Nathan smiled shyly at her and gestured toward the main viewscreen. The display changed to show Unity’s exterior. The hull looked rough with an uneven thickness to it. A message flashed across the screen.

Basic plating upgrade: 100%

A ripple ran through the splotchy hull. The shifting bits of plating building-blocks settled down onto one another, coming together into a singular, smooth surface.

Basic plating upgrade: Completed

“Oh, wow, she looks so sleek,” Lana said with admiration.

Nori smiled. “Let’s see if she handles as well as she looks.”

Unity’s thrusters hummed to life as the Navigator brought them online, and a moment later, they were speeding upward into the sky.

The Navigator checked her personal side monitors. “Everything looks fine. Thrusters, helms, inertial dampeners - all green.”

“Looks good on my end too,” the Engineer said. “You know, aside from the compromised life support, ruptured conduits, and other minor damage we sustained. On the bright side, the new armor plating stabilized our structural integrity somewhat and the new drive engine responds well to our control systems.”

“We should queue in a new upgrade,” Lana commented. “We still have ten tons of Trinium and thirty-one tons of Balatium on board.” She glanced at her holo-monitor. “Oh, and a hundred twenty kilos of Mithril.”

“We should rebuild the cannon, first,” Bulco said immediately.

Nori nodded. “I agree.”

She pressed a few keys on her console. “Done. It should be finished shortly. After that, we ought to reconfigure the internal structure. We need an armory.”

“Yes,” Cattie agreed feverishly.

Lana frowned. “If we’re talking internal space allocation, we should really assign some for a science lab and fill it with sciency equipment.”

Cattie arched her brow. “Sciency?”

“What?” Lana said defensively. “It’s a word. I think. We could also use a separate mess hall and bathrooms. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m not thrilled about doing all those things in the same space we all sleep.”

“We can do that,” Nori said. She studied her consoles. “Everything checks out. Do we have anything else we need to do before we head out into space?”

“I took care of supplies,” Bulco said. “We should be good for several months.”

“I think we’re good to go,” Lana said nervously.

“Locked and loaded,” Cattie declared, grinning.

Nori looked at Nathan questioningly. The young man held her gaze for a long moment, then nodded slowly. “I’m ready.”

“Alright,” the Navigator said. “Let’s take her out for a spin.”

23 – Pit Stop

A low thud ran through the ship as Unity docked at the space station.

The Navigator made a final pass over her holo monitors and got up. Her snug chair melted away, disappearing into the floor. “Come on, Cattie, I’ll show you around.”

“A tour on an alien space station? Awesome!” the Sharpshooter said, strapping a large automatic shotgun on her back.