AT/D10-11 - Engineering

[Tyra Crawford]

== Main Engineering was split level, with the primary entrance on Deck 11. Upon entering, the space is dominated by the Thrawn-type dual warp core assembly in the center, two side-by-side vertical columns of power that were the beating heart of the Artemis. In front of them, and between them and the door, is a pair of master situation tables, circular consoles with eight workstations spaced around them for collaboration on current projects and problems. To the left, the wall was dominated by the Master Situation Display, showing a side view and deck layout of the Artemis and highlighting any problems that may be facing the ship currently, as well as allowing for presentations and briefings to be carried out in the main floor of engineering.

To the left of the warp cores was an open lift to the second level, as well as a door leading to the engineering labs and fabrication bays. To the right was a door to the Chief Engineer’s office, as well as a door leading to Slipstream Control, containing the smaller drive and all the necessary monitoring equipment. Every available wall has consoles built in, to be used when needed. Around the edge of the room, there was a second level. It was mostly a walkway with more consoles, as well as access to secondary engineering labs, a small briefing room for meetings, and access to the Jefferies Tubes. Most importantly, both levels had a replicator accessible for when the caffeine bottomed out, while the briefing room also had an actual coffee pot. ==

[Benjamin Elias]

==Pre-mission==

"Got a minute, chief?"

Benjamin jumped in his chair, the padd he'd been engrossed in - yet another technical manual he never seemed to be able to catch up on - slipping from his hands and hitting his chest. He swung his feet off his desk and turned to face Orivessa sh'Thanis, his Andorian assistant chief, who was standing in the door. Did she almost seem... timid? That's not like her, he thought as he waved her in.

He'd intended to have a talk with her anyway. She was notoriously aggressive in her social dealings, always leading the small group of friends they had formed - which was part of why he was surprised to see her almost clinging to the doorframe like it was a shield. He had had a debriefing from Coleman who mentioned her... well, the FO had called it her "word choice" in the official paperwork, but privately he'd had a few choice words of his own. He'd only given a verbal reprimand, but had made some notes to Benjamin about instilling decorum in his officers. She was a fantastic engineer and a brilliant officer; she just needed tempering.

She finally took a seat, and Benjamin smiled. "I'd been meaning to talk to you," he said, "but since you took your leave, and then I went home for mine, we just haven't had a chance."

She nodded. "I, uh," she started, and he noticed she was clutching a padd in her hands, her knuckles almost white. "Ben, I just got some news."

He felt his heart sink, his brain spinning through a hundred different scenarios, none of them good. He nodded for her to continue anyway. "They offered me the position," she said, "and I'm going to take it." She was all smiles, but he just felt confused.

"Wait, what?" he asked, blindsided. "Who, and what position?"

Her antennae searched quizzically before her eyes went wide. "Oh, you were gone already!" she exclaimed. "Captain Jerren of the Saskatoon interviewed me for his CE position last week," she said, "and he just offered it to me."

Benjamin smiled, but couldn't shake the aching feeling. It wasn't one of the scenarios he'd imagined, but while that was excellent news for her, it only barely alleviated his own hurt. "That's," he started, stumbling his words as he came out from behind his desk, "that's great! She's a Parliament class, right?"

"Yeah, she is," Ori said as she came in for a congratulatory hug. "Older, not as modern as Artemis is, but she'll be mine." The fierce grin splitting her face was infectious, and he couldn't help but smile back at her.

"That's incredible," he said, meaning it. There was nothing quite like getting to be the chief engineer on a ship, the master of that domain. Behind the command team, engineering was the most important section of the ship; it was a lot of responsibility, but he really felt that she was ready for it. "I'm happy for you, Ori. You'll do great."

The Andorian beamed at him, her long white ponytail quivering almost as much as her antennae at her excitement. "I just wanted to say thank you, Ben. It's been a... it's been a wonderful experience here, and I just wanted to thank you for all the opportunities you've given me these past few years."

He shook his head and smiled. "Don't think anything of it," he said. "You earned them, just like you earned this." He leaned back on his desk and sighed. "So, when do you leave?"

"Tomorrow," she said. "There's a ship heading from DS9 to Starbase 28, where they'll pick me up."

