Elbow Grease

Posted on Sun Feb 2nd, 2014 @ 4:02pm by Commander Gaius Ra-Xialii & Captain Tim Williams

Episode: Orphans
Location: Engineering, Highlander
Timeline: MD02

Gaius had made the shuttle journey from the Academy, his gear stowed onboard, the hour trip had gotten him thinking. These days though he didnt like to think.

Having been cleared by Starfleet medical, he was fit for duty, but he still felt wrong. The hearing over the loss of the Endeavour had ruled that he was not the cause of the ships destruction, nor was he guilty of abandoning his superior officer. There was talk of commendation towards his actions, and consideration for promotion, but after talks with the Admirals of the inquiry board, Gaius turned them down.

There was no honour in being promoted through another's death, he would remain as a Commander until such time as they promoted him through his own merits.

Taking the position at the Academy was a great time to work through issues, it was easy to switch into instructor mode and not dwell. After class was another matter, finding himself at the mercy of the holodeck. Running for hours in the tundra wasteland of Efros Delta with a 30 kilo set of equipment. Trying to make himself so tired as to almost collapse.

His body was getting fitter, but his mind was almost burnt out. After a trip out in Pike city, Gaius had come across a tattoo parlour, a few days later he found himself back there, getting a tattoo to represent his fallen ship and his fallen Captain. The pain of which brought him back to the present, wondering the corridors of the Highlander, toward a meeting with his new Commanding officer.

"Computer, please tell me the location of Captain.. uh, Williams," He said, his mind going blank for a moment, he almost said Byrne. He felt stupid.

"Captain Williams is currently in Engineering," The Computer replied.

Setting off toward engineering, he recalled the Captain's track to get to command, mainly being in the engineering division. Makes sense, he thought.

Rounding a corridor he saw the doors marked 'Engineering' and headed in.

The sight that greeted him was perhaps one of the strangest first impressions that a captain could ever give.

Captain Tim Williams was hanging, up-side down, above the walkway of main engineering, with is legs hooked around the supports for the rail that ran around the upper level of the square portion of the room. The ceiling - at least from Gaius' point of view - in front of the man had a panel missing, showing the inner workings of some system that ran through the deck of the upper level - most likely something to do with the large console which was the main focus of that area. The captain had one tool in each hand and one more in his mouth, gripped between his teeth.

"Now kee' tha' 'ower off 'ill I 'ell 'ou 'o 'urn i' on," he said, most of the hard consonants lost due to the spanner clenched between his teeth.

"Turn it on sir?" the voice coming from the walkway sounded young - possibly some fresh ensign the captain had collared into assisting him. The next thing Gaius saw was a spark from the open panel, and his new captain drop all his tools as the low-powered charge shocked him.

"I said don't turn it on!" he called up to whoever it was above him.

Gaius wasnt sure whether to be impressed or crack up laughing, moving closer he looked up to the gymnastic line officer, with a tilt to his head.

"Uhh, Captain Williams sir?" He said, a confused tone evident.

"I told you before, I'm putting right the stuff that-" Tim paused as he actually faced the man who was talking to him, and realised that it wasn't who he was expecting to come in whilst he was tinkering. "Oh, you're not Fargel. Good, maybe the precocious little Rigellian has decided to stop pestering me while I fix all of the things that his commander has been messing with. Ensign! Help me up."

Tim's ascent back on to the upper walkway was less elegant than one might have expected from a man who seemed perfectly comfortable getting into position and hanging there to work, but eventually he was able to climb down the ladder to one side of the warp core to stand on the same level as Gaius. "I'm guessing you're Ra-Xialii? I can't think of any other Efrosian commander who would have a reason to be here, at least."

"Yes sir, that's me, at least last time I checked." Gaius said, outstretching his hand.

"Call me Tim," the captain said, as he reached out and grasped the man's hand to shake it. With the other, he pointed briefly at one side of Gaius' face. "Nice tat'. It's not on your service record; I'm guessing it's new?"

"Uh yes sir, an Efrosian custom to honour those lost. Still stings actually, all these years with hyposprays and dermal regenerators has softened me up," He said with a smile, trying hard not to scratch at it.

Changing the topic, "Is this a typical workout scenario for you Tim?" Gaius said, gesturing to the intermittently sparking conduit.

