Slow Ride - Take it Easy

Posted on Sun Aug 30th, 2020 @ 1:18pm by Lieutenant Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell

Mission: Welcome Aboard!
Location: Enroute to Starbase 234
Timeline: Before Launch

It took all of 30 seconds of silence before he spoke up. "So, Starfleet, what brings you out into the unknown?" She was actually impressed he had remained quiet as long as he did but was also equally annoyed. She mused for a moment while deciding how much to tell this stranger who so far had been little more than an inquisitive taxi driver.

"Bonnie." She responded simply.

"Ah, a woman. Same here, more or less." He chuckled inwardly. "Women will drive a person to do insane things."

Bonnie eyed him as a curiosity. Was he joking or serious or somewhere in between where the crazies flocked? The idea that he was anywhere on the spectrum of normal made Bonnie smile slightly. She shook her head, "No. My name, it's Bonnie. You keep calling me Starfleet so I figured you didn't know or had a disdain for the service," she paused looking for a reaction. "Or both."

"Intuitive lass aren't you? I'd wager to guess you're one of those Engineering types, good with a warp core or something like that, eh?"

"Computer specialist." She said with a tint of pride.

"Warp cores, computers, same thing." They were not, Bonnie thought. "I have always been good at reading people and judging by the way you cling to that PADD and your quiet reserved demeanor, I assumed you were an Engi. Only thing you're missing is a straight as an arrow-facts are facts-attitude and a drive to impress someone with your skillzzz." As he held the long z he rolled his eyes and acted bored as though playing with the word itself was his only amusement in life.

He forgot dull. Deflated slightly Bonnie retorted "Well what about you hotshot? Is there more to Cody," she hung on his name as though it were repulsive but it only served to make her blush again. "...than taxi driver to damsels in distress?"

"Not really." He admitted. "Nothing better in life than damsels. The ladies love The Cody and The Cody loves the ladies." She suspected they did just that at least until he said things like that anyway.

He referred to himself as The Cody which left a bad taste in her mouth. "Then why the disdain for Starfleet?" She was digging.

He frowned as the conversation turned back to him again. "Papy served. Back when they still explored. He loved to sit back and talk about the places they found and the women, oh he went on and on about the women." He sighed. "Me mom and pop were lifers. They uh, well they served when the Borg invaded. Pop is a drone, I imagine, and mom, well Papy said she was a goddess and is probably a member of the Q continuum or something." He paused letting his imagination fall away to his mother before snapping back. "Anyhow Papy raised me since I was a pup. In time we went our separate ways. I longed for space, Papy didn't approve. Got some decent work as a work bee pilot rebuilding the fleet after the Dominion war but…" he drifted off.

She picked it up "But it was lonely work." She smiled "No damsels."

He chuckled. "Yes! That's it exactly. You get it!. She gets it." He said almost as if he were talking with Debbie.

"Is that why you said you need this opportunity?" She recalled his statement from earlier.

He gave a sly turn of the head and raised an accusing finger "oh you're good. You heard that did you?" He thought for a moment before sidestepping, "Just time to get the hell outta Fresno. Ya know?"

In a way, Bonnie knew all too well how he felt but she also noticed that he really didn't answer the question. "You didn't answer the question. What opportunity?"

His eyes went squinty as he searched for a way to flip the conversation on its head. Then his brows raised, "You first. You didn't answer my question first." He was right of course but Bonnie still wasn't sure how much she was prepared to share.

She had been leaning forward hanging on his words, but now she sat back, turned away, and started fiddling with her fingers. He waited patiently. "I'm a Computer Specialist." She paused.

"We've established that, go on." He prodded.

"In need of a ship." She tucked her locks back behind her ear on her left side, the side facing him. "And I got a message saying the Liberty was a ship in need of a Computer Specialist."

He batted his eyelids, jaw dropped open slightly. "Riveting. You must be the storyteller in your family, real life of the party."

Her face flushed and she reached over and smacked his arm like they were old school friends. "Not fair." She smiled as he looked timid and afraid she would hit him again. "What more do you want to know, I mean I know computers. We sort of get each other."

His brow furled, "You mean like a hologram sort of romantic thing or…" he flinched expecting her to strike again but she just returned to her reserved demeanor.

"No. Not like that. When something goes wrong I have this ability to understand and diagnose the problem with little issue. My mother was the same way, before, well before Wolf 359. My father raised me, gave me an appreciation of history and a drive to never stop learning. I guess you could say I'm out here because of him, to make him proud like Momma always did."

She was the kindred spirit Cody had recognized within himself. Like some Disney movie where no one was allowed to have parents because it made for the most tragic backstory. "Hey kid, thanks for sharing. Listen I'm going to grab some shuteye. I trust you'll keep an eye on Debbie for me?"

She smirked then saluted, "Aye Cap'n."

He stood and made his way to the back before flopping face-first into his pile of clothes/bed oh so gracefully.

Bonnie stared at her PADD until she heard him snoring. She then quietly set it aside and turned her attention back to the console where she had seen something odd before. Scanning quickly she found a button labeled ALCO which seemed to be connected to a backup or redundant non-essential system but upon further dissection was drawing a large amount of Warp coolant. Bonnie figured this was the reason the engines weren’t running at optimal efficiency. She tweaked a few settings, shunted a bypass for the ALCO, purged the stream, and then rerouted all available coolant to the Warp Nacelles. This showed a notable speed increase of .83%.

Satisfied with her handiwork she nodded to herself satisfactorily and returned to her studies.

TBC

OFF

Never press buttons in another man's ride. You never know what will happen.