Star Trek: Eventide 777 - general-maintenance

[D] Cassidy wasn't really fond of public gatherings, so whine the other senior staff enjoyed the convention upstairs, Cassidy busied herself with the one thing she understand: engineering. The Lieutenant was never a social person, really, so she stayed away from socializing unless she had to, she was very much a "married to her work" type of woman.

The Borg had yet to fulfill the requirement for her social interaction. Not that the therapist she went to actually pushed her to do this, rather, set the goals and didn't enforce them beyond it. It was fine if she couldn't, but that was all. Still, there was some other immense gathering happening and, while Xenon wasn't one to leave a 'goal' unfinished, the scale of it bothered her something fierce. And so, here she was, going all the way down to an unfamiliar ring, to ask someone to assist her. The person in question, Xenon had only really spoken to for a short time before being overwhelmed. But the face was fresh and the interaction with the OTHER liberated borg had left her strangely unwilling to ask for help from that particular person. Not for disdain, but something else. Her uniform was freshly pressed, she idly brushed against her shaved head as always, her metal, honeycombed eye gazing left and right as her vocal processors came to life, coming across the woman at least. "You are... requested, mhm, requested, to assist with going to the latest gathering. Or- please would you help with going to the other gathering?" Nailed it.

Cass looked up from her admittedly mundane work, surprised there was anyone down here with the convention started, much less a Blue Shirt, and studied the Borg woman with a hint of confusion in her eyes, but it soon faded into a friendly grin. “Good mornin’ lass!” The short-haired blonde greeted gleefully, then thought on what the formerly oriental woman asked. “If I’m perfectly honest, I was hoping to avoid the crowds, but I suppose having a friend would help with the anxiety… right! I’ll finish up here and we can leave as soon as you’re ready!” Before any response was made, Cassidy began tapping away on the console, secretly eager to get out of Engineering for a while. Once she was done, Cassidy straightened from her console, tugged her jacket down, brushed any wrinkles out, then turned to Xenon. “How do I look? Is my uniform presentable?”

Blink. Blink. The woman seemed confused, on a lot of things. "Friend? Isn't that reserved for-" She was cut off by the rest of her own sentence. Not exactly one to interrupt, she just let the woman keep talking. Upon the topic of her uniform being presentable, Xenon moved around the woman, inspecting everything. "Unsure... that they will be looking at uniforms. Smell of sweat...hmm, masked by others. Mhm, fine- presentable." Her head nodded a little, somewhat robotically, but that was her whole issue. She still didn't speak by moving her mouth, instead, the voice was more comfortable coming from the voicebox still.

“Engineers smell of sweat even when they’re clean, Ensign,” Cassidy half-joked, ignoring Xenon’s use of her Borg voice box for the time being, despite the synthetic voice running chills down her spine. “Right, I believe we’re late for the opening ceremony, shall we be getting going?” Cass asked, flashing a smile her way as she spoke.

"Deodorant is often used for that. Why is there no use of it?" Her head tilted, a genuine question, her eyes somewhat hollow as she waited for an answer. Almost like a little figurine or doll. Still, her own voice emitted from the box, just... different. As hollow as her stare was. "Going...yes." She still never referred to herself in any way. Often not referring to anyone as an individual. That being said, she would follow behind the Engineer, somewhat like a lost little duckling, her arms pushed against her sides, hugging herself somewhat as she glanced left and right.

“It’s a joke, Ensign,” Cassidy explained with a chuckle. “Well… mostly, anyway. It gets hot down here and we can’t always have a nice sonic shower when we need to.” This Borg woman reminded her of a friend she once knew when she was growing up. A Betazoid with DID, which made it difficult to keep their condition to themselves among other Betazoids. Same sort of infliction, just reversed. Rather than being stripped of their identity, this person had many identities all at once! She couldn’t understand it when she was younger, and often got frustrated when she had to explain certain things over and over to different alters. Not now though. Cassidy had enough patience and willpower to capture a star if it meant helping this Borg woman. She couldn’t begin to comprehend the types of things she was going through. Rediscovering herself after being just a part in a bigger machine for however long. It saddened Cassidy, the thought. She walked out of general maintenance and into the corridor.

Dagis had found herself here after attending to some other business. She had come to check up on how the maintenance teams were doing and to see what work needed doing, if any. Although rarely seen, it wasn’t uncommon to witness the Ferengi leaning against a wall and staring at her PADD, which is exactly what she was doing right now.

She entered the room and looked around locating the commander across the way. She approached her very professionally. "Commander. Dagis, Ensign. Wynters from security. I don't mean to interfere with your work but perhaps I could ask you a few questions?"

Dagis barely even acknowledged the Ensign when she came to speak to her, seemingly quite occupied with what she was doing on her PADD instead. “Go ahead, but please make it quick. I have to reschedule some repairs.” The Ferengi said, only now looking at the Ensign over the top of her PADD screen.

"Right, well... to be quite frank, some suspicions have arisen regarding your most recent interaction with Akuvek. Is it true you had them brought to interrogation this afternoon?"

The Ferengi couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow ridge at what the Ensign said. “…I never had anyone brought somewhere to be interrogated…? Also by Akuvek, you mean the person who put the bomb in the promenade? Why would I want anything to do with them? I have bigger things to be dealing with.” Dagis answered honestly, seeming more than entirely confused by the situation.

