Accidental Accusations

Posted on 08 Jun 2014 @ 7:06pm by Lieutenant Asahi Kita & Lieutenant JG Kouta Jiang Ph.D.

1,931 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo Deck 7 - Observation Lounge
Timeline: MD -01 :: 1602 Hrs

[ON]

Being extraordinarily late and breaking things. This was a fantastic beginning to Kouta's reassignment.

However, in his defense, he was fairly certain he hadn't actually been the one who'd broken the replicator, just the unfortunate crewman who happened to find it, though how unfortunate, exactly, remained to be seen. He hoped, as he leaned against the wall next to the device in question, staring wistfully out one of the viewports with his hands in his pockets, that it would be only a moderate level of unfortunate at worst. Given the response to his page, however...

Given the stress undoubtedly plaguing the minds of most of - if not all - the crew, he couldn't blame a single one of them. Each for their own unique reasons, of course, but it was like this mission he was to join them on was designed to stir up tension. Old wounds reopened, fear, challenged responsibilities, confined spaces, inexplicable happenings, confusion, and what he waged was a small mountain of frustrations. He may have only just arrived and was as yet still unfamiliar, but really, he thought they were doing quite well.

He almost felt bad reporting the misbehaving piece of equipment, considering it all, and it wasn't like he couldn't have found another one if he had really been that hungry. But good intentions or not, he'd have felt irresponsible walking away from it without saying anything. So here he was, waiting for whatever level of unfortunate he'd spoken to from engineering to show up.

The corners of the sociologist's mouth curved up just a hint. 'You could probably help yourself a little, Kouta,' he chastised with a kind of dry amusement to his thought, 'if you started remembering people's names.'

"This one isn't spewing glitter or anything, is it?" Nothing said stealthy little shit better than appearing seemingly out of nowhere.

"E-eh?" Kouta gave a bit of a start, more in confusion than surprise, to the voice and man who seemingly popped up out of nowhere. He straightened from the wall, glanced behind the man, then behind himself - he hadn't heard a thing. Had he zoned out that badly...? "Not.. that I noticed, no. Actually it's spewing a distinct lack of anything."

Asahi hadn't meant to startle anyone, and was likely not aware of his surroundings at the current moment. It was likely the tiny engineer had managed to keep himself upright with copious amounts of caffeine and tiny, ten minute catnaps in between calls. However, the closer they were to Lyshan III, the quieter he had become. Some of his less aware members of the Engineering team complained that the normally outspoken man was starting to turn into a Cardassian recon agent, or some equally insane baloney.

There were even threats to put a bell on him.

If it were not for the need for the acting chief to have all his facilities, Asahi would have very much run on auto-pilot. Today's activities involved multiple trips up and down most of the ship decks, including various replicator malfunctions. The observation deck had not seen the first one of the day, and Asahi would bet money on it not being the last of the day either.

If he was counting, it had to have been the fifth one of the day so far, which was odd. Maybe there was a malfunction in one of the newer programs, one that Asahi hadn't counted on during the refit. It was something he would have had to look into.

"Kita to Main Engineering. Someone who's better with the internal workings get in there and see if something's gone awry with the replicator's programming." He grumbled, setting the toolkit down and peering deep into the replicator, turning his words onto Kouta. "So, what happened?"

Kouta arched a brow, intrigued by - what had he said, Kita? Kita, Kita... Nope, nothing - Kita's behavior. He seemed a little bit... high strung. "Ah, well," he glanced at the replicator in question, giving something of a shrug. "Apparently it dislikes azuki zongzi."

The scientist took his hands from his pockets, tucking a lock of his hair behind an ear before clasping them loosely behind his back, stepping away just slightly to allow the engineer more room, but not enough to deny his curiosity from peering at the proceeding technical activities. "More specifically, I asked, and it responded with an odd noise and not much else."

He tilted his head, and it couldn't quite be certain if he was more intently watching the blonde or what the blonde was doing with the malfunctioning device. "I wish I could provide a little more, but that's about as far as I got. It didn't make any kind of alarming smell or visible malfunction, apart from just not working, if that's at all helpful. Though... I doubt so." He chuckled gently, at his own expense. "Outside my scope of specialty, obviously."

"Probably because you asked for azuki zongchi?... zong... goddamnit." If Asahi had all of his wits about him, he may not have had such a hard time with words. Azuki was one of his favorites, but he usually had it in more sugary treats. Zongzi was not something he had often, even when he was living with his ultra-traditional grandmother. "Even when it's functioning properly, the replicators here give azuki the worst bitter aftertaste." He peered into the offending machine. "However, it would still give you something, even if it was mouthing off at you."

