Jackal raised her eyebrow and shook her head . That explained a lot as to why the Ifrigis sunk like it did . They lost a lot of people that day .
“ Did you tell the Federation about this ?” she asked .
“ Didn ’ t need to ,” Ed said . “ We had to log all of the upgrades on the system so that the Federation knew what condition the ship was in , should anything like that happen ,” he replied .
Jackal nodded , understanding that at least there was a record that no upgrades had happened . That was probably why she wasn ’ t asked to stand trial in front of the Federation over it .
Jackal sighed and looked at the overall data for the Chimera ’ s updates that Ten implemented . She approved them and they remained in place . Happy with Ten ’ s quick work , she beckoned Ed to follow her to her office and showed him Ten ’ s code , explaining what she had done and what Ten was capable of doing with the ship .
“ Please don ’ t tell Lou what you have seen ,” Jackal told Ed . “ She may cause more problems than we need , especially with that last little outburst .” Ed nodded in understanding . On this mission , Lou had seemed to be getting worse . Although they were done with the labor portion of the mission , the processing would take the longest . Since the processing portion began , the crew noticed Lou ’ s temper getting noticeably worse . Jackal had wondered if Lou was up to something and had already notified the Federation of her suspicions . Many of her crew had also done the same , feeling that something wasn ’ t right about her , and they wanted to make sure that their governing body knew of it .
Jackal was grateful for being a Lieutenant General of the Space Marines and always having a small group on board . But that was customary of any large exploratory vessel . Firstly , for the safety of the ship and secondly for making sure that law and order were followed throughout the planets of the Super Galaxy . Although she remembered reading about the Marines that existed before Space Travel became the norm , she was glad that its format had changed . Now the Light Battalions on the ships were better trained and well equipped for missions .
But things were different then , Jackal , we only ruled one planet , not several galaxies , she had to remind herself . It was true . Two thousand years had made all the difference to life as people knew it . She remembered some of the photos she ’ d seen ; it surprised her how drastically things had changed . The progress was apparent even if it was only small steps at a time . They truly were pioneers back then . Now it ’ s a struggle to even make the most minimal of a break . I mean it ’ s taken me at least ten years to get Ten to run properly . She shook her head .
“ What ’ s the matter , ma ’ am ? Something bothering you ?” Ed asked , bringing her back to the present .
“ Nothing , really , just thinking about how much technology has evolved over the past two-thousand years ,” Jackal said .
“ Well , yes ,” Ed said . “ Being the Lieutenant General of the Marines in the Research and Exploration , I ’ m sure you think about things like that quite often ,” Ed replied .
A shrill voice stopped Ed and Jackal in their tracks .
“ Wait , you ’ re Lieutenant General of the Research and Exploration arm of the Marines ?” Lou cried , stunned . She stopped in the doorway , her eyes wide .
“ One , Zero , One , Zero , obliteration virus spotted and quarantined , would you like the data ?” Ten spoke .