"Ma'am, Akuvek claimed a Ferengi in yellow with 4 pips on her collar interrogated her." She adjusted her footing to move out of the way from a passing operations tech. "Sound familiar?"

“It sounds like you’re accusing me of something based off what a prisoner said, and not proof. Besides, there are multiple Ferengi in Starfleet.” Dagis responded calmly, before looking back down at her PADD. “For simply asking me questions, they all seem to be quite specific and targeted. Are you sure you are not interrogating me instead, Ensign?” She asked with her eyebrow ridge raised once more, now looking back at the Ensign again.

"I am acting in accordance to what we know. On a side note. Do you have any record of this afternoons 'scheduled maintenance' that took out all of of the security systems?"

Dagis took a second to think, before looking back down at her PADD to look for the maintenance report. After a short moment she found it and turned the PADD towards Nova. It all looked in order. “It did not take down all of the security systems, as you put it. It simply made the live feed unavailable for a short while as…” She paused, turning the PADD back to face her briefly, before turning it back to face the Ensign once more. “…Petty Officer Danielson did some standard maintenance on the footage broadcast systems.”

She didn't want to accuse the woman any further then she had so she decided to leave it at that for a bit. "Thank you, I wont take any more of your time ma'am." She turned and made her way out.

“You know where to find me if you need me.” She responded simply, before turning her PADD back to face her to carry on with her work.

1

Agrippina received the comm message while noticing numerous of the systems were beginning to fail. She quickly tapped her comm-badge and spoke. "This is Chief Valeria, all @Operations personnel on duty, report to general maintenance immediately."

And here he was, not a minute too soon. He stood up straight and looked at the operations chief. "Lieutenant Junior Grade, Renakir Torre'vnau, turbolift and transport officer," He introduced himself, noticing this officer was someone he never met. Plus he had a feeling they would need some turbolift or transporter fixing and he was the guy.

Remun entered the room, standing at attention with a Vulcan salute. “Chief Valeria; Lieutenant Junior Grade Remun T’Lauk, computer engineering and inventory, reporting for duty,” he stated, his voice as void of any emotion as it always was. His bright brown eyes found Torre’vnau for a brief second, but since there was no real reason to talk to his roommate, he quickly returned his attention to Valeria again.

His head turned when he heard a familiar voice. It was his roommate. Renakir straightened out his jacket and readjusted his sunglasses, totally not trying to look neat and put together to make a good image for Remun. And he was not trying to sneak looks at him either. He had a job to focus on. Not how stupidly attractive the Orion boy was.

2

[Comms] "Uhm Ensign Falada-Schuchert here, turbolift 2 seems to be not working at all, I'd try to fix it but my specialization is in logistics and I don't want to make it worse."

[Comms] "Noted sir. I'll get someone to deal with it, for now try to keep shop owners organized and prevent any supply chaos." She stated before turning to Renakir. "Sir, I'm going to need you to deal with the turbolift repair, you are an officer for it. It is turbolift 2, hurry and make sure it's done quick." She stated to the half-Reman.

"Acknowledged," Renakir nodded and grabbed a repair kit and darted out of the room.

“Would you like me to head to the utility ring and cargo bays and make sure inventory is secured, Chief?”, asked Remun plainly, completely ignoring Torre’vnau. He’d shifted into work mode.

For those amassed in the maintenance section being assigned jobs, background conversations were suddenly cut short as people, speaking in their native tongue, realised that they couldn't understand the other person in the conversation any more. For the few that had never learned Standard and relied on their own language, they suddenly found their words not being translated by the UT.

3

Remun’s eyes narrowed as he picked up on the change in the chatter. He looked around. Ya green boi was fluent in the Vulcan, Orion, Klingon, and Romulan language. As well as Standard. He would get by and act as a translator where needed.

2

Agrippina was much less fluent, she could speak standard, but her accent was tough to understand in any case. She looked around and noticed there were Bolians, Vulcans, Andorians, all of them speaking their native tongue. It threw her off for a moment. "Can you still understand me, sir?" She asked towards Remun, hoping he would be speaking Standard so communication would work.

“Of course, Chief,” answered Remun in fluent Standard.

"Good. You're a computer engineer, does that mean you'd be able to repair the universal translator? Or at least the few that are here. We need communications back up, unfortunately not everyone knows standard."

Remun nodded. “I will need all commbadges in here and a tricorder.” He was already taking out his PADD, always the efficient. “I will try to install a subroutine to the comm links that will allow communication to bypass the electromagnetic interference of the storm.” Yes, he knew all of those big words even in Standard.

Comm badges and tricorders were handed over to the officer so he could work on the UT.

Remun worked quickly. It was tricky and he was sure he could have been quicker ~~if it weren’t for his severe sleep deprivation~~ but he did manage to install a subroutine that should help bypass the interference of the storm. “It should work, Chief. We will have to try and see.” He didn’t add that he would be severely disappointed in himself if it didn’t work.

She grabbed one of them, fixating the commbadge and the tricorder to their respective positions. "Alright sir, affix your badge and I'll try talking in my native language to you. Hopefully it will read correctly." This storm was going to be a mess of repairs, there could be worse things, like a takeover of the station or an omnipotent creature attacking, but this was just a routine storm causing interference.

