Posted by Civilian Sisnil Zoi (Intelligence Consultant) in Side sim: New Talents, Old Problems

Posted by Ensign Dradvia (Medical Officer) in Side sim: New Talents, Old Problems

Posted by Civilian Sisnil Zoi (Intelligence Consultant) in Side sim: New Talents, Old Problems
Posted by… suppressed (84) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Sisnil smiled and then headed out. “See you later, Dee.” He said as he exited and went back to engineering.

~ Zoi

Everything seemed normal when he returned, except that the area was suspiciously empty.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Hm. Odd, but maybe something was going on somewhere else. He sat down to work.

~ Zoi

There was in fact nothing else going on besides the normal. People walked by, but seemed to make a point of not getting to close.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Every time Sisnil sat down to work, he verified the panel was in tutorial mode, and every time he left, he made sure to revert any physical changes - after all, he was learning the physical side moreso than the code.

But unbeknownst to him, there was a small, difficult to notice change: a wire moved from one socket, to another nearby one. And these were computer sockets and wires, small things. It was one of those minute changes that had a dangerous result.

It was designed to look like he made a mistake, something someone could easily accidentally do. Normally, tutorial mode would prevent it from overloading, but a slight change to the code, a true changed to false, and it would not have those protections.

So the first time Sisnil made a change, there was a flash of light and a pop! as the circuit overloaded and created a small high heat explosion.

Sisnil was lucky not to be severely hurt. There were burns to his hands and arms, but nowhere else. He sat against the opposite wall, stunned and confused, wondering what had happened, what had he done wrong?

~ Zoi

Not only did the computer send an alert, but Cmdr. P’vik’s Vulcan ears heard the sound. She arrived immediately. She knelt down and looked him over before tapping her combadge, =/\=P’vik to Sickbay. I need someone down here, Deck 5, section 2.=/\=

Dee’s voice came through the comms. =/\=On our way Cmdr.=/\=

P’vik focused her deep brown gaze at him. “Mr. Zoi, what happened?”

Before he could answer a voice sneered from behind her. “Isn’t it obvious, he is trying to sabotage the ship,” Stevens spat out.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“If I wanted to sabotage the ship, I wouldn’t need Engineering to do it, the software is more than capable,” Sisnil replied. “I’m okay,” he said to P’vik. “It just overloaded a little. I’m not sure why.”

~ Zoi

“That’s the perfect cover then. Everyone would expect you to use the computer. And to hurt yourself in the process. I commend your drive,” he spat and looked at P’Tar. “I’ll call security.”

“You will do no such thing. Lt Stevens return to work immediately. I will determine if there is reason to report and will do so.” She stood, half a head taller than Stevens. He almost spit before turning and leaving. She turned back. “Sit there, those burns must be treated. I will check the panel and see what happened. This is your PaDD?”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil nodded. The PaDD was undamaged. “I wasn’t touching power. There shouldn’t have been any way to cause that,” he said. His PaDD would prove that, the lesson he was on was about fuel and reaction waste and how it was reused or expelled.

~ Zoi

P’vik looked over the program and the work he had done. Then she opened her tricorder and ducked down to look inside the panel. “Did you knock anything loose while you were working?”

“Hmmm… No, I don’t think so,” Sisnil answered.

“Well I found the cause, but the tutorial failsafe should have stopped it.” It was a puzzle. She was going to have to look through the failsafes.

“I didn’t mean to cause a problem. I’m sorry.” Sisnil said.

“You are learning. There is no need to apologize. Simply learn from the mistake.”

Dradvia was on her way to engineering. Stevens blocked her path. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Leave me alone, Stevens.” Dradvia said with more confidence than she felt.

“Why? Going to rescue your criminal pirate?” He grabbed her arm and crowded into her space. “You should have let him die. A traitor aren’t you? Maybe you should prove your loyalty.”

She could freak out later. She had a medical emergency to respond to. “Out of my way.” She jerked her arm out of his hold, but he just grabbed her again.

