Posted by Lieutenant William Hampton (Chief Engineering Officer) in Following the Strings- Weapons/Research Lab

Posted by Lieutenant Fey Kastil (Chief Medical Officer) in Following the Strings- Weapons/Research Lab

Posted by Lieutenant William Hampton (Chief Engineering Officer) in Following the Strings- Weapons/Research Lab
Posted by… suppressed (10) by the Post Ghost! 👻
0100 hours. Prime weapon building time, at least normally. It was the day after the Chief Engineer’s fateful alcohol induced conversation with the counselor. The conversation had plagued his mind all day, he could barely work or eat and he definitely could not sleep. The man was hunched over a console in his lab. Normally it showed schematics of Hampton’s personal arsenal. Tonight was different, it was display internal ship data from the day before. The bloody rat had done something, and Hampton wanted to find out what. He knew there was more to this ship, and its crew, than he knew, and he hated that. The event only intensified his crippling sense of loneliness, more than ever, he needed someone to confide in. But there wasn’t and he was going to have to keep his chin up and head high. There was no back up, there was no safety net, nobody to help. Hampton stood alone. Once again, he felt himself staring down life, and once again, he knew he would not blink. The counselor was a force of evil on this ship. That he was sure of. The amplifier was now on his belt, and he was ready at any moment for to walk in and try explain to him that even though she “wasn’t RTF” and “didn’t have a choice” she was going to have to get rid of him. He smiled, let her try, her brain would be a puddle in seconds.

What scared the man was other than her, he didn’t know who else was against him, and he was certain the counselor was not alone.

The thoughts of fear and concern where the only things to keep him company, and so he took it. After several hours, Hampton groaned. The internal sensors detected nothing anomalous on board the ship, the diagnostic on the computer core and engineering systems came back negative as well. He slammed his fist on the console. There had to be something he was overlooking, some system, some subroutine, something had to be out of place. His hands were in his hair, gripping tightly. He could not figure out what he was missing. “Think you idiot think.” He told himself.

Lt. William Hampton- CE

The Doctor knows she isn’t the most pleasant visit for most people, circumstantial ‘issues’ ironically follow her around like the universe is trying to make her more ominous than she really is. This doesn’t inhibit her ability to do her duties though and she has a report to deliver and a need to pick an engineer’s brain. Who better than the Chief Engineer himself then, he surely knows everything she would need. With a sigh, the Doctor reflected on what she needed to tell Hampton. Cooper will live, but he lost his arm to the anomaly and would need special considerations until a replacement arm could be obtained or manufactured. Coming up on the research lab, the doctor presses the chime and waits to be allowed in, if nothing else she’d rather not spook the man like she did last time.

• Doctor Fey Kastil

The chime rang. Hampton inhaled deeply. ‘Oh my god, this may be it.’ He thought to himself. His hand flew down to the amplifier, and his other gripped the phaser he kept in his lab. Time stopped. Hampton felt his life flying past him, the hollow accomplishments, the useless awards. All of it. None of it had done anything really to benefit him. His life was simply one large hollow shrine to academic success. Hampton shrugged, too late to fix it now. He stood there, slowly exhaling, he pulled out the amplifier, and switched the phaser’s safety off. If this were to be Hampton’s final moments, the counselor was going to have to earn her kill. “Enter!” He called, his body shifted, he kept both hands down below the desk, that way if she came in his cards wouldn’t be showing.

Lt. William Hampton- CE

As the Chief Engineer called for the visitor to enter, an EPS relay failed and the door hesitated to open. There is some light swearing about bad luck and the number of things that just randomly fail at the worst possible moments seeps through the cracked door with the familiar raspy voice. The extra-long fingers find their way through the door and with effort open it the rest of the way. “I apologize, Lieutenant, I swear this wasn’t intentional. Do you have a-” The doctor looked at the Lieutenant carefully for a moment, her thought interrupted and an expression of genuine concern showed up on her sharply angled face. “Are you alright Lieutenant, you’re not looking like your usual self.” The doctor was carrying one of the stasis boxes she has slowly become known for on the ship along with a PaDD, but no signs of any weapons. The subtle sign of her tricorder up her sleeve is there though.

