ENS. Josh Herrick and LT. Kammus Corelli Joint Post— Grease Monkey on Fire (Part 2)
Jay Young
((Jefferies tube near section 11, junction Baker 4))
Traversing the jefferies tubes alone was manageable for Josh’s claustrophobia, but now with another officer alongside him… it was starting to feel like the walls may close in as flashbacks of a turbolift crossed his mind.
He focused on slowing his breathing, in through the nose out through the mouth. As the pair crawled slowly, he attempted small talk to take his mind off the situation. Josh started with his usual ice breaker.
Herrick: So, what brought you to Starfleet?
Corelli: Corelli Ship Builders, Farpoint Staryards…. ::Kammus waved his hand through the air:: My parents build ships just about as far away from the federation boarder as one can get. I grew up in a ship yard, which was really a junk yard. But I learned a lot about how ships fly. And that’s where I got my idea for a new…. Well it doesn’t matter. You?
Herrick: (more upbeat) My dad’s an engineer at the shipyards nearby. The better part of his career has been around the Warp 15 engine, retrofitting the bulk of the existing fleet with that capability. I guess you could say dilithium runs in our blood.
So there was a similar background. It was always interesting to Kammus how people’s paths might cross, or align. In this case, they had a very common frame of reference. He hoped he would get along well with the new Ensign, and became very excited at the prospect of being able to talk ship with another fellow officer.
As the ensign’s breath steadied, and they wormed closer to the EPS conduit, the hum became noticeably audible — it could have easily been mistaken as a nest of hornets.
Herrick: It’s definitely louder than when I came through earlier.
Squinting one of his eyes, trying to assess the issue, Kammus glanced at the problem area, then back at Josh.
Corelli: Well?
Herrick: oO Better safe than sorry. Oo
In the tight surroundings, Josh made a less than graceful maneuver grabbing the tricorder from his belt. Immediately upon being opened, the tricorder started beeping insistently. Tricorderders were always overdramatic, Kammus thought.
Herrick: Strange ::he thought out loud:: There are trace tachyons that seem to be obscuring the scanner. I can’t get a clear reading if it’s safe to open the panel, in addition to not being able to tell exactly what’s wrong with this EPS tap. 50/50, it’s up to you sir.
Corelli: Right!
Kammus ripped the panel off quick, and tossed it down on the metal grating. The noise grew louder, but still there was no visible sign of trouble.
With his right hand, he grabbed the T88 from its holster, twirled it in his hand like second nature. He didn’t think about the action, it was simply muscle memory. As Kammus began scanning, the Tachyon particle count surged.
Corelli: Well I see the Tachyons, but what is causing them? Can you get a clear reading from the tricorder? Spatial fissure? Subspace instability? ::Kammus adjusted his scanner:: Let me see if I can divert the tachyon field flow…
Grabbing a field inverter from the engineering toolkit slung around his shoulder, Kammus tried to wield both instruments in the tight space. He tilted his head as he adjusted the field inverter and watched the readout display his work.
As Josh looked at the evolving scans, he instantly regretted only taking one course in the Academy on temporal mechanics. The hum continued to grow louder, amplified now without the casing to muffle it.
Herrick: (raising his voice) These readings are getting more inconsistent, sir. The age of one of the components keeps flipping between 14 and 135 years. It’s causing some issues with plasma transfer, which is probably why we’re hearing this insufferable noise.
Corelli: Ah, so the problem is that this piece of conduit is in two times at once? That’s sub-optimal.
Kammus nodded with a pleased look on his face.
Herrick: ::he looked apologetically at his new boss:: My experience with temporal anomalies goes as far as a fictional story on a time-traveling automobile. Given this isn’t a Delorean, what do you suggest?
Corelli: Phase discriminator, check in the tool kit under the protective…. ::Kammus nodded with his head as Josh dug inside the case:: Yes, that’s it. I keep one in the toolkit these days because time travel and nonsense. Time travel I can deal with; nonsense however.
Kammus shot raised eyebrows at Josh and offered a sly smile. As soon as Josh touched the phase discriminator to the conduit, it exploded. A short stream of plasma shot out of the conduit hitting Herrick’s side. The senior engineer, fast acting with that muscle memory, shut the flow of plasma off — unfortunately impacting waste reclamation for the foreseeable future on the lower decks .
The jefferies tube, now filled with smoke and the smell of burnt flesh. The humming had disappeared, only to be replaced by the audible pain that the newly minted ensign was experiencing. He was getting the full engineering experience packed into his first shift. The burnt arm reached out to Corelli for help, before Josh passed out from the pain.
Corelli called for an emergency medical transport, and with that, Herrick’s body dematerialized and was whisked to sickbay.
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LT. Kammus Corelli
Chief Engineer - USS 'Oumuamua
Writer ID: T239807KC3
&
Ensign Josh Herrick
Engineering Officer
USS ‘Oumuamua
Writer ID: O240005JH3