The Cursed Ship, Now Usurped

Posted on 23 Oct 2023 @ 8:27am by Chief Petty Officer Afthinam Naime & Lieutenant JG Fynn Taymor

1,678 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 7, Main Engineering
Timeline: MD 18, 0748 hrs

[ON]

Every morning for the last two and a half weeks Chief Naime had begun her working day by going down to main engineering, sitting behind that chief engineer's desk and looking over what maintenance and repairs were needed and putting together a plan. Not this morning though, things were different now. This morning there would be someone else sitting behind that desk. For two and a half weeks Naime had been queen of Galileo, and now that throne was usurped. Despite how glad she was that there would be no more diplomatic dinners with Klingons she did feel a little sadness that her reign was over.

That said, she didn't let any such feelings show as she made her way in to main engineering that morning. Mug of coffee in hand and repair documents under her arm, there was work to be done. And as she stepped through those doors, there he was, sitting behind that desk doing exactly what she'd have been doing. "Morning sir!" She called out as she walked over. Once in range she extended her free hand for a shake "I'm Naime, sir."

"Naime, of course! Good morning!" The Bajoran stood and accepted the offered hand, giving it a firm shake. "I'm Fynn. Please, have a seat," he nodded to the chair on the opposite side of his desk and sat back down, moving his kava juice out of the way and affording her his full attention. "I'm sorry we were only able to speak in passing yesterday, but I'd really like to commend you for the job you've been doing these past few weeks. I have no doubt our repairs wouldn't be running as smoothly as they have been without you overseeing the department."

"And I'm sure with you in charge things are going to get a whole lot smoother." She meant genuinely what she said as she took the seat. Naime wanted to make this work and she'd invested too much energy in this little ship to not care about it. "I heard you spent some time with Hel last night, had a chance to meet the rest of the team yet?"

"Not really, no," the regret apparent in his voice. "The downside of everyone working so hard, I suppose. Maybe we can find a time to gather, outside of a repair meeting or shift change?" The thought sounded nice, although any engineer would know the odds of getting an entire department together outside an emergency were astronomical. Someone on the team was always needed, somewhere. "Anything you feel I should know before I get to know them better myself?"

"We can call a meeting together for sure. I do my best to keep up with how everyone on the team is doing." Naime liked the idea too, would be good for some kind of official welcome to their new team leader. And as for what he'd need to know about the other engineers, well she'd already prepared her answer for that. "I don't know how much you heard about our last mission but suffice it to say it took a toll on some of the crew. Andrews was involved in that incident and though we're all giving him some extra support he's probably still our most competent engineer. He's been keeping things together here for a while.

"You should watch out for Hollenday. He was a shipwright, probably knows the details of the ship better than anyone. That said, he's good at complaining," The chief gave a smirk, hoping her euphemism would come across "I'm hoping that with you around that might calm down a bit. Also he's had three different people try to kill his fiancée in the last week so I'd imagine he's particularly on edge.

"And Inant, you have already met." When all laid out like that thinking of the strengths and weaknesses of her team she was proud of them, proud that they'd pulled through the cold station fiasco. Proud to be handing over such competent engineers to the Lieutenant. Naime gave a little shrug "I guess there is also me but I'm not going to be one to sing my own praises."

"Your work speaks for you," Fynn acknowledged. "And it sounds like a solid team, although I don't know that I've ever had a department debrief that included mention of so many attempted murders. Is Hollenday's fiancé okay? Is this, um, something that happens a lot here?"

"The ship might be cursed sir. Her last two missions, both nominally scientific have ended up with a body count for reasons that will probably remain classified until long after we are gone. So be ready for some of that." Naime gave a wry grin, she wished she was joking but she had no doubt that the Latari and the Cold Station would not be the ship's last brushes with the world of secrets. "At least for us we can be safe in the knowledge that the engine isn't cursed. It's been breaking down only for explicable reasons."

By the Prophets Fynn thought, responding with a solemn nod. Despite the attempt at levity, curses were a part of his belief system and very well could be at work here. It was unlikely, but there was more to the universe than most of the more scientific minded in Starfleet were willing to admit. He made a mental note to find the time to offer up some cleansing prayers, just in case.

"Well, the engine is certainly something we can handle. Keeping her healthy will give our crew the best chance to handle whatever comes at us next." He reached for his juice and drank deeply. "I understand most of our repairs were related to recent combat, which we, um, really have no control over. Once we're finished with those, I'd really like to focus on preventative maintenance. Any thoughts on how that's gone in the past? Or, um, any thoughts on ways we can step it up?"

"Well sir, the phrase related to recent combat though technically true is hiding some of the underlying problems we've been trying to address. The main damage sustained came from a shot to out port nacelle. That's a serious place to take damage, yes, but the cascade of failures that followed all came down to issues that should have been sorted out months ago." Naime pulled out the repair report she had brought with her, scrolled through to one of the diagrams and placed it between them. "Yesterday when you called in on us we were working on the PTCs. The whole casing was riddled with microfractures that had been there since the ship was launched and it was that which caused the catastrophic failure. Truth is we really don't know where else problems could be lurking. As Hollenday loves to keep pointing out, this ship never had a proper shakedown cruise."

Fynn's brow furrowed as he regarded the diagram. "Well, the ship has certainly been shaken..." He sighed, massaged his closed eyes, then opened them with an expression of optimism. "A proper shakedown cruise would have been nice, but it didn't happen, so we can only move forward. I'm hesitant to assign double shifts after this intensive repair, but I also think you all have done some great work and it's given us a chance to get ahead a bit." He leaned back in his chair and felt himself grin. "I'd like to press our advantage while docked, before we get sent off on our next mission. Do you think the team will go for it? Double shifts to run a fine-tooth comb over this ship before setting up the new maintenance routine?"

Naime shook her head, in the dual side of her job as bridge between the officer cadre and her people she wasn't going to let them be worked to death. "I think that would be an unreasonable ask sir. After what we've been through I'd rather see the team having to work a few less hours in the coming days rather than more long shifts."

Fynn considered her words. "That's an excellent point. I hear you, Naime. Double shifts on hold." He then flashed an enormous smile. "Thank you for speaking your mind. I appreciate your consideration of the crew, and that you weren't hesitant to be honest with me."

"That's something you can always expect from me. We're all on the same team here. They can be like a bunch of wild kids sometimes and its my job to make sure they're doing what you want but..." She gave a little shrug, letting the word hang in the air for a moment. If the lieutenant was appreciative of honesty he would have to be ready for more "I look after my people, I'll always be advocating for what I think is best for them."

"Then it sounds like we're all in good hands," Fynn observed, appreciating there was an extra set of eyes on the well being of the team. "Just make sure to advocate for yourself, too," he added with a grin, already understanding the Naime was the type the ship and the entire crew before her own well being. He could relate.

"Anything else we need to address?" he asked, finishing off the last of his kava.

"Indeed sir there is." Naime give a little tilt of her head to the side and indicated the repair reports on the desk "I'd like to go through some of the specific technical details of the repair work with you. There's quite a lot of it and I think it would be good to be thorough." She wasn't exaggerating, maybe she was even understating, but she had no intention of handing over this job without making sure her successor was filled in with every single detail.

And so the two of them got down to work.

[OFF]

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LTJG Fynn Taymor
Chief Engineer
USS Galileo-A

CPO Afthinam Naime
Engineer
USS Galileo-A

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