Friend: That Computes

Posted on Fri May 28th, 2010 @ 7:01am by Lieutenant Commander Aishel Enor [Blackhawk]

1,246 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: On Typhon Station
Location: USS Blackhawk Computer Core
Timeline: 1316 hours

The engine-room was a buzz of activity. Engineers were trying desperately to fix everything that needed to be fixed before the next mission, and god only knew when that would be. A young petty officer saw a group of people stop by the doorway while on his way to get his kit. The leader, who looked like a Trill with Vulcan ears, walked up to him.

T'var had been up to her pointy Vulcan ears in gunk for the last hour, and she was cranky. For some stupid reason the station requisitions officer had failed to request any service droids from Starfleet which meant that as one of the lowest ranking members of a very small engineering team, T'var was forced to crawl around waste pipes all day. Plus she had been assigned a Bolian assistant named Jex and for some reason he insisted that she always go first into the pipes. She suspected he was ogling her half the time, but the pipes were too small to turn around in.

She had just finished fixing the last leak and was heading back into engineering to find out what 'else' had broken while she was gone when she was approached by a young woman who T'var quickly recognized as a Trill. Doing her best to ignore the pain in her back T'var smiled and, noting the other woman's rank, saluted.

"Can I help you Ma'am?"

Enor pushed a lock of brown hair out of her eyes. She didn't recognize the woman or the other people. "I'm not familiar with you and your friends. Are you reporting in on the Hawk?" She hoped to the Creator that they were the starbase personnel.

"No" T'var said, the corners of her mouth turned up in an almost unreadable smile, "I'm one of the stations engineering crew. Was there something you needed?"

Enor gave her a tired smile. "Where to start? There are several hull breaches on decks 8, 9, 10 and 13 through 16 on the bow and port side. Power is almost fully restored except in a few areas on deck 14. We're still working on the port shield generator. Lt JG Sidorov wants no enlisted in there for security reasons." The tightness of her lips told T'Var that she strongly disapproved of not being able to use the bulk of her staff. But we do need a computer upgrade. I believe there was one last month?"

"Well anything I can do, let me know. Not being able to use enlisted personnel cuts my team in half though.... Mind if I ask what the security measures are for?"

Aishel blew her fury out through her nose. "I don't know, he won't say. I've tried to force it out of him, but he still won't tell me anything. I'll be having words with him, that's for sure."

"Good." T'var said, grinning. "Those security and Intelligence idiots seem to forget sometimes that without out us, their precious secrets wouldn't stand up for very long in deep vacuum."

T'var tapped some figures into her personal padd and handed it to one of the protector crewmen. "Take alpha team and get started on the hull breaches." She looked at Aishel, "We can start with the computer upgrade if you want to."

Aishel nodded. "That would be appreciated. We should bring Schmitz, he's our computer specialist and should be learning these things. He's just a crewman, but if he's going to do this for his career..." she trailed off, thinking, but then shook her head. "We should get going."

A young-looking crewman was passing by; he was tall and thin with blond hair. Aishel stopped him. "Schmitz! We need you to come with us to the computer core. We're going to do an upgrade."

"Aye, ma'am."

..:: Computer Core ::..

Aishel helped T'Var and Schmitz set the heavy update equipment onto the deck. She stood up, panting. "If only Starfleet could find a way to make this stuff lighter. Then we wouldn't have to break our backs getting it installed." She was grateful for the antigrav that they had brought with them. Too bad it wouldn't have fit through the doorway.

"Agreed" T'var said, wincing as she felt a sharp pain in her lower back. Despite her part Vulcan heritage, she was not the strongest on individuals and unfortunately at times like this, it showed.

She picked up a sonic integrator and switched it on, watching as the device cleaned up all the excess dust particles from the old computer bank alcove. Then, once the space was clean she leaned back down and with Aishel's help placed the new computer into the slot.

"One down, eleven to go." She said with a sigh and a bit of a grin. "It's a fine ship you have here, good place to serve aboard?" She asked, attempting to get to know this woman better.

Aishel gave a wry grin. "I don't know yet. It's only my second month here, but so far it's been good. How about you? How's Typhon shaping up?"

She helped them push the antigrav to the next area, but it turned it out it was a one person job and Schmitz had to do it by himself. Still, he did it without complaint.

"For the most part." T'var said, checking her padd for the section map. "All in all it's not bad, and my quarters are huge, but everything's just so busy! I haven't had time to sit down and meet anyone new, let alone have time for myself. I think this is the most relaxed conversation I've had in a week!"

Enor chuckled at that. "Yeah, I can imagine." She set the computer upgrades back onto the antigrav. "Okay, that is done. Last one is two sections away." They pushed the antigrav to the next computer core and stopped. "So what's Typhon got for fun? So far all I've been able to find is the promenade and a beach. I can't find anything permanent to go to for recreation on the planet. Just the beach resort that they haven't finished building."

"Well i'm afraid I don't know much about the planet, but there are a couple of great little places here on the station if you know where to look. A... friend showed me one of them. The other I found on my own at two AM." T'var said smiling, "I don't suppose you'll be on the station long enough to join me for a lunch sometime?"

Enor shook her head as she helped Schmitz place the equipment back onto the antigrav. Panting, she said, "No, I'm afraid not. We're almost ready to head out for our next mission. Perhaps a raincheck?" She smiled at T'Var to let her know she would probably take her up on it next time.

"Absolutely." T'var said, letting one of her rare friendly grins grace her features. "Shall we continue?" She motioned down the corridor to the work that lay ahead, pleased that she had made a new friend in this area of space.

Enor nodded. "Next area."

At the end of the day, they were heading their separate ways on the ship. Enor wanted nothing more than a shower. She thought about the woman as she took her brown hair out of its holder, she thought that maybe she had made a good friend. Entering the shower, she was determined to look her up next time she came here.

OFF:

LCdr Aishel Enor
Chief Engineer
USS Blackhawk

Ens T'Var
Engineer
SB Typhon

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