Manuel muttered in disbelief, “What gives? Why are some of the panels missing some components? We’re leaving in 1500 hours! This should have been fixed by now.”

~ This is a complete disaster. If I didn’t know any better, this was the work of the officers at Starbase, or the work of the ensigns. Most probably the ensigns though. ~ Garcia sighed and suddenly felt a huge headache coming.

Manuel called out, “Ensign! Where are the panels? I’m assuming for the best that it’s broken and being fixed already.”

The poor ensign replied, “The components are being fixed and transferred here in a moment, Chief. I have no idea what’s the delay—they took it around an hour ago.”

Garcia suddenly remembered the first assignment she had after graduating from the academy. Being a klingon and human hybrid, she admittedly had some anger issues, which complicated a few things with her peers. She almost had a brawl on her first day as an engineering officer when another ensign accused her of not doing her job properly, which angered her as that was a false accusation. 

Manuel said, “You know what? Just call them back. It should be fixed by the time I return.”

The ensign replied with, “Aye, ma’am,” who quickly shattered away to avoid further angering the chief engineer.

~ My good heavens, have the standards really dropped? ~

Garcia remembered being told to fix stuff in 10 minutes, and that is to say that it was a major component. It’s a panel board! It only takes at least three minutes to do that if it isn’t too badly damaged. 

Garcia thought, ~ I can’t do this; I need to head back to my office, a good cup of raktajino should do the trick. ~

Manuel called out to no one in particular, “I’ll be in my office if anyone needs me. Departure is at 1500 hours, have everything fixed before that.”

Manuel was walking down to her office when an ensign called out and told her, “Chief, the captain is inside waiting for you.” 

Manuel was stopped speechless; she had not expected the captain to go down to the engineering department so soon. She really hoped it didn’t have anything to do with the delays.

Manuel walked in and said, “Captain! Unexpected, but what may I do for you?”

Maxwell, who recently arrived at the engineering chiefs office, was just sitting down and thinking about some stuff and the current mission the Galileo was assigned to: provide diplomatic and tactical support to another starship that was currently in the process of negotiating with two government worlds that were on the verge of war. While the Galileo was just a light cruiser, she was more than capable of any sort of job. After all, it is the jack of all trades. 

Knapp’s thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the chief engineer. “Lieutenant, how are we going down here? Sitrep, if possible.”

Manuel replied, “Captain, we just have some minor issues with the panels. The ensigns fixing them are taking longer than expected, but need not worry, we will fix it before departure.” 

~ Damn the ensigns, how will the captain respond to this? It was said by starbase control that everything was fixed already. Yet here we are; some panels are broken and missing. ~ Garcia suddenly felt unhappy with the progress of her department under her leadership. The other departments are probably done by now. 

Knapp thought and replied, “Just make sure that we will be ready for departures. Double check every system; we might be entering a hostile system, and the only or, technically, best advantage we have for the Galileo is its warp speed, which is impressive for its size.”

Manuel nodded and replied, “Aye, sir. We will have everything fixed by then. I’ll have the CPOs working on it, as they have more experience on the matter than the ensigns, who are arguably giving me a huge headache.”

Manuel walked to the replicator, asked for a cup of raktajino, and turned towards the captain, saying, “Anything you’d like, sir?”

Knapp shook his head and replied with a short response of, “Thank you for the offer, Lieutenant.”

Garcia started walking towards her desk after she got her cup of raktajino and opened her computer to show the captain the progress reports, which were arguably long as the Galileo was taken from reserve duty to active duty in just one months.

Garcia rotated and turned the computer towards the captain, who was sitting in front of her. “Captain, situational reports on the engineering department. We have two minor fixes left, which are for the warp core stability and the shield emitters, but we will have those fixed in a moment. Speaking of which, it is being fixed right now. I’ve tasked Chief Petty Officer Arnold to have a look at the shield emitters and fix it.”

Knapp replied, “As long as we are on time for departure, the Galileo is old but still capable. I do hope Galileo’s legacy doesn’t hold true, or I’d be dead. Anyway, have the situational reports sent to me; I will review them later on and file them. Do keep me updated, Lieutenant. That will be all.” 

Maxwell stood up, walked out of the chief engineering office, and walked towards the turbolift. 

~ With this in mind, am I even doing this correctly? I’m just a mere scientist after all; this will be my first command and hopefully not my last. Who the hell decided to give me a ship with a legacy of killing its captains? I hope this mission doesn’t go sideways; it’s just a simple mission, remember? Just a simple mission. ~ Maxwell breathed a deep breath and calmed himself down from all these negative thoughts coming into his mind.

Garcia sighed a breath of relief when the captain left. Even for a human-Klingon hybrid, prejudice was prevalent, so this position was very valuable for her. She stood up and walked out of her office to catch up on the progress of the team.