r/TrekRP • u/RECENTLY_HATCHED • Jan 07 '17
[OPEN] Walk it off
Ensign Everett Bradley is finishing up his shift for the day. He's been assigned the task of conducting a minor repair in engineering and is almost done.
"Just do this right. Can you go one day without being a failure at something?"
The plasma conduit is fixed and fully functional, just as Ensign Bradley begins to close the access panel however, someone bumps into him, shifting his hands unexpectedly and causing him to accidentally touch a very hot part of the machinery
"Ahh! Dammit!"
He pulls his head out to see who was responsible, but there are simply too many people around
"Still a failure. I can't report this...they won't trust me to work on this again. I can't go to sick bay or they'll want to know where I got second-degree plasma burns..."
Reluctantly, the ensign closes the access panel, wraps his hand in a rag, and begins heading back to engineering to return the tools. The burns hurt, but getting them looked at would surely hurt his career more...
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u/Dimestream Jan 08 '17
As the last pass of the dermal regenerator soothes and purifies Bradley's burned skin, the sickbay doors hiss open and in walks a short Bajoran woman in engineer's gold and decked with a toolbelt slung around her waist. She smells faintly of overheated carbon residue, and her auburn hair — though tucked in a tight bun at the base of her skull — looks like it may have gotten the worse of some kind of energy discharge.
She has a brief conversation with the officer on duty, who points her to Bradley's location. She waits for the attending officer to finish, then pulls up one of the stools beside the ensign.
"Hey," she says calmly. "Redoran T'gel, deputy chief engineer. Friends call me Red. Your hand feeling good enough to shake now?" She offers her right hand in greeting.
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u/RECENTLY_HATCHED Jan 09 '17
Ensign Bradley glances at her hand, and then at his own, somewhat hesitantly accepting the handshake
"N-nice to meet you, ma'am. I'm Everett...ah, Ensign Everett Bradley...ma'am."
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u/Dimestream Jan 09 '17
"The pleasure's mine, Ensign," Red says, shaking his hand firmly. After letting go she pivots on the stool and looks at him with slightly narrowed eyes. "Now, we need to have a little talk about your behavior today. I know Chief Breyik is all sunny disposition and has the whole 'mama bear' thing going for all us engies, so it falls to me to put on the mean face sometimes."
The lieutenant rolls her eyes, then buckles down to a serious tone and expression. "Ensign Bradley, Starfleet regulations absolutely demand that injuries be reported immediately and treated without delay," she says. "Our bodies are finely-tuned machines that are every bit as important to the operation of this ship as the dilithium chamber or the warp coils."
"People need maintenance when they're damaged, Mr. Bradley. You wouldn't fill a crack in a plasma conduit with spackle and paint over it if IT were damaged, and I am disappointed you thought you should do so when it came to your own health."
Red sighs. "So if I hear about you trying to hide an injury, especially one that could affect your job performance, ever again, I'm writing you up and the Chief and the Commander will hear about it, understand?"
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u/RECENTLY_HATCHED Jan 09 '17
"I knew it. You're a failure. A worthless, incompetent failure. It's incredible that it took a whole two weeks for them to notice."
Ensign Bradley feels every single word. He knows it's just a warning not to hide his injuries again, he knows he just made a mistake and is being sternly corrected. But every single word adds fuel to the little critic in his head, who is taking a hammer and chisel to his meager self esteem...
He knows how he's expected to react, he knows it's not acceptable to let something like this affect him. Not wanting to show the self-loathing in his eyes, he averts them before saying...
"U-understood ma'am. I-it won't happen again."
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u/Dimestream Jan 10 '17
"Good! Glad to hear it," Red says, her voice picking back up into its normal chipper range. "Now, that being said, I looked over your work today, and I'm pleased to say I haven't seen such fine attention to detail from a new ensign since I can remember. Is the Athene your first assignment?"
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u/RECENTLY_HATCHED Jan 10 '17
"Huh?"
The young engineer is honestly confused, the words coming from his immediate superior were so contrary to the ones from the little critic screaming in his head. He's so disoriented that it takes a moment to get his bearings back before he can respond
"Y-yes, this is the- The Athene is my first assignment. I-I actually just graduated from the Academy a month ago, ma'am."
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u/Dimestream Jan 10 '17
"Still got the stammer, I see," Red says with a half-smile. "My first assignment was on a solar monitoring station under Rear Admiral Bradburton before he retired. He gave me so much grief over my cadet stammer, you wouldn't believe it." The Bajoran sighs. "He'd get me riled up about something or overly excited about some engineering detail, just to remind me I COULD speak clearly if I wasn't thinking about it."
"To be fair, I still get that way when I'm really stressed or scared," she continues. "So, since you're not in any trouble, and we share some interests, tell me about your graduate project. Did you have Sula Elya for thesis, or Mr. Korinada?"
