Deflection

Posted on Thu May 26th, 2022 @ 9:21pm by Liha t'Ehhelih & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein & Executive Officer Jake Ford & Nollel Livaam (*)

Mission: Mission 15: Adrift
Location: Deck 6
Timeline: MD04 - 0600
997 words - 2 OF Standard Post Measure

At the soft beep from his wrist PaDD, Burnie rolled over, careful not to wake Nollel. He'd come back to get her for breakfast, but before the deflector run he needed to check the waste reclamation system. The nurse who had stayed behind to watch patients so Oliver and Aarix could do Boys Night had said told him there was a 'funny sound' coming from the restroom near the Chapel. Since the battery connections for that and half a dozen other things were running on a wish and a prayer at this point, there was no point in testing their luck by letting it go until later.

Noticing Nollel stirring he sat up, he kissed her cheek softly. "I'm just going to check something. I'll be back in a few minutes."

“Nooo.” She complained sleepily before she sat up confused and shivered as he moved away. “Gees it’s gone cold.” She murmured grabbing for any piece of clothing to put on over her clothes and put on his hoodie.

He grabbed the thermal blanket that had fallen away when he sat up and tucked it around her. "Lay down and stay warm. I'l be back in a few minutes."

She frowned. “Wait what are you doing? I’ll come help.” Nollel said feeling like she needed to do something to wake up even if he was just hand over tools. It would be enough to get her body moving.

"The nurse said the restroom by the chapel was making odd noises. I figure it's better to get ahead of that so we don't wind up using the livestock hold as a latrine," he joked, standing up and throwing a jacket over the sweats he'd slept in. "Probably one of the battery connections came loose. Shouldn't take long to fix," he assured as bounced a little to warm up and wake up. Work without coffee first was generally a bad idea, but this shouldn't be anything requiring a caffeine boost to solve.

“Okay… you do that I’ll make some coffee.” She surmised looking at the chronometer and growing at the time. She had barely slept four hours by the look of it so she would need something urgently if she was going to monitor everything whilst people went hunting.

"I'll never say no to someone bringing me coffee," he replied with a smile, as he grabbed his tool kit and headed out.

---

Five minutes later, having verified that the urinal was working as it should (though since it was just draining to a filtration tank to be cycled later, that was no surprise), he'd started checking the stall. That was working, but there was a weird vibration around the sink, like something was loose...

Climbing underneath, he started to open the back panel to look at the pipes. Stuck. He pulled out a pry and yanked - Crack! - the sink broke from the wall and came down on his head! "Ahh!" Thunk.

Running from the other end of the hallway, Jake peered into the stalls.

"Burnie...?" he wondered, then spotted the feet poking out from under a door. Pushing it open, he found the man in question nursing a growing lump on his head. "Damn, are you okay? I should call a doctor..."

"Uhh..." It wasn't the most eloquent response, but given that he was practically still seeing stars, it was all Burnie could muster at the moment.

Nollel came wandering in carrying in two large mugs of coffee and stopped dead as she took in the scene. “What happened?” She demanded quickly putting the coffee down as she rushed over.

At Nollel's worried tone, Burnie made a better effort to pull himself together. "Sink broke loose... and konked me." He rubbed his head, but forced a smile. "I'll be okay. Just a bump on the head..." He tried to push himself up, intending to say 'See?', but his vision blurred and he wound up plopping back down with a thump. "...I'll be fine in a minute."

"Like hell. There's no way you're getting into an EV suit in that state." Jake shook his head, motioning for him to stay still and wait for help. "Send someone else with me to deflector control while we get the docs to look you over."

"The most qualified person after me is Liha," Burnie said, wincing less from pain than anticipation of how this was going to go. I'm sure Doc can get me back on my feet. Might just..." he managed to get a leg under him and almost rise, "...might take a little bit."

“Days!” Nollel commented as she pushed past Jake to help Michael rise wrapping his arm around her. “Help Jake. Let’s get him to the doctor.” Nollel ordered taking charge before anyone could argue or change mind.

Jake slipped under Burnie's shoulder on the other side and eased him up with Nollel's help. "I'm sure Liha can do just as good a job as you can," he grunted, "We'll just...have to get along this time..."

Right... Burnie groaned, and cast a worried look at Nollel. "If they're not both back in two hours, send a medical team."

"Not your problem," Nollel commented as they moved into the chapel now that medical was finally settled in there properly. It was not his problem anymore, Jake and Liha either needed to get along for the greater good of everyone onboard or someone else would have to go. "Someone a little help." She called around knowing people would be around.

If things went sideways because of the friction between Jake and Liha, Burnie was pretty sure it would in fact wind up being his problem. But his vision was blurring as he tried to look around the chapel, which probably wasn't optimal for dealing with the deflector.

Jake released Burnie as Oliver appeared and took over.

"All right. I'll find Liha. You folks take care of this one," Jake said.