Meeting the new engineer (Part 3) (Backpost)

Posted on Sun Jan 10th, 2021 @ 5:42am by Lieutenant JG Mika Fujimoto 'Pickpocket' & Lieutenant Hamlyn Ambrose

1,647 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Allegations
Location: Various
Timeline: After 'Meeting the new engineer (Part 2)'

Previously, on Star Trek Tokyo:

'That's alright Busujima, if it's uncomfortable for you, I won't force you to crawl through those tubes - we should be able to manage with two of us. We'll need to pick up some circuitry, and possibly a gel pack or two to be safe.'

"Very well," Mika said. "Then let us go get what we need."

Before following Hobb, Mika turned to Saeko:

"But do stick around, Crazy Horse:" She added. "Because after we're done, I think we both use those cheeseburgers..."

As Saeko watched Hobb and Mika depart, she thought back to the trouble she was going to be in for passing her work off on the person she was supposed to be getting to help her.

'Well, Sharp Shooter's going to tear me a new asshole anyway...' She thought to herself. 'Might as well get it over with...'

And now, the continuation

As Mika followed Hobb to get the supplies that they needed, a curious thought crossed her mind: He had introduced himself as the chief engineer, but she could have sworn that the chief engineer was someone else:

"Pardon me for asking, but wasn't the chief engineer Japanese?" She asked.

I guess a lot must have happened in the last few days, Hobb thought as he turned to look at the pilot. 'Yeah, the previous chief was Japanese. She was, uh, a good boss actually. Let me get on with it, let me organise my shift and crews the way I wanted it,' he stared off into the distance a moment, 'yeah a good chief,' he concluded quietly. Another one gone before her time. 'When we were attacked,' he waved his hand in a lame, vague fashion, 'she didn't, uh, didn't make it, you know?'

The music coming from Mika's Kantele suddenly stopped as she looked into the chief engineer's eyes before lowering her head back to the Kantele.

"I see..." Mika muttered.

When Mika began plucking the strings again, she began to play a different tune: An old Christian hymn, made legendary by the doomed passengers and crew of old Earth steamships. Though Mika wasn't one to sing along with her music, she felt like she owed it to the old chief engineer to make the piece a full performance:

"Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee...
E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me...
Still, all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee...
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee..."

Hobb gathered the supplies they needed as the pilot played her instrument. As she finished, and he set the bag over his shoulder, Hobb pointed at the instrument and asked, 'do you take that with you everywhere?'

"It only leaves my person when I bathe." Mika explained. "You like it?"

'When you bathe?' repeated Hobb quizzically, 'you get special dispensation or something?' He pointed to a jeffries tube opening, 'in here. It's a unique instrument for sure, not one I've heard often. It's ...' he searched for the word to give an honest answer, 'different but not unpleasant. You've been playing for a long time?'

"Nobody's ever quite sure how to describe the sound of a kantele when they first hear one." Mika explained. "I've been playing this as long as I've had it. How I came to acquire it... Isn't very important..." She was hoping Hobb would leave it at that.

'A kantele, eh? Well, it's an interesting sound - I may have to pick up some recordings when I go off duty.' Hobb considered pressing Mika on her rather cryptic answer - though it could really be she had just picked it up in a shop. Ultimately, he decided not to press the subject as they entered the Jeffries tube. 'Up to Junction 8, I'll head in first,' he told her gently. 'Be careful with that instrument now.'

"It's seen worse things than the inside of a Jefferies tube, you know..." Mika muttered. "Besides, I know how not to get it damaged, considering it only leaves my person when I bathe or sleep."

Though Mika was annoyed that Hobb thought that she didn't know how to handle herself with her instrument, she gave the strings a pluck as she crawled through the Jefferies tube to forget her annoyance, and began playing a somewhat butchered rendition of the Finnish folk song she had been playing earlier, as she did still need one hand to crawl around on.

