Posted by Ensign Elemirre Serinde (Engineer) in Between Sim- Starbase 243 - engineering bits

Posted by Captain Arialla Bovar (Captain) in Between Sim- Starbase 243 (official leave post, everyone read!!)

Posted by Ensign Elemirre Serinde (Engineer) in Between Sim- Starbase 243 (official leave post, everyone read!!)
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Ari stood on the bridge staring at the view screen. The screen had been turned on to show the view out the now of the ship. Sitting in the Starbase, she took a breath and slid her hands into her pockets.

Except a single NE sitting at the rear science console monitoring the ship vitals, no one else was present. As a comm beep caused her to turn and tap her Captain’s chair console, she smiled. [O] This is your Captain. It’s official. The Bonnie is clear for shore leave on Starbase 243. Departments are to maintain skeletal crew during refit and replenishment. Captain out.[C]

They had been docked for several hours awaiting the clearance from the Vulcan constabulary here. There were long lists of rules they were given, thankfully most of them were basic shore leave rules. And there had been the promise that they’d be ready to depart in fort eight hours. Ari had been given a very strong impression that that meant they should actually be ready to depart at that time. This was no week long liesurely leave time. But it was good for the crew. They all deserved it.

Sitting in her seat she glanced down at the report she’d sent a couple days prior. The recent events has made her question their right to go poking around the universe. Sure, she was a scientist and wanted to see it all… Do it all… And understand it all. But at what point are they supposed to just back off and go the other way?

Oh well… Till someone gave her specific outlines for contacting other species and timelines, she’d just keep using her gut. And hope it was enough.

Her chef came out just then offered the Ensign something to eat and drink before setting the more familiar tray on the seat next to Ari. “I’ll be seeing to the ship’s stores and replenishments, ma’am. Make sure you get some rest.” The man had become nearly indispensable in the last couple years. If it wasn’t for him, she’d probably have wasted away from forgetting to eat.

“Thank you, Christian. Make sure you do as well.” Ari smiled and picked up half of the sandwich beside her, taking a bit as he nodded and walked away.

So here we are… She mentally sighed as she tapped her armrest to scan several cameras showing crew disembarking. Question is .. What’s next?

Realizing she was asking for Fate to be cruel, she smiled and went back to her sandwich.

Ari
Captain

((Ok, go have fun folks… But behave!!! Hehehe))

El wandered. What she wanted to see was their engines, well, their power plant but that was a no go. For all their helpfulness, at least to them, El’s impression was that they were an interfering bunch of busy bodies that were more intent on holding them back than actually helping them. For all her luck some might come onto the Bonnie, and, if worse luck, be in engineering. El did not trust Vulcans, and, for her impression, that was mutual in feeling. Good. They each knew where the other stood.

Right now she stood in front of a mural. It was decorative. El had expected a ‘logical’ design of functional frugality that was devoid of anything personal but here she stood before a mural of a desert scene. But it was done in fabric, and fabric woven so fine it looked like a painting. She could feel the heat, the wind, the sand shifting, the sun merciless overhead, and the solitary figure - evidently Vulcan - with his back to her looking at the scene held a defiance that was tangible, and yet in the posture, something else. Something Vulcan. Something yielding. The entire thing surprised her and made her think about these people she looked askance at and yet had never really met.

“Is there something you are looking for?” Asked someone.
El turned to see a - what looked to be a young Vulcan, casually dressed in some kind of robes that was totally out of place on a station - and she had little clue. “Uh, I was just looking at the mural here.” She glanced at it. “Such detail.”
“One of my relatives made this. That,” he said, pointing to a pillar, a spike jutting out from the desert floor, “is called the ‘Hammer’. It is a symbol of the world, the forge we live in.”
El was stymied. “It looks .. amazing. Is your world so .. sparse?”
“Not all. But much of it. The only ones who tread this path are those on the path of .. in your words, total logic.”
“Such a .. harsh and forceful place for that,” she said, staring.
“It teaches discipline.”
I hate discipline, she thought. “I am sure,” she said.
“Are you looking for anything in particular?” He inquired.
“I’d love to see your power plant,” El said. “I’m an engineer on the Bonaventure. But I guess that is .. out of bounds.” Her voice could not hide her disappointment.
“I could tour you if you wish. I am not otherwise engaged. My name is Suval.”
“Uh, I’m Elemirre. But you can call me El. Everyone does.”
Suval held up his hand, fingers open. “Live long and proper, Elemirre. It is an agreeable name. I too have taken up the engineering discipline, but have not been off world beyond this station.”
El, Eng, .. to be continued ..

