Tresspass

Posted on Thu Feb 20th, 2020 @ 4:27am by

Mission: In the Family
Location: Engineering
Timeline: MD2
1049 words - 2.1 OF Standard Post Measure

The Athena was a big ship. At least, from an eight year old's perspective. Ylias had been wandering around the ship for hours now, not even thinking of asking the computer to guide him home. He was a big boy! He didn't need any help getting home, now did he? What would his brother and sisters think? Baby brother needed a hand to hold his, still? No!

His gaze traveled up as he came across a set of double doors, which opened upon his approach. "Oohhh," he breathed as he slinked inside. Engineering, this was where grandma told him so much about! The boy crept further inside, awe-ing at the many blinking lights. Oh oh there was a vacant console... surely he could..? He walked up, standing on the tips of his toes to get a better reach, a small hand already reaching for the buttons....

Yadira had sensed the child's presence as he entered engineering. The innocence of the child amazed her in that it had no malice to it only curiosity. Quietly, so"s not to scare the curious child, Yadira's hand was poised just above the child's hand. Just as he was about to touch the buttons, Yadira gently touched it much to the surprise of the child. Shocked, the young boy froze long enough for her to come face to face with him. "No need to be afraid. I don't bite", Yadira said. Kneeling she looked at him and asked, "How did you get here and who is your daddy?" she asked smiling warmly.

"I'm Ylias," the boy said as he yanked his hand back. "And I just walked in through the door. My gramma is an engineer and I wanted to see if this place is as grand as she's always been telling about. But this looks very different, much grander than her tales. Why is that?" The 7 year old deliberately didn't tell her who his dad was.

"Ah.....so cat's got your tongue hm.....I bet your grandma was a fantastic engineer too! Take my hand Ylias and I will show you around my engine room ok? But you first have to promise me you won't tell the captain ok? He doesn't like children in main engineering. You could get hurt down here ok?", Yadira asked Ylias as she hazed i to his big eyes.

"If you don't tell my dad," the boy replied as he reached to take her hand. "Can I push some buttons? They look all very interesting. Can I also see the warpcore? How does a warpcore work? Have you ever lost one?" He fired the questions at rapid succession, barely giving her time to respond.

Yadira was chuckling as the onslaught of questions came bubblng from Ylias. "Slow down young man...one thing at a time. First the warp core, then I will take you to help me push buttons ok?"

The boy simply nodded though he seemed excited.

Taking the childs hand, she guided him to the pulsing blue core. The rhythmic sound was quite hypnotizing as were the lighting effects as the core functioned. "This is the warp core. It is the heart of the ship. The core pulses faster when our engines go faster. The core uses warp plasma as her blood. Her core pumps the plasma through relays and power taps like your blood flows through your body. If the core stops, so does the ship.if your heart stopped so woud you", Yarina told tge wide eyed child.

Ylias stared at her. "So the core is like my heart?" He mused, that was certainly a new way to look at it.

"Ok now the fun part, I need you to help me to get the sensor array set up for a diagnostic. See these two buttons here only when I say ok?", she said.

Again, Ylias just nodded, though his small hand was already reached towards the indicated buttons.

Yadira set up the console so that only the two buttons were the only two that Ylias could press as a safety measure. " Ok ready set....push the first one then the other and stop," she said.

The boy did as he was told tough he had some difficulty as the buttons were just within his reach.

Suddenly the diagnostic board went from red to green indicating that the diagnostic was complete and everything was fine. "See...you pushed the buttons and fixed the sensor array for me!", Yadira said to the now smiling child who was very excited. "Now let's go to my office and get some ice cream. What flavor do you like?", she asked.

"Chocolate!" The boy exclaimed, "though mamma doesn't want me to eat dessert before dinner.... Mamma says I always have to have dinner first. But it's too early for dinner isn't it. I probably should go home.... daddy will be very cross because I'm not home."

"You don't want your ice ream Ylias?" Yadira asked. "I'm sure your father would not be angry at you if I went with you to meet them and tell me what a young man you are and that you helped fix the sensor array", she said, looking at the childs face change.

"But I'm not supposed to go here," the boy answered softly, "I wasn't supposed to leave home."

"Ah......you disobeyed your parents then. Hm. That might be a problem", she said handing him his plate of chocolate ice cream. "Here eat up and run home before you do get caught. However, next time ask before you sneak out ok?", Yadira said.

Though he knew he probably wouldn't, the boy nodded anyway. "You won't tell daddy?" he asked as he shoveled the ice cream in, still not disclosing who daddy was.

"Now how can I tell your daddy anything if I don't know who he is cause you still haven't told me his name yet", Yadira said smiling.

The boy grinned at her. "True," he admitted as he handed a very quickly finished plate back to her. "Bye!" he called out before running off.

"That kid is fast. I would like to meet his daddy", Yadira said looking at the young Ensign standing near her.

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Ylias Horn
Rascal Child
npc Savin

&

Lt. Cmdr. Yadira Reisen
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Athena