Creating Conversation
Posted on Sun Jan 27th, 2019 @ 6:35pm by Captain Luka Mahone & Lieutenant JG Shurlok
Edited on on Sun Jan 27th, 2019 @ 9:05pm
1,901 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Groundwork
Location: USS Io, Main Engineering
Timeline: MD 04 - 0926 Hrs
For the better portion of the day, Luka Mahone had done his rounds, wandering about the Io in search of half of the senior staff. The intrepid Captain Matthews had made a point of insisting Luka do most of this ‘hunting down’ work, especially after an ‘accidental short’ in the communications. While Luka suspected that Matthews and his Ops Chief were in on some mischief, he decided to go along with the ploy, moving along to engineering to see if he could win over the Chief he had yet to meet.
It would not take the bright-eyed doctor long to investigate Engineering and have a hapless crewman point him in the direction of the tall, Vulcan man. Luka had seen the dark-haired engineer prior, as he was difficult to miss with how tall he was. Brow raising, he made his way over to Shurlok, who he only knew by name and face, hoping the encounter would not be as awkward as he feared.
“Lieutenant,” Luka waited till he caught eye of Shurlok before he addressed the man, waving him over and away from his work. “Do you have a moment?”
“Of course, sir.” Shurlok said, pulling down his sleeves as he approached. “How can I help?” He asked, knowing that the maintenance sensor switch-out could perhaps be as ably handled by someone else. He gestured to someone in the distance on the upper level, and pointed to where he was with his thumb, behind him. The Ensign got the message once his eyes locked on the red collar, making an ‘okay’ sign with his fingers.
“It seems that Operations has their hands full at the moment,” Luka started, eyes blinking. Already, he could feel his nerves on the matter fraying. “But it seems there’s an issue with my communication badge and it is just beyond my scope to have it sorted out without a little assistance.” And he could already feel the number of questions barraged at him ‘why not get x to do that, or use y to do this?’ Questions. This whole assignment had been questions, and it bothered him more than it should have. “I was hoping you had a moment or so. And… maybe a brief of the engineering status of our last mission?”
“Of course.” Shurlok said with a nod. “I am confident we got them all out, sir. Teams will go over the secondary deflector with a baryon sweep as soon as we get the all clear from science that they are not an endangered species. That may prove later to be an ethical complication given we did vent the rest of the infestation, but, well you were there, sir. Electrovores rarely leave survivors once their colonies reach that size. It was them or us. There may be some additional relays that require replacement, but we will not know until the sweep is complete. Worst case scenario we’ll have the secondary deflector back in forty-eight hours. May I see the badge please?” Shurlok asked, holding out his unusually large hand.
“That sounds…” While Shurlock’s commentary didn’t go over Luka’s head, the look on his face said otherwise as he gave the engineer his badge. “At least it sounds like things will be up and running soon enough.”
Shurlok removed a pen sized graviton stylus from his breast pocket, and used the miniature tractor beam to remove the fasteners and take the back off the communicator. He looked at for a moment, moving closer to the warp core to see the device in the core’s garish light. “My apologies sir, over here.”
Shurlok moved from the core to the nearest console, where he placed the device on the screen and began a diagnostic. “Hmm. Imperfections in the beryllium perhaps? Something has gone wrong in the replication process… Maybe if...” He trailed off slightly, apparently talking to himself.
Following after the Vulcan, Luka had his head tilted to one side. The staff that the Captain had chosen out (and everyone was indeed handpicked in one way or another) each had their own quirks, but Shurlok had become difficult for Luka to make out. And he could not shake the feeling that the Vulcan felt familiar somehow. “Maybe if…?” he repeated, attempting to look around Shurlok to see what the matter was.
“Here.” He tapped the screen with his knuckle. “The battery’s casing seems to have been replicated improperly, likely due to machine error. I most likely have the necessary parts lying around to fix it, if you have a moment.”
“I would greatly appreciate it.” Luka confirmed, eyes darting between console and Shurlok a couple of times. If this was a simple machine error, then why was it he was having so many other issues? This was something he would have to go to Matthews about. “I’m sorry, my training is more medical based, so forgive my asking, but how would an improper casing cause so much trouble?”
“Imperfections in the superconductive alloy of the casing can cause short outs in other areas when the communicator is working closer to its energy capacity. You will not notice the errors all at once, systems slowly start to lose their efficacy as static builds up and the battery life starts to decay exponentially. I would predict this would not have lasted through the week. Also had you dropped it in a body of water there would have been a risk of electric shock.” Shurlok speculated.
