Sweet ride

Posted on Sat Sep 18th, 2010 @ 12:12am by Morgan Pass & Bruce Air (PNPC) & Jan Valentine

840 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Session 3: Fear of the Dark
Location: Docking Bay
Timeline: Shortly after docking

There was a man in the docking bay that seemed to be keeping a very close eye on the ship. Jan watched him surreptitiously as he tried to move around the ship observing it from all angles. The man was human, which was odd enough in this place, and he wore the clean cut look of a Starfleet officer, but civilian clothes.

"Can I help you?" Jan asked, eying the clean-cut man.

The man barely glanced in Jan's direction but simply said, "2342 Groumal, right?"

"Yep, good guess." Jan said, surprised that the man could actually tell.

"You can tell by the Quad Spiral Wave Banks that is the later model. I haven't seen one of these in action for nearly seven years. Are you using the retro-fit Cardasian infusers or the original Tri-silicate the Bajorans developed?"

"Pssh, both were junk when they were new, I custom built my own." Jan said, with a bit of pride in his voice.

"Sweet. Most of the locals are all Klingon re-makes, but nothing ever beats the classic. You've done quite a few of your own mods, though, I can see. That looks like a Federation RCS housing there. I assume you have worked on the EPS as well. What does she do? Warp 8? 8.2?"

Jan laughed loudly for a moment, "Warp 8? If she ever went that fast I'd be composing my last will." Jan said.

"The fastest we've managed to get her was warp 6.8, but it took a month long overhaul to fix her again."

The man turned to look at Jan, now genuinely surprised, "Nah, she'd get there. The trick is not to ease her into it. Warp 7 is a hell of a lot more stable than 6.8, or 6.9. I'd wager a months pay I could get her to do 7."

The man smiled, "Not that I am being paid any more. Starfleet and I had a difference of opinions on Occupational Health and Safety. Say, there wouldn't be any chance of taking her for a jaunt would there? You know, once around the moon and back. We wouldn't be gone more than half an hour, tops."

" 'Fraid not, she won't be doing much more than warp 2 for the next 9 weeks. A saboteur among the crew fused the main coolant valve in the reactor, and busted the main line. We're running on auxiliary cooling until I can decontaminate and replace the valve and piping." Jan said.

The man smiled, "You must be the engineer then. Always saying what she can't do because it might damage the ship in some way you haven't quite thought o f yet. My last Engineer was a Klingon. He was used to making things work on the skin of their teeth."

He stuck out his hand, "Sorry, I'm Bruce Air, Formerly of Starfleet. Currently of no fixed abode."

Jan shook the man's hand quickly. "Well listen Bruce, we're short-handed around here. How'd you like to work on a ship that's coming apart at the seams, but keeps on flying anyway?" Jan said.

Bruce's face lit up, "You serious? I'd love to. What sort of work do you do?"

"We run pretty much whatever we can. Passengers, cargo of varying degrees of legality, it's never dull work." Jan said, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it, the coarse tobacco slightly stinging the back of his throat.

"Are you more of an engineer or a pilot? The way you sound makes me think you're a pilot." Jan said, offering him a cigarette.

Bruce looked at the offered white cylinder, "Aren't you refueling at the moment? Yeah, I'm Flight trained. Alpha Squadron at the Academy, if that means anything to you."

"Never been to the Academy, and it's alright to smoke, won't be refueling until we repair the hull breaches amidships on the starboard side." Jan said.

Bruce waved it away, "Nah, I'll keep. So, how long are you in for repairs? When can I go on and have a look around? are you taking on Cargo? Where are you headed next?"

Bruce hadn't been this excited since the development of the RAW fighter design.

"Whoa Whoa, slow down man. I'll have to take you to meet the captain first, though you shouldn't have a problem getting a position on-board." Jan said, putting his cigarettes away.

Bruce just grinned, "I'll grab my kit bag then. Um... you haven't actually told me your name yet."

"Jan Valentine." Jan said, taking a long drag from his cigarette.

"Jan? That's a sheila's name, isn't it?"

"It works for both, I prefer to pronounce it 'yon' though." Jan said.

"Alright Bruce, I'll see if I can get Jones on the comm, and get him to hire you on. Nice meeting you." Jan said.

"Likewise," Bruce grinned. Then he headed off at a jog to recover his kit. It was sad that his entire life could be summed up in a large canvas sack over one shoulder. At least now he would have an excuse to Decline Kara's offer of Helmsman on the F'Tang without anyone getting broken.

 

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