Posted Feb. 27, 2021, 11:11 p.m. by Commander Jacen Drayke (Chief Engineer/2O) (Steven Sigle)
Posted by Civilian Maybelle Spunkler (Maybelle Spunkler) in Engineering office- It happened one day on the fifth grade field trip
It was Tuesday. That meant lunch with the Irish chief. When Maybelle started having lunch with the crew, it was difficult at times, especially with Mr. Jacen. People said she had ants in her pants but Mr. Jacen never sat down. Lunch with him was always sandwiches because he complained he didn’t have time to sit and eat. Walking down the hall, Maybelle pondered a career in engineering. Of all the departments, they had one of the coolest layouts. Stairs, ladders, and turbo lifts meant one could pop up and down the levels anyway they chose to go. Very few places had stairs on the Atlantis and even fewer had ladders. This was why Maybelle used them every chance she could get. Sticking the brown paper bag in her mouth, she began to climb down the level to reach the chief’s office. She could have done it one-handed but the adults just hissed and moan like she was on a trapeze instead of a metal rung. Using two hands she was also able to practice her ladder slide. This is what she called the emergency move all engineers did in a crisis.Twice the warp core burped, as Maybelle called it, sending all the adults into a frenzy. It was not that Mr. Jacen was old but he was old enough not to horse around in the halls like some of the other crew. On one day , however, when the warp core burped, Mr. Jacen showed he could not only run but probably would have been a state champ in track and field events. The day was like any other until the burp. One second they were eating and chatting. The next, Mr. Jacen hurdled his desk in one leap for apparently no reason. It was then Maybell noticed someone yelling Jacen’s name as warning lights flashed and klaxons began to ring out. Maybelle, close on his heels trying to see what was going on, watched as the chief deftly lept over two crew bent over fixing a console, slid under a panel like a baseball player scoring a home run, and jumping over the floors safety rail. Her heart stopped for a second before she saw Jacen catch the rail to the ladder and slide down it like a fireman. It was well worth the detention skipping school for the next hour as she watched Jacen and his men scurry about the warp core as it made burps, gurgles, and what sounded like hiccups. If Mabelle hadn’t mentioned that the bizarre colors the core changed into during the hour-long emergency was something Jacen should keep because it looked so cool, she was positive Mr.Jacen wouldn’t have thrown her out of engineering.
Sliding down the three rungs, Maybelle pushed away the hope that something fun would happen today again in engineering. She had important business and didn’t need something dumb like a nacelle sparking pulling Jacen’s attention off of her. Reaching his door, Maybelle walked in without knocking. That was another awesome thing about Mr. Drayke’s office. The entire wall was glass so it wasn’t like he wanted privacy. If he did he would have real walls like the rest of the officers.
“Hey, Mr. Jacen. Today is your lucky day. Iiiiiiiiit’ssssss Tuesday lunchtime with Maybelle Spunkler,” she said happily plopping down in the large chair across from his desk.
Maybelle Spunkler
Jacen was working at his desk as he had his feet up. He didn’t seem angry be he held a deep sigh. Above him, she would see a display of all of the ship that seemed to follow the direction Jacen was looking. Maybelle most likely hadn’t noticed on the side of his head a small device attached to his right ear that was giving him a look at the ship. “Come in…” Jacen said as he looked over at her, the display moving as he moved his head in her direction before he turned it off.
Getting up from his chair he removed the device as he pointed at the couch, as that was the designated zone she knew he wanted. “In fact....” he said as he looked over the device with a small smile. “You just might be able to help me,” he said as he walked over as he plopped down on the couch as he tossed the device into her lap.
“Put this on guinea…” he said as he looked in the bag wondering what she brought. “What… is this?” he asked as he took at the items and laid them out on the table. She had gone off course, there were some sandwiches and pizza which was a nice change and fit his on-the-go wish, but there was a third item.
“Haggis? What… what made you think I eat that?” he asked her as he looked over.
“She thinks I am Scottish, you know if I wasn’t time crunched I would be insulted… we can circle back on that but I am Irish, not Scottish, different people… tell her you know better next time,” he said as he watched with amusement as she began to try and place the device on the side of her head.
“No no no… not that way, you will burn out your retina. Here…” he said as he adjusted the device as he lifted her up from her spot and had her sit on his lap so he could make an adjustment before he turned on the display. “So… what do you see guinea?” he asked her as the display turned on as her vision would light up with a new heads up of the ship. “Here you will need this,” he said as he took off his badge as he slapped it on her chest so it made a new image pop up showing a little red arrow of her.
“You got good eyes, what do you see wrong?” he said as the display narrowed down on their location. The first thing someone might notice was the north-south directions seemed to be going the wrong way. As she moved around her head though there would be words pop up describing objects and reading off diasnosis. This is where he wondered how much she would pay attention cause it didn’t seem to always display in a language that could be read in. The universal translator wasn’t working properly and giving languages outside of the one the user could read.
Drayke, CE
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