The Technician's Fight, Draft 1, CH28

Jeremy hurried back to engineering to find it, as it had been these last weeks, busier than ever, every station occupied, technicians from engineering, maintenance, repairs, and probably other department he hadn’t had to deal with, coming and going.

They were on their way to another rendez-vous Xenial’s relative had arranged, and after witnessing the Earther’s willingness to blow themselves up, the Engineer wasn’t willing to give any god an opportunity to Meddle against the Bane. He was going to ensure every component on the ship was flawless.

Technically, he didn’t have that kind of authority. But since the reactor’s power was from engineering, and his, it gave him a say in anything that used that power.

Little on a ship like the Bane didn’t rely in part on the Engineer’s reactor. Even civilians, who had their own power reactor, under the supervision of Maintenance, also drew from his reactor when they weren’t under combat conditions.

It had meant rerouting everything to one of the boards, which meant redesigning some. None of them had been built with monitoring weapons in mind. They’d had to work with the hunters in charge of them to make sure every reading was accurate.

The Engineer had also extended the shifts to fourteen hours, and hired qualified civilians to help. Jeremy didn’t think he’d needed the captain’s permission for it, but he was confident the night Alix had spent in their bed, at the start of the work, had been to ‘bribe’ the captain into agreeing.

If he’d realized what it would mean for his workday, Jeremy wasn’t sure he would have agreed to that very fun night.

“Technician Jeremy Bradshaw,” the Engineer called, looking up from the open panel of his reactor. “Go with Hunter Karmertikal Drogritrin Floknir. She’ll take you to the guns that aren’t reading correctly. Fix them.”

He located the female in question more by her looking out of her depth, than her hunter uniform. It wasn’t an expression he saw often on a hunter. He exchanged his bag for one with a full set of circuits and other most common components that were now being kept by the entries. He didn’t know if any of that would work with the weapon’s systems, but he’d deal with that once he knew what needed fixed.

“Hunter,” he greeted her.

“Technician.” She continued to look at the technicians coming and going, working at the stations.

“If you’ll lead the way?”

“Of course. Sorry.”

He no longer had to force himself not to run. Even without considering he could do so much longer than any of them. At most, Kelsirians hurried places. They weren’t designed to run from one side of the ship to the other. And to accommodate that, they had different levels of urgency. Engineering hardly ever had anything that even required hurrying.

When speed was really a factor? Someone with the authority to override a lift would be assigned, and they’d take that where ever they needed to go.

The trek to the weapon in question was leisurely.

Then he set to work, needing the specialist’s assistance to remove the covers so he could access the insides.

He’d never seen ship guns before and, even now, he was taken aback by how large they were. Its inside wasn’t as luxurious as the inside of the reactor, or even the crawlways, but even at a glance, he found dozens of areas where it could be compacted to reduce its size.

Two hours later, nothing within the gun returned as having trouble, to the specialist’s clear pride, so he followed the conduits under the floor and into the wall until he found a junction with a marked power loss. It wasn’t one he’d some across in his work before, but while Kelsirian’s were more artisanal in their technology than industrial, everything was on file, so new ones could be printed as required.

That, as far as Jeremy was concerned, should have led to them mass producing everything, the way Earthers did.

“There is living in making,” Gral had told him one evening, when he’d grown frustrated with all the difference circuits.

Jeremy knew that. He had files upon files in his drafting table of him just making stuff. But once the best version was made, everyone should be using that!

Gral had smiled, kissed him, and led him to bed to help him work off his frustration there.

It still irked him, but he accepted it as cultural differences and moved on. The section had a dedicated printer, so he set that to make the needed part and returned to testing the rest.

Three hours later, he’d replaced three more components because, while they weren’t coming up as faulty, he didn’t like the variance in the results. He sent the last of the replacement report to the engineer, then put the tools away and added this one to the pack he’d printed to bring them back. He figured the Engineer would want to go over them to see why they’d failed, and if not, Jeremy wanted to study them. He figured that just like with the reactor’s design, he could learn something from how these components worked.

As soon as he set foot in engineering, he was sent away to check more systems. One of the sensor array this time. He changed pack and headed where he was instructed.

He had no idea how he made it home. One of the Kelsirian gods had to have meddled, for him not to end up in someone else’s home as tired as he was. Tired enough to think of gods as real and able to affect his life.

He collided with a wall of fur on his way to the bed, then arms wrapped around him.

“I need you to arrest the Engineer for slavery,” he mumbled in the fur. “He shouldn’t be allowed to overwork me like that. I’m his friend.”

“It’ll pass,” Gral said gently.