Remun nodded and quickly fixed his commbadge in place. “Please proceed,” he said in smooth Vulcan and hoped that the UT would pick up on it and translate it.

The translation worked - the UT seemed to be back to normal.

She could understand the Lieutenant quite well, so she spoke in her own language. "Can you understand me?"

“Yes, Chief,” he confirmed. “We should start handing out the badges again.” And that was what he did.

[Comms] "Renakir to ops, I'm locked inside turbolift 2, I'm attempting to fix the issue. So far life support is stable, but it is very bright in here. I will notify you when I am out." Did his voice sound panicked? No, he Surak'd those thoughts away, but there was a smallest bit of strain in his tone.

2

[Comms] “Torre’vnau, this is T’Lauk, do you require assistance?”, asked Remun when he heard the communication. At least the comms were working, he thought. It would only be logical to offer his help if Torre’vnau had to work under conditions such as bright lights which would slow him down at best and hurt him at worst.

[Comms] "Didn't expect to hear your suave voice, Takov," Renakir said, ignoring the fact that literally everyone in general maintenance could hear what he was saying. It was a real shame the translators were fixed because everyone could understand him. "I'm still trapped in turbolift 2, thankfully it hasn't moved so it's still at the engineering ring. Assistance would be appreciated." (edited)

Remun clenched his jaw very slightly as he heard Torre’vnau say ‘Takov’ out loud to the entirety of general maintenance. Amazing. Now everyone would assume things. However, Remun reminded himself that he didn’t care what people thought of him (or of him and his roommate, for that matter) and then he pushed all of that aside. “I will be there promptly,” said Remun. It was logical, since his work here was done after he had fixed the translators. He left for the #engineering-corridor.

After a good day at work, Renakir spent some time checking the chatroom and-- it looked like someone was going to hook him up with the rocks he needed! He headed out of general maintenance and to the corridor.

Max's scorched ship looked like it could have been a starfleet shuttle at some point, but it was so heavily modified that it looked nothing like it any more. Its systems were completely nonsensical. Almost all of the warp core energy was diverted from life support systems to the engines to make it warp capabilities, impulse speed, and manuverability outmatch any similar-sized vessel. It was fully customized for an android who did not breathe. In addition to its modifications, the ship was outfitted with a phaser array and bow photon torpedo launcher. Thankfully, the fire that scorched her ship did not ignite her magazine, or else the ship could have detonated and taken a chunk of the station with it. In the process of extracting the ammunition, and the damaged cargo, the repair crews found a seperate cargo box that held some items that survived. "I cannot believe it, I was sure it would have been lost!" She spoke to herself as she narrowly avoided running into people as she ran into the repair bay (edited)

And here he was, OPS officer Mr. Sunshine. Renakir was dressed in his full uniform with his hair neatly combed. He wore dark sunglasses that obscured his light-sensitive eyes. He looked rather odd compared to the other officers in the room, grey skin, black nails, pointy teeth (which he hid well by not opening his mouth except to speak). When he spotted the civilian he realised the ship wreckage belonged to them. He looked down at his PADD with the information and decided to approach the person to inquire further. "Jolan tru. This ship wreckage is yours?" Renakir said, giving his typical Romulan greeting and staring at the stranger. He had a strange Vulcan-like calm to him, soft spoken, deep voice.

"Yes, this ship is mine and in the process of being repaired. However, while cleaning up the fuel cell residue, I was informed that some items survived the fire...ah yes. there!" Max said, scanning the ship with a red beam projected from her ocular sensors, showing how they gave her a wide field of vision. Max took it upon herself to move a fallen and melted support beam out of the way of her living quarters, where there was a large storage container that was covered in soot and scorched black, but did its job and protected its contents. "I will give the Ferengi this, their storage containers protect their contents very well." Max pried the container open with her bare hands, and a lot of dust and soot was scattered throughout the confined space.

When he noticed the red beam coming from her helmet his first reaction was not android, but Breen? Do Breen have sensors like that? Renakir wasn't entirely sure, but he was dealing with a civilian and he did not much care about their race or any such matters. As long as they were alright with a Romulan-Reman hybrid helping them with their ship. "Yes it appears some things were saved," Renakir responded as he watched the person dive into the wreckage. He was just there to make sure they didn't try anything dangerous, again, no judgment from him.

Max wafted the dust away from her by releasing a jet of hot air from the vents on either side of her wedge-shaped head, expelling overheated air and taking in cooler air in exchange. Reaching into the container, she started off with the largest item in the box. A human musical instrument. it was a 9-string guitar that had a pristine red color. "Yes! My guitar survived, and not a scratch on it, either!"

Renakir took a step back so the dust wouldn't get too close to him. He had to breathe after all. He was just stood there watching this stranger examine their personal belongings. He suddenly realised he vaguely remembered them from the chief engineer's work log, this was the eccentric person with the crash shuttle, right? "If you require any assistance with anything I can help," He wasn't sure what he could do but his first task on his duty list was to supervise this civilian and he might as well offer to help.

