Benedict Cumbermove

Posted on Sat Mar 26th, 2022 @ 5:26pm by Lieutenant Xavier Leiko & Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII & Lieutenant Didrea Zade & Lieutenant JG FalenvralLi Zh’kyhrihr & Lieutenant JG Xava Denlorr

Mission: With Gleaming Eyes
Location: Mining Site
Timeline: MD05 - 0800hrs
2018 words - 4 OF Standard Post Measure

Finn couldn’t wait to see Benedict again, after discovering he or she was an actual baby space cow just waiting to hatch. Her demeanor was quite jolly as she waltzed into the room where it sat within the mines on the planet. Luckily no one else had arrived yet, meaning she had a minute or two to talk to the creature before the others showed up to help move it.

“Good morning Benedict,” Finn half whispered to the glowing orb. “I hope you slept well last night. I didn’t. My mind was too busy thinking about you and the move today. Don’t worry though, I’m sure everything will run smoothly and before you know it, you’ll be back with your family in space!” The sound of feet shuffling outside of the room caused Finn to quickly close her mouth. The last thing she needed was to get caught talking like an idiot to the glowing orb.

Zade yawned as she entered the mining site, her hands in the process of putting her hair into a ponytail. Following the hours spent finding Savin yesterday, Zade spent the rest of her afternoon with the medical team, and despite getting a full night's rest, it just wasn't enough. She saw that Fin had already arrived, and she was standing next to a glowing object. "Morning, Lieutenant... is this the space egg I've heard about?" she asked, stopping next to Finn.

"Good morning, and yes, this is the space egg. His name is Benedict." Finn replied matter of factly. Though her speech had only a hint of enthusiasm, there was a glow in her eyes of excitement and it wasn't just a reflection from the egg. "He's feeding off the energy coming from the planet's core right now," she said, noting the spike in energy readings showing on the active scan. "Based on what we've seen, he'll slow down within the next hour and that's when we can move him."

Zade raised an eyebrow and looked between Finn and the egg, noting that it was taller than the engineer. She did not expect this thing to be so large. "You named it?" What was it with humans and naming objects? She started walking slowly around the egg to study it.

"She has indeed named it," Xavier said as he appeared in the room. He was in an EV suit and carrying a toolbox in one hand and a tricorder in another. Even though he had been cured, he didn't want to run the risk of infecting anyone else, just in case. He was hoping they would be done before anyone in sickbay knew he was gone, he hadn't exactly got clearance for being on this mission. "I tried to talk her out of it too, but Keating can be as stubborn as a Klingon when she chooses to be."

"Don't humans even have some kind of saying about not naming your chicks until they hatch?" Li rounded the corner, guiding a cargo sled. A lot of the ship's complement was already down at the medical site, but she'd managed to get one that she hoped was rated for however much this thing weighed. Unfortunately, the structure of the mine facility and the fluctuating radiation from the egg itself and from other activity in the area made transport tricky. Hopefully, the shuttle's internal shielding would keep that from being a problem for anyone riding along with it.

She waved at the unfamiliar security officer and said, "You're one of the new transfers from Colossal, Lieutenant? I'm Li. I'll be your pilot this morning - assuming we can get this thing out of here and up to the shuttle."

Zade turned her attention from her focused study of the egg, to the man in the EV suit, then to the Andorian who approached with a cargo sled. "Zade," she introduced herself, then shrugged with a small smile. "Personally, I think 'rent-an-officer' best describes my role at the moment," she joked before turning her gaze back to the egg. This thing was either heavy enough or fragile enough to require at least four people to move. Judging by its size, she guessed the former. "Where is this thing being moved to? The ship?"

"To a shuttle modified to carry it for now. That's why we have the best pilot on the ship," Finn pointed over her shoulder to Li, not looking up from the data streaming across the screen. "And the saying is don't count your chickens before they hatch. It has nothing to do with naming baby space cow eggs," Finn practically rolled her eyes at everyone in the room. "I don't understand why you're all so against Benedict having a name! It's better than calling him 'baby space cow egg' all day."

"To be fair," the Trill replied, "I'm not necessarily against it. I've just never heard of naming an egg." Zade then chuckled to herself. The naming of inanimate objects was definitely a tradition on the Colossal, though it was more the scientists than the engineers who did it. But even then, they had never encountered space eggs, so the chance to name one never occurred.

"Well technically it's the name of the baby space cow inside the egg," Finn corrected. "I think he'll slow down his feeding rate within the next fifteen minutes. We ought to go ahead and hook up the generator so we can start to transfer Benedict from the planet's energy to our energy source while we move it. Do you agree?" She looked to Xavier.

