Posted by Lieutenant Than Osedi (Chief Engineer) in Quiet Like the Night - Intro [Engineering]

Posted by Captain Iphigenia Henao (Captain) in Quiet Like the Night - Intro [Engineering]

Posted by Ensign Tom Little (Engineer) in Quiet Like the Night - Intro [Engineering]
Posted by… suppressed (32) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<Theoretical snip standby>
The hum of the warp core was constant, and people were shuffling every which way. And then a sound came, most unwelcome. The sound of metal being rent apart, slowly and loudly.

-GM

(OOC: Will yield the honor to the CE for the first post and stand by to follow. :) )

OOC: Don’t be scared to jump in and post, I don’t bite often :D

IC: Spinning towards the sound, the brow of the Chief Engineer crinkled in confusion. An explosion wouldn’t rend metal apart slowly, some kind of anomaly might though and that was what concerned him most.

“Report!” Than yelled as the crew in Main Engineering all seemed to pause and look towards the sound as well. “Check containment fields and conduits, lock down any leaks or breaches. Where is that coming from?” He turned to one of the nearby consoles which displayed the Leviathans schematics to identify which area was highlighted from whatever was going on.

Lt Osedi, CE

“Locking down leaks or breaches, aye, Sir.” Tom repeated the CE’s order and tried to calm himself and put things together. “Insufficient information, Sir. Still locating. Should I run a quick diagnostic?”

Ens Little, Eng

As far as any engineer could tell, there was no breach, there was absolutely nothing wrong. Yet the sound continued, and the hiss of escaping gas joined it.

-GM

(Anonymous bump)

“Not yet,” Than paused and looked at the consoles. “We don’t want the system busy with diagnostics if there is a problem. Run another scan with secondary systems, see if they can pinpoint anything the main system is missing.”

Lt Osedi, CE

Secondary checks found nothing as well, as the sound of metal tearing continued, and the hiss became a howl of rapidly moving gas.

-GM

“Ensign, run that diagnostic on the systems, find out if they are compromised.” Turning and clipping a tricorder on his belt beside his personal selection of tools, Than began walking. Using the oldest sensors known to living beings, he used his ears to try and track the location the sound was coming from and walk towards it.

Lt Osedi, CE

“Aye, Sir.” Tom replied, “Running diagnostic now.” He beeped a few keys from the console and initiated a quick self-scan sequence.

The diagnostic would come up fine, everything as it should be.

“Done, Sir. It shows all green.” It was another way of saying all clear, but clearly, this wasn’t the result he or the crews around him expected.

Ens Little, Eng

“Keep looking,” Than called back over his shoulder. “That sound has to be coming from somewhere, despite what the computer says. Contact the Bridge and report the sound as well, maybe they have something going on they can see that we can’t.”

“As you said, Sir.” Tom then pushed the comm on his chest and reported the strange situation to the officer in charge. =^= Main Engineering to CIC, we have a problem…=^= He rephrased what happened after a mysterious event and notified that a continued inspection was ongoing. =^= Interrogative, any anomolies? =^= He asked for information or something that could lead to an explanation.

Ens Little, Eng

The voice of the Romulan XO came back. =/\=what’s the situation, engineering?=/\=

=^= Main Engineering reporting, Sir. We had a strange metal sound generated around this area. We did a scan and a quick diagnostic, but nothing was wrong; No leaks, no breaches, no nothing. =^= Tom replied on behalf of the CE, with a confused tone. As a JO, he was trained to trust the instruments in any circumstance. But here, it seemed that wasn’t always the case.

Ens Little, Eng

=/\=Have you done a visual inspection?=/\= Jaieh shot back sarcastically.

=^= Yes, Sir. We’re still looking for the cause of the metal squeaking sound. =^= Tom replied and kept looking from the monitor to the ship’s core. Nothing seemed unusual.

As Than walked around Engineering, he discovered no evidence of any damage, certainly none on a scale to match what he had just heard. As he rounded the final corner, he encountered a child. A human child, a girl between 7-10, with long brown hair and pitch black eyes. The pupils, irises, and sclera of her eyes were completely dark. She looked up at him. “Hello there.”

-GM

“Why hello,” Than stopped and smiled at the girl. Surprised at this meeting he absolutely was but, in every horror movie he had ever seen the thing about to eat someone never said ‘hello there’ first. “I’ve never seen you around before, I’m Than,” he introduced himself. “What’s your name? Are you looking for someone?”

