Tilting to the Left

Posted on Wed Feb 9th, 2022 @ 9:03pm by Lieutenant Zo & Ensign Breena Powell

Mission: The Only Thing Left Was Hope
Location: USS Pandora, Shuttle Bay 1
Timeline: current

On:

Breena's uniform jacket was hung over the back of the pilot's chair. The undershirt was thin enough that she could feel the cool metal of the floor of the shuttle through the fabric as she sprawled out between the pilot and copilot's chairs. She pressed her shoulders into the floor and spread her arm wide, her eyes shut so she could focus on what she was feeling. Which was probably why she didn't hear the footsteps until they were right by her head. She opened her eyes to see a man standing over. "Engineering, right?"

"Yep," the man replied in a chipper tone. He had a natural smile, looked to be in his mid-twenties, with sandy blond hair and brown eyes. He held a PADD under his right arm and a standard Engineering toolkit in his left hand. "Chief Zo, temporary Chief of Engineering. You must be the new shuttle pilot, Ensign..." he glanced at the PADD. "Powell?"

"That would be me." She scooched out from between the chairs, pushing with her elbows and feet. She pushed and few stray dark blond hairs out of her face, and gestured to the jacket over the pilot chair and made a grabbing motion with her hand. "Could you...?"

Zo looked over at the jacket. "Oh! Of course," he said, handing her the jacket and then holding out a hand to help her up. "Any reason you were on the floor in your undershirt?" he asked. He couldn't help but notice her athletic figure.

Breena grabbed his hand and let him pull her up off the floor. "For the same reason you're here."

She pulled on her uniform jacket, giving it a tug so it sat straight. More or less. Breena jerked her thumb towards the pilot's console. "It's..." She tried to think of the right word. "Wonky. And I can't for the life of me figure out why."

Zo grinned. "Is it tilting to the left again?" he asked, entering the shuttle and setting down the kit.


"The power is. That's what I was doing on the floor. There's a split second delay on the left side controls. Readings say it's the same, but there's a buzz where the power conduits run from the engines to the console. They're different."

"Well let's take a look," Zo said, opening the kit and pulling out a tricorder. "Faulty power conduits account for over half the problems on this ship. The shuttles are no exception." He took apart one of the panels and scooted further inside. "Yep, it's as I thought. You've got a burned out R-5 motivator. That buzzing you hear is the conduit out of alignment."

"Not hear, feel." She grabbed Zo's hand and pressed it to the floor paneling. "Here and here. Different, right? But they don't give pilots the fancy engineering tools, so I was trying to figure out where the change happened."

"Hence the light clothing," Zo said with a nod. "Man, if all I had to do to fix the warp drive was take off my shirt and lean on it I'd never put on a uniform again!"

Breena rolled her eyes. "You don't need to take your jacket off. You get the fancy engineering tools. Besides, even if I found the spot, I can't fix it."

"Hey, I wouldn't have known it was broken without your feeling," Zo replied. "I just fix 'em. You fly 'em!"

Breena pats the console, a fond smile on her face. "Yeah, I do. Gotta take care of her, so she takes care of me. You'll probably get sick of me. I've been told I baby my charges."

"You sound like the Chief," said Zo. "Lieutenant Mindo, I mean. He's extremely hands-on, even as XO, but I think he's starting to trust me."

"Well, if he let you serve chief engineer, probably." She peered over his shoulder as he worked. "Careful of the junction box. I don't know if ho designed these ships, but they put it right where it will cheese grater your knuckles."

Zo chortled. "We've already established I know how to fix this. I think I know how to avoid the- OW!" he yelled. "Damn junction box..."

Breena jumped and grabbed his hand to check it.

Zo looked up at Breena with a grin. "Gotcha!"

She dropped his hand and thumped him in the shoulder. "Well, excuse me for being concerned after having escorted engineers to Sickbay before för bleeding all over my shuttle."

Zo laughed. "You should've seen your face!" he said. "What are you doing later? Wanna grab a beer at Mindo's bar? You should meet their barista, Raven. She's something else!"

"Something else? So she's not a barista?" Despite her best effort, Breena can't stop the corner of her mouth from twitching up into a grin. No one ever said her sense of humor was sophisticated.

Zo grinned. "She's actually a lot of things. Barista, singer, actor, reality TV star... she can do it all! My band performed with her at the casino on Paradise station about a month ago. We had only a half hour to prepare, very stressful. She knocked it out right out the gate. It was one of the best concerts I've ever performed." He left out the part about him waking up next to the stolen sonic harmoniser the next day. The fewer people who knew about that the better.

"The only instrument I've ever played was a pot and a wooden spoon," Breena admitted. "What do you play?"

"Anything with strings that doesn't involve a bow. Also some piano and keyboard. I was considered a bright prospect back on Baku, but they told me I still needed another hundred years before I'd actually procure a 'sound,'" Zo said. "I was more interested in rock music in a society that frowned on such a thing. Bands like The Beatles are very unpopular where I come from, and they're a huge source of inspiration for me."

"Well, not every society is a fan of another planet's classics," Breena said. She watched his hands as he worked. They were steady and confident, assuring her that he knew what he was doing to her shuttle. "Though my dad always said the Stones were a better example of the music of that period."

Zo grinned as he grabbed another tool from the kit. "I agree," he said. "The Stones are a much better reflection of mid-twentieth century culture. The Beatles, however, are timeless. Their music has remained a reflection of the human spirit for four centuries."

"I'll take your word for it. My taste in music tends towards what has the right beat for running. The Beatles are slow jog music. Maybe a nice stroll around the park." She watched him fix a piece into place. "So, what's the verdict? Is my girl going to make it?"

"Oh yes," Zo said. He wiggled his way back out from under the panel and began cleaning up his mess. "I think she'll run just fine now."

Breena scrambled into the pilot seat. She wasted no time in running a few test sequences. "Now that is more like it." She grinned at So. "I may owe you a drink."

"I'll see you at Mindo's in an hour then," Zo replied as he closed up his kit. "It's in holodeck four. Meet me upstairs at the bar."

"Make it hour and a half. I have to run post-maintenance checks. But I'll see you there."

Zo smiled and waved as he exited the bay and headed back to Engineering to do his own last checkups before his shift ended.

OFF