Post 283: Between the Devil and the. . .

Stardate:70704.1300
Title: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Holographic Sea
Author: Zanh Liis
Scene: Main Engineering
Time: Following What the Devil? and "Where Are the Officers?"
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Zanh's day had taken a sad turn for the worse in the past fifteen minutes. She hated herself for thinking previously that she was bored- she must have brought this upon herself in some sort of twisted, karmic way.

Having asked the computer who was supposed to be watching over main engineering at this hour, she knew exactly who she was looking for as she strode off the turbolift, fire in her eyes.

"XHIAN!" she shouted as she burst through the doors like a shot. "Where are you? Answer, man!"

With no response forthcoming, Zanh began looking from room to room in the seemingly deserted department. "When I find out where everyone has gone there is going to be hell to pay!" she barked. "You people better be grateful I am not Lair Kellyn or I'd really be opening up a big ol' can of whoop a-" She spun on her heel to retreat through the doors just as Xhian came back from an errand and plowed into her.

"So, Mr. Xhian, you are still with us! Why didn't you answer my hails?"

"You were hailing, Captain? Apologies," Xhian replied. "We have been climbing in and out of the Jeffries' tubes all day, and with all of the welding and other construction related noise we must have missed your call."

"Somebody is supposed to be in here at all times. Until the bosses get back, for now that would be you."

Xhian stared at her blankly, simply blinking several times.

"And now that I have your attention, tell me," Zanh continued, "What have you guys been screwing with that might have locked up the holodeck?"

"We weren't screwing or unscrewing anything to do with the holodecks, Captain." Xhian said sincerely. "We have been fusing new power control grids to the main transporter systems. We have had some problems regulating the energy flow between the older components and the newer ones."

"You think?!" Zanh was at wits end. "Yesterday two people got zapped while working at the main engineering console, today our Jeffries' tubes are toast and we have a large portion of the senior staff stuck in Holodeck four! We need to get this fixed!"

The doors opened again and Zanh's eyes flew open wide at the sight of the man before her.

"Captain Gilmore! What are you doing out of quarters?"

"I'm trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with my ship, Zanh Liis." RJ Gilmore raged. "I can't leave the bridge for a week- look where we are."

"Hey now, this is not my fault. We had to carry demands on our resources that no one had ever intended to save all those lives on Bajor. I dare say that even you yourself could not have done better at keeping all the plates spinning, Sir." Zanh snapped.

"Mind your tone," Gilmore cautioned.

Exhaustion, frustration and downright despair overtook Zanh, causing her internal dialog to spill from her lips at a rapid clip. "Bite me!" she snarled. *Did I say that out loud?* she rebuked herself internally, hastily adding, "With all due respect, Sir, you have been temporarily relieved of duty and I am commanding this ship. You are to return to your quarters as per medical orders, Captain. Immediately. Please do not make me summon security. Or would you rather I called Dr. McBrayne?"

Gilmore looked at the steely determination etched into her features, and he knew she'd do it. He was feeling weak and dizzy by this point and the last thing he wanted was to pass out in front of her and end up back in Sickbay.

"I thought McBrayne was on holodeck four." Gilmore griped. "Very well, I will return to quarters. But I will be reviewing the schematics of the holodecks to try to give you all an idea what you should be looking for. I am, after all, an engineer." Gilmore reminded her.

"I'm thrilled somebody around here is! Now out with you!"

Gilmore grabbed several padds from a shelf by the door and disappeared through them.

"I am as yet unsure of what the problem could be, Sir." Xhian turned back to Zanh, still stunned over the exchange he'd just seen between her and Gilmore. He figured it was one that he best not tell anyone about. "I have not entirely familiarized myself with the nuances of the holodeck systems," he sounded dejected at the thought there was a single system on this ship he had not as yet entirely mapped out with plans for improvements.

"You mean to tell me, Eeyore," Zanh began slowly, fists clenched, the nickname a comment on Xhian's sorrowful, withdrawn manner, "That in all the time you've spent on the holodecks pursuing your ideas of how to improve things around here, that you haven't come up with a single idea on how to improve the holodecks?" She leaned her head against the wall a moment, then lifted it up and let her forehead bang back against the surface with a resounding *thud*.

She had been on duty for days on end. Sleep had been a precious commodity since Gilmore took ill, and with the exception of the partial meal she'd eaten at the reception in Seven the other night she had been subsisting on cold coffee and energy bars. It was no wonder she was getting testy.

"It was the next thing on my 'to do' list, Sir."

"I'm going to try to get you all the help I can, but first I have to," Zanh began, sighing as she was interrupted by the sound of her own badge. She tapped it to respond.
"Grand Central Station, this is your conductor speaking."

[Er, Captain Zanh? We have a guest up here on the bridge. A Dr. McKenna from Starfleet, he's asking to speak with you.]

"Windy, I don't suppose he's a doctor of engineering sciences is he?" she asked hopefully.

[No, sorry.]

"Damn. Well tell him to hold his horses, I'll be up in a minute."

[There is one other thing, Captain.]

"I can't wait. Do tell."

[We've been hailed by a runabout called Hiawatha . They say that they have a Starfleet official here to oversee science department performance reviews."

"Well did you tell him most of the science department is locked in Holodeck four and now may not be the best time?"

[Yes, Sir. He's still insisting that he be allowed to beam over and speak to you, Captain. Personally.]

Zanh grumbled a blue streak of Bajoran profanity, as her headache intensified by a factor of ten.

[Sorry, say again? I didn't quite get that.]

"Never mind, Windy. Beam Captain Science over and have him wait on the bridge with the rest of your happy little party. I'll be there in a minute. Zanh out."

Zanh turned back to Xhian, putting her hands on his shoulders.

"I have faith in you, Ensign. Until Captain Gilmore gives you his plan of action, just start going over the wiring to holodeck four and try to get a read out on which lines are and are not carrying current. Most important thing is to be sure that the safety protocols are still in place in there so no one gets hurt. Then, we need to figure out how to unfreeze the program and get our people out. Understood?"

"Completely, Captain."

"I don't think they have any idea yet that they could be in danger, and we can't get through to them over any of the com lines. So have Stratton work on trying to reestablish the communications net to holodeck four."

Xhian nodded.

"Then keep me posted. Every fifteen minutes unless you have something to tell me in the interim. I'll be on the bridge." She disappeared, still grumbling. "If this keeps up I might have to start eating coffee beans straight from the replicator."

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Zanh Liis
Acting CO
USS Independence NCC-90791