B'Elanna growled in frustration as one of the cleaning crews came back covered in a filthy muck that she was sure couldn't have come from the EPS conduit they had been assigned. And the smell...
"What in hell happened?" she asked them as she motioned for them to set down their equipment.
"Somehow-we still haven't figured it out and we've been going over it for the last ten minutes-somehow there was four liters of Serillian tlis-mud in one of the Jeffries tubes. We had to go into it to gain access to EPS conduit number jc4783," Ensign Pratell said in disgust.
"How did it get there?" B'Elanna's voice was dangerously edged.
"Like Pratell said, we aren't sure. There was no indication that anyone had been in there for months, maybe even a few years," Lieutenant Benor said dispiritedly. He tried to wipe some of the mud off of his uniform, but he just succeeded in making it even worse.
B'Elanna suddenly saw the funny side in their situation, and it was all she could do to keep from laughing out loud. "Why don't you two go to your quarters and get cleaned up. I'll send another crew to take care of the mess in-which tube?" she managed to say somberly.
"J25d8, sir," Benor told her.
"All right then. Go on, go to your quarters," she ordered them.
"Yes, sir," the two engineers said. They walked carefully out of Engineering, trying not to drip the ripe smelling stuff every where.
Once they were gone, B'Elanna allowed herself a good laugh. She hadn't really had time for that during the last few days. They were two days away from Earth, and B'Elanna was determined that Voyager would look as good as possible, inside and out. That meant extra stress for her and the other engineers.
Finally, once her amusement was under control, B'Elanna picked up a padd and read over the list of off-duty crewmen. There weren't many, and most of those were asleep. She chose two that were listed as on a meal break, and tapped her combadge. "Ensigns Yero and Jasdir, report to Engineering for duty," she said. She really hated to do this, but somebody had to clean up the mess.
B'Elanna went back to the realignment of the warp core matrices, which had been affected by the transwarp travel-again. It was one of the few things that she could count on happening on Voyager these days.
She was almost finished when the drafted ensigns arrived. They looked annoyed and resigned, which she thought was just as well. She knew they were willing to do whatever it took to make them all look good when they arrived at Earth. Engineers had a certain pride, after all...
She smiled at them apologetically. "Pratell and Benor discovered a few liters of Serillian mud in a Jefferies tube. I need you two to clean up after them," she said.
Yero blanched. She had been one of twenty unfortunate crewmembers to stumble into a lake of the stuff three years before, and she obviously wasn't looking forward to encountering it again. However, she swallowed and nodded. "Aye, sir. I'll get started right away," she promised.
B'Elanna nodded back and returned to her work. She hoped that there wouldn't be any more disasters that day, because she really wanted to see Tom and the girls. She had been working for the last two shifts, and she needed rest.
B'Elanna didn't manage to get out of Engineering for another shift, thanks to the discovery of a network of circuits on Deck 8 that had been fused together somehow.
"Why is it that we're just discovering all of this now?" she muttered to Susan Nicoletti, who was helping her carefully separate the circuits.
"Because we always had bigger problems to worry about," Sue replied.
B'Elanna shook her head. "Not always. This must have happened months ago, and yet we just found out about it," she pointed out.
"It wasn't affecting any of the primary or secondary systems, and it's relatively small," Sue replied as she pulled yet another wire away from the bundle.
B'Elanna had to admit that she was right. At least it hadn't been too damaging to the rest of the systems. "Remind me to have Vorik scan for similar bundles. Leaving some of this unattended would make us look sloppy," she said absently.
"We wouldn't want that, would we?" Sue asked. They shared a smile and kept on working.
B'Elanna got to her quarters later tired, hot, and uncomfortable after sitting in one position for so long. What she saw when she walked in made that all seem to disappear, though.
Tom was sitting in a chair with A'Lehsen and S'Ehra in his lap. He had obviously been reading to them. They were all fast asleep.
B'Elanna tip-toed over and shook Tom's shoulder gently. "Tom," she whispered. She brushed a lock of dark blond hair off his forehead. He looked so handsome.
Tom stirred a little, although not enough to disturb the twins. "B'Elanna? You done in Engineering?" he asked sleepily.
"For now, at least. We'll get as much as possible done in the next day or so," she said wearily. She picked up S'Ehra, being careful not to wake her up. Tom stood up slowly with A'Lehsen still in his arms.
"You need to get more sleep, 'Lanna," he said quietly as they tucked in their daughters.
"I know that, Tom. Believe me, I know. But I want Voyager to be in perfect condition when we get to Earth," she said as they went to their own room.
"That's impossible. 'Lanna, no one's going to fault you for having to cut a few corners. They'll know what we've gone through the last nine years," he said as he watched her shuck her uniform and get dressed for bed. He thought that he had never seen her more beautiful than at that moment, her stomach swollen with his children. Of course, B'Elanna would never agree. He just didn't understand women sometimes.
"Maybe. I just want this ship to be one everyone can be proud of," B'Elanna said. She climbed into bed and slid under the light blanket. Tom joined her, and she let herself revel in the feel of his strong arms around her.
Tom laughed softly. "B'Elanna, we are proud of this ship. Look at how much she's been through, and yet she's managed to get us home," he said.
"Thanks to you and me. Without your piloting skills and my engineering skills, this ship would have fallen apart a long time ago," B'Elanna said smugly. She was quiet for a few moments. "You're right, I guess. Voyager is already a ship we can be proud of. We're as ready as we're ever going to be," she added with a yawn.