Zzzt..zzzzt.. Various sounds of electrical work rung through the small lounge in Starbase Bravo. Recently, the tiniest little lights have been flickering off and on around the base. Not glaringly obvious, but the little things. Whether it be a bulb in a bathroom, or a light on a food vendor’s sign, they were happening. 

..and of course, Runt was assigned to it.

This is what he signed up for, though, and do the work he shall! So now here lies the cat, flat on his back (and halfway inside an open vent), ears against their skull as his clawed furry hand worked diligently on some wiring inside the shaft. If the light cursing was anything, they were not proving very successful.

The whooshing sound of the lounge door opening was followed by light steps across the carpeted deck. Williams saw an opened panel in the wall and walked across to the pair of feet sticking out. He bent down and called inside. “Hello?”

There was a very loud curse in some language, followed by a bang, and then clamoring. To sum it up; Runt got startled, hit his head, and is now crawling out of the vent to glare up at the man. “Geez, sneak up on people much?” They murmured, before sitting upright.

The glare was gone, but the tiny throbbing pain on the front of his head was very apparent. “Er..sorry. I’ve been having a long day with this—“ He gestured into the vent behind him, a teeeeeny tiiinnyy light blinking every few seconds inside of it. “—thing. What can I do for you?”

The Bajoran smiled at the original fray of muffled curses and felt sympathy at the frustrating plight of the other ensign. He gestured to the tube as he answered. “I’m Ensign Williams. The duty roster said I’m helping an Ensign M’Hark with some relay repairs in the off duty lounge.” They’re interrupted by a beep of protest followed by some sparks in the tube. “Looks like you’ve had you’re hands full already.” He looks at the caitians hands. “…or paws? SORRY, if that’s offensive it didn’t mean it that way-“

The moment ‘Duty Roster’, ‘help’, and ‘M’Hark’ were in the same sentence, the cat’s face dropped into a frown so prominent that it could rival almost anyone’s. If there’s anything Runt is, it’s expressive.

“…Greaaaaaat.” He stood upwards, tail now swaying back and forth curiously. “Yes, that’s—gods, really? Apologies. I was just very persistent that I can do this job myself.” He hisses, pinching the bridge of his snout.

“Whatever. Paws is fine, I couldn’t care less. All I care about is that you know what you’re doing.” He sticks out a hand. “Ensign M’Hark. But you can call me Runt—it’s what everyone calls me, anyways. It’s a..” There’s a small pause; almost as if the cat was deciding what to make of the Bajoran. “..pleasure to meet you.”

“Ensign Williams. My hands are at your service.” He felt a beat between their introductions, but quickly made his mind up about this cat man. He seemed like a grumpy fix it kinda guy. They were going to get along fine. “Where do we begin?”

“Mmmmmwell…” Runt held up a clawed finger, pausing the conversation.

. . . .

A little alarm went off a minute later, coming from Runt’s communicator. With one whap, he silenced the alarm. “Lunch.” He smirked. “Lunch is where we begin.”

The cat got a goofy, almost animated smile on his face as they strutted over to a small bag sitting against the wall, opening it with a flourish and pulling out something that smelt very spicy. “What?? I like lunch. It’s mandatory for a reason.” 

Williams had given him a look, but he smiled and shook his head. “You packed a lunch? Huh, cool. What is that?” He pointed at the mystery contents inside.

Runt had already been stuffing his face full, tail sporadically twitching here and there as they munched. “Mmh-” Big gulp. “A mix of things. For me, lunch is the largest meal of the day. It’s this strange internal clock my family has had: we’re barely hungry for dinner, peckish at best for breakfast, and starving at lunchtime.” As Runt spoke, he listed each aspect on his clawed fingers.

Blink blink.

“Oh! Whoops, I’m a total jerk. Do you want some? I brought a smaller portion in case I got hungrier–” As he spoke (This cat really likes to speak, it seems.), Runt dug into said bag and handed a small container to Williams.

Williams took the container and opened it. A waft of hot spice mixed with some kind of fleshy scent hit his nostrils and he blinked. “That’s… strong stuff.” Runt began eating again but watched for Williams reaction to his lunch. He looked back at the container.

It was a fibery-like pulled pork or a slow cooked roast. There were also small green spices and what looked like sliced peppers(?). He grabbed a bit with his index finger and thumb, raised it in an informal toast to Runt, then plopped it on his tongue. He chewed, then it hit him. After the first second of calm a wave of spicy hot sensation filled his mouth and he quickly swallowed.

“See? Not bad at all. It’s actually–” CRUNCH. There’s one big pepper Runt just ate. “–reaflly goffd!” The cat let out a content sigh, leaning their head back against the wall as the two ate in silence for a bit. It was a good minute before he spoke again.

