The Vessel Eyt Delta

Docai stood up from his cubicle station and after a few milliseconds to confirm, sensors embedded around him turned off his terminal. He had been sitting for a few hours now and needed to stop working for the day. Little speakers in his ears transitioned from work music to a more relaxed tune in the background of soft spoken talk radio and news.

“… confirms that the union-backed decision to restore Sector E-05 to 100% manufacturing capacity will be actualised. And in the deep dark void outside the rebellion of the 8th Legion continues to keep the T’dangan colonised planet of Cerberus in a state of chaos. Fresh images have surfaced in the last four hours of a possibly Imperial fleet of light attackships converging on and partly destroying a Legionnaire commandeered battlecruiser. At this point the possible casualty count is unknown. Rumors of independent contractors from our homeship Eyt Delta working in conjunction with the Imperial Army have been denied. And back on the homeship, in lighter news, local climate engineers have started a warm breeze in sector B public levels to stress test a new model of air conditioners. The new model …”

Docai furrowed his brow as he stepped out into an airlock and the air cycled around him. He was standing at the hatches now in full gear and a 0-Atmo suit. The low-energy, high-pressure sitting job was not his preferred employment, but it was the one he was given. A small unnecessary spacewalk gave him an excuse to move around more than he had in the past 11 hours. Putting on the EVA suit was a well practiced routine Docai barely even noticed anymore. Grabbing a bar outside the hatch, he flung himself out and swung around to the side of his office module. His magnetised boots thumped as they connected and stuck to the surface. He started out on the familiar walk back towards his home-module, absent-mindedly staring into the stars above.

Eyt Delta was built on the understanding that functionality is more important than looks. Handlebars and emergency hatches were laid out on the surface. It was built in modules, so it could be taken apart, reassembled or quarantined with ease. This gave the ship a somewhat work-in-progress look. Luckily aerodynamics did not matter in space and it was set on it’s calculated course at a relatively slow pace from one planet to another. It wasn’t about to maneuvre in any direction.