The Start Of Promise

Posted on 10 Dec 2023 @ 12:21pm by Ensign Orion Belmont & Lieutenant Commander Harva Taliborn

1,933 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Miranda
Location: Camping site 1

The shelter was nearly complete, just a few more windows and doors to check and fit, then it was ready to furnish. For now though, Harva had something else on his mind. He spied one particular ensign, one he hadn't met yet, but would certainly have to, since said ensign was helping with engineering tasks on the ship. As such the massive lumbering Sirran made his way over to Orion Belmont, and introduced himself with his rumbling deep bass voice. "Ensign Belmont? Got a moment?"

Since the treatments had been administered Orion was feeling better, but the fact that they were now putting up temporary shelters on a world that wasn't exactly ideal wasn't his idea of recovery. So far his stint on the Odin had been filled with many strange things, not to mention dangerous ones from what the Captain had revealed. He had been too tired to be annoyed at the time but now he found himself pondering things. Not too deeply though, he was simply a pilot - and an Ensign - after all. Still, things didn't sit well with him. The fact that he had tried to soldier on filled him with a little pride now, as if he had been thwarting an attack in his own small way. He shorted at that, just before a voice to which the word bass was a reserved definition. Turning to see who on earth could sound like that he was faced with a giant wolf of a being that not only dwarfed him but gave the instinctive suggestion that he could snap him in two. He would have screamed had he not been so surprised, instead managing a squeek and a paling of his face temporarily before stepping back a pace, his mouth opening and closing a few times as his mind struggled to register what it was seeing. He desperately grappled with his tongue, still stepping backwards, as it tried to conjure up the old names from old vids and legends, right up until he tripped over backwards and fell heels over arse over a supply crate.

There was a pause as his dignity left for a while before he spoke.

"Uh...yeah sure. Sorry Mr Wolf, what did you need?" he asked weakly, the sounds of chuckles surrounding him.

To be fair, this wasn't the first time people had had a similar response to Harva's appearance. He was very conscious of the fact that he resembled a being often used as horror fiction antagonist in the literature of several planets, including Earth. And he didn't have his top hat on either - no, where was it? Oh - ah yes, of course, he'd given it away to that strange person a while back, that being they found adrift in a box and who was now going through accelerated security training. The Sirran silently resolved to replicate a new one, some time.

For now though, a step back, and his hands raised in a disarming gesture. "Are you alright, Ensign? I'm Harva, assistant chief engineer on Odin," he rumbled, the words resonating as he did, razorsharp fangs on display - though one of his canines with the tip missing. An old injury he never really got around to getting fixed. "Can I help you up? I'm quite harmless - I have a strict policy to not eat anything that can talk, so as long as you keep talking you should be fine," he added with a disarming (or was it terrifying? He could never tell) grin as he reached a massive, furred paw out towards Orion.

Orion opted to simply go with the pulling up, it wasn't as if he could have stopped the behemoth even had he tried, besides which as he shook his head at himself and hoped any crimson had fade from his cheeks by the time he had finished brushing himself off - trying very hard not to stare at the teeth, one of which was chipped he noticed and wondering briefly about before dragging his mind away from crunching bones. After a minute or two what crowd had gathered to witness the Jester's jesterliness had faded and he was left with the giant that was, on the wolf's own authority, Harva the Assistant Chief Engineer.

"Oh...it's fine. At least I embarrassed myself in front of an officer. Might as well keep to tradition," he said, eyeing Harva for a few more moments before blinking and looking away with a wry smile, "I hope you don't mind me saying but are you sure you aren't suited to being the Odin's entire marine division? What led you to Engineering instead? No...no matter, sorry. Odin has a lot of surprises it seems. What did you need me for?" he asked, hoping to salvage something other than his embarrassment from the meeting, as well as trying to find something to focus on beyond the fact that he was talking to a giant wolf-being.

"What, and sleep in the rain in the mud instead of in a comfy warm starship bed with all the amenities?" Harva flicked an ear, brandishing an amused half smile. Helping Orion up was effortless, playful almost, the Sirran engineer's hand utterly dwarfing the pilot's. "Not me, I like my comfort. At my age, you know~" he joked. Despite being well into his seventies at this moment, for a Sirran that was still the prime of their life. "You've been working on Valk number 27, right? Trying to put her back together, get her back to a flying state?"

