Lines In The Sand

Posted on Sun Aug 18th, 2019 @ 3:02pm by Alika Mahone & Captain Rueben Gregnol

Mission: Mission 9 - Daucina
Location: Deck 3 - Mess Hall
Timeline: MD 07 14:00
1162 words - 2.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Rueben was the only one in the mess hall apart from the cook behind the hot plate which was fine by him. The cook was looking annoyed as the Captain was eating so late but who was the man to argue with him. He wanted a little silence with his meal, it was something he got often and he appreciated it even more. He took a sip of the coffee before he started to look into the items they needed to buy from the scrap yard that they hadn’t found so far in the pile of parts that had been delivered from the scrap yard that Robinson had been dealing with. A lot of it was items they needed as spares or were in need of to replace parts. The man glanced up as the door opened but didn’t bother to see who came in as he returned to the PaDD.

Alika didn't even so much as say hello by the time she made her way through the mess hall, plopping herself down across from him. She gave a slight wave to the poor chef, who seemed more grumbly than happy to see anyone in his mess hall, before loudly clearing her throat and declaring her presence to Rueben.

The Captain looked up and sighed but gave no other outward sign that he wasn't happy with the presence that was being declared. "Hello." He finally said over the mug of coffee he was drinking.

"Uh, yeah hi. What the heck? What happened to the ship? She looks like she's about to crumble at any moment. She's old, but she wasn't in this much disrepair when I left." Alika gave a huff. "It's a good thing I found Melli when I did. Sucks what happened to your last guy, but I feel like this ship just has an engineer problem."

"We've had a few issues." The man commented on. He put the mug down and looked her over. Rosie might be falling apart but he couldn't deny she had been a fun ride while she lasted. "And ships aren't designed to cross dimensions or be sabotaged."

"Didn't stop any of those other Starfleet ships from doing it. And making it out. And I know this Connie's got the same specs. She's just old." Alika leaned in all conspiratorially. "I bet you between myself and your security guy, we can get the right parts for this thing. Fix 'er up the way she deserves."

Gregnol took in a deep breath and looked around. "I think she might be past that point she's over a hundred years old." The man commented on sadly. The ships that had travel dimensions were top of the line for the time. They had been brand new not on the fifth or sixth life.

"And no ship's supposed to last that long." Alika pressed, now leaning back and slumping in the seat. She honestly expected a little more out of this conversation, that simply marching right up and demanding would have gotten him a bit all up in arms. But it didn't. There was a brief moment of her wondering what may have happened to cause such a lack of Russian anger, but it went away when she snapped her fingers. "So what about you, you old fart? You're not too tired to go around again, are you?"

The man looked up and Alika shaking his head. He couldn't help but agree with her, Rosie had just been through too much in the last year. "I am not too tired but I think the ship is. The ship wasn't meant to last that long at all." The man admitted softly. Gregnol wasn't afraid to admit he was at the end of the line possibly.

"Alright, so how we gonna go about fixing that?" Alika said with a huff. "We gonna invoke your Starfleet connections? I know you've still got some. No one Starfleet truly leaves Starfleet. Just look at my brother. He was a civilian for a bit, but now he runs a Starfleet colony."

"Yes, your brother. The man who kidnapped my ship." Gregnol said sitting back in his chair to look at her properly. He didn't know what he was going to do in regards to the ship, it was a frustrating a situation and one that he needed advice on. He wasn't an Engineer at all, he could surmise the damage but he needed to know the fall story of his ship.

Alika let out a laugh, shaking her head. "No no, you can send a hail to - oh what's it called... Haumea. He's in the middle of a pile of messy paperwork right now. I heard there was a crashed starship and everything. Whoever hijacked your ship must have just been whoever that was from the other reality."

Rueben looked at the woman pointedly. "One of these days you are going to have to speak the truth and explain to me what really happened to bring you here." The man wasn't going to call her out on it but one day he would understand everything that had happened leading up to the kidnapping of his ship.

"Is that before or after you come out and tell me which part of Starfleet you're still tethered to?" Alika asked nonchalantly. There was a small smile on her lips as she stretched out and upward. "We've got our secrets, and maybe one day you'll know mine. All you've gotta know now is that the right people are in the right places, and I'm only here to help you."

Reuben shrugged, he wasn't exactly tethered to any part of Starfleet but they were tethered to him following like a lost little puppy. "I hope you are Alika because you betray me or anyone on this ship I will toss you out an airlock myself. I am not letting anyone hurt anyone on here again." The man said rising from his stupor as if he had been suddenly hit over the head and looked at her carefully.

There was a moment of shock on Alika's face, as if she hadn't expected quite that level of severity. After all they had been through, this was what he came back with. "Might I remind you who managed to get your asses out of that fire using a shuttle and a stolen device that I had no business having. But yeah, sure. You just go ahead and act as cut-throat as they do. I'll be sure to watch my back, Boss." She peppered her last comment with a touch of venom, before standing up, eyes narrowing. Her mouth opened, as if she were going to say something else, before she shook her head. "Catch ya on the flip side, Captain."

OFF::

Reuben Gregnol
Captain
SS Mary Rose

Alika Mahone
'Consultant'
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Uhin)