A Stunning Experience

Posted on 07 Aug 2014 @ 10:44am by Petty Officer 1st Class Pieter Van Zyl Ph.D. & Lieutenant JG Grayson Jones
Edited on on 07 Aug 2014 @ 10:59am

1,897 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 7, Main Engineering
Timeline: MD07 - 0630hrs

[ON]

After throwing what seemed to be the fiftieth Tribble out of the room, Pieter's usual calmness was disturbed to the point where he was sure the next Tribble he found would face a fate worse than death.

Going back up to the nearby opening in the deck plating, Pieter knelt down to rummage through his tool kit. Taking out a cryosensor, he crawled back over to the opening and scanned the power conduit. As he stuck his arm inside, something soft and furry touched him. Letting out an agonized sigh, Pieter grabbed the Tribble and, in a violent movement, proceeded to throw it aside. The damn things were becoming a nuisance! The power conduits temperature was spiking, the lights would occasionally flicker all over the ship, and they were going through his ferns like they were made of chocolate!

Pieter had absolutely had enough and, earlier that day, had volunteered to help out in Engineer in any way he could.

Grayson hadn't slept properly since getting to the ship, as such, he was up and headed to engineering early that morning, mug of a strong green tea in hand, his usual breakfast of champions (to go). With his free hand he gently rubbed his eyes and tried to do something with the mess that was his hair that morning. He gave a mental note to head to get it cut soon. Turning the corner he was greeted by a flying tribble to the face. As he scooped his new 'friend' away from his face and placed it gently on the floor, he spoke softly as not to startle the man with his head stuck half way into the wall. "You OK in there?" He asked.

There was no reply for several moments when Grayson heard a soft buzzing. Pieter startled as his proximity detector activated, telling him someone was...well, in close proximity. Pulling his head out of the wall, Pieter looked up to see a young man in a yellow uniform. He glanced down at the tea, then up to his pips. Noting he was a commissioned officer, Pieter stood up to greet him with a standard salute.

"At ease. I'm not even on shift. Anything I can help with?" Grayson said, trying to hold his jaw close to his mouth as he got a good look at the man in front of him. He had to take a sip of his tea to compose himself as he glanced over him. 'Damn it, he's straight. The one seemingly straight guy and I have the hots for him.'

Confused as to what the man was doing here if he wasn't on shift, it didn't take Pieter long to shift his confusion to insult. 'Is he checking up on me? Is that what this is?' Despite the fact that he was in science now, Pieter believed that his years of experience in Engineering were enough to instill confidence in others.

'Apparently not' Pieter realised. Raising his hands, he replied, trying to keep his movements as calm as possible, even thought he felt like throwing each word at the man's face.

"No, sir," he said. "Everything is under control."

"Well, if you do need anything, I'm going to be over at the consoles there to keep working on the tribble problem. I couldn't sleep, so I thought I would get some extra work done. Being new, really doesn't help." Grayson gave a half, tired smile as he began to walk away, feeling an air or resistance from the man infront of him. Grayson didn't want to tread on anyone's toes as he learned the finer mechanics that was internal diplomacy.

Pieter nodded and then waited for Grayson to leave properly before kneeling back down to work. Trying to get the temperature down in the conduit, he worked quietly but kept glancing up at the other man.

'I would've been nice if I knew who the heck he was,' Pieter thought. ' Officers these day.' He shook his head to himself. Waiting for the temperature to drop now that the Tribbles weren't there, Pieter thought ahead and turned back to his kit. Absentmindedly digging through it, he finally looked up at the officer.

'There's no way around it,' he thought before speaking.

"Ensign?" he called, standing up once more.

"Yeah?" Grayson said, his head poking up from over the master display at the warp core like some deranged bushy haired meerkat.

' Do you happen to know where the gravitic caliper is? The temperature appears to be returning to normal, but I'm concerned about the flow.' Pieter knew where they were kept on a Galaxy class, but the Nova was new to him, and each engineering team had it's own system of where to keep certain things.

"Sure, second locker on your left. Bottom shelf. I'm sure there are a few in there." Grayson called out, taking yet another sip of tea to wake himself up more.

Nodding, Pieter went over to the locker, but kept the engineer in the corner of his eye. Opening the locker, he scanned through the contents.

"So," he said, unable to resist anymore, "are you new, or?" Although he hadn't been on the Galileo long, Pieter had an eye for faces, especially in the two fields he cared about most. This young man's didn't stand out to him as familiar.

"Painfully new. Grayson Jones, the new ACEO. I believe this is now my third day here. Lack of proper sleep has thrown a sense of timing off. You?"

