Shuttlepod Maintenance

Posted on Fri Jan 5th, 2024 @ 8:50pm by Lieutenant Keelli Reex & Lieutenant Razeen el-Ben

1,140 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: First Deployment
Location: Shuttle bay
Timeline: MD1 - TBA
Tags: 2156, Character Introduction

[ON:]

Ben was not one prone to lateness. He had already announced to the shuttlepod pilot team of routine maintenance on shuttlepod 1 & 2. He had hoped they didn't in fact go through with the routine flight check today like was scheduled - at least not until he had a chance to recheck their fuel bypass safety circuits. There had been an announcement from Starfleet that their circuits were possibly faulty and needed to be emergency replaced. Ben arrived to the shuttle bay in time, he suspected, as it was rather sparse and empty of crew.

Almost instantly he got to work, towing in his tools and the required replacement parts. He first started on shuttlepod 1. Thankfully he didn't need to open the interior - yet. He started by using his tools to open a service panel on the outside and working his way to the bypass failsafes.

Lt. Keelli Reex was pacing around the shuttle bay. She was on edge; when her bird was down, SHE was down, and that didn't bode well for the feckless pilot. She wasn't the type that could be idle, she needed to be constantly moving.

She watched as the Engineer got to work. "Can I help in some way?" She asked. She bent down to see what he was doing. "Watch out for the turbines, you'll cut yourself up bad," she said. She had done that once-and only once-and it wasn't very fun.

For a time, Ben permitted the insistence and pestering of the shuttlecraft pilot. It was her bird, after all, and as pilot it was her ultimately responsibility to ensure its functionality and safety. However right now, Ben was the one performing the required maintenances on it. Finally he had enough, moving away from the panel, smiling calmly, and facing Keelli.

"And good afternoon to you too, Lieutenant," he said, smiling. "I'm performing maintenance here, required by Starfleet to ensure your shuttlepod doesn't crash. I believe I can handle the requirements for that process just fine. How about we discuss something other than how I do my job? I don't think we've formally met, right?"

Ben extended a hand, still smiling. "Lieutenant Razeen el-Ben, but my friends just call me Ben, and you can too. Temporary Assistant Chief Engineer, I work with the Chief Engineer to keep the Unicorn in tip top shape and it's my pleasure to do so. That includes her shuttlepods. And you are?"

She sighed deeply. "Lt. Keelli Reex," she replied. She shook his hand. "I am just...sorry. I just...my whole life is flying, and when I can't do that, I can't do anything else," she said. "I know it's your job, and my frustration isn't with YOU. It's with the Fleet," she said. "I can DO my own maintenance, you know," she said.

Ben kept his smiled when the shake ended. He nodded to her words, understanding. Most flight jockies could, in fact, work on their equipment. However it was typically unofficial repairs and most were never properly catalogued. His smile temporarily turned sympathetic when he replied.

"I understand completely, Lieutenant," Ben said, staying a tad formal for this encounter. "However I am required to monitor, track, catalogue, and record all repairs I do. Unfortunately, not all pilots do. It's not that fleet doesn't know you can do repairs, it's the fact they do and most pilots don't keep track of everything they do. Why would they? They typically have no time to! Anyway, my job not only includes keeping track of all that, but also providing a list of used items we can reorder. It's nothing against you at all."

She nodded. "I know," she said. "Maybe I will just take my break, then. Can I get you something from the replicator?" At least it would keep her occupied and out of his way for at least a few minutes. They were both understanding that this wasn't the most ideal of situations.

Ben nodded, "I'd like that, actually. Could you make me a coffee with a regular donut? No frosting, no chocolate, nothing fancy. Should be enough to get me through this. I really appreciate this, Lieutenant Reex. I know this isn't an ideal situation for us both, but I appreciate you taking my job into consideration as well."

The Assistant Chief turned halfway to start back work before looking back at Keelli. "And I suppose," he added quickly with a soft twinkle in his eye, "this means I owe you dinner sometime?"

She smiled. "That would be nice," she said. "And thank you, I really DO appreciate it," she said. She turned around to the Replicator and got his order, and getting herself some Rakajinto and an apple. "Should I just...put it on the floor?" She asked. It didn't seem polite but they weren't exactly at table or desk. The hangars were still sparse yet.

Ben poked his head out of the hatch to the shuttle as he had just opened it again, smiling as he shrugged. "Sure!" he replied as he promptly slide back and took the offered food. He sat and ate, drinking the coffee gently, then smiling again. "Man, the replicator makes some good donut and coffee," he remarked. After a moment, he slid back under the shuttle and continued his work.

For a few minutes, the Assistant Chief Engineer worked on two panels underneath the shuttle that attached to the fuel lines. He closed them, emerging quite dirty, and grabbed a part from his tool bag. He opened back up the panel from earlier, took out an older part, replacing it with the one he had. This process repeated twice as he replaced some bypass junctions. He then closed those back up and opened the shuttlepod door after safely powering it up. He walked in, toolbag in hand, and on the inside he casually opened a side panel on the opposite side of the interior from where he had been on the exterior. He took out a motherboard of some kind, replacing it with a new one from his toolbag, then closed everything up. He closed the door, powered down the shuttle, then set his bag down as he approached Keelli.

"All done!" he announced. "I had to replace two fuel intermatrix junctions because they were bad, but that's all the damage I caught this time around. Everything else seems fine. I even replaced the defective fuel bypass safety motherboard. You're clear to use shuttlepod 1 now. I'll work on shuttlepod 2 here shortly."

"Thank you!! Let me know about that dinner!" She said. "I appreciate it," she said, as he moved on to the next shuttlepod. She began her flight checks. She was going up now!


[OFF:]

Lieutenant Jr. Grade Keelli Reex
Shuttle Pilot
USS Unicorn

&

Lieutenant Razeen el-Ben
Assistant Chief Engineer
UES Unicorn

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