Introductions

Posted on Fri Sep 25th, 2020 @ 12:47pm by Lieutenant Commander Archibald (Archie) Gates & Lieutenant JG Brian Pendragon

1,374 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Mission 8 - A Blast from the Past
Location: First Officer’s Quarters
Timeline: 2296/03/02 0800

This wasn’t a great start to Archie’s first full day onboard the America. He was currently trapped inside his own quarters as the doors had suddenly malfunctioned and weren’t opening at all. The Commander had reported the problem to Engineering, who were meant to be on their way, yet that was fifteen minutes ago and still no one had arrived.

The America’s first officer did, of course, realise that they were dock at a Starbase and the crew were on a well deserved shore leave which in turn left Engineering a little sort handed. In the mean time Archie sat at his desk and concentrated on his work.

Lt jg Brian Pendragon was part way through decontaminating the dorsal propulsion nullifyer when his com badge bleeped. It made him jump, having been a quiet day so far, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

"Yes, wh... I mean, Pendragon here."

"Got a job for you. New 2IC's door's jammed." Lt Thorvaar gloated. "Seeing as how doors are your speciality..."

"Decom's only at 23%..." Brian began to protest.

"Great, that means you can safely leave it ticking over for an hour at least. Plenty of time." Thorvaar told him where Gates' quarters were and signed off, leaving Brian torn. Yes, the decom wasn't going to need intervention in that time, but it still seemed wrong to leave it unmonitored. Maybe he could at least set up a quick ad hoc sensor array that he could monitor remotely, seeing as it didn't have one built in. He rummaged in his tool kit, thankful that he had a habit of carrying odds and ends, even if it did mean the box was larger and heavier than most people opted for.

A few minutes later, he had a mini tricorder lashed to a strut with duct tape, several buttons also held down, broadcasting at a suitable frequency for him to pick up remotely. It wasn't elegant, but it would have to do. He packed up his kit and set off for Gates' room at a jog.

On arrival, he waved his hand at the door sensor. It made the customary acknowledgement bleep, but didn't move. That in itself wasn't surprising - random passers-by shouldn't be wandering into people's quarters without permission, but at least it meant the sensor itself wasn't the issue.

Gates had settled himself down into read reports after he informed the Captain he was having a technical problem with his quarters door. When the beeped as if someone was coming in, it startled him slightly. Would have been nice to be told an engineer was now present at the very least. He glanced at the door and saw it was still closed so saw no point in getting up.

Brian frowned at the door. It hadn't opened, but he couldn't be sure if that was because it hadn't chimed inside so the person inside didn't know he was there, because there was no one there to acknowledge it or that there was someone there but they were unable to get it to open. There were at least three different parts of teh system that could be at fault, just on that basis alone, so he wasn't going to get very far without speaking to the owner of the quarters. He would have used his communicator to contact the new 2IC without having to worry about whether he was inside or not but, to his embarassment, he couldn't remember the man's name and no way was he going to embarass himself by calling back to Engineering to ask.

There was nothing else for it - he'd have to go Old School. He knocked at the door; the classic "Shave and-a Hair Cut" rhythm that invited a response from anyone familiar with it.

“Hello?” Archie said as he heard a knock on the door. ’Finally, I’m going to be rescued from my prison.’ He thought to himself as he waited for a response from the other side.

Ah - he was inside. That was good - he'd be able to confirm the symptoms. Oh, and bad - he was stuck in there at the moment.

"Um... hi. Pendragon here. I mean Lt jg Brian Pendragon - Engineering. Can you tell me when it started going wrong and what the first thing you noticed was?"

“Erm, it started this morning when I wanted to head to the bridge.” Archie replied through the closed door. “The sensor didn’t work so I tried the emergency override which also failed.”

"Well, based on what you've just told me, probably somewhere between ten minutes and an hour, depending on whether the reset and cycle are all that's needed and how quickly the server notices... If it's something more physical, it'll depend on which parts I need. I have most of the known fragile ones with me... Though if it that doesn't do the trick, we can get you out via the emergency exit and into temporary quarters while its sorted..."

The first officer sighed, this wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “Could you concentrate on getting me out? I can’t spend that amount of time on here not doing my job.”

He can't even manage ten minutes? Wow, he's going to be a stickler... "O.. K... In that case, emergency exit it is. I'll try the crank first. Could you stand by the door and get ready to wedge it with something if it does start opening?"

Archie rolled his eyes, he didn’t realise he’d need to play engineer along with his other duties on board the ship. “Sure.” He said through the door as he glanced around his quarters looking for something suitable. There was an old book on his desk which he though would do the job so grabbed it and stood ready.

Brian pulled the cover off the panel beside the door controls and pulled a handle from his toolkit. Fitting it, he braced himself for the initial attempt to loosen it off, knowing they always started locked tight, he leant hard into it. To his surprise, it gave immediately, depositing him on the floor, face first.

Archie heard a loud back on the other side and moved closer to the door. “You alright?”

The hapless engineer picked himself up off the floor, realising he'd left a little blood there, he gingerly prodded his nose. It hurt and was starting to swell, but it didn't feel broken.

"Good dews. I found da problem. Da spindle's shot. Dat's da good dews. De bad is dattle neeb pards. We'd bedder ged you oud da emergency exid. I'll send da route do your padd."

A few taps later, Brian had pulled the schematics showing the access panel in Gates' room, how to remove it and how to access the nearest Jeffrey's Tube from it.

"Are you OK to find dat, or do you neeb be to meed you at de odder side?"

The Commander’s PADD beeped with the instructions. He picked it up and look at it and sighed, “Right, I should be ok with this.” He called out through the door. “How long is it going to take to get my door sorted? Will I be able to get in tonight?”

"We cad fabricade bost of it. If deeds be, we cad borrow from one ob da guest roobs temporarily, but I don't dink it'll come to dat."

Gates sighed, “I’m not fussed as long as the doors fixed by the time I come back later.” He said as he placed the PADD back down on his desk, having committed his exit to memory. “Right, I’m off to haul my ass out of here via the tubes. Any problems let me know.” He said before turning and looking at where the jefferies tube hatch was. He moved towards the sofa and pushed it out the way to reveal the hatch. He opened it and began crawling his way out.

With Gates safely extracted, or at least on his way, Brian packed his kit away, made one last check to ensure he'd removed all traces of his little accident and headed back to Engineering to start gathering the parts.

 

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