TBD

Posted on Thu Jun 11th, 2020 @ 4:49am by Lieutenant JG Alexandra Campa

588 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Mission 2 - Encounters of a First Kind

Alex had a panel open in the floor of the shuttlepod and was bent over tinkering with it. She had been for over an hour now. She didn't notice anyone come in.

Nick had been looking to busy himself. Serenity had engineering under control and the Captain had the bridge. But he needed something constructive to do. He recalled that the shuttle had been damaged in their escape from the planet — The Tar, apparently — so he went to take a look. He smiled as he saw Alex on the shuttlepod floor, working away. “Pardon me, Lieutenant,” he said.

"Sir!" she said, jumping up rather suddenly. Perhaps amusingly so. "I didn't hear you come in, sir."

“At ease, Alex,” he said, stifling a laugh. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” He tried to look past her to the open panel. “I’d like to help with the shuttle repairs.”

"I'd appreciate that, sir," Alex said as she relaxed. She stepped slightly to the side to give him a better view of what she was working on. "That worm was a bit rough on the shuttle."

"That it was," Nick agreed. "Brilliant idea, electrifying the hull, by the way. Have you done that before?"

"No, I haven't," she admitted "Novel problems..."

"Need novel solutions," he said, finishing her thought. "Well that was as novel as they come." He gestured into the access panel. "Looks like a lot of EPS relays were shaken loose. Want me to get started on those?"

"I'd love some help with the EPS conduits, sir," Alex answered. "I just started working on them. I'd been checking the plasma coolant tanks."

"I think Nick is fine right now, Alex," the XO said as he crouched down to the deck, tool in hand, and began re-aligning the EPS conduits. "I suspect that discipline while at our duty stations will help the crew cope with this change." He shot her a smile. "But I'm not on my duty station. I'm helping you in the launch bay."

"Ah, but this is part of my duties," she says with a playful smile. "And your duties include supervising junior officers like myself, sir." She looks up at him, trying to look serious but barely able to keep from laughing. Finally, she says, "All right, Nick," and ducks back into the work.

He laughed as well as he worked. "Thank you. I should tell you by the way that given the problems we're facing, I now have an open door policy for any crew member that wants to talk. These are difficult times. Stress is getting to people. It won't be long before many lose hope. The Captain and I are there for everyone. So if you or anyone wants a shoulder to lean on or a friendly ear to listen, please know you can come knocking on my door."

"While there's life, there's hope," she insists. "Hope for....something."

“Very well said, Alex,” Nick agreed. “And that is the official position of the command team, too. We’ll get home. We won’t stop looking until we find a way home.”

"That's good to hear, sir," Alex said cautiously. She remembered the captain talking rather differently.

He heard the caution in her voice. Rather than comment on it, he would simply continue to be insistent. People had doubts, but a strong XO was one who made clear his expectations. And he expected they would get home.

"How are you holding up?" he asked. "Personally, I mean."

"Not too well," she admitted.

 

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