From: Katrina L. Browne (kbrowne_at_wellesley.edu)
Date: Tue Dec 18 2007 - 09:11:53 PST
-=(^)=- “An Engineer’s Thesis on Interior Decorating” Con’t From: “We're Going to Need Bigger Quarters” -=(^)=- Location: GS-2 Stardate: 2.71217.1911 Scene: Main Engineering -> Chief Engineer's Office In the three days that had past since the bulk of the fighting had taken place between the station and the Dominion, the personnel from the GATE and the federation fleet had worked tirelessly to reinforce and repair the main systems that had been damaged during the short firefight. Tabs had been taken, and though the station and her saviors had apparently won the last battle, it had been at a heavy price. The dead would be named and honored fully at some later date; right now life had to move on within the structure that was nearly a man made planet. Lieutenant Kor looked around Main Engineering for a moment. She had been in the room once before, but since joining the Station the woman had had little occasion to revisit it. The repeated brawling that had plagued the department under Lieutenant Salor prior to his diagnosis of having developed a case of the Bendii syndrome had been handled by the security substation housed within the GATEWAY’s largest module. The immensity of the space immediately struck her in a way that it had not when she had been hastily conducted through the station so that security officer could start her new position. For a moment, the Andorian lost herself in the gently glowing lights of a wall of power reactors. The light seemed to cascade down as if the devices were some man-made waterfall. A voice startled Eishnala out of her reverie. “Is there something I can do for you, Lieutenant?” Ensign Crichton asked her, having noticed the blue woman absentmindedly gazing at the port junction for EPS manifold 14. Lieutenant Kor stared for a moment before quietly asking, “How are the repairs going?” The young engineer snorted. “That well?” Eishnala said lightly, smiling. “It’s just slow and there just aren’t as many resources available as I would have hoped,” he admitted. “But we are making steady progress and if the Dominion comes back they’ll be in for a few surprises.” “Glad to hear it,” the Andorian noted, a bit of her normal energy returning to her and infusing her voice. “Do you have some place where we can talk about how to get you some help?” Jake pursed his lips for a moment. “Salor’s office is about the only quite place around here at the moment,” he pointed out. He directed the woman to the office and pressed the panel that opened the door. With a gentle hiss, the door spread open. The space remained dim for a moment before the still partially damaged computer caught on to the fact that people were attempting to utilize the area. A brief flickering and then the panels illuminated the space. Eishnala notice the bareness of the room. “Have you had a chance to pack up Salor’s effects?” Ensign Crichton examined the room for a moment before tentatively stepping in. This space had housed a lot of hardship for the young officer. Within its walls, he had seen his career nearly destroyed. “No. Clearing it out took priority to fixing things that will save our hides,” Jake answered. Lieutenant Kor frowned for a moment before noting, “It’s…just so bare.” “Yeah, I know,” Crichton acknowledged. “The only personal item I ever saw in the office was that holophoto of him with his family. One of the technicians that has served with him for a while mentioned that they lived on Vulcan.” “That’s a very long distance relationship.” “Especially with the wormhole closed. Maybe it’s just me, but I think that might have been part of the problem. He deteriorated and his friends and family weren’t there to point it out before it became critical,” Crichton said. “But then I’m not Vulcan. They’re familial structures have always seemed a little odd from a human point of view…the whole seeing your partner once every seven years things and all.” “Always seemed a bit odd to us Andorians,” Eishnala admitted. “But then we have a troubled past. Relations obviously haven’t been poor for a few generations, but Vulcans and Andorians both seem to have long memories…” She paused for a moment, “I’ll take the photo and ensure it arrives to his family.” The engineer reached out, picked up the photo and turned to hand it to her. “I’m sure he’d find that agreeable. But I don’t think you came to discuss the personal decorating habits of Vulcans. What can I do for you?” Jake asked, leaning himself against the desk that had avoided developing a line of dusty film solely due to the self clean properties of modern Federation technology. “You’re partially right and you’re partially wrong on that account. I wanted to make certain that the Chief Engineer’s office was suitable for its newest holder.” Lieutenant Kor then added, “You’ve done a remarkable job keeping us together throughout the last conflict. The modified Aurora project demonstrated that you have the ability to drive an assignment to completion even in the face of serious set backs. You have definitely shown that you have the ability to lead a department, so Commander Davidson and I thought we’d make it official. Lieutenant Jacob…” Crichton slowly smiled as she told him the news, though he momentarily winced as she said the entirety of the first name he dreaded. “…Crichton, Congratulations,” the cerulean blue woman finished. Jake listened as she finished and then asked with muted excitement, “Did I hear you right? I’m being promoted to the position of junior grade Lieutenant?” Eishnala shook her head, saying, “You heard ‘Lieutenant’.” The blue woman than produced a small box from one of her uniform’s pockets. “And you’ll need these or you’ll be out of uniform,” she added, using her thumb to flip open the small black box to reveal two gleaming, golden pips. -=(^)=- NRPG: Congratulations to our newest Lieutenant. Shawn, you’ve done an amazing job keeping the GATE together over the last few months. -=(^)=- Katrina Browne kbrowne [at] wellesley [dot] edu Lieutenant Eishnala sh' Kor Executive Officer GATEWAY STATION 2 From HyperNews_at_youth.net
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