Lt Than Osedi

“I’m not looking anymore, I found someone.” The sound of tearing metal stopped as she said that. “Will you be my friend?”

-GM

At the cessation of the sound he was looking for, he looked up and paused a moment before looking back down at the girl and smiled. “I can always use more friends, of course I would be. How about we go sit down in my office, where we are now is supposed to be for people who work here only and I don’t want my friends to get hurt by any of my machines. Are you hungry? I know the best cookies.”

Lt Osedi

She looked around at all the machinery. And then simply responded “okay.” And indicated she would follow his lead.

-GM

-XO

-XO

-bump-

“Lieutenant Osedi!” Tom started to shout. “Where are you, Sir?”

Ens Little, Eng

“Relax Ensign,” Than said as he came around the warp core that had been hiding him from view. “I found a friend,” he said and raised one eyebrow at the Ensign, on the side the little girl couldn’t see, then held out a hand to indicate the girl that he assumed was following him.

She was indeed following him.

“We’re going to go sit down for a bit in my office and have some cookies, Ensign, I’d like you to let the Bridge know that the sounds have stopped, then run some more scans, please. You can send the results to my console.” Than hoped that Little would catch what he was meaning, considering most area’s of the ship were equipped with scanners of varying ability for occasions where something unexpected was loose or met on the ship.

“Just over here, see?” Than pointed to his office and turned to look back at the girl. “What kind of cookies do you like best? Do you have a favourite?”

Than Osedi, CE

She followed him into the office. “I like snickerdoodles! They’re so good and it’s fun to say!” She had a big, broad smile on her face.

“Um… As you said, Sir.” Tom was wondering what was up with the unexpected guest showing up without a reservation at once. But certainly, he would agree to the procedure the Lt just gave, without reporting her existence, for now. Friend? I guess they know each other?

=^= Main Engineering to the CIC. The unknown noise has stopped. We will start to run more scans just in case we’ve missed something. =^=

After patching the comm, he went for another scan at the nearby panel. This time he switched to a time-consuming level of checks that hopefully nothing strange showed up.

Ens Little, Eng

Unfortunately for the hard-working ensign, something strange did show up. Or more accurately, didn’t. The number of humanoid life forms was only equal to the number of engineers on duty. There was a small energy source in the Chief’s office, which hadn’t previously been there.

-GM

In his office Than had replicated a small bowl of snickerdoodles and looked at them with interest before placing the bowl on his desk in front of the small girl. He had never seen them before but with some mild interest noted that the replicator did indeed know what they were. The girl must have some familiarity with something the Federation was familiar with then.

“Take a seat there, it’s the chair I keep for my friends,” Than gestured to one of the chairs opposite his own in front of his desk, then sat down in his chair. “Help yourself to those things, I’m not sure what they are. Where do they come from?” He asked the question casually like he was talking to any regular young person.

“That is very strange.” Tom frowned while murmuring after seeing the summary of the scans. If nothing wrong wasn’t strange enough, then he hoped someone or something could tell him the cause of the energy rise at the dept’s secret place. He patched to the CE and said, =^= Little to Lieutenant Osedi, are you in the office? =^=

Ens Little, Eng

Reaching out, Than tapped the computer to open communications with Main Engineering. =/\= Yes, I’m here Ensign. Do you mean am I in the Office you just saw me walk into? =/\= Looking at the girl he grinned and winked at her, making his words into a joke but in just a moment his eyes shifted back to his console. The communications on his end didn’t seem to be going through.

A voice came through the comms but it wasn’t who Ensign Little expected it to be, =^= This is Captain Henao. Is that you Ensign Little? Is something wrong? =^=

Henao, CO

Oh my! Tom took an inverted breath by surprise. =^= Yes, Captain. Main Engineering, I’ve found… I mean we’ve run a thorough scan in hoping for an explanation of causing the metallic sound around this place. But instead, we’ve found an unexplained energy surge at the CE’s office. And he just went there a few minutes ago. =^= He then patched it again. =^= Captain, I’ll send someone to check first. But please let the securities and medics stand by, just in case. =^= He then waved the 2 crews closed by.

