Posted by Gamemaster Wookius Furrius (Gamemaster) in Main Simm - Flight Deck

Posted by Lieutenant Koria Sutret (Chief Engineer) in Main Simm - Flight Deck

Posted by Gamemaster Wookius Furrius (Gamemaster) in Main Simm - Flight Deck
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻

<snip>

The runabout came up to the flight deck and settled near the designated point. The rear hatch slowly opened to form the rear ramp to the cargo area. It would be a tight fit but it looked like it would just squeeze in. By Sutret’s estimation it was designed for just such a space to fit a runabout.

Meanwhile the teams gathered and worked at the replicator unit, attaching anti grav units that came with the unit. These were smaller and thinner, but more abundant which would make the fit into the runabout, well, workable. It would take a team of four engineers to get that bad boy installed.
- Wookiee

Koria eyed the anti grav units that her teams had pulled out and attached to the replicators. Eyeing the size of the replicator, she looked over at the cargo door on the runabout, and she could definitely see why they went with the slimmer profile. Hopefully it would fit, but it was going to be super close.

As her team surrounded the unit, they pushed it over to the runabout. “Two people inside, help guide the unit in place. It’s going to be tough, so make sure it doesn’t get caught on anything.” With the two engineers running into the runabout, the other part of the team got the replicator lined up with the door. Koria took a step back and tried to get an eye around the edges of the unit.

“Well no time like the present! Push it nice and slowly, let’s try and keep the scratches to a minimum.”

One of the engineers quipped back, “But chief, if we make a few scratches we’ll keep ourselves employed by needing to fix them.”

“Sounds like you are needing more work. Thanks for volunteering,” Koria called jokingly back.

“I’m an ace with a paint brush. Just ask my mother about the gig of the wall, the paint and my third birthday,” he said, then, “Easy there. Elevating it just a bit.”

Koria kept eyeing it as it slowly moved closer to the opening, “A little to the right… Now back a hair… There we go….” As the first unit slid past the opening and into the runabout, it got easier. With the unit fully in the runabout, they deactivated the anti-grav units, and the unit settled to the deck.

“Alright let’s get it tied down, and get the other units loaded.”

As a mag unit was activated at the decking with a soft hum the same engineer replied, “It’s secure. Nothing like making a unit that just fits. You’d almost think they designed it that way. Sheesh. Chief, you think they had an engineer helping them out?”

After the engineer, NE Mok Tal, a tall, thin Bolian, poked his head out. “I don’t think we’ll fit a second one in here, Chief. Too snug. Best to fit this in a second runabout. In the meantime, will this be going down first or will we send both at the same time? Or a second trip for this?”
Wookiee

Lt Sutret - CE

“Nah, they probably made it to big, and the first time they tried to load it an engineer had to fix the problems they made,” she said chuckling. “Plus, if I was designing this, I’d have put the anti-grav units into the housing.”

“Not too loud, Chief,” Mok said. “They’ll pull you from here into some design tank on Earth and we won’t see you for months.”

At the Bolian’s comment, Koria looked more closely at the runabout and silently cursed. “Yup, they definitely did not have an engineer doing the initial design.” They were just a bit to long.

“Let’s see if we can get a second runabout, so we can do all of the install work at once. Otherwise we’ll just have to do the second trip.”

Lt Sutret - CE

As it happened there was a second runabout that could be pulled up and arrived shortly. It was an older model, or at least the model before the previous one. This one would involve Mok or another lucky soul to remove an inset stool which was at an engineering monitoring station midsection. The upside was that there was otherwise a touch more room in the cabin for it.
- Wookiee for Mok

“That was easier then I thought,” Koria chuckled as the second runabout arrived. As the cargo hatch opened up, she peered inside. “Hey Mok, grab your spanner. We can make this work, but we’ll have to do a bit of work. There looks to be a stool in the way, think you can handle taking it out?” she asked with a grin.

Lt Sutret - CE

“Spanner? Can’t I melt it down into a nice bit of Klingon impressionist art? Fleet ships don’t decorate enough,” he commented, though did have a spanner in hand as he slipped through the rear hatch. Some clanging and Bolian cursing resounded soon thereafter … “Come on you son of a Sop-Crawler ..” followed by some banging, evidently that of the spanner whacking something followed by quiet. He emerged, spanner in one hand and the stool held up in the other. “K’plah!” he said .. Sutret would note that the base shaft of the stool was .. dinged.
- Mok

Koria raised an eyebrow at the banging noises inside the runabout. “He’s new,” she said a wry grin and a shrug to some of the passing deck crew. She tried to keep from laughing as the engineering team chuckled behind her.

