Author's Note:
Hello everyone and welcome back to Dysfunctional Family. This chapter has a prank in it that is well used in workplaces everywhere and I'm certain that'll still be the case in the twenty-third century. As always thank you everyone for your continued support of the story and I hope you enjoy the chapter.
I own nothing.
Old Prank
Not long after Jim had become Captain of the Enterprise he'd decided that it would be good for Pavel and several of the other younger crewmen to gain some experience in areas out with their initial area of expertise. As such Pavel had been sent down to Engineering to shadow Scotty, seeing the teen's enthusiasm and potential Scotty often sent the boy to other members of his department to give them a hand or just to watch what they did. The engineers soon saw an opportunity to implement a very old but often successful trick.
It was one of the days when Pavel was down in Engineering; Scotty had dispatched him to assist Lieutenant Simmons so Pavel had spent most of the time fetching things the man needed and being talked through several simple repair jobs that were very common. They had just finished one of the jobs and Simmons was talking about the next one, "So, the next repair is a little bit trickier and I'll need you to get a piece of equipment for me. Go find Lieutenant Avery, he's probably in the shuttlebay, and ask for a long stand."
Eagerly Pavel answered, "Aye sor."
He scampered off failing to notice the mischievous grin on Simmons' face.
Pavel soon found Lieutenant Avery and the man looked up from a PADD he was studying as he approached, "Ensign, how can I help you?"
Pavel came smartly to attention, "Lieutenant Simmons sent me to ask for a long stand sor."
"Ah I see, just wait here and you'll get what you asked for." With that Avery walked off just managing to contain his sniggers leaving the boy standing at attention.
Pavel assumed that Avery had gone to fetch what he'd asked for and he stayed on the spot the lieutenant had left him. He'd been there a while when Scotty came down to the shuttlebay and noticed Pavel standing to the side fidgeting impatiently. Wondering what was going on he walked over to the teen, "What are ye doing laddie?"
Pavel jumped in surprise and spun to face the CEO, "I vas just vaiting for Lieutenant Awery sor."
"Didn't Ah send ye off tae help Simmons?"
"Aye sor but he sent me to ask for a long stand."
Scotty instantly realised what the lieutenants had done and, feeling sorry for the obliviously innocent boy, took it upon himself to break the news, "Laddie, how long ago did ye ask Avery for a long stand?"
"About fifteen minutes ago sor."
Scotty sighed, "Laddie, I hate tae break this tae ye but when Simmons sent ye for a long stand he didn't actually mean a piece of equipment."
He watched the expression change on the boy's face as he realised exactly what had happened and then gave him a look very akin to a kicked puppy, "You mean zat ven zey said ask for a long stand zey were actually…"
"Aye lad."
Scotty clapped a hand on the crestfallen teen's shoulder, "It's an old prank laddie and you're not the first tae fall for it and ye'll no be the last. Ah remember when it happened tae me, Ah was stood there for almost an hour before Ah realised what they'd done so dinnae worry about. How about Ah show ye some of the more complex workings of the warp core tae make up for it."
Pavel visibly perked up, "Sank you sor."
Scotty smiled and they both headed off to the warp core leaving the incident behind them. Unfortunately it wasn't long before Hikaru heard all about it and it was still a favourite story for him to bring up.