ten_fwd | A rather sweet problem...

Late nights in Ten Forward are normally quiet. Between the shift changes between nights and days, the lounge is normally deserted as anyone not working is sleeping.

It's 03:36, and there's some movement in Ten Forward by one of the replicators. Lit up by the lights of a removed panel is one Peter Quill. He's currently removing isolinear program chips from the main panel of the replicator, constantly referring to a piece of paper in his other hand.

He's reprogramming the machine.

Eventually, he's done, grunting as he replaces the panel and clapping his hands together, grinning.

"Alright. Computer?" Acknowledging beep. "Uh... Xandarian Whisky."

There's a further beep... And then small multicoloured orbs start pouring from the replicator. On the other side of the lounge, the other replicator starts pouring out similar orbs. Quill's eyes widen.

"Holy shit...!"

And that panel is getting removed again.

"Computer! Stop!"

"Unable to comply. Standard command and control functions have been tampered with."

"Aw... Hell!"

And now he's going to be trying to reverse what he's done... As the room slowly starts to fill with Skittles and M&Ms.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Uh." Shit. "It, uh... Just started goin' haywire."

True. He's missing some details, but it's true.

"I was tryin' to fix it..."

She believes him about as far as she can throw him, but given the situation she doesn't waste time on accusations. She gathers her skirt, never one to rest on her laurels while other people get things done, and wades up beside him.

"Computer, stop the current replication!"

"Unable to comply. Standard command and control functions have been tampered with."

"Override!"

"Unable to comply."

She looks at Peter.

"What exactly did you do?"

Well, he's not going to lie about it. That'd be counter-productive, so...

He abashedly just hands over the paper with the instructions on it.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to break it."

Guinan takes the piece of paper and frowns at it, then frowns at Peter again. She activates the combadge she's wearing.

"Ten Forward to Engineering, we have a situation up here."

She sounds exasperated, pointing at Peter with the paper.

"Next time you want a glass of whiskey, you could try asking the bartender first."

She presses the instructions against his chest and turns to the panel he removed. She's not sure which way the isolinear chips are supposed to go, but since she doesn't want to see how long this thing can spit out those orbs without getting tired, she's just going to start taking them out and seeing what works. Engineering answers her comm, but all she says is, "You better get up here. Fast."

Skittles are bouncing off of her hat.

"What are these things, anyway?"

"Uh..." He shifts, wading through the slowly growing deluge.

"Skittles, I think... And M&M's." He looks down at the diagram, then at the exposed panel. "I think I know how to turn it off. Can I...?"

"Are they drink capsules?"

That doesn't make sense, but how he could have gotten from whiskey to ... whatever these are is a mystery to her.

She glances up, expression inviting him to do what needs to be done, and moves over to give him room to help.

"You better hurry, or we're all going to be swimming to get to where we need to be."

"Uh, no... it's... candy."

He's wading over, crouching by the panel, the multi-coloured orbs cascading over his head. He reaches in and feels around, grasping something and pulling. The replicators instantly shut down.

"Phew..." He sighs, shaking his head to rid his hair of any stray skittles.

Candy, of course.

Most of it flattens underfoot, but with the sheer volume of it all — and those hard candy shells — it's almost like stepping on marbles.

Every time Guinan moves, her feet slip and she wobbles.

It's enough to make her laugh, but watching the colorful waterfall ping off of Quill's head pushes her right over. Don't take this to mean you're off the hook, Star-lord. Sometimes you just have to laugh.

"What did you do?"

"I, uh... bridged the IDN relays. Basically, broke the circuit. There's no power going through the relays to the isolinear control chips, so it stopped."

A slight shrug. "I still don't know why it went haywire, though."

"So in other words, you broke it?"

The question is spoken with more humor now than previously.

"There are some things you just can't outguess, and other things that have a mind of their own."

She shakes candy out of her clothes, and arches an eyebrow.

"And still others that shouldn't be tampering with things they don't understand."

"Uh, yeah. I broke it."

He shifts a bit, the multi-coloured spheres cascading everywhere as he does.

"Yeah, well, I thought I knew what I was doing."

Guinan's eyes glint with mischief.

"Come with me."

She motions over her shoulder, and carefully picks her way through the candy river toward the far end of the bar.

"So you have experience with Starfleet technology?"

And Pete is just going to follow after her. He's got a bad feeling about this, but he can't exactly say no...

"Uh, well... I know a bit. Ain't much to brag about, really, but re-wired one computer console, re-wired 'em all."

Saying 'no' would be inadvisable.

"Really? So you're an engineer?"

(It's a traaap.)

"Uh... No?" He definitely looks a lot smaller than he is, almost like a little kid expecting their calm, collected parent to suddenly explode.

"Didn't think so."

Despite the mild tone of her voice, the look she casts at him is sharp. Stopping in front of a supply closet, she grabs a broom and holds it out to him.

"How about this? You have any experience with sweeping?"

Answer carefully.

Well... It's better than he expected...

He's just going to reach for the broom to start sweeping, looking incredibly dejected, but not at the fact he has to sweep.

Mostly at the fact he was so close to amending these replicators.

Good choice.

Guinan folds her arms over her chest, and in another lifetime she might have looked like a disapproving nun watching as a naughty student copied his prayer book onto a blackboard twenty times.

But after a few minutes, the dejected puppy expression on his face does get to her.

She shakes her head.

"What were you trying to get the replicators to do? I'm assuming not this."

A rather sweet problem...

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