Frowning, he examined the replicator suspiciously. "Computer, one glass of water please." It seemed like a rather odd request for Asahi to make, considering water had not been the original issue. However, as the tiny engineer expected, the device beeped, sputtering at him, and flashing it's lights, before finally deciding to not do anything at all. "Just as I thought." He rolled his eyes, tapping the device as if that would do something. "Don't act all offended, I just asked for a glass of water."

Giving a short huff, he pulled a spanner from his pocket, reaching deep into the replicator itself. "Has anyone else had a problem since you've been in here, or is this the first time the problem's been noticed?"

Many, many years of practiced discipline was all that kept Kouta from actually grinning at the botched pronunciation. This engineer was like a little ball of spanner wielding grumpiness. Somehow it was just so... cute. All that actually appeared on his face, though, was a mild look of disappointment. "Does it really? That's unfortunate."

He continued his observations, pondering briefly if he was really needed for much else or if he would soon become a bystander in the way and should head off, but brushed off the notion. If he was no longer needed, he'd be dismissed, certainly; besides, this was much more interesting than what he had intended to being doing right now.

"Not that I know of." Ah, see? A question. Kind of an ironic question, if he thought about it. "I'm guessing no one else has reported it, considering... Perhaps they were trying to avoid causing more stress with everything else going on."

It was a good thing Kouta hadn't said anything, or the 'ball of spanner-wielding grumpiness' may have lashed out in some manner. Then Kouta would have been calling another yellow-shirted individual down, and that would have been extremely unfortunate for the both of them.

"Azuki's always puzzled the replicators, no matter what I can convince the programmer to do with it." Asahi shrugged it off. "I could just be a little spoiled though."

Asahi pulled off the large panel around the replicator, handing it to the unwitting sociologist next to him. "Hold this a sec." Before Kouta could protest, the tiny engineer was climbing into the replicator itself for a closer examination. "I wonder if something's interfering with the microconverter and jamming the replication signal."

Glancing back out toward the blue-collared man, he frowned. "It's a replicator malfunction. Happens all the time." It happened so many times in the past few days, however, that Asahi was beginning to suspect someone was running around and breaking them for attention. "... What would they be considering? It causes more stress if it doesn't get reported."

"Spoiled? Ah, real azuki, perhaps."

It was more an assumption on Kouta's part than a question, and the scientist adjusted his glasses with something of a nod. Real azuki beans weren't exactly the most common of foods, nor were most of the 'ethnic' treats he tended to be fond of, and he hadn't been back on the planet he could easily acquire some in nearly nine years now. Admittedly, he was a little envious at the thought.

"...Eh?" He blinked, looking from the panel he'd just been handed to the engineer who was climbing right in to the now-exposed replicator.

He felt mildly like he'd missed something somewhere in this situation, and he sidestepped just slightly to better peer after Asahi. Did he expect him to respond to that, or was he just thinking out loud...? If so, at least Kouta could feel comfortable knowing he wasn't the only one who talked to himself in different languages - as that's about all that sounded like to him, anyway.

"Considering the stress level of fellow crew. Misplaced, perhaps, but well-meaning."

The question surprised him. This engineer didn't strike him as the oblivious type - no one 'oblivious' could so quietly sneak around like that, in his experience - and if he was to peg anyone he'd met so far as effected by environmental stressors, it'd have been this exact disgruntled little blonde. Then again, Kouta was a stranger, and this could be a particularly sensitive topic to some, so perhaps he was feeling him out. Or perhaps he didn't care at all and was just always grumpy. Both were plausible, really.

The taller man shrugged, not missing a beat. "Our upcoming endeavors have put a lot of tensions and a lot of worries in the minds of more than a few, after all."

Oblivious was not a word Asahi would use to describe himself either. Then again, he vaguely paid attention to anything outside of the Engineering wing as of late. There were too many factors that could have led to the neglect of the notification necessary, none of which Asahi had cared to figure out. He had no time to deal with the 'what ifs' and 'could be's when he had a ship to keep at tip-top condition.

"We're only going down to a joint-venture mine." Ghosts or not, the engineer had been insistent that the security team knew what they were doing and the scientists were going to be in the thick of the danger. He had tactfully avoided the color of the other's uniform just for the sake of this conversation. "It's not like we're going into battle or anything. I'd be petrified if a Nova class found herself in the middle of a war. I'd hate to be the engineer in that situation."

How he managed to wiggle about in the replicator was probably some sort of odd circus mystery, but he poked his head out to get a better look at the scientist/doctor/counselor (oh dear god did Asahi hope this wasn't a counselor) he was rambling at. "I didn't manage to catch a name, did I?"

Truncated

OFF

LT Asahi Kita
[Acting] Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

LTJG Kouta Jiang
Sociologist
USS Galileo

RSS Feed