An Engineer’s Opinion
Posted on Wed May 22nd, 2024 @ 8:59pm by Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver & Lieutenant Dovenice Nyx
Edited on on Wed May 22nd, 2024 @ 9:00pm
823 words; about a 4 minute read
Mission:
Short Treks
Location: Krios: House of Lyo - Transporter Room
Timeline: MD9: 2000 hours
Max was exhausted from the stress of the last few days. He was still holding onto the sense of calmness he was trying to fill the empty spaces between the thoughts of the night before. He entered what was left of the transporter room and let out an audible, “Whoa!”
The sky could be seen, blue and clear, above the remains of the room. “Lieutenant Nyx?” Max asked, hoping she was up and on the case again.
"Down here," came the answer from across the room. Nyx was in the corner of the room sitting crisscross-applesauce examining several displays. She had tied connections between the Kriosian technology to her own instruments to help in her investigation. It hadn't been an easy task to get the devices to talk to each other initially, but now the information was rolling out.
She rubbed the sore muscles from her back and adjusted her seated position in order to look up at the approaching Captain. Streaks of soot covered her randomly, though she had somehow managed to keep her face clean. "How'd dinner go?" she asked.
“For our crew and level of manners, I’d say it went as well as possible. Certainly not as tense as the first meeting between Kirk and Gorkon, thank the Gods for that. Aside from that, too much food and alcohol. Enough for a small army, so I’d guess the staff gets to pick through the leftovers.
“How about here? You look like you’ve been rummaging around in what’s left of this disaster.” Above head, the night sky was starting to push back against the sun.
“We do have workbees and dots on the Intrepid. If you need extra hands or lighting, you know…or just call it quits for the day. It has been a long week and it’s only just begun. What are the odds of a hotel falling in A’ransari two days after our departure? And something here doesn’t feel quite…right.
“Krios has a terrible disaster and the next week Kaitos has their own. Even Heliva feels almost purposeful. I hate to use the word sabotage, but it feels like someone is sending us a message to stay out of the Beta Quadrant.” Max realized he was rambling on.
While the captain talked, Nyx stood and used the back of her hand to push the flyaway hairs from her face. She added a streak of soot across her previously clean nose. "The destruction wasn't from explosives," she gestured to the new skylight. "I've been going through the systems and so far, everything looks to be in order." As she spoke, one of the instruments blurped.
“Having this explained as an accident would be the best possible outcome, but I just can’t buy it. An accident this big would have been detected by a level ten inspection. Here you are doing a level one inspection on what’s left of it. It doesn’t make sense…”
Nyx leaned towards the sound, "Looks like there is something out of code in the area of the Heisenberg compensator..." She checked the second display and nodded when that report concurred with the first.
Max’s face went from dour to downright anger. As if in response, the sun sank, and night was upon them. “That’s going to be a tough bit of technology to pull out of this mess. I think we should wait until we have the morning light. I have some other business to attend to right now, but I know this will be a two-person job and I don’t want you crawling around an explosion sight at night.
“Besides, the family should get one more night of peace before their world collapses,” Max said, regarding it as more of an order than an exception.
Besides, it was already late by shipboard time, regardless of the setting sun in their relative position planet side. Dove could probably use the rest, even if she didn’t immediately go to sleep.
As though she didn’t hear a word Culver said, Nyx had pulled a light from one of her bags to place on her head. “It won’t take that long and I’m not leaving evidence laying around for others to pick up while I’m in bed,” she said while opening the access hatch that would take her to down to where the compensator was located. She clicked the light on and tipped her head back to keep from shining it in the captain’s eyes. “Send a security guard if you don’t want me here alone. It won’t take me more than half an hour – forty minutes, maximum.”
“I’ll post security at the door until you’re finished. Once you’ve got the part, keep it secret, keep it safe,” Max said quietly before he ducked out of the room.
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