Chapter 55
"Lt. Andile," Geordi said, looking at the petite - and, he thought, astounded, surprisingly refreshed-looking engineer, "this is Lt. Martha Paklix, Security. She'll be monitoring you're inspection of the conduits over the next few days. Lt. Paklix, Lt. Andile," he finished.
Andile gave the petite woman a quick study. She was human, Andile decided, slightly taller than she was - not that that was difficult, Andile thought with a smile, and at least ten kilos heavier - which, by human standards would have made her still exceptionally thin, her dark skin framed by thick, black hair that had been cropped into a short, neat skull cap. Exceptionally practical, Andile thought approvingly, realizing instantly that this was an officer bent on doing her job - and doing it as best as she was able, with the least amount of distractions.
She smiled at the woman, who returned the smile - though far more hesitantly than Andile had offered it.
No surprise there, Andile reminded herself a little sadly; after all, hadn't Geordi - and most likely Worf, as well - just spent the better part of a day training her to be wary of everything I might do and say? After all, might I not be a saboteur, bent on the destruction of this ship - and might that destruction be prevented only by the sharp eyes and quick wit of this poor kid - who obviously had never been assigned to a job of this critical a nature, she added, looking at the young woman.
At least she wasn't trembling in her boots, Andile added - though she wasn't too many seconds away from doing just that, she realized, seeing the terror in the security officer's eyes.
Wondering just how terrible a reputation Geordi had bestowed upon her, Andile flashed a glance at the Chief Engineer, who widened his own eyes in silent understanding.
"Lt. Paklix, if you'll review the gear?" he said, gesturing the woman toward the console with the equipment spread over it, then grabbing Andile's arm, pulled her to one side.
Speaking softly, he apologized. "It's not you, Beej," he said softly and swiftly. "It's..." He hesitated, trying not to laugh at the bitter irony of the situation. "Martha was picked for this project because she has some engineering background..."
"And because she's the only one small enough to find her way around the access tubes, right?" Andile concluded.
Geordi nodded.
"However, she's claustrophobic," Andile added - and was rewarded by another nod from the engineer.
"She didn't say anything about it when she was given the assignment - but she nearly collapsed when we did the run through in the holodeck last night," he admitted. "I offered her the chance to back out - but she decided she wanted to go through with it," he explained. "She's new to the ship - and she's determined to keep her berth here, even after the mission's over."
Andile gave a low laugh. "Even if it means going through hell to do it?" she asked rhetorically.
"Especially if that's what it means," Geordi agreed. "I guess she thinks she has to prove herself," he added, giving Andile a knowing smile. "I can't imagine where she got that idea."
Andile looked at him innocently. "I haven't the vaguest," she replied, then looked back to the interim engineer. "Does she know what she's doing?"
"Enough," he admitted. "At least, she knows enough to know when you're not doing what your protocol says you're supposed to be doing," he conceded. "As long as you go by the book, and follow your own procedure each step of the way, you'll both be fine - but if you find any problems, any real abnormalities, you're going to have to leave them alone, Beej. Mark them, then get out and let us get at them from the Jeffries tubes. It'll take a lot longer - but it's for your protection. I know you're no saboteur..."
"But right now, you're in the minority," she agreed.
"Yeah. I'm sorry about that," he added.
She patted his arm gently. "Don't be. I've been in worse situations," she admitted.
He raised an eye at the revelation, then lowered it; Andile _not_ being in trouble with the powers that be would be the more unusual story, he told himself.
Andile turned, starting back toward the Lt. Paklix, who had finished gathering the gear and stowing it in a shoulder pouch - only to be stopped by Geordi's touch.
"One last thing," he added, a heavy layer of reluctance obvious in his voice.
Andile looked at him, her eyes wide with concern.
"I know you like to talk, Biji," he began.
"But this time, shut up," she concluded for him.
He nodded unhappily. "Yeah. I don't want there to be any suggestion that you distracted her from her duties, or that you're trying to influence her report by becoming personally involved - even on the most surface level," he said.
Andile started to give a laughing response - then stopped. "It's that bad?" she asked, instantly growing serious.
Geordi hesitated once again, then nodded. "The captain is as fair a man as I know, Beej; he's not going to railroad you if there's no real evidence - but this mission is important. Too important to risk. And Worf..."
"Does not like me," Andile said.
Geordi shook his head. "Not one bit. I don't think it's personal, Beej," he added, "but you have to remember he's Klingon; he's working from a different set of standards than we do..."
"And those standards permit any actions necessary to ensure that the Empire - or the Federation - is not harmed. And if that means sending me to the brig for the next few weeks, then so be it. Better me falsely imprisoned than the mission failed," she said.
