Propulsion and Its Rewards?

Posted on Thu Sep 28th, 2017 @ 2:03pm by Lieutenant Renee Salchin
Edited on on Mon Oct 2nd, 2017 @ 10:31pm

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/3
Location: Port Nacelle Bussard Collector Control
Timeline: June15, 2399 1430

ON:

Renee sat in the middle of the small room where the pieces of the control panel and chips of the hydrogen collecting equipment lay around her, as well as some of the critical bits from the rear of the assembly itself. She'd been assigned the 'job' of routine debugging of the system, but a problem had been found by her when she did so. So, after rerouting the collection feed to the secondary intake, she'd taken apart the control panel to get to the rear of the assembly and proceeded to dissect the damned thing. Then she'd called the propulsion expert officer to come up to where she was. Nothing more than that, no details, no nothing.

Thomas was not expecting his combadge to go off, and it give him sort of a shock. It was a summons from Salchin regarding a problem she had found in the bussard collectors. Excusing himself from his card game, he headed over there to see what was up.

Not looking where he was walking...tripping over some parts on the deck..."What the fu***** hell...", he said as he gathered himself...saw Salchin sitting on the deck looking up at him.

She smiled up at him from her impromptu sea of chaos, "Sorry, sir, I didn't know how to explain this," She gestured to the floor around her, "over the comm. BUT, now that you're here, I can show you. Most of this is just the actual control panel, but I had to take that apart to get to what I thought the real problem was." She searched for a few seconds, then picked up, examined and tossed a piece to him, "Sir, take a look at that hydrogen catch filter and tell me what you think the problem is with it?"

Catching the piece and looking at it, shaking his head sadly... "Salchin is this...was this worked on back at the starbase, cause if it was, you just found and avoided another blow out. Any how what is this?", he said looking at her, scratching his head.

"Well, sir, I didn't just conjure it out of thin air!" She chuckled and pushed herself to her feet, skirt pleats falling neatly into place, "And I checked the logs and some ensign from the starbase DID sign off on it about twelve hours before we left. That, sir, is the primary hydrogen catch filter for the portside bussard collector. There are actually two distinct problems with it, but only one is even slightly visible." She reached out and pointed at three grooves in the connection, "These aren't supposed to be there. They're providing an outlet for free hydrogen to pass through the collector uninhibited. That combined with an alteration in the programming of the tractor filter itself means the collector is only capturing about forty percent of what it should be. Of course, from the report the starbase gave us, the entire apparatus is in perfect condition and functioning normally."

"Hm...so why the hell replace it with a defective part? Wait...unless to cause...oh shit...got to tell our boss and now", he said and tapped his combadge.

When he finished giving J'Loni the news, he turned around and handed it back to Salchin. "Well the boss didn't sound to happy but she did tell me to tell you good work...so...good...no, great work buddy, nice job. How the hell did you decide to just look here?", he asked her, taking good notice of her physique.

She stretched languidly, inch and a half heels leaving the floor as she went to her toes, "The programming showed a routine software debug was needed, it was on my list of to-dos for the day and I decided I should come up here on the off chance something showed up. It did, I had, and this is the problem."

Renee rubbed the barely visible grooves with a thumb, "Near as I can tell, this was deliberate. In routine operations, we might not even notice it. But if and when we would need to refuel on the fly, grab an extra boost or suffer catastrophic damage that requires us to dump our stores, it could decide if we got back or not." She brushed a stray lock of hair back over her left ear, "All maybes and whatifs, but maybe.. And what if?" Her blue eyes sparkled.

Renee was a stunning woman by any right and had the most gorgeous blue eyes he had seen in a long time. Aside from her beautiful hair, her face was incredibly radiant. It glowed like the sun on a sea of blue water. He heard her speaking to him but his mind was set on her beauty. "I don't mean to sound rude...but...well you do have the most beautiful eyes I have seen in a very long time", he said, trying to be a gentleman.

"I've heard that a time or two." Even as she brushed that away, Renee flushed a slight red at her cheeks, "But it's always good to hear it! In fact, you aren't bad looking yourself." She kicked herself for that last, her mind still in engineering mode and realizing he had lost about all interest in what she'd been doing, but it HAD been a boring thing. "What I MEANT to say is... Oh, shit... I am SO not good with words."

Suddenly realizing what she said...and the fact that he had changed the subject..."No...you are good with your words. I am just not good at making good comments to a beautiful woman", he said blushing badly.

The combination of the heels on her semiregulation shoes and the thickness of his boots meant that she was only an inch shorter than him. A mischevious thought entered her mind, but before it had fully formed, she'd reached out and grabbed his face with both hands, leaned in and gave him a kiss on his lips. After a few seconds, she stepped back, patted his cheek and grinned at him, "All right, now that THAT is out of your system?"

