<USS Avalon> "Shuttle Smart"
- From: CamtheTreknut@xxxxxxx
- To: avalon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2006 14:24:49 EST
"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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