Finishing Touches

Posted on Mon Oct 1st, 2018 @ 9:02pm by Lieutenant Connor Turner & Lieutenant Commander Catrina (Cat) Tendai

1,040 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: The Return to Faltan
Location: Chief Engineer's Office/Corridors
Timeline: MD09 - 1100 hours

It'd only been a few days, but Catrina was finally getting things finished with the assistance of her team. Small though they were, they had maybe a few hours of work remaining. But a few things were still giving her fits. Luckily, the dirty work was done, but the connections to get everything powered up at once without blowing all the relays...again...and getting the computer to respond properly was proving tricky.

Unfortunately, those parts of the computer were not her strong suit, even as chief. She knew enough to get by, and knew she had to learn more. "Computer, current power levels in this corridor." The computer voice did not respond for far to long before finally stating 'Restate..inquiry' in a slightly garbled voice. "You have to be kidding me," she whispered. Finally giving up, she tapped her combadge. =^=Tendai to Turner, I could use some assistance with a fussy computer if you've got some time. =^=

Connor was tired. Between all of the work that the Caitian made him do and the work that Cat wanted him to do, he was beginning to wonder if he should avoid all things with any implication of feline. Tiredly, he responded =/\= I'll be there in a tic. =/\=

Moments later, he arrived. He tried to look at the Lieutenant but failed to meet her eyes. His eyes naturally trailed to the commbadge but then he realized her breasts were there. He blushed lightly and found a spot on the wall that was more interesting. "Um, what is, um, wrong with the, um, computer, ma'am?" He then got defensive and his speech changed. "You were not mean to the computer, were you?"

Maybe at some point he'd be comfortable looking her in the eyes. But, Cat wasn't worried this time. "I know I let you have half a shift today, which ends soon. You've done a lot of work, but..." She nodded to the panel she'd been working at and repeated the question again, "Computer, current power levels in this corridor." Once again, the computer didn't respond for a time, and then repeated what it had to her before. "Restate...inquiry." She sighed. "I've been very nice to it, fixed it all up. Or so I thought."

For a moment, Connor looked into her eyes to comment, "I am relieved that you were pleasant." He quickly looked away. "My initial thought is that there must be a power fluctuation that is causing the circuits not to report timely to the central computer. It may take some recalibration but I first need to map the sequencers to check on the relays." He went to a wall panel and started running a tricorder over it, humming lightly as he did so.

"Glad I had the same thoughts as the computer expert." She smiled as he finally met her eye, even if he did look away right away. "I hoped we had them all figured out by now, but with this place? We might run across these a lot." She leaned against the wall and let him work, listening to the humming with the smile still on her face.

"It is very odd. It is almost like the prior occupants sabotaged the entire station. Poor computers. They didn't deserve it," he informed the Lieutenant as he stroked the panel. "I'm bypassing the initial routers for now until I have some time to properly rewire it. There will be a small delay but it will not likely be noticeable to anyone but me." He called out in his British accent, "Computer, please state the power levels in corridor B12."

The computer responded, "Power levels are at 94.538%."

Connor shrugged and closed the panel. "Will that be sufficient for now, Lieutenant?" he asked still looking into the wall.

Catrina listened as Connor spoke, then as the computer responded. "And the power levels are better than I hoped even. Thank you, Connor." She gently put a hand on his shoulder. "We can work on the rewiring once we all have a chance to get some proper sleep. If we can get the station up and running enough to look like we finished it, we can do the background stuff later."

The ensign froze when Catrina touched him on the shoulder. I'm trapped. Where do I go? How can I get out of here? Why is she touching me? She's not interested in me romantically, is she? His breathing quickened at that possibility and it became very noticeable. He squeaked. "Um, uh, yes, um, later. Sleep, yes.... Um." Wait! Did I just imply sleeping with her? "Me sleeping by myself, of course. Not, um, never mind. I'm, uh, please, um, excuse me?"

She pulled her hand away, knowing she felt like that in the past too. "Sorry, Connor. I was trying thank you for what you just did. Deep breath, okay?"

Connor nodded, still facing the wall, while he took a deep breath. It fell flat, barely being a normal breath. "Um, it, um, it was alright. Um, I should get back, um, to work." He started walking in a direction that was away from Cat.

Cat let out a sigh. "Connor? You sure you're okay?"

For an answer he gave a wave and said, "Yep. Fine," as he continued to walk away.

Shaking her head, Cat caught up to him. "Hey. You don't have to worry about anything, okay?" She stopped in front of him, knowing he likely wouldn't look in her eye. "Really, you don't. I get it."

"Worry? Huh?" Connor briefly looked at Cat confused and then looked away.

"Sorry. I um..heard you're one to get nervous around women. But I've been through a lot of hell in my life and am not anyone you need to be nervous around." She didn't want to go into to many details, though she was willing to tell anyone who asked at this point.

Hesitantly, he turned. Looking only at Cat's feet, he said, "Um, uh, I have a, um, girlfriend.... Holly."

Cat smiled. "And she's lucky to have you, Connor. Go on, but just don't be afraid to talk to me in the future, okay?"

"Um, uh, OK," Connor replied before he scuttled off.

 

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