More To The Story Part 1

Posted on Sun Oct 20th, 2019 @ 6:55pm by Laurier Cami & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein & Jeassaho Kea (*)

Mission: Mission 10 - Temperance
Location: USS Temperance, Main Engineering
Timeline: MD04 11:25
1650 words - 3.3 OF Standard Post Measure

"Spooky." Cami murmured as she poked her head around the desolate and unfamiliar Engineering section of the Temperance. She'd given up trying to stop getting covered in dust and dirt, instead getting stuck straight in to taking things apart and checking them over for significant damage. "The coil assemblies all check out. Minor scoring on the injectors themselves but nothing we couldn't tidy up." She emerged from beneath the towering warp core to look over at Jea. "I can't see why we couldn't get this thing back up and running. How are we for dilithium crystals?"

Jeassaho looked at the matrix calculating what was there. "More than enough for us to get anywhere we want to." The woman was not surprised at all by how much was there at all. This ship was a ship of war that had gone missing in the heigh of the Dominion war so would have been prepared.

"Looks like the theta-matrix compositor is fused," Burnie chimed in, examining the dilithium re-crystallization matrix. "But I think I can scrounge up enough micro-relays from other systems to getting it working again. At least until we can find real replacement parts. We should check over the all the plasma conduits' thermal shielding and structural integrity before trying to fire her up though. Even I don't like plasma ruptures," he chuckled, "at least not when I'm standing anywhere near them."

"Thank the Prophets this isn't going to be a complete mess," Cami sighed, pulling her loose hair back and rearranging it into a proper ponytail. "Although I'd love to get into tearing this thing apart, I bet the Captain wouldn't be impressed if we started breaking his new toy on the first day."

"The new toy has been sitting abandoned for years, which would argue she's already plenty broken," Burnie replied. He was trying to be objective about it - pure cost/benefit assessment like he would made back in Starfleet - but he'd signed on in large part out of an almost romantic impulse to work on a Constitution class. On the other hand, It was his first several days aboard had shown him just how close to end-of-life she was getting. "The question is whether she's worth refitting or if it would be better to break her down for parts we can rework for the Rosie."

"And that is the million credit question. Which ship is better." Jeassaho commented as she sat on the floor to take a moment. They had been working in the dark and dust for hours they could have a moment to have a practical talk about it all.

"I like the Rosie. Though I'm not attached as much as most," Cami sighed. "She's got soul. And she's an engineer's delight...most of the time..."

"You were not the one dragged out of bed this morning by the shrieks of the Captain who got a cold shower," Jeassaho said from the floor with a grin as she shared something private that had happened this morning before 6 am.

"About that..." Cami commented. "You never told us how you were the one who took that call? Your quarters are on the opposite side of the ship. You haven't been...you know...have you?" she winked.

The woman just held up her hand to show her wedding finger and the band on it. It was an ongoing thing that no one really believed she was married to the Captain because no one had been at the shot gun wedding as it was described.

"Still playing with that old thing?" Cami chuckled. "Tell her to stop pretending, boss. None of us are buying it."

"What's there to buy?" Burnie asked, somewhat confused. After all, when he'd first met Jeassaho and the Captain, they had certainly looked like a couple. If he hadn't noticed the ring until now ...well, that didn't mean much. Neither jewelry nor social clues where high on the list of things he noticed.

"Making us all believe she and the Captain are hitched. I'm sure she's trying to prank us." Cami sealed the assembly core back up and rubbed her tools clean on her coveralls. "What did the boys call it? 'Vegas wedding'?"

"I do not even know what that means," Jeassaho announced with a small grin at the teasing. She had been at the tail end of it for six months. She just nodded and went along with it when she got to go home and snuggle up in bed with Reuben.

"A quick, impulsive wedding - at least by earth standards," Burnie supplied. "But, hey, there's a lot of ways to wind up married on other worlds - sometimes even if you had no idea it was happening - so if you say you're married, I believe you."