“I’m going to report you to Morris. With my evidence, he’ll have to listen.”

“LET ME GO.” Full panic was almost upon her. She had to calm down or Sisnil, wherever he was working would come find her. Luckily another Officer walked by and gave them a funny look. “Ensign, the emergency is that way. Panel exploded. You should hurry.” Dradvia took the opening and hurried, fled, in the direction.

She rounded a corner and there was Sisnil on the floor with burns.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil was holding his hands in front of himself, they were burnt. Second and third degree burns. He seemed otherwise okay. When he felt her presence, he looked at her and smiled sheepishly. “Dee, hey…”

~ Zoi

Dradvia walked over and knelt down. “You just can’t help it, can you.” She flashed him a grin, but she was worried. She gave him a hypo for the pain. “You’ll have to come to sickbay. I can’t heal this here.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“This wasn’t my fault, just ask P’vik,” Sisnil said and grinned. “Help me up?” He asked.

~ Zoi

Deadvia grabbed him by the forearms and helped him up. P’vik nodded, “No this was NOT his fault. When I find out who, it will be very detrimental for their career.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

I could name who, but it will look better if I don’t. Sisnil said telepathically to Dee. “Thank you, Commander.” Sisnil said. It was the first time Dee had heard him be so respectful to anyone besides her. The burns did not extend past his elbows, but his hands and lower arms looked… Well, like they’d been in a flash bomb.

~ Zoi

“Mr. Zoi, I will need to keep your PaDD for now. I will return it to you as soon as I am finished.” P’vik made sure he was safely on their way before going back to fixing the panel.

”....You might need me.” Sisnil commented sheepishly.

P’vik nodded, “Then return when you are better.”

Dradvia gave him a puzzled look, but she had a feeling she knew who. They reached sickbay quickly. “Kgnan get the burn chamber.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil was obedient as the nurse got the burn chamber and they set him up for treatment. “Fleet medicine is crazy. Just pop down and I’ll be back to work today.”

~ Zoi

“That’s the way it should be. No one should ever go without basic needs being met.” Dradvia focused on debriding the wounds and then helped him lay his hands and arms inside the chamber.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil smiled. “I know, but I just don’t think it’s truly possible.” He flinched as she did the cleaning and debriding of the wounds. Even with the pain medication, it wasn’t a pleasant experience. Then he held still and waited.

~ Zoi

“No, it’s not. I wish it could be, but… you can’t make everyone feel that way.” It was a moot debate. “What happened?”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“I was doing a lesson in engineering and mechanics,” Sisnil said. “I wasn’t doing anything that should’ve juiced it like that, but it exploded on me.”

~ Zoi

Dradvia winced in sympathy. “Well Cmdr. P’vik said it wasn’t your fault. So let’s just get you fixed up. The chamber will take about half an hour, but then you’ll be good as new.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil nodded. “Too bad it’s my hands, this will be a long and boring half hour.” He said and smiled at her.

~ Zoi

Dradvia shook her head, “Be glad you are here and not someone else. It could be months.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil nodded. “I know. It could be months and I could’ve lost function in them.” He said.

~ Zoi

She grinned, “So I think you can survive 30 minutes in my company.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil smiled. “Deeeeeee…” He complained playfully. “Well, they don’t hurt as much. That’s a good sign, right?”

~ Zoi

She laughed and shook her head, eyes twinkling the way he drew her name out. “Yes, that’s good. They will start feeling tight, dry, and itchy in another minute. Do not scratch.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“It can’t be that bad,” Sisnil said. But a short while later he was definitely scratching. It was so itchy.

~ Zoi

Dradvia grabbed his arms above where the burns were. “Stop, you’ll leave scars. Do not scratch. Come on, you can do this.” If Dradvia was brave she would tell him if he stopped scratching she’d kiss him before he left sickbay. But she wasn’t.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Dee, it itches like fire,” Sisnil complained. He tried to stop, but then there would be a particularly irritating spot and he’d reach for it.

