Bounded Engineer

Posted on Thu Jan 2nd, 2025 @ 9:56pm by Captain Rueben Gregnol & Chief Armoury Rormu Yazlin

Mission: Shackles
Location: The Coterie
Timeline: Many Months Ago
3165 words - 6.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Mina hated that she was always the one who had to go and feed the prisoners after the moons went down. The others said it was because she was the bravest among them, but she knew it was not true. She was not brave; she just could not stand the thought of letting them starve. The ship had been stranded on an unknown planet for four long months, and in that time, survival had become a daily struggle. The once-proud crew had dwindled, some lost to the initial crash, others to their change in standing. The ship was barely functional, a broken shell of its former self. They were all trapped here, bound together by desperation and the faint hope of rescue that grew dimmer with each passing day.

The prisoners were kept in the ship’s lower compartments, chained up in the very bonds they had once used on their captives. Most were silent, beaten down by the endless monotony, hopelessness and the realisation they were no longer in charge. But one of them was different. She had once been a member of the crew, before the mutiny. Now, she was a prisoner, but even in chains, she had found a way to make herself useful. She was the only one who spoke, who offered advice on how to keep the ship running, how to make the rations stretch just a little bit further, and how to survive. Some of the others resented her for it, but Mina listened. She knew that without her knowledge, they might not have made it this far.

“I have your food,” she announced, holding up the small, pitiful portion she had brought. Her voice echoed off the cold metal walls, sounding too loud in the silence.

Shairo stepped forward as much as the chains would allow, the dull grey metal was now almost blending in with her soot covered green skin. "Thank you." She avoided eye-contact with whom she had started to consider her keeper, a matter of respect and admitting her superior in her culture. "How are the repairs to the replicator coming along? Have you been able to find a suitable replacement for the broken isolinear rod?" She used her dirty blackened fingers to scoop up a bit of the paltry meal she was offered. Either they were being unnecessarily cruel to their prisoners, something that would probably be understandable seeing the circumstances, or the replicators were a far cry from being repaired. Among the others in the holding cell there had been talk about how long it would take them to resort to cannibalism.

"They are coming along," Mina explained as she heard a voice from another cell further along that was cackling at how thick they were to not be able to replace a simple issue like the replicator and that they should be let out to help. "I have another area of the ship to look in after I finish here." She added ignoring the mocking voice. She knew she had no technological expertise but she was trying at the very least to get something working. Her planet had been around fishing and the oceans not machines that provided food at the touch of a button.

"I'd probably be of more help if you let me physically inspect the damages." Shairo offered, putting another bite of the skimpy meal in her mouth. "imagine how much easier life would be if the replicator was running again." She could dream replicator schematics, back in her parents' bar it was basically all she repaired. She offered her shackled hands, to request being released.

"You know we can't. It has to go to vote." The woman commented as she took several steps back. She might be the only one who came in to make sure anyone left who had captured them did not die she was not the one who was in charge they all had a vote.

"Imagine what the rest would think of you if you fixed their food supply problem? The crash might have gotten it bad, but I'm sure I can have it up an running before anyone even realises." Shairo pressed a bit, she just needed to get out of this damp hole in the ground. At least, it felt like a hole in the ground from which there was no escape. Just some fresh air, that's all she really wanted. She wasn't even planning on making a run for it, or betray the trust. Just fix the replicator so that everyone could enjoy reconstituted proteins.

"I will ask." Mina said firmly as she disappeared back out the door. She was gone an hour or so before she came back carrying a weapon. "You get to come out to look the thing over and find an isolinear rod." She did not feel she needed to add and if you betray me I will use the weapon.

Shairo stepped forward a bit to eagerly. She barely registered the weapon that the woman carried. "Yes, of course. I'll fix it for us." She smiled, looking back at the others still in the cells. She wasn't overly fond of most of them, and she knew that involving more people in this would only increase the risk of an incident. Incidents is what would get people dead. So there was to be no incident. "Let me know where you want me to go." She knew how to find the offending replicator unit, but she wanted to make sure that this alien woman was fully in control of the situation.

"In front." Mina indicated waiting until she was in front of her and she shoved the cell doors closed. "You know where you are going." Mina followed holding the weapon tightly. She had no idea if it would work but the other woman did not need to know that.

Had there been any indication of the weapon not working, Shairo would surely have missed it. She had a strong dislike for firearms, and the only reason she had been on the ship in the first place is because the Captain was the husband of some distant cousin or something. She held up her hands slightly, to indicate they were empty and that she meant no harm. "Alright, follow me then, I guess." She looked over her shoulder. "It was Mina, right? My name is Shairo." They had exchanged pleasantries, but it was never a bad idea to remind your captor of the fact that you were an actual person, with a name, family, hopes and dreams. "It was just going to be a short apprenticeship for me. I've already been on this planet longer than I was on the ship prior to it."

