No Time To Lose

Posted on Wed Feb 24th, 2021 @ 2:19pm by Ensign Debbie Larson & Lieutenant JG Darzen Kail

Mission: To catch a thief
Location: Engineering
Timeline: 3rd April 2395 1300hrs

ON:

"OKAY PEOPLE! NO TIME TO LOSE!" Lieutenant Darzen Kail always used this phrase accompanied by clapping his hands together really loudly. He barked more orders after the clapping, until he was satisfied that people were doing the things they needed to be doing. He had never really thought that he would find himself in charge, but here he was.

Kail was not the most relatable of officers. He didn't have the tact to make him empathetic or sympathetic, despite his rather dashing good looks. He, honestly, didn't have the greatest of relationships with his engineering crew and as one of them, a young man, walked by him he stated, "Really annoying," under his breath.

Darzen was not quite sure what the ensign had been talking about, but he let it get under his skin. He didn't say anything about how much it bothered him, but his attitude shifted from one of trying to motivate people to one of quiet, steaming anger. He stewed over whether or not he was annoying. He had felt that he was just trying to get people to stay on task, but apparently he was annoying. He set to work on a console that had been on the fritz, unable to hide some of what he was feeling with much slamming and yanking.

"Seems like you're in a good mood this morning, Lieutenant," Debbie said as she emerged from a doorway to find out what the shouting was.

Darzen actually growled at her and yanked what he was working on a little too hard. He stumbled backwards, his eyes widening in surprise. He was glad he didn't land on his ass or he would have been more infuriated. Irked that Ensign Larson had seen all of that, he barked at her, "Do you need something, Ensign?"

"A promotion and a pay rise would be nice," Debbie replied smiling slightly. "But I'll settle for my next job, fixed that issue with port thruster two."

Darzen snorted in humor, unable to help himself. "Well... since we don't really get paid that part is going to be difficult. I can definitely give you another job though. If you want you can finish up the power conduits in jefferies tube twelve. No one's been able to get back to them since lunch."

"You guys get lunch?" Debbie asked amazed.

He snorted again. "Not me... I apparently don't eat or sleep for that matter." He looked down at the part of the console that he was still holding. "Or... you could help me with this, before I throw it out an airlock..." He smirked slightly, his brown eyes focused on her green ones. She was terribly cute. He tried to force the thoughts from his mind, but had to admit to himself that she was the most attractive girl in engineering. Sometimes he wished that he didn't have so many lifetimes spurring on his imagination.

Debbie smiled slightly. "What are you trying to do to that console?"

"Uh..." He looked at the console in his hands. "I need it to work. It shorted out or something, yesterday. I don't know what went wrong, but we need this console to function as a console... and not a door stop."

"You check the primary Eps connection?" Debbie asked. "One of the consoles in science lab 5 fried its own connector a few weeks ago." It was sometimes the simplest things that caused the problems.

"Why would it..." he started and then stopped. His gaze shifted from the console to Debbie. "I... no. No, I didn't not check the connection." He ran a hand though his hair and then stared at the console again, nodding and pressing his lips together in a way that suggested he was frustrated and amused all at one time. "So... on and off switch, huh?" He felt stupid for not checking it and now he had pretty much dismantled the console for, more than likely, no reason other than his own anger. After several moments of silence he looked up at Debbie again. "Ensign, do you like me?" The words were out of his mouth before he had really thought about how they might sound or could be construed.

"Can't complain," Debbie replied, chuckling slightly. "You're a decent engineer, a little unusual, but decent."

"Unusual? In what way?" Darzen asked. He was thankful that she'd commented on his engineering skills and not on his personality, although it was honestly his personality that he had been asking about, but he wasn't going to correct her.

"I noticed you can get hyper-focused a lot, it can be a good thing, but can be bad too," Debbie said, then explained a little more, "Like then, you were that focused on the problem that you missed a basic step that turned out to be the solution."

Darzen sighed in frustration, but he nodded in agreement. "I agree. As much as I don't like it, it is a personal flaw. It can sometimes be hard to stay on stay on task when there are so many opinions rolling around in my head, so I have a tendency to overcompensate. It's easy when I'm looking at what everyone around me should be doing, but when it comes to my own tasks... well... there you have it." He slowly started to put the console back together. "Opinions on how to fix that?"

"I think you need to try and slow down a little." Debbie told him then explained a little more. "If you go too fast you can miss things right in front of your eyes."

Darzen nodded as Debbie spoke. "You're right. I just... I've never been really good at making myself to slow down." He rubbed his face. "Any ideas? I'm sure you've ideas for one of those... relaxing things. Does that really work?"

"You seem like the kind of person that doesn't like to just lay back and relax." Debbie said. "I bet you're always trying to do something even when you're off duty, like crafts or puzzles or something like that."

Darzen nodded again. He looked down at the console, which was almost back together. He took a deep breath and looked back at Debbie. "Do you eat?" Then he spent a moment feeling stupid. "I mean... of course you eat... but... I mean... would you like to eat with me... I mean, you know where people eat food..." There was an another awkward moment. "Awkward..." Darzen stared at the console again.

"Struggling a bit there Darzen?" Debbie chuckled slightly. "I have that effect on people at times."

"Sorry. That... yeah. I just..." He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. It was one of the most "human" gesture that he's really expressed. "I didn't mean for that to go across that way either... I just not very good at... friends." He wasn't really helping anything that was already awkward. Humans called it 'digging a hole'.

Debbie smiled. "I might be able to help you with that too." She knew that a lot of the engineers found him a little complicated to get on with.

Darzen snorted in humor. "Maybe if you do it... other people might think it's cool to hang with out me too." He tipped his head to one side. "Cool... do Humans still think things are 'cool'?"

"I think the concept of 'cool' is a little outdated," Debbie smirked. "but if you're easier to get along with then they will be more likely to interact with you on an informal level."

The Trill shuffled his feet from one side to the other. "I'm not very good at informal... I'm also not very good with those little things you're supposed to say at occasions..."

"I'm no counselor, but I think if we put you in a nice safe controllable atmosphere we can work on all that," Debbie suggested.

He nodded. "Yeah... I didn't expect to be the Department head. It's made me on edge ever since. I want to do well at the position, but it's not I don't know that I'm not everyone's favorite Chief Engineer..."

"Hey, don't let let yourself down like that, you're a good engineer we just need to work on your personal skills a little." Debbie smiled reassuringly. "Tell you what. Meet me in the mess hall at 1800hrs."

Darzen grinned, an actual real grin and his cheeks colored slightly. "I'd like that. Thank you." He bowed to her slightly. "I know I'm probably not your Chief Engineer either, but I really appreciate it. Honestly."

"That's alright, we'll get you there in the end. Now, unless there is anything else, Lieutenant, I'm going to...." Debbie started only to be interrupted by a shout from nearby of, "Can someone give me a hand with this."

Debbie looked in the direction of the shout. "...going to go help Micheal over there."

Darzan nodded. “As you were, Ensign... and thanks.”

:OFF

Lieutenant JG Darzan Kail
Chief Engineer [Npc Radak]

Ensign Debbie Larson
Engineer [npc Taliserra]