The Midnight Oil
Posted on Fri Jul 9th, 2021 @ 8:12am by Lieutenant Edron Zaerbe & Lieutenant Commander Cor Cordale
Mission:
Episode 05: "Deep Water"
Location: Chief Engineer’s Office, USS Vesta
Timeline: Day 3 at 0000
ON: [[Chief Engineer’s Office, USS Vesta, Mission Day 03, 0000 Hours]]
2357
Not a year. A time. Though sometimes it felt like a year. The Chief Engineer's office was dimly lit, though mostly because the Thux in the shadows was downing his second mug of coffee. The room stank of old coffee grinds and fresh cinnamon. The articulated prosthetic limb put the mug back under the pot for another serving or three. The mug featured a cartoonish caricature of the Thux that held it, even down to the mismatched limbs. Around the fuzzy, smiling face were printed four words in Federation standard:
"Thux to be you"
2358
The countdown was getting closer. He glanced over the PaDD on his desk again briefly. The steady pour of coffee into his mug broke the silence, and the room went from the scent of old coffee to the aroma of new coffee. For exactly ten seconds, Cordale considered how the same smell could go from a stink, to a scent, to an odor, to an aroma. He'd consider that more later on the trip out.
2359
Final check. Mission Layout, check. Coffee, *gulp gulp gulp* ahhhhh, check. All he had to do now was wait. Wait, and maybe use the restroom.
0000
Time.
At that very moment, a chime sounded in the darkness, signaling the presence of someone just outside. The door parted to reveal a young man who looked…rather less than pleased to have been roused so early in the morning. “You wanted to see me, sir?”
"C'min." Cor called out, and motioned across his desk to a chair. "Grab a cuppa if you're into that, it's fresh. Well, it was fresh when I made it." he stifled a yawn. "Okay so, I wanted to run through the checklist for the Quantum Spaceslip... Slipspace Drive. Sorry, I wanted to run the checks at night when there'd be less computer activity and less power draw, but I never figured I'd be so Source damned tired. If I yawn, it's not you. I promise. Thux honor."
"Okay, so we're going to be putting a ton of strain on the system over the course of the next ...." and there was the yawn. Holy spit, Thux had some teeth on them! "... scuze... so yeah, we're gonna be running the system hot the next few months, and I wanted to run a few drills, get some simulated data, but ... I'm not going to lie, Oh Dark Zero was a mistake." he chuckled.
"So, you ready for this? The run, I mean. Not being awake at the wrong end of noon."
Zaerbe nodded slowly. He knew that he probably shouldn’t have snoozed the first alarm, that the extra time would have allowed him to wake up a little more, but it was too late for that now (no pun intended). At least he could take some comfort in knowing he wasn’t alone.
“Aye, sir,” he said, “Drive tests. Computing power. Hot pockets…”
"Never could figure those things out. Go on, help yourself." he motioned to the wall replicator.
“Sorry, sir. I meant ‘got it’.”
The Thux nodded, "Okay, so while we're as awake as we're getting, I figure we have a day or two for a shakedown before the main event. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of the QSD, cause it's a maintenance queen. I dunno how you feel about it, but between your department and mine, we're gonna be real close."
He paused, "Sorry just, doin' non-stop runs like this, just reminded me." he paused again to take a swig, "I used to do supply runs during the war. Stripped down speedster ships built to just go and never stop. Run the reactor hot and never look back." he shook his head, "Gonna be doing a lot of that. So, here's the play. We're gonna gun it, pedal to the metal like they said. If things on my end look bad, I have to pull us out. If things on YOUR end start to look dicey, though, please..." another yawn, "Pleeeeeeeeeease speak up. I .. sorry, that one snuck up on me. Please speak up. No matter how strict a captain is, the phrase 'we may be about to die' will never get punished if spoken before the event." he pointed out.
"Now... I've got some simulations running on the main system, you know, cause no one is using the computer at oh dark what was I thinking... Basically just artificial tests of the system and the drive. Making sure everything works on paper. We can review them in the morning. The actual morning, not now."
"Any questions before my face hits this desk and I pass out?"
"No, sir."
"Sounds fantastic. Thank you for attending. We'll chat more in, oh, six hours?" he paused, another yawn. "Dismissed, and good night." and then the undignified sound of a Thux's face colliding with the desk filled the silent room. Woosh woosh went the reactor, but all that did was just help the Thux off to sleep.
OFF
Lieutenant Commander Cor Cordale
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Vesta NX-94200
Lieutenant Edron Zaerbe
Division Officer, Propulsion
USS Vesta NX-94200
