Some Pre-Departure Shopping

Posted on Sun Sep 1st, 2024 @ 1:03am by Lieutenant Commander Nyx Valentine

Mission: Mission 5: Lost, Stolen, or Missing?
Location: Nyx's Quarters/Starbase

One by one, Nyx placed the treat-drones on the counter and sent them their activation signals even as the small Drusselian Drakling watched with avid attention. A terse command had frozen her into her perch, obedient to Nyx's command, but nothing would stop her from watching as some of her favorite treats were lined up and suddenly buzzed to life, flitting in all directions. "Now, now, Gigi, I'm only going to be gone an hour. We've got about six before we're due to leave the dock, so I should be back in plenty of time and I can assuredly trust you for at least an hour, maybe two if I find a good enough deal, so the Captain won't be delayed, right?"

Her attention drawn by the various movements of the drones and several went in and out of sight, but at the cessation of her mistress's voice, the drakeling gave a chirrup of question, clearly eager to start her hunting.

"Exactly." Nyx knew that Gigi didn't understand her words, but took one final drone, this one slightly larger than the rest and waved it in the air until she had the tiny dragon's attention. It was an experimental model and should give the drakeling a bit more of a challenge than the standard fare. She tossed it in the air and released it, "Now, behave Gigi." She gave a three-toned whistle and the dragon slithered over the edge of the perch and fell half a meter before her wings snapped out and she began to fly, darting after the large treat.

Nyx slid out the door whilst her companion began her hunt, taking advantage of the distraction. After she'd hunted down all the treat-drones, Gigi would settle in for another nap and she'd be back by that time. It wasn't that she didn't want her along for the trip, but anyone afraid of a bull in a china shop would be horrified to see a drakeling in a jewelry shop. That, along with a trip to the dress shop to pick up the one she'd ordered a couple days ago and she'd be back on board with time to spare.

"See you soon, Tiffany!" The engineer in uniform said cheerfully to the Security officer standing outside the docking tube, heels clicking on the deckhead. The young woman shook her head after the Chief Engineer, it was odd to see someone so eccentric to be in that sort of position, unless they were the Captain themselves. Then the security woman cleared that from her mind, back to her duty.

Picking up the dress was the easy part and she left that shop after ten minutes wearing the new thing, a glitzy and sparkling golden color with black lace fringing on it and the seal that was in the front rather than the back. There had even been a place for her pips, but rather than the standard uniform, the skirting was a direct part of the dress and didn't even make it to her knees. Her uniform now lay in the back of the shop to be recycled, but her commbadge and pips were on the new 'uniform.' It was clear she was still a Starfleet officer, but if the Captain saw her, she'd likely DEMAND it be removed posthaste. The shoulders were clear from the sparkling effect, having had reinforced fabric installed as well for Gigi.

The jewelers was only a few doors down and she'd also placed her order with them previously, so as not to waste any time at all. She knew what her drakeling would do if left alone for too long. The package that was slid over the counter was opened and a new array of gold and topaz jewelry presented it to herself and she was giddy as she used a mirror to attach the teardrop earrings and the simple yet elegant necklace. She'd even commissioned a set of pips that would be worthy of a glamour-girl, instead of the typical dull pips, these had been made from synthetic topaz rounded in gold, the half-pip of obsidian. Certainly not for wear on the bridge. "These are gorgeous, better than I'd imagined!" She beamed at the jeweler who gave a slight bow at the compliment.

As she bounced out of the jewelry shop (where she could truly have spent hours), Nyx glanced around before spotting a chrono and checking the time. The whole ordeal had taken her a little bit less than an hour, well under the hour and a half that she'd laid out to get back to the ship and that meant she still had over three left before the ship would be due to leave. She'd made sure to give herself MORE than enough time because she didn't want to get yelled at by Captain Harding... Again.

Time to do a little window shopping on the way back to the ship and to show off the fact that even Starfleet officers could do glitz and glam just as well as civilians. The shop she finally paused in front of was one that only a civilian would enter, the fashions were practical but elegant and the engineer looked enviously at the mannequin in the window with a shoulderless dress that she instantly wanted, but in a different color preferably.

"Excuse me, Commander?" The cultured-sounding voice behind her caught her attention and she turned with a smile on her face to brush off the...

"Oh, good morning Lieutenant, how can I help you?" The pointed ears of the uniformed man painted him as a Vulcan. Certainly everyone on a station this close to the border had screened everyone to within an inch of their sanity, especially the Vulcans.

"I do apologize for disturbing you, but I could help but seeing the gold of your uniform and was wondering if you were an engineer? I'm aware that you aren't stationed here on the starbase, but.."

"I am. Lieutenant Commander Nyx Valentine, Chief Engineer of the Endurance." If there was any emotion that could be gleaned off of his emotionless face, it would have been relief, but there was none there to be seen. Of course, she realized, he knew precisely who she was because he'd approached her in the first place, "But you knew that already." She stated the obvious.

"Yes, Commander, I'm sorry. As you may not be aware, Commander Habbon was reassigned to McKinley and his replacement, Commander Mallendorf was injured two days ago and is still recovering in sickbay under orders to avoid any stress. Our problem is that we had an upgrade a week ago to the new holographic Damage Control system and we have been having some glitches. We have had several false alarms in the docking rings and one fire destroyed several thousand credits worth of supplies and never showed up on the system at all."

Nyx closed her eyes and grimaced, "I was one of the developers of the DCC Holo upgrade... I sent out a fix last week that should have been implemented.. The false alarms, they showed explosive decompressions, right?" She got a nod from the expressionless face, "The air pressure sensors were registering anything more than one point five PSI difference as that. The fix gets the sensors to take a read prior to and then after the docking equalization to prevent the false alarm. But you said that you just changed Chiefs and.. Yeah, I can see why."

"We don't have access to the update as it's in their message queue, but if you have the time, Commander, would you be able to assist in resolving this problem?" The other engineer raised one manicured eyebrow in typical Vulcan fashion.

"It should only take a few minutes and I've got more than enough time, Lieutenant!" Nyx grinned, gesturing ahead of them, "Lead on Lieutenant...?"

"Salaaka." He answered, cutting his way through the crowd with ease and Nyx followed expertly, but they entered a hallway within moments, "This is a shortcut to Engineering, ma'am." He explained, but there was a purpose to his face as he led her through what was clearly a civilian quarters section of the base.

"Did you all move DCC?" Nyx asked as they made yet another turn, it was the seventh or eighth turn and she really didn't know where she was, when Salaaka finally stopped in front of a set of quarters.

"Apologies, Commander, I needed to pick something up from my quarters. I forgot it this morning when reporting for duty." He keyed in his code and the door slid open, but there was a second hiss and Nyx's head turned sharply and she spun to where the second door was.

What greeted her was another face, Vulcanesque, but definitely sharper and more... Her heartrate doubled as adrenaline surged into her system, her hand racing to her commbadge, "Nyx Valentine to Security! Ro-” But before she could get the words out, there was a thunk and blackness overcame her as the ground rushed up to meet her.