A meeting of... friends?

Posted on Mon Jul 25th, 2016 @ 3:52am by Jeassaho Kea (*)

Mission: Mission 2 - Contagion
Location: Deck 16 - Engineers Office
Timeline: MD01 23:59
1204 words - 2.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Jeassaho slowly approached the Engineering Office and giggled at the mess that greeted her. She leant against the opened door, like most of Engineering it was stuck open after they had forced it to investigate inside. They had been investigating charts for hours and it was hitting zero hundred hours. The small Betazoid stood there, her overalls tied around her waist, her tee dirty from dust and rust.

“So I couldn’t find much to eat but I did find vodka. I believe this would be the Captains stash.” She admitted thinking that them drinking it would be better for Rueben’s health. She knew how he fought his demons. She held up the half filled bottle and tin foiled food sandwiches.

Bradon looked up from the console, where he had been tracing the main power conduits for the ship. The circuitry displayed in front of him varied wildly in more than a few places from the original schematics, the see the woman he had replaced as the chief standing in his doorway.

"I have to commend you for the job you have been doing keeping this ol' girl running. And thank you, but no. Not in the mood for a drink. Can I offer you something?" he asked.

He rose and moved to one corner of his office, where it appeared he had started to make an effort to return the room to some semblance of order. "Coffee," he said, and the small replicator unit in the wall hummed to itself, then produced a steaming cup of Columbian Black. His favorite brew. For coffee anyway. He was glad the replicator had been one of the first things he had fixed when he'd arrived. Coffee helped in many situations?

"Care for?" he offered, sweeping his hand toward the unit as he set the cup down on his desk, then cleaned off one of the chairs on the other side before sitting down in his and taking a welcome sip of the brew.

“You know if anyone else found out you have the replicator they are all going to want one.” Jeassaho teased a little. It had been strange at first not having replicators everywhere but she had gotten used to it quickly, it was like going back to basics or going back twenty years to the Dominion War.

She sat in the offered space but shook her head, it was far too late for Coffee even for an Engineer. “I think not I will stick with my acquired vodka at this time of night.” She grabbed up a mug from the desk and poured a healthy amount. “She’s old but all she needs is a little tender, love and care and a few Engineers willing to take the time to bring her back to life. How are you finding it not like Starfleet huh?”

"Different," he admitted. "It's strange, really. I spent almost thirteen years in Starfleet, if you count the Academy," he said. "The routines you had to go through get ingrained into you. Even now that I no longer have to, I still find myself doing the regimen they drilled into me. One of the biggest disadvantages I am finding is that I cannot just fill in a requisition order for the parts we need to fix her." He patted the desk gently. "She needs a lot of work to bring her back up to par, and that is going to cost latinum."

He took another sip of coffee. "How about you?" he asked. "You ever in Starfleet?"

"Ten years. I served on Victory, it's where me and the boss met then Mercury as Chief." She admitted softly. She couldn't help but agree with him about the processes and requisitions. "I know though I am getting very good at welding again." It was why she was covered in grim and rust.

He grinned at her. He had luckily brought his own set of tools, which were good for most fixes. He too had spent some time already with a welding torch in his hand. "Not the cleanest of professions, is it?" he said as he looked down at his own attire. He had been in and out of jefferies tubes all day, and his outfit showed it. "The dirtier we get, the better job we are doing, I always say."

He took another swig of his coffee. "Any area of the ship you are worried about more than the others? And what about Ms. Tiffin? What can you tell me about her?"

The pretty woman laughed as she agreed with him on the dirty part. They certainly were getting dirtier than Starfleet.

"Safety and fire systems. I've fixed up the shuttles for an emergency but I would prefer the damage suppression systems to work." She admitted downing the vodka before she started on the other Engineer. "You need to make that opinion yourself." The Betazoid said with all the diplomatic wording she could muster.

Bradon grinned at her again. "Gotcha," he replied. "Okay, we will make the safety and fire systems our priority one for now. I was thinking along those same lines too. It may work, but it is not up to code. My code," he said when he saw her looking quizzically at him. "This may not be Starfleet, but since my ass is hanging out in the wind here, so to speak, we are going to make it as safe as possible."

"I would rather not have to explain to my mother why me and Leiddem nearly died." She said as her explanation as to why she wanted the systems working or at least able to stop major damage. She grinned back as she caught his grin. "I can see why Rueben said we would work well together." She admitted.

He laughed just a bit. "I hope so," he said. "It sure would make working with you easier that way, wouldn't it?" He paused briefly as he tried to hide a yawn behind his hand, not having much luck at that.

"It is getting late. I would like for you to take the next couple of days and put together a list, best as you can, of what needs fixin' on this ship. Prioritize from "damn we need to fix it NOW!" to "This can wait". I will do the same thing. We will then compare notes and the come up with the schedule for our folks. Sound like a plan?"

He rose from his chair to recycle his cup, then looked back at her. "And we'll hold out the prize of having a working replicator to those we need to nudge just a bit to get what we want, eh?" he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

Jeassaho just rolled her eyes. "You'll be lucky with the only other replicators in the mess." She knew full well this one had been in the Engineering mess deck for replicating tools. "Just stay out of trouble boss." She said deferring to him as she headed towards the door stashing the rest of the vodka behind the couch for future consummation.

OFF::

Jeassaho Kea
Engineer
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Gregnol)

Bradon Gordon
Chief Engineer
SS Mary Rose