Maintenance and the Birth of Shy Milo

Posted on 28 Apr 2024 @ 3:22pm by Lieutenant JG Kai Nokamura

985 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: M-18 The Past is Future
Location: In the Bowels of the USS Granger
Timeline: During 'Saving a Slug'

Kai was learning the Granger, one small problem at a time, and while he was at it, working on an outline for his next holo-project. He had decided on a 'lady in red' and, just to make it interesting, she was going to be a Deltan lady-in-red complete with a long flowing cloak and deep hood. I should, he thought, as he turned a corner, ask Melique to do the costume for her. That was a big success last time. "Computer," he said, and then frowned. "Nope, that's not going to work. Not until repairs are farther along."

Next best thing. He made a note on the PaDD he carried with him whenever he was on duty or tried to anyways. There had been that one officer who was worried about how it ruined the look of his uniform. Whatever that meant. Ask Melique about lady-in-red costumes. And ask someone about the fight scenes.

Jerol would be good for that but he was security on his last ship and no longer reachable. Problem for another time, he thought. Right now, he had work to do. Which was no small thing when you're en route to your duty station. Easy enough to get forgotten especially when a crisis of epic proportions consumed the attention of two engineering teams. It took him a bit to figure it out but he did; starting with tracking down and talking to every engineer he could find. Bit by bit, he got a good overview of what was going on without bothering anyone for longer than a minute or two. Because no one wanted to be bothered. This he understood.

With the major problems being ably handled, Kai went for the secondary systems, also needed but not as critical. Like the sensor pallets which were all operational now, thank you very much.

At the moment, he was digging into one of the primary SIF field generators, currently offline because of damage to the coolant loop. Not critical, since there were backups, but still, something he could do to feel useful. And really anything was better than sitting on his hands or following people around begging for scraps. Witness two engineers who had him running to fetch tools.

Which he did but ... you know ... that got old. Fast. So, he made his own work list and got busy. The sensor pallets, damage to pretty much all of them, had been repaired and that meant long-range sensors would be ready. Among other things, there had been a couple of variable frequency EM Flux sensors that needed to be replaced, a re-calibration of the thermal imaging array and a few delicate adjustments to the gamma ray telescope.

SIF Generators, and he meant to check all of them since the master control display in engineering wasn't working, were important to everyone's safety. Again, maybe not essential at the moment, dead in the water as they were, but good to have out of the way nevertheless. He liked this sort of work. Took him back to his early days, just out of the Academy, when there was always a list of jobs that took him in the depths of the ship. That's where the introductions were made, engineer to ship. Ship to ...

"Okay now," Kai said as he sat back on his heels for a moment, "that's got possibilities. An engineer. Shy Milo. The guy that always gets stuck doing the worst jobs because he's willing and he doesn't stick up for himself. Shy Milo in the depths of his transport vessel that becomes sentient and makes friends with the guy that's always worked the hardest, loved her the most. Maybe the first person she recognized when she came into herself."

He consulted the PaDD, reviewed the specifications, and started tracing the loop, looking for the damage while he continued to talk. "Ten years they are together and no one knows because he's the only one she talks to. Only, the crew doesn't particularly like Shy Milo and they get him booted off. So now, they're dead in space because the ship is pining for Milo and he's pining for her as well."

He found the damage, small enough for a patch, but he preferred thorough solutions so he took the time to replace it. Longer but a better fix overall.

"That's why they hated Shy Milo," Kai said as he finished up, ran a local check, and then closed the generator access panel. "Because he cost them too much. He was good. But he was too thorough for their captain." He cleaned up his tools, tucking them back into the kit, and nodded. "I like this. Computer ..."

He grunted in exasperation and pulled out the PaDD to make some more notes. Shy Milo was becoming real to him. "But the question," Kai said to the generator, "is whether this can become a holo-novel." He rose to his feet, patting the side of the generator with his free hand and nodded. "Course it can," he said with a cheerful grin.

He checked his work list and the ship's layout, worked out the fasted route, and started walking. "The question now is, does Shy Milo have a girl friend? He has to because that would just be a perfect ending, wouldn't it?" He stopped talking when his path intersected with other members of the crew. He had learned long ago that most people didn't understand his creative process. Thus, the rule. Quiet in common areas. Talk in the tubes or his workroom.

As he entered the nearest Jefferies tube, he said, "Now, what are you like? Maybe I'll name her after a flower. Something bright and cheerful." Nothing came to mind, of course, so he added a note to research 'happy' names. Shy Milo needed an outgoing girlfriend. Someone who could defend him, someone the ship would also like. "Ooh, part 2, the ship gets jealous ..."

 

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