Posted Oct. 11, 2021, 3:38 p.m. by Ensign Kovan ch'Sirhc (Engineering & Communications Officer) (Abigail G)
Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side-Sim Pranks and Jokers
Posted by Ensign Kovan ch’Sirhc (Engineering & Communications Officer) in Side-Sim Pranks and Jokers
(snip)
Kovan shrugged. He didn’t need a pep talk, or to be defended. After all, he deserved whatever scorn or dislike he received. And it was true he acted in accordance to regulations and Starfleet standards, but without that guidance. . . Well, it was for the best that he had rules to live by. Kovan lead the way into the mess hall, not stopping once as he marched up to NE Baker. Their back was to them, and deep in argument with the cook.
Rand wasn’t defending him or giving him a pep talk, simply stating things how she saw it. It also illustrated their similarities and what might be the focus of these ‘pranks.’ Rand didn’t have time to defend someone else or make justifications for their actions. That was their responsibility, unless of course they were assigned to work on the same project.
He grabbed Baker by the shoulder, physically turning them around and spoke before they could. “The Yeoman and I have questions for you, NE and you’re going to answer them.” Perhaps sensing Kovan’s foul mood, or because they were already tired from their own argument with Baker, the cook made himself scarce. NE Baker, however, glared something fierce before smirking.
“Ask away. I don’t know what your deal is but I got my own work to do so make this fast.”
Ensign ch’Sirhc (COMMO, ENGR)
Rand’s eyes went wide. She’d heard Andorians could be more physically confrontational, but Rand wasn’t prepared for it, and she didn’t know if that was true, or if Kovan’s actions were simply a manifestation of his frustration. But either way she didn’t want to get into trouble for getting into a physical altercation. Rand stepped between the two of them. “We just wanted to ask why you returned your uniforms to the laundry. Apparently several people were given uniforms that were damaged, and the crew working there don’t know how it happened. So we’re trying to find out how and why that happened.”
Yeoman Rand (I guess I’m the good cop?)
Kovan scowled when Rand moved between him and Baker, but he released his grip on the NE, letting them stumble back and regain their footing on their own. Baker made an exaggerated show of brushing himself off and fixing his uniform before answering Rand’s question. “What, were you two demoted and set to scrub work? Let me guess, you didn’t smile enough?” Baker said to Rand.
Kovan looked as though he were about to grab for Baker again, but refrained at the last moment. “Answer the question, Baker. Someone defiled Starfleet uniforms for an idiotic prank. Take this seriously or we’ll make this a lot harder on you.”
Baker huffed, tipping his shoulders back slightly to puff out his chest more. “I don’t know anything about damaged uniforms. I was in a rush and didn’t notice I had the wrong uniforms until too late.” Then, as though he just thought of something particularly witty, added with a sly smile, “You perfection types may not understand this but real people make mistakes sometimes.”
Ensign ch’Sirhc (COMMO, ENGR, Bad Cop)
“So you picked up the wrong uniforms, put one on, wore it to your shift, and then 3 hours later, after your first break but before your meal break, brought them back? Were they labeled incorrectly?” Rand was polite as always, she was to everyone. She’d never had interactions with Baker before, and didn’t understand the open animosity. But if he stuck to that time line, which is what happened according to the records and computer, then he was lying. Baker was in the science Dept. Any of the lab heads or Lt Cmdr Alden would have let him go back and get his correct uniforms. Alden was a stickler but mix-ups like that happened, and the lab heads knew that. And Baker would not have had to sneak off to fix it or hide the mix-up.
If he gave a different time line then either he was lying or someone altered the logs.
Yeoman Rand
A flash of confusion crossed over Baker’s face. Then gone as fast as it appeared. “No,” He said, his tone different now. More measured, and even than his earlier unaffected speech. “I figured the mix up twenty minutes later. I don’t know where you got that information but it’s wrong.” Baker stood straighter, and made a point to maintain eye contact with either one of them.
Kovan’s eyes narrowed at the NE. “Either you’re lying Baker or the computer is. And computers tend to not do that. Fess up and maybe the Yeoman will go easy on you.” Baker, however, held his ground. “All I got was the wrong uniforms. And I returned them. Here-Letmejust-” The NE pulled out his PaDD and hit one button when suddenly the device screen went haywire, flashing strange symbols and patterns before rapidly scrolling through text and emitting an unholy series of beeps and boops. “What the!” Baker fiddled with the buttons but couldn’t get his PaDD under control.
Ensign ch’Sirhc (COMMO, ENGR)
Maybe she would go easy on Baker? She had no authority to do anything one way or the other, except to report it and let Rogers deal with it. And this right here was why people ended up not liking yeoman. People had an over inflated idea of their importance. “Computers don’t lie but they can be lied too.” She looked at ch’Sirhc, “So the computer records have been tampered with, and that’s a serious offense. Sabotage of any ship’s system is a court martial offense.”
It was a part to play, they needed answers and she was responsible for a filing a report about these ‘pranks’ and she couldn’t do that with false information and assumptions. She needed facts in order to report it. Her anxiety was threatening to ruin her composure but she needed to deal with this first. She couldn’t go to Rogers about pranks unless she had something substantial. She reached out and took the PaDD, “Here let me see.” She fiddled with it a bit, but couldn’t do anything with it so she passed it to ch’Sirhc, “I’m no engineer, maybe you can figure out what’s wrong with it.” Rand thought the malfunction was awfully convenient. “Let’ En ch’Sirhc take it and look at it, Baker and we’ll go get you a new one. I hope your files were backed up. Where are you working today? I’ll go get one and bring it to you.”
Yeoman Rand
Kovan knew Rand couldn’t do much, but he hoped Baker believed that nonsense seeing how aggressive the man acted towards the yeoman. Either way, it didn’t seem like they were about to get any more out of Baker. He had his suspicions regarding the computer logs, but kept them to himself for now. Baker was somehow involved with the pranks, and he wasn’t about to say anything while Baker was still in front of them.
Baker didn’t seem keen to hand over his PaDD, but did after only a moment’s hesitation. When Rand passed it off to Kovan (who flipped it over, broke the back of the case to forcibly rip the sound emitters out. The screen continued to spew gibberish but at least the device was quiet now.) Baker began to stammer, “They weren’t. . . I’m supposed to be in the mechanical science lab today. . .” The man had gone from cocky to petulant. “I can fix my own PaD-“
Kovan pulled the PaDD back, “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of this.” He too had found the malfunctioning PaDD convenient. When you spent five hours undoing the work of a prankster coder, you develop a sense for the coder’s style and formatting.
Ensign ch’Sirhc (COMMO, ENGR)
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