<snip>

The transporter beam formed around Bailey, the other NE, Dagen, his insulated gloves , the spanner, well everything within three meters of Bailey’s badge that wasn’t nailed/tied down to the ship in main engineering. Deeg though was just outside the three meters radius of the badge.

Distance, Dagen. Remember distance … he thought as he felt himself caught in the transporter lock even as the overgrown gloves connected and the last thing he saw, at least in engineering, was the spanner suspended in mid air in the beam ..

As the transporter beam took hold, Dagen was successful in knocking the spanner out of Bailey’s hands, though it too was captured by the transporter beam.

As the CE and the two Engineering NEs were whisked away, Deeg would be aware a subspace message was being received in main engineering. It was from a name that would have meant nothing to Deeg, but perhaps something to Dagen if he thought back long enough into the past and remember ‘fun with icecream’ … it was from a ‘Leon McKenzie.

• GM
  OOC: Sorry Gene …

Deeg, at least, had some depth perception and a healthy paranoia and was outside of the range of the beam. Chewing on his lower lip, his eyes scanned for anything more that might be offending - or damaging to him - while still smelling the ozone-burned hair-burned synthetic that lingered in the air. Bat came around the corner. “I heard the .. what is that smell.”
“Bailey,” Deeg said.
“Bad personal hygiene today?”
“What? Um, no. She picked up some spanner and it was frying her. What kind of spanner would do that? They’re insulated. Even on a malfunction they have low power output.”
Bat’s Bolian blue went paler. “I saw one get snapped once in a bulkhead door closing on it. If the energy cell is compromised it can. The Chief?”
“Beamed out with Bailey to Sickbay. The spanner went with the transport.” He was looking at the message. “Leon.” Deeg had worked with Dagen for years, on and off. That name was old to him that he remembered way back on the Draco. He remembered Dagen pestering him about a birthday gift, as though he’d need help with having had two families in his ‘symbiont’ tree to dip from, but Deeg had mentioned his nephew’s birthday and that he’d sent him a detailed model set of the old Intrepid class ship for him to put together. Deeg hadn’t realized they’d kept in touch, though the message didn’t mean he had. Bat had been talking and he’d drowned him out. “Sorry what?”
“I said we need to find out what happened with that spanner.”
“I concur,” said the figure of Angel as she came into Engineering with a much shorter Sebastian at her side. He looked suspiciously at another spanner sitting next to an open console. She curled her nose at the smell. =^= Computer increase environmental air filtering by 30% =^= “Ensigns, review the surveillance recordings up to the event. This may become a security matter. Sebastian, search out any history of spanner incidents. I will be in sickbay.”
The four moved off to do their assignments ..
Bat, Deeg, Sebastian and Angel

Deeg and Bat looked at each other. Deeg pointed to a station where there were seats available and each moved, but carefully avoided where the accident occurred - Deeg because it might have some forensic usefulness if not disturbed, and Bat just because he found it creepy. “I’ll bring up the footage.” He tapped to access the footage from the engineering cameras. As an officer he had authorization for some forensic review but anything more detailed, or out of his purview, he would need a senior officer’s authorization. Here in engineering it was his swim lane. “Okay, here.” =^= Computer playback in reverse Engineering Camera Core 3 from this time. Real time speed. =^= The time he specified with tapping was the time of transporting Bailey to sickbay.

Meanwhile Sebastian was doing a boring search of spanner incident history and finding it to be ..
=^= Computer list spanner injury incidents of the Model 9Alpha series from the past 10 years =^=
=^= There are 9, 212 incidents. Primary injury reports from dropped spanners on toes. =^=
“Great.” =^= Computer narrow parameters to energy discharges or spanner failures =^=

Bat, Sebastian and Deeg

It wasn’t long before Sebastian was called away by Angel to collect Collins and Santos to isolate and examine the spanner. He left the computer to do its filtering and processing the inquiry and to send the results to his PaDD. Between Collins and Santos they had the materials gathered shortly before he rendezvoused with them. “No contact with the spanner. Grav it into the box and seal it. The injury happened when NE Bailey picked it up. Let’s not have a similar acc.. incident.”
- Sebastian ..

