Mei-Lin had learned to appreciate the unique quality of the shuttlebay in the middle of the afternoons during the week she'd been aboard. The main bay doors were slightly opened to allow for the ventilation cycle and the outside sunlight gave the area a cool honesty that allowed things to appear as they really were; not as they wished to appear. She had come down to check the EPS conduit segments she had purchased via the shadow market three days prior. Those conduit segments contained tolerance variances in the primary component that would make them compatible with a Saber class refit utilizing patched systems. They had been brought back to the ship in the bottom of her carry bag and she hadn't had a chance to inspect them properly yet due to completing the crystal installation and settling in the new computer core. With the engineering bay finally becoming quiet enough to concentrate, she decided to take the first conduit segment she had pulled out onto the maintenance work bench located along the starboard wall of the shuttlebay. While performing a complete tolerance check on the segment, she heard the typical noise of someone moving around in the shuttlebay while working on the Type 11 on the opposite side of the bay.

Cormus had been in the shuttlebay since approximately 1400 according to her estimates. She was able to tell by the manner in which the tools were positioned near shuttle two (the particular organized disarray of a person that had developed a plan and continued modifying that plan throughout their execution). Mei-Lin didn’t announce herself upon entering the shuttlebay and Cormus had not acknowledged her presence. In addition, both individuals had been working on opposite sides of the shuttle bay and remained silent; a type of comfortable parallel silence between two people that realized early on that they didn’t require social interaction with each other whenever they were within the same space. This state of affairs endured for approximately 40 minutes.

“These conduit segments,” Mei-Lin stated softly, just loud enough so that Cormus would be aware that she spoke. “Those that I purchased via the shadow market. The primary tolerance variance is narrower than I anticipated for salvage.”

A short time later, Cormus appeared at the edge of the maintenance work bench with a diagnostic tool in his hand and a smudge of dark material on his forearm that indicated that shuttle two hadn’t cooperated with him as much as he’d hoped. “Where did you purchase these?” he asked while looking at the conduit segment lying on the workbench followed by glancing at her scanner display displaying her readings.

“Second row of warehouses number one. Vendors incorrectly identified them as such and the grading identification was two classes lower than actual classification. Either he had no idea what he sold or he was attempting to sell them under false pretenses hoping that no one would take the time to verify.”

Cormus held up the segment turning it over in his hand with an intuitive sense of assessing components based upon familiarity gained from years of being associated with smaller vessels to determine if they possessed qualities indicative of good components prior to receiving verification through her scanner’s results. “These aren’t salvage.”

“No,” Mei-Lin replied. “They are not.”

“Then where did they originate from?”

“I have three possible explanations and none are strong enough for me to consider it an absolute certainty,” she replied. “What repairs are you performing on shuttle two.”

“The port thruster assembly contains a micro-fracture in the housing area that my diagnostic tool detected this morning. The fracture isn’t severe enough to cause major damage, however, it will negatively impact shuttle two’s ability to precisely maneuver in tight spaces if I choose to repair it instead of replacing it completely.” He leaned against the workbench and examined her scanner displays readings with genuine interest in understanding how things functioned regardless of whether the items were related to his responsibilities. “How did your crystal installation proceed this morning.”

“It proceeded smoothly,” Mei-Lin replied. “The new core functions differently.”

“I felt it come online,” Cormus replied. “And suddenly everything changed frequencies. Is that an indication that my bio-neural system is functioning correctly.”

“Yes,” Mei-Lin replied. “At least apparently. That was how long it took for it to initialize and begin adapting to our vessel. It appears to be learning characteristics about our vessel.” She glanced at the scanner display and noted that it had discovered a relay variance on the starboard side that she had documented in her own maintenance records.

Cormus seemed puzzled. “It accessed your personnel records.”

“That is correct,” Mei-Lin replied. “As part of the ship’s systems integration protocols, it has been granted access rights to all authorized crew members’ PADDs.”

Cormus fell silent for a few moments. “Therefore, it has access to all of my documentation regarding shuttle two including my notes from last week.”

“Likely,” Mei-Lin replied.

“Which included certain language that may not be desirable for repetition on the bridge.”

Mei-Lin gazed at him. “What kind of language.”

“He expressed frustration when he placed his hand in an improper location in relation to a faulty port thruster assembly,” Cormus explained. “Language expressing irritation when he wasn’t having a pleasant day. Language that is understandable but certainly wouldn’t be discussed publicly.”

She gazed back at the scanner display. “Do not worry about it,” she advised. “Your opinion concerning shuttle two’s thruster assembly does not constitute a threat to our mission or safety.”

Cormus smiled lightly. “That is comforting.”

He stepped away from shuttle two but not far enough for anyone to assume he had completed his thoughts on the subject; an action that Mei-Lin recognized as characteristic of Cormus. He walked around objects while mentally debating whether to verbalize his thoughts; using movement as camouflage for mental processing.

She performed another level of tolerance checking on the conduit segment and waited.

“So...”

“So...” Mei-Lin agreed.