He nodded. "You - and anyone else he finds," Geordi added.
"Except he hasn't found anyone else, has he?" she asked.
Geordi deigned not to answer; no answer was necessary, Andile thought, when the facts spoke so clearly for themselves.
She turned once again to the Security officer-cum-engineer. "Well, Lt. Paklix, I'm ready if you are. I would like to start with the conduits in section twenty-three alpha - with your permission," she added.
Martha Paklix nodded. "I have been briefed on that section of the ship, ma'am."
"Good - but if you wouldn't mind, I'd rather you didn't call me 'ma'am'. 'Ma'am' and 'sir' are reserved for senior officers - and I'm not your superior. We're both lieutenants," she reminded the younger woman, "and I think it would be appropriate if we both addressed each other that way. If you don't mind?" she added.
For a moment, there was a look of doubt on the woman's face; trying to decide if I'm trying to gain favor by reminding her that they had something in common, Andile realized - or if I'm trying not to gain favor by not reminding her that I've been in Starfleet since before her grandparents were born.
It was a no win situation, Andile told herself - but if I can't win, at least I can be comfortable. And spending the next eight hours crawling around those conduits with someone who insists on calling me 'ma'am'? Andile shuddered at the thought. If we can't be friends, at least we can be equals - or at least pretend we are.
"Yes, ma'am..." Lt. Paklix began, then tried again. "Yes, Lt. Andile," she managed.
"All right. Then you lead the way - and while we're walking, I want you to review the protocol, starting with undogging the access hatches," Andile said as the two exited from the engineering bay.
Four hours later, the two women were wriggling their way out of the latest of the narrow passages and into the larger space of the conduit junction - larger being a relative term, Andile reminded herself as she pulled herself into the tiny space.
At best, the junction where the conduit lines met was a meter on a side; there was no way that either woman, even as tiny as they were, could fully stretch their already over-constricted muscles - let alone stand up - and yet, in comparison to the excruciatingly narrow paths of the accessway, the junction seemed blissfully enormous.
And, Andile thought, if they didn't mind sitting on the conduits while they worked, they could even both manage to sit up - a welcome change after the last few inspection sites, which had required that they work lying down, the inspection sites no more than a few inches from their faces, trying to manipulate the tools in the miniscule distance between the cables and their faces.
Worse, the limited space had meant that Lt. Paklix couldn't observe Andile's actions - at least, they both had quickly realized, not in their present configuration, Martha trailing Andile through the narrow passages.
Andile had resolved that problem by crawling ahead to the next junction, turning around and crawling back so the two women could work face to face - but it had meant that she would have to continue the journey sidling backward through the narrow conduits, trying to feel her way around junction boxes and power taps without being able to see them.
For the outcroppings placed on the bottom of the accessway, it had been awkward enough - but for the ones that were attached to the walls and the top of the passage, there was no way to predict their presence - until they made sharp - and painful - contact with Andile's arms, back and skull.
The frequent blows had slowed them, just as had the need to move backward, Andile thought - but the need for Martha Paklix to observe her every movement on the open conduit junctions had brought Andile's progress to a virtual standstill.
Andile sighed impatiently. I could have been done with this corridor hours ago, she reminded herself - and halfway through the next! As it is now, it's going to take the rest of this shift just to finish this one! And at that rate, we're not going to be done until...
She began letting the numbers roll through her head, mentally preparing the modification to the timeline she had drafted for the captain - and knowing that no matter how she phrased it, Worf was going to use that emendation to find another reason for not allowing her any further access.
And the captain, she knew, was going to have to give full consideration to that recommendation, she added miserably.
Great, she sighed again; I make a huge point of telling the captain my time estimates are accurate - and the first time he gives me an assignment, I'm going to have to tell him I was wrong! What the hell else could he think but that I was spending all that time somehow secretly destroying the ship! she railed silently.
Great, she muttered to herself. Just abso-fucking-lutely great.
"Lieutenant?"
The sound of Martha Paklix's voice cut through her thoughts. Startled, Andile looked at the Security officer, instantly hoping that she hadn't made her sighs of impatience and displeasure audible. After all, the woman was doing her job as best she could; it was not her fault that the inspection was taking three times longer than Andile's worst estimate - and the last thing Andile wanted was for the woman to feel as though she was the cause of the delay.
Even though she was, Andile reminded herself with a grin.
"Yes, Lieutenant?" she answered.
"If you're ready, we can proceed," Lt. Paklix replied, gesturing to the floor of the junction.
