Repayment 3

Posted on Thu Jan 12th, 2012 @ 5:16pm by Melody Johnson & Petty Officer First Class Tanner Willeg

770 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Mission 78 - Colonial Uprising
Location: The Blaze
Timeline: Current

Melody eased the Blaze out of the dock and, thinking the area was clear to "punch it" she prepared to go to warp but stopped herself when a light on the control panel began to blink...signaling that there were several ships creating a bit of an obstacle course.

"What the...," Melody muttered to herself. She focused her full attention to what she was doing as she expertly piloted the Blaze through the obstacles in her path without slowing her speed.

Tanner watched the ships pulling into view and raised a brow at the almost expletive. "Guess the rumors about extra security rolling out is true." Which might come to be a problem... although, the way Mel was flying through, it'd probably be a much bigger problem getting back to the starbase than leaving.

"Those don't look like Federation ships," Melody commented as she dove between two ships.

Tanner nodded. And by the time they headed back from their trip, what would the situation be like? The chances of everything blowing over by then didn't appear likely.

Melody cleared the last ship and quickly checked the Blaze's long range scanners. There was nothing but open space ahead so she keyed in their destination and took the Blaze to warp 6 and put it on auto pilot.

Choosing sides and dealing with face-off lines being drawn weren't a part of the agenda for the moment, which was fine with Tanner. Shifting to take in the space around her, the engineer glanced side-long at the mysterious Captain Mel. "When's the last time the Blaze got a detailed run-through?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Melody said. "Blaze? I think our new co-pilot wants to ask you a question," she said as she finished making some last minute changes to the Blaze's navigational system.

=^=We have a new co-pilot?=^=

"Yes.....I told you about it," Melody said exasperatedly. "Men. They never listen," she said, shaking her head.

=^=Women. They're never clear.=^=

"Hey, now. Remember who the captain is," Melody said, warningly. "You better be careful or I'll change your voice processor to a female's voice. Go ahead. Ask him your question, Tanner," said, folding her hands behind her head and leaning back in her seat. She moved the Captain's chair back away from the control console and propped her feet up on it.

Scooting toward the console, Tanner leaned over and gazed at the controls, obviously enamored with the voice. Though the engineer had never met an AI she liked, this wasn't an AI, but rather the ship, and she had yet to meet a machine she didn't appreciate. "Hello, Blaze. I'm Tanner. Pleased to meet you."

=^=Welcome aboard, Tanner. You have a question for me?=^=

"I was wondering when it was you last had a complete diagnostic run, and a system update."

=^=I underwent a full update three months ago on stardate 54498.94. The captain makes sure that I am well maintained so that I am beautiful inside and out.=^=

"You'll have to excuse him. He has self esteem issues," Melody said shaking her head. "He has too much self esteem," she said with a little chuckle then she leaned towards the control console and said, loudly, "In other words you're conceited," and she laughed.

=^=Correction, Captain. Conceit is a fault and I have no faults.=^=

"See what I mean?" Melody asked with a shrug.

"Everyone... and everything has faults. For example... you're a cargo vessel. You don't have the fire-power to out-blast a large ship, but you're bigger than a shuttle or an inner-atmo transport." Speaking more loudly into the console as Melody had just done, Tanner added, "in other words, you're heavy and you're slow."

=^=As for fire power, Tanner, there is more ways to win a confrontation than to simply shoot ones way out. We have survived all these years because what of fire power I do have and the Captain's quick mind and excellent piloting skills.=^=

"Thanks, Blaze. Why don't you do something productive like make sure we are on schedule or something?" Melody said then smiled at Tanner. "You have to be careful not to hurt his feelings because he sometimes....," she leans closer to Tanner and whispers, "...acts like a spoiled brat. Once he refused to talk to me for a week." Melody sat back in her seat and stretched. When she spoke she spoke in a normal voice. "Don't get me wrong. He did everything he was asked to do he just did it without speaking. It was the loneliest week I've had since his vocal processors were installed and programed four years ago."

TO BE CONTINUED.....

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