Posted by Ensign Elemirre Serinde (Engineering Officer) in Engineering Group - Alpha Station

Posted by Ensign Elemirre Serinde (Engineering Officer) in Engineering Group - Alpha Station
El slipped into the cramped meeting room as quietly as she could. Her shuttle had just docked minutes before on the gangly space station. It was a warren of corridors and chambers that had been first a smaller station that had grown. Additions had been built on one another on one another. Ironically, many of the windows in it – small, scratched affairs – were pointing to Station Beta, the newer, slicker station that housed the brass and the good ships. It smelled old. It creaked old. It felt old. But boy it must have had some adventures in its time!

Bonaventure was docked here on Alpha. Oh they had names but most just called them by their designations of Alpha and Beta. Darlene raised her coffee mug in salute to her entry. It looked like she was last and all the chairs had been taken up. As she leaned against the back bulkhead her eyes glanced around. All the Bonnie’s engineers were there except for the Chief. Whoever that was to be. The clock over the wall said that it was just after 10PM local time, that is Starfleet HQ time, that is virtually half a world away from where she had come from.

It was only when she had gotten to the port to catch a shuttle that she had learned about this ‘meeting’ that had been called when she was at the Strip at Manticore. And she was late. And tired. And damp. And needing a shower. And looking at the irritated face of Lt Green. And he was not happy. In a moment a rush of fear passed through her. Did Green get the Chief Engineer spot wherever they were going? All she knew was that her home there was gone. In another moment she read his face. No, he’d be annoyed with her being late. He was more than that, so no, he didn’t get it. Why did that make her happy?

“Thank you for joining us, Serinde,” he said. “Glad you could join us. We all have a lot to do tonight.” He held her gaze with a frown implying that her being late by minutes had fatally inconvenienced everyone, especially him. “Now, the good news is that we’re together in our next posting. The Bonaventure is to be reassigned, maybe refitted, maybe made into a museum or something. I don’t know, but we’re all moving over to another ship.” Here he frowned. El thought, okay, this is it. “Same positions initially unless the new chief has other ideas. No, I don’t know who that is. That is Skipper’s prerogative and by the sound of it they’re letting him know at the eleventh hour too.”

Emerson Fawkes, another Brit sitting close to Green asked, “What ship, Lt?”

“The Sojourner,” Green said. “Luna Class. Been on the design tables for a while. How many of you are familiar with them?” Green looked at El. She didn’t even know about them and Green knew it and gave her an ‘I thought not’ look. Bekele raised his hand, as did Dorian, Fiona and, of course Warrant Officer Tyler Jackson. He was the technical specialist and would know about it. “And we have to have the Bonaventure’s lights out and all our gear transferred over by 09:00 tomorrow.” There was a murmur of surprise and some annoyance.

“I’m transmitting you your berths now,” Green said. El’s Comms beeped and she looked. F03. It showed a listing of everyone. They were spread out. Evidently it was based on Green’s preferences as he was up on C deck. But then he was nearly a full Lt so she supposed that was fair. After a bit of murmuring and comparing Green continued. “Now, we have to accomplish three things. Alpha shift needs to be on task in the morning so you will collect your things, find your berth and get some shut eye. Not you Serinde. You and I have other tasks as the only two other officers. Bekele, you will take charge of Alpha shift in the morning. Beta shift. You’re with me. That includes you, Taylor. Stow your things and meet me in Engineering on the Sojourner. We’ll tour it and get acquainted then turn in. We’ll be joining Alpha shift, but at the 09:00 assembly. Serinde, you take Gamma shift. Fiona, you help out. I trust you to keep the crew in line. Your job is to run through the shut down checklists and get the lights out. Then grab a couple hours of sleep and meet at assembly at 09:00 as well. Look sharp. The Chief can be on board at any time and you might cross paths. Right, you have your orders. Dismissed.”

El, Eng and others ..