"Oh," he said thoughtlessly. "I... I thought there'd be a little more time. You know that Kat will want to do something for you." It was a lame excuse, and they both knew it; they had all started on the ship together, and the thought of one of them leaving... This will take some getting used to, he thought. But he was still happy for her, and proud of what she'd accomplished.

Ori smiled. "Oh, I think she's got something planned anyway. I expect to just barely catch that shuttle, and my head to be pounding all the way out of the Bajoran sector."

[Benjamin Elias]

==Recall timeline==

Benjamin walked into Engineering, if not bleary-eyed then definitely worse for wear. The raktajino had helped, but he was ready for the next cup by the time he hit his office. The mound of paperwork had not, in fact, shrunk overnight. In fact, he noticed a few new padds on the outskirts of the devastation that was his desk. The message light on his console was also blinking at him. That's probably where I needed to start anyway, he thought.

After a new cup, he amended, and hit the replicator built into the wall first. The coffee was... bland, he noted. He wasn't sure if he'd just blown out his tastebuds with the unspoiled raktajino earlier - he wasn't even sure how the Klingons could tell if raktajino had gone bad or not, but that wasn't a question he wanted to find an answer for - or if the replicator just wasn't giving him what he'd really asked for, but it would do well enough for now.

Finally prepared to face the music, he sighed and sat at his console and started typing. He didn't want the staff hearing him dictate a message, after all. Assuming she wasn't already going to kill him, letting her become the topic of her own rumor mill would be enough to find him on the wrong side of an airlock.

[Cera, dinner tonight? You pick the place, I'll bring the wine. Need to apologize in person, and we need to talk.]

He sat there staring at the message. Even as he looked at it it felt bad, but he wasn't sure what else to do. They were both busy and important to the running of the ship, so trying to hash it out now seemed like a non-starter. A better solution would've been to just go to her as soon as he got back, but he hadn't been able to bring himself to do it then either. He was on the verge of just having done with it and finding her when another message flashed at the top of his screen.

A recall order. They were to launch as soon as all personnel were aboard, and all non-essential personnel disembarked.

He felt his heart sink. Not only did this mean that any free moments he could snatch had just been ripped away, but an order like that could only mean one thing: a combat mission. He cursed for a moment, out loud though he kept his voice low. Somehow, it didn't make him feel any better. He hit send on the message to Cera, lacking better options, and got up from his desk.

"Alright people, look alive," he called out as he came into the main part of engineering. "We've got a launch order coming down any time now; give me last minute diagnostics and get the warp drive up to speed. When the captain says go, I want us already gone." He stood at one of the two situation tables and watched as his team sprang into action. 

A sigh escaped him; he wished Ori was still here. She'd been his strong right arm during times like this, and he was beginning to realize just how much he'd enjoyed having her there to back him up. He'd find a replacement, of course, but for now he felt the lack and it tugged at him. It felt like things were falling apart, and he was glad he had his work to focus on as a hand reached for where a flask would've been.

==Open tag==

[Jay D'Mar]

Ens Jay D'Mar had arrived on the USS Artimes the night before she was scheduled to begin, after some shore leave. She had difficulty getting through the security protocols as her pass seemed corrupted but after a reasonable wait, she was aloud on board. She found her quarters on Deck 4 and spent a quiet night before arriving in Engineering the next morning to start her shift.

Jay headed for the Chief Engineer's office first, just to let the boss know she was on board. She wasn't expecting LCdr Elias to be there but she hadn't ever been in the CE's office and curiosity had got the better of her. Jay mainly or usually was suppervised by the Assistant CE. She had downloaded the days roster onto her pad, and politely pressed the buzzer and waited before entering just to have a look, thinking the Chief was not in.

Jay's surprise nearly overcame her normal calmness when she realised, she'd walked in on the chief and he was looking seedy. But Jay was quick to recover.

"Ens Jay D'Mar reporting in, sir. I apologies for entering so quickly." she hesitated for a moment before she asked the most obvious of questions. "Are you OK, sir?"

==Tag LCdr Elias==

[Benjamin Elias]

Benjamin was walking around his desk when he heard the chime and a figure walk through his door. He took a moment to thank his stars that she hadn't walked in a minute earlier when he had been cursing those same stars before smiling and continuing the walk across his small office.  "Ens Jay D'Mar reporting in, sir," she said. "I apologize for entering so quickly." There was a moment's hesitation from the woman before she added, concerned, "Are you OK, sir?"

