Free Stand Against The Storm (The Maxwell Saga Book 4) by Peter Grant

shuttles over here for routine overhauls. We’ll park them on the hardstand while the Qianjin engineer officers and techs work on them with the surviving techs from the spaceport.”
    “I think we can make that work, Sir. Gunny, you look worried?”
    “Where will we put the extra techs, Sir?”
    “We’ll put up another tent or two if necessary. We’ll also have to find out what they need in the way of shelter or storage for their tools, equipment and spares.”
    “Those’ll be in a couple of field containers,” Major Emory put in. “You can put them next to their work site, and secure them each night. That’s not all you’ll need space for, unfortunately. One of the spaceport’s warehouses was damaged more than they realized during the fighting. It contains most of the ration packs for Eskishi’s armed forces and emergency services. They’ll have to remove all of them to get at the structure and repair it, but that’s going to take a couple of weeks, and they don’t have enough people to guard the rations in the open. Therefore, they’re going to send all of them over here. They’re palletized but not containerized. They want you to stack them under tarpaulins. The weather’s moderate at this time of year, so they should be OK until they can be returned to the warehouse.”
    Steve frowned. “I’ve seen that warehouse, Sir. It’s filled almost to overflowing. We won’t be able to fit that many pallets inside the walls because we don’t have the warehouse’s shelving systems. We’ll have to spread them out over a wider area rather than stacking them vertically. Since we’re going to have to accommodate the maintenance facility as well, that’ll mean putting most of them outside the walls, using part of the hardstand.”
    “That won’t affect the unloading and maintenance too much if we put them hard up against the wall, Sir,” Kinnear offered. “If the Marine Reaction Force has any extendable barriers left, we can run a line of them around the external stores to protect them from pilferage.”
    “Good idea,” Emory agreed. “The pallets and the hardstand will keep the rations off the ground, and the barrier will secure them.” He ran his eyes along the walls. “I’ll do some fast calculations over at the spaceport to see how much ground the ration pallets will cover, then send over the barrier containers. You still have the excavator and front-end loader on site?”
    “Yes, Sir, but we’re supposed to return them to the spaceport this morning. They’re threatening to bring charges against us if we don’t.”
    “I’ll have a word with them. You’ll need them to fill the barrier and make it ready. The spaceport will just have to do without them for another day or two.”
    Steve grinned. “They’re going to love us for that, Sir, but thanks. What about operators and equipment to unload and position the pallets?”
    “You’ll have to do all that, I’m afraid. I know your people have been overworked, but so far they’ve risen to the challenge. I’m sure they’ll do so once more. All right, I’ll leave you to make plans. I’m going to head for the spaceport and organize things from that end. I’ll have the barrier containers here within a couple of hours, and the first transports from the spaceport will arrive by noon. Be ready to unload them.”
    ~ ~ ~
    “Boss, that spaceport foreman’s coming.”
    Bairam looked up from the map. “Thanks, Riza.” He stood, wincing as his sore feet and legs reminded him that he’d pushed them too far and too fast during the last three days. He moved towards the door of the barn, and as the visitor entered greeted him with, “What about those rations?”
    “Jeez, don’t you even give a guy time to catch his breath?”
    “Not today. We’re hungry, and there are a lot more hungry people on the way.”
    “We got a problem. The Marines are patrolling the road between the spaceport and their depot. I don’t think they suspect anything; it