Leaving Mimi and Elma to find security companies and choose one, Kugi and I rejoined the group discussing the Black Lotus’s structural upgrades.
“Looks like you guys are almost done,” I noted.
“Yeah,” Tina said. “There wasn’t much for me to add either.”
I joined her in reviewing how the Black Lotus would look after the improvements. They would change roughly half of the previously mostly empty residential section into a research area. That would still leave a number of empty rooms that could house additional people. There would no longer be space to house the staff of four media companies simultaneously, though; there’d be enough room for one, or perhaps two if we crammed them in.
“A dedicated subgenerator for the research facilities…? Was the output of the Black Lotus’s generator insufficient?” I asked, furrowing my brow as I noticed the small new generator situated in the research area. Naturally, I was concerned for safety reasons. Even if that was just a small subgenerator, it was still a generator; if it ate a direct hit during combat, it could explode, taking the Black Lotus down with it. Ships weren’t built to handle internal explosions.
“Your concerns are reasonable, Master,” Mei acknowledged. “However, research facilities require an independent energy source. To minimize risk, the generator will be placed in the most heavily plated area possible, and where it seems least likely to be struck by enemy fire.”
“The subgenerator isn’t solving an issue with output capacity… It’s a safeguard against worst-case scenarios,” Dr. Shouko explained. “Without it, for example, something could go wrong and consume a lot of energy, short-circuiting the generator instantly.”
“If that happened to our main generator during FTL travel, our shields might suddenly go down,” Wiska added. “That’d turn us into a wreck. Or our hyperdrive might shut down during interstellar travel and send us to who-knows-where… And, well, a subgenerator’s generally not that risky, so…”
“I’ve heard enough. You have my permission.” I wasn’t fond of the idea of adding a critical weakness to the Black Lotus, but if it was implemented to prevent potentially catastrophic accidents, that changed things. “It’s not like I can restrict you to only researching things that couldn’t result in those kind of accidents.”
“It’s nice having such an understanding captain,” Dr. Shouko said.
It wasn’t like I had any idea what kind of research she planned to conduct, but no doubt it would be difficult to do properly under strict energy limitations. Thus, a subgenerator would be necessary if I wanted her to be able to research to her heart’s content. It was a low price to pay for a skilled ship’s doctor like Dr. Shouko. Wait… That really isn’t that low a price. W-well…I’m sure her research will benefit us one way or another at some point, so it’ll probably be helpful in the end! Yeah. Besides, none of this will matter as long as we don’t let enemy fire hit the Black Lotus. Things will work out. We’ll make them work out.
“I know it’s best just to leave matters like these to the professionals, while the boss takes responsibility, but…” I glanced over at Tina.
“Hmm?” Tina was usually all over the place; still, when it came to things that mattered, she knew when to call it quits.
“You’re in charge of our technical division, Tina, so make sure to keep everyone in check and keep them from doing anything too crazy.”
“Hon, you being serious?” she immediately protested.
I cut her off ruthlessly. “And, as head of the technical division, your reward will be first dibs on any good booze we get.”
“No takesies-backsies! If I find out you fibbed to me, I’m gonna pull it off.”
“I don’t think I want to know what you’re referring to, so I won’t ask.”
Whether she meant one of my limbs, my hair, or the thing that symbolized my masculinity, none of the possibilities brought comfort. Given Tina’s strength, she could actually do it. But, before pulling whatever it was off, she’d probably end up crushing me.
“That takes care of matters related to the generator and personnel management,” I declared. “Still…I really don’t get this. Does the design have two research rooms?”