<USS Avalon> "Shuttle Smart"

 
"Shuttle  Smart"
feat. Ensign Delaney  Scott and Cialra
(follows shortly after "Visiting a  Lady")



"Pits  below!" 
        That  was the first thing Laney heard when she entered the shuttle 
bay, and she  stopped for a moment to watch as a woman she'd never seen before 
stood in the  hatch of a Regellian rescue bus, nearly screaming at three 
Starfleet  technicians.  "That's it! Not  one more hand on my systems, you lot, 
not 
one more!"
Suppressing  a grin, Laney strode forward. "Excuse me, what's going on  here?"
All  four people looked to her. One of the techs recognized her, either from 
one of  her infrequent trips to Engineering or from the crew manifest, and 
came toward  her, saying, "Ensign, Lieutenant K'etrall assigned us to look over 
this  shuttle--"
"You're  not looking me over, you're practically tearing me apart!" the woman 
standing  in the hatch said hotly. "The three of you have no business with 
your hands in  circuitry you don't understand!" She glanced over at Laney, whom 
she still did  not know about yet, and just started tapping her foot, as she 
figured this was  yet another who wanted to tear into her systems in an 
"effort" to learn  them.    
"Okay,  okay, let's all just chill," Laney said as she came to stand next to 
the  shuttle. She looked up at the woman and addressed her. "Regellian rescue 
bus,  right? You're the holographic interface?"
For  a moment, the face looking down at her seemed surprised. "Cialra, avatar 
of  the Baron l'Orange's  MI core--how did you know?" As she was  still not 
allowed aboard the Avalon proper, she had no authority past  her own outer 
hatch, or ability to actually step outside into the bay or  anywhere else in 
the 
ship, although her curiosity about this vessel was very  keen indeed.
Laney  smiled, replying, "Knowing shuttles is my business." Turning to the 
three  technicians, she said, "You can go now."
The  one who had spoken before said, "But the  lieutenant--"
"Knows I'm in  charge of the shuttle bays, and all the shuttles inside them. 
If she has any  questions, she'll know whom to ask. Dismissed." She and Cialra 
watched as the  three young men walked away and exited the shuttle  bay.
Cialra  spat out with her hands on her hips and her eyes still blazing with 
anger,  "And good riddance!" She was clearly highly upset.
Laney  looked up with a smile. "Permission to board?"
Cialra  looked worried. "And you are?" It wasn't like her to be paranoid, but 
the last  shift and a quarter had taught her much about why people became 
that  way!
"Ensign  Delaney Scott, Shuttle Bay Deck Officer. Nice to meet you."
Now  that her suspicion was partly relieved by this one's courtesy, Cialra 
smiled  slightly, then stepped aside to allow her inside as she said softly,  
"Certainly, you may board. As I said, my name is Cialra, but you can call me  
Claire if it's easier for you. Even Talea calls me Claire on occasion; it is  
the modern version of my name, in fact."
"I  can say Cialra just fine. So what were they doing in here,  anyway?"
The  holographic avatar pointed toward the rear of the shuttle, where there 
was an  open hole in the floor. "Supposedly examining the stasis and other  
environmental systems. Previous shift kept trying to disconnect my core!"  
After 
a period where she was visibly trying to calm herself, she asked Laney,  "Do 
you really know Regellian shuttlecraft,  Ensign?"
"I  did a lot of reading in the last few years," Laney replied absently as 
she  walked to the back of the shuttle and picked up a tricorder. She noticed 
right  away that the technicians didn't have it calibrated to correctly access 
the  shuttle's mainframe. Making the corrections, she was able to then scan and 
 access any system she wanted, and decided on a full scan. "Although the 
stasis  system needs to be reset and the navigational system realigned, looks 
to 
me  like everything else is in working order," she said after a moment, turning 
to  Cialra as she did so. "Unless I've missed something."
Cialra  stated quietly, "Can you please check my connections? I cannot 
correct them if  they are loosened, and I'm numb, for lack of a better term, in 
the 
aft quarter  of my ship-body. Naturally, I'm concerned. First, Talea's 
problems, now this?"  
She  frowned and looked down at the deck. "It's enough to test the patience 
of a  saint, and I assure you, a saint I ain't!"
Laney  chuckled. "Certainly," she replied, and after inputting a few 
commands, turned  back to the rear of the shuttle and ran another scan. She 
grimaced 
and shook  her head at what she saw.
"What?"  Cialra asked. "What is it?"
"You  were right. Some of your connections are loose, some of them are 
disconnected  altogether. No offense to Lieutenant K'etrall, but she really 
should 
have  assigned someone who knows something about this kind of shuttle to do any 
 actual work on it."
Cialra  was definitely worried now, and it showed in her expression and tone. 
"Can you  fix it?"
Laney  stood and faced the hologram. "I can reset the stasis system, realign 
the nav  system and fix your connectors. I'll have to open some more panels 
after I put  the floor plates back into place--"
Cialra  shook her head. "I don't care. As long as whatever you do fixes me, 
and you  put me back together when you're done."
"Not  a problem. I'll be happy to have something to do," Laney told her. 
Checking  the equipment the technicians had left behind, she saw that 
everything 
she  would need was already there. She made a mental note to send a memo to the 
 lieutenant about her people leaving equipment behind. Then again, she could 
hardly blame  the last three guys, when Cialra had kicked them out of the 
shuttle! Albeit  with cause, given the damage they and their previous 
shift-mates 
had  wrought!
Quickly  getting to work, she reset the stasis system and realigned the 
navigational  computer in a fairly short amount of time. She replaced and set 
the 
floor  panels, then went further into the rear and took down some wall panels 
on both  the port and starboard sides, reconnecting and adjusting connections 
wherever  Cialra pointed.
When  all the work was finished at last, and the wall panels replaced, Laney 
packed  up the equipment and stood with the case in her hand and remarked, "My 
 tricorder said everything was running smoothly now, but you may want to run 
a  full systems diagnostic."
Cialra  nodded. "I think I will," she said, then closed her eyes as she 
initiated the  scan. A full two minutes later, she opened them again and 
smiled. 
"Systems  report now says all systems are running at peak efficiency. Thank 
you, 
Ensign  Scott. I feel much better now."
Laney  smiled. "Like I said, I was happy for something to do. Now that you're 
all  fixed up, I'd suggest sealing your hatch so no one else can get in here. 
I'll  go write up a report to Lieutenant K'etrall and make sure she knows you 
don't  need anything else done to you," she replied.
"I  think I will. See you, Ensign," Cialra said warmly. "I'll seal to 
everyone  except the Captain, the Chief Engineer, you, the Chief of Security, 
Talea 
and  Sergeant Ranger."
"Sounds  good to me. See you, Cialra," Laney returned, then stepped out the 
hatch. She  stood and watched as the hatch was closed and listened for the 
tell-tale  melodious chime that sounded when a seal was applied. She nodded to 
herself  when she heard it, then walked over to the work station and sat to 
file 
her  report.

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