Selling the Job
Posted on Sun 19th Sep, 2021 @ 9:44pm by Chief Petty Officer Larry Kersenboom (Ret.)
Edited on on Sun 1st May, 2022 @ 11:11pm
1,184 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
A Good Day to Hunt
Location: Larry Kersenboom's Quarters, Perry Gardens
Timeline: MD-7, 1330 hours
Larry set down the last of several cold beers in front of his guests who were all seated at his kitchen table. They included Marie, Chris, and Renee from his gaming group, as well as another friend, Jake. All three of his fellow gamers had served under Larry in Starfleet before his retirement. Jake was a fellow resident of Perry Gardens who Larry had befriended as they had groused about Durant's shop being gone.
"I guess you're all wondering why I've called you here today," Larry began.
"Since you didn't explain anything when you called--yeah," Renee said as she popped the lid off her beer. She lifted the bottle of Shiner Bock in a toast-making gesture. "But since you're serving real beer today, you've got my attention. What's up?"
Larry popped a can of synth-ale and sat down with them. "I need help. There's a ... community service project I'd like to do down in Brown Sector. I've looked it over. It's a mess. While I really am just that good, I only have two hands, and I need eight or ten. I think we can handle it, but we won't be able to do it by Starfleet regs."
Marie arched an eyebrow at him. "What's Brown Sector?"
"I notice you're dragging your heels telling us what the job is," Chris pointed out. "That tells me it must be bloody awful. Out with it."
Larry sipped from his ale and leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. "Brown Sector is four decks lower down on the station. The top two are the original Brown Sector, and the lower two are called the Zodiac, after a casino that was built down there and abandoned. It's been taken over by a bunch of squatters. Brown Sector was set aside as decks for people who needed to be evacuated from various disasters, wars, whatever. There's a lot of Bajorans, some Sentallians, some species I never heard of. The Zodiac part is pretty freewheeling. It has its own economy. It's a hodge-podge of shacks and what-not, and the remains of the casino have been taken over and converted into living space. The Brown Sector part is a lot more orderly."
"If they were evacuees, why weren't they transported on to wherever their new homes were suppoed to be?" Marie asked.
"They were--until Starfleet gave control of 109 to the Civilian Defense Authority during the Dominion War," Jake explained. "The FCDA didn't do well by the evacuated folks. It shut down large parts of the base and pretty much left those people to their own devices. Starfleet was too busy fighting the Dominion War to look after them. So, for a good twenty years, people in Brown Sector lived, got married, had children, and began raising families there. An entire generation has grown up regarding Brown Sector as their home, and they don't want to leave. When Starfleet took back control of the base a few years ago, the Brown Sector folks wanted nothing to do with them."
Chris gave Jake a curious look. "How do you know so much about it?"
"I lived here way back then. I did maintenance for those decks, in fact," Jake said. "I like this base; it's why I decided to retire here." He glanced at Larry. "So spit it out. What's this 'community service project' you want our help with?"
"You familiar with a big old ventilation shaft that goes down into the Zodiac decks?"
"Oh, yeah. Monster of a thing. What's the problem with it?"
"There's an A/C blockage; looks like it's been there for years. The ambient temperature is way above normal near the vent. The drip pan overflowed, so now it's got mold and some kind of gob-tastic sludge growing in there."
Jake stared at Larry. "You are effing nuts. That means the shaft, that entire section of paneling and maybe the deck plating, too, will have to be removed, laser-cleaned, the blockage cleared, and everything put back."
"That's what I told the guy--Renato--down there," Larry replied. "Then he pointed out to me all the people living in that area. It'd destroy their homes.
There's no place to move them to while the shaft is cleaned."
"What do you mean, nowhere to move them to?" Renee demanded. "This starbase is huge, Larry! There's plenty of room to house a few dozen people for a couple of weeks while this is dismantled and replaced, and their homes could be rebuilt. Also--why isn't Starfleet doing this? I heard what Jake said about them being pissed at Starfleet, but come on!"
"I don't think they want Fleeties fixing their problems," Larry said, "even if we're ex-Fleeties. You should've seen the ruckus a few days ago when Security went down there looking for a criminal. It was darn-near a riot. They had to have the Second Officer of the base get on the PA system to calm things down. Also--You'd think it would only be a few dozen people. Think again. It's like a hoarding situation down there. Think more like a couple or three hundred people in that same space. They build shacks on top of shacks."
Marie winced. "That is so against building code."
"Yeah, it is, but one problem at a time," Larry agreed.
"So you want us to do this monumental cleaning job, gratis, because we're such awesome people?" Chris inquired.
"You're my awesome team," Larry said. "What better things do you have to do? Clean house? Pick navel lint? Watch your beard grow?"
"I was thinking more like enjoying my retirement--you know, visiting the base museums, exploring the Promenade, taking up golf. loafing in my underpants, watching holovids, spending quality time with my wife..."
"You can still do those things. Just shower first," Larry said.
"You know, it would be kind of like old times," Renee said. Her eyes lit with glee. "Besides, I can just see us, all decked out in gray coveralls, carrying all sorts of weird equipment, just like the Ghostbusters."
"Now that could be fun!" Chris said. "So--Moldbusters? Slimebusters? They did go after slime, right?"
Marie shook her head. "Doesn't scan as well. Go with Sludgebusters. We're busting sludge, right, along with the mold and slime?" She grinned. "We ain't 'fraid of no sludge."
Jake chuckled and leaned back in his chair, considering it. "I'm in, if you all are. But let me design the coveralls." He took out a PADD and stylus and began hastily sketching. In moments, he slid the PADD over to Larry. "What do you think?"
Larry glanced at the screen and laughed. "Okay, we've gotta do this. Make them regulation hazmat suits, with standard air filtration and purifiers. We might have people from Brown Sector helping out, but unless they're HVAC certified, they're not going up the shaft. Before we start replicating coveralls, let me take you all down there and show you the shaft. If that doesn't make you bail out, then Operation Sludgebusters is a go."
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