IT Support
Posted on 05 Mar 2026 @ 4:44pm by Lieutenant JG Ryan Collingway & Alura Ryn
1,812 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission: Silent Inheritance
////Engineering////
Ryan was working at his desk when a new request maintenance request came in. He glanced at it automatically, then did a double-take. Alura had reported a problem with her computer. At first, he would inclined to delegate it. He turned on the com. "Hanson, do you have time to look at a computer?"
"Ugh, this comm array is causing problems. It'll probably take another three hours to fix. Maybe tomorrow, unless it's urgent?"
"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it." The hovercart he had planned to build for her was taking far too long, as emergencies in Engineering piled up on them. The least he could do was fix her computer more quickly.
///Outside Alura's Quarters///
Ryan activated the chime this time, and waited to be granted entry.
The chime sounded.
Alura had been kneeling beside her desk terminal, one hand braced on the edge of the console as though she could coax cooperation out of it through proximity alone.
“Oh no, no, no,” she murmured to it, tapping the panel again. “That was a perfectly reasonable request. I said please.”
The chime sounded a second time.
She blinked, pushed herself upright, and smoothed her coral wrap top out of habit before crossing to the door. When it parted, she was very clearly expecting… anyone else.
“Ryan?”
For a heartbeat, genuine surprise flickered across her face. Then it dissolved into bright relief.
“Oh! Oh good, it’s you.”
She stepped back immediately, waving him in with both hands as though ushering in a welcome guest rather than an engineer on a service call.
“I’m so glad you’re here. I can’t get the terminal at my desk to reply to any commands at all. I asked it to open the event roster and it just sat there like it was contemplating its life choices.”
She leaned closer conspiratorially as he entered.
“I even tried sweet-talking it. No response. Very rude.”
"Well, I'm sure I can sweet-talk it into cooperating," Ryan said lightly, keeping his eyes on where the computer was. He felt like he had intruded enough on her privacy and willed himself not to look anywhere else. He brought along his own computer, which was essentially a master diagnostic computer, and plugged it into hers. "What was the last thing you were doing before it crashed?"
It was a standard question. But more than half the time the answer was 'I was doing something I shouldn't have done'. Alura didn't seem to fit into that category though, so he doubted it.
Alura brightened immediately at the question.
“Oh! I was organizing the schedule for the next morale rotation,” she said, gesturing toward the desk as if that alone explained everything.
Then she paused.
“Well. Actually it started with the schedule.”
She moved toward the desk with him, sweeping aside a small scatter of crafting supplies and padds to give him space. Bits of ribbon, tags, and small decorative pieces were spread across the surface — materials for prizes she had been assembling for one of her morale activities.
“So the roster was open and I realized the Thursday yoga class and the board game night were overlapping again, which isn’t ideal because the science department apparently contains a shocking number of competitive board-game players.”
She folded her arms thoughtfully, clearly replaying the sequence in her mind.
“So I thought I would move the yoga class to the arboretum instead, because the lighting in there is lovely at that hour. But then I remembered that Lieutenant Havel signed up to teach the yoga session and she’s on gamma shift this week, which meant the time change wouldn’t work unless we moved the beginner dance class too.”
She glanced over at Ryan, suddenly aware he had asked a much simpler question.
“Oh, but that’s probably not the helpful part.”
A sheepish smile flickered across her face.
“Let’s see… I opened the event roster. Then the volunteer list. Then I tried to cross-reference it with the crew availability grid.”
She pointed at the frozen display.
“That’s when it stopped responding. Right when I asked it to sort by department.”
A beat passed.
Then she added brightly, as if offering a useful detail, “I was also designing a scavenger hunt at the same time. But that was on a padd, so I don’t think that one is guilty.”
She leaned slightly against the edge of the desk, watching him work with open curiosity.
“Does that help? Or did I just give you far more information than any engineer ever wanted about recreational scheduling?”
"Well, it proves that your job is way more fun than mine at the moment," Ryan chuckled. "But really I wanted to verify you weren't doing anything naughty on the computer before it crashed. It's a required question so cranky engineers know who to blame," he joked, and glanced at the readings on his computer.
"Let's see....looks like you have a bad update. XT1475. Caused more problems than it solved and was uninstalled from most computers. It takes a bit longer for these things to be fixed
on the civilian ones. Give me a few minutes and I'll get it fixed. You shouldn't lost any data."
Alura nodded with visible relief as he explained the problem.
“Oh good,” she said. “I was worried I’d somehow broken it.”