“..Apologies, for being so..what’s the word, annoying? Earlier?” He plopped another bit of food into his mouth, chewing. “I tend to have, er, problems, getting to socialize with others. It’s a vise and a virtue to be more involved with my interests than connection with people.” Runt glances over. “Also, this light has been bothering me all god damn day. It’s like a flickering reminder that we’re still subject to every bit of technology’s whim.”

William’s face had gone red by this point as he finished the food and was very  careful not to touch his eyes. “I need something to fight the heat. One moment..” He stood and walked over to the replicator station in the wall.

“Milk, chilled.” A glass of the cold liquid materializes and Reon takes it greedily. He pours the drink across his burning tongue and drains it in one draft. He lets out a sigh and puts the glass back in the replicator. “Geez. What was that stuff?”

“Oh, goodness if I remember.” Runt gets up and walks over as well, speaking to the replicator. “Mango Juice. Iced.” He takes it and sips on the glass, closing their eyes and purrrrrrring ever so softly. It seemed this cat really enjoyed a good glass of juice.

“I grabbed whatever was in my small pantry. It’s what I do the majority of the time I cook my own stuff, anyways…replicators are fine and all, but I love gathering my own foods locally. It’s almost..” Runt takes a long sip of the juice. “Rewarding.”

“Can’t argue with the results. That was pretty good.” Reon walked over to one of the cushioned seats in the lounge and sat as they finished their lunch break. “You said you have a pantry in your quarters. Do you have some kind of cooking station as well?”

He almost choked on his drink at that comment, gawfing for a second. Runt had this almost uncharacteristic laugh; deep, and imposing. Brooding, even. “Nooo..oh, no. Not for an Ensign. I was able to bring my carry on from the academy; it takes up a lot of desk space, though. I just use a nearby communal area to cook.”

The kitty then glanced over at the vent, frowning. “Uuuuggghhhhh..we still have to fix that.”

“Yeah.” Reon looked at it a little hesitant. He pushed that aside and slapped his hands on his knees. “Might as well get it done sooner than later.” He stood and walked over to the jefferies tube. Inside, a few of the engineering tools Runt had been using were sticking out of an exposed panel. He poked his head inside to get a look. 

“I can try rerouting the power to clear this space you’re working on here. Let me grab my tricorder…” He pulled his head out and grabbed the folded device off his hip.

“I’ve tried that, actually.” Runt stood up, now slinking his way next to Reon. For someone who’s been in multiple jefferies tubes today, this cat had shockingly soft fur. Well kept. “I can’t figure out what the problem’s been–rerouting, rewiring, hell even replacing. Nothing’s been working. If anything, I think this may be a core issue..but I just can’t figure it out.”

There was a reason Williams had switched to security at the academy. He was having trouble thinking of a way to be of use. He opened the tricorder and took another scan of the opened panels exposed components. “A core issue. Like a problem with the station power supply? If that were the case, wouldn’t other systems through the station be affected as well?”

“See, I was thinking the same thing. But when I did an analysis on everything..nothing.” The cat frowns, looking at the tiny bulb in the shaft, grabbing it. It flickered off and on, off and on, offfff and oooonn.. “Mh. I think this sections a bust…maybe I’ll replace the bulb and see what that does.” 

Runt climbs back out of the jefferies tube, stretching. Biiiiiiiggg stretch. “Urgh, my shoulders are killing me!”

“While you’re doing that. I’m going to find an ops station and check on any flags on the power grid. It would be embarrassing if there was a much larger issue and we missed it.” Williams tucked the tricorder back onto his hip and stepped out of the lounge.

Runt watched as the man walked to go find the ops station, hesitating. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to ask to come back and chat more? Or…something. But alas, he was already off–all the cat could do was hope.

. . .

“..You have got to be kidding me.” The unscrewing of the bulb and replacing it was no issue. If anything, it was actually a very quick action to do. That didn’t make him more frustrated.

What was upsetting Runt was that somehow, with no power source or ability flicker, the damn bulb was still going.

On, off. On, off. On, off. On–you get the idea. Runt looked down at the bulb, following the patterns of the light’s flicker. No special symbol, no morse code, nothing like that.

It was just..flickering. Just there. For some reason, it was a reminder of a long time ago in his life. But why? To Runt, maybe it was a good idea to unpack later. Duty calls, after all. 

The door whooshed open again and Reon walked back into the lounge. He held a PADD which was currently displaying the power lines running throughout the deck. Like Runt, he had found no solution to the failing indicator bulbs in the Jeffers tube. He sat down by Runts exposed boots and called to him in the tube.

