JP Lt Herrick, Ltjg Nilsen, 1lt Maxwell, Ens Yinn, Ens Kovacs - JOPA 404 pt 2

[Lhandon Nilsen]

((Lhandon’s Quarters, Room 4, Deck 4))

Johnson: I’d like to start, if I may!  Since we’ve had some changing of the guard on the ship, so to speak, I’d like to announce my intention to prank the new Director of Intelligence!

Yinn: I still haven’t done my prank, so I guess that means I’m also pranking the new Director of Intelligence! So if I mysteriously disappear out the airlock next week, you’ll know why.

Kovacs: Now, now ::wagging his finger:: I don’t think the commander would be that sloppy; but… if you mysteriously get orders to Starbase 80 and are never seen again. I heard a rumour (beat) that their offices are somehow inaccessible and unfindable on board.

Lhandon sat down back to his spot next to Kocavs and Herrick. He hoped he landed a little closer to Kovacs, his hand at rest on the sofa against his thigh, the two were getting to each other and at this point, had had coffee. Nilsen’s prior experience with this kind of thing with his ex was fast, passionate and toxic, he wanted to avoid that this time around.  

Nilsen: Can confirm. Even I can’t see it, and Ops is meant to be everywhere. Imagine if we found it though. His face would be everything, Once in JOPA eh?

Max was perched against the back of the sofa, just behind Nilsen and his good eye sparkled with mischief as he glanced around the others.

Maxwell: Could make a decent party venue.

Herrick: (grinning) That would be something, a surprise party in the soon to be not-so-secret intelligence office. By the way, the computer’s personality, is that one of the JOPA’s doings? ::looking around the room::

Nilsen: Not me, I’ve been a victim of it. Last month it sent two counselors to me because I told it off.

Yinn: Remind me never to argue with the ship’s computer…

Johnson: I don’t know, if it sent counsellors to Nilsen, maybe it’s a good thing.

Zarah grinned and winked at Yinn.  Nilsen probably didn’t need a counsellor *that* much, but the idea of the computer sending two after him was quite hilarious. 

Maxwell: Definitely no a bad thing.

Max reached out, giving a light and barely noticeable “Gibbs Slap” to the back of his friend's head. He looked down at Nilsen, shrugging lightly as if to say “What?”

Kovacs: I noticed that too… there are ebbs and flows where she seems to be sarcastic and semi-helpful. It might be helpful to enlighten her help. (beat) 🎵Oh Computer 🎵… will you help us prank the senior officers?

Josh looked at Eli, his eyes widening a bit as he wondered if the man was already drunk.

Computer: Ensign Kovacs, I cannot provide direction on the unethical pranking of officers. (long pause, then with a scolding inflection) You should know better.

Eyes widening, Zarah’s mouth split into a huge grin, which was then followed by a peal of laughter.  The computer had a personality!  Who’d have thought it? 

It was a near thing, but Max managed to avoid spraying his mouthful of brandy over those sat opposite him. Having no option but to quickly spit it back into his glass, he roared with laughter at the computer's response.

Kovacs: See!

Herrick: I have an idea a bit, less prank-y but more Bingo-card-y… the moo-moo had the engravings of all the JOPA members, I’m thinking it’s high time we etch ourselves into the OEB. Thoughts?

Lhandon had a smirk when Herrick mentioned etching their names.

Herrick: (with a playful glance) Something to share with the class Lhando?

Nilsen: Nah, it’s…erm…::laughs:: I’ve beaten you all to it. 

Johnson: I love the idea!  I’m in!

That time, her grin trained upon Herrick, to whom she passed a thumbs up.  She’d heard about making the mark on the OEB, but hadn't had the opportunity to do so herself.  Well that was going to change.  That time, the Butler would bear the name of Zarah Johnson!

Maxwell: Aye, count me in tae have a piece ae that action.

Nilsen: Me name’s already there, I did it on the first day when we were docked at DS9. You can’t just go out and do it. Anyone on the hull means that ship won’t fly. Safety precautions and all that. You need to justify it, you need cover your back as you do it. What’s your “reason” for being out there? You fixing somethin’ on the hull, doing an inspection. With all these new systems and Sherlock picking off ensigns for breakfast, we gotta step our game up.