"Actually, there is something I need your help with. If this storage container survived the fire, then there is another in my cargo bay that might have survived as well, but I will require a plasma cutter to access it through the debris." Max then pulled something else out of her personal storage box, but she didnt say anything about it. It was a large knife, about 13 inches in length. She obviously had nothing to say about it, so she stowed the weapon away in a compartment in her fore-arm.

Renakir nodded and shuffled over to a shelf to grab a plasma cutter for the civilian. When he turned back to hand the device to the person he noticed the rather large knife. "Ah, that's a weapon. I'm sorry but unless there is a significant ceremonial or cultural purpose I am afraid I am going to ask you to hand it over," As much as he hated it, no weapons allowed on board aside from Starfleet personnel in emergency situations. Being Romulan, Renakir didn't like being unarmed all the time, but it was for safety. If only he could carry a disruptor-- but those were illegal here.

"Oh...yes. I understand." Max handed the large blade over, it was decorated with laser etched symbols and engravings of various artistic styles. "but please be careful, and store it somewhere safe. Its precious to me. Gotten me out of a lot of tight spots. Now then, shall we go to the cargo hold?"

“It will be handled properly," Renakir said as he turned to one of the NPC officers and handed them the blade to put away somewhere safe. After that was sorted he took a step towards the wreckage and looked at the stranger. "Just tell me where to cut, I don't want to damage anything," Renakir debated just giving the cutter to the civilian, but that would definitely not be safe. He awaited instructions, being patient and calm the whole time as he always was.

max pointed out a large beam that had fallen on top of the access door to the lower cargo bay. Her ship had quite a few of these reinforcements, in order to take the stresses of quick maneuvers, but most of them had been badly damaged by the Thermite reaction of the fuel cell fire "What a mess"

Renakir cut where he was directed, working slowly and carefully. Once that was done he moved the beam so the cargo hold was accessible. "May I ask what type of ship this was? It looks to be Federation made," But with modifications. It was intriguing. Renakir may not have been an engineer, but he knew a thing or two about ships. In fact, it was his special interest, but it had never really come up before.

"This ship used to be an old federation shuttle, scrapped some 100 years ago with the decomissioning of the USS Wasp. I took this vessel and customized it for my purposes. I installed a more modern warp core, cargo hold, impulse engines, and reinforced hull. I transferred all systems not nescessary to engine propulsion. Life support systems were not necessary, so I transferred them to the engines." Max waded through the wreckage, and pushed aside all the fallen beams, finally opening the access hatch, and a ladder extended down below. "You have a torch? I can see fine on my own, but the power is shot down below, no lights."

Life support systems not necessary-- ahh so android, Renakir assumed. He was still cautious around artificial life, but after hearing Allan speak about his android boss and a couple of off-screen interactions with said android, he was starting to come around. His dislike for artificial life was not from any personal events, but from a cultural belief. Well, he was going to do his best to help regardless. "Do you need me to assist you? I am from a nocturnal race, I can see perfectly fine in low lighting, which is also why I wear my sunglasses," Renakir was trying not to show his excitement about being in the dark again. Crawling around in tight dark spaces? That was his favourite thing to do!

"I will likely require the use of your plasma cutter still. The hull down here is made completely of Duranium. I have had many run ins with pirate vessels that required the reinforcement of my cargo hold. Be careful of any holes in the hull. The Thermite reaction has left the bottom of the hold in a condition comparable to the human delicacy 'Swiss Cheese'" Max went down the ladder first. "Its safe, come on down."

Renakir nodded and followed this strange civilian android down the ladder after getting the clear, being very mindful of his surroundings. He kept an air of calm around him, his was his element after all. It felt just like the mines on Remus. "This ship is of an interesting build," Once he was down the shaft, he took his sunglasses off so he could enjoy seeing everything without the filter of his glasses. His beady little silver eyes seemed to glow in the dark, being the only thing shining in the room now. He was truly a creature of the night.

Max was not lying when she described the state of her cargo hold. the floor was burned right through in some areas with columns of light coming in to illuminate where not to step. However, there was one container in the back of the ship, kept apart from the fuel cells, and was scorched black, but otherwise not damaged. "Yes! She's alright!" Max exclaimed as she skipped and hopped over the holes in the hull, until she hit a weakened section and fell through the floor. She managed to grab onto the edge of the hull just before falling through completely. "AH! Little help?"

Renakir treaded lightly, cautious of the holes. As Max skipped over to the container he had a suspicion this was not going to turn out well. And to no one's surprise, this Romulan-Reman officer with strong intuition was right when the civilian fell through one of the holes. He slowly walked over to where the person was holding on and offered a hand. Knowing they were an android made this a little easier, zero chance of touch telepathy.

Max grabbed hold of Renakir's hand, but he ended up finding out just how much she weighed the hard way when she almost pulled him down with her if she had not used her other hand to pull herself up too. She got back up onto the hull and brushed herself off. "I was not sure if it was pertinent information, but I weigh 400 Earth Pounds."

