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Posted on 12 Aug 2023 @ 5:32pm by Petty Officer 3rd Class Helliun 'Hel' Inant & Petty Officer 2nd Class Donald Andrews & Petty Officer 3rd Class John Hollenday

2,026 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: USS Galileo- Various
Timeline: MD 11, 1130hrs

[ON]

After finally being released from sickbay and a good few hours rest Donald decided to head to engineering, it hadn't taken a genius to notice the ship had taken a kicking from something in the time he had been away but he'd only seen the a little of the internal damage.

"Bloody hell they certainly made a mess in here didn't they?" Were his first words on passing through the doors.

John was still not very pleased at what had gone down in sickbay, and he still didn't have a lot of information. "I told 'em how many times, this was supposed to be shakedown, not go into a full-on battle. Does anyone up there on the bridge ever listen to anything we have to say? All we get is "I need more power!" Like we are some sort of magic wielders down here."

"Guess I wasn't the only one who had an interesting time." Donald headed further into engineering, "How bad is it?"

"Got almost tossed in the brig. Some fuckin' Klingon stabbed my girlfriend and then they said that I couldn't throttle him with my bare hands."

"Mimi's hurt?" Donald asked, it wasn't the answer he was expecting but it was interesting information. "Is she alright?"

"Don't have clue, they won't say crap to me. Technically she outranks me and we have no formal relationship."

"Right, I've reconnected what I could..." Hel walked over, her uniform jacket open. She wiped her hands on her trousers, looking over at Donald. "Ah, Andrews. Glad to see you, we need more hands than we have..." she grinned, showing her teeth in a way that made it look more like a grimace. "Power fluctuations across the ship every time this lady gets wound up. And she's mightily wound up right now."

"Well I got the ok from sickbay to come and help out, don't know how good my hands are gonna be though, still feeling a bit crispy." Donald said. "If you ever see me about to short circuit an eps conduit with a hyperspanner do try and stop me."

Hel laughed, shaking her head at that. "Why, it might be funny. For me. All for me," she said lightly before she shrugged. "Lucrete's in their quarters, got wounded fighting the Ferengi. So we're a few hands short anyway..." she walked over to him, studying him closely before she lightly hit his shoulder. "Glad you're back, Andrews."

John cast a look at the petty officer that was probably as hot as an overheated anti-matter injector. "A few hands short? We've been more than a few hands short for so long I can't remember when we had any complement worth calling an engineering department." He shook his head. "Sorry, got a lot of personal crap on my mind besides these problems."

"Hey, Mimi is going to be fine John. We'll go see her as soon as they let us." Donald told him as he put an arm over his shoulder. "Come show me where you can use me best."

"You know darn well that they will be wanting warp. Let's go see how much they screwed up the port engine trying to take on a heavy cruiser."

"I saw that on the way in. That nacelle certainly took a pounding." Donald remarked. "And I saw what's left of a hull breach not too far from here. Surprised you managed to fix that without me."

"I had to do something to keep from throttling anyone." John paused. "Hey Inant, come on. Probably should have you take a look and see what more needs to be done before working the drive. You know what's going to happen right?" John changed his voice to a more stern one. "I need warp eight and full phasers in thirty seconds." He laughed. "Never fails. One day, just one day it would be nice for command to spot us all top shelf stuff."

Hel rolled her eyes before she looked at Donald. "As if that will ever happen. One thing Captains like less than mouthy deck Chiefs are mouthy Engineers..." she smirked, unable to stop it. "Saying that, I am in a mighty fine mood after the fights we've had. So if you want me to run another diagnostic on the drive, that's fine. But we won't be able to get her to top speed, we'll need to get back to a base for proper repairs."

"Bottle of something good back at Regula says I can get another .5 of a warp factor out of them." Donald said boastfully.

Hel looked at him, running her eyes over him. "What, you planning on going out there and pushing her?" she said teasingly. "Bet the Chief would have fun with that. You can bet that with her, not me...I never wager good stuff."

"Well, if we don't double-check that patch job on the hull, we'll all be frozen popsicles. Besides, even if we could squeeze out another half a warp, then the captain would probably want more. Let's save it and if it comes down the pike makes us look even more like the superstars we already are." John gestured toward a tube.

Hel looked at them for a moment, before she exhaled. "I really enjoy triple-checking hull repairs," she said lightly. "By all means, Hollenday...have a look. Peer reviews are always good."

"John, please. I don't do last names stuff." He lead the way. "Just down this way." A chunk of metal had been phaser welded to a piece of the hull.

Donald followed John down the path till they reached the patched hole, the whole space around the breach was covered in scorch marks and loose debris that the clearing up of was a much lower priority than fixing the rest of the ship, stepping in close he took a look at the patch job with the trained eye of a the ship builder he once was. "Not a bad job John," He said after a minute or so. "Tiny gap still here though, not enough to be dangerous, we'll lose a little atmosphere through it. If we mix up some molecular bonding compound and reseal the edge it'll stand."

