Free Alicia Jones 3: New Frontier by D. L. Harrison Page B

their
safety…
     
    I took one more look at the planet, and decided I needed to
get back to Earth before the board called me down to yell at me, or shoot
me.  As long as I was in the doghouse, I compiled a presentation for
possible upgrades.  I knew we were at the point where my suggestions
wouldn’t be so readily accepted, and they’d think about it for a while before
deciding if they were necessary.
    I put in that the dark energy reactor, and converter, were
necessary to the other upgrades, but also included that shield strength and
speed would double without changing anything else.  Then I talked about
the other upgrades separately that could be built upon those two initial
upgrades.  Wormhole drive, vastly more powerful plasma cannons, and newer
shield configurations.  I knew they would say no to that last one, but if
we ever met an enemy we needed them for, I wanted the option already known and
out there.
    The old ships could take about ten missiles before failing,
all at the same time.  It would be more accurate to say they can take ten
missiles a second, because the shield is constantly being maintained and
regenerated.  With the more powerful power source, they can take twenty in
a second.  I still had to verify it, but the math indicated it would take
forty with dual layered shields, and sixty with triple layered shields. 
The shields were separate to a certain extent, but they were interdependent,
the second would equalize with the first, and the third would equalize with the
second, and they were all being constantly regenerated.
    It also illustrates how strong the new plasma cannons
were.  What would in theory take sixty missiles, would be accomplished by
three plasma shots within a second.  Of course, none of it was necessary
for today’s threats, the question was what would humanity run into tomorrow, as
we continually mapped out the galaxy, and other races followed the path I was
taking?
     

Chapter
11
    The new shield system was in, it wasn’t a major change, and
according to sensors I was right about the effects.  The new triple
shields were six times more powerful than the old ones.  It boggled my
mind that it could take sixty missiles, and they had to hit all within a
second, to destroy the ship.  I enabled the change for the command ship as
well and thought about bringing in the lab ship, we had nothing else in the
works really, until the next time I got a new project. 
    Then I decided just to leave it there, it was a good
platform for a highly hazardous lab out there in the void for next time,
hopefully there would be a next time.
    Strangely, with all that was happening that thought was
extra depressing.  I was back to just my admiral job, and keeping an eye
on my company.  Creating was a joy to me, and I had no idea when
inspiration would strike, or even just interest in investigating something
else.
    “You look like someone shot your dog.  Let’s go home
tonight, relax, kick back.  Have you talked to Nathan lately?”
    I looked at Kristi in surprise.  The idea of leaving
the ship right now hadn’t even occurred to me with what was going on, but I
supposed that was foolish, going home after my shift shouldn’t matter.
    “I talked to him last night.  He won’t be eligible for
leave again for months, and he’s deployed right now.  Best case scenario
is I can visit him at the base when his current mission is completed.”
    Kristi frowned, “That sucks.  But still.  Wine,
hot tub, wine, dinner, wine, really bad sci-fi moves on Netflix… in the hot
tub, and of course, wine.  Should take care of everything.”
    I smiled despite myself, “Fine, after you doctor Wilder.”
    Kristi waved her arm, “No, after you doctor princess Jones.”
    I snorted, she was right, I needed to wind down.
     
    The next morning I felt a lot
better.  I was also glad I was an alien, because Kristi had a massively
nasty hangover, we did overdo it a bit on the wine, and she looked