Stopping the Rain (part 3)

Posted on Thu Sep 3, 2020 @ 9:32am by Lieutenant JG Ace Cannon & Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Lieutenant JG Brianthe Oaxaca

1,354 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Et In Arcadia Ego
Location: Arboretum
Timeline: MD6 1600

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

Ace took the towel and dried what he could of his hair. His shirt, he rung out by twisting its bottom. He did not verbally thank Brianthe but gave her a small nod acknowledging her deed before disappearing in the access panel. Soon there was some clanking sounds as pipe hit pipe. There were some grunts from Ace, as if he was straining himself before they were replaced with the smell of heat and chemicals from inside the panel.

[NEW]

Right? came the lighthearted reply from Brianthe as she returned. "Here," she said, handing Ace the towel. Why he didn't use the one here, I don't know. she thought to Alanna.

Ace took the towel and dried what he could of his hair. His shirt, he rung out by twisting its bottom. He did not verbally thank Brianthe but gave her a small nod acknowledging her deed before disappearing in the access panel. Soon there was some clanking sounds as pipe hit pipe. There were some grunts from Ace, as if he was straining himself before they were replaced with the smell of heat and chemicals from inside the panel.

"Need some help?" Alanna asked.

"Depends on what helping you're offering," Ace shot back, as the smell of heat started to dissipate.

Considering what he'd asked before, she said, "More tools?"

"I've got all the tools that I need," he replied, the obvious grin from the innuendo in his voice. There was another grunt as Ace fitted the pipe and welded it. "Time to move on," he announced as he exited the access panel and then shoved it back into place. He now saw why the panel gave him trouble before, there was a slight bubbling in the panel's exterior that caused it to come out of place. He stared at it for awhile. Don't tell me that there's an issue with some of the environmental controls too. I'll be coming back to look at that after I fix the piping issues. Might be a good excuse to see Brianthe assuming we have a good dinner tonight. Dessert should be sweet.

"It may be from the flooding," Brianthe said, looking at the panel. "There haven't been any problems before then, and that was more a station-wide problem."

"It seems that I may have my work cut out for me," Ace replied with a half groan and half growl of pleasure. "Very well, last junction, then I'll blow some particles through the pipes for a test and see if that took care of the leaks or if there's something that we missed the first time through."

"Once you're done, we'll turn on the irrigation system and see if it works," Brianthe said. "Or if you still have a problem with the pipes."

"I think you will find that there will not be a problem." Ace smirked at Brianthe. He opened the upper access panel and a flood of water came out to greet Ace and Brianthe, soaking both of them.

"Shouldn't that wait until after the pipes are fixed?" she asked blandly. "I much prefer a gentle rain to a fire hose."

Ace laughed at Brianthe. He liked her spunk. They would make beautiful music together. "Blowing all of a load in one swoop seems rather wasteful," Ace agreed. "And this is not how I envisioned a joint shower." He paused and looked at Brianthe meaningfully. "So, what do you say I get this fixed so we can both clean up?" Mentally he added, before getting dirty.

Alanna and Brianthe looked at each other and laughed. "Reminds me of someone dancing in the moonlight."

"That was just dancing," Alanna countered. "Are you really going to go out with this one?" she added telepathically to Brianthe.

"I don't know. I'm not going to have sex with him, though. I'm not today's entree," she answered back. Then, out loud she said. "Since I'm already wet, I'm going to make sure the plants are getting what they need and clean out a few drains. That'll take awhile."

Dancing in the moonlight? What in the blue blazes are they talking about? Whatever. Let's just get this job done, so you can get cleaned up, relax, and prepare. Ace climbed into the access panel, which was now just damp throughout. I'm half tempted just to duct tape this one so I have a third excuse to come back but that would be too much work. "Looks like another pipe replacement," he called down to the ladies. "Coming down," he warned.

"Another replication?" Alanna asked. "I'll be happy to hand you any tools you need. " She was finding the situation humorous, which was probably the wrong reaction.

"Another replication," Ace acknowledged. "Hang onto the tools. Right now, you have as much use for them as I do. If this was a small break, I might be able to weld it or seal it. Unfortunately, the pressure buildup was to great and the pipe itself has a large break. The best way to handle this, so the plants are not deprived of water again is the replacement of that portion of pipe. I'll weld it back into place and problem solved for the foreseeable future. Apparently whoever designed it did not account for the pressure changes when the station loses power."

"The station wasn't designed to lose power. It has triple redundancy. No one expected every generator to go offline at the same time," Alanna said. "There are still problems with the crystalline entity."

"Of course nobody thought about whether all the redundancies would fail," he replied disparagingly. However, the last thing that Alanna said caught Ace's attention and he stopped in his tracks. "The crystalline entity? It was here?"

"It was growing on the power conduits," she said. "That's what caused the power to fail. It was in the past week."

"I just got here yesterday. Would have been nice to know that. And it has been eradicated?" Ace asked, debating the implications.

"I'm sure your department is still doing repairs elsewhere," Alanna said.

"It certainly explains why I was put into the duty roster so quickly," Ace replied nonchalantly. He moved to the replicator and started replicating the replacement for the ruined pipe without further comment.

"And why you're here today," Brianthe added. "We appreciate you getting this repaired. The trees and plants have had enough trauma this week."

I like being appreciated. There was definite innuendo in his thought. "Well, let's get this done, shall we?" He carried the replicated pipe to the access panel and once again used Alanna for his assistant in handing him tools.

When he completed the job he asked the women, "Shall we turn it on and see what happens?"

"I think it's always turned on," Alanna said telepathicallyl to Brianthe.

The botanist laughed out loud. "Probably." Aloud, she said, "Yes. I want to make sure it's working properly."

"Of course you would," Ace told Brianthe with a cheeky grin. He called out, computer, "Start sprinkler system now, all sections." Water started falling everywhere in the Arboretum in orderly streams. He looked at both of the wet women, "Are we satisfied now?"

"At least the trees are," Alanna said, grinning at Brianthe.

"True. Hopefully so is our Ace mechanic." She smiled at Cannon. "It's not often he gets to shower with two women in a forest." At least fully clothed, but Bri wasn't going to add that. "Since you're here, Alanna, I have something to show you."

"Thank you for the repairs, Mr. Cannon," Alanna said to Ace. "Hopefully we'll be good for a while."

Ace turned to Brianthe and said, "1800, Giuliani's." He then turned on his heels and headed towards the exit.

"If I'm not still here cleaning up," she replied. She was pretty sure she would be. One way or another.

Lieutenant JG Ace Cannon
Assistant Chief Operations Officer (if he survives)
DS5

Lieutenant Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer
Deep Space 5

Lieutenant JG Brianthe Oaxaca
Botanist
Deep Space 5

 

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