Upgrades and Roses

Posted on Sunday, 2 May 2021 - 1:05pm by Lieutenant Scarlet Rogers & Lieutenant Ryan Rose MD

Mission: Operation: Peace or P'Jem

Ryan had to wipe down the coffee table before sitting on the couch. He definitely needed to come back to his quarters more often. They were finally on their way to base. He had a bit of downtime, which he longed to put to use. He checked the time. If all went according to plan, it was the perfect time to call. He opened up a video call to Scarlet.

Scarlet quickly answered. She was dressed very smartly, with her hair tied back. "Hi, I was about to try and call you," she beamed with a welcoming and happy smile, "Great minds think alike."

Ryan felt the remaining tension flee his body. "Hey." He relaxed further into the couch with a smile. "Did you have a meeting?" He asked. "You look very "i'm going to charge you an exorbitant fee for my consultation, and you'll happily pay it."

"I did," she replied, "I've just got back from my final interview for my PhD." It was clear she was bursting with excitement,"I didn't even get home, well, to this base where I'm working tomorrow, before they messaged me. I got it!"

"That's great!" Ryan was truly excited for her, and suddenly felt his romantic gesture wasn't nearly enough. "Go open your door." He urged her with a little head motion.

Scarlet looked confused a moment but then agreed, leaving her PaDD where it was. A few moments later she returned with a dozen red roses, "Ryan, they are beautiful!"

"Oh good, they were actually there. I was assured they would be actual roses, not replicated." He smiled. "Do you like them?"

"I love them," Scarlet replied sniffing them a moment, "and the vase is beautiful too. So delicate."

"Good. Now we need to celebrate. Have you eaten?"

"Not yet," she put the flowers down on the coffee table and then took off her suit jacket, "I'm starving. What were you thinking? Italian? Steak? Oh! Pizza! Definitely pizza." She took out her hair from it's bun, her afro-ish curls pinging to attention. She sighed and put it back up but in a loose pony tail.

"Ohhhh, good thinking." Ryan stood up. "Be right back." He hurried to the bedroom and grabbed Doctor Sexy Alligator, tossing him on the couch on his way to the kitchen. He grabbed 2 slices of pizza and a ginger ale then flopped back to the couch.

Scarlet soon returned also with pizza and a water. She looked cock headed at the stuffed toy, "will Mr handsome crocodile be joining us for dinner?"

It worked EVERY time, and now was no different. "Doctor Sexy Alligator, and yes, yes he will. It's a celebration." Ryan held up his glass of ginger ale. "To you."

Scarlet giggled. She knew the name, but enjoyed hearing him correct her. She raised her glass blushing, "to a future with smart medbays that are self-upgrading."

“Ok that to.”All right. “So do you have any ideas for your thesis?” Ryan bit into a slice of pizza with a low moan.

Scarlet giggled, enjoying her own pizza. She nodded, "yes, so I'll be writing about the delays in upgrades on ships that don't return to stations for long periods, like those that go on 3 year stints in unchartered space. I'm going to see if there is a way of narrowing the deficiency, since technology is constantly changing. I mean by the time most ships come back, they are years out of date. So I've been working of self replicating and learning nanotechnology, similar to borg tech. Equally, to try and see if there is a long distance communication we can also use to send updates like in Earth's old voyager craft that contained all Earth's information."

Ryan was clearly paying attention, nodding and making little affirmative noises between bites. “Speaking of upgrades, I have a laundry list of them that’s as long as my arm. We recently had a major power outage, and not all the backups worked as well as I would like.”

Scarlet nodded, "I can send a few through, it recycles energy. I've also got some plans for a traditional kinetic energy as a failsafe. Like wind up stuff. Your engineering team should be able to build it. It's simple and textbook. It won't work on the bigger things, but it should give you your main kit, inclusive of the EMH.”

“Perfect. I’ll send you over the details as well. But no more shop talk. This is your party. What would you like to do?”

"I'll look it over when I get into the office tomorrow," she replied with a nod, "as for me? How about we celebrate with my favourite movie ever: Wonder Woman? The only acceptable DC character. Oh, that, or you could try my mini programme. Do you know how to play chess?"

“Not well.” Ryan was already reaching for the controls to such up wonder woman between them. “What’s the mini program?”

"It's a cross between chess and pac man," she replied, "I got bored on Monday evening and I couldn't get hold of you. You see what that does? Look at what you made me do!" She teased, unable to keep a straight face or say her words without laughing.

Ryan giggled. “I’m sorry. Things have been even more crazy than usual around here.” He gazed at her. “I miss you.”

Scarlet smiled,"I've missed you too." She looked down a moment, "listen, the PhD means I'll be on a starship, or ships, for around three of four years. Any pointers for a girl that likes her feet on a planet?"

“Any time you can grab a holodeck and pretend you’re planetside, do it. If you are on a ship, find an excuse to get on an away team that is going planetside.” Ryan scrunched up his nose just a bit, thinking some more. “Don’t forget to take your vacation. Knew I was forgetting something.”

Scarlet nodded with a small chuckle, "I don't get those whilst doing a PhD, so that's OK." She paused, "I get to choose a ship, though. So that's good."

Ryan paused mid sip, like a comically frozen cartoon character. “I’m on a ship.” Which was a ridiculous statement. He took his sip, placed the glass down and looked at Scarlet on the screen. “Seriously though. I know the Standing Bear is small, but if you look over that laundry list I sent you, I think you’ll see she would make a great case study.”

Scarlet had a smile tug at her lips as her cheeks flushed red, "I know we've been talking for months and we've only seen each other in person for maybe the equivalent of a week or two, but I was hoping you'd suggest that."

“Yeah?” He asked. “So does that mean you’ll see if you can study here?”

"If that's OK," she half asked, "I mean, if it's not too soon or anything. You'll be stuck with me for at least a year."

“Are you kidding me? That’s a lot more than ok, that’s fantastic.”

Scarlet finished her pizza and nodded, "I'll put in an application and maybe I'll get to see you in person again, soon."

“I can’t wait. I’m going to see if I can manage a little time off. If I can, I could come visit?”

Scarlet nodded, "that sounds like it would be amazing. I'm hopping between bases at the moment, sorting out some final upgrades before I go on leave for my PhD. But I'll keep you up to date with where I am."

“Ok.” Ryan relaxed back into the couch. “Now, movie time.”

Scarlet grinned,"best movie ever. I always wanted to be Diana." She settled into her sofa in her temporary quarters and counted down for them to be able to start at the same time.