Meeting the Team

[Mayael Rakkamar]

"Hello? Chief Rabeak?"

The tentative knock and thick accent wafted into the corridor beyond the open access door. The newly minted junior Engineer Mayael Rakkamar peered down both sides of the corridor. Nothing but durasteel bulkheads, pipes, and the occasional exposed wiring. The hum of the flickering lights and a faint dripping sound were the only reply to be heard. Pulling the datapad from her utility belt, she doubled checked her assignment. Yep. This was the right access corridor. The Chief Engineer was suppose to be around here somewhere.

Braving the passage, the Codru-Ji woman headed down one of the two directors. Her slender body had no trouble navigating the sometimes narrow passage; although she did have two sets of shoulders to avoid smacking into breaker boxes and protruding pipes. One set of arms reached out in front of her, making sure she didn't stray into any unseen obstacles, or cobwebs, while the other pair wrapped her ponytail into a bun, using a pair of styluses to pin it in place.

It seemed like such a short time ago she had been working at the massage parlor, among other odd jobs at the time, and now she was here. An engineer at last. It was hard to imagine that she would ever be here, and she would have never had a chance if not for the generous aid of Commander Kes Akiena. In a year she had gone from a space pirate to something resembling a respectable member of society. The last few months had been a blur of cramming for all the necessary certifications and training courses required to be an Alliance Engineer on board the Space Station Jovan. The Droid Invasion had slowed the process down a bit, but she was back on track in no time.

And now she was here. Wandering a service corridor looking for her new boss. It was like a dream come true.

"Chief Rabeak?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

In the aftermath of the Droid Invasion, Chief Engineer Anauri Rabeak had not been wanting for work. On the contrary, he'd found himself, and what remained of his team, in constant need all over the station. Main Engineering had been a priority to recover after the shootout and fire which had all but destroyed it, while other critical systems fought for attention. In all he had lost seven members of his staff, four had died, one retired due to injury, and two others left for safer locales, and as such Anauri had fought tooth and claw to get requisitions for new engineers approved. In the month since the invasion, he'd not taken a day off, and often found himself pulling fifteen hour shifts, and so it was with frustration borne of weariness and overwork that Mayael was unfortunate enough to find her new boss engaged in a fit of rage against a particularly stubborn bit of coolant plumbing.

The deeper Mayael strode into the maintenance corridor, the warmer and more humid the air became until it felt like walking through an oppressive wind from some tropical swamp, and with the increase in temperature came equally heated language.

"C'mon, you piece of f'ing s#$&!" A deep voice growled, followed by a strained groan, then a sharp clang! of something heavy and meatal striking durasteel. Hanging from a pipe bracket was an official Jovan Station engineer's jacket, with the name "Rabeak" embroidered on the patch over the left breast pocket, while on the floor near a corner lay a crumpled mess of a gray mechanic's overshirt. The clang sounded again, ringing from the walls, then again and again, followed by more cursing, then a scrape of durasteel on durasteel.

"So help me, you little f#%$, if you don't open, I'll vent your ass into space," the voice snarled, followed by another grunt, and then an unhealthy grinding groan of stuck durasteel sang through the corridor before the low woosh of coolant flowed through the pipe once more.

As Mayael came into view around the corner, Chief Engineer Rabeak stood, heavy spanner in one gloved paw, panting with exertion as he glared at the previously stuck valve. His pale green mechanic's cap was soaked through with sweat, as was the wifebeater undershirt he still wore, and his brown fur of his upper body stood in short spikes from both sweat and humidity as his tail lashed behind him. Lifting his gloved left paw to wipe his brow, it was only then that he noticed he had company.

"You lost, m'am?" he asked, broad chest still heaving for breath as he let his muscular arms hang at his sides. It was only then that he notices the uniform, having been far too distracted with his vendetta against the stuck coolant valve. "Or are you my new sparky?"

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Chiiiieeef c'maaaan...didja get stuck in there? Didja tryyyy the cheater bar???"

A compartment away, Lieutenant Gradoona Pod-Floewander called out loud over the din of machinery. She glanced back with an irritated expression at the service corridor - which was inconveniently not Herglic sized. Of course, that meant that the proper brawn for this sort of job was inaccessible. In a push-button world, sometimes things like manual valves misbehaved on account of pure neglect. Try the manual override was the engineer's term for beat a thing until it works. At least with Imperial builds, they could usually take it.

With nothing to do but monitor the grid schematic and twiddle her thumbs, Gradoona wandered over to the tool bench, which had been considerately piled-on with a few doughnut boxes, or engineer fuel. The Herglic lifted the lid. Of course the krullers and bear claws were gone. That left the glazies, the chocos, and the fillies. Ah the conundrum of a filly. A nondescript coating of sugar glaze, powdered sugar, or some other kind of sugar, and filled with the unknown. Normally, Gradoona had a knack for being able to see within things hypersonically, to get a view of things eyes just couldn't see. Unfortunately, chantilly creme, choco creme, namana jam, and koiboberry jam all sounded the same. It was a cruel game of Mandalorian Roulette. A confectionary prisoner's dilemma. Chantilly creme was the obvious winner. Choco or namana she could take or leave. Koiboberry was...blech. Without a sense of smell to guide her, there was only one way to know. Daintily, Gradoona pinched one of the fillies between two fingers, and deposited the junk food into her wide, toothy mouth. Disgust instantly registered as Gradoona's small eyes squinted shut. She soldiered on, pushing the disgusting koiboberry filly down her gullet rather than spitting a mouthful of slop into the scrap bucket.