"Pieter Van Zyl," the NCO signed. "I've been here for a couple of months now. I work up in Science, but I've worked as an engineer before, so I help out," he explained, ending the sentence with a shrug and then taking out the tool he was looking for.

"Good to know! Do you like the change between the two departments?"

Pieter didn't reply right away, the caliper taking up most of his attention for the moment. Finally satisfied, he put the device under one arm before answering.

"It's a different change of pace, but they both have their strengths. I like to keep my skills down here sharp," Pieter explained, taking the caliper in his hand finally to get back to work.

Now not knowing what to say, Grayson headed back to his work. Getting his head down and becoming fully focused on his task at hand.

As Jones continued to do whatever it was that he was doing, Pieter checked the flow the plasma in the conduit. It was getting a bit low, the flow no doubt disrupted by some other atrocity the tribbles were committing a few decks up or down. Letting a frustrated sigh escape him, Pieter picked up his hyperspanner and went over to the neaby console. Passing by Jones, he stopped to watch him work.

The kid seemed to be doing alright, even though there were shortcuts to what he was trying to achieve. But Pieter wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of cluing him in.

Grayson could feel a presence behind him, like cold breath on the back of his neck. He did not rise to it, not acknowledge it. Becoming increasingly frustrated with standard protocols, they weren't responsive enough, clear enough... letting out an annoyed grunt Grayson turned to his own tactics and though processes. He would clear up the tribble mess being caused across many a system.

Amused, Pieter leaned back against the neaby bulkhead. Crossing his arms over his broad chest, he tapped the hyperspanner against his arm, continuing to watch the younger engineer struggle.

Grayson, in his simulation, was finally clearing up the EPS network...it just wasn't quick enough. Once one section seemed clear of fluff and he moved to the next...the previous grid was infested again. He knew before long the power efficiency would start to be affected and that could lead to a whole lot of trouble.

Seeing that this was going to last much longer than he'd originally though, Pieter went back to his own work, activating the hyperspanner and running it across the conduit to try and stabilise the flow. The whole time, he watched Grayson, wondering how long it would take him to abandon all hope.

Grayson had it, he had it...that was to say, he had it until he never.

With the flow restored until the next inevitable tribble attack, Pieter stood up again and went to watch Grayson work, this time standing over him. His body automatically settling into a parade rest position, he watched Jones' progress with a keen eye.

A loud thud followed Grayson letting his head come to rest against the console. He did this several times, either in an attempt to clear his head or wake himself up, Grayson himself wasn't sure. All he could keep repeating over and over was, "Stupid, stupid, stupid." Sitting up and letting himself lean backwards in his chair, giving a loud sigh of frustration.

Biting his lips to keep from laughing, Pieter shook his head at Jones' reaction. As he watched the machine struggle through Jones' instructions, Pieter finally decided he couldn't take it anymore. The machine was going through enough with the Tribbles, they didn't need some kid fiddling about with the controls.

"Pardon me, Ensign," he said, gently nudging the Ensign, and his chair, away. Leaning down, Pieter reached under the console and felt around. Several moments later, as Jones' watched, Pieter seemed to readjust something and then move it from one side of the console to the other. Seemingly satisfied, the large man stood up again and tapped a few commands onto the console. Grayson watched as Pieter ran through the standard protocols and, with a few beeps, the EPS grid suddenly began to clear, section by section.

His work done, Pieter made sure to keep his self-satisfied smirk off of his face as he pulled his uniform jacket down and went to start cleaning up his tools.

Grayson's jaw hit the floor and not for previous reasons of attractiveness, he was stunned. He couldn't speak. He was lost for words in one of the few times of his life. All he could do was point to Pieter, back to the screen and then back to Pieter.

But Pieter himself seemed oblivious to Jones' bewilderment. He calmly put his scattered tools into the kit, closing it before proceeding to put the bulkhead back into its place hiding the power conduit. Finished, he placed the toolkit back into its proper locker.

Turning to Jones, Pieter stood in a casual salute before giving the man a firm, respectful nod and exiting Main Engineering.

Grayson remained stunned. He appreciated that he was young and there would be people of different rank with more experience than he. It was a fact he had come to lived with. What he just saw was a man who should have been a Chief somewhere. He got his head down, got back to finishing the task at hand, made an official, praising, note in his ACEO log as well as his own personal one.


[OFF]

PO1 Pieter Van Zyl
Botanist
USS Galileo

Ensign Grayson Jones
ACEO
USS Galileo

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