"Nothing impulsive about me and Reuben," Jeassaho assured poking her tongue out at Cami. She knew they were all teasing her because the Captain did not comment on it at all. He just ignored it all, feeling to keep things private.

"'Me and Reuben', now..." Cami chuckled. "It's cute, it really is. So, miss inside-woman, what's Reuben's take on our find? Is he planning something new?"

Jeassaho grinned over her shoulder looking at Cami. If it was anyone else, stuff other than rags would have been flung at her but the woman was just to adorable. "I do not know I am been with you find folks for the last few days." The woman admitted truthfully. She really did not know what was in her husband's mind at the moment. "I guess it all depends on what we find."

"Speaking of which," Burnie said, hoping to redirect the conversation. "We should document everything we find over here - something that be compiled into a list of what works, what needs only simple repairs to work, what would be off-line longer term, and what would need to be scrapped and replaced."

"I vote Jea, as Captain's Wife, takes that job," Cami suggested, shooting another grin at her colleague. It wasn't that she really cared who did it, but it had become too fun for the girls in Engineering to tease their new boss.

"Fine... Fine," Jeassaho stood up and grabbed a PADD taking the hint to get back to work. "I will start on the list. Okay, so where do we want to start first? Big, small or busted?" She wondered turning as something was knocked over further into the gloom. She held up a flashlight to try and see what has caused the noise.

"Generally I'd start with busted," Burnie said, moving over to look along the light in the direction of the noise. "But maybe we should start with that."

"You heard the noise too right?" Jeassaho wondered reaching for the phaser that had brought along. She was not married to a former security Chief for nothing.

Burnie nodded in reply. He hadn't brought a phaser, but he shifted a laser welding torch into his hand. "Something might have just come loose and fallen, but... is there anyone else aboard right now?"

"Yeah, but they should not be in this area. Hello!" The Betazoid asked looking at the weapons her collegues had grabbed seeing she was the only one with something proper so stepped forward.

Cami hefted a heavy handheld tool from her belt defensively, eying the darkness for movement. "Maybe it was a Kantzi," she said. "We used to have them all the time on old Bajoran transports. Like little space-rodents. Get everywhere, eat everything..."

"Maybe." Jeassaho agreed as she took a few steps closer trying to see what had caused the noise. Once she was at the canister she shook her head. "Nothing is here." She murmured not at all convinced that it was a Kantzi or something as mundane.

Burnie set aside the welding torch in favor of a tricorder. "No life signs but us," he noted, after scanning. "But this ship has been sitting here idle for years. People moving around and cycling old systems could easily knock some things loose."

"Perhaps," Jeassaho commented putting down the weapon she had putting it back on the counter making a note to do it pointedly so everyone saw where it was. She turned to the other two. "So where were we?" She wondered picking up the PaDD to start taking note again.

"Engines, dilithium, any potential safety issues that need to be addressed before attempting to restart the warp core," Burnie replied, using the excuse of getting back to business to try to shake off the creepy feeling that something was watching.

Cami shrugged, stowing her tools for the moment. "There's crystals in the core, deuterium in the pods, and the injectors look intact. I guess we just need to make sure the containment field isn't going to trip out on us at the wrong moment."

Jeassaho stayed quiet as she listened to what was being said so she could write it down. She glanced back to the darkness that was pretty much all around them. She could not shake the feeling that someone had been there observing them and had made the noise, it was freaking her out but she kept the expression off of her face. There was so need to scare everyone else.

"We need to be sure of more than that," Burnie reminded them. "Like I said, matrix compositor needs replaced and we need to be sure the plasma conduits are sound. There are some checks to run through too. This ship was abandoned, and while there was a lot chaos after the war," he glanced around. "I've got a feeling there was more to it than that."

OFF::

Michael 'Burnie' Burnstein
Chief Engineer
SS Mary Rose

Lieutenant Commander (LOA) Jeassaho Kea
Engineer
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Gregnol)

Laurier Cami
Engineer
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Ford)