A Rare Gift - All the Kings Horses - Part 2

Posted on 29 May 2014 @ 3:34am by Ensign Jessica Logan (PNPC) & Master Chief Petty Officer Lance Nelson & Lieutenant Lucas Mason
Edited on on 29 May 2014 @ 3:35am

1,766 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: M12: For Duty or Honor
Location: Cargo Bay 6
Timeline: MD 3

Over the last few days the small group of conspirators had worked well together and things were coming together nicely as they worked together in their off hours on what was, without question, a very unique gift from the crew to the boss.

Initially, Marcus thought to tell the kid to give him some space, but since he was keeping his distance and not bothering or interrupting, he continued on. When the PFC started helping, he held back a protest, this was his project after all. When the last component had been re-installed and tested clear, he stood back to let the PFC finish the casing. "So, how and where is this thing going?"

The doors to the bay opened and Jessica came around the cargo containers serving as a barrier to see a completed assembled and the two standing before it with the original components piled of to the side. "So does it work?"

"Far as I can tell it is, but we could probably find out the old fashioned way." Taking a moment to let the booth power up, he punched in the setting to maximum on the control padd. Taking a breath, he stepped in and let it close up around him. "Ok, someone hit the button!" He called back to Marcus and Jessie.

Her mouth dropped and looked to Marcus. "Is he serious?!"

Marcus looked at the expression on the PFC's face, and shook his head. This very act confirmed it for him, the Marines had to be insane! Turning to Jessie, he only shrugged his shoulders. "I think he is. Shall we accommodate him?"

She shrugged as she grinned mischievously. "Must be a Marine thing."

None of them knew what these booths were capable of and her hand moved to the frame were there was an actual button to activate the booth. As her hand hovered over it...

"What in the name of Trill are you people doing?!" Exclaimed a voice from behind them.

Of course, now another officer would come in, and from that exclamation, it seemed like he hadn't been informed of the situation. Seeing as how this was mostly his project, but with the seniority of the two officers in the room with him, Eirias held his tongue for a few moments.

Marcus was a bit surprised to see the Chief Engineer come in and ask that, as the notice had been given to both the Engineering and Ops prior to this.

Striding purposefully across the deck, the ship's new Chief Engineer Kerry Malone, strode over to the three miscreants and the booth, and looked around. "Well, someone better start talking, because from what I can tell - you're looking to either blow yourselves up, or more seriously, blow a bloody great big hole in my ship." He glared at the three people, his eyes locking on the marine PFC.

Finally, Eirias could take it no longer. This was a superior officer addressing them and with that direct look his training took over, coming to a modified attention while inside the booth he attempted to answer. "Commander, we are in the physical testing phase of this project which was already approved through Operations and Engineering, and officially backed by Lieutenant Commander Kelan. The diagnostic test was already completed and this would not cause damage to the structure of the ship, or anyone outside the confines of the agonizer booth."

Jessica's hand had pulled back in surprise at the new CEO entrance. She had been hesitant anyway as they had on idea what these things where capable of....even at it's lowest settings.

"I'll be the judge of that, if you don't mind, Private." Malone said, narrowing his eyebrows. "Unless you became a qualified engineer during your basic training, allow someone with a tad more expertise in the field to examine your work. After all, this technology was designed for a Klingon ship of the last century. Its hardly plug-and-play."

With that, he reviewed the readings and confirmed that the team had indeed done a pretty fair job of putting this thing together. "I might suggest changing the phase harmonics my three percent to the negative, that should compensate for the linear shift between the protons and the neutrons." Kerry said, as he read his tri-corder. "I'd also suggest installing a tertiary buffer on the main ODN line. I can see you have a primary and a secondary, but a tertiary will only slow down processing speed by three milliseconds, but it'll add an additional layer of protection in the event of a cascade surge."

"Aside from that, you and your team have done a rather good job." Kerry said, as he looked over the booth. "I can't say I'd enjoy being in one of these..." He didn't add the word 'again', as he'd been in something remarkably similar in concept before, another lifetime ago - or so it seemed. "But if the Admiral gets a kick of out if, I'm sure that'll be worthwhile."

