3 Engineers, 1 Problem.

Posted on Mon May 20th, 2019 @ 4:45pm by Lieutenant Azusa Nakano

1,061 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Caverns of the mind
Location: Engineering

The refit of the Aurora had gone well... but there had been a few bugs in some of the new systems. Once again it was down to Engineering to sort them all out. With the ship being so small, the Engineering department only consisted of twelve people, two officers and ten enlisted. The Aurora's main purpose was that of Science, and with a maximum crew of eighty many of the officers on board belonged to Science departments.

Azusa wasn't complaining, twelve people was easy to manage and she had been getting to know many of the newer team members. However, the work had been stressful and long. But the ship was now all fully functioning well, and everything seemed to have worked out. Apart from one thing which she had been struggling with.

The ships new improved warp core was still being a royal pain in the neck, especially since it kept releasing too much anti-matter or matter depending on how it felt. It was late evening, and Azusa sat in the small Engine room head first in the maintenance hatch as she played with the core's magnetic constrictors.

She had a PADD propped up against the side of the plating, on it an open comm call.

"Not like that!" the voice of an energetic woman said. "Slowly Azu!"

"Ok ok!" Azusa said clearly in frustration. "Is this any different from what you have on the Ranger Haruna?"

"Its a little different. But easy to crack, I'm the girl genuis when it comes to warp cores. How come you don't know all this yet? I thought you were the chief engineer on that little thing?" Haruna said with a huge grin on her face.

"I am!" Azusa replied. "But this is a new configuration..." she sighed. "And this is not a little ship... well it is, but its not as small as you think. Just because you're on some fancy State of the Art Intrepid Class!"

Haruna nodded. "Yeah, my entire crew rely on me for everything. Captain Micheals is ALWAYS asking me to fix thing for her, sometimes personally" she added with a wink.

"Why do I feel liek you're blowing your own trumpet again..." Azusa replied flatly. She adjusted her microspanner and began the procedure again. "You said, it needs to be within 0.1 degrees right?"

"Yeah... and I'm totally not blowing my own trumpet!" Haruna told her, crossing her arms. "I could have done this in like five minutes though".

"Yeah right..." Came another voice. The screen on Azusa's PADD split and another woman appeared, this time a little older with light brown hair.

"Ritsu Senpai!" Azusa said, clearly startled by her sudden appearance. "How did you... wait, don't even bother telling me. I don't think I want to know..."

"Hey!" Ritsu replied. "Thats no way to talk to your senior. Plus, I hard you were having trouble getting this new warp core working right. So, I thought I'd be the good senpai and drop you a call. I'm a bit surprised you're already on the line to Haruna though..."

"Whats that supposed to mean?" Haruna snapped quickly.

"Oh nothing... nothing I assure you" Ritsu added with a slightly nervous laugh. "I just remember you two back at the Academy. One of you..." she glanced to where the split screen was towards Haruna "..Loved to go to the extreme and the other was very much by the book"

Azusa smiled as she remembered her academy days. Yes, Haruna and herself had been polar opposites, but somehow they worked well together. And Ritsu had been a few years above them and had taken them under her wing in the Engineering course.

"I think I've got it..." Azusa said as she flicked off her hyperspanner. The constrictor slowly locked in place. "Now to regulate the anti-matter flow and see if it'll finally start giving out equal amounts. If its not 1:1 ratio then I can't start up the core"

"Well duh!" Haruna said. "Without a 1:1 ratio, you'll never have a proper reaction and you'll end up going through a cheap special effects wormhole or whatever"

Ritsu smirked. "Somehow she's right" she added. "Hows it looking?" she asked. Azusa picked up the PADD, pulled herself out of the hatch and set them both down on a nearby console. She reached over them to startup the sequence.

"Wow, you really haven't gotten any bigger have you..." Ritsu said placing her chin between her forefinger and her thumb.

Azusa instantly retracted away from the console and covered her chest with her arms. "Stop looking! And what does that have to do with anything?!"

"I was talking about your height... obviously..." Ritsu smirked.

"Clearly..." Haruna added in a sarcastic term. "But she's right... how are you going to every get lai..."

"And thats enough of that!" Azusa snapped quickly, completely turning the topic around.. "Now, the ratio is running at 1:1, so I can start up the core now".

Both Haruna and Ritsu smirked on the screen. "Well, we'll leave you to it" Haruna said. "I'll talk to some friends that I know about hooking you up on a date!" she added.

"I don't need a boyfriend at the moment. I can find one on my own!" Azusa told her, her voice becoming more embarrassed yet stern.

"Aww, she's blushing" Ritsu said. "And with that chest, you'll never..."

Azusa's finger fell quickly on the end communication button, cutting them both off. As helpful or not in Ritsu's case, that they had been she didn't want that sort of conversation with them.

She looked around the empty engine room for a few seconds, and then placed both hands on her chest. "Maybe I could drink more milk... I heard that helps doesn't it?"

"I... wouldn't know chief... Sorry..." A small voice said from behind her. Azusa turned a bright shade of pink as she turned to face one of the new recruits.
"C...C...Crewman. You didn't see this..." she said as she stood up and darted out of the engine room. She had to be more careful, she didn't need Haruna or Ritsu's bad habits rubbing off on her.

Posting by

Lieutenant Azusa Nakano
Chief Engineer
USS Aurora

Guest Starring

Lieutenant Haruna Mizuhara
Chief Engineer
USS Ranger

Lieutenant Commander Ritsu Tainaka
Chief of Engineering
Theta Fleet, Research & Development
Athena Shipyards & Starbase Typhon
Commanding Officer
SCE USS Hibiki

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