Crawling along the tube, Hobb noticed the Ensign was still playing hte instrument. He threw a glance back to see exactly how she had accomplished that. 'So you say it's on your person for the majority of your waking hours? You take that thing out in your fighter too?'

Mika stopped playing.

"I will admit, I've made some modifications to my fighter to allow me to fly with my feet." She explained. "I've kept the modifications off the books, though. No need to stir up trouble with the wing command."

Hobb glanced back at her over his shoulder, 'have you really?' he replied with genuine interest, 'you'll have to show me some time, not many fighters are kitted out that way.' As he pulled himself over to the junction that needed fixing, he managed to turn himself around so he was facing Mika, 'you figure it's fine to take it out there in a dogfight? What if it gets broken?'

"If you can promise not to tell Trigman, I'd be happy to show you." Mika responded. "Maybe even take you out on a test flight if you wish."

Mika looked up and watched Hobb turn himself around, a clear indication for her to stop crawling.

"It takes quite a lot of control over the muscles in your feet, and definitely isn't possible if you don't have the feet for it, but I can dogfight like the best who can fly with their hands." She explained. "As far as damage goes, I usually try and tackle the repairs myself. If the work is too much for me to do myself, I'll generally seek out someone like Busujima who I know I can trust not to tell Trigman, because he'd be more than happy to throw the book and a few consoles at me for modifying my fighter the way I have."

Mika observed the Jefferies tube around her.

"So, where do we need to perform these repairs, anyway?" She enquired.

Hobb popped open a panel in answer, waving a hand at the charred components behind it. Unslinging the bag he'd been carrying down the tube, he just said simply, 'here.'

As he pulled out the components he needed he explained as he went, 'when we were hit in the battle, the grid overloaded, and the control mechanism for the lift blew out. The shielding on these components aren't as great as the others.' Hobb shrugged, 'it's an advantage and a disadvantage - the components short, preventing damage to more critical systems, but it's a hassle to get here.'

He handed her a hydrospanner and said quietly, 'thank you for the offer, but I won't go out in a fighter,' Hobb smiled, 'but I will take a look at the modifications.'

'Right, if you could just pop these components out here, I can start installing the replacements,' Hobb indicated three points on Fujimoto's side of the panel.

Mika began unbolting the components that Hobb had described.

"Like I said earlier, I'd be happy to show you the modifications." Mika said as she worked. "However, if you tell Trigman... Let's just say that a tornado has ways to find its victims."

The first couple of components came out with a breeze, and Mika passed them to Hobb. However, after Mika undid the last bolt on the final component and gave it a tug, the fried component wouldn't budge.

"Oh, come on..." Mika grunted as she wrestled with the component in the tight space. However, try as she might, the component just wouldn't budge.

"Damnit, it's stuck..." She sighed. "Must have fused itself with its surroundings when it fried..."

'Can you take the entire module out?' Hobb frowned, but suppressed a tired sigh. If they couldn't remove the component from the module, they'd have to recycle the entire thing and replicate a new one. He didn't want the trip to be for nothing.

"Well, let's go ahead and see..." Mika said, beginning to undo the bolts holding the module in place.

When she had about half of the bolts out, she gave the module a jiggle in its socket to test for movement. When the test proved promising, Mika undid the rest of the bolts and pulled the module out.

"There we go." Mika said, setting the module down. "What a waste..." She muttered, for aside from the one fried component, the module looked otherwise in good condition.

Hobb changed the way he was crouched in the jeffries tube, and leaned in to look. 'That component looks pretty fused there.' He dug about in his bag for a second, before taking out a small tool. 'Alright. Micro plasma torch.' He motioned at her, 'put the module down.'

As the module was already resting on the floor of the Jeffries' tube, Mika released her grip on the module and crawled back to give Hobb room to work.

'Thanks,' he held the plasma torch as steady as he could above the fried component. 'Got your tricorder, Ensign?'

Mika reached to her hip, where she kept her tricorder clipped and grabbed the device, readying it for use.

"Right here," She said as she adjusted some settings.

To be continued...

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