Some Assembly Required

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Ookay we're in business sir! Got a scuttle called in and they'll set up oover that poortal oover there. Get us some atmo seal soo we can crack in there foor a lil' heavy facelift!"

In the meantime, it was about to get slightly messy in here. Gradoona did a quick scan around the far wall, a deep thinking hauuum biding the time.

"Commander tell ya what. How aboout yoo get whatever personal effects ya got oover there and let's just scooch 'em oover to the inner wall. I don't wanna touch yoour things, and loose a priiiiceless pic of yoour deear aunt Floony, yaknoo?"

[Kes Akiena]

Looking up from his reading, Kes found himself suddenly very grateful for his procrastination. What few effects were in the area that Engineer Gradoona indicated were mostly still packed away in their lockers. Only a few possessions had made their way out, and even then those small bits could easily enough be packed back. The 'pad was set aside yet again as he looked to her.

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that. Only a few odds and ends in those. Nothing too terribly important."

Still though, he rose to his feet. She was thoughtful enough, and he wasn't about to brush off her kindness.

"Some models, but mostly books and a few holos," he went on, grabbing one of the footlockers by its' handles, hefting it up, and moving it away to the other side of his quarters.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Well it's impoortant enaaugh to keep in yoour quarters, soo I'd raaather naat mess up yoour things, yaknoo?"

Gradoona held a glint of understanding. It seemed like navy people always kept three things in their personal effects without fail. Books on naval history, holos to pass long stretches of boredom, and models of ships they'd either served on, or aspired to serve on. It meant that Kes was an officer first and an administrator second. Little things that were important to know. True to his word, the Commander was pretty compartmentalized, and it didn't take long for him to shift his meager belongings across the room to the wall adjacent to the corridor.

"Ookay then. Now I'm gonna goo ahead and remoove all the suuperficial wall plating fraam heere...to heeere. Really get under the skin and see the bones yaknoo?"

The Herglic pulled a force wrench from her work cart, and spent a moment fishing for the proper bolt fitting. She was an old hand at this, and certainly knew what she was looking at on an Imperial system, so it only took a moment of eyeballing before she found a 7.5 medium fitting. Just big enough to hold the superficial stuff together inside the room and not draw the eyes too much. Gradoona got to work immediately on the far wall plate, lining up the force wrench carefully before a quick ZWOOOO barked out, followed by ZWOO-ZWOO. The loose bolt dropped easily into the Herglic's big hand, and she stuffed it into a pocket as she moved to the next.

"Soo Commander, where did ya serve befoore Joovaan, if ya don't miiind me bein' nooosy."

[Kes Akiena]

Setting the last footlocker down, Kes looked over at the Herglic.

"Was posted on Dac, actually."

His hands made a show of dusting themselves off, despite the lack of dust on them. He reached down to take up his glass.

"I mostly oversaw a small section of research and development." he gave her a wink. "Only a few things were hush-hush; most of it was reconditioning old ships and making sure that they were space-worthy. Before that I served aboard the Jagger, and before that, the Etrigan under General Brecklin."

All things told, it wasn't exactly a glorious career, but it had sustained him, giving him purpose in the Cause. He took a sip.

"What about yourself?"

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

Another bolt came off in a screaming mechanical trill, and Gradoona moved on to one on the other side of the plating to keep the stress off of each bolt for easy removal.

"Well priiior to Joovaan, I did a year on the Merciful, yaknoo, the oold medical frigate. Then before that was a two year spell on the Eagle, boy howdy she was a beaut squeedle-wee-cl-a-aack."

More bolts came off in quick succession, until there was only one remaining to take care of before the wall plate could be removed.

"Aaand lesse, well it's kiiinda blurry past that. There was a bulk fuel hauler, what was it now the Beagle maybe. And ooh, did a few turns haulin' widgets on Gallofree transports which, gotta say, I doo naat recommend if you're a little plus size yaknoo!"

The final bolt was in Gradoona's hand, and the Herglic carefully set aside her force wrench as she ran her fingers along the periphery.

"Ookay there, I'm just gonna drop this oover here soo miiind yoour tootsies."

[Kes Akiena]

He watched as she popped the outer panel off, moving it out of the way.

"You've seen your share of boats, then." It was spoken with a bit of a laugh.

"Any particular reason you joined the Alliance, then?"

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Ooh yaa, well and now donchaknoo I'm oon my first engineering posting without an engine to tinker aan!"

The Herglic's eyes squinted humorously as she squeedle-clacked. With a little heft, she moved the heavy plate to the floor, where it fell with a ponderous thud.

"Ooh now, lookit that carbon scooring. Now thaat's just sloppy! Yaknoo, that's what grinds my gears, sir. Someone gooes through aall the trouble of dooin' the work, and they sweep a botch job under the rug like this skwaa-c-cwee, 'cause they knooow no Imperial Moff's gonna give the ol' girl the white glove treatment."

If there was anything that could approach a frown on Gradoona's face, it was a blank expression. And hers looked particularly blank.

"Ooh, sorry Commander. Kiinda got my dander up there. As for me and the Alliance, well, you know, back home is all oover there and all."

Gradoona haaauumed with a shrug.

"Coulda stayed, suure. Lotta my folks did. But it's naat in my style. Got bit by a rolling stone bug aaages ago."

