By Ashton Ledbetter and Jamie Halliday
100416.1930
After What Lay Beyond
-=Main Engineering, USS Poseidon=-
100416.1930
After What Lay Beyond
-=Main Engineering, USS Poseidon=-
In a rare moment of worry, Jamie’s features had seemed to drop from their usual, bright manner. Ashton had given him various ‘simple’ tasks to do; simple that was in the sense that they’d not destroy the entire ship if not a large part of the universe if they were performed by anyone other than a trained TI agent.
Mostly this just consisted of the recalibrating and reallocation of superconductive subspace resonance amplification and alteration conduit connections, and so he’d had the opportunity to let his mind wonder a little while he’d worked.
As usual Jamie had worked exceptionally hard with a smile on his face and a song, albeit one suitably free of sunshine, lollipops and other wonderful things, as seemed appropriate for his circumstances, in his heart.
It was true there were men with phasers nearby quite ready to use them for the purpose of ending his existence, and even just being severely injured would be a serious dampener on his day. However he’d always noticed that being unhappy took people very little practice, so he was sure that being shot after smiling for the previous hours would be no less enjoyable than if he’d been acting like he was in pain already.
Normally hard work made the people you were working for happier. Attempting to repair a sonic shower while it was being made use of had proven an exception to this, but otherwise it was a reasonably reliable rule. However for every bit harder he’d worked Powell, and to a lesser extent the other engineers, had simply grown less content.
The man’s suspicions and hostility towards Jamie had gotten to the point he’d almost never leave him alone. Every now and then he would stare at Jamie for such a long time that he’d wonder if he didn’t have a piece of asparagus in his teeth that had captured the man’s fascination. Yet the hate and angry intent in Powell’s eyes suggested that if asparagus staring was an activity he enjoyed then it was best not to interrupt him.
Mostly Jamie had ignored him, appreciating at least that if he was the focus of Powell’s attention then Ashton was not. As eager as Jamie always was to help out a possible good friend, something which he actually accessed much more tightly than many would believe given his friendly nature, he’d thought this was actually good fortune. Still, he had thought his fortune would be even better if he could manage to completely avoid thinking of Powell.
Now though he intentionally approached him, the concern evident in his eyes to all those willing to look for it, and so easy for Powell to miss.
“What do you want?” Powell snarled with arms crossed threateningly across his chest, as he monitored Jamie’s stepping to stand in front of him.
“Something’s wrong,” Jamie said simply as he arrived.
Clearly though any problem of Jamie’s was quite instantly not a problem of Powell’s. He offered no response but a warning stare; the kind that was so cold that it was somehow felt even by Ashton Ledbetter who’d previously been looking away while he’d worked.
“It’s been too long since we received a data transmission from the bridge science station,” Jamie explained. “Something must have happened.”
“Yeah, something happened,” Powell retorted incredulously. “Your science officer was sent back to your ship, that’s what happened.”
Instantly Jamie felt relieved, and the smile returned slightly to his face. This did not please Powell.
“Do you know why?”
Powell scoffed in disgust. “Even if I did, why would I tell you?” he asked, though it was spoken more as an insult than anything mistakable as a question.
Suddenly Jamie’s features were enveloped by confusion.
“So I wouldn’t worry,” he answered, as if it were just a matter of fact.
Powell was not impressed. His patience was now gone.
“Get back to work,” he said bluntly, his tone making it clear that it was a warning.
Jamie however looked poised to object again, to try to convince Powell that he must be confused because helping Jamie would have cost him nothing and only a rather bad person wouldn’t have wanted to do it, when Ashton quickly stepped in.
“Jamie. Could you come over here now please?” Ledbetter said loudly and firmly, the way one would to a child who’d just approached a phaser on the ground and was eyeing it with utter, unknowing wonder.
Unlike that child though, as Jamie saw the hatred on Powell’s face, he understood the reason for the request. He quickly moved off to join Ashton where he was working on the contents of an open panel.
Powell grunted and his eyes continued to bore into the back of Jamie’s head as the man stepped away.
Seeing Jamie’s now re-established smile Ashton could have missed that understanding of how close he’d come, but as he came up beside Ashton he said something which could leave no doubt.
“Thank you.”
The words were spoken quietly so as not to be overheard but with appreciation that could never be lost to lack of volume. Even if he didn’t realize when he was doing it, Jamie apparently was aware of the dangers when he’d speak before he thought.
“It’s all right,” Ashton assured him, gesturing towards the input device beside the panel where Jamie, picking up on Ashton’s meaning, began to make minute adjustments to settings as if assisting Ashton in some way.
Jamie didn’t realize it, but for just a second Ashton actually watched him as he did. It was odd, but as hard as it should be to believe that Jamie was smiling constantly and not realizing the danger he was under, it was only now that Ashton realized he was likely much more aware of it than they gave him credit for. Yet he smiled in spite of it; apparently completely unshaken by threats to his life.
Such thoughts were worthy of much greater consideration.
Quickly though Ashton recalled that it was important to maintain the illusion for the still nearby Powell, whose breath could practically be felt on his neck.
