When Boredom Strikes (Silken)

[jsneill]

John breathed in the stale air of the ship. He was back, again. It had been a while since he was last here, over a month, in fact. He would have to catch up with Maddy at some point, cook her a meal or something, get in some more use of his French which had grown a little rusty while not being used.

There were several new crew members on board, all of which had been subjected to one of R4's attacks now, with the latest one being while the crew were having their medical check up. They were getting bolder and more determined to finish the crew off. They wouldn't let it happen though, not if they could help it.

John was supposed to liaise with another government official on board, Sean Irvine, a telepath. Anna McAdam would soon be bringing in a Major Davis for questioning if all went to plan. John and Sean would question him when the time came. For now, he had down time on board.

Sitting in the common room, he was leaning back on one of the couches, his feet up, a crime novel in his lap. He could feel himself drifting off. Life was so slow these days. Where were all the criminals hiding? If it didn't pick up soon, he was going to find himself stealing pencils for the hell of it, cheating people out of their free dinners or something else completely ridiculous.

Letting out a sigh, he let his head roll back and looked upwards, directly into the face of a woman. "Hel-lo there," he said, a grin spilling onto his face, "that was a nice surprise."

[s]

Silken Floss was walking past the Common room and merely glanced inside when something caught her eye. A strikingly handsome man in a suite. She passed once before making a U-turn and sauntering into the room.

She pretended to walk over to a magazine rack and start thumbing through them when she heard him speak and a curved smile played on her lips. She turned her hips as she looked over at him, knowing her body wouldn't be more on display if she were nude, and tilted her head, making her hair fall to one side.

"Hello..." She purred back, her hips swiveling only slightly, "A surprise? What surprise?"

She loved surprises...

[jsneill]

This woman was sexy and she knew it. Her whole outfit was designed around accentuating her assets. He couldn't not flirt, not even if he wanted to.

"You entering the room, of course," he said, sitting up properly and looking round at her, a smile still present on his face. "I don't know what a woman like you is doing on a ship like this, but I'm certainly not complaining."

"John Neill," he offered her a hand, "and you are?"

[s]

Silken walked over to him and took his hand, grasping it delicately in her own. She continued to stand over him, one of her voluptuous hips jutting to the side. She smiled down on him.

"I'm Silken, just a Tech for this ship, looking after the maintenance of the ships boosters and cannons. But usually I’m a weapons specialist.” She thought about sitting beside him but decided she'd wait until the seat was offered. Men liked to at least pretend they were gentlemen with her. (That was before they jumped into bed that is.)

"It's nice to meet you."

[jsneill]

John felt strangely demeaned sitting while Silken towered over him, so as she went to take his hand, he stood, feeling more comfortable that way. It wasn't a reflection on her, he felt better shaking her hand while on his feet.

"Silken," he repeated, "there's a name with a story behind it." He nodded when she said that she was a techie. She didn't look like one, but then, who said people had to fit to stereotypes?

"It's nice to meet you too," he said, gesturing for her to take a seat. "I'm a liaison for the government on criminal affairs," he reciprocated, "utilising my experience for the greater good."

[s]

Silk pulled her hand away last, sitting when he indicated for her to take a seat. She liked what she saw and so far she liked the way he behaved. Her smile remaining on her lips, she crossed one booted leg over the other, showing off her thighs.

”Oh I’ve got a lot of stories. But if you want to know my father named me after his favorite comic book lady. He was into those old time movies and things. My first name’s Silken and my middle name’s Floss, after a girl in the Spirit.” Silk liked her name even if it was unusual, ”Most everybody just calls me Silk though.”

When he said what he was there for she nodded and her expression grew a little more serious. ”Well it’s a good thing you’re here then. Someone’s been tampering with the ship equipment and it doesn’t seem to be just some idiot not knowing what they’re doing either.”

[jsneill]

Parents should rarely be allowed to choose names, or they should have to be vetted first before given to a child so that the kid stood a better chance of not being bullied. He had never been a big fan of his real name, but he liked his current name - of course he did, he'd chosen it. "I'll stick with Silk."

Silken wasn't afraid of showing herself off, and although he was a typical man and was of course attracted to that, she'd have to try a bit harder if she wanted to stand a chance of getting further than just chatter.

"Oh really?" he said, actually intrigued, "no one's already tried looking into who could be doing it?"

[s]

"I've told a few people. But I don't think i'm being taken seriously. I'll show you what I mean if you'd like? I found something strange yesterday in one of the engineering rooms. It's got a lot of the controls and access to the ships cannons."

She was actually hoping this guy would go with her, not because she wanted to take him somewhere dark and secluded but because there really was something off about what she'd found. It wasn't enough to put together a strong case that someone on the ship was messing around, but it was strange enough that Silken knew there was something wrong.

