WTH

Posted on 29 Dec 2012 @ 3:04am by Lieutenant Jared Nicholas
Edited on on 30 Dec 2012 @ 7:17pm

2,156 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 3 Crew Quarters
Timeline: MD12 1830

[ON]

Jared had checked in with the science department first then had, had a quick bite to eat. Now he was going to go secure his stuff from the transporter room and go to his room and get some much needed sleep.

He went back to his cabin, the one he had been assigned and started to unload the duffle bag he had carried on board. The room was locked. He checked the room and deck number a second, then a third time with same results. It was indeed the same room, and despite everything he tried it would not budge.

He had a vague recollection of where the Operations office was and headed there.

He really wasn't angry, not yet anyway, but he was frustrated.

He found the office without too much trouble and rang the chime. His uniform blouse was open exposing the top part of his chest. He considered closing it up, but it was late, he was tired and it didn't seem worth the effort.

Tiffany was on her way out of the office, the end of a nice long day of work and she looked forward to a Nice Relaxing Night in her quarters. Maybe a little synthehol wine or perhaps some tea. Whatever would be the most relaxing because it had been a Long Day and she needed to unwind. Maybe she would read more of Lt. Panne's works, or if Tabby were going to stay in the night, they could play a game. Or maybe she'd skip the ship entirely and go down to the beach for a nice sunset and maybe a moonlit swim in the tidal pools...but not where there was large crab poop. She wouldn't swim in crab poop!

However, as she started walking out, she noticed someone standing at the door. "Oh!" she said. "I'm sorry, did you need something because there's no one else in there. We're working a skeleton crew right now because it's Shore Leave and everyone else is gone. Say, why aren't you on shore leave anyway? You're a Sciences person by the look of your collar and none of the sciences people are really critical for continued operations of the ship and why don't you just go ahead and tell me what it is you want because it's been a long day and I'm getting tired and all this yammering your doing isn't getting us anywhere! What's your name anyway?"


"Yammering?" he queried, his frustration taking a turn towards anger, "I haven't uttered a word yet, so how could I possibly be yammering? I am Ensign Nicholas, Jared Nicholas. I'm new here. Was given a cabin assignment, put some of my things away, just went back to finish unpacking and I am locked out of my room.

"I've had a long day too and it just got longer."

Tiffany bit her lip while using her Best Willpower to keep from rolling her eyes. New officers were always the Worst. "Well, stop being a Gloomy Gus about it! All you need to do is put in your security code and that'll open that door right up! I'm checking the PADD and you're on Deck Three Cabin 317 so as long as that's the cabin you went back to you should be all set to go, unless of course you forgot your security lockout in which case I'm not going to be able to help you and you'll have to see the Security department. I'm glad I could help you today Ensign! You should be sure to enjoy Vega colony a little before our departure, as well as some fo the beaches...they're wonderful."

Jared held up his hands and took another slow breath before speaking, "I am quite aware of the proper procedures Chief. I'm new to Star Fleet, but I was literally born on board a ship. I was in Cabin 317 on Deck 3 and I already tried putting in my Security Code, several times and it didn't work. And before you say anything, I do know my security codes.

I would enjoy my time on the Vega colony a lot more after I get a little rest."

Tiffany giggled. "I'm not the Ops Chief," she giggled again before sighing. It seems her beach stroll was going to have to wait longer. "Okay, let me get my toolkit and we'll go see what's going on. It's probably nothing but another glitch popping up because of all the repair work being done on the ship but that's okay, I guess, because I didn't have anything else to do, not really, more important than work." She opened the door and retrieved her toolkit from her cubby inside, meanwhile keeping up her running dialogue. "and it's a good thing you're still here otherwise you wouldn't be able to get your door fixed because you have to be there at the quarters when we go work on things like this, it's a Ops department rule. But okay I've got my tools so let's go see about fixing your door but this would go a lot faster if, once we get there, you weren't talking to much cause it's kind of distracting while I try to work!" She started walking toward the turbolift. "I think you'r really going to enjoy the beaches and sights on Vega...they're just gorgeous! It's so hard to believe that this entire area was just icky, awful rock before terraforming!"

Jared did his best to keep his expression neutral, he was the language specialist, the one that was supposed to make his living using his mouth and had hardly spoken. He doubted if the young chief even realized what she was doing with her non-stop prattle.

He found it mildly amusing and was of course flattered that she found him gorgeous, even if it was mentioned in passing. "Would you like to explore one of those beaches with me?" he asked.

