Did I Do That?

Posted on Wed Oct 18, 2017 @ 6:59pm by Petty Officer 3rd Class Alexandra "Lexi" Barrows & Lieutenant JG Zander Devereaux

Mission: Strange Matter
Location: Engineering
Timeline: MD 29 || 1230 Hours

After cutting off the Borg's access through Engineering, Alexandra had moved off to other tasks, one after another as the higher-ranking officers sent her to them. Now, the Borg dealt with -- she didn't know how or care just now -- she could focus on trying to get things repaired. Some of it was done by Engineering, but some required the help of Damage Control. Therefore, she was asked to summon some from that division.

Tapping her comm. badge, Alex spoke calmly. =/\= Barrows to Damage Control. Could you send someone to Engineering please? We have a few systems that need your division's special touch. =/\=

=^=On my way,=^= a gruff male voice came a second later. =^=Do I need my tool kit or is it advice?=^=

=/\= Oh, you'll need your kit, sir. =/\= Alex answered, wondering how bad his day had been so far to have made him sound so gruff.

A muffled curse was bitten off. =^=On my way,=^= Zander said with even more gruff.

=== Several Minutes Later ===

A short, stocky man with barely regulation hair and a goatee and mustache showed up five minutes later lugging a heavy tool kit that looked twice the size of a standard Engineering toolkit in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. "Who called for a DCS?" he asked.

Alex took a moment to give the man a once-over then approached. "I did, sir." she said. "PO3 Alex Barrows." she added so he didn't have to call her 'hey, you'.

"Lieutenant Junior Grade Zander Devereaux," he grunted by way of introduction before he got a good look at her. "And my apologies for being gruff. I've been repairing this ship from stem to stern for days. What's broke, how's it broke and who broke it?"

Alex smiled at his introduction but then looked a bit sheepish. "It's okay, sir." she offered, realizing that when she answered his questions, he was going to want to stuff her in something. "Well, the computer's communications junctions for Engineering are shorted to hell." That answered one and two. Three was... "And, well... I broke them." she admitted with a look of apology.

Zander's brown eyes narrowed at her admittance and he sighed. "How many and why did you do that?" he asked.

Alex looked down for a moment then back up, holding his gaze now. Why was she embarrassed! She'd done what she'd had to! "All three external communications junctions, and I shorted them to prevent the Borg from accessing the ship through Engineering." she stated, having decided that she'd done nothing wrong and therefore nothing to be ashamed of. Her tone wasn't snappy, though, merely calm and lacking the embarrassment of a moment ago.

Oh, she knew he wasn't happy; and she was sorry about that. "I needed to shut them all down at once -- every time I shut down a pathway, another opened. I was running in circles. So I did the only thing I could think of." She paused a second, studying his reaction. "I'm really sorry it makes more work for you, but I really had no other option."

"Let me guess," he said. "You yanked the isolinear chips out without properly shutting down the various grids linked to each section?"

She nodded. "Yes, sir." What else could she say that she hadn't already said.

Zander paused and took a deep drink of his coffee. "Sweet baby Klingon," he said with conviction. "Go to the ODN and shunt the power to the EPS traps, Petty Officer Burrows," he said. "It automatically shuts everything down without blowing them all out."

Now, she did look embarrassed again. She should have known that! Mentally, she cursed herself, only then realizing that he had mispronounced her name. She briefly considered correcting him, but she decided that might only get her into deeper trouble. "Sorry, sir. I'll try to remember that next time." But by any god who cares to be listening, I hope there isn't a next time!

"Now you know," he said with a slightly kinder voice as he opened his kit and revealed tools for almost everything except for the larger ones that required more than one person to use it. "Did you already replicate the replacement isolinear chips and get them configured?" he asked.

She nodded -- at least she'd done something right. As much as she had no patience for stupidity, you'd think she'd avoid doing the stupidity. "Yes, right after I called you." she answered. She moved to one of the engineering stations and took a small box of isolinear chips off of it and showing it to him.

