Mistaken Identity

Posted on Thu Jan 6th, 2011 @ 8:52pm by Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Mantell

Mission: Hippocratic Hijacking
Location: Deck 2
Timeline: A few hours after "Getting Underway"

"Hey, what are you doing in there?"

The abrupt question shook the boy from his focus, startling him so much that he began to get up, only to smack his head into the low ceiling. The voice came from outside the Jefferies tube, from a young gold-shirted crewmember who peered down the horizontal shaft. Jack looked squarely at the man, wincing at the pain in his head. He lifted a hand to rub the region of his scalp; it was sure to be bruised tomorrow morning. He was happy to live with it, the boy didn't plan on making another trip back to sickbay so soon. Squinting, he could make out the price tag-shaped box that denoted the rates of enlisted crewmembers, but it was too far away for him to make out the gold-shirt's rank. On a quick judge from the gold-shirt's appearance, he wasn't going to be making Chief anytime soon.

"I said, 'what are you doing in there?'" the man repeated, irritation growing in his voice. The standard issue Engineering briefcase meant the gold-shirt wasn't security, but that certainly didn't preclude him from calling for his phaser-wielding comrades.

"I'm disconnecting my sonic shower," the Miran boy replied casually, shrugging as he turned back to the open panel in the side of the tube, raising the decoupler to the ODN relay in the wall.

"Stop that!" the gold-shirt cried, causing Jack to turn toward him again. A second later the man asked, "Who are you?"

"Isn't it obvious?" The boy called Jack fired back, glancing down at his chest. A single utterance of 'oh' escaped his lips as he realized why the crewmember couldn't place him. Removing his uniform jacket, shoes, socks and shirt was as far as the boy had gotten to a bath before realizing that his quarters were equipped with the same, standard sonic shower as the rest of the ship. Wearing only his uniform trousers and sleeveless undershirt, with his combadge still fastened to the jacket left draped over a chair in his quarters, he finally understood the gold-shirt's confusion. "I guess it isn't. I'm Commander Mantell, the Executive Officer?"

"Is that so? Even if you are, don't you need Lieutenant Rixx' permission to work in this section?" The gold-shirt didn't believe him. That was painted so vividly on the man's face that his comment was mere overkill. It was probably expected, over half the crew was unaware that their ship's second in command was a Miran. The sight of a half-clothed little boy inside a Jefferies tube probably gave the Engineer a more-than-qualifying reason to summon security to deal with the situation. The disadvantage of the size and purpose of the Prometheus class vessels all but forbade them to convey families with them, unlike the larger, general-purpose starships like the Galaxy or Luna classes. A child on such a ship would be out of place in the Jefferies tube, but no cause for great alarm. Here, it was enough for the gold-shirt to have already tapped his combadge and uttered the condemning words, "Security to Deck 2, Section 5."

Rolling his eyes, Jack let out a sigh. Shaking his head, he turned back to the relay, raising the decoupler once again to cries of protest from outside the tube.

"Stop, I said!"

"Or what, you'll shoot me?" Jack quipped. He turned once more to his work, only to be interrupted again. Such was the curse of lacking his own department anymore. Engineers never used to question him.

"Stop it right there, drop what you're holding and come on out of there. Slowly." The cavalry had finally arrived. Curse the gold-shirt for calling security, now it was going to be late before Jack finally had the opportunity to take a real bath. Frustrated by the abeyance of his work, the boy nevertheless began to crawl toward the opening, hoping to resolve the matter quickly. Climbing out of the tube, the boy planted his uncovered feet on the deck, crossing his bare arms in front of him.

"Problem, gentlemen?" the boy asked, trying as hard as he could to hide a grin. The two security officers who had arrived could very well march him down to the brig for questioning if he rubbed them the wrong way.

"Sure is, kid," one began, a tall brute of a Terran-looking man, pointing his finger directly at Jack, "Who the hell are you and how did you get on this ship? And where did you get those clothes?"

Putting his hands in front of him, palms outstretched, the boy tried to calm the hostility directed his way. "Relax, guys, I'm the ship's XO. My name is Commander Jack Mantell."

"Uh-huh," said the other, "we'll see about that. Computer, who is this ship's Executive Officer?"

[Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Mantell is the Executive Officer of this vessel.]

"Well, you got one part right," the gold-shirted security officer conceded. "Now let's try something else. Computer, locate Commander Mantell."

[Lieutenant Commander Mantell is in his quarters on Deck 2.]

Whoops. So leaving his combadge in his haste to get this little project started might not have been the best of ideas. Still, even without his red shirt, his rank pips or his combadge, Jack wasn't entirely without options. His expression rose and the boy whipped his hand behind his back, plunging it into his rear pocket. A mere second later, the Miran was staring in the face of two blunt-tipped phasers. "Whoa, guys, relax. I'm just looking for my..." He dug his hand deeper into his pocket, finding nothing but lint. A wry chuckle escaped his lips as he tried to smile innocently. "It's gotta be here," Jack explained as he dipped both his hands into his front pockets, then the rear pockets. Each time, they came up empty. "Heh, well, I guess I left my ID there, too."

"Nice try, kid," the first security officer said, reaching out his other hand to grab Jack's arm. Twisting it behind him roughly, eliciting a cry from the boy, the security officer planted his phaser in the middle of the boy's back. "Move it," he commanded harshly, placing his boots on either side of the Miran's bare feet to force the child into a walk.

As the two gold-collared security officers forcibly frog marched the boy down the corridor, Jack lifted his head to the ceiling, suddenly remembering. "Computer, recognize Jack Mantell, authorization Mantell-Omicron-3-4-9-Beta."

The seconds seemed to pass in agony. Jack placed first one foot down, then another. The phaser in his back retreated, though the Miran could nearly feel the second officer's weapon hadn't left its aim at his side. The man behind him snaked his free hand around the boy's face, coming to rest his hand on Jack's mouth, muzzling him. He reached his free hand up to the restraining appendage, but no amount of tugging or pulling would lodge the man's hand loose.

[Authorization accepted. Identity confirmed, Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Mantell.]

The security officers stopped, causing Jack to lurch forward before he was caught by the pull on his arm and head. He felt them loosening, the security officer's grip relaxing as the two gold-shirts looked at each other in confusion. While his captors were distracted, the boy slipped out of the big man's hold. Turning about, he grinned with childish satisfaction, "Ha! I guess you guys didn't think of that."

Dancing around the pair, the boy continued taunting them as he backpedaled down the corridor, "Well, it's been fun, boys, but I need to get back to my project," he said, throwing his thumb over his shoulder to illustrate the direction. Jack turned and began walking back to the Jefferies tube, calling over his shoulder, "We'll have to do this again sometime."

When the pair of security officers were out of sight, the boy lurched into a sprint. He instinctively rubbed his arm as he flew past doors and corridor junctions, trying to sooth the reddening skin and erase the soreness. Jack arrived back at the Jefferies tube entrance with no sign of the Engineering gold-shirt who had been there before. Ducking into the tunnel's entrance, the Miran spotted the young crewmember working at the ODN panel the boy had been operating on just minutes before.

"Hey, get out here. I need you to do something for me." Jack was surprised to find himself yelling, full of confidence inspired by his near-disastrous encounter with the ship's security. He made a mental note to never forget his combadge again.

"But sir, Lieutenant Rixx ordered me to recalibrate this ODN relay to handle a conferencing system between the three Engineerings."

See? That could have been my idea, the boy thought wistfully. It still irritated him that his first command assignment was on a brand new starship, devoid of all the tinkerings and changes made by any previous engineers. "Lieutenant Rixx won't mind, I'm sure of it."

When the gold-shirt climbed out, Jack could finally make out the identification on the man's collar. "Petty Officer..."

"Macy, sir. Petty Officer 3rd Class Garth Macy," the Engineer recited without missing a beat.

"Mr. Macy, then. I need you to go down to Cargo Bay 1 and activate the material replicator, Starfleet specification 6-3-dash-4-5-7-J," the boy instructed, citing the replicator code from memory.

"May I ask why, sir?"

Jack grinned at the man, the thought of his project's completion warming his cheeks. He rubbed his hands together excitedly as he articulated his plans, "Why else? I want a bathtub."