He tapped a few times on his pad and anyone looking over his shoulder would see that he went into a secure folder. He showed a picture of the etching, but zoomed in so that could only see his name. He didn’t want to reveal that Sherlock in fact, helped him do this. 

Kovacs: (wiggling his eyebrows) Well, it sounds like we have our tour guide then. 

Johnson: I want to be number two!

Alas, number one was out, but Zarah knew she’d be on another ship in the future, most likely, and she could then start a tradition there.

Maxwell: I call ::he paused:: some other number….

Yinn: You all can do what you want, I’m perfectly happy staying inside the ship.

Johnson: Awww, come on Yinn!  Don’t you want to go down in history?

Zarah crossed her arms and clicked her tongue, but her chastisement was hardly sincere, and the smile that broke the serious expression only emphasized that.  Yinn had an adventurous spirit somewhere down there, she just knew it!

Kovacs: Yeah Yinn! It’s a right of passage — literally carving your name in history.

Herrick: And… we’ll make sure there’s no evidence (nodding towards Nilsen) No recording allowed.

Johnson: What if we did it together?

Everyone in the room was now looking at Yinn, some had their hands up together as if they were pleading with her to join.

Kovacs: No pressure, but you’d soon be the only one NOT to have your name on the hull (laughing).

Yinn: Looks like I don’t have much of a choice. At least I have a short name…

Nilsen: Before you do though, if you go out now, without a reason, Sherlock will hunt you down and she does eat ensigns for breakfast. Adding on to that, going out the door will alert security and the bridge. The safety systems will kick in to make sure that we don’t move and kill you. I know my helm console will be completely locked out.

He paused for a moment and remembered Sherlock’s lesson. 

Nilsen: But…there is a way, you gotta make it legit, you need a reason to go out there. Gotta get that paddwork in order. That way, no one can pull you up on it. Josh, there anything that needs fixing on the hull? Anything engineering needs to address? 

Johnson: Surely there’s got to be *something* we can use as an excuse.

She knew others had done it in the past, though Zarah was uncertain how they managed to justify going out the airlock and engraving their names on the hull of the ship.  

Herrick: Well… there were some items that came up from our quasi-shakedown mission that identified exterior maintenance for the ship. I don’t think anyone would question a bunch of lower deckers being sent out to ‘inspect’ for other items. We just won’t say that we’re going to be using plasma torches.

Nilsen: And I can turn off the sensors around that panel. With the request, it will all go through without a single eyebrow raised. 

Kovacs: When should we go?

Herrick: (tapping his PADD) Why not now? ::turning the PADD around where a large font read automatically approved:: Seems like the computer is in a better mood. 

Yinn: You’re really not giving me a chance to back out of this, are you?

Zarah giggled mightily and threw her arm around Yinn, bringing her in for a side hug. 

Johnson: Of course not!  But we’re all here to do it with you, so you’re not alone!

Downing his drink, Max stood to go and put his glass down.

Maxwell: Never alone.

Kovacs: Maybe… Deck 5? It’s bound to have enough EV suits for all of us.

Nilsen: ::tapps padd:: You’re right Eli, there’s a whole set of suits every airlock has them. You’ll need my code but Josh, if you request it off Ops, I’ll approve it right away.. 

That was fortuitous!  Not everyone in JOPA was there, and attendance depended upon who had to work when.  Zarah’s schedule was a bit more flexible than some, but that particular day, only five of them had shown up, so it stood to reason there would be enough.  Others could get their names engraved later. 

Johnson: Then it sounds like we’re squared away!

Max gave a nod, keeping entirely to himself that he intended to sneak Milly out there when opportunity arose. She was after all, an Honorary 2Lt. Looking down at the floor for a moment, he smirked at the memory of her telling off a Marine officer on 118.

Maxwell: Aye, let’s do this.

Nilsen: Regulations also state that there must be someone providing overwatch. Since I’ve done mine already, I’ll do that, I can also have a shuttle and the transporters on standby if anything goes wrong. Anyone who doesn’t want to go out can come with me. 

Johnson: Not me!  I want my name to go down in history.

She leaned over, gently chucking the now released Yinn with her shoulder. 

Johnson: Besides, I’m not going to leave my partner in crime to do it alone.

Kovacs: Welcome Yinn, to the glorious human tradition of peer pressure. But, this is good at least. Not like when I was last on DS9…

Max leaned in slightly.

Maxwell: Aye? Come on lad, spill it.

