Melting Point

Posted on Tue May 3rd, 2022 @ 1:05am by Delaney O'Callaghan & Curtis Vaan
Edited on on Tue May 3rd, 2022 @ 1:09am

Mission: Mission 15: Adrift
Location: Cargo Bay
Timeline: MD 01, 0024 hours
3221 words - 6.4 OF Standard Post Measure

"You know if you stare at it, it won't boil. Or, in this case, miraculously start accepting input."

It was, at least by a lot of the crew's requirements, fast approaching a time where bunking down for the night would be the most sensible choice. With most of them shunted into one area of the ship, the notion of shift rotations only really applied to several key focuses and it was generally less strain on provisions and their emergency power supply to have a set period where everything went into shut-down. Delaney found the notion a little ironic; shutting down wasn't actually something they were struggling with right now, after all.

But what she was personally struggling with was the notion of getting any sleep whatsoever under current circumstances. She wasn't one to find sleep particularly easy to come by at the best of times, and a room full of worried and injured people didn't encourage her to relax and attempt to drift off. Avoidance had seen her arrive at the realisation that she'd not seen Curtis for a while, and promptly assigning herself the task of finding him, had fashioned an excuse to stay upright and mobile whilst most others were slowly moving to claim sleeping cots. It hadn't taken her more than a few minutes; he was right where she'd last seen him, and she was reasonably sure he'd probably not left. Hands on her hips, Delaney tilted her head to the side to regard her friend. "Have you tried hitting it with a spanner?"

"Have I tried hitting you with a spanner?" he retorted, pretending to throw one of his tools at her. With his other hand he rubbed a tired eye. "Smarty-pants comments aren't going to help me fix anything." He was definitely over-tired and under-caffeinated. But that hadn't stopped him so far; with the ship in proverbial pieces, the work was important.

"No," Delaney replied agreeably, "but neither is lying on your back for hours on end without eating. At this rate, you're going to end up trying to sleep under a console and I don't think I'm allowed to allocate bedding outside the dormitory section." Undaunted, she crossed to crouch beside him. "Anything yet?"

"Sleeping under a console is not the worst way to spend the night," he said. "One day I'll tell you about how I fell asleep in the holomatrix of this old place on Freecloud. Woke up to a Deltan couple-" he paused, screwing his face up a little. "On second thought, I won't tell you that story." He flipped the tool in his hand, missed the catch, and watched it clatter to the floor. "It's a hopeless job," he finally said. "Automation systems are pretty fried, and the connections in here aren't going to do the trick. So we're stuck."

Delaney's expression shifted subtly from sly intrigue, the kind that normally always meant her excruciatingly selective memory wasn't going to forget that story in a hurry, to the faint furrow she always ended up wearing around the Risian. She liked Curtis. Technically, Delaney liked most people, but they shared a love of something deeply important to both of them and he was actually better at it than her, which was all the motivation Delaney needed. But he was a pessimist at times, and it clashed with her stubborn optimism. "So how do we get unstuck?"

"A drydock and a few weeks deep engineering work?" he offered. "Honestly, it's not really a problem I can fix anymore. It needs a mechanical engineer, not a systems one." He shrugged helplessly. It wasn't his bag anymore. Without a working computer, his skills were worth precisely nothing in this situation. He fell back onto the deck, facing upwards. "Any bright ideas?"

"You mean aside from my spanner technique?" The quip took Delaney across the rest of the space so that she could ease herself to sit nearby, legs crossed. An outstretched hand reached for the tool in question and she flipped it, caught it, and then did it again. "To be honest, I kind of got the feeling our options are slowly narrowing to become 'find outside help' or 'stop requiring oxygen'. Is there really no way to send some kind of distress call?"

"Communications bay is two decks down. Even if we could get there, we have no computer. It'd be next to impossible. And while we might be directly underneath the computer core, the automation systems run out of Engineering and the Bridge, so no luck there either." He blew a raspberry. "At this point, trying not to breathe is probably easier. What am I meant to do for the next few days without a computer system? I'm like the least useful person around here."

"You're only least useful if you give up." This time, Delaney's exasperation was loud and clear, coupled with the outstretch of her boot to nudge him in the knee. "But like one of my university lecturers liked to tell us over and over and over again, if all you do is immerse yourself in a problem, you're going to go stir crazy and miss potential solutions. You're allowed to take a break," she added. "You want to come get some soup? It's not beef this time at least."

Curtis looked around the mess of wires and technology around them. "Soup sounds..." he thought about it. If he said no, she'd drag him along anyway. "Fine." He remained on his back and held out a hand into the air for her to pull him up.

A pointed deadpan wasn't enough to see Delaney refuse the assistance, though she added some unnecessary strain to her sudden, additional 'burden'. "There's brown, coffee-flavoured water too, and that grapefruit juice has come back for a second stab of killing us all." With a twirl, the redhead lead the way from the his sulking spot towards the temporary galley. Thus far, it felt like all her 'spare moments' had been spent making her friends eat. As someone who required considerable fuel to meet her energy needs, Delaney couldn't empathise with that level of personal neglect.

