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Posted on Wed Mar 6th, 2024 @ 3:52am by Captain Remy Johansen & Ensign Dani Harper & Lieutenant Jules Mundy & Ensign Rilaxa Moxx

2,232 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Artifact or Artifiction
Location: Serenity
Timeline: MD: 2 1500 Hours

Dani was in a turbolift on her way to the Bridge. She wasn't sure what for, but hoped she was getting a chance to back over to the alien vessel. Word had gotten back that the ship's name was Serenity. The lift stopped on the way and Jules stepped in. Her heart skipped a beat when the doors closed and they were alone.

"Hey," Dani said with a smile. "Fancy running into you here."

"Odds say that two people traveling in a turbolift might actually run into each other." Mundy moved closer and his hand brushed hers.

Dani let her fingers graze his hand before pulling away. "You need to be more careful," she chastised. "We're lucky it was just Ghiram that heard you yesterday. Or do you like living on the edge? "

"Dani, there are no regulations concerning people seeing each other, as long as it doesn't interfere with their duties."

"Computer pause turbolift." Dani ordered. Once she was sure it was stopped and they were alone she stepped closer to him, and looked up, standing on her toes slightly so that when she spoke her breath would hit his next. "Letting coworkers hear you call me sexy in the middle of an assignment might cause the first officer some concern." She let her left hand explore his pecs while she talked into his ear.

Her hand drifted lower and down his back, resting on his ass. "And then there's that pesky little bit about you being a department head. I think we'd do well to stay off Lorut and Johansen's radar. This wouldn't be as fun if we were asked to fill out one of Starfleet's stupid little forms." As she said that she tugged on his waistband a little before winking at him and stepping away.

"Computer, restart turbolift." Dani looked at Jules out of the corner of her eye for a reaction.

"I am the chief operations officer, so I am the department head. And by the way....I think I'm falling in love with you." And before she could respond, the turbolift doors opened.

Dani stepped onto the Bridge in stunned silence and made a note to get a check-up ASAP. She was always told that her body didn't produce the pheromones that Orion women were notorious for, but Jules' comment made her wonder if something had changed.

Remy stood up when the two officers stepped onto the Bridge. "Lietenant Mundy, earlier today Lieutenant Taylon believes he's made some progress in gathering dakeon crystals that might work to get the generators operational. He didn't want to take any further steps until you beamed over to take a look. Ensign Harper, I know you were instrumental in getting the alien technology up and running, so you should go along as well."

"You should both know, we found people alive in cryostasis chambers. Many of the people had died. Our new intelligence officer believes that the ships computer was choosing who to save because of the loss of power. While we figure out how to safely wake them up, we want to make sure the ship is getting all the power it needs," Remy added.

Dani blinked a few times. "Captain, if I may... There are people on board? Maybe they won't like our modifications. Why aren't we trying to wake them up first?"

Remy nodded at the inquiry. "That's a reasonable question, Ensign. It's not as simple as just turning the machine off. If it were, then the others would have been able to get out of the pods and fix the ship themselves. Also, they likely have no immunity to the environment today. Especially all of us. The doctors are working on it though."

"Anything else?" Remy asked.

Mundy spoke up. "Ready to go, sir."

"Alright then, we'll send you over now. Lieutenant Shiv," Johansen said with a nod.

"Aye sir," the young operations officer responded. "Two to beam over."

Lieutenant Mundy and Ensign Harper found themselves in the smaller computer room that was set off from the large and vast space of engineering. There was an assortment of dakeon crystals laid out on one of Starfleet's modular tables. Lieutenant Taylon and Ensign Moxx appeared to be looking at something on a computer screen.

Dani gave Jules a sideways glance and a half smile as she quick stepped over to see what the officers were working on.

Taylon was standing at a viewscreen on the Serenity's bridge, black hand gesturing wildly to the screen as he went. He noticed Dani approach. "Good morning," he said, friendly as always. "I think we have something," he said. "I think that Lt. Spello may be onto something with his ideas," he said. "Look," he said, moving a crystal. A blip on his screen, and then a certain relay switch went dark. He replaced it, and it came back on. "The crystals are key to the power system. If we can figure out the order they go in, we can get the ship back in order," he said. Excitedly, he raised his head. "Lt. Mundy? We have something!"

"Have you stopped for a break today Taylon?" Dani asked. "It's 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Have you had lunch?"

"Don't worry. I've made sure that he's eaten something." The pretty young Bolian woman standing next to him said with a dazzling white smile. "And not some fast two-minute sandwich or something. Don't fret!" That little quip over she turned back to the crystals in front of them. "Let's see here." She picked up two at random and studied them all over. "There must have been some way to differentiate which goes in which part of the sequence. How would the engineers who designed this ship know otherwise?" She mused.

Taylon smiled at Dani. “Do I look like Thisbe?” Poor girl, no junior officer was going to let it go for awhile. “Of course you’re right, Moxx,” he said. “We’ll just take it step by step. Harper, unless Boss has a different plan, you could get the rest of the consoles fired up. I bet if you get the replicators up, Lorut’ll promote you on the spot!”

"Aww, man. Leave her alone. She's out of the Academy three months. Give the girl a break," Dani said defensively.

