The Tribbles Have Moved In

Posted on 16 Jul 2014 @ 1:00am by Lieutenant Elijah Williams IV, M.Sc. & Lieutenant JG Grayson Jones

1,562 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Williams/Jones Quarters
Timeline: MD 6 - 2032 Hrs

[ON]

"Blasted, furry little sons of a..." Elijah Williams mumbled to himself as he side-stepped another group of Tribbles. He was starting to get impatient and annoyed and above all frustrated with this whole situation. They were in the geology lab enmasse, they were all over the workstations, in the replicator, on tables, the deck and... and... and... He moved down the corridor of deck four carefully, though he was not thrilled with the Tribble infestation, he certainly didn't want to step on any of them. He had overhead people saying how they just wanted to phaser the bajeeberz out of the tiny, furry critters, but he knew he couldn't do that.

He heard a squeal and realized he stepped on one. "Son of a biscuit," he said as he looked down at his feet. Sure enough, he stepped on one that was a light brown in color. He bent down, picked the thing up, gave it a quick pet then set it back down on the deck. After a few minutes of dodging Tribbles and made it to his quarters. After deactivating the lock, he entered. "Please tell me there are no Tribbles in here," Elijah said in mild desperation. "Oh and hi."

Grayson never expected to see tribbles in his quarters. He had only been on the ship for a few hours and had already grown sick of the sight of them. He couldn't help but have overheard the attempt at cursing, thinking it to be perfectly adorable and cute, as well as saving 'Son of a biscuit' for his own use later.

Placing his bag down on what seemed like the only uninfected tribble spot, he replied. "Hey, Grayson Jones. Your new roomie!" His voice a little too enthusiastic there. "Nice to meet you. I see the tribbles are invading." He laughed out the side of his mouth, trying to be charismatic and charming, hoping to make a good first impression. "Want a hand getting them out of here...or to an airlock?" He joked.

UGH they were in his quarters as well. UGH! UGH! UGH! No relief! "Hi new roomie," Elijah said as he stepped over about four Tribbles. "Elijah Williams," he extended a hand. He had been told he would be getting a new roommate... again. At least this time his roommate was a male, that was a step in the right direction.

Grayson shook his hand and smiled as he nudged a tribble away with his foot. "In the right circumstances people could find these things cute. Not here though, nope. More like fluffy gremlin pests."

"Agreed," Elijah said as he squatted down on his haunches and began to pick up the furry buggers. "Though, I am not sure how cute they are even under normal circumstances." He tried not to grumble. He stood with a bunch of Tribbles in his arms and moved to the door, it opened and he tossed them out. He glanced around the small space and sighed, the five he tossed out were just the beginning. There had to be at least a dozen or more. "So, what department are you with Grayson?" he asked.

Tossing a good few out as well, he replied, "Engineering. I'm the new...and let me get this acronym right... ACEO... I think." Grayson laughed. "Yourself?" He continued to toss tribbles out, but they seemed to not be making a difference yet.

"Sounds about right," Elijah said as he scooped up another armful and tossed them out into the corridor. He had wondered how many congregated in the bathroom. "I am with the planetary sciences division, geologist," he said. For a brief moment he looked at the other man and wanted to inquire about the spots, they were far lighter than the typical Trill spots. He didn't think it wise to ask such a personal question right off the bat. "Well, it will be nice to have an engineer around, I swear our replicator is the worst one on this ship. It's always breaking down."

"Just as well that seems to be my specialty then!" Grayson flirted. "After we get these things out of here, I can take a look at it." He paused, thinking what to say next. He always tread on important first conversations carefully...but he was sure they would get along. "So geologist then, I guess you must be kept pretty busy on this ship then? This is the first dedicated science ship I have been on."

"So far it has been," Elijah said. He glanced around the room and almost sighed in resignation. He had a feeling the Tribble infestation would not go away so easily. "This is actually my first assignment, after I got my doctorate I worked for the planetary sciences division at Starfleet Science. Spent a year in their labs then decided to expand my wings so to speak and here I am."

"Wow, must be very intelligent then." He gave a cheeky wink and returned to throwing the pets out the room. Grayson felt an unusual sense of joy to be able to see the floor.

"You know these sneaky bastards are only going to get back in here," Elijah said. He smiled at the other man, so far the two were getting along fine, which was a good thing. Elijah had been apprehensive about having a roommate in general, even more apprehensive when he had a female at first. He felt more at ease with another male around. That was mostly because he felt with Branwen he had to be careful with what he said or careful not to change in front of her or anything like that. Though, he was also attracted to males, but thank goodness he was good at controlling that. "I won't lie, I consider myself pretty smart," he then laughed. In actuality he was very insecure concerning his intelligence. "I just happen to like rocks, always have."

"Like myself and ships." Grayson continued to throw them out. "I think we might finally be getting somewhere with these little bundles of annoyance." He couldn't help but smile at his new roomie, he had one of those faces he wouldn't tire looking at. Elijah reminded him of some old friends that he missed. Just the way he carried himself and the way he spoke.

"If we clear this place out, I will never leave again." Elijah once again laughed. He moved to the bathroom, opened the door and then groaned. "I hope you aren't planning to use the shower or toilet anytime soon." He punched a command into the panel on the right side of the door to keep it open. So much for a hot shower, he thought to himself. "How in the world would they get into crew quarters, unless they sneak in while the door is open."

"Or get a trail of bread crumbs leading away from the door." Grayson giggled. "I guess I will have to wait on the shower then, long as you don't mind a stinky engineer. At least I can get the replicator fixed and get this uniform recycled and cleaned." He started looking for his toolkit as he tossed another tribble out on it's fluffy butt.

This engineer had a far better sense of humor about these things then Elijah was feeling at the moment. He looked to the engineer then back to the bathroom, there were at least two or three dozen in there. It may have just seemed more because the bathroom was so small. He bent down and began to pluck the Tribbles one by one from the deck. "The Galileo is only eight decks big, it will only take two or three days to fill her at this rate." He carried an armful once again to the corridor and deposited them and as he passed the engineer asked, "Have you seen much of the ship yet? Not that there is much to see mind you."

"Not much really. After we get these out of here, I plan to get changed and go for an explore. I need to find the gym, it has been a few days since I have been and I'm starting to feel guilty about that."

"Guilty about not working out?" Elijah gave the man a bit of a smirk. "You sir are better than I in that regard, though I end up going anyway." He grabbed more of the troublesome Tribbles and threw them once again into the corridor. "To bad we couldn't open a window," he mused then said, "I can show you around if you like."

"I'm sure there is an airlock around here somewhere." Grayson joked. "A personal tour from you sounds great, can see the other views on the ship." Instinctively he winked, letting the flirty charming side out when he really, really...really shouldn't have.

Elijah caught the wink and just smiled. He had wondered if his new roommate was always this flirty. Not that he would recognize such things, that is where his naivety came into play. "Alrlght then, once you change I will show you around."

"Sounds fun!"

"It'll be a blase I promise," Elijah said. He then went about picking up more Tribbles.

Tbc...

[OFF]

Lieutenant JG Elijah Williams, IV
Geologist
USS Gallileo

&

Ensign Grayson Jones
Asst. Chief Engineer
USS Gallileo

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