Consolidation The Great Eagle Origins

[Anatoli Sidorov]

The morning was a quiet one, yesterday, one of my C3 cargo ships was off the berths and swayed gently at anchor. I was going through some paperwork when Pavel knocked on my door. That crazy man was already wishing to lay down his ships. Even though I would like, no LOVE some rest and recovery I was also enthusiastic to start laying ships of our own. Also I had promised him some time of my day so I had to let him in. I took a sip of my black tea and said: "Come in." Pavel came in with a bunch of rolled up papers in a cart and his eyes where glistening with pride. "What do you have there Pavel?" He didn't respond. He just smiled with the smile of a 12 year old and started putting the schematics on the whiteboard in my office and he took the the black and red markers and started writing on the left over spaces of the whiteboard "GOLDEN EAGLE" Ambitious name for a ship class, not to mention the first one to be built from our shipyards as our own designs but let's see what he had in mind. I stood up from my chair and went around my desk only to sit on it's edge from the opposite side, my arms holding the edges of the mahogany desk of mine. Pavel seemed to be too hyped up for this project and it was emitting his enthusiasm to me too. To be honest he had sold me on the idea only for his excitement and nothing else. Then he looked at me and said: "So here we go."

 

[Pavel Petrosky]

"This is a Kresta II class cruiser. It has a bunch of long range guided munitions in it's original configuration but I am sure Yuri will have a field day converting them and improving them for both gravitational and space usage thus implementing them and utilizing them for our needs. I kept the same name for the sake of simplicity and secrecy as, well for starters, we don't have the weapon systems themselves, despite having the blueprints for them and their operation program. The idea is to have Yuri dig the plans, develop them or even improve them so they can be used efficiently in both atmospheric and space environments." Anatoli then asked: "So, you tell me that you want us to develop and manufacture our own missiles and ammo for our own ships?" When he finished I asked back : "Do you want to try and buy them from the military, at questionable quality, quantity and possible political ramifications or would you like to build a plant tasked with producing ammunition for your own ships, custom built for your own purposes? Minimize intermediaries, minimize risk. You can transport the cargo yourself with Anatoli Rail straight to the shipyard. You make money all around so don't complain. Maybe we create Sidorov Armaments so we can sell at ourselves and to any other potential customers." After a while Anatoli replied: "You mean I should go and create a business to rival the Aphotic Industries?" "As if that held you back from creating Sidorov Shipping when you were studying at university." I shot back. Then he reluctantly said: "You have a point there..." "So I start building it?" "Name her Irina." "Willco sir. Thank you very much."

 

[Anatoli Sidorov]

Since there was nothing for me to do I left my office and started to walk around the office building still deciding what to do. My brain was trying to think of something to do. Playing boss was not too simulating for my brain and I had a feeling that didn't help with the creativity between the employees. Yet I needed to find something to distract my brain with. Pavel was scooting his way to Yuri to present him the plans and now, having finished my paperwork, I was wondering aimlessly. I ended at the cafeteria where I sat a corner table munching a spaghetti salad while thinking Pavel's proposal. Anatoli Armaments. Creating the company would be the easy part. Sourcing the raw materials and means of production also. Now the personnel would be a problem but maybe machinists would accept coming and people from governmental gun industry would come drawn in by a better pay and working hours. I would conferee with some potential investors if I needed them. Anyways, until that point a ship would need to be built. Maybe I should call ahead some metal smelting industries to prepare them for potential contract opportunities. After finishing my salad, I exited the office building, grabbed my safety hat and went for a walk towards the bearths. Cape Frio, Black Swan and Rochester where still in their bearths being patched up from the holes and damage they have suffered during my first trans galactic transport for Affotic Industries. Indomitable and Diamond Knot where swaying gently at anchor just outside the shipyard. I entered my small motorboat and started sailing towards Indomitable. As I was slowly motoring towards her, I noticed a wierd gap in the rock face of the nearby mountain. Curiosity overwhellmed me and I motored towards it. It was a bigger that it seemed but the mouth of it was too low to the sea surface. So low I had to duck in order for my head to pass safely under the rock face. Once inside and enveloped by darkness I opened all the lights on the motorboat. Soon it was revealed that I had entered a cave that was extremely spacious. Also it had a very spacious sailable area all the way to the core of the mountain. I motored around for a while admiring the beauty of nature before I exited the cave and finally motored to Intomitable which I boarded and went to the officer's lounge to play the piano. I hadn't managed to sit when through the intercom a call from the VHF was heard transmitting: "Base to Intomitable, base to Intomitable, do you copy?" Reluctuntly I stood up and went to the bridge to grab the VHF. Once at the bridge I grabbed the mic and said: Indomitable to base I copy." "This is Yuri Makarov sir. Pavel came by and I wanted to come and ask you some questions." "Do they meed to be asked now or they can wait until tomorrow?" "Some of them must be asked now. Not in an open channel preferrably." "Ok. Get yourself at Intomitable and we will talk." "Yes sir. I will come over as soon as possible."

 

[Yuri Makarov]

After looking around for a boat and someone to take me to Indomitable I was on my way to meet the boss, or maybe the dream maker. Thanks to him what was denied to me during my service at the military he gave me generously. The lab I wished I had at the military was not only given to me but with way more machines to aid me with my work. Where my requests were denied, Anatoli not only approved them but also requested prototypes for testing. He also allowed me to venture to my own projects allowing me full intellectual creativity. He would sometimes ask me to develop specific tasks but he was not too pressing about it. He wanted results but in reasonable time frames. He was strict but not oppressive. He was persistent but nit stubborn. For his young age he wasn't a boss. He was a leader. When something went wrong, he wouldn't start pointing fingers but he would ask what could he do to help us not fail next time. In general he tried to have us working for him with him yet maintaining overall command but never with an aura of superiority. I wish I would be able to work for him until it was time for me to retire. Once I arrived at Indomitable he was already there, at the top of the ladder, waiting for me. I climbed up and once I stepped on deck he gave me his hands and I took it and shook it warmly. Then he said: "Let's go to the captain's office." In 3 minutes we were sitting at a nice office before he said: "I dragged you all the way here, better start talking not to waste your precious time." "Well yes. Pavel came by and requested to develop some stuff of which he had the schematics for. Does he have authorization?" "Yes." "Ok. Do you want them as they appear or I have the time to further develop them?" "From what I am told, the weapon systems are not the top of their class but I find no tactical advantage rolling out the best of our abilities. I will let you know when to start building some "wunderwaffe" but that will be done at a later stage with my own personal funds out of any of the enterprises under me. I will talk to you later about an idea I have. Think of it. The more time we appear to be weaker than we are actually are, the more time our enemies have to solidify their underestimation of our power and that will give us great advantage in any possible confrontation." "Ok so we build them as advertised. Will I have your word though that at a refit you will allow me to upgrade the weapon systems?" "Yes. And it will be even better if this happened after one of the class would be either, destroyed, captured or in general defeated in battle." "Yes sir. When do you want them ready?" "Pavel has already authorization to take one of the free berths and start laying keel as soon as possible. So you may need to ask him when he will need them ready. The least of time the equipment is assembled and in storage the less the possibility of enemy spies finding out about our revolutionary power multipliers." "Ok sir, thank you for your time. I don't have any other questions." As I said that Anatoli rose and so signaled the end of the meeting. We walked together to the deck where my boat was waiting for me to take me ashore and after a final farewell and handshake, I descended the steps and went back to shore.