Electric Shocks and Future Thoughts

Posted on Tue Nov 4th, 2025 @ 6:34pm by Nollel Livaam (*) & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein

Mission: Shackles
1416 words - 2.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Nollel could not believe as she jumped out of the shuttle what she was seeing at all. How had these people survived for so long in these ruins and heat. As she looked around at the setting sun she felt the sweat already dripping as she was so used to the ships AC and the cooler temperatures in general. She turned back and grabbed up her pack shaking her head at the fact she had been called down to try and order some of the supplies and work out what they need. Nollel was not sure what they meant when she thought they could not possibly stay there being how far from home and their own species they were but who was she to comment at the moment.

"Hey," Burnie waved, smiling to see her. "Glad you're here. We're still working on finding logs, but some of them are definitely corrupted so, alternate approach: get as much information as we can from the survivors here on their home planets - sun, moons, other planets in their system, any astronomically details that we can use to try to locate where they're from," he explained. "Also how long they were on the ship between when they were taken and when it crashed. If they can even estimate that in terms of this planet's day cycle, it will narrow the search range."

Nollel looked at the man and for a moment ignored what he said and wrapped her arms around him just savouring the moment with him. After the battel with the Orions above and then below she was was just relieved to see him and be able to swap with Gregnol. "I will happily do that." She assured quietly not at all phased by how big the situation was.

He wrapped his arms around her, returning the hug. It should have been his first reaction to seeing her, but 'engineer brain' - he'd had the problem they were working on too lodged at the top of his mind. It still amazed him that he'd found a normal person like Nollel who understood and put up with it. "I am glad to see you just to see you," he offered by way of semi-apology. "We just got to know these folks pretty well, and helping them get home has been become sort of a ...mission." He gave a wry smile. "Even if Starfleet would recall me just to be able to hold a Court Martial if they knew."

“I am sure they would want to help if they knew.” The people she had met as Esquilmat seemed good decent officers and wanting to help the universe but who was she to judge. She refused to let him go for a moment. “I know your work comes first Michael.” She teased a little before she pulled back and looked around trying to not seem as emotional as she felt.

"Some of them might," he agreed, imagining Rogers' response ("Hell, yeah, let's do this!"). "It's more the higher ups, and this is Prime Directive territory I doubt even Kirk could've weaseled out of." Not that that was going to deter him in the slightest, though did wonder if Commander Drake would be willing to recommend a good JAG if it came to that. "You do come first. I just get ...kind in my head about work." He ducked his head a little, looked at her with a fond half-grin. "That siad, I'm really happy you're here to help with this."

“Leiddem told me what was going on down here but I…” she glanced around as Mina strode over to the pair and offered a smile.

“The engineer said you were the one to speak to about supplies and thing. It is Nollel right?” Mina said looking at the pair quietly.

“How did you know?” Nollel said stepping away from Michael a little more to be professional and resist the fact she wanted to just keep holding him for a little more to reassure herself.

“He said you were his life mate and unless he has two you have to be it.” Mina commented with a giggle as she looked at the man.

"Not like we were being particular subtle," Burnie said, flashing a grin at Nollel. "Nollel, this is Mina. She's become one of the leaders among the people here."

“I hug people all the time.” Nollel teased back and shook her head. “It’s a pleasure to meet you and see what you have created here.”

“Thank you, it's not much but we are survived over 1 sun cycle,” Mina said watching as the woman looked around taking in more details.

"It's more of an accomplishment than you know," Burnie said. "Especially using unfamiliar technology. If any of you have to stay with us, I know some wilderness survival instructors who might be interested in having you join them. But we're hoping we can figure out where you came from and get you back home."

“The engineer helped.” She said knowing the woman was already up in the other ship to be taken back to wherever she was from. “I would like that offer. I have learned and seen to much to go home. There is so much more I would like to see. One of your people were telling me about the waters of earth and I think I would like explore them.” Mina admitted thinking of how it was a good few hours trek to any water source for her when she had grown up on the ocean.

“There are many water worlds.” Nollel assured quietly. She did not want to push but the woman seemed to want to see the universe more and as someone who had wanted the same she could relate. “But let’s see what .. ah…” she started but pulled her hand back as the console shocked her a little and made her shake her hand.

"Are you alright?" Burnie asked, alarmed, reaching for her with one hand while shutting down the console with the other. "Sorry, I've been trying to reboot this to reconstruct the nav data, but at this point it's held together with glue and paper clips."

Nollel shook her hand again trying to get feeling back into her hand. “That hurt.” She admitted holding her hand up to see if there was any damage but there was nothing just embarrassment from being shocked. Mina watched concerned and took an extra step back to keep away.

Burnie took her hand, looking it over. He'd gotten zapped more times than he could remember over the years, and if his fingers didn't blister, it wasn't worth worrying about. But that was when it was his fingers. Not when it was Nollel. "Maybe you should have the doc take a look, just to be safe," he suggested.

“I am okay. Tougher than I look and getting this information is the priority.” Nollel said smiling at the way he took her hand. Mina smiled a little and blushed deeper blue as she watched the pair. It was adorable.

“We would not want you hurt Nollel.” Mina assured quickly.

"We would not," Burnie agreed sincerely. "I know you're tough, but I don't want you to have to be - especially with broken tech." He paused, flashed a brief grin. "That's my job." Turning to Mina, he smiled. Her interest in seeing more of the galaxy made him think of one of the old songs from his Mom's history collection 'How you gonna keep them down on the farm after they've seen Paris'. "If you decide you want to explore rather than going home, we can help with that. But I'm sure others might want to return. Could you introduce Nollel to them so she can get their information?"

“You win. I will leave the console to your delicate hands.” Nollel narrowed her eyes just a little and squeezed his hand with her throbbing hand. “Get this working when I come back please.” Nollel begged knowing she would need the information on it eventually.

"I'll put these to work, promise," he said, holding hands up and wiggling his fingers with a chuckle at having his calloused hands called 'delicate'.

Nollel just winked at him and wiggled her own fingers a lot more pointedly to check she could still feel. It would be just her luck to get injured there and then by a console. But she had a job to do and these people needed help.