It wasn’t much after the call to the Bridge when Angel, Sebastian and the two others - Collins and Santos - arrived back in Engineering. It felt like a procession with Angel leading, Sebastian following with the duo flanking the grav cart that held the box with the offending spanner in it. Logically this was extreme in thinking that they required this much attention, however two people were missing - Bailey and the Chief, leaving Angel the next in line. They were in the vicinity of the Starbase so any replacement would not be difficult to assign.

“Place the container next to table three,” she directed. “Sebastian, set up an overhead scanner, the Mark IX model and we will await the Commander. Collins assist him. Santos, stand post at the box and don’t allow anyone to touch it.” The Mark IX scanner was a portable unit that could be assembled where needed. Two thin tripods set 1-3 meters apart depending on the need. A rail connected to the tops of the tripod and on the rail was set a bulbous scanner that looked not unlike an ancient ‘lightbulb’. A motor unit on the rail could move the scanner to where it was needed and (hopefully) safely scan the object. Data would be transmitted to a nearby console to be safely viewed. That would take a few minutes to set up so Angel went back to the central area of Engineering to await the Commander.
- Angel et al

A few minutes later Thomas walked into Main Engineering, blinking as his eyes took in the setup.

“Someone want to fill me in on what’s going on here?” he asked the room.

COS

“Commander,” Angel said in respectful greeting. Collins and Sebastian were busy setting up the scanning device. She could see Bat reviewing the data. “21 minutes ago Ensign Bailey picked up a interphasic spanner, that one there, and immediately began to spasm from an energy release of as yet unknown cause. Commander Thor ordered her to be beamed to sickbay and he and Bailey were caught in the transport. Neither arrived at sickbay however the spanner did arrive.” She called over to Bat. “Bat, do you have anything to report?”
The portly Bolian turned and approached them. “I have something. Ensign Bailey took her took kit from the cabinet. Nothing unusual there. I have that on video record of her collecting it. But she said to the Commander that someone had been messing with her tools. She said that she was missing her sonic driver and the ODN recoupler and that she had an ‘extra’ interphasic spanner. She reached for it and, well, the rest was shocking.”
- Angel and Bat

Thomas approached the suspect tool with a tricorder in hand, letting the device do its work.

“Thank you Bat,” Angel said. Indeed she was impressed with the results of Bat’s investigation. The realization that there had been purposeful tampering suggested malice directed toward Ensign Bailey. Her eyes flickered toward the Commander. It would be a further investigation as to whether anyone was upset with the Ensign to derive a motive. “Good work.” As illogical as many of her peers would say, the portly Bolian was looking more appealing to her.

Sebastian was nearly ready to initiate the scanning device. Santos was on the other end. “Powering up the Mark IX,” he said, flicking a switch and a purply blue glow illuminated the bottom scanning business end of the bulbous scanner. “I’m getting initializing diagnostic data,” Sebastian said, the illuminated lettering scrolling along the terminal reflecting off his round glasses. He edged to the side as the Commander was moving closer with his tricorder. He nodded to Angel they were ready.

“Proceed,” Angel said, indicating that they start the scan along with the Commander.

“So we’ve got a tool that did something to the Ensign, who along with Commander Thor vanished during the transport from here to Sickbay. Is someone checking the transporters?”

COS

Angel answered the Commander increasing her pitch to talk over the soft whine of the scanners. “Ensign Kowalski is in the transporter room with the transporter operator, Petty Officer Hans Porter and they are looking at the logs and running diagnostics.”
- Angel et al

“Hopefully they’re just stuck in the buffer,” Thomas said. Transporter accidents were much rarer these days, but the technology did throw a weird hiccup every now and then.

“Wait, you said it was an interphasic scanner?” His mind raced with the possibilities, chief among them the possibility that the Ensign and the Chief had never actually left Main Engineering.

COS