Max watched the first cargo ship leave with the relief supplies, headed for one of the worlds in the former Tapani Territory, now under the control of the Cygnus Armies. It had been hit hard by the Great Enemy, even though it was still rebuilding from the aftermath of its resistance against the change in leadership.
It was a true disaster zone, and they needed everything from relief supplies to atmospheric cleansing and revitalization.
But as much as the recipient needed the space, Max needed the empty docks. The factories had been working three shifts a day, constantly producing relief supplies for a week without shipping anything out, thanks to the crowded docks from the regular cargo traffic. Now that they could get it all out of storage, they could return to a more casual shipping order and start using some of these bays for space station parts.
Sylvie was going to work on rebuilding the stations, using both Reaver designs and the knowledge from her initial build, while Felicity would focus on the ships that needed to be built because the teams to customize them were all on board Absolution.
Both of them still had over half of their bays being used for cargo interline shipments, but that was unavoidable until more of the stations were back online. Even the Moon Base, the largest facility in the star system, was still offline.
"Do you think that we should start sending them some gift boxes along with the rest of their shipments? A little something to let them know that we're thinking of them and not just mindlessly sending out supplies without knowing or caring where they're going." Max suggested.
Sylvie and Nico both looked intrigued by the idea, but likely for different reasons. Sylvie had never sent care packages before, but she was familiar with the practice. During long deployments, Commanders would send extra supplies, like recreational gear, small luxuries and other items to their troops to improve morale.
That same logic could be applied to the humanitarian aid shipments. While they weren't in charge of that part of the relief, adding little bonuses to the packs was always a welcome surprise.
Nico tapped the table as she put her thoughts together. "I have an idea. We can give them the little things that are always overlooked. How about we create the next batch of ration packs so that the breakfast packs all have a bar of soap and toothpaste in them? It's something that gets bumped down the priority list, but having the city in ruins doesn't mean that nobody on the planet has access to water, especially with the collectors in the ration packs.
Being both fed and clean is a good way to start the day, even in a refugee camp, so I suggest that we put them in all the breakfast packs from here on.
But we can also add something more useful to the packs. One thing that I noticed was that the case the expanding homes come in is just a case, a disposable item. If we increase the packing volume just a little, it can be used as a table as well, with included legs."
"That's a wonderful idea. The legs don't actually have to take up any additional room, though. We can package the as the bump guards on the edges of the case, with slots to insert them in the centre joint, and the case can be unfolded and used with the shell up as a table.
It would be both practical, and of no additional expense. It is also somewhat suitable in size to become a dining room table, which will limit the number of discarded units and the resultant waste accumulation.
I will alter them now." Sylvie agreed.
"Don't forget to put instructions on the cases, so that everyone who gets one knows that they can be reused. Even if not all the recipients want them, they will certainly become quite popular among the construction crews who are placing the expanding homes." Max added.
That was two simple upgrades to the relief supplies, which should be enough to improve the mood of the citizens, and they didn't take up any additional volume in the shipments, only a bit of added weight, which was mostly irrelevant, except during the final transfer to the planet.
The results would only be obvious after the next batch of supplies was shipped, so currently the more important project would be to recreate the space stations that had been destroyed. There were hundreds of them still completely inoperable, though they had all been thoroughly inspected for survivors, in order not to leave anyone trapped inside a dead metal shell.
"Do we make them all custom again, or should we come up with a standardized replacement model for the insurance claims? There is no requirement to make them the same, only to similar volumes and functions, so we can just make a few designs for the Commanders to pick from, and then they can assign the modules as they see fit." Nico asked.
She already had the designs ready to be implemented, and they were fully modular, so even if two Commanders were assigned identical amounts of equipment, they could come up with two entirely different stations.
"Three basic designs, each with no more than ten different pod modules. Give them the ability to link them into a large block., as well as build a spire or docking ring, and let them submit their final designs before we start shipping anything.
If they don't want to do their own design, send them a small selection of base models to choose from. You know the ones, the basic ring station with the central core, the cube and the spiral. Those three should be enough to keep the less creative Commanders happy."
Nico nodded, and Sylvie brought up three designs from her historical records that matched the vague description Max gave.
"These were the most material efficient designs according to my creators. The spiral around a central column was the standard for station design, as it is the easiest to shield, other than a sphere."
Nico smiled at the AI. "Got it, we will push that design, while making the others simply available. No point in wasting time and energy when the topic has already been extensively studied."
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