USS Galileo :: Episode 20 - Reconstruction - Poetry in Motion
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Poetry in Motion

Posted on 19 Dec 2024 @ 7:13am by Petty Officer 3rd Class Isla Sheridan & Chief Petty Officer Afthinam Naime

2,550 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 20 - Reconstruction
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 7, Main Engineering
Timeline: MD03 1500 hrs

[ON]

With the ever chatty pair of Hel and Amul no longer aboard Main Engineering had, to Naime's ears, become very quiet. Well it hadn't been very quiet the night before when that intolerable pilot had let off a sonic device but that was a one off, an exception to the pattern. Today might be different though. The halls of Main Engineering were expecting someone new.

Chief Naime was trying to start the shift, she'd relieved John only a few minutes earlier, but with every little rumble of the warp core, every creak of the ship or chirp of the computer she looked up to the doors. Any second now the new arrival would walk in. She'd brushed her hair (sort of), donned her best work overalls (the normal ones) and thoroughly read through the new arrival's file (skimmed through over lunch). Truly she was ready to make the best impression possible and welcome the newest sheep into her motley flock.

The doors hissed, this time for sure. Naime turned with her best welcoming smile and in her best welcoming voice gave the best welcoming she could come up with "Welcome to Engineering, I'm Chief Naime."

Isla stepped into Engineering, the warp core humming like the galaxy's largest headache waiting to happen. At least the place looked functional - if you liked giant mechanical beasts that could tear space apart. She, personally, preferred something with a bit more finesse. Circuits. Data streams. The quiet poetry of code, not these monstrous machines designed to explode in the most dramatic fashion possible.

"Chief Naime," Isla said, easily returning the smile. "Thanks for the welcome. I'll try not to break anything important. Or at least, not until I've figured out how it works."

"Yes, please no breaking things you don't know how to fix. We get enough of that from command." Naime held out a hand, an invitation to the traditional human handshaking ritual. "Isla Sheridan. Good with computers, right?"

Isla took Naime's offered hand with a grip that was both firm and entirely noncommittal, as if she might be weighing up whether this particular handshake could be her ticket to an early retirement. "Good with computers?" she repeated, eyes dancing with a hint of amusement. "Well, I've been known to coax a few secrets out of them. You know how it is—whisper sweet algorithms, promise not to fry their circuits, and they'll do just about anything for you."

She glanced around Engineering again, the vast machinery thumping away like a beast that hadn't yet decided if it was friend or foe. "I imagine it's a little different here. Your warp core doesn't strike me as the type to respond to charm. More the 'follow orders or I explode' sort of personality, I'd guess?"

She let the thought hang in the air for a second before giving Naime a sidelong glance. "Speaking of which, what do you do to keep things from blowing up in here? Bribes? Threats? Or just the occasional stern word?" she asked, all innocence.

Isla was charming, that is to say Naime was charmed. This new engineer wasn't Hel, nobody else would be, but Naime really hoped she could bring the same kind of energy, something to make the coming weeks a bit more bearable. "Well our previous warp engineer used to say the the warp cores respond best to being treated as a lover. She was an odd one but she got results. Makes me think there's something to it." Naime shrugged cheerily.

The words had just flowed out without any real thought. Naime's mind was clearly still dwelling on her friends heading off to their own path. It was only after what she said lingered in the air for a moment that she put together the unintended implication. "Wait, hold on, I'm not saying that I prevent things from blowing up by treating my team as lovers. I am at least somewhat professional!" She blurted it all out with frantic embarrassment. Great job, roaring success on the first impressions thing.

Isla's grin widened, eyes gleaming with barely concealed delight as she watched Naime's frantic backpedaling. Oh, this was going to be fun.

"Well, Chief," she said smoothly, letting Naime dangle for a beat longer, "I certainly wasn't going to accuse you of workplace… impropriety. But I must say, your method does have a certain charm to it. Very, uh, hands-on management style."

She paused, smile still playing on her lips, "I suppose the rest of us will just have to make do with stern looks and passive-aggressive maintenance reports. But if that doesn't work - well, I'll know who to consult for… relationship advice." Isla winked.

