James watched the newly-appointed CAG returned to his quarters – there was no hope of a separate set of quarters for the CAG, at least not yet – then pulled his terminal off his belt and glanced down at the list of tasks.  The next flight of crewmen – engineering crew this time, thankfully – were due to arrive in an hour, giving him time to inspect the tactical section before they arrived.  There was already a long list of improvements and modifications that had to be made, but he knew they were nowhere near the end.

He strode back through the network of corridors – Ark Royal was even more internally complex than the more modern carriers – and into the tactical section.  Lieutenant Commander Keith Farley was already there, issuing orders to a handful of crewmen while watching a tactical simulation on the display.  There was little data on the enemy forces – at least, not yet – but Ark Royal had quite a few surprises for any human starship that got too close.  The rail guns and mass drivers might be outdated, yet they packed one hell of a wallop.

“We’re going to need a regular supply of projectiles,” Farley informed him.  “I’d like to obtain a compressor – perhaps from an asteroid mining crew – and then use that to produce new projectiles upon demand.  We may be operating some distance from regular supply services.”

James nodded, impressed.  Mass drivers were powerful, but they burned through ammunition at a terrifying rate.  It wasn't as if they were firing expensive missiles – the projectiles were nothing more than pieces of rock – yet even a carrier as large as Ark Royal couldn't carry an infinite supply.  But a compressor would allow them to produce their own projectiles from asteroid materials, if they had time to pause to reload.

“Put in the request and I’ll countersign it,” he said.  There shouldn’t be any problem arranging for a compressor, not when no one else would have a use for it.  The only other ships that carried mass drivers were older ships from the lesser powers.  “What about missiles and pulse cannons?”

“Missiles may be delayed,” Farley admitted, reaching for his terminal.  “Everyone and their dog wants missiles right now and we’re down at the bottom of the priority list.  The pulse cannons are on their way – thankfully, the other carriers already had theirs installed – and we should have them set up within the week.  The real problem, of course, is going to be coordinating everything.”