"Agghhhh!!! Koiboberry?!? Whoo eeeven oorders this?!"

[Mayael Rakkamar]

The growing heat and moisture was making her new uniform very uncomfortable to be in. Already she was pulling down the zipper on the jacket and fidgeting about trying to find some other way to let her skin breath. Short of removing her uniform entirely, there was no much there could be done, and she knew damn well that it was a violation to remove one's uniform while on the job. She had poured over the manuals. There was no chance she was going to screw up this job. At least not on her first day on site.

The warmth, moisture, and darkness reminded her of being back in the cocoon.

The constant din of metal on metal lead her deeper into the access corridors. She would have made it to the origin of the sound faster, if she had not stopped constantly to look at the various panels, equipment, and piping along the way. Everything was new and fascinating. She'd been over the manuals, received her certifications, but these things were much more interesting in person than on the pages. She desperately wanted to touch everything, to help quantify it with all her senses, but she knew better and kept all four hands to herself. Finally she wandered to the source of the noise.

She found a large, hairy man built like an animal. He looks like a four limb Wyrwulf standing on two legs! She could barely contain the laughter that wanted to bubble up. Seeing the Engineers patch and rank clip on the nearby hanging jacket further drove it away. "Yes sir, Chief Rabeak. Mayael Rakkamar reporting for duty." Her thick accent rolled through the corridor as her prominent hand came up in a tight salute; the other three flattening against her sides.

[Anauri Rabeak]

Shifting his pipe wrench into his left paw, Anauri returned her crisp, perfect salute with one of the laziest salutes the galaxy had ever known. "Easy on the posture there, Miss Rakkamar," he chuckled. "We don't stand on decorum much in Engineering, here. And I'm also technically a civilian; many of us in Engineering are."

With coolant flowing once more, the corridor began to cool quickly, allowing the Nehantite the ability to take a breath which wasn't stifling. "Stuck coolant valve, here. We'll have to replace it later with a newer, automatically actuated one, but for now it's fine just staying open."

The heavy wrench dropped through a steel ring on the chief engineer's toolbelt, and Anauri stooped to pick up his shed shirt, tugging it on over his undershirt but not bothering to button it yet. "I knew you were starting soon, but they didn't give me an exact date, so I don't have anything for you on the duty roster yet," he said, snatching his jacket off of its hook. "And they didn't tell me your areas of specialty, so it looks like you get to tag along with me and Gradoona, today. C'mon, I'll introduce you."

It took less than thirty seconds to travel from the sauna of a compartment Anauri had been stuck in to the pleasant, air-conditioned service alcove dominated by a massive Herglic. "Garfife, it was hot in there," Anauri groused. "Gradoona, meet our new sparky, Miss Rakkamar. Miss Rakkamar, this is Gradoona, my second in command. Typically we're not on the same job, but with spire six being indefinitely condemned, we now have time to take care of some of the less pressing things on our worklist."

That said, the Nehantite's attention turned to the doughnut boxes and his face turned to a scowl when he saw a particular one missing. "Damn it, Gradoona, did you eat my koiboberry doughnut? I only bought one of those things, and it was for me. The rest of the filled ones are all chantilly creme."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Well now yoou tell mee!" Gradoona complained in nasally exasperation as her blowhole hauumed.

"I mean, how the heck am I suppoosed t' knoow thaat? Naat withouut gooin' and pokin' a finger in."

A resigned glance at the other candidates in the doughnut box lasted barely a moment. Wouldn't do to chow down now, not with new blood around. The Herglic glanced at Mayael, a genial open smile returning to her features.

"Miss Rakkamar, hiii, Gradoona Pod-Floewander. Nice t' meet y-"

She'd gone to extend a hand for the Codru-Ji to shake, pausing when an unexpected quandary appeared.

"-Oh!"

Exactly which hand was she supposed to shake. Gradoona's easy grin widened a little.

"Guess yoou're quiite the haandywooman, eh?"

[Mayael Rakkamar]

All thoughts of an answer to the Chief's question was lost as she stepped through the threshold of the next room, and discovered the huge creature lurking within. "Bozhe moi! You. Are. Amazing." She exclaimed joyfully as she left the Chief at the door and walked in for a closer look at the Herglic. Mayael made it through a half circle rotation around the blubberous creature before reality set back in and she became painfully aware of her environment. Taking a step back, she straightened up and tried to be professional.

"Yes. Very handy. My teachers on Munto Codru called me a bohkh. I think you call this a trade of jack, yes? I am good at many things.

