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| - "Computer, pause recording." It beeped in agreement and Quinton leaned back in his chair. He let his eyes roam around the compact but functional ready room as he considered his next words. His eyes settled on a picture that hung from the opposite wall. It was a group shot of the entire senior staff gathered on the bridge shortly before their launch last year. Quinton himself was at the center, with the others arranged around him. Franklin Xavier stood stiffly, practically at attention, at Quinton's shoulder and gazed haughtily out at the photographer. Sara Thales beside him was his polar opposite, as cheery as he was stoic. Wavy tendrils of reddish brown hair escaped from her updo and framed her face, which beamed with pride. Quinton couldn't look at her without smiling himself. Dear Sara, he thought. It had been nearly two months since her transfer. Valok's typically Vulcan restraint was quite a shock to the system after Sara's vivacity, but he had been her assistant since day one and he had her approval and trust. Quinton couldn't ask for a better Chief of Operations than Valok, but he wished he'd had Sara's counsel on more than one occasion over these past two months. Still, as much as he had relied on Sara's opinions, Franklin's had become even more indispensable, as a friend and as a colleague. Over the past year, they had become closer than Quinton could have ever predicted when they met. There had been other officers that were more obvious choices to replace Thales as Second Officer, but Adriana Watley hadn't disappointed him yet. And I don't expect she will, not anytime soon. Xavier had agreed with him when he suggested her. They both saw such potential. Potential. Quinton smothered a laugh as the word called to mind another conversation, one with Kingsley late the previous year. “Resume recording.” We have also taken aboard a new assistant chief engineer to replace the recently transferred Lieutenant Oppdisanti. I've heard nothing but good things about her and she comes highly recommended by Captain Bouderd. We'll see if she meets Kingsley's expectations. I certainly hope so. The previous occupant of the position had not lived up to expectations. Lieutenant Commander Jasper Kingsley had stalked into Quinton's ready room one morning after reaching his absolute limit. Quinton listened to the laundry list of complaints and waited for Kingsley's steam to run out before speaking. He detailed the officer's capable service at his last posting. “His last department head was sorry to see him go. Said he had the potential to be a great chief engineer.” Kingsley's eyebrows shot up. “He's not even a good assistant! I am a great engineer, and I know one when I see one. Great, he is not. I'm tired of cleaning up his mistakes. Do me a favor, Captain, and find me someone who actually knows what they're doing.” “I thought I had. I had assumed, up until now, that completion of the Academy engineering program assured that, but perhaps I was wrong.” Kingsley had let out a sigh. “Oh, if only.” That was several months ago, and it had taken most of that time to produce a short list of candidates whose personnel records met with Kingsley's approval. Of them, this Lieutenant Jensen had seemed to be the most likely to be compatible with the present engineering team, by Quinton's estimation. “Computer, end recording.” He glanced at the chronometer display on his desk computer before reaching up to his combadge. “Quinton to Kingsley.” Jasper Kingsley's voice rumbled out in response. “Kingsley here. What do you need, Captain?” “Nothing pressing. I was just wondering if you'd met your new assistant chief yet.” Kingsley briskly tapped out a sequence of commands on the console by the warp core and glanced over his shoulder at the entrance to Main Engineering. “No, not yet. I don't believe she'd been by yet.” He returned his attention to the console and continued his work. “I hope she doesn't make a habit of this.” “Well, I'm not getting you another one.” A small smile crept across Kingsley's face. “Yes, sir.” The main door to Engineering whooshed open as he spoke. “Now, I'd bet that's her now. I'll let you two get acquainted, but remember, don't get any blood on the carpet. Quinton out.” Jasper finished his work, reset the console display, and turned around. An unfamiliar officer, a petite blond woman clad in Engineering gold, sauntered up toward him. Her fingers drummed restlessly against her legs as she walked, but she gazed evenly into Kingsley's eyes as she stopped just short of him. “Lieutenant Commander Kingsley?” She extended one hand to him. “I'm Lieutenant Tricia Jensen.” Kingsley shook her hand and eyed her carefully. “Nice of you to join us.” She let out a little sigh. “I had a little trouble finding my quarters and moving my things over. I didn't realize I would be having a roommate here. I had my own room on the Troy.” Kingsley raised a scolding finger. “Things are a little different here. We're not like your