Taylon grinned. "I actually know her; her brother was in my class," he said. "So I like to tease her a little. I am glad she's ok. She had us all worried. She tries too hard to prove herself, and really-she just needs to let her work speak for itself. She's a skilled engineer, she just needs more practice and confidence," he said. He wasn't that far ahead of her in his own career, actually, and he knew the stress that some people like her-the Type A personalities-put on themselves. She was smart, though, and he knew she'd be perfectly fine once she found her footing. "How are those consoles, Dani?" He said again, gently.

"I know her too, and it's not nice to tease someone behind their back. If you like her, you should just tell her," Dani rebutted.

Taylon laughed. "She's not really my type. She has the wrong...genitals," he said. "But don't worry, I was teasing her to her face just this morning," he said. "She hit me, too," he said, rubbing his shoulder. She might be a small girl, but she packed a punch. He DID deserve it.

"So what did you need us to do? You think there are enough of these to run the ship?" Dani asked walking over to the display of crystals. "I'm worried that we're dealing with finite number, and who knows if any more can even be mined anywhere at this point."

Taylon nodded. "I think so. I think that Rilaxa's idea is good, though...we just go down the line and see what happens," he shrugged, turning serious again. "If you want to hop on the other CONN and see if you can do this half," he indicated a section of crystals, "and we'll finish this first half, then it'll go faster." He suggested.

"I wonder if these have anything to do with anything...' Rilaxa picked up a crystal and held it out; lettering seemed to be etched into their bodies so cleanly they were nearly indiscernible unless one squinted. "Hopefully the order in which they're supposed to be placed in? I wonder if these are like batteries, with a positive and negative end."

Taylon shrugged. "Well. Let's try." He insert a crystal into the reader, and held his breath a moment. On the screen, a light flickered in what appeared to be the engine room. "So upwards, that one works. Let's see what happens when we flip it," he said. He did it, and then watched the screen. Same light went out, and the sounds went silent. "Seems like you're correct, Rilaxa. Good work," he said.

The young Bolian beamed. "Sweet! Well then, that's one part of the puzzle we'll have to incorporate! Honestly, I'm having fun." She began picking up and turning crystals over. Slowly but surely she began to make progress, turning on relay after relay...

Taylon smiled. "Excellent," he said. "Where is Lt. Mundy?" He frowned a little, and tapped his comms.
=/\=Lt. Mundy, Lt. Janes. We have a small bit of progress on the computer systems. We're at the auxiliary bridge now.=/\= He signed off. The man would show up if he felt like he needed to.

"I'm right here." Jules was standing at one of the tables, his scanner running over the crystals that they found. "I found that the best way is to for crystals of the same color, and try them one by one, in case one of them is faulty. And make sure you visually scan the console when you open them, that may give you some idea of which crystals go where."

"Did you have the same set up in engineering then? Is that where you wanted me to go?" Dani asked gesturing toward the door with her thumb. "It shouldn't be too bad, it looks like you guys are pretty organized."

Jules looked at her. "Same setup, still there, so if you want to head there, okay with me." He was being very brisk and brief, he wasn't in a good mood.

"Yes, sir," came Taylon's reply. "Ensign Moxx and I can continue running the crystals," he said. "As we're doing that, I am also checking the switches. There's a power leak-or something-in the bottommost areas of the ship-it appears on the schematics to be a morgue, perhaps. I can't know exactly without seeing it, of course, but that's what it LOOKS like. An old style, from Sol, perhaps," the man mused. "Anything else, sir?" He said. The Chief seemed oddly upset...he glanced between the young woman and the Ops Chief, but didn't say anything. He placed another crystal in the reader, and looked at the screen.

Mundy looked at the readings. "It does look like a morgue. Ask medical to send someone down there, along with security." He looked at the screen. "Nothing. I'll start changing the crystals to see if we can get this working."

Rilaxa continued working to rearrange the crystals. This was like a puzzle, an unusual one - with a rather satisfying outcome.

Dani reluctantly went to the engineering room by herself. Why did she have to be so weird in the turbolift earlier. She sullenly took survey of the crystals that Taylon and Moxx had collected earlier, and glanced over at the dead generator in the middle of the room. She'd been wanting to get one up and running since they arrived. She looked back and forth a few times before she dragged the table over to the generator and began taking inventory of what was in the generator currently and what was on the table. If she were lucky, maybe some of these could replace the broken pieces which would mean a huge power surge for the ship.

Taylon heard Mundy send Dani down to Engineering. He cleared his throat. "Sir, do you think it's safe for a young female to be alone on a strange ship?" He ventured. "Maybe send Ensign Moxx down, too?" He suggested.

"Didn't you hear me say that security should go with her? What is wrong with you people?" Mundy ran out of the room and headed down to engineering. "If something happened to Dani.......

Taylon shrugged a little. "I did hear you, but perhaps security didn't," he said. "I can go..." he said, watching as the man ran out of the room. What was going on?

"You've been pushing yourself hard. A little too hard, by the likes of it." Rilaxa piped up from beside him. "Here." She placed a plate of sandwiches in front of him. "Eat. Take a break. You'll be more productive afterwards."

Taylon watched as Moxx disappeared, too. Oh, well. He didn't mind the quiet. He knew what his job was. He got back to work, tapping away at the computer as he inserted crystal after crystal, bringing life to various parts of the ship.

- - - - -

Lieutenant JG Jules Mundy
Chief Operations Officer
USS Astrea

Lieutenant J.G. Taylon Janes
Operations Officer
USS Astrea

Ensign Dani Harper
Science Officer
USS Astrea

Ensign Rilaxa Moxx
Engineering Officer
USS Astrea

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