She made her way back along the gantry surrounding the cargo bay and ducked right and immediately left to be lead around and down a set of steps, through the engine room bulkhead. She placed her palm against the wall as she walked, smiling inwardly. Setting the carry case with the remaining parts inside, down on the floor, she stood in front of the Valkyrie’s Supercollider Engine. The engine was a cylindrical with various outcroppings of wires and metal housing, not exactly attractive or complex, by the standards of today’s tech, but it was solid and reliable and fast. With Ruce at the helm and Tes in the engine room, they could make her sing.

[color=6ecff6]“Alright then…”[/color] Tes began, folding her arms. [color=6ecff6]“You know there’s only one way to do this.”[/color] She continued, reaching down into the case and pulling out one of the new fuse clusters. [color=6ecff6]“It’s no good having you lying back and passive with this. I need to get your blood up before I replace this or you’ll have a tantrum and blow it out again as soon as we ask you do anything.”[/color] She made her way over to a small access panel to the left of the engine and flipped open the metal casing. [color=6ecff6]“And we very literally cannot afford to have you do that.”[/color] Inside the casing was an array of buttons and dials that were the manual override controls for the engine. It was mainly used for repairs and diagnostics, but in a pinch, the engine could be controlled from there. 

[color=6ecff6]“So, you need to promise me that, whilst I’m down there, you’re not going to do anything silly…like kill me. Okay?”[/color] She said, turning a couple of dials before pausing. [color=6ecff6]“I’ll take that as a ‘[i]sure thing, Tes’[/i].”[/color] Tes hit a combination of buttons on the touchpad and quickly shuffled onto her back and slid underneath the brake servo, where she had found the damaged cluster in the first place. She heard the engine coming out of idle. She needed enough power going through the engine to simulate entering atmosphere without the emergency braking system kicking in or the engine doing something daft like propelling the ship in any direction. She needed enough power behind the collider-brake relay to fool the system into thinking it may be needed any minute. Only then could she replace the fuse cluster without the risk of it blowing at a rather more inopportune moment…like when they needed it. There was a risk to this strategy though. Namely, that the power could be too high or for too long and the cluster could blow there and then meaning they’d be down a fuse cluster again and Tes would have to start all over again.

[color=6ecff6]“Okay, old girl, play nice.”[/color] She whispered as the engine powered up more. There was a very small window in which she needed to work and it was nearly there. She listened carefully to the noise of the engine, hand poised with the new fuse cluster lined up next to opening left by the old one. She heard the peak and slotted it in. It was in place less than a second before a warning alarm sounded and the fuse cluster exploded inches from her face.

[color=6ecff6]“Fuck!”[/color] She screamed as shrapnel hit the side of her face. Quickly rolling out from underneath the engine block, she rolled away and towards the access module. Hitting the emergency override, she slumped down against the wall. The engine powered down and she held her hand up to her face. As she pulled it away, scarlet leaked between her fingers. Thankfully, she saw it clearly so she knew the plastic flak had missed her eye. Pulling the pieces of high-tensile plastic out of the soft parts of her face, she threw them away. [color=6ecff6]“What the fuck was that about?!”[/color] She spat, glowering at the engine and around the engine room. She wiped her hand across her face again before returning to the module, resetting it and sliding back underneath the relay.
 
This time, she got it right. The engine powered up, she waited for the peak and slid the fuse cluster into position where it held. The relay activated and the engine returned to idle. She stood back up and retrieved the carry case from the floor.

[color=6ecff6]“I had some presents for you too, but you don’t deserve them right now.”[/color] She said, wiping her face again and heading out of the engine room. She made her way to her quarters and into her washroom. Looking in the mirror she sighed. As she washed her face, she saw that the damage wasn’t as bad as it looked but she was still bleeding. A couple of pieces of the shattered fuse cluster were still lodged in her cheek. Wincing, she pulled them out and dropped them in the sink. Picking up a towel, she held it to her face and walked back out to the cargo bay. Sitting on the gantry, she hung her legs over the side and sighed. [color=6ecff6][i]There’s got to be another way of doing that…[/i][/color]

She let her thoughts wander.