Factory Fresh

Posted on Thu Dec 27th, 2018 @ 4:55am by Lieutenant Commander Mara Ricci & Captain Benjamin Ingram Dr

Mission: S1E2: A Temple To New Gods
Location: Main Engineering, USS Resolute
Timeline: MD2 12.00PM

Nearly a full twelve hours underway, and no sign of wear, tear, or anything flying off at relativistic speeds. All in all he hadn't expected anything to happen, but an Ingram didn't get anywhere in the worlds without assuming someone was going to mess it up. Its why Ingrams were always nearby keeping their hands on the tiller, keeping society on course.

Walking into the main engine room of the USS Resolute he felt mildly nostalgic. It was nearly the same size as his first off-campus apartment when he'd attended Starfleet Academy. Not quite a harbour view, but it was homely. Warp core looked a little weedy...

"Chief Ricci?" he shouted into the small space, alerting everyone to his presence. "You're in here somewhere, and unless their's a subspace compression field I doubt you can hide in here."

"I can if I'm 'round the other side of the warp core," she called back with a grin, a shake of her head, and a roll of her eyes. She stepped out to spot Ingram, who had only surprised her in that he had waited so long to come down. "Are you checking up on me?" she asked cheekily.

"Given the downgrade from the two beating hearts of a Vesta class cruiser, I'd expected to come down here and find you rearranging the plumb whilst in flight," Ingram said with a nod to the techs who were bustling out of his way. Had he known the red uniform collar would part the crowds he'd have changed to the Command track a long time ago. "How is everything?"

"A bit boring to tell the truth," she replied, rounding the core to meet him halfway across the room. "It's sturdy. Reliable. Stable. Makes my job easy, but easy is a bit dull."

"I'd have thought after all the trouble's we've faced getting here, a little boring routine would be just what the doctor ordered?" he said with a smile. "Though I imagine coming up with a variety of solutions to the possible problems and challenges we'll be facing soon enough. Even the most optimistic projection where the Modules are prepared for us will still be a mammoth undertaking."

“Oh, believe me,” she replied. “I’ve been over every scenario over and over again. “I figure, worst case scenario is that we lose both modules and I have to work out the calculations to long jump us home. At first, I thought that the worst case is we all die, but then I remembered that that would mean I didn’t have any more work to do. A bit macabre, perhaps, but there’s a silver lining on every cloud.”

"Huum, well I'm sure when the Traveller returns to Carpathia it can tell us exactly how it was able to send a signal back to Starfleet. Given the fact they used a Phase Space Accelerator that wasn't visible in the system when we arrived. You do remember the giant gold ring that tossed us out of the galaxy? The thing they hid behind a planetoid in case it blew up?" Ingram chuckled. "Though if anyone could build one out of baling wire and duct tape, I'd bet you could. Regardless of what the small minded press would have said about you."

Mara gave a little satisfied and smug smile. So Ingram had seen the article and was solidly on her side. That was good news. "I have him what-for for that," she replied. "He took everything completely out of context. Never mind. I don't care what he thinks. I'd also need chewing gum and a single red paperclip," she added.

"I'll add it to the replicator queue," Ingram said with a smile. "And don't put to much weight into Spire's reporting. Taking something out of context is a free presses job as far as I know. I've been dodging them since I was ten. One of my first lessons as a child was learned by my mother's knee and who I should not speak to strangers offering candy, people asking me to step into air cars, and anyone claiming to represent mainstream media."

He clicked his fingers.

"In fact, his report won't have made to back to the Federation, it'll still be in the comm's buffer awaiting the Engineering Module and the power source to turn on the Phase Space Transceiver. And given power is at a premium at the moment...it's not beyond the pale that the data array holding his report might suffer a blackout. Wipe the whole thing, such a shame." He said in a voice that suggested it would not be.

"Oh, no," replied Mara with poorly feigned horror. "That would be just terrible. I hope it doesn't happen. Jeez. All that hard work, down the tubes."

"If he wanted secure data storage and redundant backups, he should have stayed in the Alpha Quadrant and not come out to the great unknown," Ingram smiled. "I wanted to come down to express my thanks. You didn't have to sign on to the Canopus Mission, I know there were other offers from half a dozen ship captains."

"But, none quite so exciting," replied Mara. "Who would want to teach further training to newly graduated cadets when they could go to a completely different galaxy?"

"Well, the old one is still below us. Messier 4 is just a globular cluster, so think of this as training for the day we head out for the Pin Wheel Galaxy, or Andromeda," Ingram says wistfully. "But yes, certainly beats gaseous anomaly surveys along the Neutral Zone."

"That's the understatement of the century," she replied with a grin.

"I know that a Norway, especially one as new as the Resolute won't offer the same engineering challenges or prestige of a Vesta class vessel. But You are right that there will be challenges ahead. We are strangers here, and form what the Traveller's report mentioned about their reception here, we travel in hostile waters." Ingram nodded at her. "I know you'll see us through whatever comes of it. Though I will get you that box of red paper clips, just in case."

That earned him a genuine grin. "You never know when they'll come in handy," she replied simply.

"I've always found interns useful for similar reasons. Sometimes explaining the matter to them helps me iron out the parts of the problem the laymen at Starfleet HQ might find difficult," Ingram mused. "And they can hold paper's rather well, in this paperless future of ours. Well, you have things to get back to. I just came to check in and make sure everything was ship shape and ship shaped."

Mara grinned. She really didn't have things to do at the moment, but an engineer never admitted to having nothing to do. "Yes, sir," she replied. "I've gotta keep this thing in one piece. It's a full-time job," she joked.

"Pray it never comes to that," he said with a smile. "Either way, I'll leave you be. Good day Chief Ricci."