Renakir pulled the android up with seemingly no problem at all. Once the android was back on her feet, he stepped back to be a comfortable distance apart. "It is not a problem. Had I been human perhaps there would have been a struggle," He said softly, keeping his air of calm. This was certainly more dangerous than he anticipated, but nothing too out of the ordinary. ”I am half Romulan and half Reman and I was born on Remus in the dilithium mines. If anything, I think I am one of the best equipped officers to assist you. If you believe your weight may be an issue getting around, I could get the item you want," He looked towards the container that Max had been trying to get to. Whilst Renakir was far from being a 'skinny legend', he did not weigh 400 earth pounds. He was only a little bit lighter and six foot five, but with his abilities to maneuver through tight spaces he believed he could get anything the other needed with ease.

Eventually, the two reached the crate at the back, and Max went over to one side of the container. it seemed to be attatched to the floor, and the door was operated by hydraulics, including a lock that raised from the floor. Max kicked her foot against the hydraulic lock, letting it fall away from the door, and opening a small gap, enough for max to get her hands under the door. "I'm going to lift this door, once I lift it, please weld it in place with your plasma torch. Understand?"

He followed the person to the crate in the back and stood a comfortable distance away. He watched the other kick against the lock and put their hands under the door. It felt like they were searching for buried treasure or something. Exciting but also unknown. "Understood," Renakir took his little plasma torch he totally had this whole time, ready to do some welding. Maybe he should have kept his sunglasses on, he thought.

Max lifted with her legs, and the door made a harsh hydraulic whining as Max fought against it. Eventually, the hydraulics failed and spilled fluids everywhere, and Max lifted the crate door up with a bit of struggling and groaning "Gyaah...weld, please!"

Renakir aimed the torch as instructed, seemingly unaffected by the water everywhere. They didn't have liquid water on Remus, but it did rain from time to time and there was liquid.. something. Either way he was unfazed by this and welded the door into place. This was turning out to be a rather interesting day.

Max finally relaxed and let the door go. "good weld job. couldnt have done better myself. Now. I'd like you to meet the love of my life..." Max entered the cargo container and the white glow from her eyes illuminated a large object in the crate under a black canvas sheet.

Renakir took a deep breath, trying not to inhale too much smoke. He watched as the android pulled up a large object from the container. He may have been a mix of two highly emotional species, but Renakir looked as void of emotions as Vulcan. "What is it?" He asked, light silver eyes blinking in the darkness of the room.

"She" max corrected Renakir's grammar. *Max pulled off the cover from the object and unveiled a BEAUTIFUL orange and white hull of a small craft of some kind. It looked like a very small fighter with only room for the pilot, but the ship looked all wrong. It had solid-fuel boosters, ion engines, and an old-school reactor engine with nuclear fuel rods. Most notably was the fact it was floating above the ground with Magnetic propulsors. A ship like this could reach CONSIDERABLE velocity, but it could never leave the ground.

(不好意思我完全看不懂 = sorry I don't understand at all)

Renakir stepped back, now even more confused what was going on. He crossed his arms at he looked at the object in front of him. What was happening? What weirdness did they stumbled on. "You have a ship... within your ship?" Renakir gestured to the air around them and then at the smaller ship. "So do you need help with this one?" He was not entirely sure what he could do but he was here to help.

"This is not a ship for space travel...at least not on its own. This is a racing hovercraft. for...competition...and personal pleasure. Her name is 'Bael'"

"Racing, alright I see," Renakir did not have any comments about 'Bael' as the craft was called, but her design was interesting. "Well perhaps we should get it out of here? OPS can help you with repairs if you need," They couldn't make this stranger a whole new ship but they could at least help maintain this craft and keep any other salvaged items safe in the meantime.

"I accept your proposal, I will need to extradite this hovercraft from my ship. However, i would like to request that NOBODY touch this ship. The reactor is not as...stable...as other craft. it is built for maximum output, and if it is damaged in any way, the resulting explosion would be catastrophic."

"Given that status we will need a way to get it out of this hull. I can use a transporter to get it out, but my concern lies with the delicacy of the reactor," Renakir did not know much about the craft nor its stability so he did not want to just transport it out. At the same time, he also did not think there was a way to physically move it out of the wreckage. He scratched his head at the dilemma they faced, blinking and staring at the small craft.

"No, you cannot use transporters on it. It is fueled by nuclear fission. it will remain stable so long it is not ruptured, and there are several layers of duranium hull protecting it, But...i prefer not to take my chances. If you must, I suggest cutting a hole in the hull, and extracting the hovercraft through the hole. Holes can be repaired."

"Alright, then we can do just that. I will need you to be precise with the instructions though, I do not know much about this ship or your smaller craft," Renakir was pretty lost, but he was doing his best to help. He looked around at his surroundings, wondering where they could possibly cut a hole. He took another step back, especially now that he knew the ship was pretty dangerous. Nuclear fission huh, sounded a bit like Romulan warbird singularities. Which were just as dangerous, but at least Renakir knew how they worked.

"This hovercraft can attain speeds in Earth units of about 3000kph. Its reactor came from an old city power grid. As for extraction, I suggest cutting the floor of my cargo bay out, since it is full of holes already."

"I see, retro tech. I know a few people on board who are interested in that," Renakir said, remembering a few of his past conversations. He took another glance at the ship in front of him, admiring the craftsmanship. It would look quite cool with a Romulan core in the middle, he thought. But was just fantasising, was he going to make his own racing shuttle? Who knows. "Can you show me where exactly you'd like me to cut? I don't want to hit anything vital," Renakir asked, hoping for some more guidance.

