973: On the Payroll

by Paxton Briggs and Zanh Liis
91015.23
Following Back to Work

-=USS Serendipity=-

Steam released from the overhead valve with a loud hiss, producing a thick cloud that quickly filled the small crawlspace. Luckily no one was in the immediate vicinity as they would have been quickly scorched by the super heated mist.

"OK. Shut the valve off!" Paxton yelled over the noise of the escaping steam. He was lying on his stomach while propped up on his elbows as he observed the steady plume of vapor. His tall frame looked as cramped in the tube as it was.

Slowly the intensity of the steam lessened until it finally stopped, leaving condensation on the grated floor plates. The ship's environmental system had already begun to push more air through the tube in an attempt to correct the extra moisture in the air.

He wormed his way back out of the tube and onto the deck plates. He stood up to his full height and straightened his tunic before turning to look at Ensign Lynch.

"OK, Check it out now?"

Lynch turned and checked the readings on the panel. "Well what do you know, they are stable now." He turned and looked at Paxton. "How did you know that there was water vapor on the transfer tube?"

Paxton smiled. "Well when I heard you talking in the Afterthought about the environmental issues you were having it reminded me of a similar issue we have on Indigo after we get into a scrap. The computer shut down and segregates the condensation evaporators when at Red Alert to conserve power to the main systems."

Paxton grabbed a work rag and wiped off his hands. "But it keeps the condensation collectors on in case of damage or fire they can help remove smoke, gas or air to help put out fires if need be." He tossed the rag back onto the small tool kit. "So all of this moisture builds up in the collector as water so when you come out of Red Alert and the evaporators come back on they flash the water to steam, which builds pressure in the valve, which triggers a lock out of the valve, which shuts down the collector."

Lynch nodded. "Which causes a humidity build-up."

Paxton pointed at him. "Bingo."

"Most of the time they will slowly vent on their own as the computer compensates, but every now and then you get one that just completely jams up the valve. My guess is because this one is connected to the arboretum. All the extra moisture from the plants caused an unusually high amount of water build-up." Paxton explained his theory.

Lynch nodded. "I'll look into reprogramming the system for this particular evaporator."

[Bridge to Commander Briggs.]

Pax tapped his badge. "Briggs here."

[The Captain would like to see you in her ready room.] TC Blane's voice explained the reason for the call..

"On my way." Paxton turned to leave. "Good luck with that, ensign."

=^= Bridge =^=

Paxton rang the chime to the captain's ready room.

"What?" Zanh groaned. This was the standard response she gave to the sound of the chime when she had so much work to get done.

Paxton walked up to stand in front of Captain Liis O'Sullivan's desk.

"You wanted to see me, Captain?"

"I did, didn't I?" Zanh slowly recalled. "Well, I don't have a lot of time for this so let's get down to it, shall we? Paxton, we have a problem."

Briggs grew concerned. He stood taller to his full height and tilted his head to the side. "Well you know that I'm more than willing to help if I can."

"That's just the point.." Zanh said, gesturing to the PADD she held in her left hand. "You've been helping for awhile now...one thing after another and yet you're not on the payroll. The powers that be are starting to bitch about that.."

Pax smiled and relaxed a little. “Yeah well everyone wants to go to the party but no one wants to pay the tab.”

"Especially not for a bunch that gets as wild as this group can when they drink. It's not the bar tab, that kills you, it's the clean up crew." Zanh replied dryly. "But you see, it's more than that. For one thing, this gentleman....I believe his name is Blake? He keeps leaving me subspace messages. He wants to know when I'm giving his XO back. I've put off answering his communiqués because if I gave the answer I wanted to that question the reply would be something like 'how about never? Does never work for you'?"

Pax now laughed. “Knowing Captain Blake that would not settle too well.”

"I didn't think it would and I don't even know him. But it's still more than even our friend Captain Blake. The old geezers and broads at...I'm sorry...the esteemed ladies and gentlemen of the admiralty back at Command..." she smirked, "are worried about how much you know about this project and will take with you when you leave. It's not that they don't think you can keep your mouth shut. It's that they're thinking it's unwise to let you accumulate any more knowledge if you're going to go back 'out there'. So that brings me to an important question."

"Do I drink coffee?" Paxton joked, knowing that Zanh was often seen drinking coffee with her officers. It was a sort of bonding ritual with her, it seemed, or at least that was what he'd heard. "Or maybe, do I know so much already that you have to kill me now?"

"That first guess has potential. The second one is eerily accurate." She narrowed her eyes in an exaggerated manner. "But I like a third option even better than either of those two so I'll ask you this instead. Do you like it here?" The Bajoran inquired brightly, getting up from her desk and walking around it, toward him.

