The Screaming Shower

Posted on 10 Sep 2018 @ 7:40pm by Master Chief Petty Officer Kai Mazen & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kala Gorvel

4,586 words; about a 23 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Deck 2, Section 04, Room 04
Timeline: MD 146, 1900hrs

Kai finished off his sonic shower and stepped out of the stall. He used the console outside of the stall to turn off the sonic shower...only it didn't turn off. In fact, it got louder and certainly didn't sound right. Wincing at the assault on his ears, Kai quickly toweled off and then wrapped the towel around his waist as he exited the head in his quarters and placed himself as far from the screaming shower as he could, stopping to grab his commbadge on the way past his bed. Once he was on the other side of his quarters from the personal hygiene device that was imitating the Banshee of Irish lore, he tapped his badge.

"Mazen to Engineering!" He shouted over the din. "Gorvel, get your ass to my quarters ASAP!"

Kala was sat at the duty desk in engineering when her name resonated around her after being said over the communications system. She frowned in annoyance, she knew Mazen was a Chief Petty Officer and the most senior of the NCOs aboard but he could have at least said please she thought. Sitting still for a moment longer a crewman, one whom she knew well spoke from across the room.

"Kala? Are you going to answer that? He didn't sound very happy." Said Crewman Ascot.

She let out a prolonged sigh "On my way Master Chief" Kala stood up and walked to the toolkits which were made ready for events such as this and opened one. "You know Ascot, a Please would have been nice," She said to Ascot before clipping shut the toolkit.

"I don't think Please's and thank yous are in a chief of boat vocabulary, just try not to upset him?" She said chuckling as she watched Kala leave engineering.

"Computer provide the location of Master Chief Petty Officer's Kai Mazen and the quickest possible route." The computer responded by informing her that his quarters were on deck 2, which thanks to the invention of turbo lifts the journey was short.

Kala could hear the noise before she even reached his door and she frowned, this was to be the third sonic shower to... well go supersonic in just two days. Walking up to the door she hit the control panel to its right and waited to be granted entry the piercing noise already giving her a headache.

Kai didn't hear the chime, but he did see the flashing light on the interior hatch console so he knew someone was at his door. He tried shouting enter, but the computer couldn't register his voice with the shower screaming at him. Cursing and adjusting his towel so he wasn't putting on too much of a show, Kai went over to the door and opened it.

"Chief!" Kai shouted. "Thank the Great Bird of the Galaxy! That damned noise is going to fracture my bones if it keeps up, not to mention the hull and the transparent aluminium in the port hole!"

She wasn’t surprised to see the man in just a towel, she had done three jobs just like this one but she had to admit she was impressed with what she did see. Kala had to cup her left ear with her spare hand to catch what he was saying. Great birds? Noise Bones and the transparent porthole? Either he had lost it or her ears had already burst their drums. "I'll See what I can do!" She shouted back not waiting for a further invitation to come in as she made her way painfully towards the ablutions.

Kai nodded and waved Kala in rather than trying to shout over the sounds coming from the shower. Because leaders didn't send subordinates anywhere they weren't willing to go themselves, Kai followed her over to the head. This was like listening to an operatic aria, if the singer had a voice like nails being dragged across a chalk board. Kai felt like his brain was going to start dribbling out of his nose and ears soon.

Battling through the noise Kala pried the access panel at the bottom of the Sonic shower the noise so intense that she was convinced her nose was bleeding. Examining the shower it was clear to her that the power storage mechanism like the other showers had tripped causing a power surge in the showers back-up power grid causing it to overload and create the painful noise tendrils of smoke were already plumming. She reached behind her still looking at the malfunction but couldn't find the toolkit, instead, she found her hand patting down the Master Chief's leg.

Kai laughed and leaned in so he could shout directly into Kala's ear.

"Keep that up and you're going to find a tool alright!" Kai bellowed. "Just kind of tool can be used to fix my shower! Try this instead!"

Kai handed Kala her tool kit and stepped back a little so Kala wouldn't accidentally cop a feel again.

Feeling embarrassed only for a moment Kala grew annoyed and had yanked the engineering tool kit from his hand, opening it and taking out a micro-calibrater. Gritting her teeth she set to work attempting to bypass the back up power supply. The noise began to fluctuate as she toyed with the electronics, the room was already hot and steamy meaning her uniform began to cling tightly to her figure. From her half sitting and bent over she imagined the master chief enjoying the view, she couldn’t blame him ofcourse she’d be doing the same. She wondered if he was still in his towel and had considered sneaking another peak.

