Shore Leave: Cottage 114

Max opens his mouth to speak, notices Moira's expression and simply says: "It's nice to meet you."
Julia and Theliak return the greeting and Julia leads him to the table to sit down on one of the chairs. Cassandra asks everyone what they want to drink. Julia and Theliak ask for Earth whiskey, Max for an Iced Velissian Tea, specifying that he does not want it spiked.

After Moira responds, Helena Darcy comes up to her, carrying a glass of wine she has just refilled for herself. Her unscarred cheek is already lightly blushed from the alcohol she's had so far. "You're the Potential's engineer, right?", she asks in a conversational tone.

Julia speaks quietly with Theliak for a moment, then she walks up to Alex. "Thank you for inviting us. I know you will like Maen"

"Finally someone to talk to", Helena says with a smile. "I've been out of tech for over a year now and I miss my engines. I'm actually working on a model right now" She points towards a large structure hidden under a large cloth cover outside the party area but still in the backyard of the cottage. "But I can't get it to work."

Helena walks with you and takes the cover off her engine model. It's a basic design, similar to the Potential engine but simpler. It has been scaled down to be around two meters high and wide.
"I've followed the design specifications exactly, except for the scale. And I had to replace the antimatter chamber with a battery of course. That obviously won't actually give me the power to go to Warp but it should be enough to give me some Impulse output but something seems to be wrong. I assume it's because of the battery but I can't find the mistake."
She sounds very excited to be able to talk to someone about this. As you know, her sister doesn't care much about engines.

"I would need to get a permission for that and I don't feel like bothering with bureaucracy. I just want to get it running, then maybe do some modifications. All just for fun."

Helena's face lights up as she realizes her mistake. "In my defense, I wouldn't have made that mistake two years ago. Thank you for your help!", she says as she accesses the small computer terminal next to her model. Once she is done with it, she shuts it down again and leans against it. She takes a sip from her wine and her eyes focus on Moira. "You look distracted, is something bothering you? Is it because I'm making you work on your shore leave? If so, I'm sorry, I just get excited about this stuff."

"RC? Whatever that stands for, be glad you didn't serve under Thompson. When I was his chief engineer, he only called me Goldie - because I wore a gold uniform. You met him during your last mission, Cass told me." She takes another sip of her wine, then puts it down on the computer terminal. "Engineering is dangerous. Sooner or later, someone is going to get hurt because of you. I burned my face off - twice - but I was lucky because it was just myself. But if you want to switch your job just so you don't endanger other people, counselling is not the right choice. Just because you can't see the wounds there, that doesn't mean they are any less severe." She pauses for a moment, before quickly adding: "I'm sorry for being so gloomy. That's why I'm not a counselor. Which reminds me, have you spoken to your counselor about it? The blond boy?"

"Every counselor, I would think. They are the ones that have to deal with everyone else's problems every day in addition to their own." Helena takes a deep breath, then picks up her drink again and slaps Moira's back. "But tonight is for having fun. Try not to think about this too much. Tomorrow, if you want, I can put you in contact with my station counselor. He's amazing, maybe it'll help you to talk about this with him if you don't feel comfortable with your new boss."