Show me the damage - Bridge Functions, or lack of...

Posted on Tue Nov 21st, 2023 @ 12:33pm by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Lieutenant Rea

1,057 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Starship Graveyard
Location: Ready Room & Bridge

Lieutenant Rea stood outside the Captain’s Ready Room. She had been asked to give Taiga a full report on the damage to the ship. Her report was extensive, it was safe to say that the Tokyo wouldn’t be leaving the planet anytime soon. Plus, the Tokyo was never intended for atmospheric entry, never mind landing or taking off.

She tool a deep breath as she reached our and touched the chime. Luckily the door had been fixed a d it now swished open. It revealed the Captain who was behind her desk going over a mountain of PADD’s.

“Ah, Lieutenant come on in.” Taiga called. She could see the look of concern on the Eifie's face as she stepped in.

“Captain, I’m afraid that it’s not good news “ Rea started as she pulled out a PADD and began to review its contents. It was indeed a very long list, and being on this planet was not helping with the speed of the repairs. Ideally she would have preferred the ship to be in space, or in a dry dock where every part of the ship was accessible.

Taiga held up a hand cutting off the engineer before she could continue. She rose to her feet and walked around the desk. “You know what, I’ve been trapped in here for hours. Its boring me to death. How about you show me the damage and what needs doing? I could use a stroll.”

Rea didn’t expect that. “Captain... are you sure. Its a long list, and we’d have to go outside on the hull... I don’t want to put you at risk with your...” Rea paused for a brief second “...current condition.”

Taiga sighed. “I’m pregnant Lieutenant, not I’ll. Its perfectly OK for me to walk around and do normal stuff.” Since announcing her pregnancy Taiga had noticed that more people were running around after her, not letting her go certain places or even just been overly nice. She knew that it was a stigma with being pregnant, especially after she and Ryuuji had been trying for so long now; but frankly it was starting to annoy her more than help her.

Rea nodded. “Yes of course, sorry Captain. It’s just when I was pregnant last, Eifie have to be extremely careful when bearing young.” She explained. "You see, we take special care as our children's future have already being carefully predetermined and calculated before their conception. I know other species are different, but being pregnant in my culture is considered more like a temporary job than..." she paused for a moment to find the words "...a personal choice. Plus, we bear many children to different makes from a young age, it's all... a bit complicated." Rea told her with a smile.

Taiga had forgotten that her Chief Engineer had already have four children. The Eifie were a fascinating species, mainly all female and they practised selective breeding to ensure the best possible offspring. Plus, their religion that focused around birth and the centre of their body was also fascinating. At first people on the Tokyo were unsure what to make of the midriff bearing engineer, but now she was just a member of the crew and part of the family.

“Ok, well, lead the way,” Taiga said gesturing to the door with her hand allowing Rea to take the lead.

Rea gave her a small smile as she led Taiga out onto the bridge.
“Oh, Lieutenant. Don’t leave anything out, the doctor wants me to get more exercise. So the longer I’m out of the ready room, the better,” Taiga said simply. She hid a smirk. ’Plus, this takes me away from all of those annoying and boring reports a d paperwork I need to do...’ she thought as she followed the chief engineer.

“Well, as you can see we’re still working on repairing the bridge. However it’s a low priority at the moment until we can get primary systems restored.” Rea started. The bridge had been cleaned up since the initial crash, however many of the consoles including the helm, science and tactical stations were now grey and dark. Their colourful LCARS panels had either been removed, were still smashed or cracked or just powered down. A handful of officers were stationed on the bridge, they were mainly engaged in repairs to the bridge systems.
Taiga looked around, it wasn’t like the Tokyo was in space right now. Whilst the bridge was usually the ‘brain’ of all ship functions, she couldn’t help but feel like it was on life support. Right now it was just a command centre with no functions to it, it’s one reason why Taiga had been avoiding sitting in her own chair.

“Well, we won’t need them until later,” Taiga commented. “At least the Ops and Engineering stations are still working.”

Rea nodded. “Yeah, although most of the ships functions are being monitored from Engineering. Its easier for us to manage repairs. We finally got some of the turbolifts back online too. Most decks are now accessible again via the network,” Rea smiled.

“That’s good, no more climbing through the Jeffries Tubes,” Taiga replied.

The engineer nodded and led Taiga towards the doors that led to the rest of deck one and the aft airlock. “Say Captain, have you ever walked on the hull of a Starship before?” she asked curiously.
Taiga pondered for a moment. “Honestly, I can’t say that I have. It’s not something that’s common to do. Plus, the Tokyo has always been in space since her construction.”

“Well, I’ll warn you. It’s an experience, you never really appreciate how big the ship is until you’ve been out on the hull plating.” Rea smiled as she led the way towards the aft airlock. “Oh and be prepared, it’s quite... hot out there.”

“It is a desert planet. As long as we're not out there too long we should be fine,” Taiga said. She was feeling a little excited to be going outside on the ship’s hull, she had never seen the Tokyo that way before.
“Ok, well I’ll open the airlock and let’s go.”

To be continued...

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