The Straight Man

Posted on Mon Aug 5th, 2019 @ 11:28am by Chief Helmsman Eden Bowers & Executive Officer Jake Ford

Mission: Mission 10 - Temperance
Location: Turbolift 13a
Timeline: MD 01 06:30 Hours
1245 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Eden slipped under the console and tried to trouble shoot as much as she could. She remembered when this ship had been fairly new and fancy for it's time. She didn't dwell on how old that made her feel as she straightened back up in her seat again and sighed. It wasn't on her end so it must be something in another part of the ship. There was only one thing to do, head for engineering and see if she could sweet talk someone into checking things out for her. She made her way to the turbolift and walked right on without looking up from the PaDD she was holding. Unfortunately she crashed into someone who was either coming out or just standing there minding his own business. "Oh, I'm so sorry."

"My fault, probably." Jake peered down at the diminutive woman in front of him. Yet another whirlwind of a young woman on board this ship, he noticed. The Rosie was full of them, apparently. He stood aside, letting her board the turbolift with him. "Ms Bowers, right? Recognised your face from the file. Don't think we formally met yet." He offered a hand. "Jake Ford. Chief Armoury officer."

Eden didn't think she'd ever been called Ms. Bowers in her life and stared up at him. "Good," she finally said recovering. "You can shoot the console for me by the helm, it's not working properly." She gave no indication as to whether she was joking or not.

"Huh. Guess that won't be a problem...once I get access to the damned armory. Security seal's been giving me trouble for days. Just got to hope we don't get boarded any time soon, or we'll be fighting them off with sticks and harsh language," Jake admitted. "Uh, probably shouldn't tell the Captain that, though. You on your way to Engineering, too?"

"Yeah." Eden said, realizing that although he knew her surname she had never told him what to call her. "I'm Eden," she said, offering her hand hesitantly. "So you can't get into the armory. I don't think that's going to work, we don't have any sticks." She seemed to be seriously thinking about what to throw at imaginary intruders.

"That was a joke...yeah, never mind," he chuckled. "Well, Eden, if the helm's not working it sounds like I should be more worried about flying into planets than mean aliens boarding the ship. No amount of sticks are going to fix that one."

"I know, I was just trying to think of what we could throw at them. Passing interest in the subject." Eden said with a small smile towards him. "And you're right there. I haven't lost control of the ship though, it's just sluggish and I can transfer flight control to another console so don't count on running into any moons before it happens. I guess that's like don't count your chickens before they hatch."

"Yeah, I guess-" Jake didn't even get his sentence out as the turbolift lurched and screeched around them, grinding rapidly to a halt. He almost stumbled into her as the lights shorted out, leaving them in complete darkness. "Huh. Maybe we're both cursed?" he asked into the pitch black.

"I'm starting to think you're right." Eden searched around until her hands hit something solid which she knew was actually him. "if we move the middle and you give me a boost I might be able to get the access panel open and get us out of here. Or we could sit and wait for a bit before we try anything drastic."

"Uh, Eden?" He wasn't quite sure how to explain that with the height difference her hands were touching the lower part of his waist. Instead he took her hand in his and moved it somewhere a little more appropriate. "Perhaps we should figure-out a way out. Shouldn't there be emergency lighting or something?"

"That's what I just . . . " she sighed. Typical. People never paid attention to her. "I don't know about emergency lighting but I can figure out a way to get us out if you'll give me a boost please." She would have pointed up but he couldn't see her in the darkness. "Maybe you could put out your knee or something and I'll climb on in."

"Sounds like a plan," he nodded, lowering himself awkwardly in the cramped space and guiding her so she could get a sense of where and how he was positioned. "Be careful up there, we don't know if it's a full power outage or just this shaft."

"I will," Eden said, climbing up on the man awkwardly, her hand smooshing his face at one point. "Well this is kind of an interesting meeting isn't it?" She wondered if he'd run screaming from the lift when she got the doors open. Eden reached for the panel and typed in a code. When that didn't work she pried at it with her finger nails. "You don't happen to have something sharp on you do you?"

"Commbadge do?" he asked, offering her the one on his lapel.

"Oh yes ,I could have just used mine I guess." She took it from him anyway. "This stupid thing is stuck!" She growled, moving around on top of the poor man just as the turbolift came to life again. She lost her balance and began to fall back towards the bottom of the lift.

The sharp motion as well as her tumble knocked Jake from his feet as well, landing heavily on his back with Eden on top of him, their bodies temporarily tangled together. He found, as the lights came up, that his face was only a few inches from hers.

"Well, you got it working..." Jake grumbled.

Then the turbolift stopped and the doors opened, to reveal a pair of crewmen who were now taking in the sight of the Armoury Officer and the Helmswoman in possibly the most compromising position possible in a turbolift.

"That wasn't me. It started on it's own." She said, inches from his face. She rolled off. "Sorry." Eden said, her face red. "It's not what it looks like, I was up there trying to get things moving again and then things moved and we fell . . . "

"Yeah, not sure they're buying it," he responded, picking himself up from the deck and feeling a very strong desire to not be in the turbolift any more. "As you were," he added at the two dumbfounded crew, who started to beat a hasty retreat. He turned back to Eden. "So, I think I'm going to walk to Engineering instead. You're welcome to join me in lodging a protest with the chief?"

Eden spent a good minute looking at him wondering if he were serious. "You don't mind?" She finally asked to make sure. After what had just happened she wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to run in the other direction and stay as far away from her as possible.

He shot her a grin. If she knew the trouble he'd had with women accidentally getting into bed with him in the middle of the night already, she might not have asked. "Not at all. Definitely breaks the ice, though, doesn't it?"

"I never seem to have trouble with that." Eden replied, "Something like this always happens to me." She started walking with him.

Eden Bowers
Chief Helmsmen
SS Mary Rose

Jake Ford
Chief Armoury Officer
SS Mary Rose

 

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