Stardate: 70227:2147
Title: Five More Minutes...Please? (Part 2)
Author: Ensign Robert Browning
Time: After "A Day in the Life"
Scene: Main Engineering/Corridors


*If I never see another power relay it will be too soon,* he thought to himself later in engineering. Robbie had handed the bug to Lt. Levi and he'd insisted he recheck the power feeds on that deck. His back felt like it had been through a mangle. Reaching Engineering he slumped into a chair and dropped his tools to the floor. Rubbing his eyes to wake himself up he was surprised to hear a voice. 

"Something wrong, Ensign?" Asked the CEO, not looking up from the android body he was working on. An interesting looking android for that, not exactly standard issue for a Starfleet engine room.

"Oh. Sorry, Sir. Nothing really, schedule's been a bit hectic, but no complaints," he lied slightly. The lack of sleep was catching up with him and the thought that he'd forgotten to leave food out for Winchester on his way out, though he somehow managed to get some anyway. 

The CEO laughed. "You've met our Ops chief then?"

Thinking about how best to reply, ‘he's a little black cloud’ wasn't a great one that came to mind. Not a great start to define a superior officer as the equivalent of empathic heavy metal... guaranteed to give you a headache. Luckily the CEO carried on. 

"He's a good sort, just a bit wired. Give him a chance, he grows on you."

"If you say so, Sir," he replied, a wry grin on his face at the thought of his description of the Ops Chief.

"I do and save the 'Sir' for when we're either really stressed or the Captain is in the vicinity, I'm Kal," said with a rather stern tone, the CEO did sound like he meant it. He offered his hand as proof, which he shook, noticing a firmer grip than he would have thought. His emotions were also hard to read, like looking through frosted glass. He could only get impressions of what was there. Thinking back to what was going on he questioned Kal about the automaton. 

"Is that a Yutani-Juhl assassin droid?"

"She sure is," came his reply with a proud smile.

"Still have all her protocols?"

"Dormant, but they're in there. I've replaced most of them with things I thought were more useful and did the chassis mods myself." 

"Nice." He couldn't help but whistle in surprise. It took some skill to reprogram a YJ assassin and the chassis looked remarkably strong while still appearing like a sculpture. Kal really was the Chief Engineer. 

"Why a robot and not an android, if you don't mind me asking, Sir… I mean, Kal?" Came his stumbled questions; it would take time to get used to that.

"With androids the idea of sentience comes into play, and free will. I like the clear definition of robotics. But I suppose that may change." 

"How so?"

"Have you had a chance to go over the specs of the inter-dimensional communications array?"

"Not yet." All this armour business and the bug hunt have kept me too busy, he thought to himself. He hadn't managed to get through any reports or technical papers since the beginning of the week.

"Long story short, we've managed to shrink an isolinear chip to about one twelve hundredth of its size. With that kind of reduction I could pack Relly's entire core into Christi's chassis." 

"That sounds like an interesting project, but shouldn't we be concentrating on clearing the ship of those devices?"

The CEO smiled, a welcome one. It felt that he knew things were almost done. "Well you're here and Hatchet is finishing up the last of deck seven. The rest of the gang has been behind you guys and we just about have the ship back in one piece." 

"I still have a bad feeling. I don't like the guy that laid those out. Too much black ops spook stuff. With the location of some of them I wonder if they weren't there just to soak up our time." It was true. He was used to sensing feelings and intentions that anyone that chose to hide or be secretive as a profession was worth concern. One working against them was down-right disturbing! 

Closing up the front of the robot, the CEO didn't do well in alleviating Robbie's worries. "I have a bad feeling that you might be right, but I suppose we can't take any chances."

"I suppose you're right." 

The CEO picked up a tricorder from a nearby tool tray and rapped Robbie on the shoulder. "Let's go. One more sweep, down to the lounge for a drink and then we can get you some sleep."

"What about you?" He asked out of politeness. Sleep would be a wonderful thing... though he doubted if he'd be up for his shift. 

"I don't need much these days," came the reply with a grin.

=/\= Present - Corridors =/\=

"You alright there Robbie?" Enquired Kal. 

Robbie looked about and ran a hand down his face. He had completely blanked the CEO thanks to his mind wondering. Sleep was much needed. 

"Sorry Kal, my mind keeps wondering. I'm not sure if it’s the lack of sleep or sensing Relly all the time. It's a little disorienting at times. I think a drink would be good then some sleep, just like you said." He smiled at Kal as he spoke, but still unable to shake to faint memory of what happened at the EPS juncture earlier. 

"Some definite good advice. You sure you’re not up for the Doctor's job too, Sir?" He joked to get things moving again. 

It hadn't been that bad a day, all things considered. They might be a long way from home with very few friends... but at least it wasn't hell inside the ship too. 


===================
Ensign Robert Browning
Engineer
USS Relentless
NCC-11966
===================