Lt JG Braya - Down With the Bourgeoisie

[Braya of Clan Ralnek]

((Fuel Line Corridor, Deck 496 I Igirni))

The arrival of the single Voth struck Braya as wholly peculiar. An entire city of people, and only one is sent to address a group of aliens marauding through their lower corridors? Something about it didn’t add up.  

Falt: Greetings. I'm Commander Falt, from Starfleet. We are responding to your ship's distress call.

Frinn: So I have been told. You are here to assist? Very well. I am happy to show you around. My name is Frinn.

Tanner: Lieutenant Tanner… quite the ship you’ve got here!

oO Guess we’re stuck introducin’ ourselves, then. Oo

Frinn: Me? I don’t have or own any of this. I am but a humble maintenance man.

Lim: Hello, nice to meet you.

Falt: We're one of three teams that have come over from our ship, the USS Eagle. This team has been tasked with looking into getting the engines restarted. 

Frinn: I wasn’t even aware they were not functioning. Although it does explain the short blackouts we experienced.

oO Not aware? How does anyone ‘board not know that the ship is caught in a gravity well, an’ the engine’s ain’t movin’? Oo

An enquiring brow twisted as Braya dissected the words, but she wasn’t prepared to show her cards just yet. More was needed, and for now, the best was to get it was to keep quiet.  

Braya: We were just wonderin’, supposin’ we can ‘elp get this all runnin’ again, ‘ow long will it take t’cold start y’er engines?

Falt: Indeed. Another of our teams is working with your engineers to restore power, but we assume there must be some procedures that will need to be followed to restart the engines once power is restored?

Frinn: I see why you are here now. I don’t know much about the big systems. Engines, power cores, all that. I just do what I’m told. Mostly fuel intake. If the engines are down, they tell me to close the feed, clear the lines, and wait until someone higher up says it’s safe to open them again.

Falt: Would you take us to the nearest engine? It would certainly help our diagnostic effort if we could take a look.

Frinn: Sure, I can take you there.

Staring at an engine of which they had no understanding, Braya estimated, was about as useful as a field mouse looking at a tricorder. But keeping with the group was her only option, so she fell in at the rear. 

Tanner: I assume you’ve done some investigating on what caused all this. Any ideas? ::Asked with genuine curiosity.::

oO ‘E just said ‘e didn’t even know the engines were broke. What sort ‘o investigation’ could ‘e ‘ave done? Oo

Frinn: Above my pay grade, Lieutenant Tanner. I only fix the systems on my block. But… I know a few people who work with the main engines. They are always complaining about the lack of spare parts, improvising, and how one day it will shut down for good. Perhaps that’s today?

Lim: ::Sincerely:: Given what we’ve been told, I would expect your ship to be built to last.

Falt: Indeed. It would be good to know if you've been able to rule anything out for a start.

Frinn: Even the best ships can't run indefinitely without replacement parts… But I guess that’s where you come in? No doubt you have a planet to call home, with industry that makes all the parts we need?

Braya: Makin’ parts ain’t y’er only issue, maintenance man. You got a tickin’ clock problem.  

Tanner: Well, we can certainly look over anything you might have…

Lim: I’ve always found having a few more sets of eyes on a problem helpful, especially if they haven’t been involved before. Maybe we can see something you guys missed being too close to the problem.

Frinn: You keep your hands off those fuel lines if you know what's good for you!

The venom in those words was unmistakable, and made Braya brace her step, half expecting a fight, verbal or otherwise, to break out right then and there. Fingers twitched and she became keenly aware of the marlin spike resting against her back, but she didn’t reach. Yet. 

Braya: ::Thuggish:: Ain’t no need for gettin’ agitated. 

Frinn: It’s for your safety, I mean… they are unstable. The last thing you and I want is hot fuel flowing over you. Given your skin, you’d be dead in seconds… We, on the other hand, can handle a few burns.

As his own negligence was something to brag about, the Voth displayed a large scorched patch of his arm. Averting her eyes to avoid rolling them, Braya shook her head. 

oO If ‘e be as good maintain’ this system as ‘e is at keepin’ ‘imself safe, ain’t no wonder it all broke. Oo

Lim: There are other ways we could help. I’m the Eagle’s Chief Medical Officer, so if there’s anyone who hasn’t been able to get to your ship’s doctors yet, I can help.

Frinn: Doctors… hah! Been ages since I have seen any of those on the lower decks. Only if they suspect some outbreak. Otherwise, they are on the middle and upper decks, taking care of those they would actually miss if they died. But let me tell you… there will be a day they miss us down here too. We might be invisible to them, but we are more important than they think. Anyway… here we are.

