(no subject)

[notanoptimist]

Who: Leonard McCoy
Broadcast: Yes! Fleetwide
Action: Caprine/Solace
When: Friday

[There are days when McCoy would gladly turn in his lab augment for an engineering one. After practically picking apart the Caprine and then putting her back together bolt by bolt (with a lot of help from actual engineers out there, thanks) he's about ready to airlock himself.

He's a doctor, not a goddamn mechanic. It's like learning anatomy all over again, except this time he doesn't understand a single thing. Glory be, at least, they've finally graduated to trying fix the many issues in non-essential systems.

Like the kitchen, where McCoy is now making sure it all works again, after having spent hours trying to put it all back together. Spoiler: it doesn't go well. That's why he's waving away wisps of smoke and coughing a bit when he addresses the Fleet.]

I need an engineer. Again. [Sigh.] I'll pay you the going rate. Come on over to the Caprine. It's the ship in the most pieces over here. [There goes more credits. Everything exploded again. Someone just... put him out of his misery.]

[private comm to Beverly Crusher]
[So he's starting to regret thinking that someone should put him out of his misery. Really coming to regret that.] Hey. We need to talk. Let's meet somewhere.

Comments

audio; private

[dancingmd]

[Well that doesn't sound concerning at all.]

I'm here. Can you meet me on the Iskaulit? At the surgical center?

[Since well... the Blue Fish is in no better shape than the Caprine. Not much privacy there with all the work that's going on.]

audio; private

[notanoptimist]

[No concern at all. None here. You're imagining things.]

Twenty minutes good?

[No, you're not. You're not imagining any of it.]

audio; private > action; Iskaulit

[dancingmd]

Yes, I'll be there.

[And as soon as she disconnects, she makes her way over to the surgical center. Now that they're a couple of weeks out from the attack, no one is using it at the moment, so they'll be free from prying ears - or well, as free as you can get when it comes to Atroma.

When McCoy comes in, he'll be met with a very worried-looking Beverly.]

What's going on?

action; Iskaulit

[notanoptimist]

[When McCoy comes in, he does so with purpose - and actually looks over his shoulder as he enters, as if someone would follow him onto the Iskaulit. No doubt about it: he looks troubled, a frown etched into his features and the lines around his eyes a little more pronounced. He hasn't been sleeping well the last couple of weeks, but Beverly likely already knows that; it's common knowledge he sometimes has to be forcibly pulled away from either the surgical center or the Caprine to get much-needed sleep or food. (Sometimes both.)

So the fact that he looks a little worse is likely a big red flag.]

Well... [And words completely fail him, because what the hell is he supposed to say? I ended up on someone's actual hit list because I needed money? Yeah, that's not gonna fly. Instead, he gestures helplessly, huffs a sigh, and reaches over to close the door.

Yeah, he's that paranoid.]

[touchallthebooks]

I, ah, I would offer to help but this is more something the gnomes would gleefully dig their hands into.

[notanoptimist]

Uh, gnomes? You lost me.

[touchallthebooks]

Gnomes, they're short and really good with technology. Really clever, they live in Gnomeregan. They're from Azeroth.

video;;

[recipio]

[ Hey, McCoy, what's up? ]

I'm not an engineer, but I can do some maintenance stuff?

video;;

[notanoptimist]

[Hey kid, how's it been?]

Kid, if you can anything in this goddamn kitchen to actually work, you're a miracle worker.

[Or just better at this stuff than McCoy himself, which is entirely possible.]

video;;

[recipio]

I mean, I can try? Still getting the hang of some things.

[ There is an unbelievable amount of trial and error. ]

Looks like you're still in one piece, Captain.

[passingthrough]

I'm not an engineer, but I could come over and look into minor repairs. Do you need some money for repairs?

[notanoptimist]

I'm good for it. [Oh, is he. That's... a thing he worked out on Solace. It'll be fine.] Essentials are workin' again, but little things like this whole damned galley is still mess.

[passingthrough]

I keep getting that answer. I'm starting to think I took a boring job here for nothing. [She's not shocked that everyone wants to handle their ships themselves though. There's a pride to that. It's just that after the attack she wants to look at the fleet even more as a unit than before.]

I was good at fixing things back home. Of course, here any Atroma tech is basically impossible to learn without the right augment. [Which makes her think that the augments might suppress potential as much as they expand it. Not to be too full of herself, but she's worked with completely alien technologies before and it's not easy, but she always had a knack for it and with enough time she could always get there. Here no matter how much she works on it even with an engineer it's like there's a ceiling.] But pilots have a few tricks. Which is me. I'm a pilot.

video;;

[briste]

[ an engineer, you say? well! ] Something in need of repairing? I could come and take a look, see what I can do. [ he's almost certain there's something he can do, regardless of what it is, but he just doesn't want to sound overconfident ]]

video;;

[notanoptimist]

I'd appreciate it. We've got essentials back up and running, so we're spaceworthy at least. We just can't do things like cook our own food.

video;;

[briste]

Oh, well in that case, it should be simple enough. I could take care of that for you, no problem.

video

[exothermia]

[His own ship repairs are complete, and he'd rather be occupied with something useful than not.]

I'm an engineer. What do you need?

video

[notanoptimist]

We've got essential systems working again. Focused so much on those that nonessentials went by the wayside. I'd like my crew to be able to feed themselves once we get underway, for starters.

video

[exothermia]

[Well, being functional is a good sign.]

Is it the dispensers that need work, then? Or the appliances?

closed || Beverly and Jim

[notanoptimist]

[The bad thing about all this is that McCoy can't just hide away on the Iskaulit until they leave Solace. The Caprine still needs a few repairs and he still needs to buy parts - which means he has to tempt fate by walking around in plain sight. He tries to keep to the crowds, tries everything he knows to at least not walk into anything blindly, but these people he (attempted to) fleece are apparently far less worried about being inconspicuous than he is.

In hindsight, he shouldn't have been startled when, in the midst of a crowd, someone sidled up to him and the business end of a weapon pressed up against his ribs. A few quiet threats and a few shoves and he had no choice in accompanying his companions.

This... this is likely not going to be fun.

It's another two hours before he's expected at the surgical center on the Iskaulit. He won't be there. Sorry, Bev.]

voice; private to Kirk

[dancingmd]

[At first, when McCoy doesn't show on the Iskaulit, Beverly doesn't think much of it - he probably got caught up in some repairs on the Caprine or stayed up too late last night or... any number of things, really. But as the minutes pass, she gets more and more worried, especially because she's unable to reach him on the comms.

So, after forty-five minutes, she calls Kirk. Her voice sounds strained and nervous when she speaks.]

Jim? It's Beverly. I... I think Leonard may be in trouble.

voice; private

[universal_charm]

<sub>[ Beverly calling him wasn't cause for alarm on its own. They're friends, and Kirk is a known engineer through the Fleet. She could easily be calling him for that sort of work, which he was already running himself ragged helping with anyways.

What he hears makes his heart sink and his stomach twist, a sour taste building in the back of his mouth. ]</sub>

What do you mean? What's happened?

_{[ He manages to keep his voice surprisingly calm despite the immediate desire to panic, but that won't help anyone, least of all Leonard, and for all they knew everything was fine, right? Please be right. ]}

video

[bythewaves]

I am no engineer but I can fetch and carry as well as any, if you need. [ Maglor offers ]

Or I can share some of the terrible stuff that Master Lannister and I discovered at our previous stop. I still have a spare bottle. It's green. [ And very, very, alcoholic ]

video

[notanoptimist]

Green, huh? We talking florescent or forest?

video

[bythewaves]

Florescent and glowing, indeed.