[BACK POST] Meeting the Chief Engineer

Posted on Thu Jun 30th, 2022 @ 1:35am by Lieutenant Commander Nyx Valentine & Lieutenant Commander Andromeda Lightfeather

Mission: Lower Decks
Location: Ships Lounge
Timeline: Before next mission Briefing

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during one of her off-duty times, Andi decided to visit the lounge of the ship, after a long ride in a turbo lift she stepped out onto the level where the ship's Lounge was located and walked towards it. Upon entering she sees an unfamiliar face, in Operations yellow, taking a closer look the officer looked like a Betazoid, but she could not really tell from this distance. But she walked over to where the person was sitting.

"Hello Commander mind if I join you?" She asked and then continued "you are a new face around here, I am Lieutenant Commander Andromeda Lightfeather ships First Officer, and you are?" she asked another question.

"Of course!" Nyx smiled up from her mug of non-alcoholic beer and grinned widely at the new face to her as well. Her own face was perfectly made up, her bright red lipstick a beacon in the place. Around her neck, what looked like it could have been an oddly shaped necklace or scarf... Moved. Small green eyes blinked open and a small head lifted with a slight chirrup sound as the lizard-like tail contracted more protectively around the engineer's throat. One of her hands reached up and rubbed the small head gently, "Lieutenant Commander Nyx Valentine," She pronounced it 'Veil-en-teen', "Chief Engineer and general doodler, at your service." She released the drakeling's head, "And this is Gigi."

Sitting down and nodding she turned her attention to the little pet and reached out to gently stroke under its chin "what a cute little animal" Andi said giving the pet a friendly smile, she assumed the pet would recognise a smile, so she looked up at the new CEO "what species is Gigi?" she asked.

The little lizard leaned into the chin scritches with another more muted chirrup and vibration that almost sounded like a growl, but was more akin to a purr. Nyx smiled as Gigi cocked her head as if to ask if it were all right, then the drakeling pressed the side of her head into the newcomer's hand "Gigi is a Drussellian Drakeling, a two-year-old so she's fully grown already and rather quite intelligent, about like most of Earth's dog breeds. They're related to Drussell's Drakes and therefore the Dragons, which were bred to be war mounts for ancient Drussellian nobility." She smiled brightly, loving the fact that her little girl was special and always was fun to explain. "As you can tell, she's rather quite friendly and is getting to be quite well trained, she's up to just over twenty commands that she'll obey, whether with words or whistles, which is how they're typically trained."

Nodding absently Andi proceeded to make more of a fuss of the little animal who seemed to be enjoying the attention "I bet Gigi is a character at the best of times?" She asked looking up at Nyx "twenty Commands! wow, that is impressive" she added.

"Oh, Gigi's well behaved, usually." She inhaled with a low whistle that caught the little creature's attention, it sliding off her neck and onto the table, her head not moving the slightest until she backed off. Nyx smiled toward Andi even as she kept eye contact with the lizard. She extended a handout and made a twirling motion with her index finger, along with a single high-pitched whistle and the drakeling spun in place. Then a two-toned whistle and the hand pointed off to the right.

Gigi leapt in that direction, feet braced against the edge of the table as her wings snapped open and she flapped off, gaining altitude while her head turned in search of the destination, turning her flight course even as a reversed two-tone whistle caught her attention and she banked into a hard turn back towards her person. There wasn't an extended arm and she briefly contemplated a shoulder, when one finger touched the top of her target's head Gigi tucked her wings in as she arrowed towards the designated landing zone, flaring her wings and back winging twice before landing on all fours on the crown, folding her wings back against her body again.

Nyx reached up to caress her drakeling's head gently again, "Rather well behaved." She repeated, though don't put anything shiny in front of her, she loves shiny things. She is, after all, a drakeling, and they have a hoarding instinct."

Nodding in understanding "Sounds like a human magpie, a bird that was black and white in colour and was part of the Crow family, it was said that they liked to hoarded shiny things too" Andi responded as some drinks were brought to them, she nodded her thanks and took a sip of hers.