"Thanks. That sounds good. All right engine next?"

"Let's go." Donald said and let John lead the way, as he knew where was safest to travel through the damage and precisely where said damage was.

"Sure, but Hel there probably knows the way around the engine better than me." John pointed to the petty officer.

Hel grinned at that, raising an eyebrow. "Follow me..." she said, moving quickly to lead them through. The shortest way wasn't the safest, but she knew her way around for now. She led them back to the warp engines, taking a deeper breath. "She took a beating, but she's running...minimal leaks. But I'd not get too close if I could avoid it."

John looked over the readouts. "Yeah running is about it. Don what do you think? Maybe we could relieve some load by rerunning a couple of bypasses. As Hel here says, don't want to go crawling around the thing in its current state."

"If none of the warp coils are fused we might be alright." Donald replied as he looked over the readouts. "Did the core go offline during the battle?"

"Define...offline..." Hel said, watching Donald with an almost innocent expression on her face. Because technically...you could argue it was less of an offline experience as much as a shut down or we die moment whilst Ferengi were running around. But that was her recollection of it and truthfully, she'd have to verify against the logs because her recall was marred by adrenaline and blood.

"Off is off." John shook his head. "At least it sounds like an initiated shutdown, so the coils might be fine. How they were brought back might be more telling. Tell you what, let me run a diagnostic on the injectors, and you two check diagnostics on the coils." He glanced down the corridor. "Best we can do. Anyone heading down that way with a damaged Nacell is being foolish. Well crap, Don, your technically highest rank here what's your call?"

"We'd better check the coolant system too, the drive plasma pressure looks a little higher than it should be," Donald said nodding slightly at John's suggestions. "Could be a small leak somewhere."

Hel sighed and rolled her shoulders. "I'll get on that," she said, lightly, reaching to pull a band from her pocket to tie her hair up in a bun. Ready to start crawling and checking.

"Be careful down there Hel, don't want another one of us engineers getting crispy today." Donald said as Hel disappeared down a jefferies tube.

"Pain's a lesson!" Hel shouted up, grinning as she continued down. And it really was to her people, so she'd do this...find if there was a leak, fix it if there was. And so on.

"More than ten minutes, I'm calling for emergency transport to sickbay. Things are dicey that way." John added.

It was nine minutes and 56 seconds before Hel came back, smiling as he looked at them. "Small leak, all sorted..." she said and got out, shaking her hands for a second before rubbing them together.

"Pressures heading down the right way already." Donald remarked after checking the display again. "Nice work Hel."

"How are you feeling? You start feeling funny in any way. It's sickbay, all right? Yeah, good job. What's next?"

Hel rolled her eyes at John's concern, although she did appreciate that he cared. "Let's see...there's a couple of nice cracks here and there, but not sure I fancy cutting panels and putting replacements in."

"I think it'll hold if we don't get into any more fights. Put it on the report for when we get back. Well Don what's next on the most immediate list?"

"I can take care of fixing the hull when we get back to Regula, more time and resources there." Donald told them, it'd be fun and he could rope Constantin into helping. "Next most immediate..... the Captains chair won't go up or down."

"Oh boo hoo..." Hel said before she grimaced, because it was a bit too blunt. She recognised that easily enough. In the end she committed and shrugged. "I would have argued that she could stay in one position until the rest have been cleared up, but I am just a mere petty officer and know nothing." And in her culture, a Matriarch always made sure her people had everything they needed before worrying about minor things for their own comfort.

Donald chuckled at Hel's reaction. "That was a joke Hel, a bad one ill admit but still a joke."

"All right, so not an immediate pressing need. That is going to be life or death. Took some hits on some of the saucer sections in personal quarters. Should make sure all the bulkheads and such are not overstressed." John pointed toward Hel. "Besides Hel there can go through the underwear drawers. We can hold that information for a few extra credits next card game" He started laughing. "What does an Akkadian wear under her uniform anyway, if anything?"

Hel looked at him before she smiled, a savage smile as she leant closer to John. "Maybe we could go through your underwear drawer later..." she said, her voice rough. "See if there is anything to laugh at there as well." She raised an eyebrow and pulled away, walking ahead.

"Sorry, I make Mimi take her things back with her. Other than the standard issue, tighty whites plain as toast."

Donald laughed. "Too much information man come on." He slapped John on the back and headed for the corridor. "Lets make a start on Deck 2 and work our way down."

"Sometimes the only thing that keeps the job fun." John quipped. "Come on Hel."

[OFF]

PO3 John Hollenday
Engineering Mate
USS Galileo-A
[PNNC Allyndra]

PO2 Donald Andrews
Engineer
USS Galilei-A
[PNPC Mimi]

PO3 Helliun 'Hel' Inant
Engineer
USS Galilei-A
[PNPC Rice]

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