TMS Earthrise
The Terran Merchant Ship Earthrise is Reese Eddings's private vessel, which she runs on private trading missions throughout the Alliance, mostly in the Neighborhood.
Specifications
A Vesta class Martian clipper ("they've been building these for almost a hundred years without changing the plan much.")[1]
A squat ovoid, the ship can land on planets with atmosphere using landing stilts that it can balance on. There's a ramp in its belly for crew to use to enter/exit the ship once it's on the ground. It has both in-systems and Well drive. Its multiple levels are accessible via lift.
The Earthrise is a three-deck cargo vessel with five bays for cargo: three bays (crane loaded) above the mechanical deck, and two loaded by ramp below it. Cargo Bay 1, the topmost, is the smallest; Bays 2 and 3, on the second deck, are of moderate size (and are recommended to be loaded together to balance the weight on either side of the keel). Bay 4, in the front of the ship, also offers access for the ship's laser and is a small bay, and infrequently used; Bay 5 is the largest, loaded by ramp, with the spindles. The crew module is swappable, and was configured when Reese purchased it with 8 crew cabins, 1 captain's cabin, a mess, a bathroom, and a storage unit (with smaller closets along the central corridor). Both the cargo cranes (two on either side of the ship), the gantry, and the landing gear are stored externally in hull depressions; the Well nacelles and insystems are in standard housings for low-speed vehicles, close in to the hull.
The mechanical deck is in line with the engines; this deck contains all the mechanical and power systems for the ship. The bridge is located on the mechanical deck, in the fore of the ship.
Compartments and Amenities
- The cramped bridge has: chairs with safety harnesses; an exterior sensor control panel; a pilot's console; an engineering display
- The captain's quarters is the only one with a private bathroom with shower (retrofitted); the rest of the crew shares a single bathroom. Crew quarters have door-announces that chime.
- It has a clinic (a compartment next to Kis'eh't's, modified by Kis'eh't with her lab equipment). This room has a 'low bench' suitable for a Glaseah to use.[2]
- The bathroom is 'further down the hall to the left' from the clinic. It's cramped and has a tiny mirror over the sink.[2]
- Has a mess hall with a galley and "larder" (a pantry and cooler).
- The cargo hold has five cat-12 cargo spindles, which are long cylindrical strength members twelve inches in diameter that can support Type-A and Type-B sized cargo bins. Each spindle can hold twelve, for a total of sixty bins. There are also cargo cranes (at least two) and a gantry. [2]
- Had one laser (for clearing debris).
Refits
Liolesa ("the mysterious benefactor") arranged for the refitting of the Earthrise six years prior to her contacting Reese for help with Hirianthial.[2]
- Engines (faster)
- Captain's Quarters (private bathroom)
Reese made a second set of upgrades on Harat-Sharii with the advance from the pirate job: she upgraded the sensors, power plant, and overhauled the air handlers.[3]
After Reese retired as captain, Fleet made repairs to the Earthrise while they were waiting in orbit around Escutcheon for the Moonsinger's re-assignment and they had the Earthrise in one of its bays. "Even the broken locks and blinky lights worked."[4]
So she walked the Earthrise from stem to stern. The echoing cargo holds with their spindles for the bins, waiting for something to haul. The narrow corridors with their metal mesh floors. The bridge, somnolent, all its boards glowing the subdued blue of a ship drowsing in parking orbit. She went through the crew quarters, finding them already empty: the rest of the ship’s former crew had had time to come up, but she hadn’t, not until now. She walked through the engineering deck, remembering the pirates crawling all over the machinery, looking for evidence of perfidy. She toured the galley and the mess, remembering apple pies and coffee and less satisfactory experiments that everyone had nevertheless eaten. She checked on Kis’eh’t’s lab/clinic, brushing her fingers across the dents in the bulkhead where the equipment had been bolted.[4]
Later, Surela paid for refits for the Earthrise:
Those suggestions, taken to a ship builder, had moved the crew quarters’ bulkhead aft into the number two and three bays. Without significantly altering the latters’ capacity, they’d been able to carve out another six compartments behind the mess hall and enlarge the existing ones. Every cabin had a personal head, now, not just the captain’s quarters, and slightly more room to turn around in. The decks no longer rattled, thanks to the improved mesh and carpeting; the lighting had been raised to Alliance standards and no longer flickered; there was even space for a formal clinic, which doubled as an exercise room because the spare compartment had been claimed for a chapel.
Service History
How long did Reese have it? Did she buy it new? I think I mentioned this at some point in Earthrise. The 'lonely years' that it was only her and Allacazam. Hired Kis'eh't 3 months after the twins and Bryer a month after and that was about 3 years now She had Allakazam 7 years now [5]
Crew
First Crew
Most of the crew of the Earthrise were hired 3 years before the start of the book Earthrise. Reese hired the twins (Sascha and Irine) first, then Kis'eh't 3 months later and Bryer 1 month after that. [2] The exception to this is Allacazam who had been with Reese for 7 years when Reese's story begins.
Second Crew
- Ra'aila, Clan Flait (therefor Aera), Captain: aggressive. Red and burnt orange and white. Hair in a braid.
- Danica Blakesley, Karaka'An, First Mate: Bicolor.
- Merina York, Pilot: Short girl with dreads (asymmetrically bound back) and tattoos on the insides of her ears. Siamese-colored.
- Leonid (Leon, Lyonya, Lyonechka, Leo, Lev), Harat-Shar, Purser: So gay. Puma intrarace. Sparkly and glittery.
- Prudence MakesShift,Tam-illee, Healer: Faun-colored fur with chestnut-brown wavy hair she wears back in a loose bun.
- Saul Ferry, Hinichi, Mechanic
- Erynne Seyvald, Engineer: Asanii, ginger/gold. Wild curls. Likes parties.
- Surela Silin Asaniefa, Eldritch, supercargo