Do I look that bad? he thought as he wished he had another cup of coffee and realized he probably did. "Be doing better in a few minutes," he said as cheerfully as he could. He stepped past the young ensign and raised his voice to the room.  "Alright people, look alive," he called out to the room at large. "We've got a launch order coming down any time now; give me last minute diagnostics and get the warp drive up to speed. When the captain says go, I want us already gone."

He turned back to Ensign D'Mar, really looking at the young ensign for the first time. He had forgotten that he had a Cardassian on the team, though he looked closer and realized she was part Bajoran as well. Considering their previous mission, Benjamin knew that the young D'Mar was likely to have a rough time with some of the crew, but he also figured that she knew that as well as he did. 

Something, though, told him that she was going to be an excellent addition to the team.  He smiled at her as the rest of the department jumped to obey his orders. "So, ensign," he said to her, "tell me what you know about the Artemis. As an engineer, I mean." He didn't look at her, instead looking around the room as he waited for her answer.

It was a test, of course, and an obvious one. But he wanted to know more about this new officer than what a personnel file could tell, and how she reacted to the question could be valuable data.

==Tag D'Mar==

[Jay D'Mar]

Something, though, told LCdr Elias that Ens D'Mar was going to be an excellent addition to the team. He smiled at her as the rest of the department jumped to obey his orders. "So, ensign," he said to her, "tell me what you know about the Artemis. As an engineer, I mean." He didn't look at her, instead looking around the room as he waited for her answer.

"Hmm, a test, sir? Interesting?" Jay smiled, "The Artemis is a very big ship, sir." she paused to see his reaction to her little joke. "If I was to tell you what I know about the Artimes, we could be here for some time. My expertise is propulsion. I can tell you that she has a Dual Thrawn-class Warp Core Reactors which can sustain warp 9.8 and a 36-hour duration at Warp 9.99, with a Type-1 Quantum Slipstream Generator that extends to Warp 9.99998477. of 12 hr duration before shut down. The four Impulse Engines are 2 Class 8 Main (MIE) and 2 Secondary (SIE), but anyone could learn this off by heart and repeat it back to you to sound intellegent. Is there something specific you would like to test me on, sir?"

Her expression apart from the earlier smile was emotionless, she was being her usual practical self, thinking through aloud the 'real' purpose of the very general question Commander Elias had asked her.

== Tag LCdr Elias ==

[Benjamin Elias]

Benjamin listened to D’Mar as she spoke. He wasn’t surprised when she saw it as the test it was immediately; he would have been very surprised if she hadn’t. Instead, he listened for what she did and didn’t say.
 
He chuckled politely at the small joke, and nodded along with the recitation of facts. She was well versed in the class, as he’d expected. The Vesta was fairly high-profile; while not the biggest of ships like the Ross and Andromeda classes were, the Vesta was something unique. A purpose-built explorer in the modern age was something special, and while not as big as the heavies, she was definitely big enough to hold her own on extended missions. It was something everyone wanted to know about. Benjamin smiled as she finished up with “Is there something specific you would like to test me on, sir?"
 
He shook his head gently. “No,” he said, “I’m sure you know all about the class, and I’m sure you know some specifics about Artemis’ history as well, like our battle with the Megasphere and the jaunt out to the Delta Quadrant.” He sighed, dispelling the ghosts of those lost in battle before they could grab him again.
 
“What I want you to know, however,” he continued, “is that there’s more to being an engineer than knowing what they built your ship out of. Yes, we’ve got a Thrawn-type Dual Core,” he said as he pointed at the thrumming twin columns that provided the ship with all the power it needed. “What the spec sheet won’t tell you is that the third coil on the port core assembly tends to drift more than the others and needs extra calibrations to stay in line with the rest.
 
“The spec sheet can tell you that each deck has four dedicated EPS lines that branch through them, two port and two starboard, and provide power to the majority of systems on the deck.” He chuckled as he thought back in time. “What they won’t say is that the second port line on Deck 7 fluctuates sometimes because Crewman Kirnat, our resident Brikar, stumbled while trying to fix it during a battle and dented the support stanchion, and since that’s part of the saucer’s base framework it hasn’t been repaired.” He’d made some stupid joke at the time about rocks and duranium, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember what it had been.
 