((If you continue this, feel free to make a thread… Interested to see where this goes… Ari))

“I don’t suppose you would tour me through your power plant. To power this would be amazing.” El asked, hoping.
“Logically, and logistically, that is not possible,” he replied. “Security would be .. attentive.”
E looked at Suval. He wasn’t that much to look at. Average height and not in uniform to speak of but some flowing robe that reminded her of a bathrobe. His features were sharp. Too sharp. Chiseled almost. “What can you show me?”
“The canteen area is popular,” he replied. His lack of inflection was disconcerting. Was that good? Bad? Popular to who?
“I guess one could start there,” El said, disappointed. “Is that on central power? Who do you .. serve here? Are humans . Common?”
“Not. It is principally for Vulcan staff to refresh themselves and confer on issues or disengage from the normal to refresh.”
“Right.” El said, following him. “So .. what is there? What do Vulcans like?”
“The ka plant is popular,” Suval said, not pausing. “ It is a sweet fruit of the southern seas and makes a very pleasant drink when mixed with other juices and waters.”
So you have invented the ‘smoothie’ El thought. Great. “Sounds nice.”
“Humans, I have heard, find the similarity of foods to be redundant and undesirable.”
“We like variety.”
“As do we, however, personally speaking, are not insistent of it. What is served is what is accepted.”
So you can like crap, El thought. “What are these places?” She asked as they passed them. They were mostly shops of sorts or artisans showing their work and Suval described them. He had evidently been here a long time. El was .. bored ..
— El Eng

People evidently knew Suval. Many of them – all Vulcan that she could see – gave some form of greeting. El felt invisible. Then she stopped and looked outside into space. Suval continued walking, unaware that El had stopped, for many paces. El’s nose came close to the window. There was a ship slowly shifting into docking. It was sleek, about twice the size of the Bonnie and bearing a slight golden sheen to the hull. Her mind pondered the hull composition to get that sheen. Her nacelles were tighter in against the hull; it had a decorative flair as well as utilitarian.

“That is the Citizen Torlov. He was a disciple of Surak and was important in the proliferation of Surak’s message of peace and logic.”
So he was the culprit, El thought. “What kind of ship is the Torlov?” she asked.
“Diplomatic, principally,” Suval said.
Of course, El thought. “I’d love to see under the hood of that.”
“I know not of a .. hood,” Suval said at once.
“An old saying. My father used it often.” How could he not figure that out, logically? “Old vehicles, even shuttles have this reference. It means opening up the ‘hood’ to look at the engine and what makes it tick.”
“That is not pos ..”
“I know,” she said, a hint of exasperation slipping in. How fast would that go? Warp 6? 7? They keep everything close to their chest. “The toaster is high security. One wouldn’t want anyone else to have better toast.”
“It is for your safety that we take great care in sharing technology to younger space faring peoples.”
“Not everyone is as timid as you. Why are you even in space? You seem to be a people happy to sit on a sand dune contemplating the logic of a dandelion. Humans want to reach out, to explore, to see what is out there. I think you’d be all the happier if we sat on a hill surveying our navels.” She noticed that Suval had a rather long nose that appeared to be looking down on her.
“To advance in the wake of other space faring cultures surrounding us is only logical. It enables us to have the opportunity to, as you say, examine the logic of things in peace. Rushing into the unknown is irresponsible.” El noted that Suval was not looking at her but past her.
“It wouldn’t be as rushing into any unknown if our ‘friends’ helped,” she retorted. ANY ambassador to Vulcan must be a saint to not totally lose it around them. If he had been there in their last mission they would have been still there in that soup!
“There is a great deal of danger in space.”
“Which is why you are here and not out there?”
“We serve where we are assigned. Personal ambition is illogical. Undue risk is illogical.”
“Convenient,” El said. “Out there,” she said, stabbing her finger into space, “Is danger, yes, but also destiny. Space is dark and bad things are there, but also good. It’s dreamy and it’s daring. It’s not easy but at the end of the day it is the one who dares that is remembered, and where we as a people advance.”
“Personal fame is ill ..” he began, but El was already walking away.
El, Eng