• Doctor Fey Kastil

The sight of the Doctor’s fingers coming through the door filled Hampton with a degree of relief. He let out a deep gasp, holstering both devices. He sat in his chair, sweat on his forehead. He wiped it off. He then turned off the console monitor. “Doc I never thought I would say this but I am glad it was you and not someone else.” His breathing slowly returned to normal. “What are you doing up at this hour?” He asked. He shook his head at her question. “I’m quite alright.” His heart beat slowed and he looked at Kastil, “What do you need?”

Lt. William Hampton- CE

The Doctor placed the stasis box on a table along with a thermos that wasn’t quite evident before. “I finished with Crewman Cooper and wanted to talk with you about him so I asked the computer to alert me when you were up and the computer informed me that you were here already.” The Doctor opened the stasis box and thermos, “I brought coffee and coffee cake as I’m quite sure this isn’t your normal working hours either. In fact, just from a visual observation, I’d say you’ve not had much rest recently.” The doctor filled the thermos cap with the dark black french roast liquid and cut off a piece of the coffee cake that she picks up with a napkin, carrying both to Hampton in his seat. “Do you have time to talk or should I schedule an appointment with you for tomorrow?”

• Doctor Fey Kastil

Hampton smiled at her. It was ironic to him that maybe the most repulsive crewman on the ship may actually be the sweetest on the entire vessel. Of course, he couldn’t trust her. For all he knew she was in league with Synthi-er. He simply leaned back in his chair. “No Doctor, now is as good of a time as any I guess. Let’s get this conversation out of the way.” He eyed the food and coffee. The thought that the doctor was here to poison him crossed his mind and lingered. He eyed it suspiciously.

Lt. William Hampton- CE

The doctor waited a moment then placed the food and coffee in front of Hampton, while she wasn’t sure why he distrusted her she wasn’t about to argue. Instead, she served herself a cup of coffee and a slice of the same cake, taking a sip and bite to prove the lack of poison. “Worry not Lieutenant, poisoning my sister’s food would be blasphemous for me. I respect her far too much to do such a thing.” The Doctor pulled up a chair to take a seat, sliding the PaDD across the table to Hampton. “The good news is that Crewman Cooper will live, unfortunately, the parasitic nature of the anomaly frost infection forced me to have to amputate his arm to ensure it didn’t spread to the rest of him. He will need a temporarily reduced workload until we can get him a new arm and the physical training to adapt to it.” The doctor takes a long sip from the coffee and a nibble from the cake. “I have a cybernetics specialist currently working out options with Lieutenant Commander GLaDOS in the hopes of being able to build him a new arm. I decided I’d like to talk to you about a standard tool arrangement to be included as a function of this new arm.”

• Doctor Fey Kastil

Hampton wanted to believe, he wanted to have a friend, really and truly, but he couldn’t try as he might, he simply could not put the food in his mouth. His paranoia was beginning to consume him, he could feel it, but in the moment, his options were limited. “Temporarily reduced? The man just an arm Doctor.” Hampton said, ignoring his personal issue. “I’d say he needs a leave of absence.” He shuddered at Kastil’s mention of GLADOS, the resident borg, he had forgotten about her, surely she was in league with counselor. His focused returned to the doctor. “What sort of tool?” He asked.

Lt. William Hampton- CE

The doctor watched his struggle with the decision to eat the food and grew disappointed when it became evident that the wouldn’t trust her. Just meant that it would take more work and effort to get the Chief Engineer to believe in the Doctor. Also means it’ll be harder to treat the man which was more troublesome, if he wasn’t able to trust her, how could she trust him to take his medication or follow a treatment plan should something happen. Not really being a subtle person, her hurt and disappointment were evident from her expressions. Either way, she returned to business. “He requests to be allowed to do what he can, he may only have one arm but he isn’t useless. As for the tools, not being an engineer myself I’m unfamiliar with the basic array of tools used by any engineer. I had hoped to have the same basic tools installed on the cybernetic limb as a matter of efficiency and simplicity. We can also do a modular system to enable him to have different toolsets available based on his tasks for the day.” The doctor takes a sip from her coffee and sighs lightly. “I’ve told Cooper he should rest for the time being, but he really wants to return to work.”