~ Zoi

Dradvia kept her hands firmly on his arms. “Kgnan, get me a hypo of lidocaine.” When he hurried over, “Both arms.” Kgnan reached over her and administered the hypo to both of Sisnil’s arms. “There, that should stop it.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

The numbing med helped calm the itching and he seemed to relax. “Thanks.” He said to both of them. He still had to resist the urge to scratch but it was a lot easier. But the skin felt tight and uncomfortable too.

~ Zoi

Kgnan nodded, “You’re welcome.” He turned and went back to what his duties. “It will pass in a minute. This is the worst part. It will stop itching, but feel tender and sore, but that will pass quickly,” Dradvia told him.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil nodded. When it stopped itching it was a lot better. It was tender like she said, but he could handle that way easier than all that itching. He felt bad for being right, that he might not be safe on this ship. Morris would try to tell him nothing like this would happen again, but… Well, if it wasn’t his fault, he had the strong feeling it was someone’s.

~ Zoi

Kgnan brought a glass of water with a straw and set it down right in front of Sisnil. Dradvia pointed at it. “Drink. You’ll need extra water the next couple of days. Other than that you’ll be fine. Your skin might feel dry, and I’ll give you a cream for that.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil gave her a playful look like she was ordering him to do something unreasonable and started drinking the water. “Okay, okay.”

~ Zoi

Dradvia rolled her eyes and huffed. “You’re impossible, you know that? I mean I could always set you up with a fluid infusion instead and you can sit here for 3 hours every day while you get one.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“No, no thanks…” Sisnil said, evil eyeing her playfully, like she’d said something absolutely dastardly.

~ Zoi

Dradvia laughed, even as she tried to give him a stern look. “I can be devious if need be.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil grinned and gave her a daring look. “That, I’d like to see.”

~ Zoi

Well he had to go and just outright call her bluff then. That was no fun. Of course Dradvia was certain she’d never find the nerve to follow though anyway. “I have my ways, so behave.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil grinned, “You do, do you?” He said. “I’d like to see that, too.”

~ Zoi

“No… no you wouldn’t. That is a threat you aren’t supposed to want that.” He’d flustered her and she was trying so hard not to let heat rush her cheeks. “Just drink your water.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil laughed and drank some of the water. “It’s an adorable attempt at a threat.” He said and smiled at her.

~ Zoi

Dradvia crossed her arms and huffed. Sisnil could easily imagine her doing that as a child and stomping her foot at the same time. “Threats are not adorable.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“They can be,” he said, giving her one of his adoring looks. “You’ll have to come up with something threatening that I think you can impose if you want to threaten me.”

~ Zoi

Dradvia huffed again. He could feel her mind turning over that challenge and the fun she was having coming up with something. “Well, you’ll have to find out later. Your time is up. Get back to engineering.” And find out what happened.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Yes, ma’am,” said Sisnil in a tone that would make her melt. “I look forward to finding out.” He started to walk away, then stopped. “Don’t forget the skin balm.” He said, and then he left for engineering.

Melt she did, and everyone could tell what Dradvia felt. The reactions were mixed, Kgnan seemed to be on Team Sisnil because he plopped the balm in her hand and nudged her over to Sisnil to give it to him before he got out the door.

The first thing he did was seek out P’vik.

~ Zoi

“Mr. Zoi, you’re back. Come,” P’vik ushered him into an office and sat. “I believe I know what happened, but I need to examine your work. If you would, please, unlock your PaDD so that I may do so.” The Vulcan was quite calm and there was no thought of accusation, only to have all the facts.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil rubbed the balm into his hands and lower arms as he walked, and then pocketed the jar. As he sat down he took the PaDD, unlocked it, and handed it back. “Here you go.”

