"Okay, let's do one more test run of the HPLC," Jenara said as she saw the readouts. The new piece of equipment had not been calibrated properly before it was installed aboard the Hornet, and she'd spent the better part of the day. The columns supplied for the high-performance liquid chromatograph were the wrong size, and no pressurized helium had been supplied. Jenara had spent most of the morning just waiting for Engineering to deliver a tank of helium so she could at least get that much hooked up!
Finally, Yeoman Sanders had found the proper size chromatography column (in a packing crate marked 'MESS SUPPLIES') and the two of them had installed it. The test run was starting smoothly, but both of them were on edge after such a difficult morning. Sanders turned abruptly and knocked one of the other columns they'd tried onto the floor!
"Damn! I'm such a klutz! I'm sorry, Lieutenant, I'll clean it up--"
"Relax, Sanders," Jenara said, sensing her technician's frustration. "It wasn't even the right size column! Just get it off the deck, and we'll see if we can't revalidate it later."
"Okay," she said as she picked up the column and set it on the lab bench. "I don't know why I did that!"
"You're frustrated, and you're tired. And quite frankly, so am I. Something this easy should not have been this much trouble! Let's get some coffee and stop for a moment. This run's going to take a while, anyway."
As they left the lab, Jenara's combadge chimed. [Sickbay to Lieutenant Chee. I need a second opinion on the autopsy of the bodies from the surface. I'm told you have experience with xenomorph dissections.]
Jenara grimaced at the thought of the last autopsy she'd performed, on a T'rais many years ago. Has it been that long? she thought. "On my way, Doctor."