Tribble Troublations!

Posted on 11 Oct 2014 @ 6:03pm by Lieutenant Asahi Kita & Lieutenant JG Grayson Jones

1,516 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 7, Main Engineering
Timeline: MD 07 - 1954 hours

ON

Asahi was grateful that the sea of tribbles had been contained to his office, and he was at least relatively free to roam about the ship without having to resort to a makeshift life raft. Ever since this infestation started, the freshly promoted chief engineer had been mostly confined to Deck 7. His worries about tribbles finding their way into the critical warp core systems and, somehow, managing to absorb all of the deuterium zipping about was a bit too nightmareish for his tastes. He had been assured by the zoologist in science that that was not something he would have to worry about, that even if they did get into the systems, antimatter was the last thing a tribble wanted to get into. Something about them knowing better, but none of it really stopped Asahi from fretting that they would have done so.

Which was a shame, with his relatively new promotion came a change in rooms, and he had heard the senior officer rooms were at least bigger.

Currently, he was on the look out for the new 'assistant' of his. He had hoped to find Grayson somewhere deep in an engineering project. Granted, it was Beta shift, and he couldn't very well expect Grayson to stay down here as he was currently. Asahi was the one who was oddly anal retentive about keeping everything in perfect working order, not his staff.

A quick scan of Main Engineering told him that either his eyes had stopped working, or Grayson had gone off to find something else to do. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Asahi put a hand to his comm, throwing his formalities out of the window in exchange for something more expedient. =^="Grayson, I know it isn't your shift, but could I get you to come down to Main Engineering for a sec?"=^=

=/\="Sure, no problem Chief."=/\= Grayson said as he immediately changed his walking path to the gym, to Main Engineering, he hoped Asahi would not mind he was in his less than standard issue work out clothes. Wondering what it could be, he quickened his pace.

Asahi was quick to ignore the mass of tribbles that were headed for what he assumed was his office. The little creatures seemed to think he had a hotspot room, for whatever reason, for whatever reason the engineer couldn't fathom. It made his pup, who now also refused to leave his office, rather touchy and jumpy, especially now that Hojo found it appropriate to leap up into his lap when things were looking a little dicey. So much for puppy training.

As soon as Grayson walked through the door, Asahi waved, gesturing toward one of the open seats and sitting in another. "How have you been settling in? I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."

"Nothing I can't get back to," Grayson replied, thinking of the scene he had just left in his quarters. "Getting on quite well, I think. Had a little trouble in here before, but was handled very quickly," remembering his run in with a certain member of the department. "What can I help with?"

"Trouble?" On a kneejerk, the name 'Vasily Sokolov' scampered through Asahi's mind, but he waved it away. "The engineers here can be... stubborn, but they'll just have to adapt." He paused, but only briefly. "Grayson... have you ever had to deal with a tribble infestation before?"

"Never." Grayson replied bluntly. It was true, he was just going on instinct to deal with what was going on, treating the ship more like a medical triage situation.

Asahi folded his arms against his chest, nodding thoughtfully. "... I thought not. Tribble infestations are rare these days. The last Nova vessel I was on had them banned as pets and experiment subjects. The CO was Klingon though, might have had something to do with it." He let a small pause settle over them, before eying the younger man. "... Off the record, what are your thoughts on the matter?"

Musing for a second, "They're a damned pain when they get onto a ship...or anywhere for a matter of fact, but, they deserve to be treated with respect and remove as humanly as possible."

It was clear that, by the time Grayson had finished his thought, Asahi had been holding his breath, almost expecting to hear a near-Borg-like 'They should be eliminated.' Moments after the younger engineer had finished his sentence, Asahi let out his breath, very nearly relieved. "I see another idea on my desk for 'how to get rid of the pests,' and I think I'll scream."

Smiling, he leaned against the back of his chair, eying Grayson carefully. "... But it's difficult to do that without the proper resources... especially with the buggers multiplying all the time. I have a backburner plan for if it gets to be too much that keeping them on the ship endangers the crew... but if we can stop it beforehand..." He trailed off. "... How is the only question. We can only keep them in storerooms and the cargo bay for so long..."

"Oh I understand that. When it comes to it, ship comes first. But in the same, a plan like that should be considered last. We owe it to ourselves and them to try it." Grayson took a breath, his next sentence was a little difficult to get out, "After all, it is not their fault they are here. They are doing what comes natural to them. Would we do the same to a family pet should it consume a weeks worth of food in one go? That they chew the dinning room table?" He paused. "I wouldn't."

"It's not. Their fault, anyway." Asahi's thoughts were turning out to be more eloquent than what he was outwardly expressing. Various scenarios ran through his head, involving tribbles and multiple nonlethal methods of containment and handling. "Its a delicate situation all over. I guarantee you Captain Holliday just wants a solution for the betterment of the ship, while a majority of Science and quite possibly Medical probably want to see these poor buggers off safely." He smiled weakly, shaking his head. "And anyone else, too... I've just not had a lot of good suggestions past containment step themselves forward, unless it comes in the form of decompression or... ah, how did Sokolov put it..."

"Bluntly." Grayson joked, remembering his own run in with Sokolov.

".... That's one way of putting it." Asahi chuckled. "That man's out to give his superiors ulcers and heart attacks, I swear..."

"I've had my own run in with him. He came in barking orders. I dealt with it. Admittedly I was shaking a little after it, but I dealt with it." Grayson replied, the tightness returning to around his neck thinking of it.

Asahi's brow rose, vaguely recalling his own meeting with the man. "... Sounds about right. He's... abrupt is the nice word, but I think I'll stick it there. I probably should have warned you about him. Guess I didn't think about it with all those tribbles." He made a face, eying the small parade of multi-colored fluffballs wiggling in and out of Main Engineering. "... There's gotta be a humane way to get them off the ship."

"Find a nice little spot and beam them there. Hold them in pattern enhancers until we find said spot. I've been working on the idea from some old Chief Engineer's logs. I read once of a skeletal lock, where when transport was difficult the marrow in people's bones could be used as a signifier to establish a lock. Not knowing the anatomy of a tribble, other than fuzz...I wonder if we could do something along those lines to establish clear locks on mass groups at a time."

"Oh..." Intrigued, Asahi leaned back, pulling information from the PADD in his lap up. "Tribble anatomy, from what I'm told, is much less complex than most other anatomies on the ship." He handed the PADD over, which displayed an extremely detailed diagram of the insides and outsides of a tribble. "The zoologist handed that to me when the pattern buffer idea was thrown down-wind to the Science Department. If we can establish a lock on something that isn't bone marrow, we could easily work on that idea. They're more... reproductive organs and masses of fluff than anything else. And stomachs."

"I'd guess the more solid the better...would give the most chance to have the transporters to identify. The stomach might be a little too volatile and...messy to deal with, but certainly the most solid and sizeable area to try by the looks of it. It may be worth trying it before moving to, dare I say it...the other organs."

The smaller engineer nodded in agreement. "Well, I don't suspect it'd hurt... too much... care to give it a shot, Ensign? We'd have to catch ourselves a tribble."

"Let's get 'em." Grayson resisted a 'yeha'.

OFF

Lieutenant Asahi Kita
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Grayson Jones
Assistant Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

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