Concerns

Posted on Thursday April 30th, 2020 @ 16:55 hours by Mercy & Mayterial Droz

Mission: Safe Passage
Location: Bridge
Timeline: Slight backpost, to before 'neutral zone'
1468 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Mercy made her way to the Bridge. She didn't come here often, but today she felt she had reason to. "Hey Cap'n, got a moment?" she ventured as she spotted May. "In private?"

Turning in the elaborate Cardassian commander chair that she had never bothered to replace with anything else, Mayterial faced the Engineer that had just entered the bridge, "Are you lost, Miss Mercy?" She got up and walked out of the bridge in the direction of her quarters, just around the corner. With a quick thumbprint the doors opened and allowed them both entrance, "can I get you a drink or a snack? It's important to stay hydrated." It was more for her own benefit, she had been incredibly thirsty ever since she had sworn to drink less.

"Nah I'm good." Mercy flicked an ear, waiting until the door had closed behind her before speaking again. This room was a lot bigger and more luxurious than her own, but that wasn't saying much, when 'luxury' meant a bit more floor space and a painted metal wardrobe closet instead of a rusted one. She'd have to see about fixing her own. "That Hirral Furx character, you meet him yet?"

Mayterial took the large glass of water from the replicator and looked over to Mercy, "I can't say that I have," the name sounded familiar though, "passenger or business contact?"

"There much of a difference?" Mercy shrugged. "Passenger. Brought a box onboard. Demanded I hook it up to ship's power. Said Alein cleared him."

"Ah yeah, that one. Bit of both then I guess," Mayterial replied, there was a huge difference between passengers and business contacts, passengers could be kicked out on the nearest starbase if they became a nuisance, "what are your concerns?" this particular person was paying top latinum to have whatever contraption and themselves transported over to friendlier waters.

Mercy slowblinked. "You don't see anything wrong with hooking up some strange device we don't know what it does to the ship?"

"Well, I assumed my Engineer and Quartermaster would make sure that it wouldn't harm the ship's systems, so that's why I think you're here," Mayterial she took a long sip from the water not breaking eye contact with the Engineer, "So, what are your concerns with the device he's brought? I take it you've inspected it."

"Much as I can. Studied incomplete schematics. He wouldn't let me touch the box itself. I threw together a feedback buffer to at least minimize the chances of that thing doing anything to the ship so we should be ok in that department, but part of me is a bit worried about what's in that box."

"What jumped out at me was that part of it is a large data storage bank. Just your regular large array. But it's what that's connected to that I can't put my finger on." the Sirran mused, in her warm, thick voice. "Just data storage doesn't need that elaborate a control logic, nor that powerful. And the structure is a bit different from a regular ship's computer core. It's definitely Federation tech though, with some Trill thrown in there for good measure."

"If memory serves, he paid a substantial amount of money to have it transported. Can we sequester it into one of the smaller bays? If something happens we vent the atmosphere?" Mayterial wasn't quite sure how to approach it. Was it a biohazard? A technological risk? It could be so many things, "I think with the buffer and perhaps a dampening field we can make sure there's no chance it'll tap into our systems." There was, of course, no tech on board to erect a dampening field.

"That's - not .. how technology works." Mercy tilted her head a bit. "I'm sure he dropped a gob of latinum to have it transported. I'm just worried about the potential legality. Why would he drop a gob of money on a second rate long haul freighter, provide incomplete schematics and refuse access to his box if his box was entirely legal? Or safe? I think I've minimized the risk all I can, but seeing as I don't know what that box can do, I can't guarantee it'll be enough."

The massive Sirran closed her eyes, rubbing her temples - a universal, cross-species sign of being tired of this shit. "Look, all I'm saying is that I did all I can to keep the ship safe, but I can't guarantee it's enough." her warm voice rumbled as she opened her eyes again. "I don't trust that guy any further 'n he can throw me, and the technology in that box is designed by someone who'd easily be smart enough to put together a tech bomb that can ruin our shit, if he so chose to. Just - .... Be careful, alright?"

"Is there a way to build in a kill switch to that feedback buffer?" Mayterial wasn't super on top of her Engineering knowledge, when still in Starfleet she was Operations, and more towards the physical supply side than the computer and power side of things.

Mercy shook her head. "The box has a built-in UPS - Uninterruptible Power Supply. Basically a glorified battery. From what Furx said it should be enough to keep the box functioning for at least a day upon power loss. But the filter should block any attempt to feed in to the ship's systems via the power line, leaving only wireless access to ship's systems, but I'm putting together a simple faraday cage that should block most of that."

"That sounds like some decent precautions," May gave an encouraging smile at the Sirran engineer, "I appreciate your vigilance, Mercy." She finished the water in her glass and put the empty container on her desk, "As well as all of the work you have put in to get the ship back into peak condition," she nodded a bit to reinforce that sentiment, "it's very much appreciated."

A small smile from the massive Sirran. "Happy to hear. Ship like this, there's always something needs to be done."

Mayterial nodded, she was aware of the... challenges, plaguing a ship like the Fawkes, "I'm glad you're the one doing it, though. Which reminds me," She looked over at her console, "we're planning to depart soon, if you need anything from the Starbase, let me know and I'll see what we can sign off on." She had a bit of luck with the negotiations and two people overpaying for the load that was being transported. She just knew that the only way to take full advantage of that was to invest it back into ship maintenance. Not the sexiest of investments, but one of the most important ones.

Mercy considered for a moment. "TIG inverter. 600 amps. Old one's flaky, getting that to work reliably would be almost the cost of a new one. Rather a new one, then."

Mayterial turned and grabbed a PADD to make note of if, "TGI inverter?" She was unfamiliar with the part but trusted Mercy to make the right decisions on what to repair and what to replace.

"TIG, Tee eye gee. It's a portable arc welder unit. You've got your MIG welders and TIG welders. On a ship like this, you need both. TIG can weld more material types but MIG can weld thicker materials. Ship's MIG welder's fine, it's the TIG welder what needs replacing." Mercy explained.

Making the correction to her note, "I'll see what I can do," May looked up from her PADD, "anything you need on a personal level?" It kind of came out of nowhere, but she knew that Mercy had been pushing herself to get the Fawkes in shape, all the while she was still recovering from the scrap with the Nausicaan herself.

Mercy was taken aback a bit by the question. Nobody had deemed to even pretend to care enough to ask her something like that in well over seventeen years. She considered for a moment before smiling. "Shampoo. Not the mass produced stuff we have on board, but something nice smelling. You know, like peach. Or coconut. With built in conditioner."

Mayterial smiled at that, a genuine smile, something that was rare these days, "I'll make that my top priority," she typed something in on the pads and murmered for Mercy to hear, "Nice smelling shampoo and conditioner, in bulk." She looked up with an amused twinkle in her eyes, "anything else?"

"Nah, I should be good. But thanks," Mercy smiled.

"Again, thanks for giving me a heads up, I'll be sure to poke around this guy's stuff," Mayterial finished her glass of water and gave a curt nod towards the Sirran engineer.

"No problem," Mercy gave a nod, rising to her feet and heading out again.

=/\= end log=/\=