Lieutenant JG Doz Finch - Tunnel Vision
Doz Finch
((Jefferies Tube, USS Gorkon))
A certain solace could be found in the jefferies tubes. Sure, the air was stuffy at times, and the walls lacquered with dust when they hadn’t been polished in a while, but she’d developed a bit of an affinity with them as the years had gone on. Perhaps it was her stature, on par with that of a pygmy rabbit or some other smaller creature. Or maybe it was something deeper than that, something more along the lines of familiarity; jefferies tubes, no matter the ship, no matter the layout, all followed the same rules, all went in similar directions, had the same sort of design. There was a bit of comfort in that.
Hobbling along on her knobbly knees with a belt full of handy tools, she’d reached her intended destination. A loose bolt that had fallen into an air vent, and had been tapping “none-stop” in it for the last few days, an easy fix that no one else had been able to get to, what with most of them drinking at bars and partying their nights away down on Andoria, god love them. She had half wanted to join them and to leave the task to someone else, but that had never been her style.
As Doz Finch shuffled along a bit more, pulling out a tweezer-like tool to reach into the vent, she could hear a set of voices coming from within the office beyond it. One of the more mischievous aspects of working in the tubes—overhearing what went on down below.
((Flashback: Some Years Ago - Jefferies Tube, USS Marigold))
Through a broken vent, muffled voices bled through, giving a slight echo inside the tube and tickling at the translucent hairs of Doz Finch’s ears. She’d been in there resealing a panel when she overheard a heated discussion flowing through it from below, and, like all curious cats hellbent on using one of their nine lives, she inched her way to the source, brown eyes able to see an office within which an Andorian, Captain Koth no doubt, and another woman she had never seen before, also clad in the crimson uniform and with a stiff posture, stood opposite one another.
Xalapa: It’s completely outrageous, Koth. Very distasteful.
Koth: Distasteful?
Xalapa: Yes. Distasteful! Are you deaf as well as stupid?
Doz gasped, considering whether or not she ought to leave the tube and pretend that she hadn’t heard what she’d just heard. Though considerations didn’t quite make her hips or arms move, and instead she remained fixed to the vent, in dire need of a cushion…and a box of popcorn.
Koth: It’s your phrasing…I’m just. Sorry, I’m a little confused.
Koth’s antennae bent inwards together, clearly feeling the weight of what appeared to be a reprimand.
Xalapa: Then that makes the both of us. We all know what sort of reputation this ship has, but this! This is beyond my comprehension.
Koth: If you mean the decompression events we had on the lower decks, it only happened a handful of times, and there weren't any fatalities. A couple of mild injuries…one person might have lost a toe, but no one died.
Crewman T’Mon hadn’t been the same since he’d lost that toe. He’d completely lost all sense of balance ever since it happened. She wouldn’t have called that a mild injury, herself, but she could tell the Captain was doing all he could to dissuade the seething Admiral, whoever she was.
Xalapa: I’m not here to talk about any “decompression events”, Koth.
Koth: Oh…then you’re here about the moon. I can assure you that blowing it up was a complete and total accident. Simply a little miscalculation. It really wasn’t significant at all. Was more of an asteroid really. Tiny thing.
Xalapa: You blew up a moon?
Doz cringed at that, wishing she could have stepped in to stop him from rambling. She’d never seen him like that before, almost beside himself.
Koth: …That’s not why you’re here either, is it.
Xalapa: No, it is not why I am here, though I can see that this will turn out to be quite the long visit indeed.
Koth: Then…why are you here?
Yes, why was she here?
Xalapa: I am here, you blithering idiot, because of your First Officer.
Koth: My…My First Officer?
Doz inhaled sharply, though a little too loudly this time, grabbing her mouth and squeezing it as quick as warp.
Xalapa: Am I speaking in riddles, again?
Koth: No, Admiral. I’m sorry. But what exactly is the problem?
Xalapa: The problem is her rank, you fool!
Gepe Grasa’s promotion had caused quite the stir on the Marigold. Many people had expected the Chief Medical Officer to take on the position, but when the tyrannosaurus rex was appointed, aka Gepe, it dumbfounded everyone on board. Rumours had started to spread like wildfire that she’d manipulated Koth somehow, steered him into her way of thinking. Which given her arrogance, condescending and self-absorbed nature, didn’t exactly inspire hope.
Koth: There is a precedent for it. It has been done before, has it not?
Xalapa: Not when you have a ship full of perfectly qualified lieutenant commanders.
Alright, whoever the woman was, she had a sharp tongue but knew what she was talking about.
Koth: I…well…
Xalapa: Just what were you thinking? You couldn’t have promoted Ziao?
Koth: Ziao is a very capable Doctor but I need him to stay where he is. There aren’t any other medical officers ready to take his place, yet.
At this point Xalapa looked up at the ceiling with an eye-roll that could have turned the entire ship upside down, with enough momentum. Her arms went up into the air and then fell down with a thump, the tone of her voice pointed and impatient.
Xalapa: Then you should make them ready. Or at the very least you reach out to personnel transfers and request someone capable enough. Instead of dilly-dallying and giving a position out to someone who isn’t qualified.
Koth: She is more than qualified. She’s quite admirable actually and…very astute about what she wants.
Xalapa: Astute is one way of putting it. I’ve read the complaints that have come in about her. By the sounds of it, she is quite the tyrant.
Koth: ::Muttering:: You’ll get along well then.
Xalapa: Pardon?
Koth: I said what do you want me to do then?
Xalapa: Nothing, now. Other than you getting your act together. What’s done is done. But hear me when I tell you that all eyes are on the Marigold. One more false move and you’ll lose this ship. I mean it.
Pulling herself up, Doz quietly began her retreat towards the tools sprawled in the tube. She’d heard more than she should have, and realised that ignorance was probably the more blissful option. Naturally she’d tell Murphy about it…and probably Chief Zeeza, too.
Reattaching a decoupler to her belt, she lumbered along at an awkward pace, and soon found herself back on the ladders leading to the nearest exit, bottom lip chewed within an inch of its life.
((Present Day - Jefferies Tube, USS Gorkon))
As the voices carried on beneath her, she took a moment to consider whether or not to linger there. Before the words tumbled quickly out of her mouth.
Finch: Just to let you know, I’m in the jefferies tube through the vent doing a spot of maintenance! I can hear everything you’re saying, loves!
Officer: Oh, I’d know that voice anywhere! Hiya Doz!
fin
Engineering Officer
USS Gorkon NCC-82293
C239809SH3
"There's nebula in that coffee."