Did You Say, Ship? Part 1

Posted on Fri 5th Mar, 2021 @ 10:11pm by Sipov Boros

852 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Business Not At All As Usual
Location: A Vahklas Class Vulcan Ship
Timeline: MD 4: 1000 Hrs

As they walked around the outer ring of the hangar bay, Sipov couldn't help but take note through the windows of a number of other civilian ships that were in for some sort of work. A couple of freighters, a number of smaller personal transport craft, and one ship that appeared to be much larger than the rest, a support vessel that specialized in search and rescue. As a result, the craft did posses a fair number of weapons systems purely for defense.

He'd received a message earlier in the morning to meet with this gentleman who seemed genuine albeit a bit excited to take him to this ship that was apparently up for sale. While Sipov didn't know anything about it, taking a look was the best way to decide if he was interested or not.

Continuing on it didn't take long for the ship that the other man had spoken of to come into view. The hull had tarnished spots all over and looked like it could use a good scrub all around. The overall integrity did appear to be intact and the ship itself, while old, had some style.

"Now, you see that the ship isn't new, but it's solid," said the owner of the craft. "I picked it up with a busted deflector system, but we fixed that by removing the shields and installing two other components: a low-power field to sweep small particles and a focused beam to deflect larger objects like asteroids. It's been tested in the field extensively and works like a treat."

"Come on, let me show you the inside. There are some upgrades I installed, and a few from before me, too." The man was cheerful without being overbearing, and was clearly proud of the work he'd done on the old Vulcan ship.

As the two men made their way down the docking umbilical the air began to seem...stale. It was a smell that the Vulcan hadn't encountered in quite some time. As they approached the docking port he touched the comm panel to power the door and open it, however he was prompted for credentials which caused him to step back and motion to the owner. "If you would please." He could feel a certain excitement of his own beginning to build.

"Sure, sure," the tall slender man said, punching in a code. "Sorry about the smell. We haven't finished installing the air scrubbers yet, but that and everything else will be done in another couple of days. If you wait to look, it'll be gone to someone else, I guarantee. These ships don't last long on the market. I'm showing it to you early as a favor to that Andorian friend of yours, th'Elex. He's helped me out with tech a time or three."

As the hatch opened, they were both hit with the staleness once more. It was apparent the ship's systems had been powered down, for how long who knew. Both of them stepped through at the same time and were embraced in complete darkness. It took a moment for the emergency lighting to activate as it flickered for a few moments before revealing a very large cargo deck.

"Now don't worry about that time lag. We haven't powered up the ship since we tested the deflection system. If it didn't work, there wasn't much point in continuing with repairs, was there? These are all last minute things that will be working perfectly when you take possession of the ship." The man who owned the small refurbishing business did it as a side to his regular job, with the help of several engineering friends. Who couldn't use a little extra latinum? Never let it be said that he wasn't honest or hard-working, however. When a ship left his work yards, it was in tip top shape. He kept a positive attitude about the man he was showing the ship. He'd like it and he'd buy it.

Down the way was a large transporter pad constructed of different alloys that didn't match the same color as everything else. It was apparent it was a post production installation. Toward the aft of the deck was a micro fusion generator, something else after market. Directly across from them was the port docking hatch, and the fore and aft EVA airlocks were easy to make out.

"There's quite a bit of room in here, a guy could haul a lot of cargo with this." As Boros spoke, there was a bit of an echo and it caused him to grin. It meant there was likely more room than it seemed. Now if they could do something to start cycling air ....

The engineer nodded, "That he could, Sir, that he could. If you look here," he pulled aside a barrel-like container that hid a bulkhead, "you'll see a secure locker for sensitive smaller materials, too. The section on the left can even be temperature controlled, if you need that." He put the barrel back in it's clamps, "And now it's hidden from casual inspection by ... anyone who isn't supposed to know it's there."

 

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