Kai was, indeed, enjoying the view, but he stopped short of leering at the engineer. The noise had made him so angry that he hadn't really taken into consideration the need to get dressed. He left Kala to her work for a moment and quietly changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top, then returned. He kept at a respectful distance. The view was still nice, so he took it in for a moment, then approached her.

"CAN I DO ANYTHING TO HELP?" he shouted.

Kala was still head deep into the control panel when she heard the Master Chief's noise pierce through the painful noise of the sonic shower. "YOU CAN STOP STARING AT MY ASS!" She said half grinning not Actually having any way of knowing if he was, she wouldn’t be offended either.. The noise fluctuated again going quieter before getting worse than before "DAMN IT!"

Kai laughed.

"I CAN'T!" Kai shouted over the noise again. "IT'S TAKING UP MY ENTIRE FIELD OF VISION! OF COURSE, IF THAT'S AN ACTUAL 'RED LIGHT' I'LL LEAVE YOU ALONE IN HERE!

The cheek! She thought as she tried not to chuckle. She sat back on her legs, "YOU KNOW I COULD JUST LEAVE IT LIKE THIS!" She threatened jokingly laughter in her voice, her head turned and raised one eyebrow towards her trill spots. Kala worked the probe around the tangled assortment of wires, for a ship that looked so neat and orderly the wiring seemed to have been done sub-standard in some of the quarters.

Ass-ogling aside, Kai was, at heart, a gentleman. If Kala had to stay and listen to the recalcitrant shower misbehave, then Kai would also stay. Ogling Kala's ass was just a fringe benefit of gentlemanly behaviour.

"Well," he shouted back. "THE LEAST I CAN DO IS KEEP YOU COMPANY!"

Kala appreciated his offer, most people not all but most just left her to it or weren’t even present. “WELL, I WOULD LOVE A DRINK?” She asked, her voice muffled as she worked her face as close to the exposed control panel.

"SURE!" Kai said. "AS LONG AS YOU TURN THAT DAMNED NOISE OFF! WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO DRINK?"

"HOT CHOCOLATE!" She shouted in return, already working the loos cables and reorganising them, which should bypass the malfunction backup battery. The sonic shower's noise intensified before going silent but not before the glass mirror shattered along with the shower screen. Kala recoiled as the glass rained down on top of her. The noise had been so intense that it had given her a nosebleed, the blood dripping onto her hand as she curled up into a protective ball in an attempt to minimize the cuts form the glass. "Ouch" She said as the glass setteled and the room went silent.

Kai saw the mirror glass cracking just before it shattered, then, almost before he could react, it exploded. Thinking quickly, Kai grabbed the towel he'd been wearing, which was now hanging on a hook on the wall of the head. In one fluid motion, Kai got to the ground next to Kala and threw the towel...more of a bath sheet, really, over both of them to minimize the potential injury from the flying glass. When the glass settled, Kai through off the towel and laid it over the glass, covering a path to the door. Gently, he pulled Kala up so she was sitting up on her ankles and knees.

"Are you okay...crap," he said, seeing her nose. "Let's get you out of here and into the main cabin and we'll see if we can stop that nose bleed."

"Curses," She said accepting his help as she was pulled off the floor, despite his best efforts glass had managed to already cut her right arm which had been exposed. She then turned her attention to her nose and in an attempt to wipe it she smeared the blood across her cheek, the smell of iron assualting her smell. "Yes please, I hate blood" She said feeling slightly light headed.

Kai helped Kala to her feet and led her out of the head and into the living area where he had a small sofa, just big enough for two people. He sat Kala gently down.

"Okay," he said. "Rest here. Lean back into the sofa so you don't fall over. I'm just going to grab my medkit."

Kai was gone and back in record time. He laid out his kit and began to examine Kala. He gently wiped the blood away from her nose long enough to see that it wasn't broken. To be sure he scanned it with a medical tricorder. Satisfied with what he saw, Kai took a nasal spray out of his field kit.

"Okay," he said. "Don't worry. This is what I spent most of my Starfleet career doing. You didn't break your nose hitting the deck. It looks like you just burst some blood vessels. Take this and shoot two sprays up each nostril. It will encourage your sinuses to stop bleeding. Works like a charm, trust me. Then I'll look at that arm, and then we can get you some water and then some hot chocolate, okay?"