She looked up at him, something that she didn't do very often as tall as she was but Briggs was a large man in stature and in heart.

She grumbled as she assessed once more the ever-growing pile of electronic
'paperwork' she had to do today and pushed the mess backwards a bit, clearing a small part of the desktop so she could sit down on the edge.

Briggs looked away to stifle an amused smile. He had never seen her this way, under circumstances where they themselves or others they were supposed to help weren't in imminent danger. She was something unlike any CO he'd ever seen and definitely any he'd ever served with.

"I mean," she quickly qualified the statement, "When we're not all about to die or the ship coming apart at the seams."

“It is a good crew, one of the finest I’ve ever had the pleasure of being kidnapped by.” He grinned. “The ship is sound and her mission intriguing to say the least, when we are not moments away from certain doom.”

"Well I hate to be the one to have to tell you this, Paxton but we're in those situations a lot." Zanh gave a sort of half-frown as she felt he needed to know just what he was getting into when he heard the offer she was about to make.

"You could get killed here tomorrow. Or you could outlive us all and end up being the Admiral in charge of the Project the day that Lair Arie takes command of a starship..." Zanh rolled her eyes and laughed a little, "Which, knowing that kid will probably be next Tuesday. My point, Paxton, is that I don't want to send you back out to Indigo for two reasons."

Paxton frowned more deeply. “OK.”

"One, I feel that you have a lot to offer to us. You have unique skills and are a very...." She thought a moment about the words she'd choose, "good influence around here. To put it bluntly, this is a crew prone to melancholy and you bring a great, positive energy into a room. Second, and don't think I sound arrogant here if I'm bragging but I am bragging."

She looked directly into his eyes.

"This is the best crew in the fleet and I think any man would be a fool to turn down the chance to serve with them if he had it."

"Do I have it?"

"Aye." Liis' eyes sparkled as she imitated her husband for a moment. "That ya do, Mister Briggs. You see, I have every reason to add you to the Serendipity's roster but only one reason I can't. Do you know what that reason is?"

"I can't wait to hear it."

"You're overqualified."

Paxton laughed. “Well I can honestly say that is something I have not heard before.”

"I'm serious. Unless I'm going to make you XO or SO, which I can't do because you know that Salvek and Blane are my right and left hands around here. And my brain. They get to fight it out on any given day over which of them has to perform that particularly fun little function. So I can't give either of them up. But I'm greedy when it comes to staffing this Project with the best officers in Starfleet and so I don't want to let you leave either. So I consulted my Chief of Security about you and he had a grand idea. He knew just what we should do with you."

“Mess hall chief chef?” He asked.

"Nah." She waved her hand. "That's what we keep MacDougall and the French chick around for. What if...it was decided that the Alchemy is now to the point where she needed her own assigned crew? What if Salvek were to double as CO of the Alchemy any time it was needed on a mission or sent out to be tested?"

"The Alchemy is his project, that makes sense..."

"What makes even more sense is to have the most capable, versatile officer I can find to serve with old Logic so that the Alchemy can be kept at peak performance, ready to fly and face any challenge at a moment's notice. If he's a hell of a guy and everyone thinks the world of him, so much the better." She paused, thinking of other names and faces that she'd like to see filling out such a dedicated roster for the valuable prototype. "Yes, Alchemy is a full time job and she needs full time care. For that to happen, she needs an XO all her own."

An expression challenging him to consider the possibilities illuminated her features as she finally finished her thought. "She needs Paxton Briggs."

Paxton looked at her as if she was not serious, but soon realized that she was just as serious about the offer as she now looked. He paused and turned away.

The Alchemy Project was cutting edge and he had enjoyed his limited involvement up to this point. Still the Indigo was a very visible and public post. Often those involved with such a massive project moved up quickly but it was boring. Day to day operations was tedious. Nothing truly interesting happened.

The Alchemy Project offered opportunities of its own. Plus it was far from boring or tedious. The opportunity to work with cutting edge technology was hard to pass up.

Too hard.

He turned to face the Captain. “OK, Sir you got me.” He extended his hand.

"Splendid." Zanh grinned, shaking his hand firmly. "We'll get you set up in better quarters than you've been living in as soon as we get back. Your first assignment is to report to the Alchemy bay at 0330 tomorrow morning."

Paxton tilted his head again in curiosity. "Sir?"

"We're taking the prototype on a little field trip to Sibalt." Zanh wiggled her eyebrows and just the hint of a lopsided grin elevated the corner of her mouth. "And I want you to be there the moment I tell Commander Salvek that he just won the Starfleet equivalent of the lottery."

------=/\=-------

Lt. Commander Paxton Briggs
Executive Officer
USS Alchemy NX-53099

and

-=/\=-Zanh Liis O'Sullivan
Commanding Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012