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The elegant ballroom of the Prominence is now an engineering planning room, thanks to a large conference table, a holo-viewer and sundry other equipment. Aids stand nearby to handle the requests of the Danu engineers as needed and a selection of food and drink are available along one wall for the planning ahead. Standing at the head of the table is Vessa as she waits for her Danu members to arrive.
Kethren walks in slowly, looking over everything carefully before taking a seat about halfway down the table.
Commander of the majestic ship, Narai, enters the ballroom escourted by several crew memebers. He orders them to remain outside, then proceeds to the conference table where he sits in his chair. "Good day." He says to Vessa, as he adjusts himself in his seat, waiting to see what is going on, or why the yare meeting.
Nuku looks a bit, shell shocked, entering in on stiff legs and perpetually wide eyes. You'd think she'd never been on a spaceship before, pfft. She takes a moment to pat down her fur, though it doesn't seem to be in any great need, and moves for an untaken seat in a sudden burst of movement, climbing into position.
Xanya runs into the room, and is out of breath. "Am I late? Sorry if I am late. I lost track of time." she says as she tries to catch her breath. as she has gotten a more normal breathing rithm she goes to get something to drink and takes a large glass of juice. "anyone want some too?" SHe asks holding up her glass filled with juice.
Kethren sees Xan coming in and calls out "Hey there! I'd love a glass."
Waiting for everyone to settle down, the servers move to give drinks and food if desired to those present and Vessa turns a smile on her Danu people.
"Hello and welcome to our first engineering meeting. A thank you to Narai for the use of his wonderful ship for this meeting by the way. We will likely be joined later by a couple of other of our engineers who couldn't make it to this early session but this will let us get the ball rolling. Several things have moved and now we are ready to begin building the Flagship for Danu as well as several ships. Some of those are for Danu's defense and the rest are for procuring funds for Danu. We will start with the ones that procure funds. We will be beginning a passenger service. I want you all to put your heads together and design me ships that will do this with the ultimate in speed, comfort, and efficiency. We want profit but not at the loss of returning customers. Any questions?"
The Opodian shakes his head. "No questions here, dear lady." He says. "However, I should report that I have finished construction and procurement of our military fleet. We are now a serious power in the galaxy."
Nuku shakes her head quickly as she takes a bit of the food provided and gives it an unsure chewing at it before word of a fleet is raised and her eyes snap over towards the Opodian with a moment of surprise. The food is put down and she settles back in her chair.
Xanya smiles as she takes a sip from her drink. "oke so we will need to design a travel service he? sounds great. and that military fleet. nice going. didn't think things would go this fast. nice to know." She says taking an other quick sip. "I have the designs for the flag ship basicly done. I forgot to take them with me else I would have showed them to you. although after seeing this wonderfull ship. I might consider some changes."
Kethren takes a sip of his drink then shakes his head "No questions at present."
The lights lower and the holo-projector creates a floating 3D schematic and chart.
"Well done Narai, if you don't mind sending me the reports on recruiting for the Navy and what is needed to get things going on manning those ships I will see to that." Vessa says before pointing to the graphs and images.
As she points new lines are drawn as she mentions the pertinent data.
"Right now we are doing very well, we have enough and then some for our current projects and I want to keep us that way. The Flagship is an ongoing project, we have others in the works such as a station but that is Narai's project and I will let him bring that up in his own time. This latest project I want to have it be something you all get a chance to build upon so that it truly is all of yours. This is going to be our life's blood for funds so it is very important that you all make it your own." She smiles, "I know you are all up to this challenge. Questions?"
Nuku sits up in her chair, glancing left, right, left again, "Excuse me, boss. What planets will we be, uh, servicing? That would make." A pause, some shuffling, "Some difference, you know, in how you arrange things, for the, uh, people riding."
Xanya shakes her head "no questions here so far."
Kethren looks thoughtfully at the floating schematics "No questions just yet."
Shaking his head, Narai leans back. "No questions at this time."
With a nod from Vessa, the image changes again to show a map. On it shows a chart of the most commonly visited planets as well as stations like Comorro. "For now we will stick to places like Pyracan, Comorro, that so on so forth. We will want to make the seats adjustable so that races of all kinds can fit easily and comfortably and fast enough that the trip will not take long anyway. Good question Nuku." Vessa smiles and another image appears, this being the Danu logo of Crow holding heart on a teal background. "If there are no further questions then I open the floor for you all to start tossing around ideas, I will remain here to answer questions that you might think up along the way."
Xanya takes a sip from her drink. "ahm... the line of ships you want to use for the transportation idea. what would you say if I offered Danu the use of My lady-class Luxery runabout? it is fast. offers some protection and has the seats you spoke of. it also has a kitchen but that can be replaces with a bigger cargo hold if needed."
Nuku looks quite pleased indeed as her question is received positively. Emboldened, she sits forward against the table, ready with an idea, "We should track what settings are used most often," she wiggles her furry digits in the air, "Start with those, save time. If humans tend to, uh, just as," confidence wavers a moment, "For example, prefer aisle seats, we'll know, seats will be ready for, uh, humans there by default. Less fuss during loading, quarters too." the last almost blurted out as if she were afraid she'd forget to say it, the whites of her eyes, normally hidden, visible for a moment.
Kethren listens carefully and takes another sip of his drink "Will these have much in the way of windows? I think pretty much anyone who comes from near my time would enjoy the view."
The Opodian Commander remains sitting still, and quiet. This is not his area of expertise - he lets them discuss their plans.
To Xanya, Vessa shakes her head, "That is a bit too pricy of a building cost Xan. We want to make this something that can be built quickly and that can be abused pretty well." She nods to Nuku and Kethren, "A good point you both, do your thing."