Tiffany bit her lip while the doors of the turbolift opened onto deck three. "Well that'd be nice but maybe tomorrow because you said you were tired and I'm going to go find my boyfriend...well, he's not really my boyfriend but sort of boyfriend. Poor kid has it bad for me but he has a lot to learn about being a boyfriend so I'm trying to teach him in hopes that he could be a boyfriend, but the biggest thing is that he talks about himself so much that I can barely get a word in edgewise so tonight I'm going to take him to the beach and try to get him to be quiet for just a nice stroll. The beaches are so nice and the sand holds in warmth very well. If he's lucky it'll be a warm night and maybe we'll go for a swim, but definitely tomorrow you can join a bunch of us as we go to the beach!"

She stopped in front of 317 and brought out the diagnostic tool. "Hrmmm," she said, screwing up her face, "Apparently the door coding problem is popping up again. We've had this a few times after they changed the software to fix a few bugs, but that's okay I should be able to have it fixed in just a little bit. So tomorrow for the beach, we're probably going to go in the afternoon, because of all the work being done to make the ship ready to go the Ops people aren't getting full shore leave like almost everybody else...well not Security or Engineering or command...so pretty much it's just the sciences people get all the shoreleave fun while the rest of us still have to pick up some duty shifts even if they're not full shifts we still have to work while you Science people get to have all the fun." She continued working on the door controls as she spoke.


As she worked he wondered to himself if she ever paused for breath and how easy it would be to carry on a conversation with her since she would be doing most of the talking. He wasn't sure if her constant jabbering would continue to be amusing, or if it would start to be irritating at some point.

He wasn't sure if asking her to the beach had been the best move, but what was done was done.

"And voila!" Tiffany said as the door beeped then slid open. "Of course you're going to have to recode everything and reenter your security code, but I worked out the bug so that should probably fix it and hopefully you won' t have anymore trouble with it. Well, at least getting in since the door is open now, I guess if you have problems with it it'll be because you're stuck inside your quarters now rather than outside of them which I guess isn't so bad unless you have plans to do stuff, which you really should. Vega colony is really, really, really wonderful and they have so much cool stuff to see and do! Not just the beaches that we talked about but also hiking and shopping and adventure tours and lots of great places for eating! I'd tell you more, but it's so hard to talk with you yammering away like that so maybe tomorrow when you're rested and you're more in a mood to have an actual conversation rather than just a soliloquy I could help you figure out more of what you want to do. And if you still wanted to go to the beach, I think we're all planning on going around noon or maybe later. It depends on when our duty shift is over and how much work we still have to do, because that's the thing about Starfleet there really is no such thing as 'overtime' is there!" she giggled at her own joke. "Is there anything else I can do for you, Ensign?"

"No, Chief, I think that you've done quite a bit. Thank you for fixing the problem. I am not sure what I want to do tomorrow, but I'll stop by your office if I decide to join you and your friends."

"Well okay then, I hope you have a good night and it's probably better just to have the computer locate me because I'm not always in the office, just at the beginning and end of a duty shift and when I have to go in there to talk with Chief Amril of course. Now that's an odd thing, a Vorta as a chief of operations on a Federation starship! Doesn't that just beat all. Well, I guess it's only to be expected, we have an Orion captain after all. That's part of what makes this ship so great. My not but maybe so boyfriend is a Carpathian! I keep looking for the long fangs and evening wear but he's never even once attempted to say "I vant tu suuhk your blud!" which wouldn't really sound like that because his Carpathian accent isn't quite what I thought it would be - it's almost more foreign then I'd ever thought, like he grew up on another planet or something. But okay, so you should probably stop yammering away at me and go inside and try to get some rest cause it's been such a long day for you and it's been a long day for me too and I wanted to try to get in some beach time before retiring myself. Okay, well, since you just want to keep on talking, I'm afraid I'm just going to have to be the Teensy Weensy-iest Rude Now and Interrupt You to say 'goodnight, Ensign' and I would tell you not to let the bed bugs bite but I happen to know there's no bed bugs on the Galileo unless some idiot brought them aboard from shore leave which I don't think Security would let happen. But okay, enough, sheesh! I'm just going to try to say goodnight and then walk away so that we can both go about our business. Wow, for a sciences person you really talk a lot!"

Tiffany closed her toolbox and then started to walk away, shaking her head at the chatterbox she had to deal with. Why were so many people on this ship so talkative!? Maybe it had something to do with being a science vessel, that it was just that science type people were so not used to having friends and interactions that they tended to talk way to much when they finally did make a friend?

Jared just stood watching her retreat, wondering if she were truly as dense as she seemed. He would make sure not to reveal anything to her that he did not want broadcast to the entire colony.

[OFF]



PO2 Tiffany Darwisch
Operations crewmember
U.S.S. Galileo


Ensign Jared Nicholas
Language Specialist
USS Galileo

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