He walked slowly around the room, keeping D’Mar with him as he went. “What I want to impress on you, Ensign, is that there’s a difference between being a good engineer and a great one. A good engineer knows the manuals, knows their systems, and could strip down and rebuild any of them at a moment's notice. Every one of your colleagues here,” he said as he motioned at everyone around them, manning their consoles and getting the ship ready for launch, “could do that for me.
 
“A great engineer, like Lieutenant sh’Thanis who just got a promotion to a ship of her own, can do that. But they also know how their ship feels and acts, and can sense her little temperaments and quirks before they become a problem.” He felt his smile waver, remembering that his friend was gone, and remembering just what a wreck his life had become recently, but he pushed that aside for now.
 
“Once we launch, I want you to take some time and get to know the ship,” he said. “She’s in as good of shape now as she’s likely to be short of a full rebuild at Utopia, so it’s a good time to get a feel for her. Report back to me in the morning and we’ll see what you’ve found. Any questions?”

==Tag D'Mar==

[Jay D'Mar]

“A great engineer," said LCdr Elias, "like Lieutenant sh’Thanis who just got a promotion to a ship of her own, can do that. But they also know how their ship feels and acts, and can sense her little temperaments and quirks before they become a problem.” He felt his smile waver, remembering that his friend was gone, and remembering just what a wreck his life had become recently, but he pushed that aside for now.

“Once we launch, I want you to take some time and get to know the ship,” he said. “She’s in as good of shape now as she’s likely to be short of a full rebuild at Utopia, so it’s a good time to get a feel for her. Report back to me in the morning and we’ll see what you’ve found. Any questions?”

"I have heard of this 'sixth sense' of great engineers, and I do want to develop that sense, sir." said D'Mar trying not to sound 'too green.' Thank you for giving me permission to take some time to get used to the USS Artemis, she is a mighty and complex Starship, 'a Lady of the Realms of Space.'" Jay D'mar sounded like an enthusiastic school girl who was now allowed to play with the big kids. A romantic engineering student in some ways, and her fist and only love was engineering. For the last 10 years she had only studied engineering and had very little practical experience except for some time on Deep Space Nine, which was close to her home world of Bajor and the practical exercises at the Star Fleet Academy.

“I can only do my best, sir, and that I shall attempt do, to the best of my abilities.”

== Tag LCdr Elias ==

[Benjamin Elias]

"Thank you for giving me permission to take some time to get used to the USS Artemis, she is a mighty and complex Starship, 'a Lady of the Realms of Space.'" Benjamin couldn't help but smile as he listened to the enthusiastic ensign. He tried for a moment to remember when he'd been that young and excited, and found he couldn't quite remember. It hadn't really been that long ago, not in years, but those years had been rough on him. His prosthetic eye twitched on him, as if he could forget the damn piece of Ferengi technology he was stuck with in place of an eye.  “I can only do my best, sir, and that I shall attempt do, to the best of my abilities.”

"And that's all I can ask of you, Ensign," he replied. He considered adding some more but his attention drifted as he saw consoles lighting up around him. "Alright, give me a moment," he told her and stepped forward. "Reports?" he called out.

Around the room the technicians called out their go/no go for launch. As expected, everything was coming up green; propulsion, weapons, life support, comms, all were good to go. He smiled, glad that the techs at DS9 were as good as their word - though he'd also been glad that Ori was watching them while he was gone - and stepped up to the situation table closest to his office. He entered his own information, and fired it off to the bridge so they were aware that the ship was good to go.

"Always a fun time," he said to D'Mar, "when we're casting off for a new mission. I hope it's a frontier mission this time." The Artemis was an explorer, and he hoped she would get the chance to live up to that this go around.

==Tags D'Mar==

[Jay D'Mar]

"And that's all I can ask of you, Ensign," said LCdr Elias

"You will always receive my best, sir."

"Alright, give me a moment," he told her and stepped forward. "Reports?" he called out.

Around the room the technicians called out their go/no go for launch. As expected, everything was coming up green; propulsion, weapons, life support, comms, all were good to go.

"Always a fun time," he said to D'Mar, "when we're casting off for a new mission. I hope it's a frontier mission this time."