@Lt. JG. Renakir Torre'vnau | OPS (@Alizati┊Aella┊Nalas┊Renakir) - jump "I see the look on your face. Ive seen that keen interest before. Perhaps sometime I can show you how to make a racing hovercraft, and we can have a race. For now, though. I suggest cutting through the middle of the floor. There are no vital systems there." Max again exhaled hot air from her radiator in her head, and took in cooler air. "Seeing my ship like this is...disheartening. I have been through a lot with it, gotten out of some tough scrapes, saved people, hurt people, done good things, bad things...Now its..." Max sat down on the floor, looking at all the damage, if she still had the capability, she would have been crying.

"My people use artificially created black holes in the centre of our ships to power them. I know, it sounds wild, but it's extremely efficient," And dangerous, but he was sure this android knew how powerful the energy from a black hole was. He walked over towards the area that Max had specified to begin cutting the hole. Very carefully and slowly. "I understand the emotional attachment to your ship. Have you been able to source the necessary materials from the civilian trade agency? I heard they have a lot of materials for repairs," Renakir mentioned. He wasn't well-versed in how civilians managed their ships and tech, but vaguely remembered his cousin Rai trying to build his own warbird from scratch once. That was quite an adventure.

"Ha.ha.ha.ha" Max had a very weird robotic laugh,she found Renakir's words of encouragement funny. "Forgive me, I am used to Ferengi merchants, they are not as sympathetic, and I had to learn how to fix my ship myself. But this is...too much. I have no funds to get the materials I need, and I believe I ruined my chances with the Lead engineer on this station due to an incident I caused. I will have to find work somehow..."

The laugh was strange, but Renakir had heard stranger. He finished cutting the hole just as the other began to speak again. "Ferengi, why does it always go back to those guys?" Renakir sighed and shook his head. That was another race that still used money, in fact, they were probably one of the most well-known races when it came to profits and business. He was unsurprised to hear this civilian had past dealings with them, it was hard to be the shipping business and not encounter the big-lobed race of entrepreneurs. "The lead engineer? You mean Lieutenant Commander Dzharok? What do you mean you ruined your chances? I don't know if he could have been much assistance," Vulcans were probably the last race to go to when one needed money. Well, there were some who had their eyes on profits, like the owner of Surak Snacks. But in general they were not typically a race that cared about making stacks of latinum every day.

1

"There is another reason i must find work. I am unfortunately not good at being idle. I cannot sit still like this. It feels unnatural."

"Oh, I can understand that," Renakir said, no stranger to the need to constantly be productive. It was something ingrained into every Romulan child's mind. Every minute they were not serving the Empire, they were wasting and therefore being a drain on valuable resources. It was literal survival of the fittest, Renakir had his Reman strength to thank for his survival through the hell hole which was his former homeworld. "Well, there are a lot of shops here and such, I know a lot of civilians who have jobs on the station," Still, Renakir was baffled what the chief engiineer had with all this. "There are a lot of different jobs for civilians, I know it seems like us Starfleet personnel run the place, but we count a lot on civilians to keep up all the various services. Barber shops, tailors, restaurants," Renakir suggested with a sympathetic tone. He understood a lot of civilians, especially highly skilled ones, often got frustrated with a lot of the station maintenance jobs being locked behind the ranks of Starfleet, but there were tons of other things they could do to contribute to the wellbeing of people on the station. Just... Maybe not in the Starfleet-restricted rings.

"I am but a Mechanic and pilot...and I have been told I am a very good pilot. I once navigated an asteroid belt and outmaneuvered a Klingon warbird on my own. I also navigated an unstable wormhole with nothing but a 19th century Earth compass...he.he.he...that was fun. Now...I have no ship, and no purpose..."

"That sounds pretty impressive," Renakir thought they had potential to get a pretty good repair job somewhere. He wasn't quite sure about how civilians made money or what pay was like in different professions. This boy was a Reman prince, he may have looked humble in his Starfleet issued standard uniform, but his perfectly manicured finger nails/claws and his soft hair all paired with a subtle but expensive smelling cologne made it clear this boy was not some commoner. "There are a couple of repair shops in the utility ring for a multitude of things, I'm sure if you asked around you could find someone who could give you a job," Renakir shrugged, not knowing how much help he could give. "Since you know so much about ships I'm sure you'd be really valuable, we're between Klingon and Romulan space so we get a lot of vessels from both passing through every day."

"I am sure that is true, but whenever I fix things, people get angry with me. I make vessels 25% more efficent and faster, and all they complain about is the increase in risk to crew. I dont understand it one bit."

'I don't undeerstand it one bit', that was quite confusing. This person did not understand the value of life? "I can understand why they would get angry with you. Starfleet, and others in general, tend to value life above all else. I mean, self preservation is a real thing," Even to Romulans and Remans who were fiercely loyal to their state or commune. He looked at the android in front of him curiously, wondering how they could exhibit so many emotions but not understand one of the basic parts of being alive. "I mean, take it-- if you have a ship. And you can make it fly really really fast, but the trade off is the hull would be more likely to breech at such high velocity, would you still push it that far? Efficiency isn't just about power consumption, it involves the whole. It doesn't matter if I can sprint really fast for a few seconds if I'm running a marathon, someone who has stamina and runs half my speed will still beat me to the finish line," Renakir explained, speaking slowly once again, the words in Federation Standard coming out with his unique French accent.

