Ensign Lephi: Is it Valuable Though?

[Lael Rosek-Skyfire]

This came from our newest Engineer on the Atlantis and it cracked me up. 😂 Hope you all enjoy as much as I did.

((Security Director’s Office, Mephinii Spaceport, Illara Prime))
 

Lephi made her way way back over to the console, working away on her PADD as she went and muttering to herself about the faces on the screen in front of her. As she set it down to inspect the environmental controls she heard Yogan speak up.
 

Yalu:  Thoron particles.
 

Ganarvuss: What about them?
 

Yalu:  There are very faint residual thoron particles in the room.  ::sweeping his tricorder in a wide arc at hip-level::  Thoron radiation has a pretty short half-life, but I’m definitely reading decaying thorium isotopes right around here.
 

Lephi: Thoron particles? Any chance the readings are picking up on older radiation?
 

Anyone: response(s)?
 

Yalu:  If a medical thoron generator was used, the rate of decay would suggest it was fairly recent.
 

Brex: ::brow furrows:: Could this be connected to the projector your Ensign Lephi spoke of earlier?
 

oO Is this how it's going to be while I'm an Ensign? I'm standing right here! Ask me! Oo 
 

Lephi tried to shake the rage she felt at being ignored and talked about like she wasn't in the room at all. It brought back many memories of females trying to integrate into regular society on Ferenginar. 
 

Logan: response
 

Yalu:  I’m not sure.  I’ve only ever used a thoron generator for medical treatments.  What else could it be used for?
 

Lephi continued to work away at the console. It wasn't exactly the most user friendly for a Ferengi, but she was making it work as best she could. She looked up at Yogan to answer his question.
 

Ganarvuss: Blocking our scans. Thoron radiation can interfere with tricorder functions. It doesn’t have to be concentrated, just unexpected. The question is what were they hiding?
 

Lephi: Yeah, it's a real pain in the lobes to try to get accurate information from the readings with that stuff floating around.
 

Immediately after Gararvuss spoke, the room was plunged into a momentary darkness.  
 

Lephi: When it thloppers it really glebbens. We've got to get these systems functioning again.
 

Logan: Responses
 

Ganarvuss: What’s the situation with the environmental controls, Lephi?
 

Lephi: There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the actual controls that I can tell. It seems that there's some fluctuations in the power that might be having an impact causing it to get warmer since the system can't constantly monitor like normal. 
 

Logan: Response
 

Ganarvuss: Could someone be tampering with the power grid?
 

Lephi: It's definitely possible. No offense to the people of the Freeworlds, but system security doesn't appear to be a strong suit.
 

Logan: Responses
 

Lephi turned her attention back to the console in front of her. If someone was tampering with the system they were either too stupid to siphon a continuous amount, or they were stealing power for something in bursts to try to remain under the radar. Either way, she was determined to figure out the secrets the system held.
 

Ganarvuss: Give me the short list of our suspects. I don’t think time is on our side.
 

Lephi looked up and watched as Yogan handed the PADD containing the four shortlisted names to Ensign Ganarvuss.
 

Brex: I apologize for the interruption, but this artifact. ::motions to the broken artifact:: Caught my attention. ::motions to the shelf:: It appears to be the only artifact that was disturbed in whatever ensued. Also, it is unusual in that it’s not something I would expect to find in the office of an Ilaran Security director.
 

Lephi glanced in Brex's direction to see what he was referring to. She couldn't see what all the fuss was about, the thing looked like it might fetch a few bars of latinum on the market but was otherwise not interesting to her. She still thought it strange that other species measure value so differently and subjectively.
 

She turned her attention back to her work. She was having greater success with the system since the lights flickered. It was responding to her input faster and putting up less of a hassle as she navigated through it. It didn't take her long after that to stabilize the environmental controls.
 

Lephi: Looks like whatever that power fluctuation was that turned out the lights seems to have fixed the environmental controls. 
 

Anyone: Response(s) 
 

Ganarvuss/Logan: Responses
 

Brex: Ensign Ganarvuss, there is something inside. 
 

At the mention of something being hidden inside of the artifact, Lephi's interest was peaked. People didn't hide routine items very often in her experience. She left her post at the console and headed over to get a closer look.
 

Lephi: Could it be the source of the thoron radiation?
 

Ganarvuss/Logan: Responses
 

Brex: ::shakes his head:: I can’t determine that without disturbing the artifact further and I don’t have the protective equipment to examine it properly without potentially tainting it. Does one of you perhaps have gloves of some sort?
 

Yalu:  I do.
 

Lephi watched Yogan dig out a pair of Federation standard gloves from his med kit for the Representative.
 

Yalu:  ::handing over the gloves::  Here you are.
 

Lephi: Do be careful, Brex. It might be valuable ::speech falters:: I mean, it could be important to the situation at hand here.
 

Ganarvuss/Logan: Responses
 

Brex: ::pauses:: Is it possible this is why our culprit was here?
 

Lephi: Seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through for something so small.
 

Anyone: Responses 
 

Ganarvuss/Logan: Responses
 

Lephi: Do you think it's valuable?
 

Anyone: Responses
 

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Ensign Lephi

Engineering Officer

USS Atlantis NCC-74682

A239706L10