day 112, alliance standard 407
1143 hours - lwsc intrepid fighter craft hangar, space terminal laemos's west wing outer docks

eunseo grunts softly as she shoves one last conduit into the primary plasma power core of her new (or old?) reliant-class space fighter craft. she slides out of the shaft ladened with strewn wires, power transfer veins, auxiliary fire control pins and numerous bolts in different sizes slowly, her back and shoulders already feeling the heavy toll of working in such a cramped space. "i think i got it," she announces to the young engineer currently in the fighter's cockpit. when eunseo hears the distinct whirring or the plasma engine starting up, she clenches her fist around her wrench, satisfied. she would've probably whooped in joy should she had been with her previous crew whenever a dead fighter is brought back to life, but she was no longer with them; and she's not sure if she should really be so excited when her work at the intrepid is just starting out. she climbs up on the side of the fighter's standard canopy-style cockpit and takes a peek inside. "err... do you think i got it?"

the young engineer, ensign kim yerim—eunseo only learned her name yesterday (and that bona's sent her to aid eunseo with the fighter's repairs)—is enraptured with the cockpit's modules and controls. she grins excitedly. "uh-huh. i think you got it. you're not too shabby with this, lieutenant son. i gotta say... i'm impressed. if i were to ask lieutenant park to get down and dirty her hand with grease and ablative gel she'd likely have my head before i could even offer her a screwdriver, or worse; she'd have me drown in said gel."

"sooyoung's not that bad, she's had more than enough experience down in maintenance shafts as me when we were back in the academy," eunseo shrugs, a little shy as she maps her way through their shared past that seems to have happened so long ago. "guess we've been far apart long enough if i had actually lost a crucial memory related to the lieutenant's fondness, or hate, of grease and hard work," she taps her fingers on the cockpit's canopy. "though i would like to think that maintaining a light cruiser is wholly different compared to servicing a single fighter craft."

"ah, well, there's no use fretting over it this much i suppose. the lieutenant's a great pilot, and that's her main job. it's just, you know—would be nice of her to show up at the lower decks to see the engine for herself sometimes," the ensign mumbles as she turns on the gravity-plate network on the underside of the craft that allows the fighter to gradually descent or liftoff from a positive gravity well—in either a planet or a planetoid. "alright. now that it's powered up... the plasma core is all green with around 30% power left in reserve. gravity-plate, all status green. ers and impulse flush vents are in good condition, too. so... add all that up and... the power deliveries looks good for now," yerim notes as she types furiously into her diagnostic tool. "it won't reach its top speed, but we can give this baby a trial run—we ought to check its take off and landing capabilities at least."

"vertical or conventional take off?" asks the craft's pilot as she too studies the numbers. as the ensign said, it looks good, prime for a flight test.

"perhaps both? i think you can manage a slight VTOL inside intrepid's hangar, and we can use the intrepid's runway and its linear launch catapults for CTOL once we are in orbit. just let me beam a message to the bridge and get a flight clearance from the bridge's secondary command center."

"secondary command center... to the communications officer then?"

"mmhmm." comes yerim's small acknowledgement.

"ah. i take it commander bae and lieutenant kim are still out?"

"yup. they disembarked as soon as dr. son got them cleared. i don't envy their work of smooching to wealthy, powerful people, for sure. i also don't fancy getting a shot if i really want to leave the ship."

eunseo smiles. "you can just say you don't want to get a flu shot."

"okay, i don't want to get a flu shot."

"dr. son's not that bad."

"says you, she once had me as a very much unwilling test participant for some kind of human experiment."

"did you get something out of it?"

"headache. i don't ever get something better than that from dr. son." yerim scoffs.

"dr. son doesn't seem like she'd be the kind of doctor to want to conduct unethical human experiments without a good reason."

"it is unethical if she takes away dessert from the menu."

"her unethical human experiment is to take dessert out of the crew's menu?"

"lieutenant, you don't understand. this is solid, actual food, not one of those molecular bull the alliance have been trying to feed their hardworking staffs out here in the bloody frontier," yerim grumbles. "supposedly dr. son was monitoring our diet and sending data back so the alliance could manufacture more nutritious ready-to-eat meals and significantly improve the molecular food generators. supposedly. to be honest with you, i don't really buy all that," she bangs her palm on the reliant's communications module with an audible thump. "huh. the message's not getting through."

"no way," eunseo groans. "i got the communications cluster fixed up just yesterday."

ensign kim brings up her own diagnostic tool and runs a certain code. she tilts her head questioningly when the result beeps into life on the small screen. "my tool says it's fixed, alright. maybe it's the other end that has a bit of an issue?"

"guess we'll have to head to the bridge." eunseo suggests, earning a small sigh from the young ensign.

"guess we'll have to."

eunseo climbs down her fighter's cockpit to the hangar's greasy floor carefully before helping yerim do the same. they both tidy up their overalls as best as they could, mutually finding it a hassle to change into their standard uniforms just for a quick visit to the bridge.

"wonder what's on the menu for lunch today," eunseo murmurs softly as they wait for the turbolift to the bridge floor at one of the main linkage. it is already noon and she could feel her stomach protesting. she just hopes her stomach won't grumble audibly now, as it often does when she's hungry.

yerim scoffs. "it doesn't matter, there won't be any dessert."

"you're very upset about this, i imagine," eunseo chuckles as the lift dings on its arrival to the hangar. she pats yerim gently as the lift's doors whooshes open. "oh," they stop dead on their tracks when the doors open to reveal one of the persons they talked about earlier—lieutenant kim bona—whom visibly looks rather upset. "good afternoon, lieutenant kim."

eunseo is relieved to see lieutenant kim's stiff shoulders grow softer as she returns eunseo's greeting. "lieutenant son. good afternoon. you too ensign," lieutenant kim nods to ensign yerim. "heading upstairs are we?"