Zander pulled a heavily configured Engineering tricorder out of the kit and several other small tools out which he clipped to his waist on a belt he wore. "Alright," he said. "Let's go undo the actual damage, then we'll replace the isolinear chips. Easy peasy, right Burrows?"

Alex frowned, realizing that if she didn't say something, he was going to keep calling her that. "Sure, but sir? With respect... it's Barrows." she tried to stop the unfortunate nickname before it truly took hold. It wasn't that she was opposed to nicknames; it was just that she could already hear the horrid jokes that could be made from that one. And some idiot was bound to do it, and she was bound to put a spanner up said idiot's ass and end up scrubbing plasma conduits for a week. And that was a fate she could well do without.

"Alright, Wheel," he said as he remembered an old farm instrument that his uncle had him pushing for countless hours that had the name wheelbarrow. "Is that better?"

Alex blinked. "What?" she asked, not certain how an ancient means of moving objects related to her. She was realizing one thing though; she was not going to come out of this ahead.

"Wheelbarrow," Zander said. "A two-handed trolley used to haul things around. Such as this tool kit." He gestured towards it. "Perhaps you could carry it for me and live up to your name."

And now I've gone from vermin to an object? she thought to herself with a frown. Though I suppose that's better since people just kill vermin, and objects are useful. Still, not very flattering. "Are you always like this, sir?" she asked, half curious, as she moved to take the kit from him as asked.

"No," he said. "Just had to give you a hard time, Barrows. Now let's get this Targ and pony show on the road." He lifted up his tool kit and headed towards the main area where the 'problem' was located.

She shook her head a bit. She hadn't been entirely sure whether he was actually expressing annoyance with her or just poking fun because of that gruff tone, but now that she understood, she kind of liked his rough sense of humor. And he hadn't gotten testy when she asked that last as some people would have; that was a good sign. Taking the isolinear chips with her, she followed the Damage Control Specialist into the accessways to the Engineering Computer Communication Junctions.

Zander stopped when he came to the first junction and pulled the panel off, then blinked. "You....just yanked the control chips, didn't you?" he asked after a moment of stunned disbelief.

Lexi frowned. Hadn't she admitted that to him already? Or had he not entirely believed her? She took a breath and let it out slowly, trying not to feel like a cadet again. "As I said, it was the only solution I could come up with right at that moment. I mean, it was the Borg. Time is of the essence with them."

He grunted and opened his kit with a sigh. "Remind me to teach you emergency shutdown procedures the next time this happens," he said as he pulled out a tool and began to remove the interface. "That way, two hundred and eight isolinear chips won't need replacing. Which, by the way, you get to do once I repair and replace this."

Lexi groaned quietly. She had suspected this would happen -- and truthfully, she was glad it wasn't worse -- but that didn't make it any more enjoyable. "Yes, sir." she answered simply, watching him work. She also made a mental note to go over the emergency shutdown procedures again for these junctions so that he didn't have to be bothered with teaching her since she should know it anyway. Besides, he seemed to be so busy as it was; why torture him by adding work. "I'll refresh myself on the emergency shutdown procedures, sir." she affirmed aloud, creating accountability by promising it to him.

Zander looked over his shoulder at her. "No, because I'm going to walk you through that step by step so this will never happen again, Wheel," he said. "I'm the one elbows deep in this and after this, I'll be elbow deep in educating you like Engineering boot should have done."

She sighed. "They did, but it isn't often you have to repel Borg intrusion, so it's not a procedure you use often." she clarified. It wasn't that she hadn't been taught the procedure. It was simply that, since it hadn't needed to be used, it had gotten... buried in her mind, and she now needed to refresh her memory of it. "But I understand, sir." Besides, it wasn't as though he was bad company, even if he was poking fun at her.

"Rule number one in Engineering: We have failsafes for our failsafes. Rule number two in Engineering: Someone will find a way to make both fail," he said as he replaced the first control chip and tossed the burnt one over his shoulder before he looked back at her. "Guess what you accomplished?"

She caught the burnt chip easily enough and put it in a pouch on her belt for later recycling. "I know..." she said a bit sheepishly. I said I was sorry. What else does he want?