Kovacs: I may have ‘invested’ a few slips of latinum I never ended up seeing again. Tip for you all, if someone tells you about how QCoins are going to triple your money, stay away. ::looking at Nilsen:: So, you did a space walk too?

Nilsen: When I did, we took a shuttle and parked right near where I my name, I extended the shields so I could just walk out.

As terrifying as the idea of being on the outside of the ship was to Yinn, the idea of just walking around in open space with nothing but an invisible shield between you and the majesty of creation was also thrilling.

Yinn: Could we extend the shields enough for a walk across the hull?

She blurted it out before she could take it back.

There it was, that spirit that Zarah knew lay inside the Bolian woman.  A grin spread over her face once again and she murmured in a conspiratorial manner. 

Johnson: Wouldn’t it be hilarious if we walked up to windows and made faces at people inside?

Eli pulled his mouth wide open and crossed his eyes, and fell into a short burst of laughter.

Max snorted, mimicking Kovacs by pulling a daft face of his own.

Kovacs: Well… we’d certainly be the talk of the town.

Herrick: Not that I want to be the voice of reason here… but I suspect we might want to keep our excursion a little more low key.

In reality, Josh was fearful that with some of the wrinkles being ironed out after coming fresh off the shipyard that there might be a momentary lapse in the shield emitters and then they’d become lower decksicles floating in space. He held back sharing that grim possibility from the team.

Max smirked at Herrick.

Maxwell: Somebody has tae act the grown-up I guess.

Johnson: Oh I know, but it’s fun to think about.  

Maybe some day she’d try that sort of stunt, but not that day.  They had other things to think about and do. 

Herrick: ::standing up:: So, shall we get this show on the road?

Waving towards the door, Max waited for the others to assemble.

Maxwell: Lead on, MacDuff.

The group took a few moments to tidy up Nilsen’s quarters from the festivities, placing the alcohol back on the counter and recycling some of the leftover food. The plan was finalized and a buzz of excitement came about from the members of JOPA, Lhandon got Eli’s attention and took him to one side. His protective side was coming out. 

Nilsen: Hey Eli, you…stay safe yeah?

Kovacs: It’s just a mostly routine space walk.

Nilsen: I know, I just…I want ya to come back. 

Lhandon was known for wearing his emotions on his sleeve, and it wasn’t something that Eli minded. The man genuinely cared for him and vice versa, and as long as they treated each other as individuals with shared goals where each was able make their own decisions, it was fine for the engineer.

Kovacs: I will (beat) but if I don’t, make sure to delete my holodeck history.

Lhandon tried to move the subject, perhaps hiding that he would be very worried, and to mentally seal the fact Eli will come back. He knew that they were perfectly safe, he knew that he would be the one keeping him safe, but still, he wanted that little reassurance.

Nilsen: You erm, doing anything after this?

He really wanted to spend more time with Eli, he didn’t even know how to push this whole thing forward without being pushy. His previous experience with his ex is not a good reference point

Kovacs: Maybe sleep? I pulled the short straw to start at 0400 the day after JOPA.

Nilsen: response

Kovacs: (smiling) Sure, I’d like that.

There wasn’t much point in sleeping, this excursion would likely take them into the wee hours so he appreciated the gesture of a coffee and chat. Lhandon’s attention was then brought back to the main conversation after it appeared the whole group was waiting on the two of them to finish their conversation.

Nilsen: Right, you lot ready?

Johnson: Ready!  

Zarah exclaimed eagerly, gently nudging her partner in crime. 

Turning to the previously reluctant Bolian, a huge grin tugged at his scarring.

Maxwell: C’mon, Yinn. You’ll love it.

Yinn: Response 

1st Lieutenant Arturo Maxwell.

Marine Officer, 4/73 Marines.

USS Octavia E Butler: NCC-82850.

O239311AM0

&

Ensign Yinn

Science Officer

USS Octavia E. Butler

O240011Y12

&

Lieutenant JG Josh Herrick

Acting Chief Engineer

USS Octavia E. Butler

O240005JH3

he/him/his (player/character)

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Elijah Kovacs

Engineer

USS Octavia E. Butler

he/him/his (player/character)

&

Lieutenant JG Lhandon Joseph Nilsen

HCO & Acting Asst. Chief

USS Octavia E Butler

O240007LN1

He/Him/His (Both player and character)