Tubes and Ladders

Posted on Mon Sep 5th, 2022 @ 2:36am by Lieutenant JG Nayisa Wrea & Ensign George Paxton

Mission: Character Development
Location: Jefferies Tubes
Timeline: Sometime shortly after shore leave
1685 words - 3.4 OF Standard Post Measure

"Oh, come on!"

The voice was the only thing disturbing the otherwise near-silent hum of the inner workings of the ship. More specifically, it came from a frustrated silver-haired woman as she snapped the tricorder in her hand shut with a resounding click. Nayisa had been following some weird and stupid little energy fluctuation that had been affecting a couple of work stations in the intel offices, and at first, she thought it would be an easy fix.

That was over 30 minutes ago. The tricorder had told her, yet again, that the source was somewhere else.

"Wrea to Engineering," Nayisa said, slapping her badge with a little more force than necessary. "Do you have a body to spare to help me find this energy fluctuation? I feel like I've been crawling in circles." Frustration was evident in her voice, as much as she tried to keep it in check. Shifting, Nayisa sat on the walkway of the junction she was in, her knees aching in relief.

"I can take it, I'm just wrapping up this diagnostic right now," George looked to Finn who nodded in acceptance. "Be there in just a minute," he tapped his combadge to reply to the intelligence officer.

The walk to intelligence didn't take long and when he entered, George found a frustrated-looking woman crawling around on the floor. "What seems to be the problem?" He asked.

While she waited for someone, Nayisa had crawled back to the intelligence offices, and she was half buried under a console when she heard a voice nearby. Pausing her work, she wiggled herself out from under the console to see... well damn, a half-decent sight. "There are three consoles here that aren't working right because there's some 'fluctuation' but when I try to locate the source, it seems to bounce around." She stuck her hand out, or rather up at him since she was still on the floor, in a handshake gesture. "Nayisa Wrea, fresh meat. You are?"

"George Paxton," he smiled and shook Nayisa's hand. "By fresh meat, I take it you're new on board?" He asked, pulling out his tricorder to get some readings. "How long has this been going on for?"

Nayisa scooted over to give him some room. "Yeah, came aboard during shore leave..." she gave a sheepish chuckle, "it's been going on since I got here, so maybe 3 days?"

"Hmmmm," George furrowed a brow and followed the fluctuations. "Did you try that panel over there?" He pointed in the complete opposite direction.

"Yes," Nayisa said, looking at the panel in question. Reaching up to grab the console, she pulled herself to her feet and gestured for him to follow. "When I do diagnostics on that panel, I'm redirected to several different places in the Jefferies tubes before I'm redirected back to the panel." Pausing at a working console, Nayisa pulled up the ship's tube layout, and with a couple of button presses she put red dots on the locations in question. "The furthest one is on deck 3 and makes no sense to me."

"A proverbial ghost in the wires," he mused while hoping it could be fixed without entering the jefferies tubes. "It's probably a faulty EPS relay or ODN conduit. Care to take a trip?"

"Sure!" Nayisa quipped. "Where do you want to go first? I can show you the hottest tourist destinations right now." To emphasize what she meant, Nayisa pointed to the red dots on the map and gave him a wink.

George chuckled. "Let's take the turbolift to deck three, then we should be able to access the troubles spot from the main corridor here," he pointed on the map close to the red dots. "Where those red dots are located is the first spot we see the fluctuation, but I'd bet that it's actually starting in the EPS relay just down from it."

"So why the Athena? If you don't mind me asking," George said as they entered the turbolift.

Nayisa nodded and shut off the station before walking with him out of the offices, though it probably looked more like she was escorting him out. While anyone could walk into the intel offices, some work stations could be for intel eyes only. "I go where I'm told," Nayisa said simply, walking beside him. When they entered the lift, she added, "some admiral with his feet on his desk decided that the Athena should have an infiltration specialist. Heavens knows why. What about you?"

"Seemed like an interesting ship to me," George shrugged. The truth was he just wanted an assignment and the first one that came to him had done well enough. "This is us," he motioned towards the hall as the turbolift doors opened.

