The Tinkerer
Posted on Monday October 26th, 2020 @ 7:59pm by Niyahra Riohn & Milinda Frost Malley
Mission:
Marauder's Map
Location: Small Hangar
Timeline: MD02 - Right after 'Planning the Plan'
1819 words - 3.6 OF Standard Post Measure
Looking down at the small scrap of paper she wondered how long ago it had been since she had earnestly used analogue methods to take notes and information. Before all of this happened of course. Ever since the capitulation Niyahra, or rather Riohn, had kept a very meticulous handwritten journal. She was in the right place but wasn't sure someone like her was welcome there, the Trill weren't anyone's friends with the advent of the DPI, "Good morning, I'm looking for Miss Frost." She called into the room that was casting sounds of metal hitting metal, which echoed off the bare walls.
"Ice Queen is working her magic over in the corner." The welder said and point to a Black shuttle near the Cargo doors and small work area. "Make yourself known or eat a stun phaser though." The guy laughed.
Not commenting on the title provided Niyahra gave a simple nod, "thanks for the word of warning," nobody wanted to be hit by a phaser, whether it was on stun or not.
The type 10 shuttle in a 'parking slot' along the wall, rear hatch down and next slot over had piles of meter and a half square containers; lids removed and stacked to make three low walls of the area. In the centre were metal framework legs holding up the removed lids to form work stations. Parts appeared 'spewed' along the tables and at the end of each was a 'circular file' to be recycled as raw material for the limited replicators Raw Material resource.
In the midst of this Frost in a one-piece jumpsuit; open at the waist with the sleeves tied about to keep the clothing up and wearing a black Tank Top and gloves having the tips cut at the first knuckle. The Blonde woman was working about the center table; three Generator housings apart, a centre one she seemed to be concentrating on while reaching to each of the remaining ones to snatch a diode or capacitor. and fit it into the centre one.
"Queen Frost?" Niyahra ventured closer to the shuttle in the corner that was pointed out to her by the helpful mechanic earlier in the room, "I'm in the market for your particular set of skills." She stood at a respectable distance, her hands clearly showing so that the woman could see that they were empty.
"You found Frodo." Frost turned to see the hands out and moved a few things and dusted off a chair at the side of the table she worked upon. "Please drop the Queen Part and thank you for not mentioning Ice." Frost smiled and gesture to the chair. "If you want my skills you would not mind if I work while we talk?" She smiled. "What is your name and the job?"
Lowering her hands Niyahra contemplated whether it was wise to give her name to everyone she talked to about this, there were bound to be people that declined her offer and her name floating around wouldn't be doing her any favours, "The job is fixing something. On site. In outer space." There was very little she was willing to let go, on the off chance she was talking to the wrong person for the job, "Me and my associates need someone with your knack for engineering, and it wouldn't hurt to be passengers on your vessel as you go there." She added, "any scrap you might find along the way is yours to keep."
This was a Trill in front of Frost; she did not seem to have a weapon in obvious sight so they were even on that account but still there is something about her that Frost did not like at this point of the venture, but then it was a time when people are leary at the onset of things in general.
"Sit down 'Me' and take a load off." Frost pointed where she cleared space and turned on the Vibro cleanser , dumping a couple of metallic parts to be 'cleansed' again with the noise the main thing she wanted. "Can't hear if you don't sit and tell me what you need." Frost glanced to the woman. "If you want my help then tell me who you are; where your ship broke down and how many you think my shuttle can hold?" Raising an eyebrow. "How far we going as I will have to make sure the replicator is topped off and you lucked out, the air recycling was just flushed..." She nodded to the noise maker. "Tell me where and what, I am more likely to consider if I know the job?"
Niyahra wished she had the device that Wraeth had used to shield their conversation from prying ears, "It's not, technically speaking, my ship..." She wondered how to word it, "your reputation is of one that doesn't ask too many questions when it comes to sticking it to our non-solid overlords." She leaned in and whispered, "are you familiar with the California class vessels of the early '70s?"