"I prefer Li's version of the saying if I'm being honest," Xavier said as he gave Finn a half-smile. He checked his tricorder readings and gave a slight nod in Finn's direction. "Agreed. Once we are happy with the feeding rate then I'll be happy to move it. Lieutenant," Xavier turned to face the science officer he had yet to meet, "are you okay to monitor Benedict's vitals? We're not quite sure what's going to happen when we change the power source so we need to be on our toes."

"Yes, I can do that," said Xava.

"Naming, Counting," Li muttered through a crooked grin. "Cow eggs, chicken eggs. I'm not sure it changes the message." She kept the sled clear of the immediate area around the orb to give the scientists and engineers room to work until they were ready for her."

Zade looked at the people who spoke before turning to Finn. "Do we need to prepare anything while we wait for the opportunity to move... uh... Benedict?"

"Everything is basically set," Finn connected the final cable to the ring attachment on the egg's backside. "Once we turn on the power generator, Leiko over there will slowly remove power from the planet's core as I add power from the generator's side. Once it's in a stable condition and cut off from planetary power, we'll get him on the sled and then off to the shuttle." The grin on her face was wide and she exuded energy, filled with excitement over the whole ordeal. "Everyone ready?"

"Let's do it," Xavier said. His voice echoed Finn's excitement but he doubted it was for the same reason. He couldn't wait to be off of the planet and back in his own quarters. He made his way over to one of the Cardassian terminals that showed the power that was being fed through from the planet's core. He gave a quick nod to all of his companions through the heavy helmet he wore. "Reducing the power output now," he said.

"Come on Benny," Finn quietly whispered to the egg as they transferred power. Everything was going smoothly until halfway through. Energy readings started to spike, almost as if Benedict had caught on to what they were doing and he wasn't happy about it. "Bring the output back up some!" Finn shouted to Xavier.

Xavier had already started ramping up the power output before Finn's panicked tone. He continued to do so until the readings fell within acceptable levels. "He's a stubborn one," Xavier said as he went to wipe his brow, forgetting he was wearing an EV suit and hit his hand on the transparent glass in front of his face. "Okay, let's try this again but much slower this time," he said. The second attempt seemed to go much more smoothly, Benedict was stubborn but so were the crew. "How's it looking on your end Finn?"

"Looking good. I think...," Finn tapped a few command sequences, allowing the new generator to provide stable power. "We're good to go!" She removed the connection from Benedict to the planet's power, smiled, and tapped the top of the egg. "Let's get this sucker in the shuttle!"

Li winced at the sight of Finn's bare hand touching the top of the egg but assumed the engineer knew what she was doing. Quickly, but with care not to bump the orb, she moved the cargo sled in close and lowered it to about even with the base the egg was perched on. She then pulled on a pair of hazardous cargo-handling gloves she'd brought along to help in transferring the thing. "Just how heavy is it?"

"It should be okay," Xavier said as he checked the power output again, just to be sure. "I'm sure we can manage him," he added confidently. It wasn't too long after that he was feeling much less confident, it took all of them working together to move Benedict to the anti-grav sled without hurting or damaging the egg. When they were done Xavier bent over slightly, panting, completely out of breath. Maybe I should have stayed in sickbay, he thought to himself as he allowed the automatic controls on the EV suit to cool the air within. "Right let's get him to the shuttle. You two," he pointed to the new officers from security and science, "beam to the ship, the three of us should be able to manage this from here."

Zade was slightly out of breath from the effort of lifting the egg but masked it by taking some slow breaths through her nose. The egg was heavier than she expected it to be, even considering its size and the number of people moving it. She looked at Xavier when he spoke, noting that he looked nearly spent. "You sure you don't want one of us to stay so you can get your energy back?" she asked.

"No I need to be there," Xavier said, panting slightly. "If the power on that thing fails you're going to need an operations officer who knows their stuff, Finn can't do it all," he added, throwing a wink at the engineer. "But maybe having a security officer with us isn't the worst idea, just in case the Cardassians come looking for our new friend here."

Knowing nothing about how to keep an egg's power supply stable, Zade nodded as if she understood. "Yeah, you probably don't want Benedict to become scrambled," she said with a little smile at her own joke. "I'll be sure to stay out of your way."

"With jokes like that, that's probably a good idea," Xavier said with a smile, already warming to the new security chief. "Time to leave everyone," he added, wanting this all to be over so he could crawl into bed and sleep for the next few days.

Though the egg was stable in its position, Li slowly adjusted the sled into travel position and pulled it away from the platform. She accelerated only gradually and make wide smooth turns on her way out of the facility toward the shuttle, as though afraid she'd be the one to topple and crack it.

Xavier followed the others out of the cavern as the familiar sound of the transporter pulled Xava back to the ship. He had to admit, he couldn't wait to return Benedict back to its natural habitat, but wondered how the Cardassians would retaliate from this act of betrayal and how long it would take?