Chapter 6 The fuel.

The next two days were strange for Tommy.

Everybody has distanced themselves from him even Alice who always liked to talk to him now barely greeted him.

The only exception was Simon who was back to his jovial self and when he asked about it the big man explained.

-You see most people sent into exile didn't do anything special. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time,or if it was women they didn't want to sleep with someone from the nobility and that got them sent into exile.

You know yourself that they do what they want and normal people can't do anything about it.

Tommy had to admit that he didn't think about it too much.

He always assumed that everyone here, pissed of a noble one way or another.

-So most of the people here never had a run in with someone like you or me.

-Wait you were a mercenary as well?

Tommy asked, not believing his ears.

-No, I was a soldier, a PFC to be exact and I have seen what war looks like.

I also went through that hell and I know how hard it is to control your aura, and that's also why I'm not afraid of you like the others.

Give them some time and they'll return to normal in a few days.

The next day there was a meeting in the central area in which they had to decide which ship to bring in for dismantling.

Some people voted for a slightly bigger shuttle than the last one, the others wanted something smaller like a fighter which was easier to break apart.

No one asked for a bigger ship.

Finally they decided to get two fighters into the dock and the meeting was over in less than an hour.

When everything was ready the dock was closed off , the air removed and the gravity was turned off , two men in pressure suits that Tommy never knew they had walked in and using the magnetic shoes moved to the consoles at the end of the dock.

A few moments later the gigantic doors started to open revealing more ships parked outside.

When the doors were fully opened Tommy could see dozens if not hundreds of vessels waiting to be scrapped.

Men inside moved to the two stations that looked like weapon emplacements but in reality they were two magnetic harpoon cannons.

When the first one fired after a few minutes every one was watching and cheered when it hit its target and started to reel in a long cable bringing the fighter craft inside.

When the first ship was inside the second cannon fired and also hit its mark.

Less than 4 hours later both ships were sitting inside the hangar and the doors were closed,

Everyone was waiting for the air to be pumped back inside so that they could go and see their new source of income.

Tommy on the other hand was baffled at what he saw.

There were at least a dozen fighters outside and in range of their harpoons ,and there was way more space in the dock so why not get more of them at a time?

He wanted to ask someone but everyone was still avoiding him and Simon was not around.

When the air pressure was back to normal the door was opened and everyone went inside to take a look at the ships.

He did not join them not wanting to spoil their fun, he will have enough time to look at them tomorrow.

Tommy left to do his training and while he was running some time later he saw Simon and asked about the ships.

-You see it's not that we don't want to bring more of them, it's that we can't.

Explained the big man while they were sitting on a bench.

-We don't have enough power to charge the cannons for more than one shot each once every two weeks or so.

-Ok I'm confused,why don't we have the power to charge the canons? It's not like this station has no power and I know for a fact that the reactors here can produce more than enough power to charge hundreds of these type of cannons.

Tommy asked, trying really hard to think of a reason.

-Come with me, I'll show you.

Simon stood up and started walking in the direction of the engineering decks.

After 20 minutes of walking they entered a control room and Simon pointed at a monitor.

When Tommy read through the information he turned pale in shock.

The monitor displayed the status of reactor fuel and it was barely over the criticall level which meant that even if they wanted to there was no way to generate more power or they were risking running out of fuel.

He checked the other monitors and just as he thought only two of four reactors were running and at the minimum levels so that they could generate just enough power to sustain:life support systems,artificial gravity and some other systems like the lights,sonic showers,shop,and the collection platform.

-As you can see we have barely any fuel left. If we try to generate more to get more ships we will run out and then we all die.

Simon said standing at the door.

After they left Tommy was in a deep thought so they didn't talk on the way back.

He woke up from his thoughts when they were back in the central area.

-Thank you Simon for showing me that, I didn't know that we were so close to running out of fuel.

-It's not a secret it's just that you never went to engineering so there was no way for you to know.

Simon said, shaking his head slightly.

-The nobles don't want us to live in a good environment. It's already a blessing that we have enough energy to power the sonic showers.

Continued the big guy with a sad expression on his face.

After some more chatting Simon had to go and Tommy also went back to his room.

Half an hour later Tommy was lying on his bunk still thinking about the lack of fuel and trying to find a solution to that problem.

-How to generate more power without using more fuel?

He asked,but there was no one to answer that question.

The only way to get more ships into the dry dock is to get more power and he cant get any more power without using more fuel to the generators.

He closed his eyes, getting ready to call it a day when suddenly it hit him like a ton of bricks.