Surprised, Andile followed her gesture - and saw the equipment spread out, the checklist already in the woman's hands.
Shame! Andile chided herself; here I am wallowing in self-pity about not making my time estimate and blaming this woman - and here she is, setting up my equipment and my gear while I'm bitching. Shame, andile - Shame!
But she forced a grin to her face as she looked back at the Security officer.
"Nice work," she said. "Everything is here?" she confirmed.
"Yes, ma'am..." Martha began, then shook her head. "I mean, yes, Lt. Andile," she tried again.
"Good," Andile replied. "Then let's begin. And as before, I want you to walk me through each check, step-by-step, and confirm that I'm doing everything, every step, precisely as Cmdr. LaForge taught you," she reminded Martha.
"You have so far," she answered. "I don't think you're about to change now."
Andile let the smile fall from her face. "No, I'm not. But there's too much riding on this for you - or me - not to want to have everything I do documented; every 't' crossed, every 'i' dotted. This mission is depending on us finding out what's causing this power anomaly - and from a more personal point of view, my career - maybe even my life - is riding on it as well."
Martha's smile faded as well. "I'm sorry?" she replied, seemingly bewildered.
Andile looked at her, taken aback by the seeming naiveté. "Lieutenant, the reason you're following my work here is because I'm suspected of being a saboteur," she reminded the woman.
"Cmdr. LaForge explained that to me," Martha began. "But sabotage...
"But sabotage, in and of itself, is not a capital offense," Andile interrupted. "However, on a mission of this nature, sabotage would be viewed by a court of inquiry as tantamount to treason. And treason is one of the few crimes in Starfleet that is punishable by death," she informed the Security officer grimly.
Martha Paklix's eyes widened in horror. "You don't mean..."
"I mean," Andile interrupted gently, "that I need you to do your job just as much as the captain needs you to do your job. By the book, by the letter - for the safety of this ship - and for my life. So don't trust me, Lieutenant," she said gruffly. "Don't assume that because I've done it right so far that I'm going to keep doing so; lulling you into a false sense of security is a standard trick, Lieutenant - and one that you should always be aware of. Good security officers trust no one - ever," she added - then looked at the crest-fallen woman, and smiled sympathetically. "Which is why you're in Sit-An, isn't it?" she added.
Astounded, Martha Paklix looked at the engineer. "Yes! I am!" she gasped. "But how did you know?"
Andile smiled again. "As I said, a hard-core Security officer never trusts others - but there are a dozen fields within Security that require other areas of expertise. Cmdr. La Forge told me you have some engineering history, so I assumed you have an analytic mind - but you didn't pursue your studies, so I had to assume that pure engineering didn't appeal to you. Talking with you, even for these few minutes, gives me the feeling that you have very strong intuitive abilities about people, and watching you review the findings of the conduits - and listening to your evaluations of our findings so far tells me that you can put data together easily and logically.
"That makes you a perfect candidate for situation analysis," she concluded. "Analytical, intuitive, and constructive."
Martha nodded, amazed. "That's exactly what my Starfleet analysis said!" she replied. "Maybe you should be in Academy guidance center!" she added.
"No," Andile answered with a shake of her head. "I spent twenty years in the Academy, learning that I'm not a teacher. I'm an engineer. Always was, always will be. I don't want to be caught behind a desk again - not even in a good cause. I like doing what I'm doing. But..." she added, cautiously.
Martha looked at her, eyes wide, ready to absorb the sage wisdom of the engineer.
"If you want to keep doing what you're doing, you're going to have to be a little more cautious," Andile informed her. "Don't become friends - even on the most basic level - with someone you're surveilling. They could use it against you - and some day, someone will. And you may never recover from that blow to your self-confidence, Lieutenant," she cautioned.
"But you wouldn't..." Martha began to protest.
"No," Andile agreed solemnly. "I wouldn't. But to do your job right - to do your duty to your captain, to your ship - and most importantly, to your fellow crewmates - you have to assume everyone, without exception - would. And will.
"And don't let yourself get distract by personal chats - like this one," she added. "You're supposed to distrust me and keep our discussion limited to the conduit check only."
Martha stared at her for a moment, then gave a brief nod of her head as he smile disappeared. "First step; remove conduit cover from area to be inspected by using..."
Andile smiled to herself, then reached for the microphaser that would cut through the cover. Oh well, she thought, this may take a little longer than I wanted - but at least the ship's going to get a better Security officer for all my efforts.
Somehow, she added to herself, I don't think Cmdr. Worf's going to thank me for it, she added - then reached for the spanner as Martha Paklix instructed her.
