That Smell

Posted on Sat Aug 26th, 2023 @ 12:57pm by Lieutenant JG G'Rani & Lieutenant Commander Hiro Sommers-Yoshida & Senior Chief Petty Officer Jonathan Stoun & Lieutenant JG Mirez

1,661 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 6 - Point Of Enlightenment
Location: Secondary computer core
Timeline: Before Contagion

ON:

Hiro sniffed at his right sleeve before he set foot inside the secondary computer core. The smell was awful. There was a reason people avoided waste reclamation when something was malfunctioning there. The first thing he would do when he got home was take a shower, and after that another one, and another one,..and then hope that Melinda would be satisfied and allow him to sleep with her in their bed.

He looked up and noticed everyone, who had helped sealing the leaks in waste reclamation and fluid storage, was already there.

"Crisis averted I would say. ...It came at a cost, though." Hiro said half jokingly and sniffed once more.

Edward stood chest deep in the muck and looked up to those above him, his voice slightly muffled from the respirator he wore. " Got the last of the leaks down here plugged, Thank the gods we've got these full bio-suits or we wouldn't be able to get into here to do our jobs safely. We'll need to replicate some more of these when we're done I'll wager. "

"Speak for yourself!" G'Rani rounded a corner covered in a brown slick that was even dripping from her cranial horns. "Not all us us fit into the standard humanoid sized equipment!"

"Woooah gentlemen," Minka said, her small frame appearing in the designated area summoned. "It is rather ripe in here. I thought it was just me who got unlucky. Are we nearly there? I can't take much more crawling through sludge. I feel like I need to shave my head," she pointed at her orange and brown hair this week covered in some unsightly colours.

Edward glanced towards G'rani. " Ya know G'rani, All we gotta do is have the computer scan ya and replicate some haz mat suits that would fit ya lass. And after we're done here I would advise ya to get down to Sickbay for a full decontamination, I'd hate to see anyone on the team come down sick due to this crud. " He said with a note of concern in his voice.

"We tried but my horns have a nasty habit of puncturing the helmet... Plus my physiology has a far superior antibody response... Unless the microbes are of a silicone base in which case I am, as you humans put it, screwed."
She smiled... or what she thought passed for a smile.

"I know I am wanting to bathe in water which has vinegar and baking soda in it. Sure it will be fizzy, but it will work!" Shailyn remarked "We used that when we came into contact with a skunk, so looks like we're going to have to do that. My haz mat suit got ripped, and right now I don't want to sleep with myself in my bed." wrinkling her nose at the whiff she had caught of the odor.

"Is it sad that this isn't even the worse that I've been in." John looked at the others. "At least I don't have to worry about my hair, I suppose getting ruined." John shook muck off of his Tricorder. "I'm having the computer run a scan for any leaks, but I think we did a pretty good job." He stood next to G'Rani and looked up. "You know, we could just wrap some insulation tape around the horns before we put the suit on, or maybe slit some tennis balls. That might help?"

Minka rolled her eyes. "Chief leave it with me. You cannot be the only person in the fleet with this problem. i will look into it," she smiled at G'Raini.

" As for the horns G'rani. " Said Edward. " All we got to do is design a three piece helmet that will lock into place with the rest of your haz mat suit, And then ya won't have to worry about yer horns poking holes lass. If we can't figure out how to make ya a decent helmet, then we don't deserved to called engineers. That and we may need to tweak these suits and make them a bit thicker so don't rip so easy. We can do that as our next down time project. " Said Edward with enthusiasm.

"There you go, G'Rani. Consider your problem to be solved in the near future." Hiro leaned against the wall next to one of the consoles that was embedded into it. "I don't know what you all want to do, but I would like to go to my quarters as soon as possible. So, lets see what exactly went wrong here and try to come up with a solution so it won't happen again. Anyone want to start?"