"So," she added, as she bypassed a second round of soup and accepted a mug of the barely-palatable coffee simply because it ought to give her a few more hours of locomotion, "if everything is dead, and you're certain that it intends to stay dead, what exactly is it that Engineering is doing again?"

"It's..." complicated, he wanted to say. But that wasn't helpful. "Like I said, if the mechanical parts of the computer systems don't work, there's not really anything I can do about the software. Think of it a bit like the computer core is the ship's brain; but this whole thing severed the automation systems - the spinal cord - so even if the brain was working properly, the signals just won't get through to the important parts of the body." Maybe that was a bit of an easier way to explain it. Then again, it felt morbid to suggest someone had snapped Rosie's metaphorical neck.

"Okay, mother dearest." There had been a time where there had been some familial hope that Delaney would follow in her mother's footsteps, and she certainly had a flare for certain aspects of Engineering that might have been the basis of a decent career had her temperament matched. One of the reasons Delaney had taken to Burnie so immediately was because he seemed to represent what she'd always suspected; you didn't have to be boring to fix things. "That doesn't explain what they're doing about it though. Someone said they're using the shuttle? Doesn't that have onboard communications? I get that they're short-ranged, but it's better than nothing."

Plopping down onto the floor, Delaney held out her mug as it sloshed a little, and continued, "For that matter, I can just fly the damn thing in a full sweep and at least see if there's someone close enough to hear. Sitting around here waiting for the air to run out is infuriating."

"I think they're turning it into a tug," he replied, sipping something hot and with a vague taste to it. "And nobody's sitting around except you," he added, pointing out that she was fond of that herself.

"Excuse me," came the immediate indignation. "I started a manual catalogue of all our supplies, and organised the depot, and retrained all essential personnel on where to find the fire extinguishers and security lockers that I already sent out a memo about but of course reading is too hard, and helped Cassie distribute hygiene kits, and crawled through the pitch black dark several decks to rescue Ford's high and mighty Starfleet friend today. I would gladly add 'flying a shuttle to broadcast a distress signal' if anyone would actually let me."

He finally let himself laugh. She'd taken the bait, for sure. It was a sweet release to find the funny side of something. "All that on weak-ass coffee and adrenaline. Sounds like you're ready for an all-nighter too, then," he postulated. He figured sleep wasn't going to come with the number of things that had gone wrong in the last couple of hours. If she was anything like he was, then there would be too much in her head for sleeping.

"Oh, I'll be lucky to sleep ever. A room full of people like this? No chance." Grimacing at the bitterness of her next sip, Delaney screwed up her face and then gulped several more times just to half-empty the mug. Her initial resolve to stay away from coffee and deal with the withdrawal early on had evaporated swiftly once the day had stretched on. "Though we're going to reach a point where there's nothing much left to do other than maintain the systems we've put in place. Let's hope someone packed the poker stuff."

"Without a holoemitter my skills are limited in that regard," he shrugged. And he definitely wasn't the sort to instigate something to the same extent she was. "Must be something around here we can improvise with. Even if it's telling bad jokes over worse coffee."

"We could host a blanket fort building competition." For a moment, her sarcasm backfired; that actually sounded kind of fun. "Or a karaoke competition. It's a shame Ford declared the lounge off-limits." There wasn't any power to make use of the sound system anyway, and an intoxicated crew were probably only liable to complicate things. Still, at some point it was surely considered wasteful to just leave all the bottles in the refrigeration unit to reach room temperature and spoil.

"The bad jokes don't seem such a terrible idea now," he said, cringing at the thought of a drunken singalong. He motioned to the part of the shelter where most of the crew were bunking down for the night. "Can't imagine people will appreciate being woken up by a rendition of Walking on Sunshine."

"You're just worried because you're a cheap drunk." It was a vague and unjust hypocrisy; Delaney wasn't exactly the most accomplished at holding her booze either. "But if we end up on oxygen rations, I definitely don't want to be dealing with a hangover." Glancing around the space, Laney considered the huddled shapes, interspersed with the occasional snort or rattled snore, and frowned. "Can't even work on programming assets for this pirate adventure," she mused, starting to properly consider just how restrictive their entertainment options were going to be. "All my scripts are digital."

He thought about that for a moment, grabbing a couple of utensils from the food prep area, then held out a hand for her to get up. "Come here."

For most of her life, those two words had been all the impetus Delaney had needed to make some pretty dubious decisions without much thought for consequence. All that pre-existing experience did absolutely nothing to stop her grabbing his hand and letting him yank her upwards.

He pulled Delaney back through the small passageway back to the empty Impulse Drive room they had come from earlier.

"All right." He tossed her a spork. "You might not be able to write the script digitally, but I can help you finish writing the story." He raised the spoon in his own hand with a swashbuckling flair. "Come on, where are you up to? What's my motivation?"

