One Foch'd Fighter

Posted on Mon Aug 24th, 2026 @ 2:29am by Lieutenant Zachary Addams & Lieutenant JG Grace MacKenzie 'Sabre'

1,421 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Kintsugi
Location: Zach's Office

Zach sat in his office looking over the repair reports on the ship. Normally he wasn't a huge fan of paperwork, but these days it was his chance to sit back and breathe for a moment. All of his people were feeling overworked, and he'd decided to give everyone extra time off, despite changing the repair timeline. He had exempted himself from that, however, making him appreciate his down time to read reports all the more. Of course, his exhaustion was also his own fault, allowing others to take up his evenings, but he felt blowing off some steam was worth it. All work and no play, and all that.

He yawned and rubbed his eyes. He hadn't felt that tired since he had to clean out the sehlat stall for twenty four hours straight when it got a gut parasite. He sat back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment, deciding some time to center himself would do him some good.

Grace leaned around the edge of the doorway in her flightsuit and knocked on the edge of it with a wide smile on her face, "Good mornin' Zach, and how are we doin' today? Ah think it's just an amazin' day, with a nice clean bill of health from Doc Amu!"

Zach opened his eyes and checked his chronometer. He'd been resting a whole forty-five seconds. He sighed and rubbed the sleep out of them and sat up. "Good morning, Gracie," he said. "Clean bill of health, hm? Thought you already had that two weeks ago."

She swung around the doorway and sauntered in exaggeratedly. "It was just a follow-up, you know, with the oxygen deprivation from the big battle, she wanted to make sure that there were no long term effects and violas, Ah have been fully cleared for duty if Ah'm needed to fly!"

"I'm glad to her it," Zach said, genuinely, smiling. "Hopefully they'll have a new fighter for you ready when we ship back out."

“Actually, that’s why Ah wanted to come by here. Ah know that my bird was beat up pretty bad, but Ah was wonderin’ if you might be able to actually restore her?” She plopped down in a chair in front of his desk, propping her elbows onto the desk and laying her chin on it to look up at him, “You see, Ah’ve had that one since Ah was first assigned to Foch, so she and Ah have gotten to know each other pretty well over the past couplea years.”

Zach looked at her. "Gracie...that ship isn't fixable. It's barely salvage, let alone salvageable. The flight crews couldn't hope to reassemble it, and nothing I do could enhance their chances."

"The flight crews said that it was just a hunk of junk, Zach, she's a 'her', not an it! And Ah know that a big, strong man like you would be able to put her back together." She batted her long lashes at him in an awfully cute manner, her emerald eyes glinting at him, "They called her an 'it'!" She repeated.

Zach opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a clear container. Inside was two pieces of hull material, a half dozen isolinear chips, and a signal light. "This is what we were able to salvage that wasn't scorched, burnt out or buckled," he said. "I'm sorry, Gracie, but even Theseus would say get a new ship."

Grace grimaced at the sight, then sighed and leaned back in the chair again, "Damn... She and Ah had some good times together and she saved my ass more than a few times." Her face went downcast for a few seconds, "Ah should be glad, though, she was the last thing Ah had left from Foch. Now it's really a clean break from that, but Ah didn't get to tell her goodbye."

Zach leaned forward, holding out his hand.

She took his hand almost immediately, feeling the warmth of his hand as it engulfed her own, silence being the moment.

"She kept you safe when nothing else did," he said, squeezing her hand comfortingly, "and she got you all the way here. Go ahead and be sad she's gone, but be happy it happened saving you once more and keeping you safe. And if you want to say goodbye..." he pulled the box closer, "now is the time."

"Nuh uh!" Grace's other hand landed on the box, "If this is all that's left of her, Ah'll take it, thank you very much." She pulled it closer to herself, "Ah can make somethin' out of this and maybe salvage a piece of my next one, too! Make it a tradition of mine, Ah think."

Zach smiled. "That's also an option," he said. "Ship tradition is to incorporate pieces of an old ship into the new design. We can do that, if you wish. That's why I saved this separate for you, rather than recycling it."

“Could do both, there is more than one piece in here, after all.” Grace drawled out, “You know, the other tradition is that a fighter pilot tends not to survive their bird. That one Ah’ll happily do away with, of course.” She caressed the box in front of her. "Ah’ll probably be gettin’ a new bird anyways; we’re just waitin’ for some to be fabricated in the shipyard, since losses were as heavy as they were. We’re goin’ to see a lot of new pilots and have to integrate them into the squadrons.”

"A chance for new allies and new friends," Zach said, squeezing her hand. "And hopefully your new fighter will be better off." He snapped his fingers. "Oh that reminds me, I've been making some headway on your helmet. It's been mostly shower thoughts for me, but I'm going to be working on a practical model soon."

"That does sound like fun, but not really the reason Ah'm here today." Grace perked up, mischievous look on her face, "Ah've not been able to see much of you recently, with you in here workin' all the time and Ah was hopin' that maybe Ah could entice you to abandon things here and spend a little time with me? You know, nothin really dramatic, just hangin' out and relaxin' a bit?"

It hadn't occurred to Zach how long it had been since they'd last seen each other. He'd been too distracted with work, which she had little reason to interrupt, and evenings with a few houseguests, which he was glad she hadn't interrupted as well. He sighed and squeezed her hand again. "Gracie, I would love to, but I am swamped. I have--" he paused and yawned louder than he'd wished to in front of her. "Sorry. As I was saying, I would love to, but I've so much to do."

"Get her to do some of it." Grace said outright, "Or at least to give you some free time. Ah haven't spent really any time with you in the last week!" She leaned in closer to him, conspiratorially, "And it means Ah haven't been able to show you the new swimsuit Ah replicated a few days ago. Don't you think getting into the pool in the holodeck wouldn't be a great way to cool off?"

Zach couldn't deny that piqued his curiosity. "Alexis has been working extremely hard," he said. "She's earned some time off." He sighed. "I suppose a few hours to unwind wouldn't do me too much harm," he said. "A swim and a nap and I'll be more productive." He looked at her sideways. "And I'd hate for your swimsuit to go to waste," he said. He stood and nodded. "All right, holodeck three in thirty?"

She gave him a suspicious look, “And why would you need thirty minutes, when we could just go down there right now?” She paused for a moment, "Oh.", then laid her forehead on the desk between them, “Thirty minutes is fine.” She mumbled, “Ah need to go get my swimsuit from my quarters anyway.”

"And I could use a shower, and replicate one for myself," Zach said. He stood up and came around his desk, leaning over to kiss her cheek. "Thirty minutes. I won't dawdle."

"Right, Ah'll see you in thirty, then." Her face went red, then she dragged herself to her feet, "Still, Ah'll be waitin'!"

A post by:

Zachary Addams
Chief Engineer
USS Tokyo

and

Grace MacKenzie
Fighter Pilot
USS Tokyo

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