Spanner in the Works

Posted on Tue Oct 1st, 2024 @ 11:59am by Lieutenant Jennifer Matthews & Captain Velasaria Azumé

2,274 words; about a 11 minute read

Vel couldn't quite believe it, she'd expected that the Admiral would chew them out. She expected that many people wouldn't be happy with them. She even expected that despite everything the Admiralty wasn't quite ready to give up on the Excelsior Project. What she didn't expect, and what had t quite finished processing was that she was going to be the one taking lead.

Captain. Captain Velesaria Azumé, first Orion in the history of Starfleet to command a Starship. Fuck. FuckityFuckingFuck! Why her? She hadn't wanted this, hadn't been ready for this! She... Get a grip Azumé, you took the job... Well you didn't have much choice but to take the job but you took it anyway. Woman up, you're a Captain now. The white collar on her uniform said as much, the new rank pin hanging on her brand over the shoulder... Fuck this was real.

It has only been about half a day since the Admiral had made the offer while they were touring Amaterasu. Your responsibility now. The woman had said as she left Vel and Mayhew on the halfway rebuilt bridge. Mayhew hadn't taken it well, she'd have to talk to him more. But for now she had to pull her crew back together. They'd lost a lot of people to the attack and several more seniors to transfers after the fact.

Her first "meeting" has been Clare at the stations bar, she'd needed a drink and a buck up for the real work to come. Now she was heading to Main Engineering to meet with Jennifer Matthews the former ACEO, who'd stepped up during the attack. Hopefully she'd be willing to stay on, Vel could scarcely afford to lose another member of the original crew.

Jenni hadn't paid attention to much after they'd arrived at K-17. Well, that is aside from making sure she had a very fresh uniform. Running around for hours almost naked inside of an engineering pressure suit because her real uniform had gotten soiled when the Amaterasu was damaged was a far from pleasant experience.

Engineering was in total shambles at the time they arrived, and she certainly did not appreciate how terribly the station's engineering team had treated the Amaterasu. The freshly constructed corridors, though already banged up, continued to get scratched and carpet torn as equipment was brought in and out. The entire matter/antimatter reaction chamber had to be removed in order to properly replace the magnetic constrictors, and so much of engineering had to be opened up to flush out the radiation.

Jenni did not leave the station's engineers unsupervised during all of this. In fact, even now, she orbited a couple of senior engineers from the starbase who had parked themselves at the pool table looking over diagnostics from the newly restored equipment.

"These are clearly within acceptable parameters," informed a Bolian, pointing at the fresh results from a level three.

"For a Constitution or a Akula maybe," Jenni fired back. "Or anything with a Seven-One-Alpha nacelle. But with a deflector and unique warp nacelle like ours? We'll need a differential of at least zero-eight-four, not... whatever this is." She shook her head and folded her arms across the cleanly pressed uniform that covered her chest. "I'm not signing off on this."

Vel watched quietly off to the side, a small smirk playing across her lips. Shooing away the young Ensign that tried to call the deck to attention she wanted to watch and see how this went. Arms crossed over her chest, fresh uniform and the stark white collar, Vel was sure she struck an imposing figure at the entrance to Engineering. It gave her a bit of a chuckle to watch Jenni give the yard engineers a good going over for trying to make her settle for less.

"You don't have to sign off on anything," replied the Bolian, the rank insignia on his shoulder board indicating that he was a Lieutenant Commander. "Regulations state that only the Chief Engineer-"

"I am the Chief Engineer," Jenni interjected.

"Acting Chief Engineer," said the Tellarite technician, one of the Amaterasu's crew who was working at a station next to the pool table.

"Shut it," Jenni snapped at the Ensign.

The Bolian cleared his throat and resumed. "As I was saying, only the Chief Engineer, the Executive Officer, or the Captain can sign off on this. Unless you are one of them, the differential of zero-eight-zero remains. And, for the record, it is a perfectly acceptable differential. Not even the Enterprise's differential is so refined."

"I'm still not accepting it." Jenni locked her eyes with the Bolian, quickly adding, "This is the first Excelsior you've had through here, I get it. If I have any say in it, it surely won't be your last. Whole new way of propulsion."

"A failed way of propulsion," muttered the Tellarite.

"I said shut it, G'rok," Jenni fired back, keeping her visage locked on the ranking officer. "Point is, everything's changing. You've seen it with your own eyes. New style warp core. New style nacelles. New style deflector. The laws of astrophysics and interstellar travel haven't changed, but how we interact with them has. Now, either we get that differential of zero-eight-four, or so help me, I will enlist the ship's commanding officer and we will file a protest with your commanding officer. I will do whatever it takes to make sure this ship goes back out there set up for success, not failure."

"As will I." Velesaria said striding forward, her arms u crossing to land squarely on her hips. Taking on the standard command presence pose known widely across the Fleet, Vel was ready to lay down the law. "Now, Commander. You will heed the advice of my Chief Engineer, and get that differential into spec for an Excelsior or I will find someone who can. The Amaterasu will leave better than it did off the line at San Francisco."

She looked directly at the Commander and his assistant. "Are we understood?"

The Commander blinked twice, surprised by the sudden arrival of the ship's Captain. It was clear he hadn't expected to deal with anyone other than Jenni, leaving the Bolian to stammer in his reply," Uh... um... yes, of... um... of course, Captain." He quickly turned to his assistant, pointed to the rear compartment, and both immediately retreated.

