Picking Up the Pieces

Posted on Tue Aug 6th, 2024 @ 1:38pm by Lieutenant Paisley "mUra" F'Rar & Captain Paul Griffon

897 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Rescue Interruptus
Location: USS Merlin / Aramal III
Timeline: MD 01, 1330

USS Merlin

The plan was to join up with the USS Athena at Starbase 312 where Paisley would have been able to see the Athena from the control deck or fly a worker-bee around its hull. The needs of the many outweighed the needs of the one however and the disaster of Aramal III had diverted the Merlin and all on-board to assist the planet that had experienced the impact of a small asteroid in a moderately populated area.

Luck would shine on Paisley. As the Merlin established orbit around the planet, the windows of the crew lounge allowed her to catch a glimpse of her soon to be home. The Prometheus II class was larger than its original design, but still sleek and lean. Some said she was an engineer's dream. Others said it was a nightmare.

Multi-vector attack mode, quantum slipstream drive, cloaking device, and some of the most advanced AI in Starfleet. All key elements that made the design the challenge of a lifetime for engineers.

Down in the Lounge, the inky-haired woman was seated at the "Engineers table", shoveling donuts in her mouth like they weren't a part of the Replicator menu, and sipping coffee. It was a nice lunch break, which, for the Engineers, meant sitting around and bullshitting, eating junk that their spouses would have a cow over (if she had one, anyway), and generally otherwise being loud and obnoxious. She liked it. Always had.

The ship that flew past made her pause. "HEY!! I think that's my new ship, boys," she said, pointing. It was nerve-racking, but exciting. "I'm onboard tomorrow. That means you jerks will be under Carson now," she said.

Her friends laugh and then made their way to the view ports.

"Woah, you are lucky", one said. "That's sleek and I hear they pack a punch."

"Try crawling through the Jeffries tubes and then say that", another replied. "Much tighter than even a Defiant class' tubes."

"Are you calling me fat?" Paisley replied, her blue eyes sparkling. Still, she knew it would be much different than Station duties. She watched as the ship docked, and then left the view ports to head for the office. It'd be just a matter of time before she had to meet her new Captain and crew, and she better make sure she looked professional instead of covered in the schmaltz from the Tubes and stuff from work. She didn't mind-the Engineer was always dirty-she felt like an Engineer wasn't really doing their job if they didn't have a spot on their tunic by the end of the day. She headed down to main Engineering to wait. The mirror in the lockers said she looked fine still, and she took a moment to look around and reflect on her time here. It had really been a good learning experience and she was grateful for the. opportunities. Now, it was time to move on.

"There you are Lieutenant", a female voice, coming from behind her said. Paisley recognized it being the Second Officer, Commander Olson. "Captain Oshar of the Venture wants all free Engineers for assistance with issues the atmospheric scrubber units on the planet are having. You are one of the free ones we have."

Paisley smiled, but turned around. "I thought I was to meet the Captain of the vessel that just arrived...my new posting. I am shipping out," she explained. "But I don't mind assisting until they're settled and he's ready!" She said.

"Well, your new boss is going to have to wait a little", Commander Olson said. "The task group's needs comes first. Apparently, the scrubbers keep getting gummed up and have their filters reset or replaced. Bit of a mystery as I've never heard of this many scrubbers, having this number of issues, even with the amount of debris currently in the air."

She put her hand to her temple. "My apologies, sir, I had asked Ensign Sar to do that this morning," she said. "Of course I can do that," she said. "Perhaps we can rig up some kind of more advanced filtration system. Have you ever been to Sol?" She asked. That was a dumb question; as she was Starfleet, she'd had had to have gone to Sol for the Academy. "Anyway. A long time ago, ancient Sol had these things called fans! Essentially, they were rotators attached to an engine, operated by a switch. If we can rig one of those to blow the debris OUTSIDE, that might help," she said.

"Indeed, it was cleaned out this morning", Olson replied. "I verified that this morning. It is gummed up again."

She paused a moment and then continued, "I am not sure a blowout system will do much except spread whatever it is across the continent."

Paisley sighed. "Right," she said. "I'll figure out something," she said. She was intelligent and good at her job, after all. "Anything else you need from me, ma'am?" She asked.

"Nah", the commander replied. "Do a good job down there and best of luck on your new assignment."

Paisley nodded. "Thank you, Commander," she said. "I appreciate it," she said, making her way down to Engineering. It was going to be a long day. Good thing she had had her coffee.



Various NPCs
Played by Captain Griffon

&

Lt. Paisley F'rar
Chief Engineer
Played by Cass

 

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