Shock...surprise...red faced...terror and several other things raced in his head. "Um...what the...I...never...meant...wait I guess it kinda showed didn't it. I am so sorry Renee but I just...well your eyes and you appearance are so breath taking...I couldn't help but comment on it", he said, feeling the heat of his already redding cheeks. He wanted to turn and run, but to where? You can't run in a tight place and you have to admit this was a very tight place. He was trying to find more words but instead...found himself leaning in...cupping her face and kissing it gently. He broke the kiss..."There that was a kiss more be fitting a woman of your beauty", he said waiting for a response. He figured she would do one of two things...slap him in the face or say something.

Renee broke down in a fit of giggles, patting him on the shoulder, "Well then, I see you've got a bit of a gallant in you! But, mind you, that flowery talk will only get you places, but boy it's getting warm in here." She unsealed her uniform jacket and shrugged it off, "Sorry, sir. I just." She sighed, dropping the jacket on the ground, "So..." She wrapped his arms around his neck, "Are you going to ask me out? Because we sure as hell have lost track of what I was doing here."

'Oh hell...Thomas think fast...what to do...say', he thought quickly. "Well yeah, but this isn't quite what I had in mind...at least...well not here. And yes it is getting a bit warm in here. Um...shouldn't we...um go somewhere a bit more um...comfortable?", he stuttered cursing himself for being so uncouth.

"Oh, I don't know, if you really want to, we can, but I've got to pick this stuff up..." She glanced down at the disassembled pieces, "Hell, I need to see about either replacing or fixing that filter anyways and I can't do that up here. She gave him another quick kiss, "If you help me toss all this in my bag so it doesn't scatter, we can head back to hmm..." She thought for a brief moment, "Mine or yours?"

He also had to do a double take. "Yeah it would be a good idea to haul this stuff out of here in case the boss does decide to come here. Come on, I"ll help you gather it up...", and bent down to put the pieces into the bag. His mind was racing as he thought,' Oh man, this is to good to be true. Someone up there loves me', and it was only then he had realized he didn't answer the second part of her question...his place or hers. "Um, how about my place?", he said smiling, looking into her blue eyes.

Her eyes glittered as she helped him put the pieces into the bag, stuffing her jacket into it right along with them, "That way I won't have to explain to Shirley why I have one of my officers in my room." She winked at Thomas, "You ARE aware we're about to break a few regulations, right?" She reached out and placed a finger over herllis lips as she saw him start to respond, "I won't tell if you don't."

He kissed her finger, "That's why I said my place. More privacy and comfort. Besides I wouldn't be a gentlemen if I did", he said, and finished putting the pieces in the bag. "Let's go before someone gets nosy. Don't want the bosses to catch us on duty now do we?", he said coyly.

A thought came over Renee's face and she dug back in the bag for her jacket and put it back on, sealing it and mentally promising herself she'd make sure none of the chips or additional, FUNCTIONAL, pieces were damaged before putting the thing back together. She did a quick check to make sure it looked decent, then bounced on the balls of her feet twice, "Now... Lieutenant, sir." She said in a voice that almost sounded serious, "If you'd show me the problem you have in your quarters? I am, after all, a professional." She winked at him.

Laughing, "But of course, if you care to follow me I will show you exactly where the problem is chief", and he led Renee to his quarters. Once inside he gently picked her up and laid her in the bed. "This is much better and more private", he said as he carefully pulled off his shirt and climbed on top of her very carefully.

In the meantime, she'd shed her jacket again, leaving it in a heap in a corner, "Oh, I agree... And I'll fix that knob on your dresser before I leave. That just..." She pulled his head down and kissed him again.

----------One Hour Later---------------

"That was incredible!", he said, giving her a gentle kiss. "I would love to see you again...if you...I mean...can I see you again?", he said hoping she would say yes. "I would like to know you a bit more...I mean...about you", he stammered, cursing himself out for messing the words up.

She wrinkled her nose in a mouse-like smile, then giggled, "Well of course we will see each other again! We're both engineers, silly!" She waited a few moments to tease him, eyes laughing, then relentes, "We might even have to have lunch or dinner next timex to go along with the talking. That is, after all, typically how things go, I must be letting my standards down, not demanding that first..." She winked at him to let him know she was teasing with that one.


"Well...then let's make a date then. How about dinner tomorrow?", he said. "You pick the spot and time", he said, as he finished getting dressed.

"Tomorrow evening..." She mused as she tucked her tunic neatly into her skirt and wiggled her feet back into her heels again. She topped it off by loosely donning her jacket, not sealing it. "Twenty Hundred, main lounge, come dressed for karaoke?" She leaned towards his and gave him a peck on the cheek, then pressed his nose gently with a forefinger, "Boop!"

Smiling at her response, he called out after her as she walked through the doors, "Now that is a date Renee...karaoke?...You got to be kidding!", he said laughing as the door closed. "Things are looking up",he said to his pet ferret. Midnight made her way up his pants leg and nestled on his shoulder gently kissing him. "Thanks girl for not scaring the lady, besides there will be time to introduce her to you later", he said, giving the ferret an affectionate rub. Setting the ferret down, he finished straightening up and headed out back to engineering smiling like the proverbial cat that had caught its first rat.

OFF:

Chief Petty Officer Renee Salchin
Engineering Officer
USS Wellington

Lt. Jg. Thomas James
Propulsion Specialist
USS Wellington