Chow Time

Posted on Thu Sep 21st, 2017 @ 11:05pm by Lieutenant Renee Salchin & Lieutenant Cor Cordale

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/3
Location: Backup Secondary Auxiliary Shield Emitter 5. Yeah, that's a place

=/\=

"Get in there you filthy piece of junk..." Renee muttered to herself, well, more to the piece of the puzzle that was a disassembled secondary fusing emitter for the main deflector's backup power feed, "Well, all right, you're not filthy, or broken any more, but you're still going in there whether you like it or not!" She glanced around the tiny room she was in, no more than six foot by six foot, then picked up the tool she'd used to open the plate that had covered the emitter and hit it, hard. With a loud thunk, the piece finally went into place and she sat back on her haunches and smiled.

"Right... Now..." She pulled out a tricorder and set up three contacts to the emitter's frame before running a diagnostic on it and shook her head, "That's looking good, but now..." She put the tricorder down and wormed her way as far into the compartment as possible to see the other side, "Hello there..." She looked at the next problem, where what should have been a clear crystal to focus the power flux, the crystal appeared to be scorched. She mentally cursed herself as she realized she didn't have a spare with her and gently and intentionally banged her head on the emitter before pulling out the crystal.

"You know..." a voice from the shadows came. Well not so much shadows, just a dark nook. A wide face, a muzzle, and fur the color of which could best be described as Radioactive Blue. "... that's not going to help realign that crystal. You'll need a replacement, and replicating something of that complexity will take, oh, three minutes tops. So hi." he smirked, big goofy grin and all. "Name's Cordale. Here to help, if I can."

She was halfway through extricating herself when she heard the voice and with a loud, startled squeak hit her head on another part of the emitter, but much harder, then all but fell out of the space. She landed on her rear end, but spun to face the newcomer, "Don't sneak up on a girl like that!" Her eyes flashed over him, then hastily added, "Sir." She shook her head quickly, "Sorry, didn't mean to yell. Renee, sir, and it isn't really needed, but" She grinned, "I never turn down help!"

The Thux gave a wince at the loud bonk. "Oooo, I'm sorry. I always forget how quiet I walk. I'm sorry, oooooo... oo I'm certain that'll buff right out. You poor emitter." he said, now in a humorous tone. "Oh, and I'm sorry I snuck up on you Ensign. Are you alright?" he paused, "And hey, no worries. Not gonna write you up because you yelled at me for sneaking up. Rank or no rank, I should have been more careful." he gave a nod, then offered her his living hand to help her stand.

She happily took his hand and pulled, which combined with his tug brought her to her feet easily. She rubbed the part of her head that had made the contact, "Yes, sir, I think the emitter got the better part of that round... But, sir, I'm not an ensign. Chief Petty Officer Renee Salchin, sir, not an Academy graduate, I um... Washed out, sir."

"Eh, it's just a machine, what do they know?" he teased, though at her admission he feigned shock. "You're not? I mean, you did?" he had a look, then he shook his head, "Okay, so I COULD give you some bullshit speech about getting back on horses after you fix the barn door, or how once the cows leave the stars look bright or something... and believe me I'd mess them up good." he paused, "Or I could ask where you see yourself in a few years. Truth is, I don't want to put pressure on you. So I'm not doing either of those."

"You know where you want to be, you know where your head is, so when it happens. It'll happen because YOU wanted it to. You made it happen, not because some dashing handsome Thux wait I'm giving you a speech now aren't I?" he paused, "Damnit. Okay, new plan. Do what you feel is right. Freedom." he actually chuckled, "Anyway, enough of that. It's great to meet you Renee. Call me Cordale, or just Cor."

Renee chuckled at the rambling the Thux had just gone through, "All right, Cor, but to be honest, I'm not sad at where I am right now.. I earned my way out of the Academy and almost bought my own ticket out of Starfleet itself a few years back, and I see that. I don't need to close the barn doors and shove the horses back in through the knot holes, I've already gotten them back onto the farm and they're having the time of their lives running around." She reached up and touched her rank insignia, "Do I wish I'd been smarter than I was and gotten officers pips? Oh yeah, I've wished that many times, but I've made my peace about it and quite frankly...." She leaned in as if to keep a secret, "I get to have more fun with less responsibility where I'm at right now!"