• Doctor Fey Kastil

The Chief Engineer noticed the doctor’s disappointment. “Don’t take it personally Doctor, I just don’t know who is a friend on this ship and who is reporting on me to the RTF or some other shadow organization. ” He paused. “As for Cooper, I’m not having a one armed engineer on shift that’s insanity. As for tools, I have not the slightest idea what you could put in his arm, cybernetics is more a field of science than engineering. I only know how to disassemble that kind of stuff, not the other way around.” Hampton did not like the idea of having an engineer with enhanced features. He was very much uncomfortable with the thought of a bionic man walking around the ship.

Lt. William Hampton- CE

The Doctor finishes her coffee and cake and leans back in the chair trying to decide how best to approach the subject. “I understand your distrust, this is a ship of secrets and everyone seems to have their own side. Let me tell you about mine then, I am the Chief Medical Officer, I report to Starfleet and Captain Cobb. I myself don’t trust the Commander so I don’t tell him anything outside of his own medical status. He is blatantly unaware of how unprofessional his relationship has been with the Counselor and how much it is impacting her health.” The Doctor lifts a hand in pause, “I’m ranting, forgive me. Back on topic, I don’t share anyone’s medical information with anyone and all my databases use high grade rotating encryption with no fewer than fifteen detection algorithms for penetration attempts, and there have been many attempts since I’ve been trying to rebuild the medical records database.” The doctor pulls an unassuming cartridge out her pocket and opens it to reveal an isolinear chip. “Knowing your difficulties with trust, I scrubbed your records from the medical database. This is the only copy of them available.” She places the chip on a plate and slides it to Hampton. “The chip is designed to allow updates by a licensed Starfleet Medical Technician but will run a scrub code once removed to ensure copies of your records can’t be made from the computer used to make updates.” The doctor leans back in her chair, “If you can’t trust me as your doctor, then I will do nothing but fail you as a medical professional. I don’t want to fail you, so if this is not enough, please tell me how I can earn your trust.” The doctor gets up from the chair and goes to clean up what remains of the cake and coffee.

• Doctor Fey Kastil

Hampton looked at the Doctor skeptically as she told him about herself and her opinions. He still could not bring himself to buy her story. Of course she was going to say she wasn’t apart of who ever was meddling with the ship. His gaze softened when she slid the chip to him. In the dark recesses of his mind, a dangerous and destructive feeling began to emerge, one he has squashed a week into boarding Leviathan. Hope. Perhaps he could make a friend, maybe the Doctor could, in time, become a confidant. He eschewed the feeling away in that moment, but he did give the doctor a slight smile. “I appreciate this doctor,” he said, clutching the chip in his hand. “More than you probably realize.” He held it up and looked at it. “Everybody is here for there own reasons, and some of them are not noble I fear.” Hampton mused. He turned to Kastil. “I am desperate for a friend on this ship, I must admit. I’ve never been able to have one and now I need one more than ever.” On a normal day, the Chief Engineer would never say this so abruptly, but the stress and burden of his solitude was crushing him, and this was a hail mary attempt to get out from under those forces.

Lt. William Hampton- CE

The doctor smiles softly to Hampton, closing the latch on the coffee cake and tightening the lid on the thermos. “I too am lacking in friends. Clearly my appearance and matters of circumstance tend to not do me any favors. I would be very happy to consider you among the rare few that I can call friend, but I do not wish to burden you with expectation or drama. So when you have need of someone to talk to, my office is always open or you can call me to meet you someplace more comfortable for you. I will always be willing to listen. In-kind, I will also always be honest with you, so if you expect me to say some idea to make a romantic comedy movie with the crew of the Leviathan is a good idea, I’ll probably tell you to think about that really carefully. I could think of at least twenty people on this ship you WOULDN’T want to do that with.”

The doctor sets the cake and thermos someplace out of the way, but where Hampton could get to it should he change his mind and decide he wants some. “It is late and we could both do with some sleep. I don’t expect things to change between us, but I do hope you consider my offer of friendship. You can keep the coffee and cake should you change your mind with it. Goodnight Lieutenant Hampton.”

• Doctor Fey Kastil