Inside
my quarters I had spent a small fortune building my own personal
small scale machine shop. The chief engineer really didn't want me to
work on my own projects in “his” space, so I did from here.
Heaven help the next officer they try and stick in here with me. The
small room was simply filled with half built machinery that sparked
and sputtered. In the area where a second officer would sleep was
several more half built repair drones and a butler drone. Strange
almost alien-like specialized tools covered one wall just inside the
door. The other wall was a floor to ceiling white board covered with
mechanical scribbling and mathematical equations. A small very
expensive looking 3d printer sat on the table printing a complex
circuit board . Hard-copy blueprints and tech manuals littered the
floor. Basically it was fantasy-land for an engineer.
Eyes
still on the room looking for danger in every corner, the commander
resumed speaking to me. “ The uh, reason I came to see you is to
inquire, into your training.”
The
droid I had been working on jerked and moved, making the commander
jump.
”I
received a schedule from Admiral Kane, this morning. She wishes for
you to resume the non-engineering training that was laid out for you
2 years ago.”
Groaning
I looked down at my feet.
“I
see that you remember that list. After your shuttle craft adventure
we will be skipping flight training. We marked you down as completed
for that assignment. Next on the list is weapons and gunnery. You
will be seconded to Lt Commander Ney for basic weapons history and
technology.”
At that the commander left, nearly tripping over an
broken coffee maker.
Gods
above and Below! As if I don't have enough work to do. “Athena, I
do not see a problem with this assignment. You have me. I can help
with aiming and weapons tech research.”
“Duh.”
I had completely forgotten all about Wilson! My own personal cheat
sheet. Focus Athena, Focus, I keep telling myself. Wilson had been
keeping a low profile since we came aboard the James Cook. I'm not
sure if the records of his existence were shared with my current
captain or not. I could ask the admiral, but, I won't. I have kept
the ball of mischief that is Wilson, out of trouble so far. He has
been helping me to build my new maintenance droids. The navy uses
piloted drones for that function. My idea was to use autonomous
'droids' (stupid movie night) to effect repairs without any human
oversight. Wilson has been doing all the programming for me. I just
can't, quite, get the power source to work properly though. The droid
starts up, moves forward a foot, then catches on fire! I think I need
to fire-proof my quarters, again. Its a work in progress.
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