Communication

Posted on Mon Jun 1st, 2020 @ 7:56am by Ensign Alexandra 'Lexi' O'Connery & Lieutenant JG Mattias Constantine

Mission: Mission 3 - 100
Location: Deck D- Communciations Center
Timeline: Day 30, Month 2, Year 0 12:00
1930 words - 3.9 OF Standard Post Measure

“Anything?” Lexi slid out from underneath the communication console for what felt like the hundredth time and looked at the dead console then at her companion who was assisting with fixing of the console that had lost power mid processing. She would give a lot there and then to be on the main bridge pulling bridge duty but she knew as well as everyone else did that the best people were in the Communications Center trying to work on stuff for the Vrav to make sure that the translation algorithm was working correctly and they were just not making things worse.

Constantine would often crack jokes during officer candidate school back in San Francisco about how he was "made" about ten centimetres too tall to be truly useful on a starship. Crammed in the subfloor of D deck, those jokes and that camaraderie seemed to be a figurative lifetime and a literal galaxy away, but nothing changed the fact that he was having to contort himself in order to effect repairs on the system.

"Good thing I'm not claustrophobic," he laughed warmly as his torso emerged from beside Lexi at an obtuse angle. From certain angles, it almost looked as if he was a prop for a magician's act in which people were sawn in half. He wiped a bead of sweat from his brow, silently cursing the predicament he found himself in. "To answer your question Lexi, no, nothing yet. I've got two more relays to replace, but they are in the worst possible place to get to. You don't happen to know if one of us is a chiropractor or a masseuse, do you?"

Lexi was pretty sure if they were claustrophobic is would not have been possible to work on a ship such as this one. There were far too many nooks and crannies to squeeze into. "Been known to give a tough love massage if you are desperate." She offered as she sighed a little at the fact the console was still not back online. "I could get to the relay? I am smaller than you?" She offered holding out his water bottle. Now that there was water in the system there was nothing stopping them from keeping hydrated fully and it was encouraged in an area such as this with the computers and console heating the area.

"Thanks," Mattias graciously accepted the extended water bottle and greedily gave it a big squeeze. He briefly considered spraying down his hair a little bit, but quickly dismissed the thought. His mindset was still firmly on conservation, even if the water stores were replenished. Constantine wriggled out from the small opening and handed his hyperspanner to Lexi.

"If you don't mind," he nodded, accepting the help. "I've got the relays in place, but there's a couple of connections that need to be made on the back side where they connect to the bus that I'm just not dexterous enough to get to."

"A massage and your work now. Taking liberties Lieutenant." The preppy ensign teased just a little accepting the spanner. Lexi frowned as she wriggled into the small space head first. She moved easily into the place and grinned as she saw just how tight the space was and how little he would have been able to move. "No wonder you were unable to move and get to what you needed to big guy... I mean sir." The Ensign called back wondering how muffled she would be.

"You must've hit your head, Lexi, I could've swore you called me a lieutenant just now," Constantine laughed between swigs of water. Under the stress of the recent weeks, it felt good to laugh. "I think you technically outrank me because of tenure. Plus, don't Starfleet standard operating procedure. It takes two people to do any job. One to work, one to supervise."

Lexi paused in moving and looked down the space she had just crawled down. "If the scuttlebutt is to be believed you are the one with the promotion looming," She called back good-naturedly. She was fulling aware that she did not have the right temperament at the moment for that type of position on the ship, she was barely hanging on some days. "Well, you seem to be the one supervising." She added as she got a shock and let out a curse word.

"Whoa! Hey! Are you okay?" Matt dropped his water bottle and flattened himself against the floor, peaking in through the opening in the sub-floor.

Lexi looked down as she saw the light change where her feet was and grinned as his face appeared. "Yeah fine." She assured quickly. "I found another shorted connection." She relaid sadly not happy that it was causing more issues yet again.

"I'm glad you're okay," he replied with a look of relief spreading across his face. "The circuit breaker was open, so I guess one of the capacitors must have still had some charge stored. No more surprises, hopefully. We have enough issues going around with trying to crack the rest of the Vrav translation matrix. Speaking of, maybe later we should meet up and work on that issue too."

"Only thing this ship has stored up." The woman called to him as she carefully settled back down and started on the connections properly. Lexi paused for a moment to consider what he said. "Can do. We might have to move on manually if we can't get this console working. You have the notes and the translator that I nabbed from the Vrav right?"