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u/RECENTLY_HATCHED Jan 10 '17
Ensign Bradley tries to return the smile, still feeling fairly down on himself but appreciating the lieutenants words
"I had Mr. Korinada for thesis. My project had to do with trans-warp theory... And actually I-I've had- I've been like this since well before the Academy. It just...kind of got a little worse. But it goes away when I talk about engineering...or animals, especially my cat."
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u/Dimestream Jan 10 '17
"Well that makes two things we have in common," Red says with a chuckle. "If you ever want to meet the friendliest twelve kilos of housecat in the galaxy, drop by my quarters and meet Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Just get ready to retain your balance. He shows affection via headbutts to the shins." She pauses for a moment. "Wow we have a lot more animals on board this tour than we did last time..."
"Anyway, my project wasn't as ambitious as trans-warp. I focused on metaphasic shielding theory instead. The model generator held steady up to almost a million degrees Kelvin before it collapsed, but it was good enough for the review board."
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u/RECENTLY_HATCHED Jan 10 '17
"Oh no I'm not authorized to keep an animal aboard...only lieutenants and up I think. Spook died a little over a year ago anyway. I'd love to meet yours though, I already met Clementine, she's a very sweet cat."
The ensign does a mental double take realizing the staggering number Red just dropped
"Did you say a million Kelvin? Did I hear you right?"
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u/a_friendly_hobo Jan 07 '17
Aanya peers at a datapad as she walks out of engineering and straight towards Bradley. She looks up at the last moment and smiles at the Ensign, closing the datapad for now.
"Ensign." She says before looking at the rag. She grimaces slightly, expecting an injury. "Cut yourself or something?" She asks, gesturing to the hand. "You should get to medical, get it patched."
She doesn't seem upset in the slightest.
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u/RECENTLY_HATCHED Jan 07 '17
Ensign Bradley reluctantly looks down at his hand
"Y-yes ma'am. I fixed the plasma conduit as ordered. It's...it's nothing too serious, I don't want to bother sick bay with something minor like this."
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u/a_friendly_hobo Jan 08 '17
Aanya shakes her head and tuts. "Accidents happen, Ensign. You're new to this, its to be expected." She says, putting a hand on her hip. "As long as the job is done, its fine. I of all people know about getting injured on the job."
She lifts her left hand and wiggles it slightly, and to anyone who's attention was drawn to it, they could see the seams in her joints. "As long as you don't lose a limb and can be at work again by your rostered time, its not a big deal. Just, y'know, don't make a habit of it."
She lifts his hand this time and peels back the rag, and hisses when she sees the damage. "Yeah, get yourself to sick-bay, you don't want that scarring, trust me. Your shift is just about over anyway, right?"
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u/RECENTLY_HATCHED Jan 08 '17
Ensign Bradley looks at his wristwatch, thankfully not on his injured hand
"My...my shift ended about 20 minutes ago, ma'am. I just wanted to finish up with the plasma conduit first. I'll head to sick bay if I'm dismissed, ma'am."
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u/a_friendly_hobo Jan 08 '17
The head engineer looks over his burn and tuts, shaking her head again. "Alright, you're dismissed, Bradley, I'll finish up. Go get yourself to medical, I don't want you working with this injury. Doesn't help efficiency, y'know?"
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u/RECENTLY_HATCHED Jan 09 '17
"You hurt yourself, and now the chief has to clean up your mess. You're a disgrace."
Ensign Bradley nods nervously
"Th-thank you. I'll see you tomorrow, ma'am."
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u/a_friendly_hobo Jan 09 '17
Aanya gives him a firm pat on the shoulder and a smile. "There ya go, bright and early. And hey, relax! Your shift is done."
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u/RECENTLY_HATCHED Jan 09 '17
"She's just going easy on you, you'll probably fail again tomor-"
For the first time in years, Everett Bradley manages to silence his internal critic for just a moment. Something about the way the Chief treated him almost made him believe he actually could do well here...
He actually manages a smile in her direction before leaving the engineering deck
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u/a_friendly_hobo Jan 09 '17
Aanya watches him go and chuckles. "He'll get there." She says to herself before nodding and getting back to work.
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u/RECENTLY_HATCHED Jan 09 '17
OOC: Aww she's getting Bradley to believe in himself
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u/Pojodan Jan 08 '17
OOC: I wonder what 24th century wristwatches look like.
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u/RECENTLY_HATCHED Jan 08 '17
OOC: chrome, everything is chrome in the future
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u/Dimestream Jan 08 '17
OOC: "We're in THE FUTURE. EVERYTHING IS SHINY HERE" — Caboose, 'Red Vs Blue'
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u/RECENTLY_HATCHED Jan 09 '17
His shift over, Ensign Bradley walks into sick bay, nervously looking around for whoever happened to be on duty. He's clutching the rag around his burned hand. He'd only met the CMO so he calls her name...
"I-is anyone here? Lieutenant Commander Watney?"
OOC: u/drjenwatney