Of Question Marks and Dyslexic Monkeys

Posted on Mon May 24th, 2010 @ 11:20am by Commander Fala Awen & Lieutenant Samuel Bishop

Mission: Episode 1.2 - "A House Divided"
Location: Main Engineering
Timeline: Day 15, 0900

ON:
[[USS Pandora, Main Engineering, Day 15, 0900]]

Tapping the PADD in her hand against her leg as she walked, Khloe (NPC) rounded the corner to Engineering. Since the departure of the former Operations Chief, she'd stepped up and tried to help fill the void. So, here she was, trying to solve some of the mysteries the Pandora had encountered. As she entered Engineering, she could sense the unease of some of the engineers. Khloe headed straight for the Chief Engineer's Office, hoping to find Samuel there.

"Chief-Bishop seeking? Koso aid!" came the voice of an alien with prismatic skin who appeared from around the corner. He pointed a tentacle to the upper level where a man was in deep conversation with a small group of Engineers. The Sulamid's skin shifted to a reddish hue and he grinned, his massive eyes blinking like spotlights. "There Chief. Briefing, repair team. Grumpy Chief-Bishop," he added, almost conspiratorially, shaking his head and making a soft clicking noise.

Khloe blinked, a bit surprised at the appearance of the Sulamid. His banter was intriguing and she found she didn't mind it as some might. A smile played across her lips as she replied, "Thank you, Koso." In a lower tone, leaning towards him, she said, "And thanks for the tip."

Koso nodded and grinned, puffing himself up. "Welcome," he said.

"Ah you must be the new acting Chief of Ops," Bishop said as he approached, shifting his gaze to Koso. "Koso, I'm afraid Frenetti is gonna need help with the plasma relay again. Needs your magic touch," he said with a smile.

Koso eyed the tips of his tentacles for a moment in confusion and then brightened. "Chief-Bishop, aye! Koso touch-fix!" he said and shuffled off.

The Chief Engineer chuckled and shook his head. "Good kid, but mad as a hatter. Now, what can I do for you?" he said to the young woman standing before him.

Watching the Sulamid wander off for a moment, Khloe turned her attention back to the Chief Engineer, "Good morning, sir, I'm Lieutenant JG Khloe Dovil. With the departure of Ms. Lockheart, I've stepped into the Acting Chief role... I was wondering if you had some time to help me look into the issues we've been having with the transporters and communications links."

For a moment, the Chief looked like he might refuse, but seemed to think better of it. He smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Sure, step into my office and we can go over the systems," he said, gesturing toward the door. "Any theories as to the cause?"

Khloe nodded thankfully and walked into Samuel's office, "My best theory is that it has something to do with interference caused by some of the geological or meteorological phenomena that the Science Department detected."

Bishop sat in his chair and leaned back, nodding thoughtfully. "Interesting, I hadn't thought about that. Certainly better than my theory, that this ship was designed by a bunch of dyslexic monkeys," he said with a chuckle, pulling up the power distribution reports on his screen. "How do you think the anomalies relate? These systems are supposed to be shielded six ways to Sunday to avoid things like this." He had to admit to being impressed. The woman appeared to be on to something.

"Dyslexic monkeys aside," Khloe began, giving him a smile, "despite the systems being shielded, it could be that there's a high concentration of particles that's just enough to disrupt the shielding... It could also be that the phenomena, especially if in a high enough concentration, have affected the atmosphere of the planet to an extent that is causing the issues."

"You know, you may be on to something there," Bishop said. "If we could get a detailed enough sensor scan of the area, we might be able to determine exactly what those particles are. Trouble is, we'd need access to both the primary and secondary sensor arrays. It would take a lot of resources to pull it off." He gave Khloe a significant look. "What do you think? You think the Ops Chief would approve of such an expenditure of energy?" he asked with a grin.

Khloe frowned, "Hmm...good question. It would take a good bit of re-allocation of resources to accomplish." A moment later though, a grin came over her face, "I approve. I'll just need to take care of the re-allocating and ensure the scans get started. Then it'll just be a waiting game until they're done."

"Sounds good to me. I'll get a team ready to respond to any problems that come up." The Engineer shook his head. "There's a lot of question marks here, and I don't like question marks," he grumbled.

"Neither do I," Khloe admitted. "But I think this is the best way to resolve the question marks. Hopefully once we get the scan results the question marks will be gone. Or they'll be replaced with more manage-able ones...how to counteract what we've picked up and the like." Though the engineer seemed to be a bit grouchy about the situation, Khloe felt it was more out of frustration than anything else.

Bishop nodded, offering one of his patented sideways smiles. "You're right of course."

Giving him a brief smile, Khloe said, "Alright, well, if there's nothing else, I'll get the re-allocations started so the scans can be run. I'll be sure to let you know as soon as the results are in."

Bishop stood and moved to the door. "Fair enough. If we get any other brilliant ideas down here in the dungeon I'll let you know," he said with a smile.

"Brilliant ideas are always welcome," she replied, grinning, as she stood and headed for the door. "And thank you for your time, sir."

"You're welcome, but please... don't call me sir. Chief, Bish, hell, 'hey you', but not sir."

Khloe, a bit surprised, nodded quickly, "Not 'sir', I'll keep that in mind." With a smile she said, "Thank you for your time, Chief." Chief still sounded a bit formal, which is why she leaned towards it, but perhaps after working with him more she'd be more comfortable with 'Bish'. Giving Samuel a final nod, the Betazoid headed out the door.

Bishop watched her go and smiled to himself. He liked the young woman. She seemed competent and quick to adjust to new things, something the Engineer felt was sorely lacking in most...

"Gorou!" he shouted, suddenly seeing a young man standing nearby chatting with a young female Ensign. "Didn't I ask you for a transporter systems report? Exactly what part of 'now' escaped your attention?"

OFF:

JP brought to you by:

Lieutenant Samuel Bishop
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Pandora

and

Lieutenant JG Khloe Dovil
Acting Chief Operations Officer
USS Pandora
played by: Lieutenant Commander Fala

...and the letter 'R'.