Deadlines

Posted on Thu Aug 6th, 2020 @ 5:53am by Petty Officer 3rd Class Sam Saghir & Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII

Mission: The Shadow of Arachne
Location: Main Engineering USS Athena,
Timeline: MD1 - MD3 prior to “Rendevous”
1307 words - 2.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Sam hurried down the corridor in the bowels of the Athena; this was a lot more cramped than he was used to aboard Ark Royal. He had enjoyed himself aboard the Sovereign class ship, but the new posting to the Athena was set to be part of a smaller team, making it easier to get noticed. His OIC, Lieutenant P’rel, was a force to be reckoned with in his estimation, cold and distant with a distinct air of disapproval about everything and everyone around her. Opposite to Sam, who was eager to learn and outperform the expectations of him as an NCO. Entering the main engineering section, he looked around and couldn’t see the Chief anywhere, his eyes instead fell upon a blonde Lieutenant working at a wall station, his chest tightened with nerves as it hit him that she may have been the single most stunning woman he’d ever come across. “I’m er.... hi, uhhh...” he stumbled through, his purpose for being in engineering lost in the moment of awkwardness.

Finnley raised an eyebrow and glanced at the seemingly socially inept Petty Officer before returning her attention back to the console. Most days, Finnley was happy to meet someone new, especially since she had just been assigned to the Athena and joined the crew at the ship’s last layover. Today was not most days and as such, she was more annoyed than excited when the Petty Officer crossed into engineering and awkwardly announced his presence. That morning, Commander Shan had assigned Finnley to the plasma injector upgrade and informed her that she had four hours to make it happen. Finnley was determined to have it done in three. “If you’re looking for the latest analysis that was run on powder conduit efficiency, it’s over there,” she said, keeping her attention focused on her work while casually motioning to a PADD sitting on the center console. She then paused, realizing this was no way to make friends, sighed and added, “Sorry, I don’t mean to be so short, I’m just on a really tight schedule to get this upgrade done. If there’s something else you need let me know. If you’re interested in grabbing a drink later, I’m free at 1800.” Maybe it was a bit forward, but it was the most efficient approach to both making friends and getting the upgrade done on a self induced tight timeline and Finnley was nothing if not efficient.

Sam smiled awkwardly, pulling down his uniform tunic, he was mindful that the ruffles could make him look fat and he wanted to pull his uniform tightly over his athletic physique. "Errr umm yes, a drink, yes..." he mumbled, feeling his face blush as red as a targ's behind, he turned to leave engineering before stopping dead mid-pace "...transceivers!" he yelled, as the half finished thought of his purpose for being in engineering finally surfaced. Taking a step back towards the gorgeous lieutenant he bumped into an Andorian officer "sorry ma'am", he offered politely, returning to the side of the lieutenant. "Erm.... Lieutenant P'rel....my...well the, she wants umm...uhh..." Sam stammered with nerves, fumbling with the PADD in his hand to remember exactly what his boss wanted; his eyes averted from the engineer's attractive figure, Sam's nerves lowered and he looked deeply into the screen as if it were the only thing which existed in the universe. - "...a dedicated and uninterrupted hard wired line between the comms terminal in the intel suite, and one of the transceiver arrays, optimised for secure packets using Alpha, Beta, Foxtrot, Theta and Zulu encryption protocols". Though he had finished relaying the request, he daren't take his eyes off of the screen for risk of dizzying embarrassment".

Finnley turned as the Petty Officer circled back to the station where she was working. She leaned against the wall, crossed her arms and chuckled to herself as he stumbled through his request. If she wasn’t on a deadline, she would’ve had a lot of fun tormenting him with additional questions which he could fumble through. Finnley’s brow started to furrow as he finished listing off the requirements. She reached out, took the PADD from him, and studied the request. “A hard wired line?! What’s wrong with using a regular secured channel with the encryption protocols stated? Also, when does she want this done?” she asked, shocked at the outrageous request. Optimizing a secured channel with encryption protocols wouldn’t be too difficult, but installing a full hardline would take time and effort and they were already shorthanded preparing systems and engineering teams for the rescue mission.

Braving a direct look at the beautiful engineer, Sam lifted his head “uhhh....today, well, right now actually, I mean she doesn’t like to wait...” Sam truly didn’t know why the Lieutenant would want a dedicated line, starship communications were generally secure enough, and it seemed an unnecessary precaution, nonetheless it was her unnecessary precaution to take. Sam, feeling his flushed face was giving away his obvious attraction, turned about face and hurried out of engineering; the message had been delivered, spectacularly awfully, but delivered nonetheless.

Finnley watched as the awkward Petty Officer left, then she huffed and tossed the PADD aside. She'd have someone add the encryption protocols to the secured line, but running a hardwired line was out of the question.

===== MD3, IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO RENDEVOUS.

It had taken two days, but the young Petty Officer had finally plucked up the courage to go to engineering and ask the beautiful officer for a status report on the dedicated transceiver line; if he was honest with himself it was more so out of fear of Lieutenant P’rel, who had been asking him routinely for a status update every 7 hours without fail. He was however determined; determined that if it were not in his power to make a good impression on the yellow shouldered goddess that he would at least make less of an ass of himself; he had been to the gym during both his down-shifts, and ensured his uniform was pulled taught over his trim body. Spotting her by the same console as the other day, he practically skipped over to her - “Hey Lieutenant Keating!” He called enthusiastically, outwardly confident but inwardly feeling he’d just jumped into a targ pit whilst covered in rogek sauce,

Finnley started to look up as the Petty Office announced his presence, when she noticed a small energy spike in the readings on the console in front of her. She returned her attention to the screen. “Those protocols have been added to the secured line. I haven’t had anyone to spare to run that hardline, so your lieutenant will just have to wait” she said dismissively. Concerned that the energy spike was coming from one of the EPS conduits, she moved to investigate.

A heavy weight bit Sam’s chest, not looking forward to the prospect of telling P’rel ‘no’; “I.....” Sam began, as the deck plate suddenly flung from beneath him and then crashed upwards into his knees, he took a second to realise it was he who had been sent flying; before he could steady himself another crashing of violent vibration shook the deck and he fell sideways, trapping his right wrist between his hip and the floor. He looked up to his colleague and realised he couldn’t see her, in the sudden chaos she had disappeared into billowing white gases lit only by the green glow of a plasma fire, the pulsing red of the alert lights and the intermittent flashes of electrical discharges. “LIEUTENANT..?!” he called at the top of his voice, finally rallying himself against the wall as the ship violently pitched once again...