the work needed to keep a road, building, machine, etc. in good condition:
Old houses need a lot of maintenance.
There are thorough maintenance checks on each plane before take-off.
The magazine offers tips on cutting your house maintenance costs.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/maintenance
With a great gasp the hydraulics shuddered into life and the landing pad began its descent. I alighted from the Hiraeth and took an express elevator to the concourse. The corridors were quiet, the odd maintenance crew ambling about here and there, it looked like they were preparing the carrier for something. All the amenities were shuttered off save for those with sparks coursing out of half rolled shutters, those I assumed were being refitted.
The pilots lounge had an interactive panel outside advertising a grand re opening. Without thinking I tapped my comms device on it, instantly signing myself up to the mailing list. Instantly a notification popped up; a promise of ten percent off my first order and to be entered into a raffle with a chance to win a top-of-the-line Hauler, one previous owner, less than 10,000ly on the clock.
With no active bar in sight, I returned to the hanger bay. It was for the best as I needed to attend to my unstable camera drone and various preparations anyway.
It took some time but after rifling through the junk I had accumulated; I found the manual for the drone, together with some spare parts I had salvaged from the odd abandoned settlement here and there and just hoarded in the Hiraeth’s hold.
Browsing the manual, I learned that most of the error codes were due to sensor failures, this was easily rectified by cleaning the external sensors with alcohol wipes. The other errors were for the compass and camera gimbal. This would require some internal tinkering which was probably best done with some gravity and being on a ship, in another ship, in deep space, I had precious little of that.
For the time being I could override the drones use of the compass by switching it to manual, the gimbal error meant that the camera lens was stuck in an awkward 30 degree pitched angle and had a slight lean to the left. I carefully packed it away as not to damage it further and continued with my other preparations.
Using the ships computer, I ordered the essentials; refuel, minor repairs and heatsink restock. With roughly 130 jumps over to Colonia still to cover I had the maintenance crew stock me up on whatever rations they had available.
While my ship was being prepped, I made my way back up to the concourse and on to the observation deck. The DSSA Buurian Anchorage did have a nice view, plonked in between a water world and a type three gas giant, this combination was also in orbit around a black hole, which in turn carries out a merry celestial dance with a white dwarf.
After an hour of sitting and observing, pacing the great window and observing, I tore myself away from the giant viewing window to make my way back to the Hiraeth. As ambled my way back through the corridors a thought struck me, not one other ship had docked the whole time I had been standing staring out over the landing pads. Exploration is a lonely business I continued thinking, making my way back down to the hanger bay to make idle chit chat as the crew finished the refuelling, repairs and restocking… I’d have to tell them about my ancient alien battlefield I discovered!
The Javi Times 