"As long it isn't the Cardassian border, sir. I'm not wellcome there, sir.  When my mother and I escaped from Cardassia Prime, they destroyed the ship we were on. My mother and I were among only 12 survivors rescued by the Federation. I was 2 years old. Cardassians have a very long memory. But that was a different time. I'm all for adventure, just not in the presence of other Cardassians. I best get to my shift, thanks for the advice, sir, I appreciate it."

== Tag LCdr Elias ==

[Tyra Crawford]

Shortly after launch, both D'Mar and Elias received the following text summons:

[Report to the transporter room for immediate transport to the USS Philadelphia for a mission briefing. Briefing starts in ten.]

[Benjamin Elias]

"As long it isn't the Cardassian border, sir," D'Mar told him. "I'm not welcome there, sir." She went on to tell her story, one of escape and loss and survival. It wasn't the worst atrocity he'd heard from the Cardassians, but it was one of the more personal ones. "I best get to my shift, thanks for the advice, sir, I appreciate it."

"Ensign," he said before she could walk away, "I can sympathize with you; there are many places I am not welcome either." He remembered a harrowing week spent in a half-working escape pod from a smuggler's ship on the Tzenkethi border, but only for a moment. He'd long since come to terms with that particular trauma. "But just remember that we're Starfleet. We go where we are required, not where we necessarily want to go. If there is an issue with any orders you've been given, please let me know as soon as possible, but remember that there may not be a choice in the matter."

He nodded and was about to let her go when he saw a text message pop up on the console. "Well, scratch that walkabout, Ensign," he said. "Looks like we're needed elsewhere. Get what you need, and head to the transporter. Guess we're going to find out what this is all about sooner rather than later. Dismissed for now."

Benjamin turned and headed back to his office. He picked up a pair of padds - one with information he needed, and one to take notes on - and stopped at the replicator for a fresh coffee before finally leaving and heading to the transporter room.

>>Transporter Rooms>>

[Benjamin Elias]

>>Officer's Quarters>>
==Post-Briefing & Waverider Timeline==

Benjamin walked into Engineering, and to say he caused a bit of a stir was an understatement. In the plain black jumpsuit, and well armed to boot, he wasn't exactly dressed for a normal workday. However, he wasn't in the mood to answer the questions raised by the various eyebrows. Instead, he walked through and simply called out, "Lieutenant Sanderson, my office please." He didn't stop to see if the newly minted LT followed, or if he hesitated; he didn't need to know. He just needed him to come eventually.

Stepping into his office, he turned to the side table and stopped for a moment. He kept his own projects there, but it was also where he stowed most of his personal gear. Currently, he was working on a small modified phaser, designed to be half the size of a regular pistol but still deliver full-power shots. He was still in development on it, so it didn't go with him, but he started to pack up his tools from it. He didn't think he'd need to work on something that small, but he wanted to be prepared just in case. They had a small roll-up case they went in, which got stowed in a pocket on his calf.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Sanderson said from behind him.

Benjamin didn't look up; he continued down the bench to his larger equipment, checking power levels on gear and making sure his kit was good. "You've probably figured out something big is going on," he told the man. "About a dozen of us will be out of pocket for a while, which leaves Engineering headless."

"I guess Ori picked a hell of a time to leave," Sanderson said wryly. Benjamin sent a smirk over his shoulder just in time to see the younger officer rub a hand across his forehead; he was probably still nursing a hangover from last night. Benjamin was just glad that his own had faded under the weight of the mission ahead. He simply didn't have time for it.

"That she did," he said, and continued throwing tools and gear into his case. "However, you won't have much time to curse her or her timing, considering her absence means I'm leaving you in charge."

"Me sir?" he asked. "Why?"

"Because I need someone I can trust," Benjamin said. "I need someone that knows the way that the department works and the personnel in it, and I need someone who can get the job done if it comes down to it." He left unsaid the fact that both of them knew: You're the only one left who fits that bill at all.

Fortunately, Sanderson just nodded. "Yes, sir. I won't let you down."

Benjamin snapped his kit closed and zipped up the small duffel with the remainder of his gear, and slung both on his shoulders. "I know you won't," he said with a smile. "Just hold down the fort, follow Lieutenant Morgan's orders, and don't break anything."

Sanderson just smiled and chuckled. "Aww," he mock cried. "I was gonna break the replicators as soon as you beamed off."

