Engineering is not on fire (for once)

Posted on Thu Jul 18th, 2024 @ 12:46am by Lieutenant JG Amari & Petty Officer 3rd Class Helliun Inant

1,895 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: To Boldly Go
Location: Engineering, USS Fenrir
Timeline: Day 4

[ON]

PO3 Helliun Inant almost shooed one of the Utopia Planitia engineers to the side, to be able to double check the readings. The warp core was cool, barely outputting anything. Expected, until they fired it up properly for the system tests. Still, it felt almost unnatural to see it so dormant. Like a corpse. She sneered and pushed herself back, turning to look around before she smiled when he saw a blue-skinned woman. A beautiful one, striking, with the blond hair and big eyes. And not in a Starfleet uniform but something different, functional and putting her aside from others. Still, Hel's keen eyesight clocked the pips and she let the grin before a less threatening smile. "Lieutenant."

Amari smiled back at the woman and she headed closer to her, from a distance the woman resembled a human but as she got closer she noticed the differences, rusty coloured skin with pale facial markings. "Hello... Petty Officer." She said after taking a moment to check the taller woman's rank bars.

Hel smiled as she tilted her head, watching her. "Helliun Inant. Most call me Hel," she said, introducing herself. "I thought I'd...sneak in here, get a look at what they were doing with her..." she moved to a console, patting it. "She looks good so far but I can't wait to see her properly alive."

"She?" Amari asked before watching Hel patting the console. "You're calling the warp core after a female?"

"I come from a matriarchal society. Anything worth its weight is female," Hel said before she shook her head. "If you prefer, I can attempt using...it...instead. I know sometimes gendering things offends people."

Amari murmured for a moment. "My species believe everything is alive and though we have never gendered any of it I think it makes sense to refer to it as a female; maybe even as a mother. It is the heart of the ship as a mother is to her family."

Hel watched her with surprise and then her expression softened. The other woman understood. "What species are you? I've not seen anyone like you around before, Lieutenant."

"I'm a Lesrai, named Amari." Amari replied. "The officer exchange programme assigned me here. I've never seen any species like yours either."

"Oh, I'm Axan'ka. We're new members of the Federation, but not many of my people want to leave the sands to be amongst the stars," Hel said, smiling at the words. Officer Exchange Programme. She had heard of those but her mind had gone towards Klingons doing it, not...other species.

"My people get visits from starfleet ships every so often, an engineer offered me a tour of their ship, that's how I heard of the officer exchange programme." Amari told her. "Federation technology fascinates me, I thought this would be a very interesting way of getting my hands on it."

"First time I saw a warp core I felt I have seen the faces of the gods. Our version of warp technology looks very different," Hel said before she rubbed the back of her neck. "So I guess I should tell you about me. I love Engineering, don't mind small spaces and...well, decently indestructible. I can digest metal, my skeleton's laced with it...skin though..." she gestured to the scar on her face. "Pretty much the same as most humanoids."

"You...... can digest metal?" Amari asked visibly surprised, she'd taken in everything Hel had said before that but nothing after, the revelation being such an unusual thing to hear from a woman that looked so humanoid.

"It's laced in so much in my world, we'd be dead if we couldn't," Hel said before she laughed. "Not that you'll see me break off a piece of the ship and start eating it. But yes...metal. Our system breaks it down, takes nutrients from it."

Amari chuckled too at the thought of taking a bite out of the ship. "That is fascinating, does that metal content explain the rusty colour of your skin? My people believe a particular algae in the diet of the creatures we evolved from gradually turned them blue over a several million years."

"Our desert environment contributed too," Hel said and watched her with a smile. "Algae huh? Well, it must be very pretty algae, since that is a very fetching blue. Like a sky above when the suns are setting."

"Thank you Hel." Amari said, she really wanted to open her computer implant and scan the woman betting the results would make for very interesting reading but amongst her own people that was considered rude. "Can I ask, do you facial marks represent anything?"

"Oh..." Hel shook her head, smiling at the words. "No, they're just different pigmentation in the skin. But this..." she touched her nose ring, lightly, flicking it. "It shows I have given a child to my clan."

"Very interesting, I have read that a lot of species use rings and similar things to mark themselves as mated with another or other important events." Amari said, she had already passed a few humans on her travels that wore small rings on their hands.

Hel nodded at the words, watching her before gesturing to her face. "And your markings? Do they mean anything, or just...fluke?" she asked, interested in learning more about the other woman.

"They mark out which clan I'm from." Amari replied tracing her finger down the swirl and dot pattern that ran down her forehead down to between her right eye and nose "There are many Lesrai clans each with their own specific pattern. And there are variations in the pattern that mean different things within them.

Hel moved closer to look, her head titled to the side as she studied her skin. "And the ones under the eye?" she asked, curiosity making her ask it bluntly rather than fishing. Not that Hel was known for her tact.

"The top one is for the clan I was born into, clan Sisra." Amari then ran her finger across the similar but different pattern that moved across the outside to below the same eye. "The bottom one is for clan Karaya but it is inverted from how a Karaya would have it marked. Which means I'm married to one of their clan."

"Ah, I know about marriage," Hel said, feeling oddly awed by it. She was learning about the other woman's heritage, her people. "For me it is still a strange concept, although I can understand the appeal for many species to recognise a union in such a way."

"I'm the second child of my clans leader, my older sister gets to inherit that role, my job was pretty much always to get married off to another clan to cement an alliance and a technology exchange." Amari explained. "At least they picked one of the more important clans for me."

Hel couldn't keep the surprise off her face, watching the other woman for a long moment. "You...got married off? Against your will?" she asked, to clarify. She was still getting used to other species. Many would see her own people as barbarians, for putting a female's duty to bear a child even if they would not be raising it. So she did not judge. Still, the thought was somehow more horrifying to her, to be married off, sold off, as a woman in her own right. And she almost rolled her eyes at her own prejudice. Sure, she still had a long way to go before embracing all the things the Federation valued.

"It wasn't exactly against my will." Amari replied. "I could have said no but not many do. clan Karaya are one of the largest clans on our world and my husband is a quite high ranking clan member. Plus they build and crew most of our military ships, I doubt I would be here if I wasn't married to a Karaya."

Hel looked at her, a slight frown coming to her features before it eased a she considered it. "So your position improved with your marriage. Strange, I would have said he would have been elevated by wedding you."

"He's the son of a high ranking sub chief, he didn't really need the marriage for position. The technology we exchanged was some of our best and we got a lot of good stuff in return plus an alliance with the military clan was a great benefit for mine." Amari said. "Individually we might not have been elevated but our clans were."

"Hm," Hel considered it and then shook her head, a small smile coming to her. "I am still getting used to different species having different traditions. This is a new one I will have to..." she considered what word to used. And then gave up and shrugged.

"I am in much the same position." Amari remarked in a light tone. "Until today I had never met an Axan'ka. Already today I have met all sorts of weird new people. An entirely green woman, a... male I think person with a tail and all covered in hair and I was surprised to see I wasn't the only blue skinned species around, there was a bald woman with a ridge running up the middle of her face. I bet they all have their own different traditions."

"There's so many more species out there. I find it confusing..." Hel admitted, looking away for a moment. "But I am learning to distinguish a bit better now. Although at times, it does not matter."

"We were aware of a few before we encountered the federation, made radio contact with our 'neighbours' in the next few star systems then in person after we developed faster than light travel." Amari let out a light sigh. "There are lots in the federation and no doubt lots and lots more in the wide galaxy."

"Oh, so many," Hel agreed and there was a way she said it that said she didn't mind it. The unknown. "When all is said and done, all have looked to the stars and wondered what was out there. Maybe that's what unifies the universe..." she trailed off and then looked down. "Although for me, it is to learn what I can until I am needed back home. Warp technology is different here than at home. My people are not...natural explorers. We were just curious to see what lay beyond the sea of stars."

"I don't know how long I'll be here either, I'm not really needed at home." Amari said. "I'll get my hands into as many different things as I can and see what happens."

"That, I can approve of," Hel said, as she shared a similar mentality. She laughed before she raised an eyebrow. "We will work well together, Lieutenant."

"I hope so Petty Officer." Amari said with a wide smile. "I should go, I have so much of the ship to explore before I officially start my duties here."

"Have fun, don't fall down any open panels or trip over a technician," Hel said with a nod, watching her for a moment before returning to look at the warp core.

"I will try not to." Amari said with a slight chuckle as she headed out the entrance to engineering.

OFF

LTjg Amari
Engineer
Pnpc Masters

&

PO3 Helliun 'Hel' Inant
Engineer
PNPC Hanlon

 

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