The hiss of the doors prompted the silver-haired woman to move, and she led the way out of the lift. "This is one of the only other places on the ship I know how to get to without a map," she joked. "Been here about 4 times today. Past three junctions, a left, a left, and a right." As she talked, she took the turns in succession, and after the right turn she walked a short distance before stopping in front of a Jefferies tube access hatch.

"Too bad we aren't going there this time," George smiled and walked right past the access hatch. "There's a panel over here that controls settings on the EPS relays in this area. We'll start there." He stopped by the mail panel and pulled up a diagnostic. "Looks like there might be a faulty connector on the conduit. We'll shut it down and then replace it."

Nayisa was briefly confused when George walked by, but then nodded and followed, realizing that this was now his domain and all she could really do was shut her mouth and let him do his thing. "Let's hope that's the only issue," she hoped aloud. "Though it does explain why my own troubleshooting methods didn't work."

George opened the panel and ran a few diagnostics. "Yep, just like we thought. ODN conduit needs replacing," George smiled enthusiastically and walked towards the nearest replicator. "How long have you been with Starfleet?"

"Eight years," was Nayisa's reply as she followed him. This guy's personality matched his looks, in that they were both pleasing. Perhaps she'd change it up and get to know him, instead of being what some might call a creep. "What about you?"

"Two years, unless you count the academy. If you do then it's six years," he smiled as he grabbed the new conduit piece and walked back towards the panel. He motioned for her to help him remove it. "What are your thoughts of our ship so far? Met or seen anyone interesting?" He queried with a curious brow.

Nayisa obliged, helping him remove the panel. Since it was probably going to be put back into place soon, she just held the rectangular piece of metal in her hands, like she was expecting someone to try and break it. Shifting her weight to ease up on her bum leg, she shrugged, "well, one of my coworkers is a little... shy." A little smirk crept onto her face as she remembered how red in the face Sam got. "And you seem chill I guess. As for the ship... a boat's a boat, I dunno. It serves its purpose. It's nice and big though, perfect for exploring."

"You've only met two people on this whole, boat, as you called it? I think you need to get out more," George chuckled. "I might meet up with my partner at the bar later. Would you like to join?" He asked, replacing the conduit piece and then signaling for her to put the panel back in place.

Damn... Nayisa thought at his mention of a partner. Good thing she didn't try flirting with him, that would have been awkward. "Well, the security chief and I go way back, so I don't count her, and I also don't count the whole 'reporting in to the boss' thing as meeting someone," she said with a laugh. At his signal, she moved to put the panel back in place, her focus briefly diverted from George as she wiggled the panel into the right position. "I'm not sure I've ever had someone ask me to third wheel a date before," she teased with a grin. "As long as it's not intruding," the panel clicked into place, "I don't really have much to do and wouldn't turn down a chance to meet new faces."

George smiled. "How about I invite a fourth so you don't have to feel like a fourth wheel? It would be fun to have a larger group anyway. You know what, now that I'm thinking about it, why don't we have a game night. Do you enjoy board games? Or video games?"

Nayisa returned the smile with her classic silly grin. It was wide and reflected a very enthusiastic personality. "Of course I do! Just remember where I work before accusing me of cheating, though." Opting to be lazy, Nayisa walked to one of the wall consoles and with a few taps, an angry beep, and an access code, and some more typing, managed to remote in to a work station in the intelligence suite. "Let's see if that fixed things..." She ran the same diagnostics she was running before, and after a moment the screen was suddenly filled with what looked like 20 or so sentences. Nayisa used her finger to read through the list before letting out a sigh of relief. "Ah, you life saver! Looks like it's all working as it should now."

"Good," George packed up his tools and smiled at Nayisa. "I'll see you tonight then?" He asked with a curious brow and a crooked smile. He truly hoped the woman would accept and that he'd be able to add one more friend to the short list of people whose company he had come to enjoy.

"You're on!" Nayisa closed out her connection to the work stations before giving him a wide grin.