A single low-pitched whistle and Nyx used a finger to 'lead' the drakeling off her head and onto the table. A flat palm to the table and the little creature laid flat and an obvious 'stay' hand signal earned the drakeling another caress and Nyx gently tugged at a wing, Gigi letting her extend the arm and wing to show off the membranous but tough skin, "I practice this one with her often, it allows me to check her for injuries and wingrot, which she's never had thankfully. Want to feel how her wing is? Don't worry about tearing it, they're naturally forming carbon nanotubules, gives her enough of a lift-to-weight ratio actually to keep in flight."

Nodding Andi gently strokes the wing "Wow smooth, but tough." she commented she had to admit to herself the Drakeling was very cute. "How will Gigi cope and where will she be when you are on duty? as you cannot take Gigi into engineering with you" Lightfeather said.

"I've already had that particular discussion with the Captain when she came to visit, ma'am," Nyx said softly, knowing this would be a prickly moment. Some Execs and their Skippers didn't see eye to eye and she had no idea how this one did with her own, "I've obtained permission to keep Gigi with me, so long as she doesn't disrupt the operations of the section or make a nuisance of herself. I've got platforms already set up for her to roost in most areas that I'm going to constantly be in, so she'll stay out of the way and you've already seen that she follows commands."

Nyx very quickly took a sip of her drink, "I got Gigi as an unhatched egg during a diplomatic mission to Drussell, a gift to me from them. She's sixteen months old and they form most of their habits within the first two years, which is the typical interval between broods for a drakeling. Obviously, I can be separated from her for two or three-hour periods, and that is actually healthy for them, but I'm also going to try to find someone else that can interact with her in the case that I need to go on an away mission I can't bring her on. I had a few of those on board Hyperion and they were... Interesting to come back from, it's amazing how much of a mess that something as small as Gigi here can make in a few short hours." She'd released the wing and reached into a pocket to provide a treat for the dragon, then absently touched her neck and the drakeling swarmed up her arm again to take her former place as a 'necklace' again.

Considering what was said "hmm... I have no issue with Gigi joining you in engineering as long as you make sure that she stays out of the way of the other crew in engineering, some may not be one-hundred per cent on having her in engineering with them, as long as you are aware of that all is good. Heck, she may even make some more friends down in engineering, here is a thought, why not set up her main roost in your office in engineering!" Lightfeather suggested.

“Oh, ye of little faith.” Nyx chuckled again, “Already been there and done that, well, to a degree at least. Matt is still getting used to her, a couple of the others are also hesitant, but I’m sure they’ll come around in time. I hate being in my office unless I absolutely have to, though, but I do still have it already set up as a playpen of sorts, so while I’m busy with all of that glorious paperwork I get to deal with, Gigi can have a bit of a romp. I’ve ever worked with a medical officer to come up with some small drones for Gigi to hunt! Fully edible and digestible for her, they act as one of the native Drussellian insects.”

"Can Gigi eat fabricated drones?" Lightfeather asked honestly curious to such a mention of such crafted insects.

"The ones I have the pattern for are mostly organic matter with some trace metals and minerals that are actually rather important for her health." Nyx grinned, "She can actually digest a small amount of iron-based metals, but it isn't all that good for her on a regular basis. Of course, she'll try to eat most anything she can, much like a small child!" She laughed, "Watching her hunt is really quite fun, and woe betide any mouse that she comes across, though after gorging that much, she'll whine piteously until I pick her up because she doesn't feel like flying after that."

Smiling "sounds like she is a handful does Gigi," Andi said finishing up her drink "well I have duties to attend to and they cannot be put off much longer, it has been nice chatting with you Commander when off duty call me Andi," she said and gently stroked Gigi under her chin "nice meeting you too Gigi," she said.

"She certainly is..." Nyx murmured as Gigi again pressed her head against Andi's fingers with a chirrup of enjoyment of the attention. "But I can say, Andi, that the pleasure is all mine, and Gigi's of course. If you need anything, you know where I'll be."

With a nod and a final smile, Andi left the lounge to return to her duties as she said and was already planning a nice restful shore leave.


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