Aren't you a little young to be a chief engineer? (Part 3)

Posted on Wed Jan 29th, 2025 @ 8:11am by Lieutenant Hikari Takanashi & Captain Violet Bluegarden

1,670 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: 84 Years Young
Timeline: After Part 2

Previously, on Star Trek: The Sullivans:

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.

And now, the continuation:

Stepping off the turbolift, The Sullivans' bridge was cloaked in darkness. The turbolift alcove was illuminated, and the light from the open turbolift car briefly projected light farther onto the bridge, partially illuminating the extreme edge of the tactical console before the doors swooshed shut, returning the bridge's light levels to where it had been before the turbolift's arrival.

"Rest well, yet sleep lightly..." Violet recited to herself as she and Hikari disembarked the turbolift.

"Let's see..." Hikari said as she held a flashlight parallel to her shoulder and swept it around. "Ah ha!" She said as she found the console. She trotted over to it, the word 'Engineering' spread across the smooth gloss glass surface of the console. She studied it for a few seconds before she tapped st the surface.

A single green and blue square with an pin pad appeared. Hikari pondered for a moment before putting in a six digit code. "I'm lucky enough to know the ships old prefix code..." she grinned.

The console beeped and then the bridge consoles all started to come to life. One by one they lit up, displaying the old classic blue and green displays and readouts. Finally the lights came to full illumination and the viewscreen displayed the old logo for the United Federation of Planets.

"Well,here's your bridge! Classic design and style too." Hikari grinned.

Without a word, Violet stepped forward onto the bridge. This was it: This was the place where her great grand mamaw worked for 20 years before retirement. It was a lot to take in.

As Violet rounded the tactical console, the viewscreen finished its bootup, switiching from the old Federation logo to the default view ahead, providing a view of the mothballed ships immediately around The Sullivans. Of course, Violet's attention was drawn to the Captain's chair: The same chair that Rebecca sat in. Violet was amazed at the chair's condition, still looking nearly new and not at all like it had sat idle for almost 65 years.

The temptation to sit in it slowly grew too great to resist: Violet stepped up to the chair, turned to face the viewscreen, and slowly lowered herself into it. Leaning back in the chair and placing her arms on the armrests, it immediately became apparent that she was sitting in the contours of a larger waistline than her own. Violet knew that Rebecca had hips, but sitting in what was likely her literal imprint, Violet felt like a skinny twig sitting in a crater.

Placing her chin into her hand while her elbow still rested on the armrest, a thought suddenly crossed Violet's mind:

"You know, I recall hearing a story that my Great Grand Mamaw left a time capsule in the ready room when this ship was decommissioned." Violet said. "Wanna see if we can find it?"

"Oooo a treasure hunt!" Hikari said. "This deck hasn't had life support or power since the ship was shut down. Whatever is in there is most likely perfectly preserved." She said thumbing to the door that led off the bridge and to the ready room just behind.

"I think I may know where to start." Violet said, rising from the Captain's chair and stepping towards the ready room. "If I'm remembering how the story goes correctly..."

The doors to the ready room swooshed open, revealing the darkened void beyond. The only distinctive feature of the room beyond was the window and its view of the stars and the mothball fleet beyond.

Violet was about to call for the lights to be turned on, but stopped herself when she realized that if there was voice activation, it was likely primitive and probably wouldn't recognize her voice. However, she remembered from her time on the Cassin Young a small panel just inside the door that controlled the lights manually. Reaching from memory into the darkened void, Violet quickly found a similar feeling panel, and within seconds, the ready room, too, was illuminated: The room itself frozen in time to the year the ship was decommissioned.

"If memory serves me right..." Violet speculated, making her way over to the desk. "It would be somewhere in the desk..."

Violet pulled open a wide, shallow drawer under the desktop to find a white packet emblazoned with the old Starfleet insignia of the late 23rd century. Given its strategic placement, the packet looked as if it were meant to be found.

