Locksmithing, Curmudgeon Style

Posted on 21 Oct 2016 @ 5:17pm by Captain Nathan Cowell MD & Commander Paul Toddman

Mission: Episode One: Back on the Highway to Hell
Location: Captain's Ready Room, Bridge, USS Arizona
Timeline: MD 1: 1000 hours

Several hours after the USS Arizona had departed the Sol System, the door to the Captain’s Ready Room slid open. Several eyes moved toward the door expecting to see the occupant of said office emerge. After an exaggerated period of time, something did finally emerge, but it wasn’t the man himself, merely his voice.

“Toddman, get your ass in here,” the Old Man yelled through the open door.

Paul raised an eye brow at the demand. He quickly logged off his console and let the relief ops officer take his seat and headed for the ready room.
When the Operations Chief was through the door, Nathan tapped one of the control keys on the corner of his desk and the portal to the Captain's 'lair' was shut. Cowell didn't waste time with pleasantries or any of the like, he chucked a PaDD from off his desk at the man as if it were a Frisbee, then waited a moment for Toddman to figure out what he was looking at.

"I mentioned in the meeting yesterday we're going to be opening up an Iconian portal. Didn't tell you how it was going to get done. I'm sure you know damn well any interfacing with their technology has this nasty habit of gumming up the works with all kinds of demon viruses... so we're not going to use the Arizona to make the thing run. I want you to make some special probes. Automated, nothing that calls back to the ship once we fire it out a torpedo tube. I want them loaded with that exact string of data and I want them to be able to transmit that data when they pass through the center of the aperture of the portal. Once those suckers have transmitted the data, I want 'em rigged to explode. I want dust where there was probe. Get all that?" the Old Man explained at length.

"Aye boss, I'll get right on this. Shouldn't prove to difficult." Paul got up and headed off to the probe room, knowing he did not need to wait for a dismissed from the old man. The fact that the Captain opened his book again, was cue enough.