As Mok held out the stool, Koria just shook her head. “Just… Just leave the stool. We’ll find someone to get the ding out later…”

Mok hopped down and placed the stool next to other container units. As he returned there was a clatter as said stool slid from its perch to clatter on the deck. “Maybe two,” he said, casting a back glance at it that could have been translated as ‘you’re just doing that out of spite, aren’t you?’

She turned and looked at the engineering crew who were standing there grinning at Mok. “What are you all looking at? Let’s get that replicator loaded, and these runabouts into the air. Let’s move!”

Lt Sutret - CE

After getting the other replicator loaded, Koria did a quick head count of her engineering teams. “Alright, everyone grab a seat, let’s head down to the surface.”

Climbing into the first runabout, Koria walked up to the cockpit and sat down in the co-pilots seat. She turned towards the pilot, “We are ready whenever you are to head down to the surface. Did you get the landing coordinates?”

Lt Sutret - CE

“They are pretty precise,” relied Sheila Todd. She was a stout pilot who didn’t leave much room between herself and the controls. “They have two bays side by side for us. The first shuttle has confirmed touchdown.” The engines flared to life and the shuttle could be felt to lift from the deck. “Will have you down in no time Chief.” The shuttle turned in place and the maw of the flight deck open to space was before them, the circle of the world before them, even if it was a grey brown view, the larger gas giant almost filling the view behind it.

“Pretty,” Sheila said simply as she pressed the accelerator.
“Take it easy there. I get shuttle sick,” Mok said. “You wouldn’t like a green Bolian.”
“You’re just a big blue baby, Mok,” Sheila replied easily banking the shuttle perhaps just a bit more abruptly than needed, smiling when she heard a gurgle from behind.

Koria chuckled at the back and forth, she was glad that her teams were getting out and having a chance to make friends with other people on the ship. The last thing she wanted was for them to feel holed up in engineering all the time.

Otherwise the trip down was quick and smooth. While the facility had a front foyer that opened up to view a large lake, the rear was a mix of processing, vehicular warehousing and transport landing sites. From the air it looked like a mottled, pitted landscape that showed the age of the facility. The facility itself was for the most part the color of dried blood, not unlike a bulbous lichen crusted outcrop that grew as they descended.

As the runabout came down towards the facility, Koria had to suppress a shutter. While she knew facilities would eventually need to be overhauled, and pieces replaced, as an engineer it was always hard to see the equipment and facilities in such states of disrepair.

The place had a feeling of being ancient, that it had been there a long time. Moreover, the construction of it did not appear that it was made by any human architect, or even something recognizable from the Federation. It had a half ‘fortress’ appearance with ‘factory’, but mixed with that of a beetle or mushroom.

As they landed there was a small crew of people waiting for them. A large industrial anti grav platform lay in wait.
- Wookiee

With the runabout touched down, and the rear door open, Koria made her way out the side hatch. “Mok, don’t scratch the replicator before we’ve got a chance to deliver it.”

Mok looked a little blue-green. “No danger there Chief. On the upside if I get shuttle sick in disembarking nobody would notice with these colors.”
Sheila shut down the shuttle and disengaged the rear hatch. “Well lets get you on the ground before you mess up my shuttle. Next to one another they looked not too far unlike Laurel and Hardy with their physiques.

Seeing the large antigrav platforms waiting, she did let out a little sigh of relief. At least they weren’t going to have to rely on the slim platforms they had to use to move the unit into the runabout. They were fine in there, but anything with a little more power would give them a slightly larger margin of error.

Lt Sutret - CE

It was raining outside. Dark clouds slowly slid by dropping small, cool droplets making the facility look wet, slick and more like a natural thing than constructed. The rain caused the port where they landed to look even more aged and dirty.
- Wookiee

Koria shivered slightly at the cool rain, hopefully wherever the units were going would be dry. As her teams unloaded the second unit, she stepped up to the small group of people waiting for them.

“I’m looking for engineer Walter. I have a delivery for him.”

Lt Sutret - CE