Tim glanced up at the conduit above his head, and then shrugged. "Ensign, why don't you get Lieutenant T'Pena in here to help you finish up with that conduit? Don't mess with the configuration; just close it up to stop it sparking."

The ensign mumbled a "Yes sir" and went off to presumably find either Lieutenant T'Pena or a step ladder. Probably both.

"I like to spend as much time as I can get away with down here," Tim said in answer to Gaius' question, as he gestured for the two to walk out of engineering and into the corridor towards the turbolift. "But I don't usually spend most of my time hanging upside-down. Commander Stone and his Corps of Engineers boys seem to have spent the last two months working to undo all of the modifications I've made to the ship and 'return her to spec'. Right now, I'm just trying to put things right."

"I'm happy leaving you to do the dirty work, I'll sit in the center chair for a while," a smirk playing across Gaius' lips, "Hopefully the crew doesn't require as much tinkering."

"That's what I was hoping to talk to you about, actually," Tim said, as they entered the turbolift and he ordered it to deck one. "From what the personnel officer tells me, you've served with most of our crew already; a lot of them were former crew of the Endeavour, including a large number of the junior officers. I was hoping that I could rely on you to take charge of helping their transition."

"Copy that, I was only quite new to the team, but I will make an effort to check in on them. I am liaising with the new counsellor, Taylor, I believe."

"Yeah, though she hasn't come aboard yet as far as I know. Starfleet says she's been briefed on the situation you all went through three months ago, but she wasn't actually counselling any of you here on Cestus." The two stepped out on to the bridge, which was much quieter than usual; just a few techs configuring a few of the consoles and running the various checks needed to keep the ship functional even whilst landed. "I'm pretty sure that Starfleet mandated she come aboard just in case she was needed though, rather than to continue all of your counselling sessions on-board."

"Understood," Gaius said, truly trying to determine whether he needed further counselling or not. It should be easy to bury himself in work, he thought.

Looking around the bridge, he noted the size was considerably smaller than his last command, he was surprised to discover, he preferred it.

"These Intrepids are truly a gorgeous class, You have an amazing ship here Tim," Gaius remarked, looking around.

"I've always thought so," Tim responded, on both accounts. He reached out a hand an patted the railing which separated the rear portion of the bridge from the command chairs in the centre as though it was something that reminded him of an old and fond friend. "This ship has brought me through a lot. I wouldn't trade her for anything, not even one of those brand new Vestas and the chance to tinker with that slipstream technology Admiral Quinn's boys are toying with."

"Well if they want to give one of those shiny Vesta's to me, that would be a different story," Gaius joked, "I have had my eye on the Palatine for a while now."

"Honestly though, I would have thought they were a lot more lenient on the space frame that fared the Delta Quadrant for several years, there were more than a couple modifications on that vessel," Gaius continued, before moving to the XO's chair. Another chair he would have to break in he thought, before taking a seat.

"Most of those modifications were classified," Tim reminded his new XO. "Temporal Prime Directive and all that. But even with the modifications made with the help of Seven of Nine and her Borg technology, Voyager returned home thirteen years ago. The class was already eight years old by then. This design is nearly through a quarter of its lifespan already. Still, she's got over seventy years in her, and I plan to make sure she sees them out. Well," the captain grinned almost mischievously. "With a few modifications of my own as time goes past."

He moved around the railing to follow his XO to the command chairs in the middle of the bridge and dropped himself into his own seat. "If you don't mind getting to work commander, I've got a job for you to do," he said, changing the subject.

"Sure thing Captain, better than teaching cadets how to slap each other," He said, laughing.

"I'm glad you're so enthusiastic," Tim answered, leaning back in his chair to get comfortable before continuing. "Because I hate paperwork. And everything that doesn't require my explicit approval or my own signature, I'm going to hand to you."

"Uh yeah, sure," He said, a little taken aback, he wasnt expecting to technically be doing the job of a Commanding officer, well only one more grade and ill be there myself, he thought.

Before Gaius could even finish his sentence, Tim had thrust himself back to his feet and was making a beeline for the turbolift. "I'm sure you'll get along with it fine. If you need me.... well, you probably won't find me if it's about the paperwork. Enjoy yourself, Commander!"