For a good several moments Naime felt like she was melting into the floor, so thoroughly had she been defeated by this woman's disarming wit. She had to pull it back together, construct something to say that rolled with it rather than just awkwardly moving on. Something that showed she was more than just another engineer, she was a colleague, a comrade. "Don't worry, one of these days I'm sure you'll have the warp core trembling in your hands just as well as the rest of us!"

Maybe that wasn't quite it. The chief laughed, mostly at herself, and shook her head. "You'll do great, you'll fit right in I'm sure. And be it the warp core or the other engineers I'll be here for any relationship advice you need."

Isla's smile widened, savouring Naime's valiant attempt to keep her composure. This was, indeed, the kind of welcome that could turn a monotonous posting into something worth staying awake for. Naime had spirit, and more to the point, seemed willing to laugh at her own expense - a rare and underappreciated talent in Starfleet.

"Well then, Chief," Isla replied, a glimmer of mock solemnity in her eyes, "I'll be sure to add 'warp core counseling' to my to-do list. And who knows, maybe I'll start writing a handbook: Love Languages of Warp Cores and Other Explosive Devices. There's an underserved market, I'm sure."

She let her gaze drift, her smile laced with just enough mischief. "And while we're at it, I may just take you up on that relationship advice, though I should warn you - consoles and computers tend to be my type." She leaned in, as if letting Naime in on a small, scandalous secret. "Less drama, and they only spark if you ask nicely."

"See I love the drama. If I don't come away with a broken heart then was it even ever real?" The chief met her new subordinates grin with one of her own. "I like to be aware when things fall apart. The computer might not start drama but when things go wrong it begins with little white lies so you don't see the rot setting in until it is too late and the damage to your world can no longer be rectified. The warp core doesn't lie, she just explodes." She gave a momentous sagely nod as if what she had said was deeply profound, dripping in portentousness, and not a complete nonsense statement.

Isla arched an eyebrow, impressed by the sheer audacity of Naime's mock profundity. "Ah, a philosopher-engineer," she said with mock reverence, clasping her hands together as if in prayer to the warp core deity. "I see now that I've underestimated this post. We're not just running diagnostics and holding things together with duct tape and a prayer. No, no, we're unearthing the grand truths of life, one catastrophic meltdown at a time."

She paused for effect, her expression turning thoughtful, though her eyes still sparkled with mischief. "Still, Chief, I feel like you're giving computers a bad rap. Sure, they're subtle when they fail, but isn't there something poetic in the betrayal? The quiet way they undermine your trust until - bam! - they binary-blast you into oblivion? I'd argue there's an art to that level of deviousness."

Leaning back, she offered Naime a conspiratorial grin. "But maybe that's why you're the Chief and I'm the new hire. You see the world in glorious pyrotechnics, and I just see a network that's too clever for its own good."

"I do hope that we can keep the glorious pyrotechnics to a minimum." Naime couldn't help but think of Trial, pyrotechnics might be beautiful but they also ended up being quite deadly. She scratched the back of her head, fingertips finding solace in her only slightly messy auburn hair. The grin left her face for a moment, but only a moment. It was soon back.

"Maybe there is a poetry to the betrayal. But I am, as you observed, a philosopher-engineer as opposed to a poet-engineer. Perhaps the years of explosions and betrayal have blinded me to the quiet beauty that can be found in this beast." She patted the bulkhead in the way one would the head of a child. She then extended a hand to gesture in Isla's direction. "Maybe with a new pair of eyes at my side I will better appreciate when the computer systems fail, and maybe if I'm lucky react with joy rather than bitter frustration."

Isla tilted her head, lips quirking upward as Naime finished. "Joy at a system failure? Chief, you're setting quite the lofty standard. Next thing, you'll be telling me the Chief Engineer doubles as the resident poet."

She let the idea linger for a beat, the corners of her mouth twitching with suppressed laughter. "I mean, I can only imagine the haikus. 'Logic governs all / Failure illuminates truth / Recalibrate now.'"

Her grin widened as she continued with a sardonic tone. "Do you think I should pitch that to M'Lyr'Zor? She seems totally the type to appreciate a little creative flair."