“I don’t want him to stop being my friend. I’m scare of what he’ll have me do if he doesn’t like me.”

The chest shook with the chuckle. “The work will pass. He won’t stop being your friend.”

Jeremy nodded. That made more sense.

“I brought food.”

“I’m sorry I haven’t cooked.”

More chuckling.

“You’re busy making sure the ship’s the best it can be. I can take eatery food while that’s happening.”

“Okay.”

Gral led him to the table where a large selection of meats and sauces waited. Some of his exhaustion vanished as he ate, but he didn’t protest when his Heart guided him to the shower afterward, then bed.

*

“Technician,” a male said. “The Engineer sent me to give you this and assist in any way you need.”

Jeremy caught himself looking the male over and didn’t know if the lack of self restraint was due to exhaustion build up over weeks of continues long shifts, or that he wasn’t tired enough so considered a distraction a valid definition for ‘however he needed.’ Maybe once this work was done.

He looked over the information on the tablet. “You can address me as—”

“Technician Jeremy Bradshaw. I know.” The male’s ears folded back. “Everyone knows.”

He waited.

Jeremy waited some more.

“This would be where you tell me how I’m to address you.”

“Right, sorry. I’m Harkavak sel Tokar Viloace.” The ears still weren’t coming up.

Had the Engineer, his friend, sent this male to help, or to help? He certainly seemed more uncomfortable than someone here just for work.

“Should I look up the closest leisure alley?” Maybe getting this out of the way now would be best.

“No! I wouldn’t think of it!” He hung his head. “I’m so not making a good impression, am I?”

Jeremy pulled the male into a hug. “It’s fine. You’re allowed. You certainly aren’t the only one on the ship.”

“But I wanted to impress you with how professional I am.”

He chuckled. “There’s still time for that. We haven’t started working. And we’ll be going over another section of the life support system, so we’re going to need to shower after that. It’ll be an opportunity to get to know each other some more.”

*

“I just want the bed,” Jeremy complained as Gral guided him along the causeway.

“This is better.”

Jeremy tried to glare at his clearly wrong Heart, but his eyes wouldn’t obey. He couldn’t get them past ‘droopy’. “Something better than a bed with you in it? Are you finally taking us to Xenial’s home?”

“No.”

“Then I don’t see how anything can be—” they entered a quiet shop. Smells of gentle, oily fragrances embraced him.

“Welcome,” a familiar female voice greeted them, and he forced his eyes to focus. Nirlakasar smiled at them.

“Okay,” Jeremy admitted. “This is better than even you in my bed, right now.”

She tilted an ear. “I’m honored.”

“And he’s in need of a massage, as am I. If you have someone available. I should have reserved, but I didn’t think this was what we’d do until he got home.”

“We’re rarely so busy we can’t accommodate on-the-spot decisions, Captain.” She motioned to another female. “Milekti Sartnoko Rormeter will see to you, while I see to your Heart.”

Jeremy nuzzled Gral before letting him go. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Outline section 

Running double shifts all over the ship means he gets to meet some of the other tech crews. Not that he’s a stranger to them, but one can fall into a routine very easily in this job. Depending on where you draw the line between tech and janitor, Jeremy’s circle of friends are somewhere between a tenth to a fifteenth of the full time ship techs on the ship. And that’s not even counting the civilian crew that runs domestic issues in residential or commercial issues on the promenade.

So Jeremy is sticking by Ajax’s side as they work on the gun turrets, the sensor systems, and even basic life support. When the ship next comes under attack, it’s going to be ready.

###

By the time Jeremy makes it home that night, he has the energy of a sloths on a caffeine crash. Thankfully Gral already has a pot of coffee brewing, and takeout trays from the mess hall for supper. Jeremy thanks Gral, and apologies for a lack of proper super these past few days. Gral will of course tell him he’s silly to think that would matter.

And, yeah, this is basically Gral and Jeremy’s last tender moment before things start popping off like firecrackers as we maneuver things towards the space station assault. So make it nice and tender.

Addition 

Jeremy and the rest of the engineering crew were putting in double time to make sure the ship was operating at peak performance. Entirely Ajax’s motivation, not Gral’s. The idea that an enemy ship could get past their sensors is outrageous, so he’s fine tuning them and about every other imaginable system across the ship.

I guess this is where I find out if anyone reads these <chuckles>

If anyone has ideas for ‘events’ I can have happen between the months that take place between these chapters, please let me know. I don’t like doing these really large time jumps, but I am out of ideas for stuff happening now that Jeremy is pretty much settled into Kelsirian life.

As for this chapter itself. I mostly stuck to the outline, although I stretched it over a few ‘scenes’ and implied passage of time.