Part 1, Finding the Computer Core

Posted on Mon Mar 25th, 2024 @ 3:30am by Ensign Dani Harper & Lieutenant Jules Mundy

1,413 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Side Plots
Location: Serenity
Timeline: MD 2, 1600 Hours

In engineering Dani was fervently working on the generator. Once she started on it, she realized that it was much more three-dimensional that it looked in how the crystals were put together. She wasn't paying much attention at all to anything else, hyper-focused on getting the generator working again. Her main map being the generator itself and trying to document everything that she took apart and which pieces she was going to replace when she put it back together.
Mundy entered engineering and looked for Dani. When he didn't see her, he shouted, "DANI!!"

Dani jumped and let out a yelp, startled by the sudden yell in the previously silent room. When it registered that it was Jules yelling her name she stepped out in the open still breathing heavy from the scare. "What the... is everything okay?" She asked looking around worriedly, ready to run if she needed to.

"I told them to have security come here with you. No reason for anyone, including you, to wander this ship alone." Jules moved closer to her. "I wouldn't have forgiven myself if anything happened to you my watch...considering the way I feel about you."

Dani looked around at the empty room as Jules stepped closer. "The ship is abandoned except for us and some cryo-chambers. I'm fine. You could have used the communicator you know." She hadn't had a thought that she should be concerned about being down here alone.

"Do you want to see what I'm working on?" She asked proudly. Jules still standing right in front of her.

"Sure. Let's see what you got." He wanted to grab her, hold her in his arms and kiss her, the damn with what people will think.

She led him further into the room, behind one of the pillars where one of the crystal generators had been removed. The table with the crystals laid out right next to it. Dani took a breath in. "I started disassembling it, and am just now putting it back together with the crystals that Moxx and Taylon collected. I don't know how to tell how much juice is left in these things, but there are definitely enough of the right types of crystals to put this back together. This could be huge for the ship's power supply," she said excitedly a wide grin spread across her face. She was hoping to put off talking about what had happened in the turbolift until they were off duty.

After Mundy examined her work, he nodded. "Good job. If you do get this console running, try to find a way not to overload any of the circuits. Otherwise, all in all, a good job." It was obvious to him that she didn't want to talk about what happened. Maybe he did surprise her with what he said, but maybe it wasn't the right time or place, because it seems to him that she doesn't feel the same way.

Dani put her hands on her hips. "Try not to find a way to overload the circuits? Do you want to take over?" She asked defiantly. "You're just like my last boss, always couching compliments with something negative," she muttered as she shook his comment off and tried return her focus back to the work she had been doing.

"I apologize. Of course I wasn't trying to say anything negative about your work, your work is excellent. In fact, I will send a report to your department head praising your work." Her being aggressive towards him with her comments, was turning him on. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Truely, I am sorry."

Dani scoffed. "That is the last thing that you should be doing. You putting commendations on my record will not look good when word of what we've been doing gets out."

Dani kept working on the generator. "This isn't for a console. This goes into a major conduit that can be routed to a majority of the ship. Better watch out, I may be coming after your job," Dani teased trying to lighten the mood. "The conduit is back there." She gestured to the large pillar in the center of the room that had initially blocked Mundy's view of her when he first entered engineering.

He went over and examined the conduit. Mundy pulled out his tricorder and scanned the opening in the conduit. "You can have my job if you want it." He was getting confusing readings. "I don't think this conduit is what you expected. This may restore power to a large part of the ship....or it could be the ship's self-destruct program."

Dani looked puzzled. "Well when I got down here, it looked like that," Dani pointed to her project, "came from there," she said gesturing to the conduit that Mundy was studying. "This crystal configuration matches the ones that T'lenn identified as power generators. And we've seen the same specifications in the computers since we got the universal translators working. Do you think that's connected to the core somehow? I've heard everyone say that we haven't found it yet."

"The core would be deep within the ship. Only way is to search for it. You game?" He smiled at her.

"Don't you think I should finish that?" Dani asked, looking back on her nearly finished work.

"I think we should find the core first. You put that thing together, like I said, it could be the ship's self-destruct program."

Dani sighed, and looked back at her work. "That just doesn't make sense," she said to herself. "I was putting it back how I found it. How would finding the computer core help?"

"If we find the core, we can figure out where the self-destruct control is. Usually every ship has one, we need to know if this ship has one or not." Jules repiled.

"Okay. If you have an idea of where to look?" Dani responded, abandoning her project.

"This conduit leads down, best place is to see what's at the bottom. That's where I would put the self-destruct." Mundy replied.

"Okay. After you then," Dani said, checking her belt to make sure she still had her tricorder and phaser. She nodded to indicate she was ready.

Jules stepped into the conduit, it was a tight fit for him but there was just enough room. There were spaces that acted like foot and hand holes. He called up, "You okay?"

"Oh, we're going that way?" Dani said once she saw him climbing in. "Yeah, sure, right behind you." Dani climbed in. It wasn't all that much different than a jeffries tube. A lot darker, a bit of a tighter squeeze.

"According to scans, it's going to take us about 20 minutes to climb down to the core." Mundy moved carefully. "Is there anything you wish to discuss as we make our way down?" He was hoping she would bring up the incident in the turbolift earlier.

"Discuss," Dani repeated. "You mean here, like this?" The tunnel they were crawling down was dark and cold. "You told me that you love me. How could you possibly know that. You barely even know know me," Dani sighed.

"My parents were married 2 months after they met. You never heard of 'love at first sight?" Jules replied.

"I believe in lust at first site, and maybe sometimes it could be love. I guess I'm just a little shy about using that word, because it's like permission to get even more attached to someone. And you still don't know if it's going to work out." Dani stopped climbing for a minute and wiped some grime that had gotten onto her hands on to her pants. She finished her thought before she continued the climb. "I could have a really annoying habit you can't stand. You don't even know the half of how messed up my family is. That alone could be enough to drive you away."

"I'm in love, I think, with you, not your family. And even if you had an annoying habit, I could learn to tolerate it." Mundy took a breather. "Maybe next time you'll spend the night in my quarters."

"Can we find someplace to stand on level ground?" Dani asked. "Talking about this on a ladder in a dark conduit is making me dizzy. I need to see your face."

Mundy looked down. "There appears to be a ledge further down. We can stop there."

>> Part 2 >>

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