A slow smile at least permitted momentary amusement at the idea, even if the lack of recording equipment was a major inconvenience. "Okay, so, I promised Lei' his own starring role and, since I was already part-way through a script, we're kind of working on an idea that will allow the story to be told from various viewpoints." It was, as far as a lot of Delaney's previous projects had gone, quite an adventurous idea. Mimicking his pose, she wielded her spork with a flourish and continued, "On the one hand, we have our dashing, reckless sea captain; Lei's still supposed to be coming up with his name, and the name of his ship. He's a roguish sort, as these types often are, though there is something redeemable about him. Probably."

The mischief in the redhead's eyes said everything it needed to about the potential for a character based on the Betazoid to go either way. She jabbed her spork in the Risian's direction.

"His main rival is our lovely, brave, adventurous lady; once a noblewoman, now a vigilante with a crew of her own. She has a tendency to show up and shut down his mischief, continually outwits him, and makes it exceedingly difficult for the author to balance out both storylines so that there's scope for adopting either perspective to flourish." With a toss of her head, Delaney spun the spork between her fingers and made a show of slipping it onto a scabbard to stand aloft, both hands on her hips. "Both of them have a crew that needs fleshing out, and then there's our main villain who will force the pair to work together."

"Aha, so what are you thinking? Immortal undead sea captain? Rival pirate king?" he suggested, twirling the spoon and pretending to lunge with it outstretched. "Perhaps her jilted former betrothed, out seeking revenge for his humiliation?" He smirked at the idea of Delaney playing some kind of vigilante noblewoman, but played along with it all the same.

That was the beauty of script-writing; you could take the parts that sounded like you, such as crime fighting amidst the high seas, and couple it with something you'd never actually aspire to no matter how much people suggested it. Like... Well, nobody actually needed to behave like a lady anyway. "Well, here's my dilemma; with both perspectives fully established to enable the participant to choose from each, do I go further and program multiple endings? The jilted lover is an interesting angle, but is it the same character in both stories? I have this impulse," she added, "to create an indomitable, nefarious, infamous character, almost like a legend come to life, and then have them show up to wreck absolute havoc." Delaney quirked an eyebrow. "I just haven't figured out how to ask Kali's permission to use her as a character yet."

Curtis almost dropped the spoon laughing at the idea. He put his hand on one knee, begging for a moment to catch his breath with almost a tear in his eye.

"Oh man. I think she might actually like that idea!" he laughed. "Although to be honest, given the way you're such a bad influence on my life, I wonder if you should volunteer for that role yourself. Got the whole 'chaotic evil' thing going on already..."

He got a spork thrown at him. "Name one time I have ever lead you astray!"

"Oh I don't know, walking me back into that deathtrap of a holoship. Tricking me into a basketball game that ended up with everyone getting soaked," he said, recoiling from the thrown implement. "Now here I am pretending to be a dastardly pirate for you while all around us is falling to pieces."

"Firstly, I was a last-minute addition to that group and it wasn't my idea to force you back over there. I even asked," Delaney added, with exaggerated haughtiness, "if it was something you felt up to. I would have backed you up if you threw a tantrum and refused. And, Spork Boy, I'm pretty sure this conversation was your doing. Though," Delaney added, "I guess the basketball thing is fair enough. I don't know what you're complaining about though, I'm the one that got saturated." She grinned suddenly. "And Beya flirting with you was cute."

He made a slightly pouting face. "I don't know what you're talking about." Inwardly he would probably admit Beya was cute, but then again, Rosie was full of cute women. Most of whom he figured he would never stand a chance with. Better to stick to your lane, he figured. "You're changing the subject," he added, poking at her with the spoon. "Now that I have defeated you, pirate wench, I claim my prize!"

"I do not recognise defeat!" Big surprise. "And you absolutely know what I'm talking about." Delaney paced to the side, having de-sporked herself and left her only available option to circle him in hopes of picking it up again. "In case you hadn't figured it out already, tickling isn't a typical basketball strategy."

"Don't think I don't know your game," he retorted, a mix of in-character shenanigans and honesty coming out. "Your plans will never succeed..."

"Oh, you have no idea how deep my machinations run." Or would run, now that she had a direct need to invent some in a hurry. Delaney wasn't necessarily the type to plot and plan when it came to matchmaking; at best, she could be counted upon to state, 'you two would make such a cute couple' at the most awkward time. Still, buoyed by developments in her own private life, she felt somewhat magnanimous. Creeping, crouching, she circled around and then stretched out to snatch up her spork again. "Failure is not in my vocabulary."

"In that case-" Curtis moved to lunge again, only to trip over his own downed-tools and topple to the deck in a heap. He lay there still for a second, catching his breath. "I meant to do that," he said. "Do you think if I just lay here I might fall asleep?"

Having already dissolved into laughter at his expense, Delaney eventually moved to stand over him, going as far as to lay a boot on his stomach in triumphant hunter pose. "If you're tired, go claim a cot. You want me to go see where Beya is bunking down?" She whirled, striding with purpose back into the main area. Of course, it was possible she was bluffing but leaving that to chance where Delaney was concerned was risky.

"At this point I'm too tired to care," he said, giving up any semblance of resistance. "Do what you want, boss. I'm done for one night."

From beyond the threshold, Delaney's voice carried just loud enough to be a minor annoyance. "Challenge accepted!"