Agriculture in space had required an intuitive leap for humankind. They had eventually found several planets with their own naturally occurring atmosphere that supported plant growth, but none of them were inside the solar system, and they'd been abandoned for the most part when humankind had withdrawn behind the light wall.
There had been an attempt to terraform Mars on a scale large enough to mass produce agriculture, but any attempt to manipulate the atmosphere around the entire planet had ended in disaster. However, it had resulted in the accidental creation of several new species of plants.
There'd been a similar attempt on Venus, but that planet's atmosphere now held the record as the most hostile environment ever encountered by humankind in space. The giant terraforming engines that had been dropped on the surface from space hadn't even made it through their initial startup BITs before they'd begun to melt, and years later, they were still nothing more than puddles of metal and chemicals that were too hot and too dangerous to touch. Nothing could survive the atmosphere of Venus without an energy shield.
Mars had failed because, as it turned out, attempting to change the atmosphere of an entire planet was stupid unless the planet was small enough that you could enclose it in a giant metal bubble and prevent any kind of outside interference.
After failing with Mars and Venus, humankind had given up on terraforming an entire planet and had instead focused on paraterraforming. Creating smaller enclosed habitats inside hostile environments that were easier to maintain and control. Not that they never failed, they had an average success rate of seventy-three out of a hundred tries and could be up and running in half a decade. There were eight of them across the surface of Mars, and travel between them required either a shuttlecraft or a pressurized vehicle. The largest was generally considered the Mars Colony proper and was where eighty percent of the population resided.
It was a super colony by definition, with a population of just over seven million. The other seven paraterraforming colonies were all agricultural, with hundreds of thousands of acres devoted to potatoes, wheat, corn, apples, and stone fruits. They also produced lab-grown beef and poultry in high quantities, but the quality was much lower.
With the majority of the population moved off Earth and laws in place to ensure Earth sustained only minimal industrialization, most of the land had returned to rural agricultural and nature preserves. Everything was treated and cured off-planet for storage and travel, even what was eventually returned to Earth for consumption.
Earth still produced the most nutritious and sought-after food, including fruit and beef, and places like the Ice Palace paid an exorbitant amount of credits to import food across half the solar system.
It was worth it, though. All the farming they'd managed to do in the paraterraforming colonies had failed to produce the fatty, marbled meats Earth did. Nothing else could make a burger so juicy that it dripped down your chin or over your fingers.
"Oh my stars," Brandi moaned, mouth full of half-chewed beef, cheese, and fried tomato. "This is so good."
"Chew with your mouth closed, please." Aiko sighed and took a bite of her salmon burger.
Predictably, Brandi proceeded to chew with her mouth wide open. Aiko narrowed her eyes and responded in kind.
"Charming." Henry rolled his eyes, the only one at the table cutting up his burger with a fork and knife. The Chief Medical Officer had chosen to join them for a meal before meeting up with a few med school friends and was already regretting it.
Daniel pointed a French fry at Aiko. "You wrote 'Chartered Characteristics of Sound Transmission in Low-Density Astrophysical Plasmas.'"
She swallowed in surprise and nearly choked. Harriman pounded her on the back until she could breathe again and managed to squeak out. "Yes, Dr. Harmony." One of the few who'd recognized him on sight when he'd boarded the Loss, she'd had a bit of a fangirl moment, according to Evan, and she'd been the only section chief who had wanted Daniel in their area.
"That was a good paper." Daniel stuffed the fry in his mouth as Aiko blushed.
"Th-thank you, Doctor!"
"No more work talk." Russo cut in before Aiko could start down the rabbit hole of Daniel's work.
Callahan snorted. "That's all we have in common."
Finley opened her mouth to argue and then shut it again when she realized she couldn't.
Evan jumps in, ever the people person. "So let's get to know one another." And then, when everyone else at the table started looking wary and searching out exits, he laughed. "Well, there's one thing we've all got in common."
It broke the ice for the most part, making them laugh, and it gets a bit easier as they toss out birthplaces, most of them on colonies, only Finley, Evan, Russo, and Callahan on Earth. Families, none of them have children, but Henry, Aiko, and Harriman are married. Beamont and Heddren are engaged. Grey and Patel both married and divorced in the year between the armistice and being picked for the Loss, and while Grey is bitter and not at all pleased that his ex is also on the Loss, Patel is clearly in it for the celebration instead of the marriage and already wants to go again.
Fraternization rules on military ships are at the discretion of the captain, provided they don't break the basic laws concerning age, consent, and bigamy. Some were so strict that any personal relationships were quickly punished with reassignments and black marks, while others turned a blind eye to any personal relationship unless it became a significant issue.
Finley tended to be relaxed so long as everyone acted like adults; if the relationship soured to the point that it came to her attention, she was quick to reassign all the parties involved.
But during the war, ship assignments had been two to three years' deployments for those below the Command Team. Certain issues ironed themselves out with those rotations.
There wouldn't be any reprieve this time. Just five years together and no relief until they made it home.
~ tbc