Enjoying A Good Explosion

Posted on Fri Nov 1st, 2019 @ 1:05am by Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson (*) & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein

Mission: Mission 10 - Temperance
Location: Deck 7
Timeline: MD 01 23:00
2491 words - 5 OF Standard Post Measure

The noises that came from deck 7 repurposed science lab to anyone else would have seemed bad but to the woman who was currently squinting at the vials that she had open was none the wiser to the noise. Cassie did not hear anyone approach over the sounds of the classic rock music or hear when she staggered for a moment and dropped something to the floor.

“Where has it gone?” She asked herself suddenly realising that she was missing something.

"Hey, now," Burnie said, carefully picking up the pipette. He'd been tracking yet another system malfunction when he'd been drawn by the music, and then drawn further - this time with some urgency - by the smell. After years of working with combustibles, he could recognize a potential explosive by scent almost as well as a bomb-sniffing dog. "It might be better if this stayed lost. I mean, far be it from me to stop someone from making a nice big fireball, but you might want to set up a blast shield before you go much further with this."

Cassie whirled around looking the man up and down. "And you are?" The woman asked. If she had been sober she would have known he was the new Chief Engineer but drunk Cassie was not in her right mind at all.

His brows lifted at the question. "Burnie. Chief engineer, remember?" He offered a friendly smile, not making any sudden moves. It was evident that the woman was zorched and while he had never dealt with a drunk half-Vulcan before, he had enough experience of an inebriated Romulan to be cautious.

The young woman narrowed her eyes for a moment before the recognition hit. She had met him days ago when he had arrived. "Ah yes the new one." She turned back to the table for a second before she looked up. "Did you know that the Engineering Chief position is cursed? We have had loads and loads?" She wondered.

"Really? I guess that explains why no one's talked about the last one," Burnie replied, suppressing a relieved chuckle - slightly passive-aggressive verbal response was infinitely preferable to the sort of not-at-all passive response he might have gotten from Liha. "But after the repairs I've handled so far, I can see how statistically an engineering chief might be so much more likely to run into trouble that the position looks cursed."

"I know a curse when I see one thank you very much," Cassie argued as she looked at the concution she was brewing like some old-world witch. "People trapped in transporters for 150 years, Vampire clouds, Viruses, trips to other universes... cursed." The woman counted off the incidents on her fingers trying to see if she had missed any of them so far.

Burnie shrugged. "Eh. By that standard, I'm already cursed." Flashing a grin, he picked up a vial. "Hey, I wonder if a cursed position and a cursed engineer can..." he poured the neutralizing agent into the incendiary she was on the edge of creating, "...cancel each other out."

"Oyi... You do not get to do that to what I was doing." The woman started growling as she picked something sparkling off the lab bench shoving back in her pocket. "You men just think you can do what you want." The woman said with a lot less venom than the words have suggested.

"All I did was prevent you from setting this whole lab table on fire," he replied, widening his eyes at her. "I'm pretty sure any woman or member of the 23 or so other known genders out there would do the same."

"What I wanted to do! I was trying to destroy something." She sighed sitting back on the bench behind looking a little defeated. It did not suit the hybrid at all.

Burnie sighed. How was it that he was feeling guilty for keeping someone from burning down a lab? "Look, I understand wanting to blow things up. Believe me, I didn't get the nickname 'burnie' because of my last name."
He offered a wry half-smile. "But if you torch this place, I have to fix it, so pick another target, okay. There have to be tons of better things you could destroy. More satisfying too," he suggested, and judging that she didn't seem likely to decide he would be a good candidate for her destructive impulse, came a little closer. "If you tell me why you want to destroy something, maybe I can help with target selection."

Cassie offered her own smile at his comment about his name but it was short-lived as she stuffed her hands into her jacket. "I would not make someone fix something I broke. Scientist in my time fixed a lot more than what they do nowadays." Cassie sighed thoughtfully thinking that 2246 had never felt so far away right then. She held up a gold band to show him what she was wanting to destroy. It was cliche and totally a foolish idea but she felt like it might make her feel better.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely, realizing now what this must be about. "I never got as far as married, but I'm familiar with hard break ups. If you want to turn that into subatomic particles, I can certainly offer some options. In here I'd stick to lasers, sonic disruption, or dropping it in acid, but if you want big satisfying destruction," a smile grew on his face as he ticked off options, "tack it up in the firing range and spray it with plasma rounds, or the weapons lab in engineering has tons of blast shielding so grenades, thermolyte charges, trilithium, tricobalt, sarium krellide... ooo - bilitrium with just a pinch of anti-matter...!" The smile became a full-blown manic grin. "Or we could strap it to a drone and blow it up with ship phasers or torpedos."

Cassie's eyes got wider and wider as he listed off suggestions before she burst out laughing. They were getting more and more ridiculous but the thought behind them was lovely. "You possible should be the Chief of Security." The woman said wiping a stray tear that had escaped. "I am sure that Gregnol will not allow any of that."

"Well, maybe not," Burnie admitted, then winked. "Or at least not until you sober up a bit. The firing range ought to be a option, but you shouldn't use a plasma rifle there until you can aim straight."

"I am not sure we even have plasma rifles." The woman admitted with a small snort as leaned forward putting her head in her hands. "I could not even aim a rifle straight sober." She admitted thinking of all the times Ryder had. had to help her with annual live phaser fire training.

"No plasma rifles?" Burnie was momentarily shocked, but then recalled that they were high-end equipment for civilian ships. "I could mock one up... but if marksmanship isn't your thing, maybe a guided missile - nothing too big, just shoulder mounted. We put a target signal on the ring, then all you have to do is fire and," he threw both hands up, splaying his fingers open, with his best mad scientist grin, "KaBoom!"