"A-ha!" Violet exclaimed, pulling the packet from the drawer and setting it on the desk. "I think this is it: Matches up to what I remember: Wasn't very thick, so it could be placed in a shallow drawer, white, had the Starfleet insignia of the time on it. Shall we see what's inside it?"

"Go ahead and open it." Hikari said simply. She pulled out a PADD from her engineering tool kit amd began to make notes on the condition of the room.

Flipping the packet over, there was a metal clasp holding it shut, akin to an old fashioned mailer envelope. Violet pinched the clasp's wings together to open up the packet. Reaching in, Violet pulled out an official document, printed on paper instead of on an antique PADD:

23 December 2309

FROM: Commanding Officer

TO: Prospective Commanding Officer

SUBJ: Reactivation Interest Areas

1. Welcome to your new command and congratulations on reactivating The Sullivans. This tour will be the most fun you will ever have as Captain. The ship is AWESOME! Nothing else in the Fleet compares to her!

2. My crew has prepared some notes in order to pass on information that you would normally receive during the relieving process. Hope you find it useful. Have a great tour!

3. Enclosed with this document are a few of my personal effects to display if you're one of those lineage-obsessed types. If not, please reseal and return to:

Bluegarden Racing Museum
13700 SW 16th Ave
Ocala, FL 34473
North America
Earth

"Look at this;" Violet set the document down. "Shows problems they were having when they were decommissioned. I'm sure things have compounded with the time in mothballs, though..."

Reaching into the packet once again, Violet pulled out the rest of the packet's contents: There were a few Bluegarden Museum pens that rolled out. Violet recognized the designs immediately, as the souvenir pens hadn't changed much since her great grand mamaw's time. But what Violet was more interested in were the two framed pictures of her great grand mamaw and what sat on top of them: Two albums of historic musicians that Violet was into: Johnny Cash and Nickelback.

"No way!" Violet exclaimed. "She was into this stuff, too?"

Hikari looked over. "Huh?" She said in response as she continued to make notes of the rooms condition on her PADD. "Sorry, I was making an assessment. Do you want all this ripping out and re-building?" she asked.

"What? No! That ain't what I said at all!" Violet spluttered. "This is the space where my great grand mamaw worked, and I sure as hell ain't gonna let you yard dogs rip it up and replace it!"

"Ok... I'll make a note about that..." Hikari said. She then lowered the PADD. "There is one little thing I have yet to cover with you Captain. Do you know you're new Chief Engineer yet? I will need to arrange a hand-over meeting with them before I can hand command over to you."

"Well, you'd better hope I find one before then, Lieutenant:" Violet said, sitting down in the chair behind the desk. "Starfleet has given me a very limited time table to reactivate this ship, and if she ain't ready to go by the deadlines I've been given, I will have to inform Starfleet Command on the source of the snag, and since it's wartime... You might want to get comfortable with the thought of a field assignment to an old Excelsior."

"A field assignment?" Hikari asked.

"Oh, yes;" Violet said. "Starfleet's going to want this ship out in the field ASAP, and if that ain't looking like it's gonna happen, they're gonna do whatever it takes to cut delays down, including assigning folks in temporary positions such as yours as permanent crew."

Violet slid the components of the time capsule back into the package and refastened the clip.

"But, I'm sure I won't have any trouble finding one." She said. "I know a few engineers who I could potentially call upon..."

Taking the time capsule back under her arm, Violet moved out from behind the desk.

"Well, I suppose it's best I be heading back." Violet sighed. "I've got more paperwork that needs filing before we can begin the real work."

"I still have a lot to do here," Hikari said as she looked over her PADD. "I need to inspect the bridge consoles, so go ahead without me."

With only a nod, Violet tapped her combadge.

"Bluegarden to Sullivan; one to beam out:" She ordered.

Within a matter of seconds from the command being issued, Violet vanished in the light of a transporter beam.

Posting by

Captain Violet Bluegarden
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Hikari Takanashi
Chief Yard Engineer
'The Sullivans refit project'

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