reversedpolarity | [ddd][log][Kaylee]

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[ddd][log][Kaylee]

By all rights, Scotty probably shouldn't have been inviting Miss Kaylee over for a tour of the Enterprise. And he did feel a bit guilty about doing it; they were supposed to ask Jim if they could bring people over, but Jim... the community seemed to have let him go. He could ask Spock, maybe, but he figured he was a good enough judge of character to bend the rules just a little bit, and besides, a fellow engineer wouldn't pose any threat to the ship.

So as soon as he told Miss Kaylee he'd beam her over, Scotty hurried up to the transporter room, got a lock on the signal of the device she was using to access the community, and brought her over, unable to help a small, cocky grin as she materialized on the landing platform. "Welcome t'the Enterprise."

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"Aye, well. S'like I said. She's brand new, or near enough." It was clear from the way he smiled at the ship around them that yes, he was fond of her. More than just a little fond of her, if he was being completely honest with himself. "Been with her since just after her maiden voyage." His smile fell a little at that; although it had been two and a half years since the events that resulted in Vulcan being destroyed, the Federation was still feeling the effects of it. But now was not the time or place to talk about that. "I'd like t'see Serenity sometime," he continued, walking along at a leisurely pace, giving Kaylee enough time to look around at everything. "If that's alright with you, o' course."

She listened intently, always the attentive student when it came to boats. She was definitely a fanatic when it came to mechanics. It seemed like her version of mechanics was different than this universe's but she could live and learn. She'd always been a fast learner, in fact. She was resourceful, too. Not that she was here to fix anything. It was just a thought.

He mentioned wanting to see Serenity and Kaylee snorted a laugh. "Mal ain't so keen on visitors. Nobody rides without payin'," she explained, laughing lightly. "Wouldn't be the first time we snuck someone on board. S'pose could have you about when we're docked some time and the captain's on business."

"An' what if I could pay?" he asked, grinning at her. "Haven't met a captain yet couldn't be swayed with a drink or two." It wasn't likely that he could pay in whatever currency they used where Kaylee was from, after all, but he did have that still set up in the engine room, and it wouldn't be much trouble to brew up a special batch of something in exchange for getting to look around Serenity. "Don't know about money, but I'm sure I could find something t'pay with, aye?"

"Mal likes things he can resell," she said, probably giving away too much information than she should, but that was going to be the best way to get by her captain. He wasn't much for bribes, but if he had something to offer, something they could make a profit on? Yeah, that would definitely pique the captain's interests. "That'll at least get you a ride," she admitted. It wasn't long after that comment that she's paused their journey, staring at a console by a door. She tilted her head and looked it over. None of their console's were that streamlined... or small. She shook it off a second later and rejoined Scotty.

"I'll figure something out, then." He slowed down as she stopped by the console near the door, just watching as she examined it, and started off again when she rejoined him, still just taking his time walking. "Engine's a few levels down," he told her, pausing by yet another console to pull up a map for a moment, so Kaylee could see the basic design of the ship. It occurred to him that three months ago - no, it was four now - when he'd first found the community, he'd never have so much as considered bringing anyone over, and now... "You'll be able t'feel her runnin', when we get closer."

He stopped them at another console. He pulled up a map of the ship and she was struck suddenly with how big it was. It was... huge. She was used to all of nine crew members and really only enough room for a few more people when transporting. The guest dorms were small and cramped and not meant for long term living. She examined it thoroughly, leaning in with her mouth dropped open. "How many people are runnin' this thing?" she asked, eyes still on the map.

"About a thousand, give or take a couple hundred," he answered, tucking his hands in his pockets. It wasn't something he ever really thought about, how big his ship was. He'd been on bigger, and he'd been on smaller. "There's about four hundred in the engineerin' department alone, an' I get t'oversee every one o' them." He couldn't help the note of pride that entered his voice as he spoke.

She looked at him in awe. "We got nine, plus three passengers. Ain't never seen something so big that weren't Alliance," she admitted, still staring at the map like it would suddenly unfold from the wall and dance around her feet. She couldn't even begin to imagine a ship of over a thousand. "How do you keep it runnin' with so many hands?"

For a moment, just a moment, he felt a twinge of guilt, which was ridiculous, he told himself. Just because this Alliance where Kaylee was from sounded like a less reputable version of the Federation didn't mean he had to feel guilty about it - or, he hoped, that Kaylee was going to hold it against him. "My crew's separated into various stations within the department," he answered, reaching over to shut the map off, before beckoning for her to follow as he started walking again. "There's about four shifts a day, an' I've got about a hundred on each shift. Mostly it's maintenance - the computer runs her, for the most part, an' we keep an eye on her an' make sure she's in good condition."

She followed, though still feeling in awe. She was suddenly feeling like she was completely inadequate. She thought back to their crew of nine and was surprised they were able to run the ship sometimes. The three passengers would be off at the next planet. Then it would be just them again. Only her to take care of Serenity.

"I've got to listen close to Serenity. She don't talk to everybody," she said without realizing she was once again giving the ship a form of sentience.

He glanced sideways at her when she spoke up, his smile turning a bit softer at what she said. "Sometimes I wonder if it's only me who can hear the Enterprise talkin'," he replied. "C'mon, it's just a bit further this way." He led her to the turbolift, motioned for her to step instead, and in a matter of moments, they were on the engineering deck. The hum of the engine was more prevalent here, and he grinned, excited to be showing off.

The engine room - which wasn't a room so much as it was an entire deck, taking up an expansive section of the ship - was a good deal less shiny and white than the rest of the ship. Scotty liked that. An engine should look like it did something, he thought, rather than just looking pretty.