Kai held the nasal spray out to Kala.

Kala followed his instruction and had sat down tilting her head up to stop the flow of blood. Taking the Nasal spray she positioned it carefully and sprayed it into her right nostril before attempting it in her left nostril. Waiting a moment for the spray to take effect she could already feel her nose clotting. "Thank you," She said her voice coming out weird as a result of the now blocked nose as it healed. Examining her body she was mostly unscathed however her right up was ripped and bloody and the blood from her nose had stained the front of her uniform. "Gee, I really overcompensated the battery," She said trying to joke of the situation.

Kai chuckled.

"I won't hold that against you," he said. "Now, lets take a look at that arm."

Kai took out a pair of trauma scissors and cut the right sleeve of Kala's jacket away from the wound. Kai laid an absorbent drape over Kala's lap and moved her arm so it was over the drape. Taking some wound care supplies from his kit, Kai began to gently clean the wound.

"Hmmm..." he said. "Not too bad looking. I'll scan it to be sure."

Kai scanned Kala's arm with his medical tricorder.

"Okay," he said. "It's superficial. A little deep, but superficial. Whatever piece of glass cut it seems to have passed through cleanly, or if there was something in there that shouldn't be, it came out when I irrigated it. I'm just going to use this dermal regenerator and close it up, okay?"

Kala watched him work appreciatively of his efforts to fix her "Thanks Doc" She teased holding out her arm ready to receive his treatment. "So you say you've done this before?" She asked in an attempt to distract herself from her blood smeared all over her.

Kai gently worked the dermal regenerator over the cut on Kala's arm, making sure to close the deeper layers of skin first to avoid infection.

"Yep," he said. "I'm a Master Chief Hospital Corpsman. I spent a few years with the regular Marines and then joined the Raiders as a SAARC..er...Special Amphibious/Aerospace Reconnaissance Corpsman. That got me most of my Independent Duty Corpsman skills, but when I felt like leaving the Raiders for a job where less people would shoot at me, I convinced Starfleet Medical to send me to the Fleet Independent Duty Corpsman School. Long story short, I've been patching people up for almost four decades. There! All done with that I think. Try moving it. And don't think you're just running out of here! You lost a bunch of blood and you're a mess. I'm going to get you water and hot chocolate and maybe some food and you're going to sit while I clean up the head. Then you can get yourself cleaned up and replicate a new uniform for yourself and then, if you're not dizzy or lightheaded, then you can go back to work."

Then Kai shrugged and grinned.

"Or you can replicate a new uniform, change, and leave," he said. "But where's the fun in that?"

Kala considered doing the latter but he was right, where was the fun in that and it only meant she'd have to go back to work and probably another screaming shower. "Can I have little marshmallows and whipped cream?" She asked with a grin as she got comfy, flexing her arm to check the pain levels and thankfully there were minimal. Her nose, however, was still blocked and her voice still odd as a result. "Will you tell ell me more about your time as a Marine?" She asked genuinly curious to know.

"Sure, give me a sec," Kai said. He methodically put away his gear and cleaned up the mess quickly and efficiently. Stepping on the towel to avoid getting glass in his feet, Kai cleaned himself up in the sink. He brought Kala her hot chocolate with whip cream and marshmallows, and took a light throw blanket and put it around her shoulders. It was no longer hot and steamy as the environmental controls had compensated for the broken shower. It was now quite cool and Kala was pretty damp. "Just one more second and I'll join you. Sit tight."

Kala held onto the mug offered to her with both hands, the dampness of her clothes making her shiver but not as much as she could have been thanks tot he throw he generously put over her. She watched as he zipped around his quarters cleaning.

In a flash, Kai had vacuumed up all of the broken glass and grabbed a mug of hot cider for himself. A split second after that, he was sitting next to Kala on the sofa.

"Okay," he said. "So, Marines. First, I wasn't actually a Marine. They get their medical staff from Starfleet, so I was a Hospital Corpsman with ground combat and field medical training. And...well, it was interesting. There was a war on at the time...well, a series of on and off conflicts known as the Cardassian Border Wars. I join in 2350. The first conflict with the Cardassian Union started in 2346 and the fighting didn't stop until 2367, so it was a long haul. A lot of territory was being passed back and forth, and with each transaction came a significant butcher's bill. That part was hard. We'd fight for territory one day, capture it, and then we'd lose it a few days, a week, a month, whatever, we'd lose it later. That was hard to take. I felt a little better about things when I completed SAARC training and joined the Raiders, though."

