Runabout pad four-alpha was the epitome of Starfleet precision and cleanliness. The walls of dark grey were spotless, the metal trimming immaculate, and the black computer screens showed not even a spec of dust. Runabout pad four-Alpha was permeated with the stench of burnt popcorn. Starbase 842's Chief Engineer, the intelligent (yet cheesy) Lieutenant Stan Fields, crouched next to a starboard access panel with Operations chief Lieutenant J.G. Charlene Krantz. Both officers were sporting Mark VII engineering kits.
Krantz let out a slight growl. "I swear, if I was their mother, I would beat them until there little butts couldn't sit down anymore." Krantz was a hard-working, get-your-hands-dirty kind of officer, not to mention quite attractive with short, brown hair and gorgeous, dusky brown eyes.
Stan had a look of disgust on his face, and was wafting the air immediately in front of him. "Ugh, the stench is horrible…"
Charlene covered her nose, making a joke. "You know, whoever smelt it, dealt it." She smiled, rubbing off a dirt smudge that had affixed itself to her cheek.
"Do you have any idea how old that saying is?" scoffed Fields. Stan was never very good with women. Its not that he didn't like them, it was, well, that they didn't seem to like him. "Well, we had better find out where the little imps planted it."
She rolled her eyes a bit. "Alright it was bit old...but still…"
"Holy..." uttered the engineer. "How can popcorn do this?" he asked as he pulled a futuristic looking dust buster out of his kit.
It was clear Charlene was pissed. "I swear, I'm about to go lay it out on their mother..." she fumed. "I swear..."
"Chill, Charlene...you know that woman lives in doubt about her hell-spawn" said Sean, as he starts collecting ash samples from the vacuum, putting them in vials for analysis.
She shrugs a bit, starting to clean up a bit more inside of the panel. "Yeah, I know but still. We've got enough to do without cleaning up there messes."
The engineer caught unto those words like a bussard collector to hydrogen. "Oh?" he perks. "Things to do like what?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure we got more important things to do then this."
Sean let out a sly grin. "Hmm...say Charlene, you must be hungry from all this work...how about some dinner tonight?" Sean flashed her a cheesy smile.
Knowing where the engineer was going with this, she rolled her eyes a bit, putting her hands on her hip. "No."
Sean put up his hands in mock innocence. "Why not?"
The Latino woman picked up a tool, resting it on her shoulder. "Unless you want me to put this where the suns don't want to shine at, then you better think about who you're asking again. I know your ways."
Leaving the engineer in a stat of befuddlement, she reached her hand into the open panel, looking into the cavity. "There is a lot of this in here"
Sean, finally back to his senses, picks out a wide-angle particulate disperser. Sweeping it back and forth and the panel is clean in no time
Charlene laughed softly, putting the panel back into place. "That was pretty clever though, with the popcorn. I just wonder how they got in...hmm, why don't we go check the security logs? I'll take these samples to our lovely science officer for analysis.
"I'll head up to the XO first, tell and give him a heads up. Thanks for your help, Lieutenant," Offered the CEO, extending his hand.
"Its nothing, we've got to catch these kids." She puts her own hand out, placing it into his.
Sean smiled warmly at the sign of camaraderie. "They'll pay, believe me...hmm, what's the expansion rate of Try-methyl poly foam? 1 to 10000?" Sean let out a wild grin. "We'll catch the bastards in a Jeffries tube, and run them out. Its non toxic and it will dissipate with a low level ion spanner."
"Hmm...I don't know," said the ops officer. "I don't want to be the one to catch them; their mother would kill me for proving the guilt of her (she stands up, putting her hand on her hip mocking the mother of the evil ones) 'little special angels!' "
Sean laughed heartily at the impression of the scientist. "Wow, this is so unprofessional...well, I have to get going. See you in ops sometimes!"
Charlene waved at him as he walks out the large door with his kit in hand.