Though very happy to laugh at herself Naime was perhaps less eager to start joking about superiors. She couldn't help it though, Sheridan's scrap of verse had just been a bit too perfect. "Oh I'm sure she would just love it. Department poetry night, the perfect opportunity for teambuilding. I can not wait to hear what Andrews comes up with."

Naime paused after another laugh, her tone changed a little "Ensign Sera is a good sort, you know. Logical, sure, but I wouldn't say cold. Did you end up making a good first impression?"

Isla's smile faltered for a fraction of a second before she recovered, brushing the question aside with practiced ease. "Oh, you know how it is, Chief," she said breezily, waving a hand as if dismissing a minor technical glitch. "First impressions can be tricky. Sometimes you hit the right buttons, and sometimes the system locks you out with a stern, Vulcan glare."

She hesitated for a beat, then added with a self-deprecating shrug, "I might've leaned a little too hard on the charm. Logical types, they're always a tough read. I think she clocked me as insincere before I'd even finished my first sentence." Her grin returned, smaller now, tinged with a flicker of uncertainty. "Not my best work, if I'm honest."

Naime picked up on the hesitation, beneath all the bravado she could see that Sheridan's first meeting clearly hadn't gone all that well and Naime imagined she was trying very hard to have this one go better. "Meanwhile you've been running circles around me for the last three minutes. Probably had me clocked as easily charmed from the moment you stepped in here." Naime knew she was easy to read, she tried not to worry about that, but as she was saying this it became very clear just how much she'd been on the back foot for the entire conversation. "You've clearly got the game, you just need to change up your strategies a bit for Sera. The plays might be different but you'll learn them."

Isla's grin returned, this time softer, touched with a flicker of appreciation. “Easily charmed? Chief, I'd never be so bold as to assume.” She leaned in slightly, her tone playful but carrying a note of sincerity. “But I'll take the compliment. Honestly, though, I think you might give me too much credit. Half the time, I'm just making it up as I go and hoping nobody notices.”

"And you might be giving the rest of us us too much credit because I think that's pretty much the case for everyone." Naime gave a gesture to the rest of the room and patted the nearby bulkhead. "This is engineering, whether we are poets or philosophers we're all here to solve problems, we're fascinated by the puzzles of life. Don't worry too much about trying to impress me or the ensign, the team is so small here you aren't going to get lost. Just do what you came here to do."

Isla gave a small, thoughtful nod, her grin tilting into something wry but genuine. "Solve problems and figure out the puzzles of life? Well, Chief, that's a job description I can get behind. And I promise, no unnecessary pyrotechnics - unless absolutely necessary."

She tapped the bulkhead lightly, mirroring Naime's earlier gesture. "But thanks for the advice. It's good to know I won't vanish into the background. I'll do what I came here to do - fix things, break things, occasionally in that order. And," she added with a twinkle in her eye, "I'll leave the poetry to the warp core."

This was good, Naime nodded, she couldn't hide a simel. All of a sudden business-like she went to a screen on the wall and pulled up a maintenance request "And to you I will leave the maintenance of these power conduits on deck three, at the cargo bay. You can manage this right?" She tried not to make the question sound condescending. They'd had the talk, now she was giving Sheridan the chance she needed to show Naime that it wasn't just talk. "Once you're done we've got some work to do on the deflector array, meet me there."

Isla straightened, her wry grin broadening into something sharper, almost wolfish. "Power conduits on deck three? Consider them as good as fixed, Chief," she said, with a jaunty salute that walked the line between respectful and irreverent. With that, Isla turned and began to head toward the exit, tossing a final look over her shoulder. "Deflector array, Chief. I'll be there - assuming the warp core hasn't stolen me away for some counseling in the meantime."

"Don't worry, in the event of an imminent warp core breach the deflector array will no longer be our priority." Naime had a grin on her face as she watched the other woman exit the room. That had gone alright. Sera would be happy.

She took a moment basking in the blue glow of the warp core. No one was ever going to replace Hel. No ship would ever replace Trial. But there was work to be done here and Naime still had people to look after and wherever those two things are present is a place where she was needed and could prosper.

[OFF]

--

CPO Afthinam Naime
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Ullswater]

&

PO3 Isla Sheridan
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vala]


 

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