Unfamiliar Crew

Posted on Sun Aug 23rd, 2020 @ 4:57pm by Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII

Mission: The Shadow of Arachne
Location: Main Engineering
Timeline: MD-03 after "Never Ending Repairs"
897 words - 1.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Finnley finished the remaining repairs as quickly as possible and then checked in with the phaser repair team on Deck 8. “Keating to Paxton, how are those repairs going?”

“We’re just about done, weapons should be back online in just a few minutes,” Paxton responded.

Everything was coming together. Impulse engines were back online and weapons would be shortly, but why did she still have a knot in her stomach? Something wasn’t right and she could feel it.

After receiving the final word that weapons were up, Finnley reported in to the CEO to give him a status update, “Impulse engines and weapons are back online and damage control teams are working on shields and the environmental controls,” she stated.

Lieutenant De Smet had been working non stop ever since the explosion that had rocked the ship and knocked out half of his systems. It was good to hear that things were progressing. He pressed a few buttons on his PADD to confirm the reports and gave an approving nod.

"Walk with me," he said, as he made his way to the closest replicator. "How do you like your coffee?" he asked.

Finnley was slightly thrown off by the question. So far that day she’d been thrown across the room in an EPS conduit explosion, kept the ship from self detonating from a coolant leak and crawled around in more jefferies tubes than she cared to count. However, the adrenaline rush was starting to subside and exhaustion was kicking in. Coffee would help. “With a dash of mint cream,” she replied.

"Two coffees, one black and one with a dash of mint cream," he then spoke into thin air. The two mugs materialized and he handed her hers. He then motioned for her to follow him to a nearby control station and leaned back against the console, inviting her to do the same.

She paused for a moment and then looked at him with curiosity, or maybe it was worry, etched across her face “I’m curious, I don’t remember any Bolian Lt.Commanders being assigned to engineering, yet I saw one working on a console in engineering just a few hours ago. Who is he?” She inquired. Even though the systems were coming back online smoothly, something had been nagging her about the mysterious Bolian she & Sam had run across a few hours earlier.

Dirk gave a puzzled look to his assistant. "Unless I've been replaced without my knowledge, I am the senior officer in this here department. There's a Bolian or two working their blue butts off making things happen around here, but none that outrank me" he replied. "So what are you saying?" he asked with a smile.
"There's a commander in engineering gold going around?"

“Petty Officer Saghir and I passed a Bolian Lieutenant Commander working on a console by the jeffereies tube that leads to the primary driver coil assembly. It seemed odd to me, but with so many other repairs that needed to be done I just didn’t really think about it. But, if he’s not regularly assigned to engineering and you didn’t call for additional help, then who is he? And why was he….you don’t think….” Finnley’s voice trailed off. Could he have been an intruder that beamed aboard when the shields went down? She wondered as she digged deep to try to remember what systems he had pulled up on the console.

"Right now, I don't think anything. What I know is that there is only two Lieutenant commanders on this ship and neither of them is a Bolian" he said with an arched eyebrow. He took a sip of his coffee, then tapped his combadge.

"Lt. De Smet to transporter room," he said in his gruff voice.

"Transporter room, Wibowo here," replied a man's voice.

"Wibowo, were any survivors from the Pico beamed on board?" he asked.

"No sir," came the voice.

"Thank you, engineering out," he said. He then moved on to the next step. "Computer, how many Bolians are there serving on the Athena?" he asked.

"The ship's manifest counts 11 Bolian crew members," the computer's voice replied.

De Smet nodded "And how many Bolian lifesigns are there on board?" he asked, expecting the answer to be 11.

"There are currently 12 Bolians on board the USS Athena" came the reply.

Dirk's eyes grew wide enough to make anyone believe he and Gowron were related.

“So someone did beam aboard when the shields were down,” Finnely verabilzed her earlier thought.

"Computer, identify that extra Bolian" Dirk asked.

"That individual is not on file" came the answer.

"Locate unidentified Bolian" he interrogated the computer.

"The unidentified individual is currently in the phaser control room on Deck 8" the computer, in a tone that demonstrated that it did not understand the implication of their discovery.

"Well I'll be..." he said tapping his combadge. "Engineering to security, I need you to meet with Lt. Keating in the phaser control room on Deck 8 on the double"

He then turned to her.

"You have to go because you can identify him. I've never seen him. Besides I have a console to inspect by the Jeffries tube that leads to the primary driver coil assembly" he said.

In the moment their eyes locked. They knew what they had to do. Each nodded, and went on their way.