<USS Avalon> " Technical Difficulties"

Technical Difficulties
by Lt Sussanna Jameson, Lt Joshua Garrity and Lt Patrick McEntire

"Blasted bloody thing!" Anna cursed as she tried another of her music files.
A scrambled mess of mixed notes drowned her ears. "Computer end music!"
Sighing, she slumped into the main room and pulled on her uniform jacket.
"Jameson to Engineering, there's something wrong with the computer in my
room, could you send someone to look at it?"

A barely audible voice responded with a single word. "Acknowledged." Within
moments the tall, pale figure of Joshua Garrity stood at her door.
Reluctantly he rang the chime and waited for admittance.

"Come in," Anna said, hardly hiding the annoyance in her voice. It was more
like panic. If she lost her music files, she lost a part of her mother that
she could never get back.

Josh entered and went straight to the computer, initiating a basic
diagnostic to see if it would tell him anything. He glanced at her as if to
invite her to fill him in, but said nothing.

"Hey Sport!" Anna instantly cheered up when she saw him. "How're you feeling
now? You still don't look well you know. Want me to see what I can do for
you?"

He looked at her as though lost a moment, trying to place her, then
remembered. Deck 13. She'd arrived just before he'd gone down. He remembered
that much but little else. Giving the slightest shake of his head, he
focussed again on the work. He was fine. As long as he had his work, he
would be just fine.

"Huh, okay. Well, the computer keeps mangling my music files. All of them.
And only mine too, not the general ones. It's really weird. Can you fix it?"
Clearly anxious, she grabbed her bag and headed to the door. "I've got to
go, first shift back. Will you be alright here, Sport?"

Josh nodded again, as he began rapidly keying. Yes, he'd fix it, and yes
he'd be fine. Of course he would. That was why he was here.

Heading out the door, Anna shook her head. How was she supposed to help
people that wouldn't even talk to her?


Anna punched in the codes for her room. 12 hours. Slumping inside, she
dragged off her jacket and flung it on a chair. A 12 hour bloody shift! Nice
way to greet her back from sick leave.

"Computer, play program Jameson 435, string backing with one flute and a
piccolo." The beautiful music flowed through her ears and she sighed in
relief. That guy was a hell of an engineer.

Wandering over to the replicator, she asked for a large mochachino with
extra cream. What she got was a bowl of chicken soup and a whole raw
cabbage. "Uh-huh. Jameson to Engineering. Hi guys, me again. It's the
replicator this time."

Josh arrived within moments and again rang the chime. There'd been an awful
lot of random errors throughout the ship tonight. Enough to warrant a
shipwide diagnostics, which was greeted with groans and protests from his
department. "He didn't expect this call to take too long, though. He'd be
there to help them in no time. He'd already repaired three others this
evening. He was pretty sure which circuits had inexplicably fouled this
time.

"Well, pleasant surprise to see you again Sport. You pulling a 12 hour
shift? Or is this the beginning of your next one?"

Josh seemed to avoid her gaze as he again shrugged. Which shift was it now,
anyway? He'd long since lost track. Rather than attempt to answer or
explain, he quickly replace the fouled circuits, replicated a large cup of
very strong, very hot coffee...to test it, of course...then headed for the
exit.

"Hey, Sport." She made a grab for his arm. "How long have you been on duty?"

He evaded her grasp easily enough, though he looked somewhat panicked at the
near contact. Again he shrugged as he stepped out of her reach.

"A shrug is not an answer." Quickly moving between Josh and the door, Anna
held out her hands to stop him getting past her. "How long have you been
on?"

"Not long," He lied, his uncertainty noticable despite his barely audible
tones. "Excuse me, please." He nodded toward the door, holding up a work
order to indicate he had another job after hers.

Sighing with clear frustration, Anna let him go. How long had be been on? He
looked beat, if he had been on this long, he must be dead on his feet.


Mac glanced up as Lt. Jameson walked in looking as though she'd just walked
out of a freezer. He moved to her side quickly, guiding her to the
replicator for a huge, steaming mug of cocoa before asking. "What happened
to you?"

Pulling her extra thick cardigan closer around her, she shivered as she
sipped at the cocoa. "E-env-ir-iron-on-men-mental-tal con-controls," she
stuttered through chattering teeth. Taking another long drag of the warm
liquid, she breathed in deeply and tried to stop shaking enough to explain.
"So... cold... in... room... practically... snowing."

Mac tried not to laugh. It really wasn't funny. If he hadn't seen six work
orders for the same exact problem already tonight, he'd be worried, but it
was all tied into the quick repairs that were done on the ship. New circuits
overloading old circuits and the like. Easy enough to fix. Josh had been
taking most of them.

He frowned at the thought, deeply worried about his friend. He'd been
running himself ragged for days now with no end in sight. He nodded to Anna.
"It's okay. Just file the order. I think the kids handling all of those ones
personally tonight, so you can pretty much guarantee it'll be toasty in
there in no time."

"The kid? You mean Sport? I mean Garrity?" Concern was engraved all over her
face. "When was the last time he had a break?"

The concern in her eyes was matched in his own as Mac confessed, "Hell if I
know."

"You guys have to officially log your breaks with the computer like we do in
Medical?"

"Yeah, we do." Mac answered, though he was sure that wouldn't do any good.
Josh had conquered that particular problem long ago with a program that
logged him on and off automatically without him even looking at it. His
hours would all show exactly as they should, regardless of what he was
actually doing.

"Computer, what is the current status of Lt Joshua Garrity?" Anna said.

"Lt Joshua Garrity is currently shown as being on break."

"Computer, locate Lt Joshua Garrity."

"Lt Joshua Garrity is currently located in Jefferies Tube 29843, section
46b."

"On break my ass," Mac muttered, knowing full well what Josh was working on
in the tube.

"Mac, what the fuck is going on?" Anna was beginning to warm up but so was
her fear and temper.

Sighing, Mac confessed all, not caring if Josh would be angry or not. "We
got out of sickbay a few days ago. Stopped off at our quarters to clean up
then go work out. Found a message on our comm telling him his little
brother, Zack, had died." He stopped a minute, clearing his throat. He'd met
the younger Garrity before. He'd been posted to the ship he and Josh were on
as a Cadet. He was something. "Hit him pretty hard," he told her
unnecessarily. "He's been going like this since."

Nodding, Anna didn't quite know what to say. These two men were very close,
she could feel the bond between them even from here. She didn't want to
intrude but she also didn't want Josh to get hurt. "Let me help you. Let me
help him."

"Hell, I wish you could. I can't seem to do anything but just watch him go."
He looked at her desperately. "He won't let me do anything. He's
just...hell, I don't know what he's doing." He took a deep breath, blowing
it out slowly, then finally admitted. "I don't know what to do."

"I have to say, this is a little bit beyond my capabilities too." Anna
scoured her mind for a solution but all she could think was: What would
Lissi do? What would Lissi do? "I need advice. There's someone we can go to
who can help us and keep a secret: Lt Cmdr Marksbury. Will you let me talk
to her about this?"

Mac had no other ideas. Somebody had to step in, and he couldn't. Josh
wouldn't let him. Not this time. Reluctantly, he nodded. "Just...keep the
counselers out of it...and the captain, if you can. They're not going to
understand, and Josh isn't about to explain it. Okay? Please?"

"Of course." Anna tapped her comm-badge once and waited for the beep.
"Jameson to Marksbury, you got a minute sir?"

Other related posts: