Posted by Ensign Kiama Naim (Scientist) in Pre-Sim: Arrival on board

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Maxwell Wynter (Chief Engineer / 2nd Officer) in Pre-Sim: Arrival on board

Posted by Ensign Kiama Naim (Scientist) in Pre-Sim: Arrival on board
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Standing in the middle of her dorm room at the Academia, Kiama looked a little forlorn. While she was excited about her graduation and being assigned to “her” very first ship, it still felt weird to leave this place behind. After all, it had been her home for four years and the first place where she had lived alone. Well, she had a roommate, of course, like everybody else. But until she up and left Betazed she had always lived with her parents. Not that she wanted to, but that was a whole different story.

So now with her diploma in hand, all left to do was to pack up her belongings and in three hours catch the transport to the new Starbase Event Horizon. What would await her there? What would her fellow scientist and the rest of the crew be like? What she had read about the ship and her current mission sounded very exciting, but those reports didn’t really tell you anything about what the crew was like; especially during off duty hours.

“Well, you better finish packing, or you’ll never find out,” she said to herself and then got to work.

---

At the end of fascinating journey, Kiama found herself just outside the docking port on the Event Horizon. A couple more steps and I will finally be aboard the Manhattan, she thought with giddy smile on her face and a sparkle in her black eyes.

Taking another deep breath, the slender Betazoid started to move purposefully forward and once she set her fist step onto the Manhattan, she had a hard time not to clap her hands and hop excitedly on the spot like a little child. However, a soft laugh escaped her lips as she walked slowly down the corridors towards her quarters. On her way there she tried to take everything in, yet at the same time found herself get lost in her own thoughts and her own imagination.

~Ensign Naim, Scientist

Not much further along the corridors ahead of Kiama, as she would come around the gentle curve towards her quarters would be a large panel along the side of the wall removed, and sticking out of it a pair of legs attached to a waist, a tool kit lying beside them. Judging by the way the feet were oriented the owner was clearly on his or her back, one foot seeming to be rocking back and forth in a rhythmic manner, the low hum coming from the wall could have been somebody humming loudly or singing to themselves.

As she first spotted the legs of person sticking out of the wall, Kiama stopped in her tracks. For a brief moment she simply watched the foot moving in rhythm to some tune, an amused smile lighting up her face. But not long after, she moved softly forward. Her intention was not to startle the person who was working there, but she wanted to hear what they were singing or humming and was worried that they might stop, if they heard her approach them.

If Kiama was to get closer, words might be made out.... the voice wasn’t a great singer by any means, but he could at least hold a tune.

“Shot like a rocket up into the sky,“
“Nothing could stop me tonight“
“You make me feel invincible,“
“Earthquake, powerful“

But it was at that moment that the flashing light of a sparking conduit came from the same section of electronics the legs were sticking out of, and the singing abruptly stopped. What followed were a number of inventive curse words about why the Manhattan should behave itself and it wasn’t supposed to be doing that. The ‘discussion’ stopped the moment the sparks did, a hypo-spanner got thrown out of the work space to lie next to the tool kit and a human hand appeared next to the legs, appearing to be feeling around for a tricorder that was also lying next to the legs.

“Everybody’s a critic these days,” the voice said.

Lt Cmdr Wynter
Chief Engineer

However, instead of grabbing the tricorder, the hand would find itself on top of Kiama’s foot, as she had walked close up to the person working there. She knew, of course, that it wasn’t nice to creep up on someone like that and that it wasn’t polite to invade someone’s personal space. But her curiosity just got the better of her. So when the hand found her foot, she bent forward to look at the person as best as possible, and asked, “Do you need a hand? What are you looking for?”

~Ensign Naim, Scientist

At the sound of her voice, the hand paused, then moved to double check that the foot was indeed a foot. From where he was, Max couldn’t bend his head to look back and check so once he had discovered that the shoe was attached to an ankle, his hands moved up to the top of the removed section and he slid downwards so that his upper body and face was revealed looking up at her from his prone position. On the shoulder of his tunic was a burn mark from the energy spike, and part of his hair was very slightly smoking but he paid it no attention as if it was part of a normal days work.

With a raised eyebrow, Kiama watched the hand move over her foot and to her ankle. While some people might have a problem with being touched like this, she really didn’t care. In fact, she had a hard time trying not to burst into laughter. But soft giggles still escaped through her lips, which were firmly pressed together.

“Hi,” he said, simply and easily. “No I’m almost done here. This ship has a few minor energy fluctuations from our trip through the wormhole that still get chased down now and then, and I was checking for Vole damage. One of the Cardassian Science team had one as a pet that got loose a few days ago, we caught it but I’m checking in case it had a nibble. Can you reach my tricorder at all?” he asked, his hand again heading towards the tool box and feeling around. If he had simply gotten out of the hole and sat up he would have found it easily, but that thought never occurred to him with the offer of help being offered. “Do you have a moment to scan the field here and here, as I adjust the energy flow through the restrictor?” He pointed to two section of the grid that he was working on.

Lt Cmdr Max Wynter
Chief Engineer

“Of course, I’m always happy to help,” the scientist replied with a bright smile, trying in vain to regain something like composure and proper demeanour. Crouching down, she reached for the tricorder and flipped it open. “What should or shouldn’t the readings say?” she asked as she pointed the tricorder in the indicated direction.

“We want the flow rate between 97.36 percent and 98.25 percent, If it goes over that things get touchy, too low and we don’t have the response time or energy needed in case we get into a pickle. Thanks for helping by the way,” pushing up with his legs, Max fed himself back into the hole in the wall with his legs sticking out once more and began to adjust the flow with a phase coil resonator. Once he had adjusted part of the grid, he reached back out to where her foot had been, found it again and tapped it twice. “You can start scanning now, let me know how the flow holds up.”

While she kept her eyes on the tricorder readings, Kiama mused, “A Vole? I wouldn’t have expected Cardassians, or anyone really, to keep one as a pet. Then again I never really understood why people keep pets at all.”

~Ensign Naim, Scientist

“It’s the social aspect,” Max said, sounding convinced. “They love you and don’t judge you, or complain when you leave your things lying around. They give you amusement and take your attention away from troubles after a bad day. I think it’s the connection you get from them, treat them right and they will be forever loyal to you. Kind of like how Engineers behave with their ships and machinery.” She couldn’t see his face or he hers, but the sound of his voice would key her in that he was grinning as he said the last part.

“So you’re Science? I haven’t seen you on the Manhattan before. You must be part of the new crew intake from the Station? Welcome to the Delta Quadrant, I’m Max.”

Lt Cmdr Wynter, CE