The man's rank was the only thing that kept Eirias from responding to the almost insult, until Marcus caught his eye and shook his head slightly. He might not be a qualified engineer, but since he started off initially as an artificer then switched to infantry he did have a lot better idea and skill set than this Commander assumed, and there was a qualified engineer on the project.

Marcus had his own PADD with the specs loaded, and tapped in everything the Commander recommended, and sent the notes of what they needed to Jessie. "We'll add those in and get it set back up before running the functional test, since the Private here has already agreed to be the test subject. Is there anything else you can recommend Commander?" He asked.

Kerry reviewed the readings on his tricorder once more for discretion's sake. "No, as I said, not a bad effort at all. As I was discussing with the Master Chief, this is going to be a pain in the ass to install, once it’s done. Any plans yet on how we're going to install it without the Admiral noticing we're going to remove his fish-tank?"

"Sir, Commander Kelan had already planned to distract him long enough to get it installed, but she...was vague on the specifics." Eirias responded back while working on the modifications, being prompted by Marcus.

"Well then, we'd better get to work." Kerry replied, giving a strangely disarming smile.

Over the next several hours, Jessica finished the parts to be added, handing them off to Kerry and Marcus. Eirias would help when he could, usually under Marcus' close eye. Finally, the modifications were made. All that remained was for Kerry to approve it, Eirias to test it, and then Ayren to let them know it was clear to proceed with the installation.

Completing one final check through for absolute peace of mind, Kerry checked both the readings from the console, his tricorder, and a visual inspection of the build. After he'd done all of that, he nodded. "Alright, we're good for a test run."

Eirias hopped right into the thing with no hesitation, and settled down. "Ready on my end, fire when ready!" Yes, that was a grin on his face, and an eager shivering of anticipation.

Jessica glanced back down at the control panel consisting of an old school dial and made sure it was set on the lowest setting before pressing the button. She couldn't deactivate it soon enough as Eirias shrieked in agony.

Lucas was walking down the corridor, PADD in hand to the hanger bay. He wanted to inspect the shuttles to ensure that the scheduled maintenance had been performed satisfactorily. Suddenly heard a shriek that could wake the dead. More curious than alarmed he halted, turned back down the corridor to investigate the source of the scream. The doors to the cargo bay parted and he entered and was surprised at what lay before him. A group of people were huddled around a pod. Two of them were help someone who looked as limp as spaghetti, stay on his feet. "What is going on in here, he asked?"

"Let's do that again!" Eirias yelled out. The blood was pounding in his ears, and he was definitely shaky, but it was passing quickly. "I think it's working, but let's turn it up a bit and test all the settings!" He had to say it, the Marine in him was not going to back down from this.

Kerry stepped out from behind the tube. "It's okay Lieutenant." He said, calmly. "Its a present for the Admiral, and the Private here... seems to be a glutton for punishment. Rest assured, I am monitoring the situation very carefully." With that, he turned to Eirias. "There was a minor spike in the lower band when you activated it. Which was why you got a bit more of a zapping than the dial suggested. Not a big issue, just give me a second to tune the activator, and then it should be good to go again."

Jessica was still a bit shaken from the whole thing. She had seen what the lowest setting had done and devises had been used regularly by the Klingons and rarely on the lower settings. Looking up at Eirias, "You get out of that thing. Out of adjustment or not, Marine or not; we are not putting anyone in that thing. We know it works, that good enough."

"Ensign, pardon my directness, but we'd better make sure it works 100% before we try giving it to the Admiral. Imagine if it goes wrong during his use of it? Do you really want that on your conscious? Besides, the pain was brief enough that I can handle it, just didn't expect it." Eirias was now fully over the zap, and almost eager to try again.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Lucas asked, "I've know the Admiral a long time, before he was even an Admiral."

Jessica looked over at Lucas and grinned. There were very few of the crew that had served with the Admiral as long as the two of them had and she knew exactly what he meant. Eventually they would have to move this to wherever they were going to set this up at and that would involve distracting the Admiral long enough to the job, which would give everyone in on this little scheme something to do. As to the Marines pain fetish she looked to the Commander. "Sir?"


TBC in: A Rare Gift - SURPRISE!!

 

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