Aren't you a little young to be a chief engineer? (Part 1)

Posted on Sun Jan 26th, 2025 @ 9:30pm by Captain Violet Bluegarden & Lieutenant Hikari Takanashi

1,009 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: 84 Years Young
Timeline: Mission Day 2

Even though none of the other senior staff had even seen the ship yet, Violet had been informed that Algonquin had found an engineer willing to take on the job of handling the refit. This engineer had been so eager, that apparently they were already on board.

Admittedly, she should have brought everyone else along with her, but instead, in the wee hours of the morning, Violet had arranged for a shuttle to take her out to The Sullivans to meet with the engineer. Violet wasn't sure how far they had gone with restoring the main power, so she had suited up in an EV suit for the flight out.

The small Type 5 shuttle made its way down an entire row of decommissioned Excelsior class starships. Violet wondered just how many would still be here in a year's time.

"We're approaching The Sullivans, ma'am." The pilot said.

"Of course." Violet responded, fastening on her EV suit's helmet, completely sealing and pressurizing the suit. "So, which one of these junkpiles is mine?"

"Ah, a sense of humor, I see:" The pilot chuckled, pointing out the window. "It's this one, coming up on the left:"

Violet leaned forward, as for the first time, she laid eyes on her great grand mamaw's ship: A vessel that she had been assured growing up had been long parted out to keep the rest of the Excelsior fleet running. And yet, here she sat; looking almost untouched from the day she was deposited here:

"Shall I take you for a flyover?" The pilot proposed.

"Yes, please:" Violet said before toning back her enthusiasm. "And also, scan for lifesigns:"

"Aye, ma'am, activating scanners:"

Maneuvering in to take a closer look, the shuttle's lights lit up the ship's registry:

NCC-2942
U.S.S. The Sullivans

Here she was: The first Federation starship named in honor of the five Sullivan brothers. She bore a striking resemblance to the Kidd and the Cassin Young. Though, admittedly, she looked more like than the Cassin Young than she did the Kidd. Regardless, the sight of an Excelsior class starship never got old, and Violet would be lying if she said her heart wasn't fluttering a bit knowing that this was the same ship that Rebecca commanded for twenty years prior to retirement.

"And we've got a match:" The pilot stated. "Detecting several life signs in the lower hull... Transporter's hot and at the ready."

"Transporter?" Rebecca raised a curious brow. "Why can't we just...?"

The pilot looked back as if her question had been rather stupid.

"Nobody told you?" He asked. "I'd probably say about 20 years before I started, the main shuttlebay was sealed off because it had begun leaking into space. Even longer ago, the shuttlebay module was sealed off for the same reason. Now, the only way on or off her is by transporter."

"Alright, then:" Violet sighed, getting up and making her way to the transporter. "Try to put me down closest to those lifesigns' locations."

"You got it." The pilot said, his fingers dancing over one of the smooth control surfaces. "Okay, I've got a lock that'll put you down in a safe location:"

"Energize, then." Violet ordered

Nodding, the pilot powered up the shuttle's transporter, and Violet disappeared in a beam of light.

The cargo transporter had been jerry-rigged for personnel transport in cargo bay two. The actual personnel transporters were still in pieces as yard engineers had been updating and restoring them. However the old-style cargo transporter from when the ship worked was being used in the process.

A young crewman stood at the controls. The console itself still sporting the classic green and blue computer terminals and several wires ran from it across the floor to the pad. He darted around manually beaming in the incoming transport.

After spending what seemed to be longer than normal as a transporter pattern, Violet finally rematerialized on what had evidently been a cargo transporter.

Perhaps that was why it took so long...

"C.. Captain!" The young crewman exclaimed. "We weren't expecting you so early!" He explained. "I'm sorry about the transporter. The personnel transporter rooms are still in pieces. We weren't expecting any of the senior staff for the next few days and Hikari... I mean, Chief Takanashi said that 'this'll do' for now..."

The first thing Violet noticed was the young crewman's lack of an EV suit. The second was the amount of external heat penetrating her suit, heating her body and making her sweat. If she were to gauge the temperature of her surroundings, it would be comparable to Florida in the spring and the fall.

"It's alright, crewman:" Violet responded. "Now, either you're a Changeling infiltrator or y'all have managed to get the environmental controls online..." She motioned to the crewman's lack of EV suit.

The crewman smiled. "Most of the engineering decks have life support. Some of the saucer is still offline, but we've put up forcefields to stop people from going into them." He explained.

Nodding, Violet reached up for her helmet and depressurized the suit with a hiss, removing the helmet as the smell of The Sullivans hit her nostrils for the first time. It was something she thought she'd never experience, and now it would be the difference between life and death. Also, when the helmet came off, she could confirm that the ambient temperature was comparable to Florida.

"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."

To be continued...

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