@Lt. JG. Renakir Torre'vnau | OPS (@Alizati┊Aella┊Nalas┊Renakir) - jump "Of course, I do understand the value of life, I do consider myself sentient. However, my life is nothing without excitement and risk. When I was first created, I was told that greater risk means greater rewards as I was experimented on by my creator. Is that...not correct?"

Renakir tilted his head ever so slightly as he tried to take all that in. He reached into his pocket to grab his sunglasses and put them back on, the bit of light trickling in from the various holes in the ship were starting to cause a bit of fatigue. "Most people aren't daredevils," Renakir said plainly. "Everyone has different life philosophies, but I find the majority of people are always looking to hedge their bets and minimise risk because in space-- well, you could lose everything as we see from your ship," Renakir said as he took another look around the room. "I am sure even you can understand why someone would want to take the safe route to avoid situations like this-- stuck on a Federation Starbase in the Beta Quadrant," He did not comment on the experiments bit, he had nothing to say about the treatment of androids nor did he think it was his place to say. Romulans disliked artificial life of all kinds. As he had been learning on the station, such dislike was illogical. “Like I said before, life is a marathon, not a sprint."

Max then did something strange. She just stared off into nothing while she thought. One could hear the gears turning in her head. Quite literally. A more accurate description of the noise was like an old 20th century computer hard drive writing memory into its storage. A bit of smoke actually came out of the radiators on either side of her head as Max thought intensely on what she was just told. Her imperfect design showing its flaws in her thought process. Information was being bounced around in her head like a DVD screen saver until it hit Just the right synapse to trigger a reaction then it clicked. Max expelled superheated air from her radiators, in the form of two very bright, very loud, and very hot jets of burning oxygen; like two propane torches burning, were expelled from her cooling system, taking in cool air to replace it. The radiator fins on either side of her head glowed red hot as a result "Ooooooooooooohhhhhh. I understand now! Risk is not always rewarding. Like my accident, I made a risk and it didn't go as I planned. You organics have more to fear than I do, I understand that...I don't know why it never occurred to me before that I was doing TOO GOOD of a job. I get it now!" (edited)

Renakir stared at the strange android before hearing the noise and he immediately backed the fuck up against a wall. His Romulan senses were tingling and that meant get the fuck back. He was glad he did too, because the random mechanical noises and sudden jets of oxygen nearly made the poor boy jump out of his skin. He covered his floppy ears that were now twitching with just how much noise was happening. Saved yet again by being half Romulan and being on guard every second of his life. "Y-Yes... And it wasn't that you were doing too good of a job, it was just you overlooking certain aspects of your process," Renakir still spoke in a soft and hushed voice. He was not one to shout, even over mechanical noises. "Also I will have to tell you it may not be the best idea to refer to us creatures of flesh and blood as 'organics'. I understand what you mean but... It may land you in trouble if you say it elsewhere," He said, giving the odd stranger a gentle reminder. Thankfully they were just in the wreckage of their ship so no one else could hear them, but he didn't want to think about if the wrong person heard them say that word in any public area. The last thing he needed was another Elwyn/Jasmine situation (which he had read about in the Work Logs) where there was prejudice between androids and organic beings.

"I believe I understand now, thank you for enlightening me." Another voice then sounded from the speaker in Max's head. It seemed to belong to a safety sub-syatem that was integrated from the hovercraft she used to replace her head: "warning, synapses overheating. Cooldown procedure initiated" The radiators in Max's head ventilated and hot air spilled out, though Max didn't even seem to notice that some sub-system spoke through her own vocal modulator. Max then tilted her head up and a panel under head head opened up to show a row of serrated metal that acted as teeth, and a throat behind it that could only be compared to a garbage disposal shredder. Apparently, Max did possess a mouth to injest food. Her mouth turned it into liquid puree, and it went down two tubes in her neck brackets, and into her body. However, the sub system was using it to draw cool air in. "Apologies, this happens sometimes..."

Renakir was a bit surprised by the android's actions, but did not react nor take any measures to do anything to help. He knew very little about cybernetics. Sure he could build a warbird or create artificial singularities with the right tools, but he could not even think about how to create life. He watched a the android handled whatever was going on with their internal systems. He did catch onto the pointed teeth though, wow they had something in common, cool. "It's alright. Now anyway, the hole is made and we can get your craft out of here safely. What do you need me to do?" He asked as soon as it looked like the android was sufficiently cooled.

"right...this is actually the simple part. Would you mind clearing everyone away from under the ship?" Max the returned to her hovercraft, unclamped it from the container, and sincee it was suspended by magnetic levitation devices, she didn't have any friction to worry about as she pushed it towards the hole in the floor. Intending to drop it.

"You're just going to push it through the hole like that?" Renakir was confused what the android's plan exactly was. He gave them a rather Vulcan-like eyebrow raise as he sighed and peered through the hole to tell anyone to get away from the shuttle. Thankfully no one was really bothering them so it was all clear, but Renakir was still confused what this android's intentions were. Everything about this seemed off to him. Not that this civilian was an android, but it felt as if there was something else going on that he was unaware of. Maybe it was just his Romulan paranoia, he thought. It was a good thing he had learned the Vulcan way to control his emotions, he could only imagine how he would have reacted had this scene taken place a few months ago.