"You and Ryder should become friends." The woman commented on sitting up properly. She needed her bed, or at the very least a flat surface to pass out on. It was ridiculous, love was ridiculous, this whole situation was ridiculous! It was impossible to move past it right now and the woman just did not know how to react, she had never experienced emotions like this.

"Security guy, right? Yeah, I generally get along them," Burnie remarked, and seeing the way she looked, softened his tone. "But really, since you want destroy something, I'm just making suggestions less likely to result in a lab - and you - engulfed in flames." He offered a knowing smile as he took a seat besides her. "In my opinion though - and I'm an engineer, so my read on people isn't always so great - what you could really use is water and then some black coffee because otherwise you're going to pass out and wake up one heck of a hangover."

"Would not be the first time these labs have been engulfed in flames recently." The woman looked at him and shook her head, he was being kinder than she expected. Anyone else would just carried her off. "It is very unlikely I will have a hangover. I was hoping my Vulcan heritage would sober me up quickly but it seems to be not helping much."

"Unless Vulcans are a lot different than Romulans, trust me, a hangover is not out of the question. And judging by my experience of hungover Romulan it might even be worse for vulcanoids." He grimaced, and glanced upwards in a partial eyeroll. "Or maybe Romulans are just a lot grouchier about it. Either way, you should hydrate a bit and try to stay awake until you do sober up more. Do you think you can walk?"

"Maybe. I do not drink often." The woman admitted. She had been drunk only a few times and it had never affected her before. Maybe she was worse that she thought. "I guess I can walk." The woman had no choice but to walk really.

"Here. I'll walk with you." Burnie offered her an arm, thinking she could use it steady herself but not wanting to presume. "Just until you feel better," one edge of his mouth turned up in a half-smile, "...or at least don't feel like blowing up any labs."

Cassie stood up and clutched the lab table for a moment before looping her arm through his. "Might be a while until I do not feel like blowing my own lab up." She admitted revealing she was the owner of the lab around them

"Just as well you walk out for a bit then. It's a nice place," he observed, waiting to let her get somewhat stable before taking a step. "And I've been told that one of the first rules of revenge is 'Wreck their stuff, not yours'."

"Why I wanted to destroy the ring." She mused thinking that maybe she should get all his clothes and items out of the room and request different quarters. Something of a fresh start so to speak.

"I get it, though technically the ring is yours. So instead of atomizing it, you could melt it down and turn into something else," Burnie suggested, then smiled at her. "Though I totally understand enjoying a good explosion."

"I am starting to think that about you." The woman admitted with a small smile in his direction. She did not comment on the ring. She would take time to think about it more when she was sober. She did not need to make it now that she had been stopped from making a big mistake.

"I'm an engineer. We're all a little pyro a heart," he explained, and gave a small wink "I'm just a little more open about it than most. But it's probably for the best - lots of experience, so I knew how close you were to blowing yourself up as soon as I walked in."

The woman nodded. She was reprimanded enough to realise when she was beaten. "I am more surprised you found me in this old area. It was all sealed up by Engineers when they could not get us out the computer." Cassie said using her code sloppily to close up her lab and lead them away from what could have been a disaster.

"I was following what I thought was an internal sensor glitch, but I think it might have been an echo from safeties in your lab." Burnie made a careful pivot to help her turn without stumbling. "It must be strange being on the same ship but in a different century," he said sympathetically. His own experiences with time distortions had been bad enough, being permanently out of your timestream had to rough. Plus talking about that might her mind off her ex.

"Not so different. Just everything is old." It was all the woman could really say had changed. It was not that different from her old work-life if she thought about it. Biologists still had stuff to do especially on a ship as interesting as this was one with its varied history and the collector making such big issues over things. "Yeah, this deck is a bit dodgy." She admitted with a giggle at the words she had used. Her father would be spinning in his grave that she was sounding so human now.

"I guess that's one word for it," Burnie laughed. "To me, it's almost like a historical restoration project. Or maybe archaeology, since there are layers of updated tech here." He looked about, smiling. "My Dad used to take me on digs. His specialty is the 20th century, but he'd have a field day with this."

"I think it was The Collector did some really big restoration of the ship but parts have never been completed as he only ever wanted like five people onboard to keep his secrets." The woman admitted. She did not like to think on The Collector often since discovering that he was from the other universe and had used the ship to hide things.

Burnie nodded, but frowned. " 'Collectors' like that are bane of historians' existence. They inevitably destroy important information about the things they collect - like someone tramping all over a crime scene before detectives can show up. Still, I guess he kept the old girl alive, so that counts for something."

Cassie just chuckled as she finally stopped outside her quarters looking less than happy to be going inside but it was where all her things were and the bed that she was requiring right that moment were. "Always counts for something." She said with a shrug. "I might not like the man but he kept me alive."

"Counts for a lot, I'd say," Burnie replied, and paused, waiting for her to release his arm. This part of walking someone home was always a bit awkward. "Are you going to be all right? No setting fire to your quarters?"

The woman laughed and pulled her arm back. "Nah nothing flammable in there I promise." She was sure that nothing would go wrong now that she was there and closed to just collapsing in bed

"Okay. Remember to drink some water before you fall asleep," he advised and cringed inwardly at realizing he'd just sounded like his mother. Quickly switching to a grin, he added, "But if you still want to blow something up tomorrow, give me a comm. I love a good explosion."

OFF::

Michael 'Burnie' Burnstein
Chief Engineer
SS Mary Rose

Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson
Biologist
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Gregnol)