Hunting Tribbles, Hunted by Ghosts

Posted on 20 Aug 2014 @ 12:24am by Commander Andreus Kohl

1,076 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 3, Sickbay
Timeline: MD 06 - 1419 hours

[ON]

Crawling forward on his hands and knees, Andreus Kohl was inspecting Sickbay from an altogether different angle than his customary ones. Down on the ground, and behind the walls, he was inching slowly through a jefferies tube around the perimeter of Sickbay. Strapped to his forearm was a tricorder, it's sensors set to operate automatically. Strapped to his back was a satchel, specially-made for housing captured tribbles.

Abbey crawled behind Kohl opting that she'd rather stare at his but than he stare at hers "I think this tribble problem is getting a little out of hand, I guess my dad was right we should have never allowed them on in the first place" She sighed.

"I dunno," Kohl said, disagreeing with Abbey, but in the mildest way possible. He slowed down, and he shuffled around to face Abbey. "If we didn't didn't permit anything risky aboard Galileo, we wouldn't allow phasers or medications or Tandarans on board," Kohl remarked. He shrugged, as if to let Abbey decide if what he said made any sense.

Abbey laughed "You may just be right but I'm the nicest most normal person you'll come across and these little buggers are starting to get to me, I went to bed with 2 and woke up with two dozen!"

At that, Kohl had to laugh as well. He wasn't enunciating terribly well, when he laughingly said, "That happened to me once on Argelius, on graduation night, before I went away to Starfleet Academy." He raised his hand from the grated flooring, and looked over the sensor readings on his tricorder. Kohl thought he recognized a particular biosignature, which prompted him to pull open a panel to his left.

"I don't know about you," Kohl started to say, but he hesitated, as if he wasn't sure he should go on. "But I'm relieved to have something to do, somewhere to go, even if it means hunting Tribbles on my hands and knees. Whenever I'm staring at a screen in a lab, all I can think about is the bodies, the parts we found in the mines of Lyshan Three."

Abbey could feel a coldness roll up her spine she reached out and grabbed Kohl's leg as the walls seemed to move in closer. The activity in the mines had struck Abbey a huge blow especially with her loosing a friend and seeing all those bodes. Trying to calm herself she let go of her lock on his leg "Sorry" She muttered.

Kohl took hold of Abbey's retreating hand; he held it between both of his own. "Abbey..." Kohl started to say. He lost what he intended to say, as he inspected her pupils. In concern, he asked, "Abbey, how are you feeling right now?"

"Isolated, scared and I think I could pass out any second" She replied, Abbey had never suffered from claustrophobia before but she had just noticed how small a space they were in.

"Abbey, I want you to look at me. Look in my eyes," Kohl instructed. He was half-kneeling, half-sitting on his feet, and he was facing Abbey. He leaned closer to her and said, "Abbey, breathe with me. Can you breathe with me?" Making a show of it, Kohl breathed in for ten seconds, and then breathed out for ten seconds.

It took a little while for abbey to copy Kohl but after a minute of being bad dazzlers she found herself breathing in time to his and soon she felt herself relax.

Kohl leaned one shoulder against the side of the jefferies tube, when it looked as if Abbey's breathing had steadied and slowed. He examined her visually, and then he considered her eyes again. "Abbey," Kohl said slowly, "Tell me about where you grew up."

"Well at first I was born in England but then we moved to Australia that's where I got my accent from" she replied putting on her thickest Aussie accent.

The accent was unrecognisable to Kohl, and he shook his head slightly. "Tell me something about Australia," he asked, but he was still using his gently clinical, nurse practitioner tone of voice. "What can you find there that's unlike anything else in the galaxy?"

"KANGEROO'S!" Abbey shouted excitedly before giggling to herself as a hand went over her mouth "we have kangeroos, they're soooo cute and playful" she beamed with a smile.

Kohl smiled at that helplessly, but then his expression steeled. "Abbey. I'm sorry but I have to be a jerk," Kohl remarked, a little sadly. He switched to officer voice, but not entirely. He said, "Your breathing and heart rate are approaching your baseline. That means we have to get back to work. The Tribbles aren't going to catch themselves, you know."

"It's ok Kohl, I'm fine now let's get this over and done with!" She smiled, readying herself for the job at hand. Abbey couldn't help but smile silently thanking him for his help.

He nodded at Abbey one more time, and he turned towards the panel he had opened earlier. Kohl leveled his tricorder in the opening, and he said, "Oh!" excitedly, followed by an "oh" of disappointment. He squinted at his tricorder and he frowned at something inside the panel. "I think," admitted Kohl, "I've been chasing down a bioneural gel pack."

Abbey let out a cough "Really Kohl? A Bio-neural gel pack? Really... You got me dragging my newly developing claustrophobic ass down a jeffries tube for this?" She laughed.

Kohl laughed with her, and it went on for a while. When their laughing went quiet, the stillness in the Jefferies tube was replaced with the purring sound of a Tribble, or maybe even two.

Abbey ears seemed to prick up as she heard the faint purr "make sure to put I to your next report that you can't use a tri-corder" she said poking his leg to get crawling.

"Oh no, Abbey," said Kohl, in all good humour. Staying right where he was, he looked at her and he shook his head. Once he felt he got his point across, he turned to slowly and quietly crawl towards the sound of the tribble. "Rule number forty-seven of being an officer. Maintain your integrity by admitting any degree of failure, but never-ever-ever put anything too self-incriminating in an official duty log."


[OFF]

Lieutenant Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Crewman Apprentice Abbey-Wyatt
Scientists Mate
USS Galileo

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