"Find it hard to believe you're going soft," he said with a half-nervous smile, "and yeah, that's me. Well...tinkering more than anything really. Picked a few things up over the years, like to know how my birds work. Besides, you get more when you actually spend time with the engineers that properly fix them. Not to mention the tweaks that aren't in the Starfleet manuals. I only just arrived really, how come you know about a lowly Ensign working on their Valk?"

" ... I'm the assistant chief engineer. It's my job to know about these things," Harva rumbled, sitting down on a crate, much to the chagrin of said crate which creaked in protest of almost 300 kg using it as a seat. "Besides, number 27 was on my to do list. Just hadn't gotten around to it," he shrugged, before holding his paws up. "Don't worry, you haven't done anything wrong. When we get back to the ship I'll be taking over from Emerson and working with you to get 27 up and combat ready again. Just need you to tell me about those tweaks not in the manual that you've been putting in," he added, his voice deep but calm. There was still a slight rasp to his tone, the sickness still causing him some issues despite doing considerably better than before.

"Of course, of course. I suppose you know all at that. I haven't been messing around with core systems if you're concerned, I like living...in both the not exploding in the Valk or at the hands of engineering," he said with an attempt at a reassuring grin, though he did note the crate bowed, creaked and then Harva's voice rasped at the edges, "most comfort things. Ergonomics and positioning of cockpit. Slight HUD changes to suit me, music and trinkets for luck as I need as much of it as I can get. That sort of thing. No power rebalancing...or added weaponry. Though if you had ideas on how to make Valk 27 more combat effective I'm not going to say no" he continued, starting to feel like some of the initial tension on meeting a giant wolf man fading as the lack of missing arms continued. "Though with everything that's happened I suppose my Valk isn't a priority. I imagine you've been run ragged?" he asked, wondering if engineering had been as hard hit as the flight deck had been.

"I've been in quarantine. Seems I was hit harder than most," He elected not to tell Orion about what he'd done in a fit of delirium. "But I've seen the tickets. And, yeah, there's a lot," the Sirran engineer rumbled. "The benefit of being assistant chief is that I have a say in what tickets have priority, and I'm kicking Valk 27 up the chain. Once we're back and the ship's confirmed clean I'll give her a once over and put the finishing touches on before greenlighting flight tests."

Orion had to admit that that was the last thing he would expect, he was usually being bumped down a list - albeit usually due to his own fault. It was strange, despite the nature of his time aboard having been all over the place and from one crises to another so far, he felt better about the Odin that other ships. Ironic given that he had spent what felt like a week being ripped apart by historic barbs. He still thought he'd have preferred child Klingons. At any rate the surprise was clear upon his face as he rubbed his palms together thoughtfully.

"I...thank you for that. Flying is the one thing I'm good at, it's been difficult not being able to. Not that I don't like working on birds, it's just it doesn't have the same thrill," he nodded his thanks, "though I'm surprised a big lad like you got hit by it so hard. I hope that you are well on the mend, this thing seems to hit everyone hard...and in different ways. Not that I can say much, my own stubbornness almost had me at the worst apparently. I'd say the crew has earned some downtime...even if it is on a less than ideal world. Maybe we can get a camp fire going, singing and so on" he grinned, casting his gaze and arms around at their surroundings.

"Big body, means there's a lot of me to go wrong," Harva's bass rumbled, "And I don't sing. Trust me, you don't want to hear me sing," he added with a chuckle, before turning more serious. "I've read your profile. That's why I'm moving up your ticket. Seems you've been dealt a lousy hand. Figured I'd do my part in making sure your start on Odin is a good one. You're a good pilot, Jester. Maybe not very good at the being an officer part, but long as you just do what you're good at, you'll be fine. Especially on this ship, with this crew," the giant engineer said, resting a massive and heavy paw on Orion's shoulder for a moment.

"A shame on the singing, though I suppose neither of us can be good at everything. So far my stay has been interesting," he said with a wry smile, accepting the hand though to say it dwarfed his shoulder and made him want to tilt sideways was an understatement, "though I've had it better than most it seems. Can't say as if feels like home yet, but at least I'm still kicking. Thanks again. You help me fix my Valk and my word, such as it is worth, I'll fly well as I've ever done" he said, holding out his hand instinctively to shake.

The hand easily shaken before the large engineer rose to his feet again, wincing as he did. Harva stretched and rolled his shoulders, giving Orion a nod. "Was nice meeting you, ensign. I'm sure we'll see a lot more of each other once we get back to the ship. You take care now."

 

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