Chapter 131: Orbit 1
Summary: Getting their first station running!
Warning! Chapters 130 and 131 were posted together, make sure you don't miss chapter 130!
Chapter 131: Orbit 1
There was a certain understated tension as the air pressure rose. Finally, the meter read 101.325 kPa and Momo announced the result with satisfaction even as Uraraka cheered.
"Station pressure equalized to 1 atmosphere. Oxygen level stabilized at 21 percent. No signs of pressure leakage. Though we'll need a few hours to be certain of course, not to mention stress testing of the oxygen recovery systems."
Izumi nodded at that, retracting her helmet with a grin.
"Then take your helmet off! Or, well…maybe don't. I don't technically need to breathe, so I suppose waiting a few minutes to make sure my doing so doesn't negatively impact the O2 levels might be smarter."
Momo snorted, the sound somehow elegant coming from her, and popped the seal on her own helmet. Hers wasn't retractable, since Izumi was again cheating-like-a-bitch with the materials of hers to make it safe to be so. Meaning Momo had to reach up and physically remove hers.
"We'll have warning from the sensors about the O2 content dropping long before it is a threat. Ochako, stop dancing like an idiot and get your helmet off, better we have three sets of lungs testing the recovery systems than one or two. Even three will barely make an impact unless something is very wrong."
Uraraka was unrepentant as she stopped celebrating long enough to remove her own helmet, revealing a huge smile on her face.
"Come on, Momo! Aren't you excited that the station is working?! This is a big deal, you know! Earth hasn't had a functional space station in centuries! And it never had one this big, let alone with a fraction of Orbit 1's internal volume!"
Momo's own face spread into an answering smile at that. Clearly just as excited, just better at restraining her reaction. It's not like Uraraka was wrong, after all. The International Space Station had been abandoned quickly when the Quirk Wars started, and even at the height of its usage, internal living space on the ISS had never risen above 13,696 cubic feet (387.8 cubic meters). Easier for a normal person to picture, that meant it had been the rough equivalent of a 1,370 square foot (417m) apartment with standard 10-foot (3.048m) ceilings.
In comparison, the interior space of Orbit 1 was over 4 million cubic feet (113,267 cubic meters). With roughly 400,000 square feet of useable internal deck, it had enough space to equal even the largest warehouses…or something like a 60 story skyscraper. Close to 300 times more internal space than the ISS had possessed. More than enough to handle operating a fairly sizable lab, the crew of a 50 that were intended to operate it, and the sizable Construction Drone fleet that was its primary initial purpose. That purpose would eventually transition into Orbit 1 being a transit hub, with the docking space from the Drone Fleet being replaced with docking space for ships moving both people and goods both to and from Earth.
Of course, it was currently still a bit on the empty side. They'd built the station framework, including pre-building and installing all the cabling and such as they made it. They still needed to produce a lot of the computers, lab equipment, and other such things. They would be moving through the station for that express purpose today, with Momo creating all the bulkier items that could be made easily with her Quirk. Assuming nothing went wrong, Inari 2 and Inari 3, whose crews had recently made their first orbital flights successfully, would begin bringing up the more fiddly bits tomorrow. Those bits weren't worth Momo having to work through their designs one minor part at a time, so the two new versions of the Inari design would ferry up the smaller parts…along with engineering crews to handle installing it all.
Within a week, the existing Drone Fleet would start cycling through Orbit 1 to be refueled and maintenanced. Despite the ruggedness of their design, the heavy use of the Construction Drones had already caused the earliest sets they'd deployed to go into low-power station-keeping mode in a nearby parking orbit. Those would be serviced first, slowly catching up to the point that they could keep the entire current fleet of them in full swing operation.
Then, of course, they'd start expanding the numbers.
That wasn't their concern, of course. They just had to somehow keep ahead of the drones in supplying parts for the rest of construction. A rough ask, but they were determined to do it. For now, though…they had an easier day today.
"Alright, let's get too it! Time to fill all the rooms with stuff some other poor smuck has to organize and assemble!"
Uraraka's enthusiastic comment caused both Izumi and Momo to grin, even as they followed their eager friend as she charged off deeper into the station.
"Let's start with the living quarters! We can surprise them with mini-versions of that super awesome bed material you have, Momo!"
Momo chuckled at that, shaking her head.
"I doubt it would do all that well in Zero Gravity, Ochako. We can just stick to the design specs, I should think, more or less. Though a few intresting prints on the various beddings wouldn't be amiss. Perhaps the crew will appreciate Star Friends Unlimited bedsheets?"
