Personnel was a difficult problem, but our biggest obstacle was logistics. While space mining was spoken of and argued for, it was only in the planning stage. They pushed to begin as fast as possible. To build the station, we had to get all of our materials from Earth. Lift. We didn't have enough lift. The dilemma came down to the allocation of resources. We needed large shuttles to ramp up production and bring materials from Earth, but the armies of Earth required interceptors to fight the Veech. We couldn't have both.
Initially, we only had one shuttle, which we used for everything. That's why it took so long to get the first living space built. The second shuttle didn't arrive for another six months. During this time, the Jhi were the only alien representative in our solar system due to the threat of the Veech. This changed later, but while they were our only trading patners, we had to pay exorbitant prices for spacecraft. When the war officially ended for many countries, we had only two in service. We did the best we could, but it slowed us down.
The early days of the station were difficult. We didn't know if or when the Veech would show up, and we had no defense. Our interceptors could have made the trip, but it would have been counterproductive due to several issues. It took us six months to build our first deck. Things changed after that. I won't be as arrogant to say we could hold off an attack, but it was a beginning.
It's been seven years since the war ended on Earth, and for most practical purposes, Phoenix Station is complete. We are continually updating systems and implementing newer technology, but we planned for that. Phoenix Station will be dwarved by the new space docks being built in ten more years, but not yet. For right now, Phoenix reigns supreme.
Bin Anuwat
Phoenix Station
Fixed Geo Orbit
I'm sitting in Mess Hall 2 in the Phoenix Space Station. Mess Hall 2 is a massive 20,000 square foot room, located on deck 6. The floor plan is open, with mundane metal tables and chairs placed squarely around the room. It looks much like any large cafeteria, except for the number of small trees lining every wall. Another noticeable feature is the low ceiling everywhere except for an inverted diamond shape in the middle of the room.
Members of the TSC and civilian contractors move through the mess hall, eating, chatting, or just passing through. The man I'm meeting, Bin Anuwat, is a civilian contractor from Thailand. Bin is a short, thin man of infectious energy who is immensely popular with the sailors of the TSC.
I'm from a small island, Koh Mak, which is in the south of Thailand. The island is gorgeous, with crystal-white water and some fantastic seafood. I grew up poor, though I didn't know it. Most of the other locals were all the same as us. My father was a fisherman, and my mother sold fruit to the mainland. I went to school with thirty or so others that I had known my whole life. It was a nice, quiet life.
When I was in my twenties, tourists started visiting the island to get away from more touristy sites. At first, there weren't many of them, and we were glad to see them because they spent money so easily. A few years later, they started showing up by the thousands, and our economy completely changed to provide for them. It was fun. I became a dive guide while my family opened a restaurant. I had to work there also.
Then the aliens came. We were lucky. We never saw an alien, never even saw a ship fly by. However, all tourism disappeared, as you might guess. It didn't affect us too badly because most families had saved their money, but there wasn't much work to do all of a sudden. I started fishing with my father while also becoming part of the local militia. (Laughs.) It wasn't much of a militia. There were only five of us, and we didn't even have a gun between us. We just were lookouts, in case we saw any aliens coming.
After the war, things started to return to normal, a little. A few tourists showed up, some on shuttles that would land right on the beach. Amazing! But so many people had been killed that we knew it wouldn't return to what it was for many years.
One day, maybe three years after the war ended, a shuttle landed on the beach. It was very shiny and quiet. Because my English was one of the best, I was sent as the welcoming party. It was a businessman who worked for some rocket company. Nice guy. He stayed for a few days and then left. But while he was there, he told me about the jobs that were available in space. The very thought of it excited me. I told my parents, and my mom forbade it immediately, but my father gave me his blessing. He would often look at the stars, and I think he gave his dream to me.
I wrote an email, had multiple interviews, and got accepted. It was very easy. I traveled to Chiang Mai, then to a TSC training school in Melbourne, Australia, where I became a cook. The school was six months