The Thux gave a nod, "You know, at least you own up to what you did, and keep moving forward. That's rather close to the Thux philosophy. See, freedom is one of the most important things to a Thux... that's what I am, by the way." he motioned to himself with a thumb. "So as long as you're happy with where you are, and you've got the freedom to enjoy enjoying it, then that's alright in my book."

He returned the conspiratorial glance around, "And if you get to have FUN while doing it, so much the better." he chuckled. "Better go replicate that focusing crystal array. Who knows when we'll need this..." he looked at the device. "Backup Secondary Auxiliary shield emitter."

"Hey, someone's gotta fix it!" Renee shrugged, "And guess what? After this one, there are four more I get to go look at. This one is the fourth one today, but at least there aren't amy tertiary ones. Just wish the Chief didn't farm these out to the 'new chick', it really is rather boring and mind:numbing. Give me a catastrophic failure of something any day of the week." She stopped and thought about that a moment.

The Thux gave a half-smirk, and set his prosthetic hand on her shoulder. Not harsh, but an object like that has weight no matter how gentle one is. "Hmmm, catastrophic failure, chain of event events with life-long consequences..." he cupped his chin with his other hand, keeping the prosthetic there for a moment before coming back to the here and now. "Take your breaks where you can. When the proverbial shit hits the turbine, you'll be begging for a breather."

"I recall one time, the ship I was on made an unscheduled landing planetside. Natives were restless and hostile. I had to rig the deflector array into the boson plating in the floors of unused deck sections to project a gravity proof shield to lighten the ship so we could take off in a... let's say a Timely Fashion." he smirked, "I earned my break after that, but thirty six hours straight of grueling pace work ain't all that fun." he shook his head. "My recommendation would be to assume the same thing is broken in the next few, and have a few replacement array crystals on hand. Then when you walk up, fix the issue, and then immediately walk away someone will notice and be all 'That Renee, she's a Genius! We should give her time off.' and then boom, break time."

"Oh and as for being the FNG on the squad, yeah that sucks. If anyone gives you any REAL unfair treatment, lemme know?"

"I am soo not worried about that." Renee smiled softly, remembering things from her past, fond things, "If I need to deal with things like this now so I am here when the shit really hits the fan? There was that time on the Valkyrie, she's a Prometheus-class, where shields and weapons went out at the same time when we were in a fight with Thalassian raiders... Duct tape, two pieces of metal from the door cover, a rubber chicken, a spot welder and a hammer were what I used to get them back up and running. Yes, a rubber chicken."

"They're made of rubber?" he paused, and thought. "Explains the chewy texture." he mused aloud, like a whole new world was just opened to him. "But how did you get it to.. oh wait, duct tape."

"Actually, a rubber chicken is a toy, I just happened to have one with me when GQ was called. It solved the problem that could have ended up with crispy fried me if I hadnt had something to insulate with." Renee chuckled, "It isn't like we were really in much trouble with the armor we had, but it just ended things faster with the fix."

He chuckled, "A toy? Well that's kinda a relief. Here I was thinking... you know what, nevermind what I was thinking. Humans are crazy, so that's really all I have to say about that." he paused, "Though, if it helps smooth over any insult, I think you people are pretty impressive. Out of every history I've tried to read, Human history is kinda the most interesting. Certainly the most interesting sounding."

"And the food. You guys think of the best food. Hell you have food designed just to have more food put on it." he chuckled now. He was starting to get kinda hungry. "Hey, when's your next break? All this talk about chickens and food is getting me kinda hungry. Wanna grab a burger or something?"

Renee shook her wrist to reveal an antique wristwatch, the second hand ticking around the face, "Well, it's just about noon, soooo... How about now? All Chief Alennis told me was to make sure these got done today and with it half done already, there shouldn't be that much of a problem."

Cordale looked at his wrist to reveal an antique prosthetic. "I like now. Now means I don't have to wait for food."

With a laugh, Renee hooked her arm into the crook of Cor's elbow and turned him, "Then let us be off!"