Jenni, arms still crossed, turned to face the new arrival. She'd met the Orion science officer before... Captain? Jenni's mind recognized the white trim and the fresh rank insignia. "Thank you, um, Captain," she stammered as well. In many ways, she felt relief and comfort in Starfleet's decision, but it still left her with questions. "Am I glad to see you."

The words and not Mayhew were quickly blocked by Jenni's speech filter. Amazing what two cups of coffee could do instead of breakfast.

"Seems that I came at the right time." Vel replied with a relaxed smile and a slightly raised eyebrow noticing the human holding something back. "Hope you haven't had to deal too much with situations like that." Vel was very encouraged to find Jenni in Engineering rather than on the Starbase waiting for repairs to be finished. The Admiral had offered to get an Engineer transferred out to her but Vel had been adamant that Matthews at least be given a chance to prove herself. Provided she wanted the job that was.

"Oh that?" Jenni asked, glancing down the long room to where the yard engineers had ran away to. "Just my average Tuesday." She looked back to the freshly-minted Captain. "Yard engineers generally aren't too bad, but it's really clear that they don't know their way around the new girl. And there's no way I'm letting anyone treat her with disrespect. Not again."

Jenni smiled and chuckled, "And honestly, seeing you here with those Captain pip on your strap, that's encouraging. Takes away half my worries."

"Glad to hear it, although I like to think that Starfleet Command would have assigned the ship to someone outside the crew if they could help it. Not after what we've been through." It might have been a long hope, but it had all worked out in the end. "What are the other half of your worries? Amaterasu herself?"

"The ship?" Jenni shook her head. "No. Well, kind of. You just saw it yourself. There's not many engineers rated for Excelsiors. I don't want to see someone who doesn't have the right skills come in here and spark a repeat of what we just went through."

Vel's smile widened as Jenni kept talking. She could see the passion that Matthews had for Engineering and had a good feeling about her decision the more she heard. "That's exactly what I want to hear from my Chief Engineer. Provided you want the job?" Vel of course would give her the out. Not everyone was ready to take on that next role when offered. But Vel had a good feeling.

The younger woman paused and her eyes widened in shock. She was about to continue on her spiel, but her quick mind stopped her from even stammering a syllable. As she rebounded to collect her thoughts, Grok spoke for her. "If you don't take it, I will."

"Shut it!" she tossed at the Tellarite. Jenni shook her head, turned back to the Captain and said, "Well, you heard Grok. I don't think your engineering staff will survive if they report to him. I'll take it."

"I'm glad to hear it Lieutenant." Vel said with a chuckle and soft smile. "Although I'm sure that the crew would be whipped into some sort of shape with Mister Grok here in charge I think you've earned the role; for your actions during the crisis and since getting Amaterasu ready." And truly Vel wanted someone down here that she knew she could depend upon. Between Mayhew and Ingram's personalities she has enough to balance in the Senior Staff.

"Thank you, Captain," Jenni said with a warm smile. She hadn't expected to find a Chief Engineer spot so soon in her career, and she certainly wasn't going to let it go wasted. "I won't let you down. Thank you!"

"I'm sure you won't, someone who worked as hard as you did to get the ship back in once piece certainly won't be slacking." It would be tough for Jenni she was quite young, but so many aboard were having to step into roles they weren't ready for. If nothing else should would be in good company.

"We'll need you to select a staff, and get them onboard quickly. The Admiral has new orders and they won't let us sit around for too long." Not that Vel wanted to.

"That shouldn't be too much of a problem," Jenni remarked, eyeing the long tube for the PTC conduit where several engineers from the starbase were working. "I've overheard a few of the starbase personnel mention they were wanting to put in transfers to this engineering department. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few requests from nearby starships as well. I bet we could be fully re-staffed by this time tomorrow."

"Good to hear, I'd like you to keep me appraised of your choices for your Assistant Chiefs of Engineering. I'd like to get a sense of what your ideas are for the running of Engineering. Once you have those choices made and we have your command staff solidified you can recruit as you see fit. How does that sound Lieutenant?" Vel hoped she was seeming too pushy, too overbearing. She trusted Jenni to make the right call, but she also didn't know the woman well, Vel felt it was important to work with her on this to get a sense of not just how she wanted to do things, but also a sense of Jenni herself.

Jenni nodded, adding, "That sounds great, Captain." The engineer already had a few names in mind for the assistant chiefs, and she was already grateful that Lieutenant P'iraa, the other surviving assistant chief from the incident, was remaining aboard. The continuity would certainly allow her to rebuild the department and mold it into something incredible. "I can have my selections on your desk this afternoon."

"Thank you Lieutenant, by end of day is fine no need to rush assignments, I'd much rather you focus on getting the ship back up and running." Looking around the bay there would be quite a bit of work to do. "But I'll leave you to it, if you have any questions, my door is open. I've moved my flag back over, so you can find me in the Ready Room most days."

"Thank you, Captain," Jenni said again with a nod and a smile.

"Again congratulations Lieutenant, it's well earned."

With that, Jenni was left in her Engineering. She slowly turned in a circle, noting how the colors in the room just seemed brighter, the air crisper, the sounds a little more musical...

"Dammit, Chief," Grok's voice interjected, stopping the human woman in her tracks. "You're the Chief Engineer, not the Chief Ballerina."

Jenni almost snapped at him again, but instead she caught herself. A heartbeat later, she responded with a plie and a sarcastic, "Thank you, Grok." Once she returned to a standing position, she tugged on her uniform jacket to straighten the wrinkles. Smiling and nodding at Grok, she turned in the direction of where the starbase engineers had scurried off to and approached them. "Now, about that differential..."

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