She followed him into the lift, she guessed. The hum of the lift itself felt a lot more like home already. Everything was so nice on this ship. She liked her homey boat. It wasn't fancy and it didn't show off. It was simple and she liked it that way. They did very quickly find themselves in the not-so-shiny engine room, which looked like it could house a few fireflies in there even with all the machinery.

The engine made a familiar noise, though not quite the same as Serenity. Kaylee was used to something akin to a grind and clunk; the sound of metal against metal. This sound more like a constant hum and vibration. There were so many people down there. She was overwhelmed and simply stood there, staring out at the place.

The Enterprise had to show off; she was the Federation's flagship, after all, and it wouldn't do for her to look anything less than the best the Federation could offer. Scotty stopped when Kaylee did, just standing a moment, watching his crew work. They were the best the Federation could offer too, and he was proud of them, proud of his ship, proud of the way they kept the engine running like a charm. "Beautiful, isn't she?"

"Ain't seen nothin' like it," she expressed, eyes wide. Not only was it a huge room, but there was crew members all over. Some were wander, eyes down on a sort of tablet looking thing they were holding while miraculously navigating while not looking up. Others were standing at consoles, tapping the screens. Kaylee felt very small for a moment, realizing that Serenity is very obviously a much smaller ship than she even realized. She never had any idea that something like this was possible, though she couldn't say it was since this wasn't her world. It didn't help that none of the technology and mechanics looked even remotely familiar.

Scotty glanced over at her, smiling; he was long-used to engines this size, but he could remember the first time he'd stepped foot in a Federation ship's engine room. It was overwhelming, if you didn't know what you were getting yourself into. "She's easy enough t'navigate, once you know what's what. It helps, t'break her down into sections until you get a feel for her." He couldn't help a quiet chuckle as he added, "An' now y'see why it takes about a hundred people on-shift t'keep her runnin', aye?"

She nodded almost blankly, hearing what he was saying and responding, but not quite grasping the vastness of the ship. She eventually snapped out of it and looked over at him, giving a bright as ever smile. "She's beautiful," she finally admitted. Not like Serenity, but she was beautiful. "You gonna explain her to me?"

"Oh, aye, if you want me to," he replied, offering his arm to her. He didn't want her getting lost in the engine room, after all, and, well. He did fancy himself a gentleman. Most of the time. Right now was certainly as good a time as any to be a bit gentlemanly; in an engine room as big as the Enterprise's, if Kaylee got lost he'd have one hell of a time finding her again. The first stop, he thought, should be the warp core. "What sort o' propulsion system have you got on Serenity?" he asked, to get an idea of just how much he needed to explain.

He offered his arm and she grinned like a loon, excited to see such a fine gentleman among the crew. She took his arm, naturally and kept that smile on her face - though it seldom left her face. He asked about their propulsion system, to which she answered cheerfully. "We run a gravity-drive system," she starts to ramble on about the mechanics very briefly, explaining the main propulsion system.

He listened intently as she outlined the mechanics of the gravity-drive system, and while he could follow along, it didn't sound like anything he'd heard of, at least not here at home. The physics of it made sense, at least, which was saying something; he'd come to discover that physical law wasn't always necessarily constant across dimensions. It didn't take long for the pair of them to come up on the warp core; it took up a large space in the middle of the engineering deck, a hulking piece of machinery glowing a with a soft blue light. "There she is. The heart o' the engine."

He seemed to follow, but Kaylee was too enthusiastic to notice if he wasn't getting it. At any rate, once she'd finished, they had made their way to something that was glowing in a radiant blue. She tilted her head, looking at it as if it was going to change in front of her eyes. It took her a moment to find the words, but really she only had one question; "What's it do?"

"Powers the warp engines." He launched into an explanation of how the warp engines worked, detailing the matter/antimatter injectors, the dilithium that contained the reactions, the warp plasma created through the reactions. He moved on a bit then to point out the plasma conduits, which carried the plasma up to the warp nacelles, creating the warp field around the ship. There was the impulse system to look at too, after he was finished showing her around the warp system, but considering the warp system was far more impressive...

She seemed completely engulfed in the explanation and though some of it made sense, she still wasn't sure how they had figured all that out. All she had was what she knew and it was nothing like a warp drive. They had their own ways of doing things back where she was and from what she could tell, Scotty wasn't going to be very impressed with Serenity. She kept that to herself though. "That's a lot of machine to watch out for," she replied.

"Aye, like I said. On the good days she's a handful." He couldn't help but smile fondly at the warp core, though. "She's a good machine, though. She'll run a while, s'long as I keep an eye on her." He hoped she'd run a good long time, at least. Starfleet liked to refit and upgrade as often as possible, which wasn't really all that necessary as far as Scotty was concerned. He'd get comfortable with one ship design and then they'd go and change it up on him, and he was half convinced that whoever designed the fleet's ships had never so much as thought about being out in space.

Kaylee understood that sentiment. She knew that the firefly class ships were likely to run forever. Parts were cheap and with regular maintenance, they'd stay in the skies until they let her down. They were good, hearty ships and she liked it that way. She unintentionally squeezed his arm in excitement, looking around like a kid in a candy store and pointed some odd direction asking what a particular piece of machinery was. None of it looked familiar so everything needed an explanation. After she'd gotten enough information to satisfy her she finally asked, "How fast she run?"

He was more than happy to explain everything she pointed out, keeping the explanations simple where he thought the technology might be a bit different from what she knew, going more in-depth when he was fairly certain she'd know what he was talking about. And when Kaylee asked how fast the Enterprise ran... "Depends," he answered, grinning broadly. "I can get her up t'about warp seven, no trouble. Warp eight if I baby her a little." He went on to explain just how fast that was, which, all things considered was pretty damn fast.

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