“So it was a defective badge…” Luka mumbled, more to himself than to anyone in the room. Shurlok didn't need to know about the Captain's games. But at least now, he knew.
“Is something the matter, sir? You seem to be furtively observing me with some apprehension, judging by your metabolic rate.” Shurlok said as he extricated the battery from the casing, which sparked slightly as he pulled them apart with a second stylus. Inside, the scoring from static buildup was apparent, Shurlok brought it closer to the XO for his inspection. Working with Ferengi had given him the ability to work seamlessly amidst the most unexpected of behaviours.
The detection would have phased the doctor if he had not had interactions to other Vulcans. “Nothing's wrong,” Luka said with a mild shrug. He peered at the badge as it was presented to him, frowning in thought, though he had little know how on what he was looking at. “I've just had quite a long day, is all.”
“I understand, sir. We have all been working double shifts to ensure the infestation does not have any additional repercussions. I am not totally familiar with the current makeup of the medical staff, but if any are trained in Vulcan neuropressure it can be quite effective at treating fatigue.” Shurlok suggested as he brought up the access display for the nearest industrial replicator, not being entirely aware of the XO’s history as a Medical Chief.
“It's only effective if you're sensitive to pressure techniques.” Luka pointed out. “Being more of a hollistic technique, it requires belief in both the practitioner as well as the method itself. Well, that and you can't have been in a freak kidnapping that rearranged some of your molecules and made you less sensitive to that sort of thing.” He cracked a smile. “Gamma Quadrant doesn't quite agree with me.”
“Such things must be common in the Gamma Quadrant.” Shurlok observed as he removed the new casing from the replication alcove, and found a new battery in a utility drawer at knee height. “My father complained of similar problems afflicting his staff aboard Starbase 50 after the first failed peace conference with the Dominion. I have no particular desire to see that particular quadrant, myself. With incidents such as yours and that at the conference so common, my opinion, though prejudicial, seems only reinforced.” He lowered the battery into place with a stylus, and began another diagnostic.
“Well, the Dominion races I've met don't have the same ethical values. Technology develops differently when you place less importance on free will.” Luka looked ready to go on and amend his bitterness, when a realization dawned on him. “Your father worked aboard Starbase 50 when it was out in Gamma? I must have met him if he was - I examined nearly everyone myself.”
“My father’s name is Rovak. He serves as First Officer on the station, as he has done since his assignment there. I believe he has been aboard since it’s installation, so there would almost certainly be overlap. You have perhaps spent more concentrated time with my father than I have. Fascinating.” Shurlok observed. His focus was still on reassembling the badge, though the maintenance diagnostic was still taking it’s time to check all of the systems and structural components for faults.
Luka held his initial puzzled thoughts to himself. Something about that did not add up about Shurlok's statement, but it was not something he felt at liberty to discuss, not without further consultation. “I hope he hasn't had to deal with another kidnapping attempt since the first one,” was what Luka decided to recover with. “Gamma happens to like me, so if we find ourselves unsticking a Jem Hadar plot with the Ferengi, we can blame that all on my luck.”
“Not that he has reported. Though I understand the Founders are planning to grow he and Captain Velt a squadron of Jem’Hadar out of gratitude for the Founder’s safety. It would seem there are indeed rich rewards entwined with the danger of the region.” Shurlok brought the case of the communicator closed once again, the diagnostics all reading green. He picked it up with his fingers and offered it to the XO.
“I believe the communicator should be fully functional, sir. I will submit a report to operations to check for faults in the industrial replicators, though they may need to handle it themselves unless they can wait for a couple of days, I am afraid I cannot spare the repair teams until structural integrity around the dish is shored up to specifications.”
Luka grimaced at the thought of the boisterous Velt commanding Jem'Hadar. He could not say he didn't like the man, but there was a certain air of pride that had put Luka off the first time they met.
As he was handed the badge, Luka gave an understanding nod. “I think Ops can handle a little wait if they can't get around to it themselves. But if they do give you any trouble, just have them come to me and I'll make sure they're more agreeable until you're finished your work.”
“Of course, sir. Was there anything else I can help with?” He asked, recategorising internally the importance of the tasks awaiting him, taking the staff who had replaced him, and those who replaced them, and so on through the roster.
“Not at all.” Despite not having gotten to the bottom of what the Ops Chief and Captain Matthews had plotted, Luka felt relieved that he could go about his day with one less interruption. “It's much appreciated, and I'm sure we'll see each other later.” He gave the other a curt nod of his head, turning for the door. There would be more thought later as to their interaction about Rovak, but for now, Luka had a favor to ask of security.
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