Aren't you a little young to be a chief engineer? (Part 2)

Posted on Sun Jan 26th, 2025 @ 9:36pm by Captain Violet Bluegarden & Lieutenant Hikari Takanashi
Edited on on Sun Jan 26th, 2025 @ 9:36pm

1,541 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: 84 Years Young
Timeline: After Part 1

Previously, on Star Trek: The Sullivans:

"Well, that's disappointing." Violet sighed. "But, I suppose I'll see the places where my great grand mamaw lived and worked in time."

"The ship had been used as a strip-mine for parts for years..." the crewman said. "It was bound to happen." He explained with a smile. "Should I let Chief Takanashi know you're here?"

Well, at least that part of the stories she had been told growing up was true... Violet lamented silently.

"Please do:" Violet requested. "I'd very much like to meet this Chief Takanashi, see how much of this 215 item checklist we need to complete has already been done."

And now, the continuation:

Entering Main Engineering proper, the first observation one could immediately make was that The Sullivans' warp core, normally the glowing heart of the ship, lay darkened and dormant. The second observation to keen noses was the smell of musty carpet, similar to the smell of a deserted office building. With the offline warp core and the smelly carpet, one could easily tell that the ship had been mothballed if not for the engineers presently working in the space. The Starfleet officers in gold uniforms almost looked like they shouldn't be there. Like office workers in an office that had long since closed down.

Having taken a minute to shed her EV suit, Violet was now in her normal duty uniform. Evidently, the young crewman had called ahead, for the moment Violet stepped into Main Engineering, someone poised by the door blew a bosun's whistle, and the engineers working stopped what they were doing and snapped to attention.

Violet took a moment to scan the faces of the engineers standing at attention: This wasn't the first time Starfleet officers had stood to attention at her arrival, and when she was looking for someone in particular, she knew that the best time to do so was to ask while everyone was standing at attention:

"I'm looking for a Chief Takanashi:" Violet declared. "Has anybody seen them?"

"Oh, she's over there..." One of them said pointing to the warp core. The young ensign wiped sweat from her forehead as the room was far warmer than usual. Most of them had waterbottles nearby, some sat on dormant consoles and on the floor.

Just behind the warp core, a pair of legs was sticking out with trousers rolled up. It was clear that whoever was working on the coolant systems behind the core was laid on their back to get better access to the coolant systems.

"Thank you. As you were:" Violet dismissed the rest of the engineers and made her way over to the warp core and the pair of legs sticking out from it.

"You know, Chief;" Violet spoke. "Ignoring a bosun's whistle signalling the arrival of the captain is a serious infraction:"

"Huh?" The voice from inside the coolant tube called. "What was that? Sorry its pretty loud in here!"

So, not only was she inconsiderate, she was also ignorant... Violet thought.

"I said be grateful you're just a yard engineer, because otherwise I'd have written you up!" She called out louder.

"You'd... Wait a moment..."

A few seconds later, out from under the cooling conduit slided out the engineer. She had removed her grey and black tunic and her mustard undershirt had been tied up to just under her ribcage. Her sleeves were also rolled up and she was covered in dirt and grime. Her blonde hair was also dirty, clear signs of her being inside many of the older starship systems.

"Oh..." she said noticing the captain. "I'm sorry Captain!" she said springing to her feet and bowing, her hair covering her face. "I didn't realise it was you and I was expecting you. I was so engrossed in getting the cooling system back online. As you can see... Its rather hot in here. I apologise for my appearance."

"It ain't too much different from back home." Violet commented with a shrug. "Anyhow, I wasn't expecting work to already be started ahead of me. I suppose Project Phoenix waits for no one." She said with a giggle.

The young engineer cocked her head to one side in confusion. ,'Did she just... giggle?'. She shook it off. "I'm Lieutenant Hikari Takanashi by the way. Project leader for the refit of The Sullivans. Also known as Project Phoenix, although the project does include many of the other ships here at the yards. But I was assigned to oversee this one. I'm sure your new Chief Engineer will be happy with the work we've done..." she looked around at the stuffy and hot engine room. "Once we've got it all finished that is..."