She leaned lightly against the edge of the desk while he worked, careful not to crowd the console.
“That update sounds like the villain in a particularly dull holo-drama,” she added lightly. “XT1475: menace to innocent terminals everywhere.”
For a moment she watched the diagnostic display scroll across his padd, then her attention shifted back to him.
“How have you been, Ryan?” she asked gently. “Engineering has been exceptionally busy lately.”
Her expression softened with quiet concern.
“I saw the duty rosters. You’ve been on the double-shift rotation.”
She tilted her head slightly, studying him with the kind of attentive warmth that made people feel seen even when they were trying not to be.
“That’s a lot of hours in Jeffries tubes and diagnostics.”
A small smile returned.
“Are they at least letting you sleep occasionally?”
"Occasionally." Ryan shifted a little as he waited for the computer. "There...was an issue and most of our staff has been assigned to fix it. They've left me and eight others as a skeletal crew to keep everything else working. I'm doing double-shifts as punishment for the lift accident, though I suspect a lot of us are doing that anyway."
"But as to how I'm doing," he hesitated. "A lot's happened. It feels like a lot always happens every time I see you. But I'm doing better, I think," he said. "What about you? How are you doing?"
Alura considered the question for a moment, her expression softening thoughtfully.
“I’ve been busy,” she said at last. “Not quite the same kind of busy as Engineering, but busy all the same.”
She glanced toward the desk where the half-finished prizes and planning padds were scattered.
“Mostly I’ve been trying to make sure people don’t forget how they felt on shore leave. It fades faster than you think once the duty rotations start again.”
Her smile returned, gentle and knowing.
“One minute you’re standing under real sunlight with nowhere to be, and the next you’re back inside a starship with a hundred responsibilities waiting for you.”
She looked back at him.
“So I’ve been doing what I can to keep a little piece of that feeling alive, even if it seems very far away now.”
Ryan nodded thoughtfully. "A lot of people are feeling stress and pressure right now, at least in my department. And we haven't even left the planet yet. I'm sure everyone will appreciate whatever you can do."
He paused for a moment, thinking how much he had changed. He had been dismissive of her job. Pushing her away at every opportunity. Now? They were on close proximity of each other, and he hadn't pulled away from that contact either. He acknowledged that, but neither did he press on it. They were just friends after all.
"Once I'm done facing external crises in engineering-and I'm off punishment mode-I'll be sure to make your cart a priority. Sorry it's taken me this long," he added.
Alura waved the apology away with an easy smile.
“Ryan, it’s alright,” she said lightly. “I know how busy Engineering has been. No big deal.”
She rested a hand on the back of the chair beside the desk, clearly meaning it.
“Honestly, I’m just hoping you get some free time again soon.”
A small spark of her usual playful warmth returned.
“So I can finally convince you to sign up for one of the recreation activities.”
"I might," Ryan said, looking at her. "If you're there."
Realizing he said that too fast, he quickly added. "So someone can explain the rules. Don't want to look like an idiot on the first day."
Alura blinked at him.
For a moment she simply looked at him, clearly caught off guard by how quickly the first part had come out. Then the follow-up landed and the corner of her mouth curved upward.
“Well,” she said lightly, tilting her head, “I would hate for you to look like an idiot on your first day.”
Her tone was playful, but warm.
“And I do take my rule-explaining duties very seriously.”
She folded her hands behind her back, rocking slightly on her heels.
His computer beeped once, signaling the update had uninstalled. A split second later Alura's computer sparked back to life and rebooted. Ryan tore himself away from her gaze, though that was harder to do than he would admit.
"Should be good to go," he said, unplugging his computer. "It'll probably run a little faster as well. But if it still gives you problems, let me know."
“Oh!” she said with visible relief, stepping back to the desk.
She tapped the console once, testing it, then laughed softly.
“Look at that. You really did sweet-talk it.”
She glanced back over her shoulder at him, her expression warm and easy.
“Thank you, Lieutenant. I appreciate you coming by yourself to fix it.”
A small pause followed, her tone softening just a touch.
“And it’s good to see you again, Ryan.”
She gave the console one more satisfied look before stepping aside so he could gather his equipment.
“If it behaves from now on, I’ll make sure it knows who to thank.”
Ryan packed his computer away. "You're welcome. Duty calls, but it's good to see you too." He risked giving her a small smile and left her quarters.
Lieutenant (JG) Ryan Collingway
Engineering Officer
USS Arawyn
Alura Ryn
MWR Director
USS Arawyn
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