"Klingon shower opera"
 by Lieutenant jg T'Kang
 Chief Engineer - USS Intrepid
 http://come.to/tkang.html


T'Kang plopped down into his office chair and let out a sigh.  
It had been a long, double shift, but the fitting of the warp 
core had been completed without any problems.  There had 
been a few personality conflicts between Lieutenant 
Commander Charleston and Lieutenant T'Kang, but 
amazingly the Klingon kept his temper to himself and took all 
the British officer could deal out.   In the end, the Intrepid 
came out the winner with a brand new warp core even more 
powerful then the last.  T'Kang was reluctant to admit it, but 
he was actually glad the warp core had been jettisoned now 
that they had a more powerful one to show for it.  The USS 
Intrepid was whole once again.  That thought made the 
Klingon relax a bit as he sank into his chair.

After a few minutes of relaxation, the Chief Engineer exited 
his office and walked out into main engineering.  There he 
could see Ensign Salek speaking to Keen.

"Are your repairs complete?" T'Kang inquired ineptly.  No 
one would ever say socializing was the Klingon's strong 
point.  His inquiry sounded more official than friendly which 
wasn't his intent.

Salek responded appropriately given the Klingon's serious 
tone.  "Yes, sir.  The faulty Isolinear circuitry has been 
replaced."

An awkward moment past.  Mister Keen took to whistling a 
little tune to sort of fill in the gap.  Salek politely dismissed 
Keen, saying he'd see him later on this evening.

 Fumbling for what to say next, T'Kang decided to just let it 
go.  "You did an excellent job with the warp core installation 
Mister Salek.  I can finish up here.  You should go and spend 
some time with your friend at the Starbase."

In a sagely fashion, Salek nodded.  "Thank you sir.  I believe 
Captain Celchu wanted all officers to spend some time 
relaxing at Starbase 438 Lieutenant."  The Vulcan raised one 
eyebrow while leaving the other one neutral.  It was quite an 
interesting sight.

T'Kang pressed his lips together in a simile of a smile.  "Yes 
Ensign.  I will be going to the Starbase later on.  I've just a 
few things to attend to first.  You go ahead."

"Very well.  I shall look forward to seeing you at Starbase 
438."  Salek nodded before turning to leave.

T'Kang watch the Vulcan Engineer exit.  After quickly 
checking the status board to verify all systems were normal 
with the Intrepid and the newly installed warp core, T'Kang 
headed for his quarters to change clothes.  If he was going 
to relax at Starbase 438, it was going to be out of uniform.

The sonic shower had done wonders for the Klingon who 
howled as he scrubbed to Klingon Opera.  T'Kang's voice 
was probably good for a Klingon, but for the crew members 
on the Intrepid that occupied the adjoining quarters to the 
Chief Engineer, it sounded like a wounded animal screaming 
in agony every time he bathed.  Klingon Opera was not rock 
and roll.  Few humans viewed it as anything other than 
unpleasant noise.  Thankfully the only time T'Kang would 
sing was in the "privacy" of the shower.  Too bad sound 
travels inside a starship, even through titanium walls.

T'Kang put on some civilian clothes.  Most of which were 
drab colored earth tones.  In a final check, the Klingon 
peered at himself closely in the mirror, snarling enough to 
show his sharp teeth while he examined them for any food 
debris that might have accumulated there.  Satisfied that he 
had no bits of flesh of spinach stuck to his teeth, T'Kang left 
his quarters and headed to the airlock to enter Starbase 438.

It was amazing how much difference there was between the 
artificial gravity of a starship and on a much larger structure 
like a Starbase.  T'Kang could feel a noticeable difference as 
he crossed the threshold of the docking portal and crossed 
over onto the decks of Starbase 438.  There was a stronger 
pull and a more solid feeling there.  The Starbase also had 
much more openness compared to the somewhat narrow 
corridors of the Intrepid.

T'Kang walked around the Starbase for the next half hour.  
He had overheard crew members of the engineering team 
talking about a particular spot that had a dance floor, but so 
far the Chief had been unable to locate the place.  T'Kang 
was not the type to ask a stranger for directions.  That would 
be too human of a thing to do.  So the Klingon stood there, in 
front of a Starbase directory, trying to figure out where this 
place was located.  It seemed the map told him everything 
he didn't want to know, like where he was, where the Intrepid 
was, where he'd been, where the restrooms were located, 
but not where this club was with the dance floor.   T'Kang 
placed his hands on his hips as a scowl formed on his face 
out of frustration.  The Chief Engineer was lost, though he 
was loathe to admit it.   Finally, out of utter frustration, he 
decided to turn around and head back to the Intrepid.  He 
knew there wasn't much going on there at the moment for 
him to do.  In fact the only thing he could think of was the 
repairs to the bio-bed in sickbay that he had put off earlier.  
Still, since he was too embarrassed to admit he couldn't find 
the club the others had gone to, he needed some sort of 
excuse for not going.  Repairing the bio-bed would do nicely.

T'Kang turned around and started marching back to the USS 
Intrepid.

A short time later he was back on board the ship and 
entered Medical.  There were hardly any people in sickbay at 
the time, just a skeleton crew as most of the medics were 'on 
call' while visiting Starbase 438.

"Can I help you Lieutenant?"  a nurse asked as T'Kang 
walked into sickbay.

"I am here to have a look at a broken bio-bed.  Assistant 
Chief Medical Officer Donal had said one of the units was 
malfunctioning."  T'Kang explained.

"You mean Chief Medical Officer Lieutenant Jezra Donal." 
the nurse smiled in gossip-like fashion,  "Come, I'll show 
you, it's right over here."

"Chief Medical Officer?"  T'Kang balked, "What happened to 
Desmond?" he asked following the nurse into the other 
room.

"Transferred I think.  At least that's what I heard.  It's not 
official yet, so I can't say for sure."  the nurse stopped in 
front of a bio-bed, "This is the one.  The electronics are 
shorted or something.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it 
doesn't.   It's weird."

T'Kang just stood there stunned.  He wasn't really listening 
to the nurses explanation of the problem.  His eyes were 
distant with his thoughts.  Desmond was leaving the ship, 
and just when the Chief Surgeon was getting interesting.  
That seemed to be the way of things on board this vessel.  
The Klingon barely warmed up to a member of the crew and 
they leave.  First Hawke, then Hannoyh, now Desmond.  It 
was almost enough to make the Klingon glad he was a 
social outcast.  Still, T'Kang would miss butting heads with 
the Doctor.

"Are you listening to me Lieutenant?"

T'Kang snapped himself out of his thoughts and looked at 
the short hared, freckle faced nurse.  "Sorry.  Yes, it sounds 
like a problem.  Let me have a look before I go to get my 
tools.  Thank you nurse."

With a curt nod and smile, the nurse left T'Kang to his work.