That comment spoke volumes, and Braya added it to a rapidly growing list of oddities aboard the city ship. Such a chasmous imbalance among classes, in every historical context she’d read, led to the same outcome; rebellion. It was just a question of when, and what the inciting incident would be. 

oO This the begginin’ of a revolution? Wouldn’t that be a sight. Oo 

The room to which Frinn led them was truly immense,  and Braya could only stop and stare for a moment. Any thought of an easy fix, or even where to start looking for problems, seemed to instantly evaporate. Not that she’d harbored much hope for either to start. 

Lim: Oh my.

Braya: Ain’t that somethin’. 

Falt: If I was to guess, I'd say this thruster is longer than our ship. How many does the Igirni have?

Frinn: Many… but whether they still work, I wouldn’t know. We haven’t tried to land on a planet in my lifetime… So, as far as I know, most of them haven’t been used for 60 years.

Tanner: And you’d likely not need all of them at all times. Makes sense.

Lim: Mmm. Try and build for every scenario you can just in case.

Falt: We detected liquid hydrogen traces in the pipes. I'm guessing that's the fuel? Superheated in the power plant and then vented out of the engines? I assume you use electromagnetic fields as part of the process?

Frinn: Correct… I might not know much, but that I do know.

Braya: Response

Tanner: Presumably you were at full thrust in order to avoid the black hole. ::Phrased as a question.::

Frinn: Black hole? You seem to have me at a disadvantage again…

There it was; a second affirmation that the worker was being kept in the dark. At least metaphorically. And if they couldn’t get the ship to move, perhaps literally as well. 

Lim: It's the reason why we’re here. The ship’s having issues escaping a black hole. 

It was time to pry. Just a little. 

Braya: They really take ‘need to know basis’ serious ‘round ‘ere, huh? 

Falt : Response

The ship shook. Anything that could make such a colossal object tremble was something to be concerned about, and Braya’s eyes flitted about, searching for a cause, finding nothing. 

Tanner: ::Flicking around the group.:: Byproduct of our proximity?

Frinn: Don’t look at me… This is nothing new. Could be many things…

Lim:  Maybe they're trying out something with the engines?

Falt : Response

Frinn: Perhaps I should hand you over to one of our more experienced people.

Falt / Tanner : Response

Frinn: Looks like the big shots are at the main levels, no doubt having one of their fancy meetings… So you are stuck with me for now. Feel free to have a look around, but again… don’t touch anything without asking.

Looking back and forth, there didn’t seem to be anyone else around at all. Far from the first time, Braya wondered just where everyone was. Probing eyes landed back on Frinn, wanting to drill into him like a hacksaw, and find out just how deep his resentment for the upper levels went. 

Lim:  ::Smiling:: Don’t worry, we won’t.

Braya: ::Clasping her wrist behind her back:: No touchin’. No problem. 

Falt / Tanner / Frinn : Response

Lim:  How many people work down here?

Braya: Not near enough, by the looks o’ it. No offense, maintenance man. Just seems y’all could use more ‘ands down ‘ere. 

The words were calculated. Meant to draw out Frinn’s antipathy toward his working conditions, if only slightly. Each measured step might bring her a little closer to validating her suspicions. While Frinn may not be directly involved in what happened, she had growing reason to believe his feelings might lead them to something important. 

Falt / Tanner / Frinn : Response

Lim:  Do you all live nearby or do you have to commute to the area?

Falt / Tanner / Frinn : Response

Braya: Sounds downright irritatin’. An’ no doctors down ‘ere, neither? Seems dangerous work, to ‘ave no medical on standby. 

Lim / Falt / Tanner / Frinn : Response

Braya: Them upstairs keepin’ ya’ out o’ the loop regardin’ this black ‘ole business. That normal ‘round ‘ere? Everythin’ …privileged? 

It wasn’t hard for Braya to maintain a tone admonishing the aristocracy. She’d grown up impoverished, her clan having resorted to piracy as a means not to flourish, but just to survive, while people in power did what they could to keep her that way. 

Lim / Falt / Tanner / Frinn : Response

Braya: ::Softer:: Just sounds t'me like some Voth 'round 'ere are...a little more equal than others.

Lim / Falt / Tanner / Frinn : Response

TAGS/TBC

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Lt. JG Braya of Clan Ralnek

HCO

USS Eagle

E240205B13