Kala drank from the mug the chocolate warming her shivering body and relaxing her even more. She listening intently the words out of his month increasing her interest only more until he paused. "The Raiders?" She asked not knowing or have had heard of them before which wasn't strange being as she was Trill and young.

Kai adjusted the blanket around Kala's shoulders when he saw her shivering. Since his arm was around her shoulders from adjusting the throw blanket, he left it there and gave her a little squeeze.

"Marine Corps Special Forces," Kai said. "Computer raise the temperature...three degrees."

"Acknowledged," the Computer replied. The room got a little warmer.

"How's that?" Kai said. "If you want you can clean up and change into something dry. My war stories and I will still be here when you get back."

Kala could already start feeling the warmth from not just the room temperature increase but also from her hot chocolate, the blanket but also because his arm wrapped around her. She wasn't sure how she felt about it but wasn't going to object. "I think getting changed is a good idea, god forbid if anyone walked in on us," She said sheepishly pulling back the throw and letting it slip onto the couch before standing. "Two minutes?" She said placing down her mug and walking towards the replicator.

"Maybe five," Kala corrected as the clothes materialised and she walked back from the replicator and to the bedroom. It felt a small relief to take of her grubby, bloody clothes off and put fresh ones on, the smell of the fresh synthetic cotton assaulted up her already blocked nostril. "Do you have any fragrances?" She called through curiously looking around the room.

"Hmmm?" Kai said. "Uhm...no, nothing you'd want to smell like, but I can replicate something for you if you want."

"No its ok," She said coming out of the bedroom and flashing her hands "Tadaaaa, you wouldn't think I was a bloody mess ten minutes ago covered in shattered glass" She walked across the room and sat back down next to Kai, picking up her mug as she settled into the coach. "Thank you for your help, I would have hated to parade through the ship looking like I did."

"No problem," Kai said. "Excuse me a second. Hey, Fin! The noise has stopped. Why don't you come out and meet my new friend?"

In the corner of Kai's quarters there was a smallish crate with a hatch on the front. The hatch suddenly opened and out bounded a beagle. The dog shook itself and then ran over to Kai and sniffed his hand. Then the dog looked at Kala and titled its head as if asking who she was and if it was okay to sniff her. The dog looked completely like a real beagle...except that it had the yellow eyes of a Soong-Type android.

"Kala Gorvel," Kai said. "Meet Fineagle A Beagle, known around here as Fin. As you can probably guess from the eyes, Fin's not your average beagle dog. Is it okay if he says hello?"

Kala had originally thought the man had gone mental! She hadn’t noticed anyone else in the room when she entered nor had he mentioned it before, she figured the sonic screaming had pierced his frontal lobe. That was, until the Android dog padded out from its hiding place and into view. He was correct in assuming she could see he was not a real dog by the colour of its eyes but they didn’t make him any less adorable.

Kala dropped to her knees and invited the dog towards her with open arms. “Here boy, here Finie.” Kala said remember she had only ever seen a dog at the academy and even then only briefly but what she did remember the warmth it brought to her, much like now.

Fin sniffed Kala's hands, then licked them, then, at her invitation, cuddled up to her and let her pet, rub, and scratch him. Kai laughed.

"I think he likes you," he said. "He's pretty good about not licking faces, but if he does, don't worry. His slobber is sterile. He's a Soong-Type android. He was part of a project my daughter was working on and when his contribution to the project was over, she gave him to me to take care of. He's pretty much like most dogs, but he's better behaved and I don't have to worry about cleaning up after him. He doesn't usually eat or eliminate, and when he does eat, he processes that fuel with 100% efficiency. In other words, he uses everything he consumes. I don't think of him as an android, really. To me, he's just my friend Fin."

Kala from her sitting position on the floor continued to stroke Fin as Kai spoke. "He's very cute and very life like. Your daughter did a great job at making him so lifelike, is she here on the ship?" She asked scratching Fin behind the ear his fur caressing her fingertips as she did.

"Nope," Kai said. "She's at the Daystrom Institute. I'm really proud of what she's accomplished and really grateful for Fin. He's a good companion. He's actually got an emotion chip of sorts, and he was designed to be a bit smarter than the average canine."

