Posted by Ensign Elemirre Serinde (Engineering Officer) in Engineering - El Finally is Aboard

Posted by Lieutenant Helena Laursen (Helm/Nagivation Officer) in Engineering - El Finally is Aboard

Posted by Ensign Elemirre Serinde (Engineering Officer) in Engineering - El Finally is Aboard
Snip
That fascinated El; to her knowledge she had not met anyone with a food allergy. At least nobody that owned up to it. “What’s it like, to live with that?” she asked. She thought to her time growing up in a decidedly vegetarian environment and how, when she had gone back to Manticore that those around her didn’t understand it. Her mother ate vegetarian with her, though secretly sneaked meat, but her adoptive father carried on as he had. But on the Bonaventure there was not much real dairy. “Most of the time on Bonaventure any dairy was fake. It just didn’t keep long enough to have a stock of the real. Can you have that?”

El’s question made Helena pause. “I don’t think anyone has ever asked me that. I was diagnosed as a baby with it, so I guess I never really knew what I was missing. The only time it’s ever been an issue was when I was doing survival training and we had to survive on MREs. There is so much dairy in those things. Cheese, creamer, butter, milkshakes, etc. It wasn’t too much of a problem as long as I prepped the meal so I could toss that stuff out. As for the ‘fake’ dairy, it depends. Some of it is powdered milk that is reconstituted with water, or freeze dried butter, etc. And some of the artificial stuff is still made with lactose, so it depends. As long as lactose wasn’t added to it, I can have it.”

El wasn’t sure whether to be proud or embarrassed, or, in her finer senses, to accept it and learn from it. It was something that she had taken for granted. Her dairy intake was modest. Such a condition sounded like a lot of work. “Can that be treated? Or just controlled?” El had lived through the height of technology and, essentially, no technology. Both she felt had answers to so many conditions, but this seemed to be a mystery beyond current science. It rankled her that such a thing that was so simple could not be fixed. At Manticore sickness was not uncommon; it was a place where there was little treatment and people did what they could and went to doctors who ranged from true, if rare, doctors to quacks to herb to witchdoctors and everything in between. She learned growing up that this was a human condition that one sailed together through. “Perhaps we will find a cure out there, wherever we are going.” That was optimistic but hope was what fed humanity.

“I suppose. Maybe one day we’ll be able to fix allergies, but that’s dangerously close to the augment wars isn’t it? It’s part of what makes us…us. The allergy doesn’t hurt me as long as I don’t consume it. A shot of epinephrine takes care of most severe reactions for people and controlling exposure. I’m not a doctor though, so I’m not sure exactly how that would be done. I never considered ‘curing’ it.”

El kept her face neutral. She was raised to believe that if one could make the world, or a person, or a thing, better, then why not do that? She would argue that a physician’s oath was to do no harm, and to simply do nothing did follow that to the letter, but it was not improving anything. She felt a welling of an argument, or rebuttal, forming, but quashed it down. They were still doing it. Cybernetics. Wet wiring. Anything but the hated augment.

She moved out of the way and toward the corridor. “Oh I’ve put in more hours flying than I can recall. I’ve been flying since I was 12. Might be interesting to try and total it up.” She nodded, “I did do some of the trial flights with the Lunar Rover class, and helped with some of the very early helm control designs. What about you? You do any flying?”

Lt Laursen, pilot

El could relate. Her instruction per se had been ongoing and intensive but in other ways. To imagine that Helena had been so involved in all of that was dreamy! And part of what made the ship go. It was one thing to make the wind but another to channel it. El might make the wind but Helena channeled that. In seeing her mussed up as she was was so hard to imagine her piloting. It seemed a huge position, something high society, where the bridge staff was served with champagne in crystal glasses and discussed deep things. Whatever that was amongst senior officers. “I negotiated a Bee over between stations. I’m more of a ‘press here dummy’ flier.” She flashed a quick, small smile. “We were shown how to fix things and test them. I can take a shuttle pod out, do a real slow turn around a field and maybe land it without it ending in worse condition. Maybe.” That was a little less true than reality but not by much. She hadn’t been in a vehicle of any kind of transport until she was 16. It was wondrous. It was like the end scene in that real old video Willy Wonka where they burst through the glass ceiling and flew over the town and the boy was given everything. She saw that video at the Academy and the same rush of feelings came of her own first leap into the air. The foreign lurch in her stomach of the launch, that giddy short lived vertigo as it banked. There she saw for the first time overhead where she had walked and lived and learned for those dozen years prior and had only imagined what it was that a bird would see. Then she knew. Take off’s still gave her that same thrill.