Mina cocked her head to the side as she realised that the other woman had been onboard less time than she had been. That had to be some bad luck on her part, to say the least, to end up on the metal vessel to then crash land on it especially as the one meant to be fixing. "Mina..." She repeated back adjusting the pronoucation just a little. "What did you do before ship?"

"My parents own a bar on Freecloud, my siblings and I all were expected to work there. I wasn't much of a waitress so I started doing maintenance stuff. Replicators, holo suites, light fixtures, that sort of stuff." She made her way through the corridor, feeling slightly disoriented from the crooked orientation of the crashed vessel. "I wanted to find a place away from home, so I wouldn't be forced to work for basically room and board."

Mina stopped and looked at the older woman. "I have no idea what any of that means. What is holo suites?" The woman demanded quietly. She could relate a little to being your own person. It had been why she had been out and about when the green ones had come in the first place.

"Eh. Yeah." Shairo thought about that for a moment, coming to a standstill herself when her guide and guard no longer seemed to keep moving. "It's entertainment. Like a story you can be a part of. The holo suite is the place where you go to play in that story. It's basically light and stuff all around you and it lets you see things that aren't really there." That was only going to confuse things even more, but there was no other way to describe that.

Mina raised an eyebrow but nodded. "It sounds complicated. No idea why you would have wanted species from simple planets when you have all of that." She wondered thoughtfully as she thought about the entertainment on her planet. It had been simple sports, cards and board games nothing as fancy as light and things not there.

"I.." Shairo averted her eyes, ashamed of what her species was most well known for, and what turned out to be the true nature of the vessel she had been pressured to join by her family. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for what the crew of this ship did to you."

Mina looked at her and nodded. She truly believed that the woman did feel that. "I accept it but I do not know if anyone else will or care." She said gently as the shouts of the remaining green folks disappeared and the pair were left in the dark and silence as they searched out the isolinear rod. "But you will need to make a choice soon whether you survive or die and I do not believe that you are able to make that choice yet."

"It seems like a very poor deal for me," Shairo was aware that the alternative was much much worse, and the group had been very clear on how they were going to follow through on the threats. Most of her former crew had already passed as a result of untreated trauma. Only a handful of them remained and she was by far in the best shape. So long as they kept giving her food she'd be fine. "there's no way that a trial will be fair, and I'm sure that after going through it all there's still a non-zero chance that the sentence would be death. I might be better of taking my chances out there in the jungle." Of course, even if they were going to banish her there was no guarantee there wouldn't be at least one of the survivers that wouldn't hunt her down to exact their revenge.

“You will not come to harm from me if you achieve the fixing and find a isolinear rod. The jungle is not safe.” Mina assured. They had not seen anything but she had heard yelping and howling. It was strange sounds compared the noises she was used to from the ocean. “A trial would not be fair you are correct.” Mina winced as the darkness got thicker.

Throught the darkness and skewed perspective they had made their way to the operations offices, Shairo had banked on the fact that in operations there was a need for a lot of computing power, which in turn meant more isolinear rods. Biggest chance of finding one still intact, short of the bridge or Engineering, which both had been hit pretty hard by the mutiny and subsequent crash. In the small office she made her way to the far corner, a wall panel that still seemed intact was her best bet. "I'm going to open this panel, it might need some force." She looked at the stembolts keeping things in place and used the limited engineering kit she had been allowed to carry along to unbolt them. The panel didn't budge. Not surprisingly seeing that the entire super structure of the vessel had collided with the ground. She stood back up and gave it a swift tactical application of percussion engineering with the steel toe of her boot. It clattered off the wall loudly. "Sorry! Sorry. Sorry. I did say. It's distorted. Sorry."

Thirty seconds it took for Myoporulin to rush down the corridors and find the source of the loud noise. They weren't salvaging this part of the ship yet so it had immediately set off his instincts, knowing that Mina had been underway with a prisoner to try and repair some sort of food provision tech. He stepped into the room, rifle raised, ready to end the attempt at escape from the duplicitous green skinned alien. "Don't move! Hand where we can see them!"

It took Mina a few seconds to realise why Myoporulin had rushed into the compartment and the ocean woman stepped in front of the engineer holding up her hands up in a peaceful gesture trying to get between her friend and the engineer. “Whoa whoa stop!” She yelled trying to explain what was happening. “She was trying to get the cover off.”

