Us Against the Tribbles

Posted on 13 Sep 2014 @ 3:42am by Senior Chief Petty Officer Keval zh'Erinov & Petty Officer 3rd Class Melinda Clare

1,563 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 6, outside Main Engineering (upper level)
Timeline: MD 9 - 1040 Hrs

[ON]

Melinda Clare had yawned as she waded through another mass of Tribbles. Her shift had long ended, but with all that was going on, she volunteered for a second shift. Everyone was on high alert and people were working hours upon hours to try to keep the Galileo running. Around the corner from the main engineering's upper level, she now stood with a tool kit in hand. Just a couple of feet away from her was Keval Graysan, just like her, he looked exhausted. Today, they were doubling as engineers, which was fine with her.

"This is the panel," she said to the Andorian. She raised her tricorder up and scanned. "There are about 25 Tribble behind here at this ODN junction. Shouldn't be too hard to clear out."

"No," he replied with a wry grin as he straightened his uniform shirt, "but there will probably be 30 by the time we're done. How are we going to get rid of them all, before they overrun the ship?"

"Honestly, I am not sure if we are going to beable to," Melinda said as she tucked her tricorder back into it's holster. Then with Keval's help, unlatched the panel and pulled it from the bulkhead. Melinda peered inside, it was a mess of conduit and Tribble. She sighed as she looked on. "I'm not sure why I assumed it wouldn't be as bad as it looks."

"It's worse than it looks. Part of the problem is we have to treat them with kid gloves, that limits our options. If this gets much worse they'll destroy thi ship its that serious."

"Well they are sentient beings Keval," Melinda said. "But with that said..." she reached forward and plucked one that clung to the back bulkhead and tossed it over her shoulder. The little furball squealed like a little pig. "It's us against them," she plucked another one out and tossed it in the same direction. "I thought these little buggers were contraband anyway." Melinda picked up another one, but held it up in front of her. The thing was cute, but not cute enough to allow on a ship as a pet.

"Well I'd argue about how sentient they are, but I don't want to go there. You're right they are contraband. Whoever brought them aboard should be court-martiled. They may have thought of it as a harmless prank, or they may not have been thinking at all. But their actions have consequences.

Can we afford to continue to play nice? That's the question. Like you said its becoming us verses them."

Melinda looked from the Tribble to the Andorian. The blase attitude was becoming common place around the ship, but Keval did bring up a good point. As much as she hated to admit it, the furry beasts had to be cleared out somehow. "But surely blowing them out an airlock or poisoning them seem almost inhumane," she tossed the Tribble into the pile. "I don't know the answer and I am glad I don't have to be the one to have the answer."

She continued to pluck the Tribbles from the conduit and back bulkhead wall and tossing them over her shoulder as if they were just articles of clothing she was pulling from a closet. "So... what's new and different with you?"

There were a dozen deeds that came to mind that he wished he could take back, or situations he wished he could change, but he really wasn't sure he wanted to burden her with them. He started trying to help pull the tirbbles out of the compartment, "Well, you know that painting I told you about, the one the kid in Engineering commissioned me to do? Well I am having to repaint the damn thing thanks to those tirbbles. They destroyed and it was almost done. Now, I have to start all over. Such a pain, but What about you? What's been going on with you?"

Melinda frowned. "I'm sorry Keval. Will you beable to duplicate the painting?" She didn't know much about Keval and had never seen one of his paintings but to be commissioned for one was a big deal. "As for me, well... I can't really say much is going on in my life at the moment. You know, gamma shift is pretty boring but it can hinder a social life as well."

"I hope so Melinda, I mean I can recreate it in my head, but I don't know if it's going to have the same nuances. And it will probably have to wait until we've got this whole tribble thing behind us."

His head was cocked slightly to one side both antennae curled slightly forward. "You know we haven't really talked much, except in passing and that was all about work stuff. So what kind of things do you do for fun?"

Melinda finally had gotten some of the conduit cleared and she pulled out her tricorder, opened it and started a scan. "Socialize," she said. She kept her gaze on the readings. "So the Tribbles have been really putting a damper on my social life ya know." Long, thin fingers pressed a few buttons on the scanning device. "The power drain at this interchange is at critical." She leaned in the opening and looked up, then down then left and then right.

"Yeah, I think these tribbles have been messing with everyone's social life. Seems like all we've been doing is either trying to herd these things somewhere else or repair the damage they're causing. After we're done here, I think I'm just going to get dinner and a drink in the lounge and go back to my place. I'm not sure if I'm up for much of anything else. But you should hang out have some fun. You've been working your ass off, you deserve to relax and take it easy."

"True enough," Melinda said as she pulled her head back out. "But, the mess hall and the lounges are packed full of these little guys. They can't even keep Callisto Bar clear of the Tribbles. With the power levels so low, holodecks are off-limits and well as you know enlisted quarters are just big enough to stand in..." she sighed in frustration. "A pillow and a blanket and eight hours of uninterrupted sleep would be my version of a good time at the moment." She offered a smile to the Andorian.

"Yeah, me too. Hell I'd settle for six hours sleep. This is worse than the damn Borg. You know if you and I feel this way, multiply that by everyone that''s on board. What is this doing to the morale. What is this doing to our health?"

"Killing it mostly," Melinda said in a deadpan tone. "It's probably killing our health too," she added as she holstered her tricorder again. She opened up her engineering kit and pulled out a data PaDD, she began to enter her findings to compile her report. "But you know, the command team isn't going to ask our opinion on this whole situation anyway." She looked up from her PaDD and directly at Keval. "All I know is we can't maintain power for much longer, someone is going to have to give in sooner then later."

"I coudn't agree with you more. I mean there's only so much re-routing an jury-rigging before we run out of time. So what would you do if you were part of the command team?"

"I'd transport them onto one of the planets in the Lyshan system," Melinda answered. "I've heard around though that some think the airlock is best, or jettison them into the sun... that just seems so barbaric to me."

"Well the humane way might seem the best and I wouldn't want to kill them out right, but would they survive on one of those planets? It would have to Class M and then what would they do there? Eventually they' all starve to death."

"We are just assuming they need a class-M planet," Melinda said. She then shrugged. "Well, Lyshan Three is just outside of the star's habitable zone. Maybe we should take a look at Lyshan Two more closely. Also, I doubt they would starve, they are obviously quite resourceful." With a slight nod to her head, she indicated the bulkhead paneling and began to pick up her end. Keval did the same and they started to latch it back to the bulkhead. "Either way, a decision has to be made." She slipped the PaDD into the tool kit case.

Keval found himself nodding as they worked together and she spoke. "You're right, something has to be done. Maybe we should take your ideas to the Captain, maybe he would implement them. It would make a good compromise."

Melinda smiled. "Maybe, who knows it might just be the idea they are looking for," she said. "First though, I have to get this report to engineering. If we get through this... I'll buy you a drink, so keep your calendar open." She winked at the Andorian as she moved through the mass of Trills that littered the deck, grateful that engineering was right around the corner.

[OFF]

Petty Officer 3rd Class Melinda Clare
Operations Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC Williams, IV]

&

Chief Petty Officer Keval Graysan (zh'Erinov)
Operations Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC NIchols]

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