[Kes Akiena]

Kes nodded, finishing off the rest of his juice before returning to the kitchenette to place the glass in the sink.

"Seems that many folks get bit by that same bug," he conceded ruefully.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Well a laat of Herglic doo, that's for suure! But that's why we're a decicred a dozen whenever you craass two hyperlanes."

By now, the scuttle was beginning to arrive, and Gradoona pointed out the window with a squee.

"Ooh here we go now. They got the scuttle coming oover the external hull, y'see?"

What appeared in a slow crawl over the window was a broad metal-ribbed frame that slowly began to trundle over the hull plating, before seating with a dull metallic thunk. The view of space beyond began to shimmer as an atmospheric force field engaged, sealing the work section off with an emergency membrane to prevent decompression in the event of a breech.

[Kes Akiena]

Watching as the scuttle moved into position, then activated the safety field, Kes started forward, moving through the living area. He reached down to pluck up the datapad before crossing the relatively small square footage of his 'home', heading for his room. The 'pad was set on a wall mounted shelf, and the redhead grabbed his uniform tunic from where it lay at the foot of his bed. Shrugging it on, he returned once more to where Engineer Gradoona was just starting to get into the meat of whatever problem that she'd found.

His fingers worked at the buttons, starting in the middle and moving down.

"I need to be heading out," the last button was slid into its' appropriate hole before he moved back up to begin fastening the middle-to-top ones.

"If there's anything you need, feel free to call and I'll make sure you get what you need."

The last button at the top of his neckline done, he reached a hand back through the doorway to his room and took up the 'pad once more, tucking it beneath an arm.

He gave her a good-natured, if not slightly teasing smile.

"Try not to smash too large of a hole in my quarters."

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Haa haa!"

The Herglic gave what may have been too much of a good natured slap to the back to Kes in keeping with his joke.

"Doon'cha worry a hair, sir! I'll have the ool' penthouse snugger than a penguin in a conch shell."

Gradoona slapped on shielded goggles, then sparked a torch cutter with a big, curly-tongued grin on her face.

[Kes Akiena]

Very nearly sent sprawling, Kes felt himself propelled forward a bit, and his feet only just barely managed to stay under him. He couldn't be upset though; the Herglic's demeanor was so damned happy. Instead, he only gave a larger smile before leaving the engineer to her work, and stepping through the doorway, started off toward the nearest lift that would take him to the command hub.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

An hour and a half passed by without incident. Some time after that, Kes's comm began to chime with Gradoona's frequency.

[Kes Akiena]

Engrossed in a rather lengthy comm conversation with a more than irate Alliance captain over some matter having to do with who got what docking spires, Kes welcomed the interruption despite the frequency.

"I'm sorry Captain, but there is no special dispensation allowed for your ship-"

"You can't be serious! Are you telling me that an Alliance station isn't-"

A stern look was sent to the blue holographic image of Captain Sekress. "Captain, this is not just an Alliance station." A single finger rose as a warning. "You would do very well to remember that. We are a cooperative effort, and if you are not satisfied with that, then I suggest you find somewhere else to restock."

An angry look was all that was returned before the holo-projection of Sekress blinked out of existence.

Glad for the calm once more, Kes reached forward to answer the comm that still chirped at him.

"Yes?"

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Commander hiii, it's Lieutenant Gradoona sir, howya dooing?"

In the background on the audio line, a periodic loud clang could be heard that was still audible enough to be jarring.

[Kes Akiena]

"I'm well, thank you."

Strangely enough, her voice made him feel a little bit less frustrated, and in that moment Kes leaned back in his seat. While he'd hoped that this call was made to inform him that the work in his quarters was complete, the background sound coming from the other end of the line told him otherwise.

"What can I help you with, Lieutenant?"

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

The other line was a series of squeedles before returning from Herglese

"Sooo yaah, I'm fiiine, moostly, yaknoo. Just a teeeny praablem. I think whoever built this station just mighta been dropped on their noggin' a few times when they were a calf."

Back in Kes' quarters, the Herglic wound up with another big swing from a mallet, trying to dislodge a stubborn bit of fastener from the periphery of the sheared hull plate.

"Real square-peg-round-hole kinda praablem here. Soo, the Imperial build manifests are uuusually pretty cookie cutter, yaknoo. All standardized bits and baabs. Well you would naat believe what I'm lookin' at now."

[Kes Akiena]

Pushing over a few datapads, Kes went about reorganizing his desk, trying to clear the accumulated clutter.

"And what would that be?"

Hopefully a hidden decanter of fine Alderaanian cognac.

[Gradoona Pod-Floewander]

"Soo yaknoo how the Empire uses a Kuati five star standard measure on all their systems?"

Gradoona wound up another swing, creating a rousing din over the line.

"Well, whatever numbskull put this in apparently used a female connector based aan Corellian metric. Even see the measure stamp right here."

The Herglic haaauuumed loudly, and swung again.

"That's aboout a nine micrometer deviation, yaknoo, as the caliper flies and all. Stumps me how they even uugh got this booger in here. Must've used a force hammer...oor a mass driver...oof!"

[Kes Akiena]

She would've done better to simply keep speaking Herglese, as he would've had just the same amount of success in deciphering whatever it was she was talking about. There was really only one thing that concerned him though, and Kes voiced that worry without a second thought.

"So then, how long of a job would you say this is turning into?"