" Well I found me some pipes that were corroded. " Said Edward. " Either we got a bad batch or something broke them pipes down. I can run a spectro analysis of the metal to figure out what happened to it. "

"Whose to say they weren't already corroded from the Cardassians time running this place? I mean have we any records of their maintenance at all? Would be helpful for a base line," Minka groused uncapping her water container and taking a sip.

Hiro raised both brow a little. "Fair point. I guess you've just volunteered to figure that out." He winked in Minka's direction after he'd said that. "If it's true then we have to replace everything. And pretty soon too."

"Walked right into that one didn't I?" Minka said. She was smiling though. "Any volunteers to help me?" she looked out to the rest her face sweet and innocent.

Shailyn took a look at Minka then herself. "Well I've already been in the muck anyway, as I called out for help, C'mon Minka lets get to it." giving a slight smile with a crinkled up nose.

The petite human nodded, stood up and fist bumped the other female. “Yeah let’s do it. Then when we are done full on pampering at that new place opened up with the beauty treatments and perfumes.”

"Oh yeah we're going to need it." Shailyn giving a laugh, and giving Minka a friendly shoulder bump. "Anyone else?" looking towards the others. Her eyes lighting on Amalia, "Hey Amalia, c'mon, time to get in the trenches as well."

Amalia gave a lopsided smile. "Sure I'm game." moving up towards where Minka and Shailyn was at. "Okay lets go girls."

Edward looked to the group of ladies. " Sorry ladies, I won't be able to join you. I've got to get straight home after work today, try not to have to much fun. " he stated and chuckled.

"I don't know how much use I'm going to be crawling through some of the smaller access hatches but I'll come along too, I've got a couple theories bouncing around in my head about all of this, but you know, old Cardassian tech isn't the best anyways." He looked at the ladies. "As long as you'll have me at least."

Minka grinned. “We will take what we can. Your welcome to come to the spa too.I’m the smallest, leave the crawling to me.”

Edward looked to Shailyn. " I like your suggestion about the white vinegar and baking soda That's what I'm going to be doing me self. Wouldn't do me any good sitting at a candle lit dinner across from my lady smelling like this. " He said with an amused grin. I don't think she'd let me in the house smelling like this. "

Amalia gave a chuckle, "I will definitely be scrubbing down before L'johk gets back from where-ever he went. "

"So you and L'johk then. Sounds to be going well." Minka asked. If she was going to get further grimy she might as well get some decent gossip.

"it seems to be that way, hopefully." Amalia responded with her typical half smile. "I have a lovely surprise planned for him when he gets back." giving a laugh. She looked at Chief Stoun, " You can do the big heavy lifting." Teasing the Chief. She looked towards where Hiro was at. "I take it you are going to go take care of other matters?"

"That's the plan. At least, if the Chief doesn't mind." Hiro looked at Stoun. The station was his turf after all.

Edward looked to Amalia grinning. " Don't ya worry about a thing Amalia lass, thar be a few men around here to do the heavy lifting so you don't hurt your dainty hands and spoil your reunion night. " He teased. He then got a thoughtful look in his eye and spoke in a softer tone. " Ya know, ever since my lady and I moved in together, my life has gotten a whole lot better. I've been doing some serious thinking about popping the question to her. "

"And what have you decided?" Minka asked.

She didn't like the girls being labelled "Dainty". They did as much grafting in this department as the men. She knew he was just trying to be nice in his own way but it irked her non the less.

" You know quite well how much I hate being referred to being dainty." Amalia groused. "May have smaller hands than you but, don't call us dainty Mister Teach." giving him a glower. "I am sure your lady will throw something at you for teasing her like that." her features softened. "However glad you found someone. And as what Minka asked. What have you decided."

"I hate to interrupt the revelry..." G'Rani pitched in, picking something from her crest that was wet and warm and flicking it away without even inspecting it, worried what it could actually be. "But we do have jobs to do. This waste reclamation system won't fix itself and without that we have no bio matter to feed the replicators!"

The reptilian waved her hands, shooing the assembled Engineers back to their tasks and throwing a lopsided smile at Chief Stoun before disappearing back into her own tube to finish clearing the mess she had started.

END

 

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