Simple Things In Life

Posted on Tue Jan 22nd, 2019 @ 11:02am by Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson (*) & Chief Operations Kendra McIntyre
Edited on on Wed Jan 30th, 2019 @ 3:07pm

Mission: Ishimura
Location: USS Ishimura
Timeline: 2243
895 words - 1.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Pressing her earpiece into her ear, Kendra tried to block out the ambient noise of the Bridge to no avail. Her console seemed to indicate that there was some kind of communication mechanism trying to contact the Ishimura. Flipping switches and turning dials didn't seem to make the background noise from her earpiece. She did have an idea.

Kendra stood from her station, tugging at her red uniform because the skirt had been riding up a bit. She crossed the Bridge to the Science station. "Cassie, could I borrow you for a moment?" she asked. "I've hit a bit of a problem."

Cassie looked up from her scan surprised that someone was using her first name but she smiled when she saw who it was. "Show me." She instructed in a gentle voice.

Motioning toward her monitor, Kendra tapped the wave pattern. "It's too regular to be something natural, but I can't cut through the background noise," the communications chief reported. "Something out there seems to be overloading the sensors," she added, head shaking in confusion.

Cassie moved and sat in the seat pressing the button to make the noise louder and not just in the metallic Feinberg receiver in Kendra's ear. The Vulcan listened for a couple of heartbeats her eyes narrowing as she listened. "Certainly not something natural at all." She agreed kneeling to the floor to remove the covering of the console.

Standing to make room for the Vulcan to work, Kendra asked, "Is there a problem with the station?" The Communications officer knelt beside Cassie to get a better look at what her crewmate was doing.

"Maybe," Cassie said as she put the cover to her left and started to pull out chips and board to look at them. "To me it sounds like you have an echo but...They are hard to find in communication consoles." She shrugged, it could be anywhere but she would have a look without ripping it apart or calling someone else to look. "Echoes would explain why you can break through to isolate the noise.

With a raised eyebrow, Kendra watched as her workstation was quickly dismantled. "An echo would explain it," she pointed out before pointing into the hole that was the communications station. "But is the cause in there, or out there?" She pointed and moved to indicate the outside of the ship. "Before we break the console."

"I do not break consoles," Cassie said with a slightly indignant look at her. The Vulcan part of her showing in that moment as she tugged her skirt down and moved underneath it a little more. Normally she would put overalls on for a job like this but time was key sometimes and she wasn't exactly worried that her underwear would be seen, Vulcans didn't feel embarrassment especially half ones.

From her courses on cultures, Kendra remembered that Vulcans were never ones for embarrassment. However, the Communications Officer could feel enough embarrassment for the both of them. As Cassie really dug into her work, Kendra could only wonder what she had revealed because of her own skirted uniform. "See anything?" she was able to get out.

"Maybe." The woman called as she came back out and reached for a small flashlight to see something better. It was a long few moments of silence before the woman came back out from underneath holding up a chip.

"Fried conduit?" Kendra asked. Her eyes drifted between the chip and the other woman's eyes.

"It was in one of the subroutines," Cassie said slowly standing up to maintain some dignity as someone chuckled from the Security console making her turn to look at him.

Trying to shift focus from the wardrobe malfunction, Kendra stepped closer to Cassie to get a look at the what console. As if realization suddenly hit her, she pointed out a line of code, "Right there, it appears as though the chip was receiving a small static charge at regular intervals." Pausing for a moment, she continued, "Making the odd signal in the comms." She was obviously a little embarrassed to have missed such a simple solution.

Cassie turned back from staring at the Security Crewman and rolled her eyes. "It happens. Why we science folk are here to help." She reminded with another nod. "Sometimes it is the simplest of things."

"It's always the simple things," Kendra shrugged. Gesturing at what was once a console, "I can handle the repair. I have a few custom settings that I don't want to lose." It wasn't much, just a little tweak to place the mechanical switches for the universal translator and the open frequency commands a little closer together.

The Vulcan Hybrid gave the woman as much of a smile as she could right there and then holding up the devices that the woman would need to do the job. "Please ask for assistance if required." She requested. She would only be required to fix it again if things went wrong.

"Definitely," Kendra nodded. At the Academy, she had been forced to learn how to assemble the communications console in about any situation in survival training. She took the offered tools and set out to rebuild her console to her liking.

OFF::

Ensign Cassie McAvoy
Science Officer - Biology
USS Ishimura
(PNPC Gregnol)

Ensign Kendra McIntyre
Communications Officer
USS Ishimura
(PNPC Byrne)