"Yes, thanks. I've had a little bit of luck doing things the old fashioned way - looking for words that are universal like mom, dad, hot, cold, and the like. I wish we have a full spectrum recording of their speech patterns though, I can't help but think that some or most of their frequency range is outside of what we're able to hear with our ears."

The woman stayed quiet for a few long moments concentrating on the connection and with one final shock to her finger she clambered back out with a sighed. "It sounded very much like it was clicks and whistles. Never heard anything like it but that translator unit allowed is to translate enough to talk to them." Lexi was the only one out of them all that had heard it in person but it did not matter when she did not have a basis.

Matt was waiting for her to emerge, holding out her water bottle for her to take with a thankful expression on his face. "Thanks Lexi, you're the best," he gushed. "I'm hoping that with the help of some of the engineers, we can disassemble the translator and reverse engineer the algorithm that way. I'm hopeful that it'll be the missing piece of the puzzle."

The woman came out sweating a lot more than she wanted to right then and there in front of Matt. "Phew, it was hot under there. How come you came out looking all composed and I look like a swamp rat?" She wondered softly taking the water bottle taking a deep gulp to try and get the taste out of her mouth. She crouched to start shifting the floor plating back over now that, that area was fixed.

"Oh, wait a second, don't forget the grating," Constantine interrupted her for a moment, lifting a large, metal grate over his head from its former resting place against the bulkhead. Once installed, he moved aside and watched as Lexi finished placing the floor plating into the recessed cavity below. "Gotta stay cool, calm, and collected, right? Doesn't seem to help me around Commander Leroux though. I don't know why, but she makes me nervous for some reason."

The woman waited and grinned at her mistake, she was still not used to ships and how things were. He might know how to stay calm but she was sweating despite the heat, it had been hot pretty much snuggled up to the wires. "Has she always unnerved you?" Lexi wondered stepping on the floor plating to check it was secure for a moment before turning back to give him her fall attention.

"I think it comes from the novelty of it all. Off the street through OCS, lucky enough to get a posting on an NX ship, get transported halfway across the universe. And to top it all off, my boss is now the boss, you know? I'd be more concerned if I wasn't nervous, really. I'd probably get myself into more trouble that way," Matt grinned, autonomously wiping away a bead of sweat. He looked at his hand and the trail of moisture streaking across his skin almost as if they had betrayed him. "Okay, I admit it. I am sweating now. Quite badly, in fact. Let's get this dumb console fired up and get somewhere cooler."

"I do not treat her any different," Lexi commented on. She did not see the point of it, Beth was probably sick to death of having people treating her differently than before the trip. "It has to be lonely." She shrugged before grinning as he admitted he was hot and bothered now. "Well hold your breath then let us see if it turns on this time." Lexi moved to the console grinning as she pressed the power on button.

Mattias remained zip-lipped and held his breath for additional good luck as the power began to flow through the replaced components in the circuit. Much to their relief, the blinking lights along the top of the console started to cascade in their usual boot sequence, and a low chime signaled a successful iteration of the built-in test. Constantine exhaled and followed it up with a deep breath as he fist pumped the air, expressing his satisfaction at a job well done.

"YES!" Matt's voice boomed. Noticing a few glances, he toned the volume down, but the excitement was still evident. "Ah, Lexi, you are the best! I'll make it up to you somehow. I owe you one. Or is that like, five now?"

"You hit five many weeks back my friend. I have lost count since then," The young woman said without a moment's hesitation in teasing him a little especially after his little outburst. "Well, this certainly brings it all together right? We have the communication centre back up and running." It was good news for them to say the least.

"Two things. First of all, yes, you're probably right, I am building up quite a debt at the Bank of O'Connery. Two, you're exactly the type that would keep a ledger of how many times you've saved my ass, but thanks for holding my accountable - that's why I like you. Three, I'm not very good at counting," he grinned again, walking over with his right arm held in the air for a high five. It was clear she would have to jump. "High five?"

The woman looked at him and weighed up her options and decided to just walk away with a grin on her face. "Maybe next time Lieutentant." She called over her shoulder. She would always hold the people around her accountable, it was how she could hold herself accountable. "I will see you later." She added reminding him of the work they had to do.

OFF::

Ensign Mattias Constantine
Communications Officer
NX Atlantis

Ensign Alexandra 'Lexi' O'Connery
Comms Operator
NX Atlantis
(PNPC Leroux)