Locking It Down

Posted on Wed Nov 18th, 2009 @ 8:30pm by Lieutenant JG Drew O'Connell & Lieutenant Commander Dylan Blake

1,745 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Shoreleave - Welcoming Old Friends and New
Location: Holodeck One
Timeline: Backpost

Drew stepped onto holodeck one, seemingly days since his last visit, but really it had been less than twenty-four hours. Running a hand through his hair, he pushed it back the way he now preferred to wear it while on duty. With less flair the Devan had given it the day before, Drew ordered, "Activate Situation Room, authorization O'Connell Beta seven twelve Whiskey Zulu."

The gray floor with yellow grid hazed away and Drew was instantly surrounded the Situation Room he had previously worked within on the USS Rook. Except that it wasn't quite right. Drew stepped to the nearest console and realized that the room simply looked 'out of focus'. The entire room looked fuzzy, like most things after a night of heavy drinking or if one was exeriencing an acute myopic onset. With a sigh and a shake of his head, Drew tapped his comm badge. "Lieutenant O'Connell to Lieutenant Blake. Please report to holodeck one at your convenience."

This is sounds familiar Blake thought as he paused to reach for his badge. "On my way," he answered cool, privately glad he had another chance to enjoy Drew's company, providing he didn't start groping the man's shoes again.

Having already taken the route only yesterday, Dylan recalled the way to the holosuite and didn't need to curse his kit for spilling its contents across the deck a like a sick puppy. "I can ensure you, Lieutenant, I did not do this deliberately," he called as he entered the suite only to rub his eyes briefly. Was he seeing things or was everything really that out of focus?

Drew laughed even though he was starting to develop a headache. "I didn't think you did. Doing something like this intentionally would imply you just wanted to spend more time with me...I'm sure that's not the case. It's a complicated program," Drew answered.

Dylan didn't trust himself to speak his mind because he really did find Drew quite attractive but that was beside the point. "Yes, well, this does make a change of scenery compared to engineering, one that I won't admit I'm glad of." He set down the tool kit and peered at the control panel squinting a little to read the data. "Other then these glitches is the program working normally?"

"I was afraid to touch anything without definitively knowing what it did." Becoming a little more serious, Drew told Dylan, "This room is a bit more sensitive than most. It will be used as an operations room for Intelligence. You can imagine the things these computers and programs can do then, no?"

"I'm surprised you don't have a space to hold for operations in Intel elsewhere, I guess the ship builders cut corners." Dylan heaved off the panel and inspected the contents just like before. "As for what the computers can do, well, we're in a holosuite you can just command the program to do what you bid. To be honest, I don't think I should know the finer details of your operations unless you wish to tell me. I'm simply here to fix whatever breaks, and perhaps looking at it I should have asked the team from the Starbase to look over the holodecks."

Blake's head dipped as he inspected the circuity in more detail, then after a moment's pause he reemerged with a frown. "Is the distortion just on this program or on all of them?"

Drew hadn't thought to run another program, he had just assumed the problem was with this one because of its unique properties. He shrugged. "Not sure," he admitted. "I hadn't thought to try another program. Let's see...computer load program O'Connell twelve alpha."

The room around them shivered and new scenery took shape, or at least part of it did.

Reading in between the distorted image that gave the impression you were viewing it underwater was a now rather watery sunset over a long unspoilt beach. The glitches in the program continued to demonstrate themselves as the sea birds were moving back wards whilst in flight heading to roost for the night, the normal constant movement of the tide had ground to a halt save for the sound the non-moving water should have been making and the distant vessels on the horizon were only half developed.

Blake found the scene fascinating. Although it was out of sync, the picturesque scene told him a fair bit about Drew O'Connell. "Anywhere in particular?" he asked studying the disabled waves with a stab of his finger. At least the computer had half of it right. The water was...well, wet even if it was stuck in stasis.

"Aruba." Drew moved over the rock hard sand dunes to stand near to the frozen water. "I just spent time there during the shoreleave. The diving is spectacular. I hoped to recreate it."

"Hmmm, well at least we can cross out it being an issue just with situation room." Blake mused. "Is this the only holosuite you've tried the program in?"