“Worker bees are made to be very simple, but they actually have a lot of versatility and are capable of really specific and delicate movement when necessary. Basics is all you really need in case you need it, but if you’d ever like to do more than ‘press here’ I’d be happy to show you.” Helena loved flying and was more than willing and excited to share it with anyone interested. She was also known for talking people’s ears off about flying and theory and practice to anyone, interested or not. “I can do testing and adjust a few things, but I would be lost without the engineers to maintain and fix. I’ve worked a lot on antique planes, but my engineering knowledge of the more modern ships is limited to basic fixes.”

El had seen everything - to her anyway - of technology from old, to cobbled and Frankenstein’d, to things more modern. That had been limited to ground based technology and shipping. She couldn’t remember anything more than small, powered zeppelin’s hovering over Manticore. And she had been forbidden technology in the Irresistible; her schooling was done elsewhere. She was late to technology, but picked it up quickly, thanks to her father. A lot needed to be scavenged and fixed there, Farnkenstein’d. “Maybe a shuttle?” she asked, timidly. It would be worth knowing that much. But she still thought that Helena was something unearthly. The hall was filling up and her eyes scanned for Engineers or anyone she knew from the Bonaventure, and was disappointed when she saw nobody. She hoped she might see Liz or the two MACO’s who were bunked in the cabin next to theirs and shared the head.

“We can totally work with a shuttle. The pods actually have a training mode that runs simulations without actually having to launch. The offer is there, whenever.” Helena noticed her glance at the next group of incoming. She probably had friends she was looking for and Helena should really go get cleaned up while she had the chance. Helena remembered her first ship assignment and how nervous and excited she was. This wasn’t El’s first, but boarding a new ship always gave Helena the same feeling. It made her miss all night vigils in the basement lounge.

“Simulations are handy. Everything can be done in transit.” The Bonaventure had a ‘lot’ of time in such transit. She wondered if cryogenic tubes might work better for those long voyages, but then she could lose out in these opportunities to learn. Helena looked about too. Usually she found that meant that it was time to break off the conversation. Was El making her nervous? Was she keeping her from something? Technically El was late for her time in Engineering as well. “Thank you,” she said simply.

“Of course. I mean that’s why we are in Star Fleet, right? To help each other for the benefit of the great good. Why not learn new things and have fun along the way?” Helena grinned, having fun was her specialty. She had always been considered the ‘morale’ officer of her cadet squad.

Once again, El felt at cross purposes here. Her Buddhist upbringing held no animosity for helping another for the greater good. What El wrestled with was what ‘was’ the greater good? This was not her reason for joining Starfleet. But she was up for learning. By the lilt in her voice at the mention of fun, El gleaned that this was something she enjoyed. Fun. That was somewhat an enigma to her. Her life had been discipline; fun was a part of that and, like the greater good .. was very subjective. El nodded in agreement.

“You have done everything,” El said in a reverent hush. “So much flying. At the forefront of the trials - a real test pilot. And designing controls too that you use.” El was impressed and it showed in her tone. It was good that Helena had opened up conversation. It grounded El in the humility that she should walk in; occasionally that clay vessel did crack, however. “What does it feel like for you to fly something .. like the Sojo?” She could handle Sojo; Sojourner made her feel like she was in a tramp steamer and her a gypsy girl peddling trinkets and telling fortunes.
El, Eng Ens

Helena laughed, her eyes dancing and shook her head. “No not everything, I’m just old.” She wasn’t but Helena was making fun of herself. But at 30 she’d been in the service for awhile. “13 years of service if you count the Cadet years.” Which Helena did, the Academy years had been intense and they had seen a lot and a lot had happened for her personally in her career those four years. “When you’ve put in the same number of years, junior officers will think the same of you. You have a year of space travel behind you, cadets will think you’ve done a lot too. It’s all about perspective. And a lot of it is just luck and timing. Like designing the controls. I didn’t design them, but assisted early on. A survey went out to all pilots for suggestions for design and controls, etc. It went in our file that we assisted but we didn’t actually sit down and be in the nitty gritty. I was deployed to Mars during that part. But when I returned I got to do simulation tests on some of the sample controls. It’s the people in R&D that really get the credit for doing the research and thought into the designs.”

