The Screaming Shower

Posted on Thu Feb 2nd, 2017 @ 10:19pm by Commander Mal Xustos & Lieutenant Commander Thex sh'Zoarhi

Mission: Refit Rondo
Location: XO's Quarters
Timeline: Current

Mal's plan had been to check up on the work being done in the forward torpedo magazine. That was it. Just check. But, as life would have it be, the technicians were having trouble with one of the loaders. He was there so he checked it out, just to see if he could help. The problem was a blockage in one of the hydraulic lines, which was discovered when the line burst all over Mal, coating his uniform (and the hair on his legs) with hydraulic fluid. The technicians and engineers were barely able to keep their laughter to themselves, so Mal let them off the hook. He made a witty comment designed to give them permission to crack up. It worked and everyone had a good laugh. Mal left the techs to repair the line and left to go clean himself up.

Mal had recently moved much of his belongings from his temporary quarters on the starbase to the XO's quarters on the Hera. As far as he knew, his quarters were ready to go, complete with a functional sonic shower and replicator, which meant that he could clean up and replicate a new uniform there.

Arriving at his quarters, Mal disrobed and recycled his soiled uniform, utilikilt and all. He replicated a new uniform and laid it out. Then he went into the head, climbed into the sonic shower and turned it on. There was a bit of a strained whining noise when it first came on, but it settled down quickly, so Mal didn't think much about it. He cleaned himself off, making sure to get all of the sticky fluid off of his legs, hands, hair, and face. When he was done, he used the shower controls to shut off the shower...or at least he tried to shut off the shower. The low hum issuing from the sonic emitters began to increase in volume, until the shower was shrieking at him. Mal leaped out of the shower stall before the sound waves turned his bones to powder. He escaped into the bedroom and shut the doors to the head behind him. He walked over to the comm unit next to his bed and pressed the button to open a channel.

"Commander Xustos to Engineering!" he shouted over the noise. "I need someone up here immediately! My sonic shower is malfunctioning and I'm afraid the sonic assault is going to damage the ships superstructure or, you know, me!"

Thex was under one of the power regulators mending a micro fracture when she heard the call coming in. Given it was rather late and most of her staff we're asleep or busy helping with the refit she slid out from under the regulator. She'd get it fixed herself. It would give her an opportunity to meet the commander. Grabbing a repair kit from the tool locker she headed for the turbo lift.

Within a few moments, she was at the quarters and she could tell why. The buzzing white noise was painful and her antennae dropped flat on her head to cope with the pain. Knowing he probably couldn't hear her she banged on the door as loudly as she could before entering.

Mal, now dressed in his Starfleet issue black t-shirt and utilikit, answered the door.

"Welcome to the Hell of the Sonic Overload," he said to the andorian lieutenant when the hatch opened. "Please, make yourself at home...after you shut this blasted thing off, that is."

Bearly hearing the commander the andorian nodded as she headed into the bathroom and approached the shower. Opening up the panel the anodorian quickly disconnected the main power supply. With a great sign of relief, the shower stuttered and was quite. " Well, that a relief" Thex said mostly to herself as her antennae started to perk up. Reaching into her kit she pulled out the mobile diagnostic kit and started to connect it up. " So when did it start screaming like a banshee?" She asked the commander who was standing in the doorway.

"It made sort of an unusual sound when I turned it on, but then it worked fine," Mal said. "It wasn't until I went to shut it off that it tried to deafen me."

"Sounds like something got fried whilst you were showing." The andorian replied as she opened the control box." Ah the duotronic pulse buffer has fried. Not sure why could be the power regulators not working." She said as her hands got to work. Pausing for a second she smiled to the Commander." Hate to be a pain commander, but could you replicate me an aspirin tablet. My heads still ringing." She asked politely.

"Absolutely," Mal said. "Thank you for shutting that thing off. I thought my horns were going to shatter from the vibrations."

Mal went to the replicator and ordered up a dose of aspirin and a glass of water. He brought them over to the engineer.

"Here you are," he said. "I'm Mal Xustos, the executive officer...which you probably figured out for yourself. I'm assuming you're from engineering. Are you our new Chief Engineer?"

" Yup that's me. Here to make sure this girl keep's running. Though it looks like she's already having one hiccup. " Thex replied with a laugh as she swallowed the pills.

"That's bound to be the case after a full refit and upgrade," Mal said. "The only reason I even needed a shower was that some techs were working late on the torpedo loading systems and I went to see if I could find out what the hold up was. Stupidly, I tried to help, so of course an hyrdaulic line burst, covering me in hydraulic fluid. And of course it got in the hair on my head, which would have been bad enough on its own, but it also got in the hair on my legs. I'm just glad the shower waited until I was done cleaning myself to have its malfunction. That stuff takes forever to get off of skin, let alone hair."

Mal picked up his lyre and sat on his bed. He began to absentmindedly pluck and strum a pleasant, quiet tune.

"So," he said. "While you work, why don't you tell me a little about yourself, things I can't read about you in your file."

" What exactly do you want to know?" Thex asked politely as she worked.

"Well this is my first post as chief of engineering so I really hope i don't mess it up. While i'm not keeping this girl from falling apart I like to relax down on the holodeck. Preferably in either one of my builds or swimming programs." She replied pulling another fried circuit out of the shower.

"Ah, swimming," Mal said. "Hooves do not good flippers make, especially on a two-legged being. I've heard that centaurs can manage swimming, but I've never actually seen one of those. They must have gone to some other planet with a different alien pretending to be a different Greco-Roman god. When they left, some of them scattered. Pan crash landed on Pomtol. We'd didn't really have any interaction with the others, though once we were visited by Pan's father, the alien who took on the persona of the god Hermes. Anyway, I've never been able to really manage swimming. Besides swimming, what kinds of programs do you build for yourself."

"Holographic simulations of machines I love. Been working on old earth G-76 third world war tank. Love putting the old things together even if they are just illusions of light." The andorian said as she started running a scanner over the broken parts. " What do you like to do commander?" She asked in reply.

"I use the holodeck for some physical training I suppose," he said. "Greco-Roman fighting styles, weapons, pankration, and the like, or merely running or hiking in the woods. Sometimes I'll create a nice, natural, peaceful setting and play music there. It helps me relax. Sometimes I'll invite people to listen or sing or dance or to add their own instruments to the songs. I have hunting programs as well, bow hunting usually. I've never been much of a tinkerer, myself."

" Sounds peaceful. My peaceful spot is normal at the bottom of a holographic sea. Nothing, but the sound of my own heart beat to hear." She said as she looked at the results on the screen. " Ah there we go. Looks like the buggy code has messed up the showers. The power systems aren't receiving the commands to switch off and overloading. Just need to reset the system and they should be fine."

"Excellent," Mal said. "Thanks for rescuing me."

" it's what I'm here for." The andorian said smiling as she continued her work of putting the shower back together. " I'll run it through a diagnostic check and make sure I've not missed something. " She said closing the panel.

Mal plucked and strummed his lyre as he waited for Sh'Zoarhi to complete her work.

It only took a short while before the machine beeped as it had completed it's scan. "There we go. Good as new. Just keep an eye on it until the upgrades are done. Hopefully, my staff won't mess up the code again." She said with a smile as she packed away her tools. "You play the lyre very well, Commander."

"Thank you," Mal said. "Well, I think I am going to eat something and go to bed. Long day tomorrow. Good evening, Lieutenant."

"Pleasant dreams Mal." The andorian said as she slung the kit around her shoulders.