Backpost: Refit to Discover

Posted on Thu May 29th, 2025 @ 3:00pm by Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair & Lieutenant Moon Ji-hee

1,173 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Indivisible
Location: Deck 3, Shuttle Bay
Timeline: Before arrival at Rheuys

=/\= On =/\=

The shuttlebay doors hummed faintly as they slid open. The soft, ambient thrum of the ship’s engines drowned out most other noises. Moon Ji-hee hesitated on the threshold, pale sea-green eyes wide as they swept across the cavernous expanse ahead of them. The polished duranium floor gleamed under the glow of meticulously tailored overhead lighting. The reflection of several sleek shuttlecraft reflected off it like mirrored specters. Her hand lingered on the slim utility bag slung over her shoulder's strap, before pulling it down to tighten it.

Lieutenant Moon felt extremely new and somewhat out of place on the Myogi. Earlier in the day, she decided she'd start making an effort to meet the crew. She scheduled a meeting with Lt. JG Jane Sinclair, Chief Flight Control Operator. Ji-hee had learned her first assignment would be refitting a shuttle into the latest Science variant specifications. Since a lot of the upgrades dealt with sensor and computer technology, the Operations department would bear the brunt of the refit.

The Lieutenant's boots clicked softly as she made her way across the flight deck. Ji-hee found the specific shuttle she searched for after a bit of searching. She smiled as she looked over its illuminated gray form.

Surrounding the sleek shuttle were glimmering holographic displays monitoring diagnostics and system status. Nearby LCARS panels displayed an illuminated cross-section of the shuttle.

Ji-hee ran her delicate, freckled hand along the little craft's shape. It slid down the curve formed alongside the front windscreen's pillar. She turned around to scan the crowd with her verdant irises. Surely the ship's top pilot was nearby. She'd checked her file for her image earlier to make finding her easier.

There was suddenly a loud squeaking sound as an old-fashioned wheeled sled rolled out from under the shuttle. On it, on her back, was the aforementioned Jane Sinclair, in her preferred alt-uniform of a red maintenance jumpsuit with the top half tied around the waist, her white tank top spotted with what few fluids these craft still used. She grinned as she looked up to the new Ops Chief, with whom she had not yet shared a bridge shift.

“Careful,” she said with a giggle. “I should warn you that the last person I walked in on touching my shuttles like that became one of my best friends, to the point that we spent two-and-a-half weeks in the brig together.” She held her hand up, an implicit request for help up.

"Ouu", Ji-hee squeaked excitedly. "It would be fun to be friendzies... We might as well. These shuttle upgrades are going to take some time."

The Ops officer knelt before Jane and took her hand. She stood and helped hoist the woman to her feet. "These sensor upgrades are really intense. Let me search up the full list of upgrades. Anyway,,, How are you doing? Conn keeping you busy?"

Ji-hee stood close to Jane as they spoke.

“Busy as ever!” Jane replied, nodding at the eager and friendly new Ops Chief. “So this is the girl we’re upgrading. The Type-9 meets our range and defensive needs already. Kame here is ready and willing to receive our enhancements. Her sister Ankou is busy with her role as long range personnel transport and also can’t be touched because she’s my special girl.” She laughed and led Ji-hee to a workbench, where diagrams of their planned upgrades were laid out.

Lt. Moon's expression brightened as the names of each shuttle were given. Her face beamed as she said, "You make them sound so cute! If you put it that way, then I can't wait to boost her up."

Ji-hee approached the Type-9. "Hello, Kame... Nice to meet you." She smiled and turned back to Jane. "Tell me what you've done to Ankou so far." She pulled out a small PADD and prepared to read the list of proposed upgrades. "I'll tell you the potential upgrades for Madam Kame in a second."

“Most of Ankou’s upgrades relate to comfort and speed,” Jane explained. “Her job is simple: one to three crew need to be someplace different than the Myogi, like a conference maybe. So she’s rigged for high speed in a straight line with minimal bumps along the way. A bunk can be installed in the aft compartment pretty easily if the journey will be more than 20 or so hours. Like I said, comfort and speed. But Kame needs a more personal touch, doesn’t she? Specific tools for specific jobs?”

"You could say that", Ji-hee said as she thumbed through her PADD. She offered it to Jane. "This is a list of the proposed upgrades."

The list seemed fairly extensive at first glance. It involved installing new hardware and completely overhauling little Kame's sensor suite.

It included an omniphased subspace array with an increased ability to detect anomalies. An adaptive chroniton detector would even increase the shuttle's ability to track temporal distortions. The newest neutrino resonance enhancer could help the diminutive vessel track ships.

A large set of hardware needing to be installed was a poly-spectral density analyzer. It would give the ships the most advanced geological analysis capabilities available.

Advances also included augmenting the shuttle with several neural gel packs. A micro AI core was optional, adding limited roles in conducting experiments through algorithms and analysis. A harmonic algorithm processor could even help decode subspace interference patterns, useful especially in places like the Badlands.

It would take a lot of work, but most of it boiled down to hardware swaps and programming upgrades.

"What do you think?" Ji-hee had first felt overwhelmed by the exhaustive nature of the upgrades. She began to look forward to the project as she saw the ship. "We can take it slow. If we rotate teams on and off, it shouldn't be too demanding."

Jane grinned as she read through the list of upgrades. She’d seen these schematics recently; it was in the technical journal only a few weeks earlier. She’d not seen one in real life though. Yet.

She was glad to have found an apparent kindred spirit when it came to this sort of thing.

“We might need the chief engineer on this,” she suggested. “Ami is a little sister to me. She’ll be glad to help with implementation. As will I. It’s nice to get under these girls’ hoods.”

"I'm so excited to get the chance to work with you both", Ji-hee replied enthusiastically. "I think we'll definitely need Lieutenant Rori and her department's help. We'll have to take the project step-by-step... Lots of simulations and testing. But Kame will become really unique as a result! Let me know what you need from me in terms of resources."

“I’ll make a full list,” Jane said. “But in the meantime, want to see her under the hood?”



END

Lieutenant Moon Ji-hee
Chief Operations Officer, USS Myogi

Lieutenant jg Jane Sinclair
Chief Flight Control Officer, USS Myogi

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