Xanya is about to respond to kethren but after hearing vessa she nods. "of course. I understand."
Nuku flows between pleased and distressed, tapping at her snout lightly, "Of course, boss," she says without looking entirely sure about it. She digs out a PDA and begins tapping at it quite busily.
Kethren pulls his PDA out and starts tapping away then looks up "What do we make the windows out of out here? Would it be more practical to have some kind of screen that displays the outside instead?"
Nuku sticks out her tongue a bit, which produces more tongue than a human might normally have to stick out, then glances around. "Um. Do we have a programmer?"
Xanya thinks to herself. "I know a bit about computers but.... programming is not one of the things I usualy do." She keeps thinking to herself for a way to do what Nuku sugested.
Kethren shakes his head "I can recognize code... but that's about it. I'm not the person to go to for programming needs."
Vessa nods, "We do have people with some programming, Narai for example has some programming."
Sunk. The small pyracanid rubs the side of her cheek, mussing up the red fur there in a vigorous, agitated, motion, "Then I'll just have to find one." she resolves and sits back before she clicks with what Vessa says, "Ah? Who is Narai again?" she glances around.
Xanya points to where narai is sitting. "That one is narai."
Kethren taps away on his PDA muttering to himself while trying to find a suitable window material.
Smiling at them all Vessa says, "Just let me know what you need. If that is people or skills or whatever else. Aina, our new cyberneticist has some programming, and I am not sure what Cadie has for skills but she might be able to help as well."
Nuku looks over at Narai and offers a nod of greeting, "Maybe you can help me with this, when you have time," she rubs behind her head lightly a moment, "If you're up for it," Alpha canine? No. "Nice to meet you. Uh, my name's Nuku by the way."
Kethren keeps tapping away and looks up again suddenly "How much of the flight time is going to be faster than light? Windows would tend to be rather pointless during that part of the journey."
Vessa considers that, "I don't know Keth, I imagine it won't be that much time. Why don't you two get together and start drawing out the designs, take a break if you need to,"
Kethren shrugs "Suppose it doesn't matter, really. A person who likes the view's going to want to see the view, even if the view's nothing. It's either some form of window, or a sign telling them to visit the observation deck of Sanctuary." and goes back to tapping on his PDA, running equations to see what might do the job.
Nuku looks towards the window conversation, "Why not," she proposes, pausing, looking around, "Why not make it guess what it would look like?" She rubs behind her head lightly, "Update it every few seconds?"
Vessa blinks at the idea then ponders this, "Why not make it a form of entertainment instead? Like make it so they can have whatever view they like and have holo-viewers in the seat backs. So that they can have a view of choice at the window or nothing, and entertainment besides?"
Kethren looks up thoughtfully "Hrm. Well, I'm certainly not against entertainment devices to go along with the window... How many seats are we putting in these things? Will we cram them in, or just have a couple? If it's roomy the chairs need to be movable, at least so they can swivel for a better view outside."
The Opodian nods to Nuku, "Whenever is good for you. You are also free to use the resources aboard the ship or fleet, if you need assistance."
Nuku blinks, attention slipping to the bear like male, "The only resource I need, uh, to start, is your valuable time," she says, hopping down from her seat and approaching, "If we already have adjusting seats, it's just a matter of tracking and prioritizing."
Narai nods, listening, somewhat confused - perhaps he wasn't paying full attention. "And I come in here, exactly?" He asks.
Vessa nods to Keth, "We want comfort and not to try and go for profit over that, we want to be smart about this. You cram people in then they won't want to use our service."
Kethren smirks at Vessa "Clearly you never rode a commercial air liner back on Earth."
Nuku bobs her head quickly, "Yes, if you can make a program to track what settings are used," pause, "Extra priority to any setting a user does themselves, uh, crossed with their species and gender. If we do it," pause. She taps at her PDA a bit, though doesn't seem to be actually doing anything with it, a nervous motion, "If we do it right, we'll be ready before they sit down."
Nodding, Narai thinks. "That should not be too difficult. Perhaps get with my engineering department and they can draft a program for you to do that?"
Vessa laughs, "It is because I hated flying in a commercial airliner that I want comfort over cramming."
Kethren grins at Vessa "Oh, I quite agree comfort's more important. Though I did love being up in the air, even with the crowds. Just saying that, collectively? Cramming didn't seem to bother the masses very much."
Nuku scratches at her cheek a moment in the agitated motion she displayed earlier, then nods, "Right. Your time is very important. I will check with them." Words that would likely be sarcastic out of most human mouths is simple defeat for the small pyracani.
"Very good." Narai replies, looking to Vessa. "I will be taking the Prominence through the rift in several days. I may not be back for some time."
Vessa nods to Narai, "That is fine, just let me know when you get back and we can get things started again." She smiles and nods to both of the non sleeping engineers, "I sent a message to the programmers for you Nuku, they will be coming along shortly for you to outline what you would like." She shrugs to Keth, "They might not have minded but I do believe in quality for our customers, they tend to come back when they like you."
Kethren nods "True enough. Doesn't explain the success of the more cramped liners though."
Nuku rubs her nose lightly, "Luxury." she says, then tenses, feeling the urge to explain herself immediately, "More comfort, larger prices. We make a lot more every trip. People pay extra for prestige and comfort. All the, uh, 'important' people will fly with us. We, uh, you boss, become a symbol of wealth."
Nodding Vessa stands, "Alright all of you, keep chatting and let me know what you come up with. If you need anything you just let me know. Hopefully we will be joined by others as we progress." She settles back down and gets to work on other projects, occasionally turning to Narai to mention something.