Izumi cracked up as she imagined a bunch of serious scientists and techs reacting to bedding featuring a Super Sentai team based on the Top 10 Heroes from a decade past. Oh yes, this could be a fun day for sure, even if they had serious things to make alongside a few joke items…
"Odds the crew will stage lightsaber duels if we hide a few plastic ones in the cabins?"
Both other girls snickered at that…before Ochako pointed out that they had the station to themselves and there was no reason they couldn't be the first ones to 'lightsaber duel in space.' Moments later, all three of them had extremely high-quality toy lightsabers courtesy of Momo as they christened the space station in the best way possible.
Well, the best way besides attempting to recreate the Kamasutra with new positions for Space Sex. But Izumi was certain she and Momo would get to that part at some point in the future. Hopefully with Jirou along to help out…
... ... ...
Izumi hummed with approval as the Inari 3 settled into the docking bay. Technically, the large bay was capable of holding all three of the Inaris, but no one save Izumi had yet landed one here. As such, the Inari 1 wasn't docked at the moment. Which was also why Izumi was the only one aboard Orbit 1 as the two new ships settled in one after the other. She was fully capable of extra-atmospheric flight on her own, even inside the radiation belt, with no real risk. Thus, she could help guide both vessels in for their first landings, help orient the crews to the station, and then leave under her own power to rejoin the Inari 1.
Now, she waited for the bay to repressurize so she could greet the crews that were coming aboard. Eventually, Orbit 1 would have a magnetic shield based lock system much like the Inari 1's specialized construction lock. That would allow the coming and going of ships without need to pump air in and out of the dock constantly, stopping all movement of goods and people while it was in a state of vacuum. That equipment, however, was among the many things that the two dozen techs aboard the ships would be installing.
For now, they could only save on air by pumping it all out of the bay before bringing the ships in, then pumping it back in once the doors had sealed. Izumi would be leaving via a much smaller airlock after she'd gotten the crews squared away. Which, speaking of those crews, the Inari 2's loading ramp was descending. Time to go give the nickel tour to the newbies…
... ... ...
Intelli Saiko was trying really hard to keep her cool. But, come on, she was in space. Logic-driven as she might normally be, that was just too objectively amazing not to appeal to whatever passed for her inner child. Not even after months of dealing with what was technically a sort of alien invasion. Not that she'd fought very many of those aliens, having been snapped up by Nedzu early on to help with the monumental task of trying or organize Japan's Heroes into a cohesive structure.
She'd done well in that task, making good use of her own intelligence Quirk to help ease his task load. So much so that he'd then forwarded her into the UA Guild to get their entire logistics structure in place. She'd been fine with that, it being an important task and one she knew very few Heroes were inclined towards. She had, however, been able to train a mix of Heroes, Support Students, and JSDF personnel to the point that they didn't really need someone with an intelligence Quirk to keep running things.
She'd been trying to figure out what to do about that, if maybe she should step into a higher position in the now-expanding guild, before Nedzu had yet again offered her an alternative. She supposed most would have been off-put if they kept getting side-tracked into the equivalent of administrative work. Truth be told, however, she was much like Nedzu himself in that stretching her Quirk to solve puzzles was what she truly enjoyed most. And this new puzzle was perhaps even greater in scale, or would eventually become so, than even Nedzu's own herculean-scale task of centralizing Japan's Heroics field.
After all, while it was just Orbit 1 for now…eventually there would be dozens of space stations, lunar bases, and deep space operations. All of which would need an incredible level of inter-coordination. The chance to get in on the ground floor of that puzzle, so that she would be the go to person for high-level coordination of the entire solar system's space operations? Oh yes, Saiko very much wanted that! Eager to get started, she was the first down the ramp of Inari 2. The fact that she would get another chance to speak with Midoriya Izumi, the genius beind so many important developments, was only another bonus!
No! She wasn't a fangirl!
Okay…well…maybe just a little. It was alright to support your heroes! Even if they were the same age as you, right? She'd even had gotten into the fanclub with a low-number membership pin! Which would undoubtedly be a valuable collectable in the future. It was just good sense! Straightening her back, she carefully measured her steps as she went to meet her fellow hero...
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A/N: Yep, you're probably already expecting this bit. Once per release, I remind people that there is Early Access content available On My Page. Note that NONE of my fanfiction works are paywalled permanently. If you don't feel like supporting me, that's just fine, it will end up here eventually :-). If you DO feel like supporting me, currently chapters 132-136 are available over on , adding another 15,000ish words to the fic! As well as similar amount of early access content for my other fics. All for just a single dollar a month! I'm not trying to be super greedy here, just trying to support the writing time I need to maintain several ongoing fics ;-).