“I’m back. No luck at ops I’m afraid.”

All Runt could say in response was a low cat trill as they stared at the blinking bulb in his hand.

“I..don’t know what to do here, honestly.” His tail brushed against William’s head for a second (considering the caitian’s got a large tail, this was most likely an accident), as he set the blinking bulb down. “It’s flashing even when it’s not connected to *any* power. So, uhm, what the hell?” Runt tried to give a small laugh, but it sounded more like a scoff now.

“Scanned for any anomalies?” Williams asked, gently pushing the feline’s tail down.

“..Mmh. I’ve scanned for any anomalies or anything like that, but. . .nothing. It’s just…*on*.”

Reon tossed his PADD down on the carpet and put his face in his palms. The small earring swung by his face as he rested it in his hands. “Is it just that light? Are the rest of the subsystems functioning?”

“Well *now* they are.” Runt scoffs, leaning back. “Ain’t that something…” There’s a brief pause from the cat again. He seems to enjoy these small beats of silence. “You know, it’s a little funny. Out of this headache of a day, one good thing came of it.”

Runt then looked over, giving his ever so unsettling toothy grin. “I made a new friend. Er—well, if you wanted to be friends? Uh, we haven’t really talked for more than, two hours at best, but, y’know. Uh..” Runt cleared his throat.

“Apologies. I like to run my maw when I get nervous.”

Reon smiles. “Not at all. It was nice to meet you to. I wasn’t expecting REAL cooked food until I got my first chance to visit home.” He peers inside the jefferies tube and lowers his voice. “If everything else is functioning… I say we just close up this panel, and see if it will settle itself.”

Runt grew a goofy smile so wide it almost made the cat’s eyes pop out of his sockets.

“Really?? Great! Then I need to know everything about you. How old are you? Is that silver on your ear? What’s your family like? Do—“ Runt suddenly stopped himself, taking a deep inhale. 

“Apologies once again. I enjoy learning about *everything* I can. I including my friends.”

He pauses…and a shit eating grin slowly creeped along the cats snout as they glanced at the tube. “You know,” Runt started. “This tube is barely used now-adays. It gets pretty naturally cold, and it’s *really* hard to keep your own treats here…why not make this a little more useful?”

Williams turned to Runt with an almost bewildered expression. “I’m all for bending rules, but not breaking them. And food stashed in a maintained crawl way sounds like a health violation mister.”

He crawls past Runt and seals the access panel into place with a very professional rigidness.

“Boooooo, it would be properly sealed!” Runt snickers and bwaps William’s foot. “Besides! Imagine having, like, ten packs of earth’s carbonated drinks just stashed here. It could be a hangout spot!” Noticeably, he’s purring.

Reon smiles and looks at Runt. “NO.” He tucks his PADD under his arm and helps gather up the tools.

“Let’s start our adventures with some on the books stuff. Do you like holo programs?” Reon walks over to the replicator as they chat and clean. He activates the machine and it breaks down the glasses they’d drank from earlier.

In retaliation to the “NO”, Runt blows a raspberry in Reon’s direction, before going back to that goofy smile. But it quickly drops at the holoprogram mention. “Ha…ha…yeeeep. Sure do! Totally..I LOVE holo programs. With uncanny..faces! And..people who are..*totally* human…yep!”

Cats just have an extra sense for the surreal and fake. His ears were flat against his skull as he gave a biiiiigggg, anxious smile. “If we do go, maybe nothing resembling Catiains..?”

Reon nods his agreement. “That’s fair. I’ll find something laid back. We should meet up when we’re off duty and try one. My dad gave me this great medieval program before I entered the Academy.” Williams was smiling at the fond memories. He was sure the holo program was somewhere in his quarters.

“Alright…”

The cat’s mood slowly improved, a more softer, slightly less anxious smile creeping onto his face. “Sure, sure! That works with me! I think that would be..” 

Deep inhale. “Fun! Relaxing, maybe..”

“I’m glad. I’ll see you later then.” Reon steps out of the lounge and heads back to the security station for his days next duty assignment. Visions of fantasy adventure already cluttering up his mind. He did hope it wouldn’t over stimulate his friend. He reassured himself, it would be fine.

“I’ll see you later!”

Runt watched as his new friend left, lounging on one of the chairs.

“He’s fun!” The cat said out loud, toothy grin plastered across his face. But something caught their eye: the blinking, tiny little bulb. It was still flickering.

“…..Okay.” He caved in, grabbing it. “Fine. I’ll take *you*. It’ll serve as a good nightlight.” He rolled his eyes. With a stretch, yawn, (and groan), Runt was already on his way to his next assignment.

What a day.