“Try to retain the third coefficient between point two one and point two three,” he announced, loud enough that Powell could hear.
“That shouldn’t be too hard,” Jamie replied, for the sake of listening ears.
Then without another word being spoken the two continued to work, or to do something that appeared close to it, for several seconds more until Powell finally moved away again.
After Ashton especially breathed a sigh of relief, it was Jamie who spoke first.
“Some people just make no sense to me,” he quietly confessed, his words clearly directed at one man in particular.
“Me as well.” Ashton agreed, neither man turning their eyes from their work.
Fearing that someone might see that there was no reason for him to be doing what he was doing, having far too much faith in the technical abilities of people around him, Jamie shifted slightly to block the view of his screen from passersby.
“Hopefully Lara will be able get some information to the bridge about this ship.” Jamie added hopefully.
“That’s unlikely,” Ledbetter replied, reaching an arm in and beginning work inside the panel to specifically counteract what Jamie was doing for fear it might upset his readings. “The TI agents will be limiting access to the bridge. No one on, no one off.”
“Then what would they do with her?”
“With their numbers the best they can hope for in regards to secure areas are the bridge and Main Engineering. In a situation like this engineers and command staff are their biggest threat. They’ll go through the crew roster and make sure all engineers are combined in Engineering. Other officers will be either locked in or just restricted to their labs or offices, depending on whether they’re thought to be a threat.”
Jamie smiled, just not as broadly as usual. It was probably as close to a frown as he got. Lara’s knowledge was going to be locked away with her in whatever place the TI agents chose to imprison her.
“So we are on our own.”
“And running out of time,” Powell added, coming up behind them. “What are you doing in there?”
“I’m attempting to enhance the harmonic filters of the temporal jump drive’s variable input calibration matrix. The only way to do that is by patching in additional filters. In this case, your replicator system. I’m hoping this will allow us to performer a finer calibration and hence discover why your drive will not function.” Ashton grimaced as he felt his bare hand become momentarily lodged in the small access holes for cabling inside the panel.
“Step out.” Powell ordered.
“But I’m nearly finished!” Ashton protested. It seemed to be the story of his life, that whenever he was about to accomplish something, specifically something he was asked to do by someone else, that they suddenly changed their mind and wanted him to stop. The difference with Powell was that he, unlike the others, was male.
“Shoot them both unless he comes out within five seconds.” Powell said.
Those with weapons raised them, half pointed at Jamie and the other half at Ashton. Ledbetter grunted in exasperation, as he tried to pull himself free from the hole his hand was caught in. Five seconds was an extraordinarily short amount of time, even shorter when it represented a countdown to the flame of your existence being snuffed out.
As the Chief Engineer reached “two”, Ashton finally pulled himself free. Powell leaned and looked into the panel with both his eyes and a tricorder. There was dead silence for a minute as he conducted his scans. Finally, he pulled himself back out.
“Carry on,” He said, then walked away, motioning for the guards to stand down.
“Why yes, I will accept your apology for implying I was attempting to commit sabotage. And I thank you for applauding my engineering skills.” Ledbetter said, only to Jamie, since everyone else was out of earshot.
“I’m just pleased they did not execute us. I can live without the apology.” Jamie said, as he and Ashton both resumed their previous positions.
“Well, it’s just common courtesy.” Ashton added. “You should expect more from people Jamie.”
“And how often do you apologize when you’ve been proven wrong about something?” Jamie asked with perfect innocence. Ashton quite literally gasped, which caused Jamie to replay the previous question in his mind. With his attention divided between the conversation and his work, he was wondering what exactly he might have said that elicited that response.
“I mean, Captain Ledbetter, I’m just curious what your answer is. I didn’t mean that to sound in any way condescending.”
Ledbetter suppressed the urge to lecture Jamie about manners, and instead actually undertook the unusual task of actually looking within himself for the answer.
“Well, sometimes,” he finally said, as if that were an excuse. “But we have a job to do right now, enough philosophy for today. How are the readings?”
Jamie shook his head back and forth as he read the display. “Possibly making some sense. I’m not entirely sure.”
“I was afraid of that.” Ashton replied. He extricated himself from the panel once again and joined Jamie.
“Why? Isn’t this exactly what we want?” Jamie asked, confused as to why Ashton would still not be happy, even when they appeared to be closing in on exactly what they were looking for.
“It’s exactly what they want. Meaning, if we are getting close to an answer, we’re going to need to figure out what our next move is.”
“How long do you think we have?” Jamie asked quietly, realizing only now that in spite of how easily he had followed Ashton that even Ledbetter himself didn’t know where their next steps would take them, let alone if they’d be the right ones.
He hoped to be corrected and for Ashton to reveal that in fact he had, as he’d assumed, the perfect plan for them to get out of this. His response however was instead truly a shock to him, for the honesty and concern with which it was spoken.
“I’m afraid not likely long enough.”
**********************************
Ashton Ledbetter
Temporal Investigations Observer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
Crewman Jamie Halliday
Engineering Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
Ashton Ledbetter
Temporal Investigations Observer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
Crewman Jamie Halliday
Engineering Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012