A Change Malfunction

Posted on Sat Jun 25th, 2016 @ 6:49pm by Captain Rueben Gregnol
Edited on on Sat Jun 25th, 2016 @ 6:49pm

Mission: Mission 1 - Bridges
Location: Engineering
Timeline: MD 02: 22:00
928 words - 1.9 OF Standard Post Measure

::ON::

Rueben pulled out his hip flash of vodka and sat on the walkway above the warpcore looking down at the engine room. He used to spend far to much time in the Engine room, it was like a habit, he came to the room to hide from Barton. Barton wouldn’t think to come here to look for him, he would at least try the Bowling Alley or Mess hall first.

“Fancy some?” He asked the nearest crewmember as he lent his head against the railing. “I am willing to share on this one occasion.”

The El Aurian turned to the man whom had addressed him. "No, thank you," he said as flashes of his father flittered through his mind. "Never touch the stuff...messes with my implants." Which was true. Powerful as the borg were, alcohol had become his weakness since his cortical implant had been removed.

"Besides, do you honestly believe you should be drinking around here? We've got enough trouble with this artifact called a computer."

"You have no idea how much I need this... And plus Rosie likes me." He couldn't believe he was taking after Barton calling the ship Rosie. The ship wasn't an artifact just a very dignified old lady.

Rokar scoffed at the reply. "You sound like my father," he replied. "Besides, I remember when a lot of this stuff was state of the art, so trust me, we need to get this stuff upgraded. Especially if you want a properly-functional security grid."

"Implants huh?" Rueben turned look at the man properly.

The El Aurian saw how he was watching him out the corner of his eye. "Yeah. Courtesy of the Romulan's and their experiment's with Borg tech." he replied.

"Eh... What?" Rueben stood up from dangling his legs over the gangway and looked at the Engineer properly stood up. He put his hip flask back in his beaten leather jacket "Say that again my friend?"

Rokar shook his head as he turned to address the drunkard. "Its a bit complicated," he replied. "But basically, the Romulan's ran an experiment using Borg technology which then got out of hand. And when it did, they erased the memories of the survivors to understand the long-term effects of partial assimilation." He crossed his arms as he leaned against one of the bulkheads. "I was one of them."

"How... How did they get the technology?" The former Starfleet Officer had so many questions now. He had been in Borg fights, he knew they never shared, they only assimilated.

The El Aurian sighed; "From my daughter," he replied. "We were separated when the Borg assimilated our homeworld, so she was raised by my parents. When her grandmother was killed by this cult on the far-side of the Delta-quadrant, she blamed my father." He turned back to the console he'd been working on before, as images of that fateful day began to surface as his synapses fired to life, over-loading some of his less than powerful implants.

"Daughter..." Ruben wondered looking at the man confused. It looked like he wasn't the only one carrying some baggage. His eyes were wide wondering if Barton knew this man's past then again it more than likely wouldn't matter. Barton had two things he worried about - Keeping his head and making profit.

Rokar could barely hear the other man over the ringing in his ears, but he still registered everything that he said. The memories were disjointed and slightly distorted, but that didn't make them any less terrifying or painful. "Because loosing her grandmother drove her insane! As much as it pains me to say this, she got both her insanity and cruelty from my parents." Tears began to well in his eyes as leaned against the console.

"She even went so far as to torture and nearly kill her own son, just to hurt pops." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, calming himself. Now was not the time to let his past influence his actions.

"Hey man... Don't think on it. Were all running from something here." The new XO said sobering up a little as he realized that he possibly had a crying man on him.

"I'm sorry, my implants are malfunctioning again," he replied. The left side of his face began twitching as what remained of his ocular implant buzzed to life. Grasping the edge of the console, Rokar pulled a isolinear stabilizer from his belt, and held it up to his implant. Once he'd activated the tool, the twitching began to subside.

"What are you trying to fix... i might be able to help." He said trying to get the mans mind from the past.

It took him a moment to register what Ruben had said, but once he noticed the concerned look on the man's face, he felt as if he'd just frightened a puppy with worry. He couldn't wait until he could finish repairing his implants, these episodes were indeed becoming quite the issue.

"Its alright," he began; "I was just trying to install a few upgrades for my security systems."

"Now you are talking... I used to be Security before i got this gig." This would be a good opportunity to start to meet the crew and get a gage of this man and how dangerous this one might be.

"Excellent! Then you can help me set-up the security counter-measures..."


::OFF::

---

Rueben Gregnol
Executive Officer
SS Mary Rose

&

Rokar Quas,
Head of Ship Security,
SS Mary Rose