What's That Rattle?
Posted on Wed Jul 15th, 2015 @ 1:19pm by Ensign Abigaël Sorensen & Commander Ashley Kennedy
Mission:
The Belle of Bellatrix
Location: XO's Office [B Deck]
Timeline: 2278.50: 13:10hrs
Tac ... tac ... tac tac tacatacatacatactaca-KUNK
Ash stared fiery daggers at the bulkhead next to her desk as the mysterious rattling interrupted her yet again. That was the fifteenth time it had happened that day, and she still had no clue what the hell was making that noise.
It didn't happen all the time, just every now and then, seemingly at random, but always when she was trying to concentrate on duty rosters, personnel files or activity reports. She was still adjusting to the administrative burden that her elevated position demanded, and that damn rattle wasn't helping matters.
"Where the hell is the technician?" she said aloud to herself, furrowing her brow and reaching for the commpanel at the edge of her desk. It had been several hours since she put the request in to DiMarco.
She was about to push the call button when her door chime sounded. Finally!.
"Enter," she snapped, her frustration colouring her tone.
The door opened to a fresh faced ensign, toolbox in hand. Having been working on a turbolift for the past 3 hours, this seemed like a nice change. With a sympathetic smile she entered swiftly.
” Apologies for the delay Sir. The crewman assig...” She stopped mid-word as she acknowledged her superiors irritation.
Promptly standing to attention, eyes fixed in front of her, the young ensign exuded raw academy discipline.
” How may I be of service Commander?”
Ash regarded the ensign with narrowed eyes for a moment, searching her mind for the young officer's details. She hadn't committed all of the crew to memory just yet, but she had got through the ensigns. This one was fresh from the academy and there had been that administrative stuff up that left her out of a work team, so the XO decided to cut her just a little slack. Besides, she liked how the kid just skipped the irrelevant explanations and got straight to the task at hand.
She pointed to the offending bulkhead, "Something behind there needs fixing," she said in her matter-of-fact way. "Every now and then it makes a loud clunking rattle."
Abigaël nodded curtly taking a few steps towards the suspect, softly placing her toolkit on the ground. She then proceeded the stand motionless, staring intently at the air a few centimeters above the bulkhead.
“When was the last time it cried out?”
"Just before you got here," Ash replied, watching the ensign as she stared at the bulkhead. "I've lost count how many times it's done it today, but it's getting worse I'm sure."
"Understood." Head slightly tilted to the left, starring at the empty space in front of her, the young ensign kept still, if only for her right index finger taping the air at regular intervals.
Curious, Ash furrowed her brow as she watched the ensign doing ... seemingly nothing. Was she waiting for the rattle to come back? Did she hear something? Was she asleep? "Is there a problem, Sorensen?" she asked after a moment waiting for something to happen.
Abigaël straightened up a little, her right index keeping beat. “No Sir.” Glancing at her superior, before resuming her stare, she added “It might take a while. Feel free to pretend I’m not here Sir.” She stopped an uncomfortable shift and straightened yet again.
Ash raised an eyebrow and watched the engineer as she resumed staring at the bulkhead. Her annoyance factor was growing, but it was largely offset by a growing curiosity about the ensign's method. What was she doing? Was she listening for something? Waiting for the sound to come back? Visualising what was behind the bulkhead as a first step in formulating a plan of attack? The XO found it difficult to pretend Sorensen wasn't there, but made an effort to at least look like she was succeeding.
For a long moment Abigaël stood still, the constant air tapping of her right index the only discernible movement. There were tertiary phase coupling running through this deck, but they shouldn’t be live. Perhaps something as simple as unsecured plumbing. Unless… Suddenly her head shot up, followed a second later by a very distinctive noise.
Tac ... tac ... tac tac tacatacatacatactaca-KUNK
Abigaël smiled and turned her head towards her superior, eyes locking to something behind her. “I do believe I’ve found the culprit Sir, but I will need access to the bulkhead behind you.” She forced the smile down as she waited.
Brow still furrowed, but her curiosity peaking, Ash looked to the bulkhead behind her and then back to Sorensen. Rather than ask the obvious question, she quietly stood and got out of the engineer's way.
Abigaël walked past her superior with a respectful nod. With the ease of someone who’d done so a thousand times, the young ensign unbolted the bulkhead and set it softly besides her. Or rather, that was her intention. As she turned her attention to the insides of the open bulkhead, the cover took that as a cue to fall loudly to the floor.
For a moment she stood still, fighting with herself on whether she should pick it up or leave it there. She finally opted for the later with a sigh she hoped hadn’t been heard. Turning once again to the hole in front of her, she grinned to herself almost immediately.
There it was. Redundant EPS conduit connected to a tertiary energy redistribution node. She leaned in, turning her head so her left ear could be closer. She let out a small grunt of satisfaction. By the sound of it, it was still asking for energy, when there was none to give. This in turn caused vibrations, who had taken upon themselves to create this little impromptu jam session.
Without a look, she found the multiscanner in her toolbox and confirmed her findings. The refit team had probably forgotten to close the node when they did the tests. Replacing the multiscanner, she took out her hyperspanner and got to work. Less than a minute later she was replacing the bulkhead. Grabbing her tools, she turned to the Commander and stood to attention.
“All done Sir! My report will be on Lieutenant DiMarco’s desk in the hour. Should I send a copy to your terminal Sir?”
Impressed with how the ensign went about her task, Kennedy nodded approvingly. "I'd appreciate that, Ensign. Thank you."
Abigaël struck her heels together and headed for the door pausing only to let the door open. "Sir." She nodded respectfully as she exited the room and turned right. She cursed inwardly. The turbolift was on the left. She kept going, pretending to be going in the right direction. There would be another turbolift at some point. The XO was somewhat scary, and the young ensign had no intention of showing any sign of weakness.
Commander Ashley Kennedy
Executive Officer / Weapons Officer
Ensign Abigaël Sorensen
Engineer