Ens Little, Eng

Captain Henao’s voice came through the comms once again, filled with concern. =^= Understood, Ensign. I’ll get the security and medical teams enroute. Meanwhile no need to send anyone, I’ll head to the Chief Engineer’s office and investigate the energy surge. I’ll update you on my findings when I arrive.=^=
After ending her communication with Ensign Little, Iphigenia swiftly made her way towards the Chief Engineer’s office. The unexplained energy surge was a significant anomaly, and the safety of the crew and the integrity of the ship were on her mind. She felt anxious, not sure what she would find when she arrived.

Henao, CO

Tom acknowledged the last transmission and stopped the colleagues from going there. He honestly wouldn’t want to bother the CO. Not only the position was very close to their location, but taking care of their own was implemented or in his case, “programmed” from day 1 since graduation. If there was an additional reason, keep the top cat focused on the big picture. He anxiously tried another patch to check the CE’s status, while remaining his position against his will and protocol.

Ens Little, Eng

Back in the office, Than had pulled a small container out of his drawer and had placed one of the sweets inside in his mouth, then pushed the container forwards on the desk to join the girls choice of treat. Inside were some simple boiled sweets of varying flavors, simple, but a small comfort from his own childhood.

“So tell me, do you have a name I can call you? You know mine is Than, I’m also a Trill from the planet Trill, which is why I have spots.” He held up his hands and showed off the small spots that ran up the side of them, then pointed to the spots that ran up his temples as well. “I’m horrible at guessing games so please don’t make me guess your name.”

Than Osedi, CE

=^= Lieutenant Osedi, Main Engineering. Are you receiving? =^=Tom tried another patch, hoping the Chief was okay and safe.

Ens Little, Eng

OOC: I’m going to wait for the showrunner to let us know if my improvised ‘oh noes the comms down’ to explain my absence on LOA continues or was just a blip from the ‘energy surge’.

(OOC: Okay. While Little in idle mode.)

Meanwhile, Henao hurriedly made her way through the corridors. Alone. The urgency of the situation weighed heavily on her as she approached the office, unsure of what she would find inside.

As she arrived at the Chief Engineer’s office, she positioned herself strategically took a deep breath, steeling herself for what lay ahead, and pressed the door panel to gain access to the office.

The doors slid open, revealing a scene that initially appeared calm and undisturbed. Osedi seemed to be engrossed in conversation with someone. Iphigenia’s eyes quickly scanned the room, looking for any signs of the energy surge that had been reported.

The opening of the door led Than to raise his eyes to see who had come in, and his heart skipped a beat. Having the Captain of the ship inside the room where he was trying to isolate a probable anomaly of unknown capability, wasn’t his idea of a good idea. Why on Trill had Tom allowed the Captain to come into the office where Than had taken the girl. Clearly the Chief Engineers subtle hints about ‘finding a friend, we’re just gonna go away from everyone and into my nice, secluded Office where I can put up an isolation field if needed and you can scan her’ had been too subtle. He was going to have to work on his subtlety.

“Lieutenant Osedi,” Captain Henao called out, her voice projecting concern. “What’s the status here? We detected an unexplained energy surge. Is everything alright? Are you alright?”

Henao, CO

“Everything is just fine Captain,” Than smiled as he answered, and held up a hand in a half wave. That hand stayed up for a fraction longer than a wave would, though, and the hand didn’t move, palm pointed out and fingers closed and extended. The age old symbol of ‘stop’ he was trying to pass off as a wave.

“We’re just sitting down and getting to know each other, over sweets,” Than indicated the two containers of confectionary and the young girl in the chair opposite him. “We experienced an unusual noise in Main Engineering, sounded like tearing and grinding metal but, sensors showed nothing and I couldn’t find anything but,” now he looked at the girl and smiled, “I did find a new friend. We thought we would come sit down where it’s quiet and have a snack. I’m not actually sure where she came from but the noise did stop the moment she said hello.”

Than was speaking slightly slower than he usually did as well, and slightly more formally. Hoping that the Captain would hear what he was saying. “Are you able to tell us where you came from?” Than asked the girl, “because I have no idea how you managed to get back there.”

Than Osedi, CE

While waiting, Tom patched the comm and said. =^=Captain, this is Little. Are you there? Is everything alright, Sir?=^= He now remembered that the CE had a mysterious little guest accompanying with. Who he thought wasn’t a big deal at first. Was she somehow interfered with the transmission? No, I probably thinking too much. He shook his head.

Ens Little, Eng