"yes, I am going to drop it. The magnetic stabilizers should take care of the rest." Without a second thought, Max literally just pushed a nuclear reactor out of the ship and into a 50 ft drop. Thankfully it did what it was supposed to and kept itself level. One it reached the ground level, the platform buckled and bent outward from the hovercrafts magnetic field landing full force on top of it. "There, quick and simple. It's not the first time I've had to do this, actually."

Interesting, thought Renakir as the android pushed the small racing craft through the hole. An impressive feat of engineering if he ever did see one. He stepped back and let the other do whatever they were going to do, again, very bewildered but things were going smoothly and that mattered the most. "Now with the craft out of the way, is there anything else you want to get from in here?" He asked, wondering if their job scurrying around for treasures was done. He quite liked the darkness, but the dustiness was starting to irritate his nose and throat.

"no that is it. You've been such a great help." Max then reached into her jacket and took out five strips of gold-pressed Latinum to offer.

Renakir was surprised at the sudden offer of money. He shook his head at the android. "I'm just doing my job, no need to pay me. Plus I have all the money I need," Especially when this person was talking about how they needed money and a job, there was no way Renakir was going to accept payment. Not only was it probably against his code of conduct (Starfleet officers did get allowence), but he was literally a Reman prince who lived in a huge four building estate back on New Romulus. "And my name is Renakir, by the way. I realised we never introduced ourselves. I'm a transport and turoblift operator, but I handle general ops duties as well, such as assisting you here," He said, realising he never did get this stranger's name

"Pleasure, I am Y-34-X. However, please call me Max. Where do you come from Renakir?"

"Nice to meet you Max. And well I said I was born on Remus earlier, but I was raised on Rator III. Ever since the Romulan Republic formed three years ago my family has been living on Mol'Rihan--- New Romulus as the Federation recognises it," Renakir explained, happy to talk a little about his experience moving between planets. He knew there were not many Romulans in Starfleet so he wanted to make a good impression even if Max was just a civilian. "And where are you from? Federation space I assume?" He asked, thinking that is probably how she got the Federation ship. It must have been difficult living as an android within the Federation, especially during the ban.

@Lt. JG. Renakir Torre'vnau | OPS (@Alizati┊Aella┊Nalas┊Renakir) - jump "I have visited Rator III in the colonies infancy I brought the building materials. I was made in the federation, but I left before and during the ban, working for Ferengi traders. I...I......I do not know where I am from." Max seemed a bit touchy on the subject. "I am 34 of 47...none of them exist anymore. I am the last survivor of my species...I suppose that makes me an...endangered? Do you think I get special protective rights for that?"

"Oh you have? New Romulus is nothing like Rator III, I'll tell you that," Renakir said in response to Max visiting Rator III. What a hell hole of a colony. Honestly, living there might as well have just been a death sentence, easily one of the worst places in the beta quadrant if not the galaxy. His expression softened when the other began to stutter when she mentioned her origins. Of course a Federation-made android would find themselves in the hands of the Ferengi during the ban. Those guys would do anything for a strip of latinum. "I don't know about protective rights, but seeing how you are on a Federation Starbase we have security working around the clock to ensure the safety of everyone on board. If you have any issues or concerns you can make a report to security," Renakir told Max in his steady and calm voice. He knew all too well what it felt like to be 'the only' of a species. He was probably not the only Reman on Rator III, but he certainly felt like it. It was practically illegal to be Reman and he knew that all too well.

"that was a joke, Renakir. It took me a long time to perfect the concept, but even an android can learn to appreciate humor. It deflects feelings of sadness. Ha. Ha. Ha." Max was laughing in an even more exaggerated tone than usual. She was actually being...goofy, and having fun doing it.

Oh this poor Romulan-Reman boy, if there was one thing he was terrible at, aside from basic social skills, it was humor. They didn't have that in Romulan society, no, they had nothing even remotely similar. He smiled softly, letting the other laugh as they pleased. Awkward as always, he stood there and adjusted his sunglasses. "I.. I'm sorry, I'm terrible at jokes. It's... Kinda a Romulan thing, sorry," Renakir wished he was as funny as some other Romulans or even Remans, but no, he was paranoid all the time and was only beginning to understand humor. "You don't need anything else, right? You can always message me if you need anything, watch out for the turbolifts, number two is finnicky," He was trying to be funny too, was this joke going to reach the android? Was it even a joke? There was certainly an attempt as he tried to sound light hearted as he made the comment.

"when we meet again, we can discuss humor all you like. You need the practice. Anyways, you are right, I really should get my personal items up to my quarters. If you ever need me, just contact me in my room, or come to see me. I like talking."

"Perhaps I will study more. I am glad everything was sorted without a problem, jolan tru," Renakir bowed his head and gave Max a friendly wave before taking his PADD back out and checking off this task from his list. Now that too more time then he expected, but he wasn't mad. It was interesting meeting a new person, a civilian no less. Anyway, it was time to go crawl through some tubes. Renakir walked over to the nearest hatch and crawled inside, disappearing into the wall. It was Tube Time™️.

1