"yeah," ensign yerim confirms as she leads eunseo into the occupied lift. she looks at the lift's control and realizes lieutenant kim is headed to the bridge floor as well. "sorry about us being in our dirty overalls, lieutenant kim."

the turbolift whirrs to life as they shoot up the levels, heading to the bridge. bona smiles reassuringly at the young ensign, dismissing her concern. "don't worry about it. how are the repairs going?"

"not bad, we just had the fighter's power restored," ensign yerim pings the fighter's current data to bona from her engineering maintenance and test tool, gesturing for the lieutenant to check hers. "i wanted lieutenant son to attempt a vertical take off in the hangar and test whether the fighter is really space worthy, so we needed to get flight clearance from the bridge. the beam messages from the fighter were not getting through to the bridge for some reason though, so we're just... checking if things are okay all the way up there."

"oh, i believe that is not the fault of the fighter. the whole ship's down on comms," bona in return beams yerim an update on the intrepid's repairs. "i think the team is currently updating the software for the newly installed communication beacon and transceiver array meant for deep-space missions."

"how deep of deep-space are we talking about?" yerim glares at her tool as she gives the data a quick glance over. she'll need to study it in depth later.

"deep." is the simple answer.

"great. i guess we're heading even further into this forsaken cluster," ensign yerim sighs as she navigates through the lift's controls, enabling a stop at the floor with the crew's galley and mess hall. "since it's not the bridge that we should head to... i'm getting lunch. want to come with?" yerim asks both lieutenants.

bona shakes her head. "no, thank you. i have something else to attend to," she switches her attention to eunseo. "and i need you to come with me, lieutenant."

"me?" eunseo points at herself, shocked at the sudden turn of events.

"alright," the lifts arrives at the intended floor, and yerim quickly steps off. "see you later, then, lieutenant son! let's still do that VTOL. i think i can find someone working at the bridge in the mess. i'll arrange it with them."

"are you really going to the mess hall with your dirty overalls—" eunseo's words are stopped short as the lift closes its doors and continues its ascent. she turns nervously to bona. "i hope she won't get scolded."

"she'll be fine. everyone's kind of used to seeing us engineers with our grime everywhere."

"i suppose that's... a relief, somewhat," eunseo scratches the back of her neck. "so, lieutenant. where are we going?"

----

day 112, alliance standard 407
1217 hours - lwsc intrepid bridge floor, captain's quarters

"so as i feared... some supplies are currently missing?" lieutenant commander kang seulgi reiterates bona's report calmly. "as expected, the alliance's supplies wormhole into this cluster is still not quite stable. some crates are just bound to be missing in transport, so i don't think this is an isolated case," she gives the list of missing supplies lieutenant kim provides her another read-over and finds the obvious suspect of bona's worries. "i see. it's lieutenant son's bionic lung that is troubling you, correct?"

eunseo couldn't hide her surprise. her eyes blink questioningly at lieutenant kim as she affirms lieutenant commander kang's query. "if we don't activate the lung soon," bona pauses, head down. "the package won't last. the organic fluids that is recycled by the life machine to the lung to keep it functional has a rather limited cycle. the package will go over its shelf life soon. and then..." bona shoots eunseo a concerned look before turning away. she couldn't keep the shared eye contact for too long. all this trouble is not any of bona's fault, but she still feels guilty to eunseo somehow. "we need to act now... we can't afford to wait for the alliance to supply us with another unit."

"what do you intend to do, lieutenant kim?" lieutenant commander kang leans back on her chair, checking a reading on the quarter's consoles. she doesn't look particularly jovial with the task of finding missing cases of supplies. especially not out here in the almost lawless frontier.

"there are scavengers who are active in this cluster. either we turn to them, which i don't reckon is an act you'd agree on, or... a better alternative—not by much—but i believe there are also mining crews frequenting the wormhole and its surrounding region, mining and looking for lost valuables at the same time," bona swallows thickly. "i'd ask for their help."

"the scavengers or the mining crews?"

"the mining crew, preferably... both, if needed."

"understood," seulgi leans forward on the sit-down console and types a command into the system. "i'll give you permission to disembark the ship. take lieutenant son with you, she'll act as security. i wager she too would like to provide support in your efforts. it is her bionic lung, after all," she looks up from the consoles to find eunseo's eyes and stays there. eunseo is suddenly gripped with tension as seulgi addresses her with a grave tone. "lieutenant son, will you go with lieutenant kim to retrieve the intrepid's missing supplies?"

"is it an order, lieutenant commander?" eunseo asks. she needs to be certain.

"if you would like it to be," seulgi replies. "i dread sending lieutenant kim out alone, and i am afraid you are my only direct subordinate available on the ship. everyone else on the security team is occupied with accompanying commander bae on her diplomatic outing with the terminal's directors. they will not return anytime soon."

eunseo doesn't need to think about it any further. "i would need to change out of my overalls first."

lieutenant kim's relieved sigh is all that is needed to convince eunseo that she's doing the right thing.

seulgi stands up from the sit-down console and offers both the lieutenants a solemn nod. "at 1245 hours, lieutenant kim and lieutenant son will disembark the intrepid. their mission is to investigate the relative location of the intrepid's missing supplies and retrieve them should it be possible. fair winds to you both, and don't you dare die."

----

- to be continued -