She didn’t look old to El, however in growing up she learned that looks were very deceiving. “Thirteen years!” she exclaimed. That was far more experience than her measly one, and four if one counted the Military Academy. “But you needed to know what there was to make wise suggestions,” she commented. “Mars! What is Mars like?” Wow, she had been everywhere!

“Yeah, 13 but a lot of times I still feel like a cadet. Especially when the younger officers come in with all their new technology, knowledge, and gadgets. Makes me feel sooo behind,” Helena laughed. “Mars? Mars is dusty and a bit claustrophobic. You are always in an EV suit. Well not now that the domes are up, but when I was there the dome wasn’t finished so unless you were inside you were in a suit. The gravity is lower too so there is spring to your step. Made me feel lightheaded, like when you get a sinus infection and your balance and equilibrium is off. Took me a few days to adjust.”

“When we learn something new, however old, we are as a child,” she said, repeating what she had been told many times growing up. “It sounds new but really it’s a step along. For you a bigger ship but guiding it is all the same no matter what the gadgetry is.” New technology for her didn’t scare her but intrigued her. So much was new for her in the past few years. So much to learn. It was their future and, as they moved out into space, their constant companion. She curled up her nose at the mention of an EV suit. She was okay in them but didn’t like them. “Mars still sounds new and developing.” Good. Humanity needed to expand and look out. Looking in should give one strength to look out and interact with one’s world. “I think that would be fun, that low gravity.”

Helena laughed, “Oh it was. Took me a couple days to get used to it, but it is fun. Volleyball was amazing as long as we didn’t hit the dome.”

El had watched that, but never played it. It was only in the UK when she had seen it played during a leave. In a lighter gravity keeping it within the lines would have been very hard. A challenge. El liked that part, and smiled, her mind ranging with the mathematics of it, the force of the hit, the gravity.

The pilot chuckled, “Sorry you didn’t ask about all that. I can ramble so feel free to stop me. Flying the Sojo?” She liked that name. “To me it’s a bit like trying to control a dragon. Huge, powerful, amazing, and runs on fire.” Helena stopped as a group came through a cross sections with a couple of pallets. “Not really fire, but close enough.”

Lt Laursen, pilot

There! Sayers! Someone she recognized, even though he passed her by without recognition. She felt good, but invisible, though even as she thought that she fought the image and that invisible was not a bad thing. “Dragons are dreamy,” she said, eyes following Mark. His uniform looked new but somehow, like always with him, that it was not right. How did he ever pass an inspection? But then he was a petty officer and his training days were in the past. “I like dragons.” That was perhaps the first statement she made to Helena that had a firmness to it.
- El, Eng

“Dragons are amazing, I especially like ice dragons,” There was a glint full of humor and mischief to her eyes as she said it. She followed El’s gaze, “Someone you know? He’s not bad looking.”

Helena, pilot

OOC: After my last reply I picked up a book of short stories and the next one was ‘The Ice Dragon’ .. funky :)

OOC: That’s great! :D

IC:

“Ice dragons?” she said, perking up. Mostly she knew them as cold drakes but the imagery had expanded over time. “Mark?” She had not herself considered him as anything but a slightly neurotic, excitable scientist who seemed more like a squirrel with his pockets filled with mystery. His blue eyes were striking when they stopped darting about, but she found his round face and weak chin rather .. boyish. At least she did recognize someone but his moving about reminded her that she should be off too.

