minimum
standards."

Myra tipped her chair back until her head and
shoulders touched the wall and she closed her
eyes. Her exhaustion was unmistakable.

"Document your findings, Myra," Brad said. "I
want specific recommendations to deal with each
deficiency that you find, the name of the person
accountable, and a list of the supplies, equipment
and skills to clear the problem."

Turning to the others, he added, "That goes for
everyone; there isn't much to work with, so be
realistic. If you report a problem, tell me how to
fix it. If the shortages can't be filled, we might
have to take from one ship or facility to fix
others. Clear?"

Silence.

"OK, you're next, Zolan. What's the story on
communications?"

"The equipment is generally good. It all came
from the Inner Region, and not very long ago. Part
of what we have was taken in the raids on UIPS
ships; the rest is original equipment installed
here during the Slingshot build-up. Most of the
space-to-space systems are fully operational; there
are some weaknesses in space-to-surface links."

"That part can be handled."

Zolan paused to nod at Myra.

"There's a 'but', though, and here's where I tie in
with Myra's findings on training. We've got a good
supply of comm spares, but not enough skills to do
the work. The comm folks can operate the equipment,
no sweat there. The problem is that although
much of the gear is self-repairing through built-in
robotics, when the robies themselves need fixing,
no one knows how. Chain reaction; it won't take
long for subsystems to break down as the pressure
of sustained ops builds. Barely enough maintenance
robots on each ship and station to keep the
equipment working. The number of out-of-commission
robots is increasing steadily, and no one seems
to know what to do about it. In time, this could
easily lead to wide gaps in communications
capabilities."

"Do you know what to do about it?" Brad asked.

"Yes."

"Lay it out in your report. That's one area where
we can't afford any screw-ups. Adari, let's hear it
on ship's navigation systems and surface nav-aids."

"Well, Brad," Adari grinned, "I had a nice summary
all arranged in my mind, but I won't waste time
by repeating what Zolan and Myra reported. Comm
maintenance also applies to nav, as does training
and data. The equipment is good, but only because
it's fairly new and is robotically self-maintained.
But nav robotics have no backups. Generally, when
ma