Can I... can I touch your skin?" The question left her mouth as her hands began twisted against each other, barely contained. Her curiosity demanded she touch. It looked so smooth!

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Bozhe moi! You. Are. Amazing."

Herglics were typically genial and sociable creatures, and Gradoona's sunny-side-up worldview was no exception. Getting buttered up was almost as good as getting butter with your penguin-on-a-shingle, and the comparison was probably a wash considering the former was easier on the waistline. The Herglic engineer took Mayael's glee with an infecious hooo-waauuu from her blowhole as she rocked back and forth a little on her broad feet.

"Aww, gee! I guess I am!"

Then it got weird, which was...well, it was okay. Gradoona herself was at times a little handsy, but she didn't typically go poking casual acquaintances. Of course, she was learning that other folks on Jovan were definitely that hands-on. Maybe because, again, she was that amazing! Apparently she was the first Herglic most people had seen, somehow. That made her an ambassador, didn't it?

"Ooh suure." Gradoona acquiesced with a curly-tongued grin. "Ya doon't gaat any retraactable claaws I should knoow aaf, doo yaa? The laast Cizerack to get a lil' handsy with me took a pumice stoone to buff ouut. Gaata keep my girlish veneer, yaknoo."

[Anauri Rabeak]

Anauri watched the scene before him unfold as if he was seeing it on a screen, but not actually there. His new sparky wanted to... touch Gradoona? What in the wide, wide world of sports was that all about? Blinking himself back to reality, the older Nehantite created his throat, hoping to bring a sense of decorum back to that pesky little thing called their jobs.

"Ahem," he said. "If you two want to get touchy-feely, I'd suggest doing so on your own time, ladies." The arch to his fuzzy eyebrow suggested he still had some good humor about the situation, while the tone of his voice suggested it would be wise to listen.

"Miss Rakkamar, Gradoona and I have been chasing some demons through the coolant systems here, and we've got a few more jobs on our schedule lunch. Think I've just got this one sorted, but someone hasn't given me the new temperature readouts yet." He glanced over to Gradoona, then smiled. "If we're good, here, we can move on to the next job, where I think it'd be a good opportunity for you to get your hands dirty, so to speak."

[Mayael Rakkamar]

"No. No claws." She held up all four of her hands to prove that there was nothing sinister at the ends of her fingers. They were human in almost any way, except perhaps more slender and longer. Her fingernails were well cared for. Gradoona's skin was smooth and moist, like the flesh of a fresh born Wyrwulf. Her fingers glided up and down it with little resistance. It was a pleasant sensation. Alien and yet somehow comforting.

She was ripped from the moment by the Chief clearing his throat. Reality came flooding back and she remembered her place again. Standing up straight again, hands folded behind her back, and looking as professional as she could despite having no idea what that actually looked like. "Yes. Of course, Chief."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Heey c'maaan, whaddyaa taake me foor?!" The Herglic bellyached in jest, turning up her hands in faux supplication to her boss.

"Been waatchin' the system like a hawkbaat heere. We juuust hit thermal equilibrium at..."

Pulling a datapad from a wall terminal, Gradoona held it to eye level.

"Zeroo-zeroo-twoo-three. Thaat's well inside threshoold, soo I figure this penguin's cooked, eh?"

[Anauri Rabeak]

"More like this penguin will stay nice and chilled," Anauri attempted to co-opt his second-in-command's usual reference animal. That done, he took up his own datapad and scrolled through the remaining assignments. Most items on the list already had techs working on them, so he flipped over to station status reports. Green, green, green, yellow but being worked on, green, green, red. Red?

"Gradoona, do you recall any complaints coming in about the sluice gate controls or the pressures in reservoir three?" he asked, but the look on the Herglic's face was enough to give him his answer. "Looks like gate controls aren't responding, and we're getting odd pressure fluctuations. Think we've just found our next priority job. Let's pack up, here. Miss Rakkamar, c'mon, let's see how you fare as a diagnostitian."

[Mayael Rakkamar]

"Sound like semi-solid blockage?" was Mayael initial musing, spoken out loud. Perhaps something solid, but flexible, was bobbing underneath the sluice gate, stopping it's proper operation. Nothing that could not be solved with a pneumatic cannon.

Something else bubbled up from the depths of her mind, pushing the reservoir problem out of mind for a moment. It could not be ignored. "Wait. Vat is Penguin?"

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Lemme see!"

Gradoona grabbed at the datapad, eyeing the noncompliant readings. She paused mid-stride, reaching a stubby hand up to scratch her head.

"Huh. Weellll...coould be thaat, but it coould be a naan-spec seisure oor a failed gaasket tooo."

The Herglic whistled and clicked to herself. Mayael's question broke her mental block, and she looked up from the screen.

"Ooh, yoou'll haave t' excuuse the turn aaf phrase. Cooked penguin - jaab doone, yaknoo. It's juust how we taalk aan Giju, my hoome. Naat, yaknoo...literally a cooked penguin, which geepers, it's suure been a while!"