“It has been very nice meeting you, Helena. I should get off to engineering before I get put on report .. again.” Really, Helena, senior to him in rank and years, likely had somewhere she needed to go and El was holding her back.
- El, Eng

“It was very nice to meet you as well, El. I hope to see you around.” Helena made her way toward a lift. She really needed to a clean uniform and to freshen up a bit. If they decided to take a bridge photo before launch she didn’t want to look like a rumpled pile of laundry. That was fine for most days, but today, she’d put in the extra effort.

Laursen, pilot

On her way from the galley on the lowermost deck she passed by the gym and stopped hard. They had a gym here? A grin broke her tired features. Peeking in, she found it deserted, which was not unusual given that everyone was either settling or preparing for the launch. And it was just a deck down from her quarters and work in engineering. Her eyes scanned the machines and weights. They were mostly the same size, evidently gravity adjusted for weight. Pulling herself away from this she carried on. Perhaps she didn’t hate the ship quite so much as before, and meeting Helena had been nice. And she liked dragons.

But she was late – again – getting to Engineering and the Machine Shop. Engineering was bustling and, at that moment, as she gazed around, everyone seemed a stranger. Inside she knew this was not true. She had worked with a number of them over the past several months on the Bonaventure. It looked night and day. Her eyes moved hungrily over the Cochranes. It was huge! An engineering that spanned three decks! That was ¾ of the Bonaventure. Her eyes took it in. The displays winking with data, the raised central console as a kind of technological altar. Peering at that was like peering into the mysterious engines of Jules Verne’s Nautilus. She could smell metal and ozone and little else. The Cochranes were yet a sleeping giant. The other engineers, like Lilliputians, scrambled about it, around it, climbing up its sides in an effort to study and tame this fiery Gulliver. Oh how she envied them!!

Turning away she pressed on into the Machine Shop. It was her home for the next while. The sound behind her in the main engineering muted as she stepped inside, muffled and far now, punctuated only by an excited sound of some mystical mathematical discovery found hidden in these new engines. And here she stood in a foreign place. This was not a machine shop. She closed her eyes to take it in. On the Bonaventure to enter the machine shop was to enter into another world that burst onto the stage of her senses. Here it was simply inert. Gone was the powerful smell of lubricant and burnt steel and plastics. Gone was the feeling of creation and purpose. She opened her eyes. Crates piled wildly like giant tossed pebbles in a stream. Piping laying strewn like trees fallen in a forest. The lathe, drill and saw still wrapped. It was such a contrast to Engineering. The epitome of their technological cunning contained within powerful engines to propel them between the stars stood in stark contrast to a tinkerer’s garage. This could be a reflection of her own short life. The wonders of a world out there, understood in her mind by a dizzying array of mathematics, yet for much of her life a castaway, a meditative luddite, a cobbler of mixed technology. Still, it led her here. This was a far cry from the monastery or even Manticore. It was her new home.

El moved to a crate and sat on it and crossed her legs. Closing her eyes she breathed, seeking that center of herself. She needed that moment. The past two days had tossed her about like an unmoored buoy in a storm. Her reactions in it bore her frustrations when she should have sought to learn from them. Lt Green was right. She had been trying to find excuses for not completing the Bonaventure commissioning rather than facing the challenge to conquer it. It was done, but El had relied upon herself as the object of being the savior of her people and the martyr for failure. It was wrong. She had been rash. It was the thing that she had worked so hard to overcome; always she had wanted to rush ahead to act when situations called for calm assessment followed by meaningful action. Her eyes opened and the engineer machinist mathematician gazed around this shop, and planned. Then she worked, giving her muscles needed use. Time passed.

Later, El felt the hum of the Cochranes gently vibrating the deck plates. They were leaving. She went to the door and looked out at the other engineers. It looked like all of the stations and displays were manned. Everyone looked excited, those that she could see, the ants worrying over the giant bean they have found. She envied them in that moment, but then a thought struck her, and she turned and ran to a small window and looked out. Straining she could see the spider like Station falling away, then the circle of the Earth dwindling in size, now a blue, swirling marble hanging over a dark, pin-pricked curtain. Soon it was beyond her seeing. Earth was left behind.

She was safe.

Silently El returned to her organizing of the machine shop until her shift was done and she could at last close her eyes to sleep.
El, Eng

OOC: Gene you are such an amazing story teller. I adore El!

Jenn