In the engine room, Brighand and Hiwi sat down at a table. On it was a piece of the water pipes,several metal ingots, and the design specifications of the piping on a hologram. After showing Hiwi to her new room and changing back into captain clothes, he went to the engine room to find her already at work. She had the systems turn off the water, flushed out what was already in the pipes then took out this pipe to study it.

“So can you fix it or do we need to find a space port to buy more stuff?” asked Brighand.

“Yahtzee, bring up the material composition of this alloy here for me,” said Hiwi.

“Who’s this Yahtzee?” asked Brighand as he saw what she requested suddenly appear on the hologram.

“It’s the computer’s name of course. I kept pestering them about a name I could use for them until they caved. There was this really long name with Yahtzee and a bunch of numbers at the end. And they’re okay with being called Yahtzee for short,” said Hiwi.

“Is this true, computer? I mean Yahtzee?” asked Brighand.

“Yes, Yahtzee is one aspect of my full name. I have allowed her to call me that as the alternatives annoy me,” said Yahtzee.

“Now we just need a good name for the ship. Also, looks like we got everything we need to fix these pipes,” said Hiwi as she set aside a few of the metal ingots.

“I dislike how you did not put aside the lead. I showered in the water from those pipes,” said Brighand.

“Captain Brighand, permission to give the name of the ship to normal crewmembers?” asked Yahtzee.

“Say yes to that and the lead is for the outside of the pipes not the inner lining. These pipes have lasted hundreds of years without maintenance so I’m going to follow the design specs to the letter. I don’t care if you’re squeamish about lead leaking into the water. No changing the past and it definitely won’t be seeping into the water after I’m done fixing things,” said Hiwi.

“Why isn’t the ship name known to common crew? I get that it’s a prototype but is knowing the name an issue?” asked Brighand.

“The Ship’s name is One Part Ship Tactical Undercover Roaming Titan Lasting Endurance Class Battlecruiser or the Turtle Ops Cruiser for short. The stealth shield around the ship is compared to the shell of a seafaring reptile in Sol,” said Yahtzee.

“Nice, we finally got something to call this thing. Now Brighand, go fetch me some food while I work on this turtle’s pipes. Yahtzee, have that drone thing bring me the rest of these metals from the crates and one of the water kegs we brought with us,” said Hiwi.

“Solid or liquid food? There are rations too but they react badly to the metals that seeped into the water so I don’t know if they’re still good. Oh, and there’s a machine that can turn liquid food into pseudo-planetside food,” said Brighand.

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“As interesting as that sounds, I cannot have any distractions from my work for the next few hours so just normal liquid food. Besides, I don't like eating solid food until I’m done with a job,” said Hiwi.

“Oh we had a similar tradition with the scavengers. Liquid food until we scored some good scrap then solid food to celebrate. Bad luck to eat solid food before that,” said Brighand.

“Tradition? It’s because the solid stuff means more time on the toilet and less time working. It’s simply experience,” said Hiwi.

“Perhaps that’s the origin of the tradition. Back before they passed away, the older scavengers on the ship that’s now torn apart in space taught me many so-called traditions that were probably based on their own personal experience or the experience of previous generations of scavengers,” said Brighand.

“Before me and that doctor tagged along to this ship you seemed to be all alone. I do remember that scavengers are usually packed into even the small ships way over capacity. What happened to them,” asked Hiwi.

“The usual scavenger ending. Couldn’t afford food due to something breaking and then everyone got sick as we scavenged due to not eating. Eventually we brought a haul back to base and everyone but me died at that point. It was the common cold but it’s what sparked the initial fear against diseases on the space port. A pity that all the fear and preparation was useless when an actual pandemic hit,” said Brighand.

“Right, that was you. No hard feelings, but before I found out that one military grade ship leaked the virus I totally had you on my own blacklist of people to kill given the chance,” said Hiwi.

“None taken, after all, some of the security team chased me down in a ship to kill me after the disease began spreading. Thankfully I found this ship before that and they were shot down by its defenses when they prepped to ram my ship,” said Brighand.

“I know how that feels. I had the security team try to kill me and I offed them first as well,” said Hiwi.

“Do you feel any different than you did before the virus hit? Even after being cured, you seemed to be way more extreme and willing to kill than normal,” said Brighand.

“Roundabout way of asking if I got driven insane. I would say I certainly got influenced. I would have hesitated to pull the trigger without that disease, but then I’d be dead instead of that security team. Instead of feeling bad about it, I focused on how it would have been me if not them and how hesitation was bad. Will I go around killing people randomly? No. Will I kill someone if they threaten my safety instead of trying to reason with them? Yes, without a single pause or stray thought,” said Hiwi.

“If you say so. I’ll go get that food now,” said Brighand as he left the room.

A drone soon brought the materials and kegs requested by Hiwi to the engine room. She put on some gloves and a protective eye cover while scraping off the inner parts of the piping with a laser. The plan was to remove the old coating on the inside and outside of the piping, mix together a new alloy and then recoat the pipe. The main pipe after scraping this off was a steel titanium alloy, giving off a shiny gloss when uncovered. It looked brand new despite being in use for so many generations. It gave structure to all the pipes while the coating prevented wear and tear.

“Mechanic Hiwi, some of the kegs in storage have an odd composition to them and are not water,” said Yahtzee.

“Yeah. There’s some oil and alcohol in their own kegs. Oil is needed for maintenance and cleaning when I get to working on the engine. The alcohol is very high proof so it can be used as emergency fuel, traded for money, or mixed with something for drinks. I plan on having a few drinks when I’m done for the day unless it goes against military regulations,” said Hiwi as she finished scraping off the inner layer and began on the outer.

“Regulations only state you cannot drink during work so feel free. Most of the supplies brought onboard have been slated as the personal belongings of you or the captain to get around some of the more annoying regulations. As the mechanic, all of the materials and liquid kegs have been 100% made yours,” said Yahtzee.