Benjamin just walked on out of his office. "If you do that, just make sure it's fixed before someone tries to get their coffee."

>>Elsewhere>>

[Omdor Jaein]

<<DS9/Promenade<<
==Simultaneous with Ju's Party==

Jaein always felt proud when he walked through a Vesta these days. Even though he knew that this wasn’t one of his – Artemis had been second off the main line at Utopia Planitia, not one from 40 Eridani – he had been so involved with building so many of them that he felt he knew it like the back of his hand.
 
As a result, every time he saw a minor deviation from spec, he added it to a running tally in his head. He had been up to twelve before he even realized he was doing it. He may have run a production line with hundreds of people and dozens of managers, but he still did walkthroughs personally and he’d continuously make notes to give back to those managers on what needed to be addressed. He shook his head, dismissing the count with a smile; that wasn’t why he was here.
 
No, he was here to meet up with a friend – well, a colleague, at least – and compare notes. Elias was from a simultaneously similar and yet very different background. Neither of them had been taught their engineering skills the “Starfleet way”, picking up their craft as they went along and fixing starships as best they could with what they had. Where Jaein had actually worked on military craft most of his life, though, Elias had worked int eh civilian sector instead. Jaein also had more managerial experience, not only managing the whole line constructing Vestas at 40 Eridani, but also as the chief engineer of a Bajoran system defense ship – actually an old surplus Miranda they had upgunned – and of the USS Spirit, the original Slipstream testbed.
 
He sighed as he kept walking down the corridor, taking in the sight of the ship. Spirit had been an interesting ship to work on. As a testbed ship, he’d actually had nearly as much authority as the captain on board. While the captain controlled the maneuvers, he’d had the last say on what those maneuvers were supposed to be, since the whole idea had been to test the Slipstream to the breaking point. But it had worked if not flawlessly then well enough for the bureaucrats to install it on everything they could.
 
Finally, though, he snapped out of his reverie as he rounded the corner and stepped into main engineering. The place was still abuzz with activity; it may have been slightly less than during actual operations, but there was never a shortage of things to do even in port. Hell, half of them are probably trying to make sure the DS9 engineers don’t screw something up, he thought with a smirk. Having been one of those DS9 engineers at one point, he couldn’t help but laugh.
 
He walked on through, admiring the workers concentrating on their jobs and ignoring him, and walked into the chief’s office. It was dark, which surprised him. He also banged his shin on a table that was overturned, which surprised him more. “What?” he asked no one around a swallowed curse. “What in the Prophet’s name happened here? Lights!”
 
The lights came up, and the office was ransacked. Most of the shelves were bare, their contents on the floor. The desk was littered with padds and other objects strewn haphazardly about. More concerning, though, was that there was a fine layer of dust across the debris – whatever had happened, it hadn’t been recent. It had been several days, at least.
 
He turned and stepped out with a purpose, picking a crewman walking by. Her hair was a bright pink, and she was doing her best to keep her head down. Jaein didn’t let her. “Crewman, where is Commander Elias?”
 
The look she gave him could have murdered lesser people, but Jaein refused to be deterred. “Why?” she asked through teeth laced with venom. “Haven’t you people done enough already?”
 
“Miss,” Jaein said, taking the path of peace rather than continuing a confrontation. He raised a hand in a placating gesture. “Ben offered me a tour when we talked last week, and I’d just wanted to take him up on it. What happened?”
 
The crewman seemed to finally register both the color of his collar and the number of pips on it. “Oh, sir,” she started, eyes widening. “I’m sorry, it’s been… I’m sorry, I’m not sure I should talk about it. I’d recommend you speak to Commander Coleman.”
 
Jaein nodded, and gave her a smile. Now that her rage had broken, the poor woman almost seemed on the edge of tears. “I’ll do that, miss,” he told her. “Any idea where I can find him?”
 
>>Party Thread>>

[Omdor Jaein]

>>DS9/Promenade... again>>
==Am I going in circles?==

==Some time after the party==

Jaein walked into engineering again, and was more pleasantly surprised this time than he was previous. The buzz of conversation - both work related and not - was still present, as engineers never really got much time off. However, he noted that most of the crew working seemed more alert than before. Maybe they've finally gotten past the news, he considered, even if he still didn't exactly know what had happened.

