Lieutenant Commander Garek Loran walked out of Main Engineering and in to the corridors of the Arizona. This was his first time onboard the ship since the away mission to "New Canada", and he was pleased with his engineering team on the job they accomplished. Garek rubbed his hands against the corridor wall, nearly feeling the vibration of the warp core through the small vessel. Rounding a corner, he stepped in to the small mess hall. Its tables were aligned in the center of the room, with a few along the sides. The replicator had a small line of people in front of it, waiting patiently for their meals
Garek could see a few smiles on the faces of the crewman as they selected their choices. Obviously, they were not expecting to see such choices as chicken a la king and roast duck on the menu. The Arizona was a ship of war, but the small delights of home were needed to make their patrols better. His turn came, and he grabbed a quick sandwich and sat down. This was only to be a quick stop before returning to Deck 4 to work on the sensor masking systems. If all went well, they would be invisible to practically everything but the human eye. There was only one way to test this though, and he'd know if he did a good job when they finally encountered the Wellington. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Petty Officer Murphy at one of the tables against the wall. Garek made his way over, and took a seat. "Afternoon Murphy."
"Sir," Murphy replied. He turned his attention away from the PADD in his hand, to the chief engineer across from him. It was obvious enough that Murphy was tired. His body language screamed it. That, along with his empathic abilities, Garek was sure this was the case.
"Tired?" Garek asked.
Woodrow laughed. "You can kind of say that. There's still a few problems with the systems that we have to work out. The inertial dampners are still a little slow on compensating, along with some of the Z-axis manuevering vents and short range sensor systems." He rubbed his eyes and moved his hands from his eyes around towards the back of his neck, rubbing it. "I figure that we'll have them running within the next five or six hours."
"Tell you what," Garek looked over his PADD and then at Woodrow. "I'll pick up the dampners and sensors if you can get those thrusters going to one hundred percent. The masking system should be online within the hour, and I'll have time to pick up these tasks."
"Really?" Woodrow asked, seeming as though a weight was lifted off his shoulders. "It's a deal. I just need to get a quick nap or something."
"It's not a problem. Thrusters first though." Garek raised a finger at the engineer. "Otherwise I tell Commander Wallace you're neglecting your duties."
Woodrow grinned. "Deal. When can I ever do anything for you?"
Garek laughed. "Believe me, I'll have you cash in your debts later. Get to work on those thrusters."
"Yes sir." Murphy finished his coffee, and made his way out of the mess hall.
"Forgot my..." Cadet Ethan Razek stated as he came back through the mess hall door. He looked over to where he had been sitting, and there was Garek instead. "Commander! I didn't expect to see you here."
Garek shrugged. "Neither did I, but you got to eat sometime, don't you?" He smiled.
"Yes sir," Ethan replied. "I was wondering, sir, did you find a PADD laying around here?"
"This one?" Garek asked, producing a PADD from the table. It had Cadet Ethan Razek displayed on the screen.
"That's the one." Ethan looked at Garek. "If you don't mind me asking, sir, could you show me that power of yours?"
Garek winced slightly. He didn't see this mysterious happening as a power, nor did he want to. Garek was reviewing his family tree, and was still trying to figure out where this strange ability had come from, but his search was to no avail. At least, it wasn't yet. "Alright, just this once." Closing his eyes, he focused his attention on Ethan's PADD that he put on the table. The PADD was present, in his mind, sitting on the mental projection of a table. Slowly, he invisioned himself lifting the PADD, and giving it to Ethan.
Ethan watched as the PADD lifted slowly from the table, and floated towards him. He looked at Garek, and saw him with his eyes closed, small beads of perspiration forming near his hair line. The PADD floated and stopped within his reach. He extended his arm and took the PADD from its hovering position in front of him. Garek opened his eyes, to see a smile on Ethan's face.
"Thank you Commander."
"Of course Cadet. Just try to restrain yourself when asking to see this demonstration. It's not as easy as it looks." Garek wiped the sweat off his forhead, and took a sip of his coffee.
"Sorry sir. I won't ask again. Thank you for the PADD." Ethan turned, and made his way out of the mess hall.