"Now then, let's not have a repeat of it," Zander said as he yanked the second chip out. "Although you should be proud of yourself," he told her. "You beat my record for most damage in a short time."

She blinked at him a couple of times. "I did?" She hesitated a second before deciding that since he had brought it up, it was fair game and continuing. "What did you do, sir?"

"I short circuited environmental controls and raised the temperature in the Arboretum by fifty degrees centigrade," he said. "Ever seen a plant wilt? It's not pretty. If you ever seen a Captain get mad, imagine that times fifty when you kill all of her carefully tended plants."

Lexi winced. "Damn..." she murmured. "What were you trying to do?" she asked, making the guess that the result had not been his original intention.

"I was trying to lower the gravity in my quarters so sex would have an extra bounce when things got hot and heavy," Zander told her as he worked on the second fused control chip.

Lexi chuckled. "I can see how that would be fun." she admitted. "But you really had to cross some things up to get that result. Little distracted at the time?" she teased.

"Not at all," he said. "I just had no idea what I was doing. I'm Damage Control, not Operations, but I like figuring things out on my own. Cost me a rank, but I know what to do now." He paused. "Would you like to try low gravity sex?"

For a second, Lexi paused. Was that a come-on line? If so, it was at least one she hadn't been fed before. If not -- if he was just offering to lower the gravity in her quarters -- then it was a nice offer, but she knew how to do that. She decided to be playful, just a little anyway. "Was that an offer?" she half teased.

"Depends if you say yes or not," Zander said as he pulled the chip with a grunt and tossed it over his other shoulder.

Lexi caught that one too with ease and put it with its partner. "Why not. You're handsome, witty and inventive. I like that." she answered with a smile. She had just not wanted to answer a question he was not asking, make an assumption and then look like an ass.

"My quarters, eighteen hundred sound good?" he asked as he closed the panel and activated the control chips.

"Works for me." she said with a smile as she watched the panel for any sign of... anything unexpected.

"Now come on, Alexandra," Zander said. "Let's get those isolinear chips in and I'll teach you what not to do next time, and later, I'll teach you things you didn't know were possible."

Lexi raised an eyebrow at him. "Or maybe I'll teach you something." she teased, handing him the next set of chips. "Either way, it's bound to be fun." she added with a wink.

He took the chips and raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" he asked her with an evil grin. "I have a feeling that a challenge has been issued."

She grinned right back. "And I have a feeling you're the type of man who never shies away from a challenge."

"You got that right," Zander said as he began to insert the chips two handed. "I'm a DCS and that means I get new challenges every day. What's one more?"

Lezi laughed softly. "But there are many kinds of challenges." she pointed out. And, in truth, she wasn't the type to back off from a challenge either, so she totally vibed with that.

"I agree," he said. "And I'm looking forward to the challenge you didn't deny you issued."

She shrugged. "Why deny it? Own it. It's much more fun that way." she said with a smile and a wink.

"Ain't that the truth?" Zander asked as he reached for more isolinear chips. "Now let's get these slotted so we can have some fun later."

"I'm right with you!" she agreed as she helped him put the new chips in place. After all, the sooner they got this done, the sooner they could move on to more... interesting pursuits.

Twenty minutes later and a lot of explaining of emergency shutdown procedures and lots of tips and tricks to help with minor shutdowns, he put the last isolinear chip back in place. "That should do it," he said. "Start a level three diagnostic."

Lexi had to admit, even though she felt pretty stupid for doing things the way she had, she did learn a lot from the situation. Zander was a good teacher, much clearer than some of the instructors she'd had. She climbed out of the accessway and began the diagnostic as requested then poked her head back in. "Level three diagnostic running." she told him.

"Once that gets done, give me a shout if it turns up anything you don't like," Zander said. "In the meantime, I have to get up to deck thirty eight and repair an EPS conduit. See you at my place later?"

Lexi grinned. "Wouldn't miss it. Be careful up there."

"Will do," he said before he returned the grin and headed off.

END