Overhauls (part 1)

Posted on Wed Aug 30th, 2017 @ 12:09am by N'alae t’K’manatran & Winset-Kelix ‘Winkel’ Mar-Abek [N'alae]

1,420 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Celebrate Culture
Location: TGT Drydock, Tiberius IV
Timeline: Current

ON

Three weeks after the crisis at Typhon Station had been resolved, work had begun in earnest on the Morning’s Wake/i>. Several important retrofits had been planned and could be postponed no longer. Unfortunately this meant several months in dry-dock. Since the large Romulan vessel wasn’t exactly ‘registered’, they could not just schedule time at the nearest station. It had taken no small amount of doing, but Khiy had managed to purchase and transport an obsolete Cardassian dock to Tiberius IV. After some repairs to the dock, the Wake had been parked inside; and had been parked for some time now...

[Captain’s Office]

N’alae scowled down at the report in her hand and then reached for the comm on her desk. “Winkel, I need to see you in my office.” There was silence on the other end. “Now.” She added firmly.

“Fine.” came the grumbled response. Shaking her head, she tossed the tablet aside.

N’alae got up from her chair and crossed her office to the replicator. Stopping in front of it she said to the computer, “Jula tea with a hint of Terran cinnamon. Medium hot.” As good as it was being back on a Romulan ship, she had not missed the replicators. Winkel upgraded the system as his first order of business after they’s entered dry-dock. General repairs were always ongoing, but the overhauls Khiy had in mind required a better cup of coffee.

Dealing with Winkel usually required something stronger, however. She looked mournfully at the shelf across the room where three bottles of Romulan Ale sat proudly on display. Two were of a particularly fine vintage; a little something Sonos had given her when he first came on board, and so far remained unopened. If anyone else had given them to her she would of thought that they were trying to curry favor, but not Sonos.

Finally her eyes fell on the the third bottle which sat on the shelf below the other two. It was of a lesser quality and missing about a third of its contents. With a slightly exaggerated sigh she raised her mug of tea to her lips a blew gently over the top. Unfortunately she was still on duty.

N’alae wandered aimlessly around the office as she sipped her tea, feeling the warmth spread through her chest. She already felt more relaxed. Eventually she simply leaned against a wall and stared at the plant in the corner. Khiy had given it to her before he left; said that it brightened the place up a bit. It stood about a meter tall, with a single large bulb at the base and a slender trunk ending multiple branches. Each branch was decorated with several long spiraling leaves of a rich yellow color. A vibrant red stripe which ran along the length of each leaf. It certainly stood out in stark contrast to the typical greys, greens and browns found everywhere else in the ship.

Her eyes moved around the room, not really seeing anything as her thoughts turned to the planet below. The repairs to the base were proceeding well. In fact very little mechanical work was actually required. The real trouble was all the fine powdery sand that had made it’s way inside over the years. It was in everything, and had a way of finding it’s way back into rooms and corridors after they had been cleared. Seals had to be replaced, metal erosion repaired, and whole sections still needed to be purged. The majority of the facility had been constructed from a cement derived from the sand itself, which had likely made it’s construction far more efficient than importing off-world materials. Unfortunately the sand’s unique scan-inhibiting composition made mapping the buried mining tunnels extremely difficult. While no-one would be able to scan the facility from orbit or even the from surface - which in her opinions was a rather appealing quality - it also hindered their own restoration efforts. Even sonar was only partially effective, since the tunnels were filled with the same material from which they had been constructed.

Still the reactor was working well, and with all the dilithium deposits, she had no worries about keeping it powered - once they could get the sand seals to hold.

N’alae felt Winkle’s presence as he ascended the lift into her range, bringing her thoughts back to the engineer. She tracked him, noting that he was in no particular hurry as he got off the lift and strolled leisurely down the corridor towards her office. Eventually the door chimed and she turned to face it. “Enter”, she said. The door slid open and Winkel lumbered inside. He was covered in a grease of some kind. “So much for your uniform.” she commented, looking him up and down critically. He grinned somewhat wickedly back. “Don’t even think of sitting on anything,” she added quickly.

“Whatever you say Commander.” He huffed and stopped to stand in the middle of the room. N’alae narrowed her eyes a little at his flippant tone, but didn’t take the bait.

“What do you want, draggin me all the way up here?” He asked, clearly annoyed. “I have a lot of work to do, you know.”

“Actually I do.” N’alae walked back behind her desk and sat down, leaving the engineer standing. “And it’s all behind schedule.” She gave him a level look.

“Course it is!” He threw his hands up dramatically, raising his voice. “You’ve got me crawling all over this ship, ripping out bulkheads, moving conduits and redistributing power in ways that I’m pretty sure should of had us blown up at least a half dozen times already!” He paused for what he thought was dramatic effect. “And then there's that great sand pit you’ve got me digging out.” He held out an arm towards the starboard wall, not caring that the planet below was actually to port.

“No one said that you had to do so much work all by yourself. You do have staff you know.” N’alae told him. Responding to his theatrics would only encourage him to continue.

“Staff? Bah! I barely trust half of them to fix the toilets, and the other half probably don’t know which end of a hyperspanner to hold.” Winkel was working himself up now. He stomped up to her desk, leaned over it, and held out an imaginary spanner in his right hand to wave in her face.

“That’s not true and you know it.” N’alae said sternly, letting a small amount of her own anger show. “Those men and women were carefully selected for their skills as well as their discretion.” She put her tea down on the coaster and Winkel angrily shuffled off a few feet. Continuing she said, “They may not be as familiar with Romulan tech as you are but they are more than capable of performing most of the work required. Certainly more than the absurd tasks you’ve been assigning them. They are not grunts merely to be used for hauling trash. Frankly Winkel, it’s degrading.”

N’alae casually picked up her tea again, and spoke overtop of the mug in a easy going manner, “You just want her all to yourself.”

Winkel’s eyes bulged, making him even less attractive. “I don’t like your tone girl.” He growled and he took a step back towards her desk.

“You don’t have to.” She reproached him, “and it’s Commander - you knew that a minute ago.”

“Actually it should be ‘Captain’.” Winkle said snidely.

N’alae glared at him. He was right however, this was no longer a Romulan vessel and she was not, nor would she ever be, a true Commander. But somehow it just didn’t feel right to go by Captain. It made her feel like a pirate on a stolen vessel. So far the crew had merely shrugged off her choice of title, perhaps thinking her a little eccentric. Eventually though, she would have to stop pretending.

She took a sip of her tea, put the mug back down and leaned forward. “Whatever else, this is still a military vessel Mr. Mar-Abek, and you’ll maintain your civility.” She told him, firm and final. Winkel fumed for a minute but kept his peace.

[To be continued...]

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