Fin rolled over so that he was on his back, legs in the air so Kala could rub his belly.

Kai laughed.

"Of course," he said. "Fineagle here likes most of the same things regular dogs like."

Kala rubbed Fin's underbelly for a few moments longer before her knees began to ache and she had to stand. She stood for a moment wondering if it was right to sit back down next to the man and opted that it would have been worst to simply stand in the middle of the room looking awkward. "And your daughter's mother? Does she serve aboard the Galileo?" She asked sitting down but not as close as before, leaving a comfortable gap.

Kai laughed.

"I should fraking hope not!" he said. He left the gap between Kala and himself out of respect. "Wait...you're thinking I'm..still married? Wow. I keep forgetting that even in the 24th Century, men can still be pigs. Well, don't worry. Not my thing. Sarina, Laeila and Jayecob's mother, and I divorced almost three decades ago. It didn't take us long to realize we'd made a horrible mistake...a mistake that gave us two beautiful children, but a mistake nonetheless. Both of those kids are adults, almost thirty years old, and off living their own lives. Anyway, once Sarina and I faced facts, we were able to split on amicable terms. She spent more time with the kids than I did because I was deployed a lot, but I did my best and my kids and I are pretty close. But...no. I'm not still married and my ex-wife is nowhere near this ship, and neither are my kids."

Fin, if nothing else, was a persistent pooch. Bored with being ignored by the nice lady, he jumped up on the sofa and lay down with his head in Kala's lap and his hind quarters on Kai.

"Hey!" Kai said. "Why does she get the socially acceptable end?"

"Awroo-oo-oo," Fin said, letting out a little beagle bay, then looked up at Kala with his adorable yellow android doggie eyes with an expression that said 'We're nice. We like you. Hang out with us and pet me. Please?'

Kai said nothing else, letting Kala make her own decisions about the situation, and, he shamelessly admitted to himself, letting Fin work his doggie magic on her.

“I am sorry” Kala said plainly, “I didn’t intend to imply anything or make you upset.” Kala began to strike the dogs head again, playing with his ears. “I would love to stay and I’m not leaving because of any reasons but I’m still on duty it wouldn’t look good if I spent twice as short long as I should do in a males quarters, it’s unprofessional” She let out a breath “But I’d love to stop by again, when I’m not working?”

"You'd be welcome," Kai said. "And you didn't make me upset. It was a logical question. I was more amused than upset. Like I said, my divorce is some three decades old now, and it was mostly amicable and I'm not the type to spend a lot of time kvetching about her. So, please, yes, let's get together when you're off duty."

Kala gave Fin an extra long scratch behind his ear before moving him so he was fully on top of Kai. "Sorry about the glass and bleeding all over your ablutions. On a more professional note if there are any more problems, ask for me and I'll come by to fix it." She smiled a Kai "And yes let's get together sometime, off duty."

"Yes, let's," Kai said, needlessly repeating himself and feeling a little silly about it. "I mean...don't worry about the mirror. I'll have Ops bring me another one. And thanks for fixing that thing so quickly. Here, let us walk you out. Fin, we need to get up for a minute."

"Awroo--oo," Fin said and he clambered down from the sofa. Kai rose and he and Fin walked Kala to the door.

"It was nice meeting you, Kala...can I call you Kala?" he asked.

"You may," She said flashing a toothy smile, "As long as I can call you Kai, when off duty ofcourse and professionally speaking" Kala added. There was one thing he would have to learn and that is her job and her career was always number one on her list.

"Of course, Kala," Kai replied, a mischievous twinkle in his eye as he winked at her, immediately changing his tone from friendly to top NCO growl. "As for you Chief Gorvel, get your ass out of my quarters and get back to work!"

“Yes sir, Master Chief Petty Officer Mazen sir! Right away sir!” She teased in return to his mischievous wink, adding a mock salute at the end. Without needing anymore to be said Kala turned and walked away. It wasn’t until she was in the turbo lift she had realised she forgot her tool kit. “Oh well, a reason for me to pay Kai a visit again” she said to herself.

Kai nodded. "Well done, Old Man. And thanks for the help, Fin. I know I can always count on you in an emergency requiring a cute quadruped. Come on


[END]

Chief Petty Officer Kala Gorvel
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A

Master Chief Petty Officer Kai Mazen
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo-A

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