Engineering, Hell, We've Just Started (Part 1)

Posted on Tue Nov 14th, 2023 @ 6:13am by Lieutenant Terrence "Terry" Johnston & Lieutenant Ami Rori

1,134 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Operation Tokyo Return
Location: Main Engineering

A triple espresso after getting out of the holodeck with Jane and Ami was right back in the zone and headed back to engineering. She'd needed that distraction to get her focus back and now it was time to buckle down and get everything sorted. She stopped at one of the wall consoles and keyed in a particular code that would send the message to all on-duty engineers, plus her putative assistance chief, "Hands meeting in ten minutes, engineering." Her voice was flat, uninviting and energetic despite that.

She walked into the room those few minutes later even while she was pulling her hair back into a ponytail that she draped over her right shoulder unconsciously. There was a slight scent of cordite and oil about her, but she inhaled deeply and let what remained of her stress flow out of her and she was back to being Ami Saito, top of her form, THE best engineer in Starfleet, or at least the potential to be.

Within the ten minutes of Ami's call going out over coms, the Myogi's engineers began to gather within Main Engineering. Some were concerned by the meeting, while others were curious as to how the new Chief was going to conduct this meeting.

Among the engineers was the Myogi's resident half El Aurian, Terry Johnston, promoted to Lieutenant as part of Captain Takahashi's incentive to retain crew. While Commander Pratt might have taken the promotion and ran, it wasn't in Terry's nature to abandon the Myogi that easily, and like Captain Takahashi was hoping for, he had stayed. Terry was among the engineers who fell into the latter camp. He had served under many chiefs in his time, and knew there was nothing to fear whenever engineering changed hands. But there was lot that could be learned about the new head by how they conducted their hands meeting.

Her eyes swept across the entirety of the engineering team, meeting each set of eyes with her own, no smile on her face, no sense of what she was thinking and she nodded. "Thank you and know that each shift is going to have this same meeting with me when they come on duty. "

"A couple hours ago, I met with the Captain to go over a
detailed report of the status of Myogi. At that point, she all but accused us of falsifying the readiness state of the ship. Someone told her that the ship was fully repaired and ready to go and it wasn't me. Who it was doesn't matter and I don't want to know. While we were well beyond minimal specifications to deploy and I defended that, Captain Takahashi expects us to be better than that. I expect us to be better." Ami once again was meeting eyes.

"We're going to have the JAG come down to investigate, if the Captain holds to her word, but we've got tradition and regulations that will get whatever they're investigating dismissed." She took a deep breath, "And regardless of what happens, you will all be safe. I'll make sure of that, that's MY job. Whatever happens in Engineering is my responsibility, has my name written all over it. I don't know what you all think of me after coming in to take over for Commander Pratt, but know this: I would die for any of you, even not knowing all of you yet."

She took a step back and leaned back against a console, "I've been in a lot of bad situations just like many or most of you. I've almost died a few times, like many of you. We aren't in a safe job, but it's one that needs to be done, one that ALL of us have answered the call for. We. Are. A. Team. Period." She flicked a hand and the ponytail went behind her, "From here on, though, I want any official status reports to the Captain to go through me unless it's time-sensitive. Does anyone have and questions or concerns?"

"Unless Captain Takahashi decides to use a different JAG officer to review our cases, there shouldn't be cause for concern." Terry piped up. "If you ask me, this sounds like Captain Takahashi is stressed out about something. I've served under her since before she took command of this ship, and this is usually how she acts when she's stressed."

"That's good to know." Ami said after a moment of hesitation where certain things were clicking into place and a fair amount of additional stress fell away from her and her stance widened slightly, "I definitely don't know her as well as you all do." She glanced around, "Thank you all for showing up, if you have any issues, please don't hesitate to come to me. The only stupid question is the one not asked. Dismissed. Lieutenant Johnston, mind if I borrow you for a few moments? I need to consult with someone who knows a bit more about the Captain and this JAG officer that she's likely to use. Plus, I've been a bit lax about meeting people and you're one of the key cogs down here." She gestured towards her office in a query, with the motion that indicated that if he didn't want to, she wasn't about to force him.

"Sure thing, Lieutenant." Terry said, following Ami into the office. He was more than happy to help a fellow Engineer out, and would gladly make time in his day to do so.

When the door slid shut behind them, Ami sighed and turned before falling into the beanbag chair she’d set in the corner and gave a quick snort of laughter, still feeling the espresso’s caffeine working. “I know that I haven’t made the best impression since I got on board and you might need to know part of the reason. Oh, avail yourself of the replicator if you want to.” She waved at the device behind her desk, “I have a medical condition, a fatal one, caused by a parasite. You see, being only half a Trill means that melding with a symbiont is an iffy thing at best, usually would result in a rejection. In my case, it worked, but my own body decided after the fact that it didn’t like it. It’s an enzymatic problem, one that Trills produce with a complementary one from the symbiont that makes the body believe it’s a part of it. So I have to take a medication to replace my side of it, but between that and the sheer amount of energy the symbiont draws from me to keep going and maintain the connection, I get tired very quickly. I tend to catnap here and there to keep myself alert throughout the day.”

To be continued...

RSS Feed