Did You Say, Ship? Part 3

Posted on Fri 12th Mar, 2021 @ 12:09am by Sipov Boros
Edited on on Fri 12th Mar, 2021 @ 1:31am

1,117 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Business Not At All As Usual
Location: A Vahklas Class Vulcan Ship
Timeline: MD 4: 1035 Hrs

The ship's tour continues to find pleasant surprises ...

"It looks like you've put a lot of work into the ship so far, and I like what I see. Please lead the way to the bridge."

Beaming at the praise, his guide took him back down the corridor between crew bunks and to the ladders. "The one thing that's a little inconvenient, I won't deny it, is that there's no turbo lift. Young fella like you, though," he eyed his potential customer, "you shouldn't have any trouble scrambling up and down these ladders like a gossamer mouse."

What else will Boros discover?

---

"I don't mind, it's one less thing to break and drain power. We'll just hope the transporter doesn't break down so we can move anything larger from the other decks as needed, but having two of them should suffice. And larger crew members should be able to easily move up and down. The hatches in between each deck are a good size."

It was another ladder he hadn't seen yet, a single ladder up to the bridge from deck two which made sense, one point in and one point out. Taking the lead, Sipov climbed up from below and on to the Bridge, which was already powered on. As he stepped from the ladder, he took a look around and let out a small whistle.

"Not bad...not bad at all." There was a back wall with a handful of stations where someone could work, with displays all the way to the ceiling. Opposite of them, was a waist high railing wall with a couple of smaller consoles on it. In front of that, a step lower, was a single chair, no doubt for the captain. Directly in front of that, with a large curved console that wrapped about two thirds of the way around another chair was the helm.

Otherwise, along the walls were a number of displays and panels to show different systems' status at a glance. To either side of the bridge were doors, one marked as the ready room and the other marked as a conference room. It was an efficient design although there was one thing that didn't sit right with the Vulcan.

"It's very efficient," the man who wanted to sell it pointed out. Lots of screens for seeing things at a glance, plenty of room to work. Amazing really, in this small ship. We've checked everything here, replaced any worn parts or aging gel packs. Honestly, I don't think a shipyard could do a better refit than my people have done," he said proudly.

"Gel packs? That must've been one heck of a refit. Makes me wonder how long it took you to gut the pathways...." It was a technology that he'd yet to have dealt with, which was interesting all things considered. Sipov had heard of it but never flown a ship with quite that level of sophistication. It wasn't something in use where he'd come from.

"I do have one request, if I may. That Captain's chair doesn't sit right with me. All things considered I'd rather be sitting at the helm instead of in the center barking about. Could we have it removed and replaced with a table say for navigational mapping? I know the ship has a cartography work area, but maybe something simpler that a few folks could take a look at real quick for some fast planning? I think the space would be better utilized that way."

The owner was nodding, "Oh, we can do that in a couple of hours. Easily."

Otherwise the large view screen and the layout of the rest of the bridge he was happy with. It would be interesting to see how the melding of older and newer technology was going to work out, which caused him to come up with another question.

"Also, I know we haven't checked engineering yet, but a ship this size is going to be a challenge for a handful of people if I don't have a full crew or vast enough knowledge base, and considering the different systems and their ages on board, I wouldn't know where to begin. I know crewing the ship with an experienced team isn't your problem, but is there some sort of monitoring system or index on board that could help with automation and keeping track of things? If there isn't, I'd be happy to work out an arrangement to pay for such a setup."

Flying a ship was one thing, crewing it and keeping things running was quite another. Something he didn't have a lot of experience with, considering the companies Sipov had worked for in the past managed all of that.

Rubbing his hand along his chin, the man thought about the request. "There's nothing like that now, but I imagine someone could come up with something. It would be a whole lot cheaper to hook you up with a good engineer, though, and maybe an engineer's mate with some common sense.

"In fact, I have a couple of fellas in mind who might just fill the bill for you. They got stranded here when their freighter was badly damaged by pirates a while back, and they've been hiring out wherever they can. I believe they're living down in the Brown Sector somewhere, but that doesn't matter. I know how to contact 'em."

Boros gave a nod, "I'll keep that in mind, I would appreciate their contact information so I can reach out."

He walked to the starboard side of the bridge and stopped in front of the doors, causing them to open so he could take a look at the conference room. It was big enough for a table with a total of seven seats, one at the head and three on either side. A small display on the wall and windows on either side of the room were all it contained. Pretty simple but it would work.

Without saying a word, he made his way to the opposite side and did the same for the ready room. That had a desk about eight feet long, a work station and a pair of chairs in front, along with a couch on the back wall, and a small lavatory. A couple of empty shelves adorned the lower walls and the windows were similar to that of the conference room. It would work, as well, when he needed it, although who knew how often that would be.

"So far everything checks out, unless I missed something up here we can make our way down to engineering." For the most part the Vulcan was sold but wanted to at least look at deck four.

 

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