Frost's hands hesitated on the work and she turned slightly but not to be obvious; she knew the class; one of the few ships aside from capital ships and carriers that had a fighter contingent even if a small one. She is a workhorse and the design was reminiscent of an old-style Federation cargo type of the 2260s. Twin Warp drives with Nacelles on the side but the neck was an interface to attach cargo containers. At least in the vintage tech manual articles that's what they said of the California while in development. The warp speeds were closely the same only improving by a warp factor.
"That would be a piece of work," Frost said. "Tucked in nice and tight as the twin Nacelles on the saucer and secondary hull makes for a much tighter warp bubble; I have touched one or two, they were a workhorse and saw fair battles but still met with the same fate as the Other Federation ships." She recalled her own past. "The Dominion loved flipping the salvageable wrecks into repurposed vessels they threw as fodder in their conquests instead of risking their own ships." Frost shrugged and made eye contact.
"You either have a line on a salvageable wreck, the Dominion scour the battlefields looking for ships to repurpose," Frost said coldly. "If this ship is salvageable and you can get the parts it would be a wagon that could take some punishment and..." She smiled. "Piecing together fighters for her will be a sinch, the Dominion did not believe in them and were more for the corvette type attack ships, they loved the Defiant-class vessels, closer to Dominion designs." She shrugged. "You really serious about the salvage?"
"Couldn't be more serious if I tried," Niyahra quipped, adding a smile of her own. It was clear that the woman's interest was piqued, "we'll be making our way there with ten, plus me. Knowing type 10s, you should have room for yourself and some more." She also was interested in the mention of the fighters, "So, this fighter thing, would you know someone that's capable of operating one?"
"I know a few pilots but not one of them have a fighter to their name and I am not even sure where they scattered," Frost said as she kept her voice low. "I can take seven people, max, on my shuttle and it will not be the most comfortable conditions." She relayed. "There are tools that will be needed if you want a decent salvage job of it." Telling the facts. "Now unless you have fighters ready to fly I would not ask any of them. It is a simple thing to get pilots; their craft is a bit more effort." She looked at the woman. "Now that Shuttle of mine does not fly unless I know whom it is I put on my shuttle?"
"I'll make sure they introduce themselves when we come aboard," Niyahra didn't feel like giving out her own name, or that of her associates, before she had the guarantee that it was going to set off without DPI interference, "I'm sure you can understand my hesitance."
"The Chinese have a curse that has come to light," Frost mentioned as she put the final touches on the innards. "May you live in interesting times." She placed the two housings together and used her roto tool in securing it before turning to face the woman and lean back on the work table. "It is dark between the stars and all, but with experience and other technology I do not fly in the dark." She looked at the woman. "Trust is the essential and most dangerous aspect of the times." She crossed her arms. "If you are so hot an item that I will be on the Dominion Radar from now on, I sure as shooting want to know that, so your name? I do not work with blanks. Right now I am giving all the trust, time for some Trust retainer or I can suggest several other Salvage Rats that can do your job but I would not sleep with both eyes closed around them? A little faith goes a long way."
Niyahra had considered it from the moment that she first asked for a name. Her own name wouldn't result in any documents since her father had removed any trace of her before they fled Trill, that alone would make her highly suspect, but then who would she be willing to throw under the bus? Then she remembered a girl from her mother's class, one she didn't particularly like. She wondered whether she was still alive. It was better to have a record that showed you were killed than none at all, "Liliah Galin."
"Well, Miss Galin, nice to meet you." Frost smiled. "I will meet your friends when they arrive I suppose?" Shrugging she seemed content. "How long do I have as I do not leave parts lying about." Winking. "And I come and go on a whim; the likely excuse for me prepping is you gave me a line on salvage so will not even raise any questions in this group, one good point to working alone.
"We leave at 1400 hours," Niyahra put a scrap of paper on the workbench, "Don't be late. And get rid of that when you've memorised it" She pointed at it before walking away. Every person she met, every piece that fell into place, it seemed like there was this tiny sliver of hope.
Frost knew the place; not the nicest place to pick up passengers but if one wanted to duck the eyes of the planet this is a spot to do it. Frost knew better ones but she would be there.
"Your part payment at this point, see you then." Her spanner torch made quick work of it.
