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Trojan Horse #50 - "Conspiracy Theory Revisited"-=On=- [USS Pegasus, Lounge, 4 and a half hours until USS Lantra's ETA] Evans was slurping the last of his mocca coffee extra-extra strong with a little bit of sugar. <Mmmmm, this is niiice...> he thought. He then became suspicious again. <Too nice...> He could have sworn that the console in the bar flickered, trying to pull his attention. He saw that the half hour that Petrova gave 'em passed, and the monitor was showing a personell file. Wulffie's... <That's odd...> he thought. He then walked over to Kitty, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey sweet, it's time to go to work again..." he said softly, gently trying to wake her up. "Mmm.." The sound she made had a definitely unpleasant downturn in it. "Ten minutes, Grandpa, honest..." Kitty murmured. The snore ceased. <Two can play that game...> he thought, with a mischievous smile on his face, and he gently put his lips on hers. A soft *smoooch* was heard... "Mmm?" Kitty blinked and her eyes opened wide. "Hmm..." She definitely liked that. "G'morn..." was her soft response when the kiss ended. "Whaddya know? It works both ways..." Evans joked. "Our half hour is up... We only have four hours, or so, before the Lantra arrives... If we don't want to let the Chief down, we still have a lot to do... And I have no idea where to begin..." he said, with a sigh. "Why, what do we need to do? The replicators are working." Kitty sat up, stretching out her slender back, then shifting and adjusting the slightly large tank top she'd borrowed from Hannah. "Oh, that's right... You were already out for the count, when Petrova ordered us..." Evans thought out loud. "Ordered us what?" Her gaze was serious now. "Yesss...", Evans added, mentally slapping his forehead. "Petrova wants us to get shields and weapons online, before the Lantra arrives. That is, within the next five hours..." he said, with one eyebrow lifted, at the herculean task ahead. "Shields and weapons? Is she kidding? Did you tell her what shape this ship is in?" Kitty groaned. "I didn't have anything to drink, so why do I feel like I have a hangover?" "Well, I dunno... Because you're tired and worried, perhaps? I don't know really... As for Petrova's assignment, I kinda got used to doing the impossible... This doesn't seem too bad compared to other stuff we pulled off..." he responded. "True." Kitty pushed herself to her feet. "Well... any ideas? Any GOOD ideas? You know power isn't our problem... it's everything between the power and the systems. We burned out all our redundant circuitry with that shield recharge and tracts of the primaries have been damaged since..." She sighed. "What we really need is a very long bobby pin." "...We have gravity plating..." Evans just said out of the blue. "...whatever good that's gonna do... I just can't figure out why the computer keeps displaying G'Ulf-fey's file..." he mused. "Well, all it's done is suggest solutions for us so far, right? Maybe it's giving us a hint." Kitty looked at the terminal and then frowned. "I'm not altogether sure I... well..." Her voice trailed off as her dark eyes glanced up at the ceiling, then around at the walls, as if Something was Listening In. As if the computer was listening in, probably because it was, the personell file changed, to show Melina's file. Also at the skills page. "If you were asking me, the computer is sugesting we take in reinforcements..." Letek said, as he witnessed the page change. "I'm all for it, actually... The more the merrier, right?" "Yeah... Might need some coordination, but that's nothing we can't handle..." Evans added as his two cents. "That's a very good idea," Kitty said. "Want to send messages, see if we can get them to come join us?" She eyed the terminal again, then closed her eyes for a moment. "And... when you're done, come join me?" She stepped over the various bits of work-in-progress and one working replicator, worked her way around the bar, and disappeared in the backroom. Evans shrugged his shoulders, and tapped his combadge. <Weird how these things always keep working, no matter how bad the ship's damaged...> he thought. =/\=Evans to Melina and G'ulf-fey... If you have any time to spare, could you join us in the lounge, please? Impossible tihings need to be done... We could use some help...=/\= he sent through the channel. He still had no idea why the computer recommended Wulfie, but he seemed competent enough... He waited for a response for a few seconds, shrugged his shoulders again, and walked to the backroom where Kitty was waiting for him... Kitty backed into a corner of the backroom, gesturing for him to come closer.. closer... and then she whispered to him very, very quietly, once they were standing so close they were nearly touching. "I didn't want IT to hear. Am I the only one who's nervous about the idea of an intelligent computer, however benevolent? Am I the only one who wonders what will happen if it turns on us before the Lantree gets here... and we're combat capable?" She looked concerned and a little nervous, frightened almost. Evans was caught off guard twice within a few seconds... Here was his girlfriend huddling in a corner, calling her boyfriend to come close, and the second thing, she was reveiling a conspiracy theory that could rival with those ancient black helicopter stories. "Huh? What are you talking abo... Oh, yeah, that..." he said, and then he turned to a whisper too. "to be honest, I hadn't given that a lot of consideration. To be honest, I didn't think we had much to worry about, but you could be right... But on the other hand, if LaBrie is right, we need those weapons... Do you have a sugestion?" "No, I don't have a suggestion," Kitty whispered back, suddenly feeling surprisingly frustrated and annoyed. "What kind of suggestion could I have?" "Oh, I don't know... Build in some manual safetyrigs... Manually controlled relays, circuit breakers, Ya know, that big red do-not-touch button stuff... The one button all those doomsday movies like 'the Terminator' and 'Battlestar Galactica' are missing..." Evans sugested. "An easily reachable button, connected to nothing but the main power lines. If you slam it, the ship goes dead, and Lantra can just beam us all aboard before lifesupport fails..." Kitty blinked and stared at Evans for a moment, amazed and delighted, partly by his quick response, partly by the fact that he gave her concerns due merit, and partly by the way he'd come up with so many of the same old science fiction references she'd internalized since childhood. "Thank you for not thinking I'm insane," she whispered back, then leaned in even closer, reaching her arms around him for a big hug. "You're welcome..." Evans just said, returning the hug with all his passion, and kissing her cheek while he was at it... "Ah... Ehm... Yah... Aaaaaaam I interrupting something?" Letek's voice suddenly could be heard from the other side of the room... "I knew I should have knocked first..." He mumbled... "NJG!!" was heard from Evans' mouth, as he startled, and almost snapped Kitty in two... Kitty blinked and glanced at Letek, then blushed. She didn't exactly let go, though. She couldn't let go that easily anyways, the way his grip had tightened. By the way, she liked that hug too much to end it so easily. "Yeah, you should've," she said, amusement beginning to overtake embarrassment. Evans released his grip on his girlfriend, and sent an evil eye to his assistant. "I guess we should get cracking anyways... Let's assess what needs to be done, and divide the work... We could as well peek at the console to see if it has anymore hints... If that's alright with you?" "I think it's probably a very good idea," Kitty grumbled, stepping aside. "It seems to know what it's doing, anyways." <As long as it has that big red button...> Evans thought to himself. -=Off=- Tag G'ulf-fey and Melina, and anyone else who wants to barge in and help... :) Conspiring against the conspiracy... Ooooh, spooky... Lt Kathleen Black Chief Engineering Officer USS Pegasus Lt JG Ronald Evans Chief Operations Officer USS Pegasus "What do you expect when your girlfriend's in her underwear asking you to come closer?" |
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