"I'm sure they will, Lieutenant:" Violet responded. "With a bit of luck, hopefully y'all will have made some progress on this 215-item checklist that we need to complete before this ship can be towed. I know it sounds like a lot, but apparently Starfleet wants to be sure she ain't gonna fall apart when we put tractor beams to her."

"Two hundred and fifteen..." Hikari said sounding rather deflated. "Maaaan... Thats a lot!" she whined as she ran a hand through her hair. "They never sent me a checklist. Just a basic 'Oi, go and get this ship running!' order. I think the guys at the office screwed up." She sighed. She held a single finger up. "You know, every office needs a Dwight! The person who is far too enthusiastic and serious about his job! I bet they didn't have one!"

Violet did not seem amused by the Lieutenant's attempt at small talk:

"You mean to tell me that you weren't sent a comprehensive checklist and told it needed to be completed before the ship can be towed?" She asked.

"Nope." Hilari said. "This isn't Utopia Planetia Captain. Most of the time actions speak more than checklists, reports and paperwork. What gets you recognised in these yards is the skills you show with your hands!" She explained as she held up her dirty hands that were covered in grease from the coolants old fashioned moving parts. "If they sent the checklist, I never recieved it. But half the computer systems on this old girl aren't even operational... so it's no surprise."

"Well, that's gonna be a problem..." Violet sighed. "Starfleet ain't gonna tow this ship unless we complete this checklist. Something about it being too much of a liability. I'm told this is the absolute shortest version of the list, and it used to be longer, but since those old systems you mentioned will likely be going in the refit, the list has been shortened to only 215... Do you have a PADD on you, by any chance, Lieutenant?"

"Not on me right now..." Hikari replied. She looked past the Captain at some of the other engineers in the room. "Any of you lot got a spare PADD?" she called.

A few seconds later she held an empty PADD in her hands. She grinned at the Captain. "PADD acquired!"

"Alright;" Violet grabbed her own PADD from within her tunic's breast pocket. "I'll go ahead and send you the list here, so that way, y'all have a copy: Whatever y'all can do to knock out some of these items, I'm sure our permanent Chief Engineer will be grateful for:"

Moments later, the attachments came through on the PADD that Hikari was holding. The name of their sender was also included: [CAPT Bluegarden, Violet.]

"Let's see here..." Hikari said as she skimmed over the list. "Ah ha! This is done... and that... this too..." she began tapping quickly at the hand held device. "Now to update across the system..." nothing happened. "I said... now to update across the system..."

Once again, nothing happened. "Oh for the love of..." she growled. She strode over to the 'pool table' in the centre of the room. This the showed all the ships major systems and had been nicknamed the 'pool table' by Starfleet engineers for years. "I SAID! UPDATE ACROSS TJE SYSTEM!" She said in a raised frustrated tone as she slammed a fist down onto the consoles surface.

The console and her PADD beeped in response. "Thankyou!" She exclaimed before returning to the Captain. "So that 215 checklist, we've only got 86 items left. And at least 12 of them we're already working on." Hikari told her with a grin.

Her PADD beeped again and she looked down. "Oh look. Life support has been brought online on deck one. I'll need to reconnect the ODN lines to the subjunction, but it seems as if the bridge can be operational in just over an hour."

She smirked at Violet. "Want to help me Captain? Go see your bridge? You bridge officers love it when we turn on all the flashing lights and stuff..."

Violet's face lit up like a kid in a candy store.

"You ain't gotta ask me twice." She said before the realization dawned on her that the life support was likely only active on deck 1. "I assume we'll need to don EV suits to get there, though?"

"Nah, it should be fine." Hikari replied with a smirk.

To be continued..."

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