El looked at her small group, that group which she normally saw in the lounge at meal time or at shift change when she came in in the morning. At least she knew them. They likely were not going to be very happy with her by morning. Lt Green had given them a near impossible task. Sure the ‘others’ at the station would have done some, but they didn’t have access to those logs. They would have to just do it all and cover it all and all that by morning. AND clear their things out. Certainly, most of the crew didn’t have much to carry over. She knew that she didn’t, but it wasn’t the amount but the collecting. This was with nearly no notice. She sighed. The others filed past the ‘gamma’ crew. Was this her new shift then? And starting it off with gamma crew not liking her at the end of it?

It was close to 22:30 now. El felt the long day and the sleepless night but also the mixed excitement of being on a new ship, not to mention the panic of the assignment. She saw the light reflect from Darlene’s mug. She had it right. They’d all need that provided they had the time. And they were staring at her. And she could see they knew it was going to be a long night.

“First, let’s get to our bunks and collect it all and stow it by the gangway coming to the station. That way when we leave we can pick up our bag or box and leave.” She waited for any questions but that was unlikely. It wasn’t exactly a complicated order. “We’ll meet at Engineering at 23:30. Dismissed.”

Was this a race? El felt that it was. In her mind there was a lot to do. But she was focused on the first thing there. Getting her gear packed up. Everyone moved along as a pack. El led them, not that she intended to but all the cabins were in the same deck so it wasn’t like they’d split up and they all sort of toddled behind her. Still, El felt she was leading a gaggle of tired geese. Unconsciously she picked up her pace, the satchel with the ‘game’ still over her shoulder.

There were some murmurs of “So what did you do on your leave?” and “I ate the most amazing pasta.” Most of that was drowned out by the echo of boots on the decking. El halted at her cabin. It opened to her shove and the lighting came on automatically. It all looked barren already. Liz had taken her things. El didn’t have a lot and never had a bunk box that others like the MACO’s had. Instead she had a battered ‘sea bag’ that she had picked up in a second hand shop. “Well, I guess it’s time,” she said, knowing that that was precisely what she didn’t’ have.

El, Eng ..

El opened up the small closet that was hers. It principally had uniforms in it. On the bottom was her sea bag. Kneeling down she drew it out and unfolded it. The canvas was thick, stiff and had a certain ‘smell’ to it that El found offensive and homey at the same time. The tie laced around the top had seen better days. She peeled back the top. It was old and military and had had at least a dozen different owners. Their names had been scrawled in it. El had found that remarkable. It had a kind of immortality to it, like a family genealogy. She smiled as her fingers traced down the names until they came to hers. She had had no reason to add hers to it; this bag would not be confused with anything else but she felt compelled to.

Slowly she packed. Boots, a pair of sneakers and heels, the uniforms, her clothes she folded and put away. It seemed illogical to do so when they were irreverently stuffed into an old smelly sea bag but it seemed appropriate. Toiletries were easy as the were already contained. A couple of towels, hairbrush and comb, make up and ‘unmentionables’ were next. Last were her books, all three of them, and Zeffie of course, a couple of small pictures, pen and inks. She took off her satchel and carefully tucked that along the outside edge so the aged papers within wouldn’t be damaged. She had had a bead curtain – again, something she had found in a curio shop in Vietnam – across her bunk front. Liz had left the curtain that she had put up. Should El leave hers? “Stupid,” she muttered to herself. She had no time and here she was debating over a stupid line of beads. She had haggled for it. The owner, an aged, leather faced man with three teeth was hard to understand but was very practiced at haggling to the point of exasperation. In the end she offered to fix his door that was hanging wrong. He had fed her with rice and tea as she did it, still talking. And he had another door that was a nightmare. El had fixed that too, then a cabinet door, then a drawer. She had at last escaped with the curtain. She liked that old man.

Hefting the bag El stopped at the door and looked at the small cabin where she had spent a lot of time. Glancing around she looked at the workstation and the chair that never felt right, the wall space that covered the emergency cots which Liz had put a fabric mural over. It was gone. The bunk that she had spent so much time reading or writing in her diary. Shifting the ungainly sea bag on her shoulder, El turned to leave. The last thing she saw was her bunk. The bead curtain was not there.
El, Eng