Getting to Know Each Other

Posted on 22 Sep 2019 @ 5:24pm by Lieutenant JG Lina Sorensen

771 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Truth and Justice
Location: Officer's Mess Hall
Timeline: MD 5 || 1730

Lina entered the Officer's Mess Hall shortly after her shift had ended. She hadn't eaten anything apart from breakfast that day as she had been very busy trying to analyse the alien technology. Now she was hungry, got herself a chicken curry and sat down at a free table next to a window.

Ensign Nasek glanced around looking for an empty seat, however things were pretty full. Her Chief sat by a window and she debated bothering the other during her dinner hour. She couldn't stand there forever however and decided to give it a try, she walked over and a reasonable distance away she stopped with her tray, "May I join you Chief?" She asked politely balancing the tray she was holding carefully.

Lina looked up as she hadn't noticed the Bajoran engineer coming near her.
"Oh, of course," she said pointing to the empty seat next to her. She was actually happy to have some company now as this was the best way of relaxing while getting to know more about the engineer in her department.
"Have a seat, Ensign erm ...," Lina said trying hard to remember the name. She had read the crew reports, but remembering names at once was not really one of her strengths.

"Nasek Alora" She replied, giving last name first in Bajoran fashion, helpfully as she sat down. "I expect its easier to infer ones new Chief than it is to memorize an entire department" she replied politely but good naturedly.

"Yes, that's true," she nodded. "I have to admit that I'm better recalling faces than memorizing names - so I definitely know that I have seen you today in engineering," the Chief Engineer said with a friendly smile on her face.

Alora smiled back, "It's good to be back up to full strength some of the routine repairs were piling up, especially with the unusual nature of the Zone." There had been that weird hull eating bacteria and a number of other smaller things. "I mean I understand that space is a hard place to live but this place is an over achiever." she quipped a little in the standard way of engineers. Sometimes it felt like space tried to destroy a ship the moment it left space dock. And engineers fought that and every other bit of chaos they could to keep things running smoothly.

"Oh, that is indeed true," Lina replied nodding. That region of space had already taken its toll on the ship and the crew. "I very much hope that we have the upper hand now.", she added indeed hoping that this mission would not cost any more lives.

Nasek nodded, "As do we all." She ate for a few moments then asked, "If you don't mind me asking do you have any thoughts on further modifying our routines to keep up on it?' Emboldened by her Chief's approachable attitude.

"Oh, erm, to be honest, the top priority for me at the moment is to get some useful information out of those alien artefcts before we arrive, but... " Lina started gesturing around with her fork, "as soon as that mission is over I wanted to have a look at that." The Chief Engineer looked at Nasek. "But since you ask, do you have anything on your mind?"

The Ensign blinked, she didn't want to seem like she was telling her Chief what to do, "Well, I didn't really have anything in mind. The alien artifact research is vital, I would agree." She paused, "If we wanted to review our current attempts to adjust to the dangers of the zone, that might be something useful?" She said almost questioningly.

“Of course,“ Lina replied. The young woman had just been promoted to Chief Engineer and she still was not really certain that she was able to do that job. But she certainly wanted to do her very best and that involved listening to her engineers as well. “I am always open to suggestions, so don‘t hesitate if you have one, okay?“, Lina added.

Alora smiled, "Will do Ma'am, we're a team after all no?"

Lina smiled back. That was exactly the view on engineering she liked best. "Of course, and please don't call me Ma'am," she added. She had never liked being called Ma'am. "Lieutenant is just fine."

"Yes Ma...Lieutenant." She caught herself, with a smile. She rather thought she was going to like working for this one. She always preferred the supportive, lead from the front types anyway. She couldn't wait to learn from her and the other senior officers as well, looking forward to the Challenge.

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