~ Zoi

P’vik took the PaDD. The woman was miticulous and sharp. She checked ever single action Sisnil had taken over the course of his work that day. Including anything he had input and then deleted, reset, started over. After a lengthy, heavy silence she looked up. “I must copy your work for the records. You are not at fault, Mr. Zoi. You were doing everything correctly. However, I require this as proof since there are some officers who would like to say otherwise.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Take whatever you need,” Sisnil said without commenting. “Can’t get hated more than I already am, anyway.”

~ Zoi

P’vik nodded and transferred the needed information to her own PaDD. Then she turned her console around. “I understand you are a skilled programmer. Do you see anything wrong here?” On the screen was the programming code for the tutorial program that controlled the panels Sisnil was working with.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil took it and read through it carefully. “Here. Line 2398: tutorial safeguards were set to false, essentially turned off using the code.”

~ Zoi

P’vik nodded. “Yes. This had to be done from outside the program. I can tell you, after reviewing your work, nothing you did should have caused the overload. The adjustment you made should have worked as intended.”

P’vik stood. “Now, come with me. You are going to help me replace the damaged panel and conduits. We will see if you can spot what went wrong.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil stood to go with her. They knelt down and started work on the panel, P’vik quizzing Sisnil and making him guess things.

~ Zoi

“Now, we’re going to examine each piece before we take it out, to see if there are any bad connections to other components. Then after removal, we will examine each piece to see if there are defaults within the piece itself.” P’vik had a large display PaDD propped against the bulkhead showing the correct schematic set up for that panel and let him continue.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil started doing exactly as she said. “I’ve never had a teacher before,” he commented.

~ Zoi

Both brows went up. “Impressive. Completely self taught in a field that is quite complex. There are few that could accomplish such a thing.” It was an honest statement, P’vik was Vulcan and had no need to give out false flattery or build his confidence on empty praise. “Now, let’s move to the next panel. This one will take longer, there is more damage here.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil shrugged. “It’s not that complex if you break it down.” He said. He moved to the next panel at her direction. As he was replacing the things, or working on, the things she told him to, he came to a pause. Two wires. The image of the textbook came to his mind and this… Well, it was backwards. He was sure about it. Had he done this? No, he hadn’t touched this area. “P’vik?”

~ Zoi

“Yes, Mr. Zoi?”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“Look at this.” He said, showing her the reversed cables. “This is wrong, no?’

~ Zoi

“It is wrong. Now seeing this, can you tell me how the over load happened?” P’vik asked.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil remembered the textbook. A big red header that read: CAUTION! It listed causes of overload. What did it say…? “That’s wired to ship power, plugged in there, it’s regulated, but where it is… It bypasses the regulator. That circuit’s not meant for that kind of juice and… Well,” he lifted his hands, which were still discoloured, though healed, from the burns, “boom.”

~ Zoi

“Indeed.” P’vik reached in and removed the piece. She had already taken imaging for evidence. “Look here and here. When the terminal was put in training mode, these switches were flipped. Which, in turn, caused the connecting relays to disengage. That part was not included in the by pass of the safety programming. If it had been, none of us would be talking right now. It would have blown this entire section of the deck.”

“Any Fleet engineer would have known that, right?” Sisnil asked. “Would know which settings to change and which to leave?”

“Anyone who had completed the course you are taking now,” P’vik confirmed.

“I’m not so much taking it as reading the text book and teaching myself,” Sisnil said with a shrug.

“Now, let us begin replacing the damaged parts.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil worked with her to repair and replace the damage.

~ Zoi

It took longer than normal, as P’vik was a very thorough and generous mentor. It was long after Dee’s shift before they were finished.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

When they were finished, Sisnil thanked P’vik and immediately went to find Dee. He sensed a larger than normal amount of distrust from the officers he passed.

~ Zoi

Dee wasn’t in her quarters. Actually, she was in Sisnil’s. He could feel her amusement as she played with Simon, and the kitten’s excitement of hunting after the toy.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil entered his quarters smiling. “Entertaining Simon, huh?” He asked.

