Verrader #138"
By: Craig Witmore, Engineer, [RNPC]
Giuseppe Silvio, Chief Engineer, [RNPC]
Jonathan Wright, Executive Officer, [PC]
Stardate: 58204.22 0900
=somewhere in a Jeffries tube=
Craig was utterly displeased. It was one of those days where everything seemed to go wrong. First the temperature in his quarters seemed to behave like crazy, even his roommate began to complain about it. Then when he went to the mess hall and ordered a bowl of Miranda's favourite broccoli soup, she gave him some sort of mushroom soup, with the remark that there was no more fresh broccoli available.
The mushroom soup tasted like old sweat socks. And above all that chief Silvio had ordered him to check all conduit junctions hand by hand.
"What a waste of time, Craig muttered. He crawled through the Jeffries tubes for hours it seemed. Violently he removed one of the hatches exposing the junction for the lighting in the cargo bays and decks 10 to 12, he used his recalibration tool with a little more force then necessary.
Due to his own stupid mistake he accidentally broke one of the eps conduits, causing him to sit in the dark.
"Silvio to Witmore, what is going on? I am showing a power loss here?"
"Nothing Sir, a eps conduit in section b24A blew.
"Be more careful Ensign. You have just put an entire section on emergency power. Get it fixed."
"I will, Witmore out". "Thanks for asking if I was o.k.", he muttered, fixing the eps conduit.
Craig stumbled around in the dark trying to reconnect the junctions. Finally he managed to get the correct connection and the lights turned back up again. He took the access hatch and placed it back when his combadge chirped again.
"Silvio to Whitmore, when you are finished breaking EPS conduits head over to the Marine Deck and begin a full diagnostic on their food replicators. You will be working though beta shift today."
"But Chief, I have already worked the entire gamma shift also. Can't Perkins take this over?" he complaint.
"You wil do it Mister Witmore."
"Yes Sir," he replied. Back on his hand and knees he crawled to the next intersection. "Why am I always the one working the beta shift also. Craig do this, Craig to that. What is the chief thinking that I am an octopus with eight hands.
An hour past and Craig was finally down to the last junction. He sat down and whipped the sweat from his brow. He was exhausted his back ached from constantly crawling and he was hungry.
He slang his toolkit over his shoulder and headed towards the Marine Deck. He was just about to start the diagnostic on the first replicator when his combadge chirped again.
"Silvio to Witmore, after you are done with the Marine project I need to to go to Miranda's and install a new replicator unit there as well. She says customers are complaining about her food tasting bad. Get a move on Ensign."
"Understood Sir, Craig said. This was getting ridiculous I can not split myself into 6 persons. He stopped working and took the turbolift back to Engineering.
Without knocking he entered Chief Silvio's office. "Look sir, he started, this is ...............
Silvio sat behind his desk. Sitting next him was Commander Wright. Both men looked rather unhappy. Wright wore a dangerous looking scowl on his face. "Ah, Have a seat Ensign," said Silvio.
Craig let his eyes shift between Silvo and Commander Wright, whilst sitting down. He had the funny feeling he was in trouble otherwise why would Commander Wright be there with a look on his face as if he had swallowed a Denebian slimedevil.
"Mister Witmore, while running through the logs I happened to find several showing you making changes to the environmental controls on the Marine barracks." Silvio paused, "Looking into it further I found this little program." Silvio tossed a PADD in front of Witmore. "Would you care to explain why you felt it was necessary to drop their temperature by 20 degrees?" Wright just sat there and glared at Witmore but did not say anything.
Craig looked at the PADD. “Uhmm….. well Chief, I just wanted to get even with them due to that skirmish in sickbay. He shrugged. “Besides they’re Marine so they should be used to extreme changes.”
Commander Wright's glare got even darker but he still did not say anything.
"Whitmore, you are a talented engineer but I will not tolerate this type of behaviour in my department." Silvio hit the top of his desk with his fist. "You have access to the ships systems so that you can do your job, not to get even with crew members that you do not like. Is that clear?"
“Yes Chief, crystal clear.”
"This incident will be included in your next conduct report. I also do not feel I can trust you. Until further notice, you are assigned to gamma shift in the waste reclamation center." Silvio looked at the time "Your first shift starts in 4 hours."
Craig nodded and decided to wisely keep his mouth shut. Wast reclamation duty he shivered.
"You are dismissed," said Silvio.
"Just a moment Ensign," said Wright, "I have one more thing to add."
“Yes Sir, “ Craig said looking at Commander Wright.
"I think more training is in order as well. You will work with Lieutenant Silvio to clear your schedule for a week. During that week you will report to Major Madriani for training. I believe it will do you some good to train with them."
“Yes Sir.” he replied.
"You may go Ensign," said Wright.
Craig stood up and quickly left Silvio’s office. This had definitely turned out to become a bad day.