"Confusion"

[Javin_Prell 0]

"Confusion"

a Kassem and Prell production

 

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Kairi stood, leaning forward on the table that held various Soltan parts. She had a brief talk with Odile over the comm, being warned about the type of power source to use on the foreign tech. Unfortunately the warning had come a little too late to the engineering chief. Feeling was now beginning to return to her hand as she bit her bottom lip in frustration. A slow sigh came over her as she continued to stare at the devices.

 

Prell sat at the other end of the table, turning a component around in his hands, pondering. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes at the headache he could feel coming on.

 

She looked up to her mentor and former chief. A small smirk emerged from the corner of her lips. She could tell he was having as much trouble as herself. "You too, huh?"

 

He looked up, containing a laugh. "Even your old chief is allowed a couple of bewildering cases." He chuckled.

 

Kairi smiled as she looked back down at a device in front of her. "Well...at least we know what they do. Problem is how do we integrate it into our systems without blowing up the ship?"

 

Javin rubbed his head with his free hand, then set the component down on the table. "Computer, " he waited for the acknowledgement, "Initiate a Level 5 scan of the Soltan object in front of me on the table, and recreate it in a hologram on the pool table for us please."

 

The Romulan engineer stepped over from her spot at the table and moved over to join Javin.

 

He tapped his fingers on the table as the computer worked, finally looking up as the hologram shimmered into place.

 

"Look at that," Kairi said pointing to an area of the hologram. "Is that the processor?"

 

Javin nodded slightly. "It looks like it..." He brought up a control board on the console in front of him, and manipulated the diagram carefully, so that it enlarged and they had a better view inside of it. "There's no real evidence of any control lines or wires leading into it."

 

"I know..." replied Kairi. "Perhaps it's something similar to bio-neural."

 

He nodded. "And if that's the case..., we've been trying everything the wrong way so far. We just need to tell it what to do... somehow.."

 

"But how?"

 

Javin rubbed his nose again. "That, my dear Watson, is the mystery at hand." Kairi tilted her head at Javin, a confused smile emerged. "Watson?"

 

He looked at her. "Oh dear, sorry Kairi." he laughed, "I've been reading an Earth mystery story from a long time ago, Sherlock Holmes. His friend and fellow detective was named Watson."

 

"Ah..." she said with a smile. "Maybe I should read up on that."

 

He smiled. "You mean you actually have some free time? I never did..." He looked back up at the hologram. "Bioneural...."

 

Kairi grinned as she looked at Javin, staring at the spots of his neck. "It's called delegating. Something you should have done more often."

 

He grinned. "Delegating..., " a thought came over him, "delegating..."

 

She had a confused look on her face. "What?"

 

He looked at her. "That's it! Delegating! We need a kind of brain to control these parts with!"

 

"But what kind of brain?"

 

Javin sat down and pondered. "A control panel maybe, or maybe we can create one to work with the frequencies of the bioneural paths?"

 

Kairi nodded, as she took a seat next to him. "I think I know where you are going..."

 

"The only problem is, can we do it...?" He grabbed his PADD of Soltan inventory and looked through it.

 

She looked over his shoulder at the PADD. "I think we can."

 

Javin pondered, not saying anything for a while, then looking at Kairi, noticing how close she had gotten to him. "Did I put a good cologne on today?" He grinned.

 

Kairi stopped staring at the hologram, as she glanced at Javin. "Huh...what?"

 

He chuckled. "You've been inching closer to me for quite a while now." He looked around.

 

"I have?" It was then she noticed how close her chin was to his shoulder. She quickly stepped away, sitting back in her seat. "Oh...sorry..."

 

Javin looked at her, smiling. "Don't worry about it Kairi..."

 

"So...how are we going to make this brain?" The now embarrassed engineering chief tried to change the subject.

 

He looked away from her, and pointed out an item on the PADD. "This looks like a control panel, from the first inventory of things we got. It could help jump start our work."

 

"I agree..." she said looking at the PADD, but her eventually wandering to Prell. "I really don't think I could have done this without you..."

 

Prell smiled. "I'm glad to help..." He looked at her, remember things from their past. "Would you like to go get some lunch in the mess hall?"

 

"If I didn't know better, I would think you were Betazoid. I haven't eaten in a while," she pouted. "Plus we could use a break."

 

He nodded, and stood up. "All work and no break...doesn't work out too well." He winked.

 

"No it doesn't," Kairi smiled as she stood up as well. "We can pick up where we left off after we made our tummys happy."

 

Javin motioned for her to lead on. "I'm sure Murray can handle Engineering for a bit.. " He chuckled.

 

She giggled as she opted not to reply. The duo then exited the lab for a little break in the mess hall.