~ Zoi

Dradvia startled when the door slid open jumping to her feet. “Oh, um yeah,” she stammered looking down at Simon. “He was crying, I could hear him. You know, over the radio.” She pointed at the device on his side table. “So I came over to feed him since you weren’t back yet. Buy he just wanted to play. I’m sorry.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“No, don’t apologize,” Sisnil said, smiling. “I’m really happy you did that.” He moved over next to her and set a hand on her shoulder. “It’s alright.”

~ Zoi

She looked up at him, “Okay. He was just so pitiful.” She dangled the toy, making it dance, still looking at him. “How are your hands?”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“A little irritated from working all day, but healed up well.” Sisnil said, showing them to her. “P’vik had me helping her repair the damage.”

~ Zoi

“Oh? Did you figure out what happened?” Dradvia grabbed his hands and looked over them. “A little more cream will help. Where is it?”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil pulled it out of his pocket and opened it. “A switch with two wires. It was rigged to blow, but it was specifically rigged not to blow too big....”

~ Zoi

Dradvia took some of the ointment and began to smooth it over his hands. He could feel fear shoot through her. Who would do that? Why? Was… was someone from the Syndicate on board to make sure Sisnil died? She stopped, her hands shaking. She started to speak, but nothing came out.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“There is no one Syndicate, aside me, on board, Dee.” Sisnil said softly. “The saboteur was Fleet.”

~ Zoi

Dradvia’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped, “What??” Why? Why would someone do that? To a ship that made sure they didn’t suffocate and freeze in space. That was crazy.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil poked her with a half balmed hand. It was a subtle way to ask her to finish them. “Because I’m here,” he said with a shrug. “Told you it would happen eventually.”

~ Zoi

“That’s stupid.” She was angry on his behalf. She began rubbing the cream into his hands again. “Everyone came from somewhere, and most of these skl’ega wouldn’t be able to recognize the hook before it stabs them.” It was an Orion insult for a brainless, oblivious creature that did nothing useful and often died because it wouldn’t hide.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

“The Academy takes the best of the best - that is, the most well behaved, with the highest grades. Leaves little room for people like me.” Sisnil said with another shrug. He was surprised to hear her use an Orion word, but he didn’t mention it.

~ Zoi

The only curses Dradvia knew were Orion. Risa didn’t have much use for those. It was also a mark of how little Dradvia thought of those officers to lump them in with Orions. “That’s stupid too.” She sighed, heavy and world weary. “Maybe we should just run away.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil chuckled. “And do what? Gotta do something to live.” He said. “And besides, the Syndicate takes loyalty seriously. If I ran away..... Well, no one outruns the Syndicate.”

~ Zoi

The words sent a tremor through her. How long could she continue to outrun them? For awhile as long as she stayed here. She hoped. “Never mind. It was stupid.” A silly day dream kind of thought, that had no place in her life. Stupid. She dangled the toy again and then handed it to Sisnil. “I’ll let you two be for awhile.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil sighed. “Sorry, Dee. I shouldn’t have trampled on your hope like that.” He said.

~ Zoi

Dradvia turned back and smiled at him. “It’s okay. You were just honest. I know better than to hope for things that aren’t possible.” She reached out tentatively and touched his arm. “I’m just frustrated with,” she waved in a motion that encompassed the ship, “the situation.”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil smiled too. “It’s a good place for you, Dee. You’re surrounded by people who can protect you and you’re always on the move.”

~ Zoi

“Always on the move, anyway,” Dradvia said. “Have you eaten yet?”

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer

Sisnil shook his head. “I came looking for you right after I finished in engineering.” He said. “Have you?”

~ Zoi

Dradvia shook her head, “No. I wasn’t sure when you would be done, so I didn’t grab anything when I got off.” Right now the idea of going to the mess with all those people was too much.

Ens. Dradvia, Medical Officer