Options and Postings

Posted on 08 Oct 2022 @ 8:02pm by Lieutenant Callisi Veera & Lieutenant Commander Harva Taliborn

1,721 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: A New Frontier
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Pre yellow alert

"Hey," sounded the rumbling basso profondo from the doorway. It itself blocked entirely by the massive form of the Odin's largest officer - likely candidate for the largest officer in Starfleet. "How you doing?" he asked. "Can I come in?"

Callisi came to somewhere closer to the here and now, and glanced down and over across the room to the doorway. It must have been hard for her to sleep without the capacity to close both eyes. She made due, and as Harva stood there, she brought her hand up to cover the prosthetic currently fully on display. "You may, sir." she replied, leaning up slightly to become more a part of the moment. "I'm holding up. Doctor says it was a concussion. Brain swelling, but no bleeding. Engineering team is due to service the prosthetic as best they can. It got.... jostled."

"Good to hear you're doing ok," he mused, stepping inside. "Your face fur is looking a bit singed, there. Lithium battery flash fires are nothing to scoff at," he added. "Heard you had quite the tumble. Glad to see you don't have a bone broken. But then, Ts'usugi bones are built sturdy, is the word on the street."

To that, she gave a nod. It was an awkward gesture what with her hand covering up her right eye, but it made her feel a bit better about the moment. "They endure until they don't. That's how the doctors back home always put it." She hadn't really considered the burn puff to her fur. It'd all grow back in given time. "Took an unscheduled flight. I'll get clearance next time." she joked, following his lead. "I was relieved that no one else got hurt."

"How is the relic?"

A soft chuckle at her joke, though he did note how she said 'no one else got hurt'. Seemed like she didn't consider Kat 'someone'. At her question though, "Unharmed. Still dormant," he tilted his head slightly. "Need me to turn around for a moment while you do something to cover your eye? I don't mean to make you uncomfortable," he offered, his voice uncharacteristically quiet and subdued.

"My patch is over there. If you could bring it over?" she motioned with her free hand. "It's... I'm more comfortable when it's covered. As for the relic, that's a relief. Good to know the blast didn't jostle it or even worse, wake it."

"You don't have to turn." she added. "It's not a taboo. Just... a choice." she clarified, sounding almost defeated as she did.

"I suspect it's dead. Like, not dormant and waiting for a cue of something, not just asleep, but proper dead," he mused. "Just a hunch, but - well, that's why the Cap'n put me in charge of the studies into what it is," he smiled, handing her the patch like she asked. He wasn't going to bring up Kat if she wasn't going to ask about her. "Nobody else got hurt. A few got wet, probably a cold or two going to develop there. I had to restock on portable extinguishers, reset the bay's own fire suppression system. But that's about it."

With all the practiced calm of someone who's done it a thousand times, she returned her bland black eyepatch to its place on her head and moved her hair out of the way to cover the strap. For the briefest moment, as she worked, the inner workings of the prosthetic were visible to the engineer. Anodized blue steel, a dim blue pinpoint for the optic, a beautiful piece of engineering and design. Definitely not Federation aesthetics. Probably not her own, either. Shame to hide it.

But hide it, she did. "We went through a few putting out the fire. Started in Fighter unit four. I suppose you could ask Kat for an update as to what happened." The first time the rabbitess mentioned her, was as a next in line for a situation report.

"Kat's offline. The flash fire took out her power delivery subsystem. In fact, that's probably where it started, but I won't know until we take out the damaged parts and do a thorough analysis. Without power delivery, she can't activate," he offered, carefully sitting down on a standard federation issue chair, much to its chagrin, judging by the creaking noise it made. "Her fighter's physical firewall kept the flames and much of the heat away from her core, though. Preliminary investigation suggests it's undamaged, so a new power delivery subsystem and she should be functional again."

"The Firewall's manual kill switch will still function, if it comes to that in regards to the relic. Without the core online, the rest of the subroutine is on manual observation." she remarked, now visibly more comfortable with the eyepatch on. At least she could put her hands down to her sides.