Unfortunately crew members like Silken didn't get to just walk up to the Captain and say 'Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?'

Silk hated authority anyway.

[jsneill]

John knew why people wouldn't take her seriously, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to. People like Silk usually had some sort of reason for the way there were, he wasn't even close to being in the realms of being able to ask about it, but maybe, someday.

Seeing as he was already on his feet, he offered her a hand up, saying, "lead the way."

As they walked down the corridor, he actively watched the amount of heads turning in Silk's direction, and shook his head slightly.

"I'm surprised no one's dived on you yet," he commented.

[s]

Taking his hand, Silk got to her feet and headed out into the hall. She lead the way, aware of the way people looked at her, men lustfully, women critically, it was all something she was used to and now she basked in it.

Turning back to look at him, she merely shrugged, "I've had a few try." She thought about the only one who'd ever come close and how he just happened to be on the ship as well, and he was also a liaison.

Reaching a room she swiped her finger over the panel that allowed her access. One had to access to this room, which made the situation all the more strange.

The room hummed and buzzed with energy a soft light coming from the wall panels. "It's over here." Silken said.

Crossing the room she grabbed hold of a handle, twisted and pulled upward. There was the sound of air decompressing and slowly a rack of wires and electronic panels came into view. She then went to the next and did the same. The two looked identical.

"Notice anything strange?" She asked, indicating John should come over to her for closer inspection.

[jsneill]

Tried and not succeeded. So, she did have standards. That was something to commended. Her mood was more somber now that it had been when she'd first entered the common room. It was either because she was focused, or there was something else on her mind.

"Following," he said, letting her guide the way seeing as she knew where she was going and what she was doing. Pulling out the panels, he walked over to get a better look, and jutted out his bottom lip, staring at both of them.

"You'll have to forgive me, I was an Art History student," he said, "the art of the control panel alludes me."

Honestly, he couldn't tell that anything was wrong at all. How little he knew when it came to something outside of his trade. If she'd asked him what was the major flaw in a certain heist then he would have come out the answer almost straight away. But looking at stuff like this reminded him why he stayed away from stuff outside his spectrum of knowledge.

[s]

Silken smirked. She supposed someone who didn't know what they were looking for wouldn't see it. She reached for one of the panels and pulled it out. It slipped out and the lights on it turned off. She then grabbed the same panel from the other shelf and held it out for inspection.

They were both tinted green with a series of lights on them. For the most part they were identical, but the color was slightly different and each bore a different makers mark.

"They're the same panel, made for the same function. But they're made by different companies. For the most part it's not a big deal, perhaps a little dangerous. The strange thing is one of the panels is cheaper. I'm fairly certain the people that own this ship wouldn't use cheap materials." She turned the panels over, "This darker one is more worn, like the others. This cheap one is new. These things last a lifetime. They shouldn't need to be changed. But someone's been changing these panels..."

[jsneill]

John returned her smirk. "I'll trust you on all accounts," he said, looking at the panels more closely to see the differences which she mentioned, and she was right, they weren't the same panels.

"Why would someone do something like this?" he asked. He wasn't exactly up to date on the motives of engineers. "Do you think it's one of the crew playing a joke or professional sabotage?"

Depending on her answer, he would investigate it further in one of two ways. He already knew who on board were pranksters and would try something, or if it was professional, he'd have to launch a formal investigation. Fun.

[s]

Silken smiled fully, glad that someone was taking her seriously. She moved to place the panels back into their slots. "If it's a joke its not a very funny one. Like I said these light green ones are cheap. If they all stop working then the blasters wont work like they're supposed to. Something not good in the heat of battle."

She shrugged then. "The dark green ones are expensive. Someone might be stealing them to sell them? Or maybe they've got more sinister ideas in mind. Some time back I found a bulb that had been tampered with in the transporter machine. It could have killed someone if that particular console had been used before I got to it. I told William Blake, the Chief Engineer about it and I think he was gonna look into it..." She didn't mention that Will kind of got distracted when she kissed him and his girlfriend walked in and got upset.

[jsneill]

A frown crossed his features. ”So, they obviously have a motive,” he said, running hand up into his hair for a moment, before letting it fall back to his side again. It definitely sounded a lot more like sabotage. ”Chances are that the person who switched out the panel and tampered with the bulb are long gone by now,” he said, figuring they wouldn’t be stupid enough to stay on board the ship and get caught, ”but I can certainly look at the logs, security footage, launch an investigation,” with or without the help of the rest of the crew.

Stepping back from the panel he looked back at Silk, she seemed pleased that someone was listening to her. He smiled. ”So, Ms. Hernandez, would you rather I left you to your business, or would you like to go somewhere and talk?”