He did note, however, that the chief's office was straightened up and clean. It was also devoid of any personal effects - no pictures, no furnishings beyond the basic desk and chairs. Evidently no new chief, or even interim chief, had been named.

"Commander?" a young woman said as she walked up. Her hair was stark white, and she wore a PO1's insignia. "I wanted to apologize for last time you were here. We... we've not been in the best of conditions lately."

He gave her his best smile, and nodded. "Don't worry, crewman," he said. "I've learned a little - a very little, unfortunately - and I can't say I would've reacted much better." He sighed and looked around the room almost theatrically. "I still was hoping for a tour, and was told it could still be done?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yes, sir," she said. "I actually volunteered for it, to try and make it up to you. Petty Officer Kat Whitby," she said, offering a sketch of a salute which Jaein countered by offering his hand for a shake. She accepted and continued, "I've been on Artemis since the beginning, so given what you were talking about trying to see, it seemed like I'd be your best bet."

He smiled again, broadly. "Sounds like a plan," he told her. "Where would you recommend starting?"

"Well," she said, gesturing him back towards the door, "we've done some major work on the deflector control systems, which I was heavily involved in, so I figured we'd start there and then work through some other areas."

They walked on as he nodded. He'd never met an engineer that didn't like to talk about their own area of expertise most, and wasn't about to dissuade her from doing the same. It was safe ground, and it was a good area to start anyway. "Sounds like a plan," he told her. They walked the short distance to the turbolift, making some small talk while waiting, before the doors opened.

"Oh," she said before they could step on, and Jaein looked up in time to see a captain standing in the lift.

"Good to see you again," Jaein said as he noted Captain Givens, giving her a smile. They had both been passengers on the USS Cairo on their way to DS9, though they hadn't had much time to socialize. She'd seemed preoccupied the one time they had seen each other in the ship's lounge, and he'd left her to her work. However, he did see a flare of recognition as she gave a polite nod. "We'll take the next one, you seem in a hurry." The doors closed, but he saw her making a note in her padd as they closed.

Whitby shuddered beside him as they waited for the next lift. "No idea what she's doing here," the crewman said, "but everyone's been on their toes around her. Rumor has it she's from some kind of review committee at Command, and with everything else going on..." She didn't finish the thought, but he could fill it in just fine.

"I don't blame you," he said. Reviews were never fun, especially when everything else was going to the Fire Caves in a cart. Fortunately, the lift came quickly. "Shall we?"

==TBC Elsewhere==
==Givens used with permission==

[Omdor Jaein]

==About an hour after the briefing==

Jaein sat in the chief engineer's office, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed as he leaned back in the chair and fighting a headache.

Despite having just finished up a meeting with his shift leaders, it wasn't the engineers that were giving him a headache. No, this was definitely a class 7 headache by his own classification - a generalized situational anxiety, when something was very wrong and he couldn't do anything about it. He'd first classified it when he was serving on the Shakaar when he was still with the militia, usually in regards to the captain or first officer doing something particularly stupid and he was often unsure what exactly was going on, being stuck down in the retrofit Oberth's engineering bay. Here, of course, he could easily identify what was wrong.

He had signed on to a ship of fools for a mission, drama oozing out of every single panel of the hallways, and he was getting too old for this bullshit.

Between the antics of the chief of security - Mara Calleja, he now knew after familiarizing himself with the crew roster again - as she nearly punched her way through several of the command staff, and then the young science lieutenant Devereaux suggesting probably the most inappropriate icebreaker ever, he was wondering if he should just say "No thanks, actually," and head back to Vulcan. And that doesn't even include the ever-changing command team, which looked to be in flux all the way until launch.

As tempting as the prospect was, though, he discarded it almost as soon as he had it. It may have provided a momentarily attractive escape from his headache, but he knew he couldn't do that. He was a man of his word; he'd learned that early on in his life, from his parents foremost but then from mentors in his early career as well. You don't lie to people - unless it's on a time estimate - and once you've agreed to do something, you do it unless you are physically unable to do so anymore.

He sighed, took an asprin out of his toolbag, and took it dry. He stuck the container in the top drawer of the desk before stowing the bag and heading out to dinner; he had a feeling he was going to need it quite a bit here on the Artemis.