasn't even a new build, but one that had been decommissioned from a moon in the Georgia system. Still, it was fully restored, fully functional and, effectively, fully ours.

Sabrina was about as happy about with work as I'd ever seen her. We'd been talking about her taking over the technical direction and general management, if she wanted it, on the platform for months. It would be her baby. Closer to home and much, much, more to her liking. Much more to mine, truth be known. Was never really happy with her commuting off world, but even with our existing maintenance hangar there just wasn't enough work to keep her busy on Hale's.

That'll change now though. There's still a lot of work that needs to be done to get the platform fully on-line, but at least it's here now. The orbit's a bit high to see it from the surface without a scope, but it's there now. A counterpoint to Blue Sun's field headquarters on the surface. And a place to slip away from what's going on here, if only slightly and not for long.

It is as it should be.

If not how it should have been.