mechanical aspects of the Hawks , but I want to do something more ,” Ed replied . “ This is fascinating .”
“ I always forget you are from Mathurn . Technology wasn ’ t a big thing there , was it ?” Jackal asked .
Ed shook his head , a silent and ashamed no .
Jackal smiled and continued tending to Ten ’ s work , directing it to improve the needs of Chimera ’ s systems . This took a while as , although they were as up-todate as they could be , they weren ’ t the most efficient systems . Ten was making quick work of the systems , with careful reminders from Jackal and some of the other staff of the Federation ’ s set limitations . Even though they were the largest exploration ship in the whole of the Super Galaxy , they couldn ’ t run the risk of fines and sanctions .
“ It ’ s fantastic to see how this works ,” Ed said to Jackal as they waited for Ten to finish improving the transmission software that brought it up to an exceptional level . Jackal nodded and read the data that appeared on the main system screen from Ten ’ s update , the typical 00001010 scattering through parts of it .
“ Hmm ,” Jackal mused . “ I wonder why this is still happening . But to be honest here , I was not expecting this to work this well . This only had a trial run on Ifrigis , and unfortunately , she didn ’ t make it . We lost the entire ship and her crew because it caused a huge engine malfunction .”
Jackal paused to think about what happened during the trial on board that ship and all the data that she had been given before the untimely accident .
While waiting for the program to finish , Lou stamped into the room , her eyes narrowed slits and her arms crossed .
“ What is up with you , Lou ?” Jackal said , annoyed . “ All I asked was to go see what was going on . I can ’ t be by your side the whole time like a babysitter .”
“ I do not want you to be ,” Lou hissed . “ I still cannot believe you had something to do with my parent ’ s death .”
“ That ’ s not a conversation we will be having now , Lou ,” Jackal said as calmly as possible , attempting to diffuse the tension in the room . Other officers had begun to turn and eavesdrop . “ Once we are finished , you and I will sit down and talk about it . Not before then . All you need to know is I was under orders at the time due to some damning evidence .”
“ We will talk about it now , right here where everyone can hear what you did .”
“ All these people know exactly what happened ,” Jackal said flatly . “ They all understand the necessity of my job , Lou . It ’ s you who doesn ’ t .”
“ Lou , we need your help with the Core systems again ,” a scientist shouted down . “ It has gone AWOL .”
Lou growled and walked off as Jackal made her way up the stairs .
“ I ’ m sorry you had to see that , Ed ,” Jackal said . “ The council had been following her family for some time and found them to be harbouring fugitives . We needed to follow the Federation ’ s directives . Unfortunately , it was to massacre the whole family . I would rather not have handled it myself , but I was in charge at the time .”
“ It ’ s no problem , ma ’ am , you were only following orders ,” Ed said . “ Ones that even you cannot go against . Anyway , I know why the Ifrigis sank . Before I joined you here , I was on the maintenance team for the Federation , working on their fleet of Hawk-290 ’ s and Excelcis-380 ’ s .” Ed paused at Jackal ’ s inquiring glance . “ But we also worked on research ships to see if f there were upgrades needed on the fleet . I asked my co-workers if they had worked on the Ifrigis , and no one had .”