Mikali sh'Shar - A Little Help Goes A Long Way
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David Adams
Jan 6, 2021, 10:10:45 AM1/6/21
to Gorkon
((Spacedock 44, Palanon))
Visiting Palanon, toolbox and PADD in hand, Mikali had a debt to pay before she could run off on her other Palanon tasks. Sort of a "working vacation" — it was a break from work, more or less, and a change of scenery, but she did not plan to be idle during her time down on the planet.
It wasn't work. It wasn't play. It was Mikali Time™. Doing the things that would make her happy, or in this case, ease her conscience.
K'Turk: The other blue-skin and spotted one believed you would be able to complete the repairs to the Horey'So.
Horey'So. A fine name for a fine ship. Mikali nodded her head in agreement as they walked together along the length of the transport. Its long fuselage was broken only by the twin warp engines tucked close to the body. A compartment on the exterior stood open with a mass of wires stringing out of it. That... was probably not helping matters and, like a D-I-Y'er who messed up the plumbing worse before finally calling a professional, it was clear that the burly Klingon had tried to fix the problem himself but could not. Mikali's eye lingered on the mess for a moment.
sh'Shar: So, my understanding is that half of the repairs have been completed, and half are yet to be complete... is that correct?
K'Turk: That is correct. I cannot get the engines to fire up. They seem to be receiving power but will not fully initialize.
That was odd. Normally ships systems were built to be incredibly robust, and most people who had engines understood that they wanted them to fail as infrequently and gracefully as possible. A dead stop was indicative of a serious problem indeed.
Still. There were many causes of something like this.
sh'Shar: Troubling. I'll talk to the computer, see what it says, but honestly, I doubt it'll be much help. Failing that, I'll pry open the nacelles and see what I can find.
K'Turk: ::grumbling:: How long will it take? I am not a patient man.
Something reminded her of Xhard, her old Ferengi boss, and it wasn't simply K'Turk's grumpy mannerisms and rude demands (and broken ship). Something else she couldn't identify that nagged at the back of her mind.
sh'Shar: I should be able to find the root cause of the issue within a day, but actually fixing it might take up to a week. I have two weeks off from work so I have time, but at the very least, I'll be able to get you spaceworthy before that — even if we can't have that warp engine purring like a Caitian or every problem ironed out, it will at least let you get out of the system.
The Klingon gritted his teeth, seeming displeased with that answer, but there was nothing she could do about it. Fixing a ship by herself with only her toolkit and industrial replicator was going to take time, there was no way to shorten that.
K'Turk: Very well. But, first, you must tell me why you are doing this. Have you lost a bet?
Mikali sh'Shar considered answering in a way that would be more akin to the massive Klingon's sensibilities — something along the lines of, "I lost my honour and must fight to reobtain it" — but she was tired from carrying a heavy box, and felt her ability to spin the truth flittering away, like butterflies on gossamer wings.
Her head dipped, antenna following the same downward trajectory, her face flushing dark cyan. She bought her heels together and rubbed her upper right forearm with her left hand, a nervous gesture that shifted her body language, betraying her nervousness at the question.
sh'Shar: I am an addict. ::It was a simple, stark confession. One she had made hundreds of times already to counsellors, to strangers, to people who needed explanations from her.:: I lost my commission in Starfleet, I lost custody of my daughter, I lost control of my life. So now I'm trying to demonstrate, through a work program on Iana Station, that I can be trusted, be reliable, and that I've overcome my problems. To make restitution to the people I have hurt.
K'Turk: Response
sh'Shar: ::She blew out a long sigh.:: I... know what it's like to be stuck in a place, with no friends and no allies and no clear way out, having to rely on the charity of strangers. Nobody came to help me when I was at my lowest. Back then I was alone. Now I have help, and that help is doing enormous work in repairing the damage that I did to myself. ::She looked up, managing a little smile.:: I've never asked for a handout in my life, and I'm not giving you one either. I'm giving you a hand-up. Because I know what it's like to be where you are, and I know that that a little help goes a long way.
K'Turk: Response
Seemingly satisfied to leave it for now, Mikali turned to the broken ship, wires spilling out from the open component. Like the ship was a wounded beast, its guts hanging out in the air.
sh'Shar: I think we can ignore that for now. If it wouldn't power on before, and it won't power on now, it's likely unrelated.
K'Turk: Response
She walked with him around the ship, inspecting the outer panels. Structurally, there was no indication of what might have caused such a catastrophic engine failure. No external breaches. No signs of radiation weakening the alloys — she waved a tricorder over it just to be sure, and came up with nothing — and that eliminated the most obvious causes. Unfortunately, that seemed to annoy the Klingon a little more. Clearly he had done such basic checks himself.
One thing she did find was confirmation that the engine was receiving full power but not initializing. She traced the power flow from the reactor to each nacelle and inside, and then nothing. She linked her tiny handheld device into the ship's computer and ran a quick diagnostic.
Equally unhelpful. The computer cheerfully reported that it was providing full power to the engine. The engine mournfully reported it was so low on power only emergency diagnostic systems would respond. Main power was completely cut off and there seemed to be no problem in-between.
This would be better if she had Alleran's tricorder, the one with the purple stripe, as it had better processing power. But she'd given it back.
They wouldn't call it "paying" debts if it didn't come with a cost after all.
sh'Shar: The good news is that it's nothing basic, which means you clearly know how to take care of a ship, I'm impressed. The bad news is that it's nothing basic, which means I'm going to have to partially disassemble the port nacelle to really take a look at it. That's going to take a couple of hours and reassembly twice that. ::She held up a hand.:: I know, I know, you're impatient. But you've been here for weeks now, least we can do is waste a day really taking a look, right?
K'Turk: Response
sh'Shar: If you help me, it will go faster. My depth perception isn't what it used to be. Maybe we'll find nothing, maybe we'll be a bit closer to figuring out how we can fix the Horey'So. Don't worry, I'll put her back together.
K'Turk: Response
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