There was little in the way of decoration or aesthetic. The people who built the Leviathan were interested in making it work, not pretty.

She headed to the nearest elevator and took it down to the engineering section. Carlos and his team would be hard at work even without the promise of launching the ship in the next few hours. Guards were stationed at the door when she arrived and they offered her a salute which she returned on her way by.

The primary engineering section was a wide-open space with ladders and stairs leading up to catwalks covering five stories. Carlos stood on a ladder, discussing a component with a young man who crouched beside him. The chief engineer sported a nearly shaved head and what little hair he had was black flecked with gray.

He was only forty-one years old but he acted as if he topped sixty. As he finished his conversation, he came back down to the bottom level, barking orders to technicians on the other side of the room. He caught sight of Victoria and approached. “Hello, Commander. Welcome to controlled chaos or, as I prefer to call it, herding cats without incentive.”

Victoria looked around. There were enough men rushing about that they nearly bumped into each other. She smirked. “Looks pretty relaxed to me. One would wonder if you guys never did this before.”

“One would be right.” Carlos ran his hand over his head. “I can tell you, it’s pretty intense down here and this crew is getting nervous. Some think we’re not ready to launch … which I personally don’t understand. We’ve been checking and rechecking systems for a while now. But fear of change rules, I suppose.”

“I guess so.” Victoria clasped her hands behind her back. “How long to finish the preflight checks?”

“Our part will be done in an hour. You’ll need to speak to Derringer about his part.” Carlos was referring to Lieutenant Nicolas Derringer, the primary pilot of the Leviathan. He’d be on the bridge, working through his own set of challenges. “I’m not sure what his process is for launch.”

Victoria smiled. “I’m aware. I’ll head up there now. If you need anything, let me know right away. I want to be ready as soon as possible. When Captain Miller gets here—”

“Yeah, I know,” Carlos interrupted. “He’ll be pushing hard to get into space. And I’m with him. This situation’s creepy.