Shairo immediately ducked and put her hands up. She was not about to be shot in the back trying to help these people get their food replicators up and running. She kept quiet though, not wanting to get between Mina and this other person that just rushed in.

“What? Cover?” Myoporulin leaned to the side trying to catch sight of the Orion engineer now ducked behind Mina. “Keep a close eye on that one, they are duplicitous.”

“But she is helping us.” Mina said firmly. She had realised quickly that you had to be authoritative with some people in their community. Firm but gentle in tone and presence. It was why she had survived the first couple of weeks and the original disaster. “The panel leads to the rod that will fix the food. I was in no danger.” She indicated her own weapon that had not been risen other than in warnings threats.

Myoporulin leaned a bit further into the room, “Make it quick, you need to be back in your cage before dusk.”

Dusk. It was weird how such a normal word could evoke such a strong emotion. Shairo hadn’t seen daylight for as long as they had crashed there. Held in the holding cells below decks. There weren’t portholes. She had no idea how long until daylight would go into night. When there had been no other orders or questions she looked over her shoulder, “Can I move?”

“Yes and hurry.” If that was Myoporulin’s stipulation for helping her and not shooting the engineer then Mina would go along with that. “If you are here watching, can I help her then Myo?” Mina wondered looking at the panel that was half open now but would need some more force to get it open completely.

There was a disgruntled huff from the man as he stepped into the room and slung his weapon around his shoulder. “This one?” He asked of the Orion engineer cowering behind the protection of Mina.

“Yes, that one. I’m hoping there’s some intact isolinear rods.” The isolinear rods were a must have, any additional salvageable materials would be a huge boon as well. She wasn’t holding out too much hope though. The ship was in pretty bad shape, and lady luck hadn’t exactly been on her side since she joined the crew.

With some exertion the panel came off and Myoporulin stepped aside with it in his hands revealing a tangle of wires and chips.

“Would you mind giving me some light?” Shairo looked back at Mina again.

Mina raised an eyebrow at Myoporulin but chose not to comment on the fact he had just ripped something metal open with bare hands. She held up the torch to shine more light into the space and nodded. “Light all ready.” She declared calmly.

With the extra light Shairo was able to quickly work her way through the tangled mess of cables. “Thanks, that helps a lot.” She leaned in, pushing her hand through and reaching for the rack that held the isolinear rods near the back. An exposed wire connected with her skin, sending a jolt of electricity through her. “Seven Moons!” The swear was neatly translated by the Universal Translator but probably made no sense to people outside of Orion culture. “At least we know there’s still power.” She shook her hand trying to make the tingling sensation stop.

“I guess we do.” Mina frowned at the words that came out of the other woman’s mouth as she felt the static in the air. “You good? Are there any rods?” She checked knowing that it must have hurt for there to be such a shout of surprise.

“I think so, yes.” Shairo still waved her hand a bit, flexing it into a fist and releasing to try and get the sensation back to a point where she was confident she could use it again for disconnecting the isolinear rods. “Might be more than one, too. Which is great news.” She hunched back down and reached inside, making sure to avoid the live wire this time. After a minute or so she reemerged with three rods in hand. Holding them up triumphantly before realising in the light that one of them was cracked. “Oh well, two out of three ain’t bad.” She dropped the broken one to the floor. It was of no use to them.

“How long will that last?” The woman demanded thinking they could grab more if they only had a limit life span.

Shairo thought on that question a bit, under ideal circumstances in a space born vessel it could last years, decades even. But they were on a crashed vessel, subject to the elements. There were simply too many variables that could mess things up much sooner than that. "This particular part? A decade? Maybe more with proper maintenance."

“Good. Let’s go for them and we can tell what you have done for us all today to the others.” Mina glanced to her other companion and offered a smile. “Thank you for coming to check I was not being hurt.” She said now that the action was over and they had the chance to survive a little longer she wanted to at least acknowledge her bodyguard.

"Don't thank me just yet, from the descriptions you gave this seemed to be the issue, but we won't know for sure until we've installed this part and tested the replicator." Shairo immediately started to manage expectations. The isolinear rod was the most likely cause of the malfunction, but then again the vessel had unceremoniously become closely intertwined with the planet's underbrush.

Myoporulin nodded stepping back out into the corridor. "If this one creates food for us, there might be hope for it yet." With that he walked away back to his guard post.

Shairo swallowed a lump in her throat at that ominous declaration. "Well then, shall we get you some fresh plomeek soup?" She waved the isolinear rod a bit and smiled uncomfortably.