"At least until the power systems can be restored." she added. "I don't know exactly how long I'll be here, but I made certain to document the code and update the documentation on the failsafe. Anyone should be capable of operating it, provided they're of a sufficient rank to activate it. Though, anyone can monitor the system for concerns and flags." she offered, sounding almost ashamed that she wasn't out there on the floor.

"We got that covered, no need to worry about that," he offered. "Though it speaks for you that you do. But while you're in here you should just work on getting better. Take as long as you need for that. Seems that Ensign Walker managed to upload a semi autonomous monitoring routine before she went offline, we've got someone monitoring that and ready to activate the failsafe when needed."

She gave a nod. To what, exactly, was hard to say. Until she said it. "I don't like just laying about when there's work to do, but I'm no good to anyone if I complicate the issue." which was a feathery way of saying she wasn't well enough to return to work. "I appreciate the visit. I.. don't expect many guests. We're far too busy at the moment." she stated, using the current project as a cover for her limited expectations. It didn't sound like she expected visitors. It sounded more that she didn't know many people on the ship.

"You do have work to do. Getting better is work," Harva flicked an ear. "We require a standard to be met. And right now, due to circumstances outside your control, you don't meet them. So your immediate task is to reach the physical and mental standard required. That's work," He paused a moment before continuing. "And, you're welcome. I feel kinda responsible, you know. You got hurt performing a task I sent you to do. One you didn't even want to do."

Hearing it like that put it in a different perspective, one that she could appreciate. "Understood." she didn't perk up, but she wasn't quite so down. "Whether I wanted to do it or not, it was a job assigned to me. it's not your fault, and I had to be there. Someone had to make sure everything was supervised."

"I don't think you responsible for this." diplomatic and polite to the end.

"Heh," he chuckled dryly. "Opinions differ. But in the end it doesn't matter. You're here, with a job to do. The artefact's safe and secure in the bay. The damage is under control and we'll soon start work on fixing that airframe. We're gonna need it spaceworthy being so far from any way to easily get it replaced," he told her.

She gave a nod, cautious and reserved. Probably to restrict head movement and not risk bumping her brain into her skull. "Understood." she stated. "Keep an eye on i.... Kat." she started. "I don't think the core has suffered a power loss that suddenly since coming aboard. Powering down violently and then coming back online may affect the behavior."

"The Kat that comes back might not be the Kat that left."

"Understood, and thank you for the warning," he easily agreed, rising to his feet again, ready to leave. Though before he did - "As I understand you were part of the team that built the power coupling and interface and physically put her core into the airframe, right? Do you want to be part of the team that repairs her and brings her back online? Or would you prefer not to?"

"Presuming I'm on my feet when the task comes around, if you need me there I will be there." she answered simply.

"That's not what I asked. I'm not asking about your sense of duty, but about your own personal preferences," he replied matter-of-factly. "I know you have a problem with AIs. I know you don't like Kat. But I also know you have a very strong sense of duty, and if I told you I needed you, you'd do the job without complaining," A slight pause as he looked firmly at her. "What I don't know is whether your dislike of the AI trumps your desire to oversee repairs and reactivation, for a measure of control and oversight over her behaviour when she comes back online."

"So I ask again, do you want to be part of the team rebuilding and reactivating her, or would you rather not."

She was silent for a moment, considering. She took his insinuation that she'd compromise her work ethic as a bit of a barb, but she said nothing of the sort outwardly. She met his glance with her own, not having trouble with meeting or maintaining eye contact. As much as she preferred the thing remain inactive, the crew had a fondness for her. A curiosity. As much as she'd rather not be there when the crew returns her to activity, someone needed to be there to make sure they didn't blindly make mistakes.

"I'd prefer to be there, sir." she finally said.

A nod, a smile. "Very well, I'll make it happen. In the mean time, is there anything you need?"

"Nothing that springs to mind, sir." Callisi replied. "The patch will help me get some sleep."

"Alright. Get better, Lieutenant," he gave a wave as he turned around, stepped out and hit his forehead on the doorframe, cursing in Sirran. "... Duck~"

 

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