big, flashy ships. We might not get the glory, but after one of those Galaxy types sweeps through a system and sends their reports back to Starfleet, if there's anything interesting there, we'll be the ones coming though again to do the real heavy lifting. She's built for function.” Kingsley paused thoughtfully. “Not that form's neglected, by any means. She's a sleek little thing, beautiful but also perfectly suited for her job. But there are no frills for us here. We don't even have a proper holodeck.” Jensen's face blanched at this. Kingsley pressed on, oblivious. “Although, I am working on a little something as an alternative. But that's a surprise for the Captain.” “I... see. I do know a little bit about the Nova class from my reading. I'm excited to be aboard a dedicated science vessel. We led a great deal of research missions on the Troy. We hosted a lot of civilian science teams, we even had some assigned permanently. But I know the Pioneer is different. There's a specialized skill set here. Sensors pull a lot of power, I imagine it's challenging to manage. Besides, I welcome a change of scenery.” “That was rather astute. You might work out.” Jensen laughed. “So what would you do if we were running a planetary survey, let's say on a Class H planet. How would you distribute power to the main sensor array to allow the science team to try to screen out the hyperonic radiation without overloading the array or producing a load of gibberish results?” Jensen looked surprised. “How good are the people calibrating the sensors? Hyperonic radiation messes with life signs, transporters, phasers, everything.” “Assume that they are very good indeed.” She bit her lower lip as she contemplated her answer. “Well, I suppose I'd ask Science to program a test probe and send it down to the planet. I'd increase power to the array by about... ten percent, I'd think, to start with. Depending on how accurate the first round of scans went, I'd do more fine tuning after that. Keep them well below capacity.” Kingsley nodded solemnly. “Yes. That would do fine.” He held out his arm and ushered her forward. “Let me show you around.” Tolly Gerard raised his glass. “To our Adriana. Three months as Second Officer now, and the ship's still in one piece. Adriana Watley reclined back in her chair and slowly sipped her drink. “We're talking about me here, Tolly, not you. I am doing just fine,” she said with a playful smile. He grinned at her. “Oh we're sassy today, aren't we? Don't think that just because you're a Lieutenant Commander now I'm going to go easy on you. It will remain the same consistent, quality Tolly Gerard teasing.” Philomena Kasun, seated beside Watley, glanced up from her glass. “Low quality, then?” Gerard's hand flew up to his chest in mock horror. “Phil, I'm surprised by you. Trying to out snark me. Frankly, I'm hurt. You two are ganging up on me.” He pouted and slouched in his chair. Watley glanced at Kasun. “What shall we do to cheer him up? Ask him about his work?” Kasun shrugged. “I was thinking more along the lines of getting another round.” Tolly tilted his head back up. “Ply me with alcohol and pretend to care about my work. Thanks. Thanks.” “Only the best for you, Tolly. On that note, I'll go take care of that second round.” Adriana rose from her seat, slipped through the bustling crowd, and moved toward the Starbase 157 bar. Kasun watched her disappear into the throng of people before looking back to Gerard. “So, how is the new mission looking anyway?” “Oh, it's good. Geological surveys, rather simple. I have my team together already. Honestly, I'll be glad to get going again. I'm getting tired of this place.” Kasun let loose a giggle. “You would say that. For all your jokes, you are all about the job. I'm just happy to have a decent amount of time off for a change.” “Well, it has been a nice change of scenery.” He paused. “And the three of us haven't had a chance to get together in a while, what with Watley's bridge shifts and the missions we've lately. Still, you and I have had some good times together, haven't we?” Gerard leaned forward and patted Kasun's hand. Kasun gave him a rather quizzical look, but didn't move her hand away. “I suppose we have.” Watley cleared her throat as she took the last few steps toward their table and slid back onto her seat. Gerard moved his hand back and folded his arms on top of the table. “You must be looking forward to the new mission too, Watley. All those away missions. Whenever Xavier's down on the planet with me and the others, you get to be First Officer.” She rolled her eyes. “Only temporarily, thank goodness. I don't think I want that job.” He grinned at Kasun. “What, we don't have a Captain Watley to look forward to, then?” Watley sighed. “Drop it, will you, Tolly?” “Sorry,” he murmured. “Just joking.” “Well, maybe there's been too much of that lately.” A waiter sidled up to the table and served their drinks. After thanking him, the table lapsed into silence.
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