Becoming a little annoyed by Blake's poiting out his shortcomings, Drew responded rather testily, "If I hadn't thought to change the program, I haven't thought to change holodecks, Lieutenant." Suddenly realizing his short temper had shown through, Drew ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry, Mister Blake. It's been a long couple of days."

Trying not to wince at the angered tone, Dylan smiled perhaps a little painfully. "Sounds like once I've managed to iron out these issues you should stick around to unwind a little." Dylan moved back over to the holocontrols that hadn't been disguised with the change of program. "It's alright, I understand. Don't worry about slapping my wrist, I've been told I talk too much." Dylan slipped his head back inside the controls tweaking the innards with the collection of his tool kit.

Drew tried to hide the smirk threatening to form on his face. Rubbing his brows to relieve the growing headache, Drew shook his head silently. "No, the fault is mine...this long week doesn't seem to be getting any shorter. My temper is the first to go under these circumstances. As for remaining here and unwinding, I don't have the time for it. Plenty of work to catch up on after shoreleave and a short time to get it done."

The engineer's face reappeared again. "I'm not going to tell you what to do," he said softly. "But do you know what stress and lack of sleep does to a man? Well I expect you know first hand as do I. Its not pretty is it? Worse it makes you more likely to make mistakes, not that for me would be a disaster for all."

Extending his arms back inside Dylan continued. "Maybe you should give yourself a couple of hours off, just to wind down a little. Everything will be right here when you return, or you could delicate." He paused grunting slightly with the effort of reaching so deeply into the matrix. "I mean you've got this beautiful beach here and no one to share it with. Oh and I would stand too near the..."

Too late.

Drew looked down into the ankle deep water lapping up around his boots. Closing his eyes, Drew counted to ten silently before he even stepped out of the warm water. It was an effort not to grind his teeth together, a bad habit his grandfather had broken in him years ago and one which resurfaced when he was particularly annoyed. Turning and walking back to the beach, Drew stopped, squinted and rubbed his temples.

The program released the frozen water sloshing all over Drew. Dylan winced apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't realize it was going to do that so quickly."

Deciding he'd had enough of the games, Drew forced a smile. "No worries, Lieutenant. If you'll excuse me, I need a change of shoes, socks and pants."

Blake nodded watching Drew leave his water filled shoes squelching slightly as he ploughed through the beach.

Dylan shook his head returning back the components and fiddly circuits that were causing havoc for him. "That was smooth, Blake, real smooth." he muttered jabbing viscously at the equipment. "Now he thinks you either have a really strange fetish with shoes or you're still wet behind the ears." Dylan sighed pausing to inspect the scene to check his handiwork. The waves broke happily on the shoreline spreading the damp reaches over the smooth golden sand and above the sea birds flew effortlessly in the still sunny sky.

Satisfied that finally he had corrected the issue, Dylan interacted with the program for a few minutes to insure this wasn't just pure luck, closed the program and started another. Again, everything was running just as it should have been with no unusual wobbly lines or fuzzy edges.

Shutting down the program all together Dylan left feeling a pang of guilt that Drew was now both fumbling and soaked. He doubted a simple apology would be enough. "Lieutenant Blake to Lieutenant O'Connell," he keyed his comm badge flicking off the sand with another finger. "I've been able to realign the holoemitters to resolved the issue. Everything appears to be working normally. Was there anything else you needed assistance with?"

He cringed. God that sounded desperate!

Drew looked down at the growing puddle spreading out on the floor of the turbolift. To his dismay, a few of the other crew were doing the same. With a resigned shrug and shake of his head, Drew responded, "No, I think that'll do for today, Lieutenant. Thanks for your assistance."

Drew repressed the urge to ask if Blake wanted to help him change his pants. With that thought, a sudden realization dawned on the Intelligence Officer. He smiled to himself as he realized Dylan Blake's bumblings were in direct relation to his attraction to Drew. He wondered what the hell was going on aboard the Archimedes. He had Shalie Montgomery and their mutual attraction, Yvette LaFaal and their mutual...whatever the hell that was, and now Dylan Blake was attracted to him too. Deciding to throw the other officer a life preserver, Drew finished, "I'll let you know should I need anything else."

Relieved that O'Connell hadn't jumped down his throat or cursed him to high heaven, Blake counted his blessings and retreated back into the depths of engineering, half-wondering what could Drew mean by 'Anything else'.

 

RSS Feed