Crew check

Making the decision to pursue the mysterious star was easy. Actually doing it was going to take some time.

For starters, Sola needed to leave the Arof system - and despite their status as a diplomatic vessel, they could only move as fast as space traffic control would let them. In most systems, that would have meant a six or eight hour flight to their outgoing jump point at most. Here, however, it was taking far longer.

“We’re stuck in a traffic jam. We’re in space, with three directions of movement, and yet we’re still stuck in a traffic jam,” Dustin complained, staring at the long queues of shuttlecraft and smaller transports that were currently filling the star lanes leading in and out of the system. “What’s our ETA now?”

Sammie didn’t even look up from where she was playing on her tablet, one foot cocked over the side of the pilot’s seat. “Same as it was the last three times you asked, Dusty. About another twelve to eighteen hours, unless something changes. I’m gonna clock off in a half hour or so and let one of my officers handle sitting here staring at stationary traffic. Why don’t you join me? You’re just gonna get more frustrated sitting there.”

Dustin groaned and nodded. “You’re probably right. I should take some time to check in with people anyway - it’s been a while since I made time to visit everyone during the day. I know we meet up and talk over dinner, but it’s not the same.” Standing, he stretched and glanced over at a hovering junior officer. “You have the bridge when the pilot leaves, lieutenant. Sammie - I’ll see you later, I’m going to head off first.”

Leaving the bridge did a lot for his frustrations. As soon as the door slid shut behind him, the pressure of knowing they had a destination but not being able to progress towards it fled, leaving Dustin feeling far more relaxed as he made his way to the turbolift, trying to decide who to visit first. In the end, his feet carried him to the nursery more or less on autopilot, the door sliding open to reveal Meli and Trea’k busy looking after their children.

Time spent with his daughter and sons flew by, and it was just before lunch that Dustin dragged himself away. Hunger directed his next steps, a quick trip to the galley to check in on Naera and acquire a sandwich before he moved on. Like Meli and Trea’k, he’d spent enough time with the shortstack recently to not feel too bad about making it a quick visit, leaving her to finish handling the lunch rush as he went in search of Rye.

Engineering was messy, busy and loud as usual. The golden-haired Rabyth was up to her elbows in an engine she’d apparently pulled from one of the shuttles without asking, a schematic projected on the wall nearby indicating what she was working on. To Dustin’s surprise, Yaerwen was helping out - the Hoxx woman handing the engineer tools and chatting idly as they worked.

As Dustin approached, Rye glanced up and closed the panel with a clang. “Alright, let’s take a break since Dusty’s here. Ya eaten yet Dusty?” At his nod, she turned to the other woman and shrugged. “Well, we need food anyway… Ya-ya, there’s a jar of grease-cleaner on the bottom of that trolley, rub some of that on your hands to take the worst off then we’ll go wash up. Ya mind giving us a minute, Dusty?”

While he waited for the two women to return from acquiring food, Dustin took the time to review the schematic, recognizing it as one of the ones he’d traded for. It was fascinating… and utterly indecipherable to his untrained eyes. Rye had seemed interested enough in it, given she had already started working on making the design function with the tech they had on hand. He just hoped that the design was actually safe, given the general lackadaisical approach to user safety compared to profit that the Arof had demonstrated so far.

As if reading his mind, Rye glanced at the schematic as she and Yaerwen returned, automat packages in hand. “It’s a lot safer than ya might expect Dusty. I’m having to tweak a few things, and ours won’t be as small as theirs - but then, ours will be safer if the shuttle takes a knock. The design they sent us is really good… I should have figured out how to do this myself, but it does rely on optimism about how much of a beating a shuttle’s gonna take.”

Dustin frowned. “Define optimism?” he asked, glancing from schematic to bunny girl and then to the half-disassembled thruster and back.

Rye sighed, settling down on a piece of engine cowling to have her lunch, waving the wrap she’d chosen vaguely at the schematic, Dustin and the engineering bay in no real order. “If it’s operated in ideal conditions, their design gives about twice the thrust for a quarter the space of our standard shuttle engines. It’s really, really good Dusty. The issue is that unlike ours, any sizable impact will blow out the back containment wall. Best case? That shuts the engine down. Worst case? Thrust bleed-back into the fuel regulator, leading to catastrophic failure of the shielding or the containment.”

“And that means?” Dustin asked, eyebrows rising.

The bunny girl shrugged. “Either it goes bang and we lose the back half of whatever shuttle it’s fitted to, or it doesn’t go bang and floods the cabin with a cocktail of radiation. Both are not good, which is why I’m having to modify the design on the fly as I merge it with ours. Oh, and before ya ask I didn’t pull this engine from the shuttles despite what it looks like. We had a couple of spares in storage in case we needed to do any fast repairs, so I grabbed one of those to tinker with.”

That explanation did little to reassure Dustin, regardless of how much he trusted his chief engineer. After extracting a promise that she would test it thoroughly with unmanned drones before strapping her modified engine to anything intended to carry people, let alone herself, he turned to Yaerwen. “So, you’re helping out in engineering now?”

Yaerwen shrugged, swallowing the mouthful of food she’d been eating before she replied. “Sometimes? Rye makes good company, and I can’t spend all my time in the gym. Besides, I can get a workout lifting some of the stuff she wants moving around here just as well, and it makes me feel useful when I’m hanging out with her.”

“So, Dusty, were ya just popping in to check on me, or did ya need something?” Rye asked, finishing her lunch and turning to him as the Hoxx finished speaking.

Dustin shrugged. “We’re stuck in traffic, so I’m taking the chance to check in on everyone at work. I don’t really get much time to just wander the ship any more, and it’s one thing to hear about what you’re all doing in the evenings at dinner and another to actually see what everyone’s up to.”

The bunny girl nodded. “That makes sense. So, ya visited me and got a surprise Yaerwen, given ya eaten already I’m assuming ya saw Nae-nae, and there’s no way you wouldn’t have visited your kids first which probably rules out Meli and Trea’k… where are ya planning on going next?”

Shrugging, Dustin glanced up at the ceiling. “Not sure. I thought I’d maybe head down to the medbay as we’re not currently in crisis so Bleu shouldn’t mind me dropping in, and then I’ll see where the others are and go from there? I mean, I expect Aricia’s in the garden and Emely will be in the ready room… no idea where Defia is at the moment though.”

Yaerwen glanced up. “Jaisyl and Defia will be in the garden too, if that changes anything? They said they were going to spend time with Aricia today, something about making art?”