Steal cracking, buzzing sounds and people rushing from one point to another. The engineering hub is the heart of Hecate station. But the scenery of a typical Starfleet engineer at a station should be clean, should be working, should be calm and well organized. Hecate Engineering Hub was anything but that. Stressed and overworked officers, patched work on older patchwork, wires exposed and supply boxes opened and stored in corners that should be clear.

Rubbing her template, Yozria reads the PADD that was in her hands and shrugs “Motherfuc….” a few flickering lights she tends to ignore in her eye corner.

“Language Commander, we need to set an example”  Varujan pointed out tapping on his PADD as he gave a nod to the petty officer and gave the PADD back to him. The petty officer walked away from them as Varujan sighed, “The previous engineering team said good luck, now I know why”

Yozria narrowed her eyes at her new assistant, “That is an understatement of the year, this base is barely holding itself together. The commanding officer was holding out on resources requests for over a year, with the stupid request to put priority on systems that are required to function and keep the non-essential systems low on the list”  Taking a deep breath “But basic 101 of engineering states that neglecting all systems for long period of time will neglect the main systems and a domino effect will occur”

Giving a soft nod at that observation, “We have only been here a week or so, but the dysfunctionality of this base is showing brightly on various sections on modules and decks. This will take months to get back in order”

“Months? If we don’t get the much-needed supplies from the USS Ukiah, it will take years and lots of creative fixing to get things back to where it should be” Yozria leans on a console seeing the latest report pass by “I need these resources, but this base request is growing by the minute, and we are still waiting for more personnel”

A few steps were heard behind them “Whats up gang, how is the hub doing?”

Rolling her eyes as Yozria looked over her shoulder at Tamaz “Wonderful, you being here Lieutenant is bad news for us. You only show your face when you need something”

Tamaz place a hand on his chest showing a playful yet teasing face of being hurt “Words cut deep Commander Deem, but you are right I am here to add some work to your busy schedule” He looked at Varujan and smiles “Lieutenant Tamaz Alavidze, Chief Operations Officer, pleasure to meet you” Reaching out a hand to Varujan.

“Lieutenant Varujan Istrati, Assistant Chief Engineering Officer, pleasure to meet you as well Lieutenant.”  he shook Tamaz hand with a firm grip and smiled softly “Do you know the commander?”

“Know her? We served together on the Tokyo, side by side. When you get to know Yozria she can actually be a decent person”  Tamaz smirks a bit in Yozria direction

Rolling her eyes, Yozria just focus on the work on her console trying to get one task done after another, “Do not believe a word that the Lieutenant is saying. Thought we did serve on the same ship, it is a loaded topic, so let’s focus on what is ahead of us. What do you want Tamaz? Just spit it out”

“Oh right, the request. Runabout Platform five is out of commission, we are able to redirect traffic for now, but it seems that the people are getting annoyed for waiting so long. Operating systems state that the docking sensor system is not responding, and thus automatic docking is impossible. Now, I can say I trust the pilot skills of the merchant ships, but that would be an outrageous lie.” Tamaz shrugs a bit at that last sentence and crosses his arms, “We need you to prioritize that pad as soon as possible, and I know you got a lot on your plate”

Varujan taps his PADD that he took a few moments ago after he heard Tamaz talk. He shrugged a bit seeing the to-do list, “I can shuffle some items with the approval of the Commander. But it will most likely cause some frustration among the ones that were already waiting for their material to be fixed by us”

A shrug came from Yozria “You can say that they will be pissed and be yelling in my face about how Starfleet sucks and yadayada” She rolled her eyes “Change the list Lieutenant, we don’t want our guest to wait any longer in space than they have to”  She looked at the direction of Tamaz “Anything else you would like? Is your room functioning to your desire?”

Noticing the irritation in her voice, Tamaz smiles softly, “Come on Commander, you know who you are talking to.” Reminding her that they served together long enough to each that this kind of talk was not really needed. But in a way Tamaz could understand why she was this way, Tokyo last mission changed her, Starfleet choices changed everyone. He grins a bit, “But if you are on the subject”

Yozria looked at her console and only point her middle finger at him, “F*ck off Tamaz…”

“The Commander is experiecing quite some stress from the current workload, Lieutenant. She is not quite having a good day” Varujan pointing out “Oh Lieutenant, if you have served on the previous assignment together, how was the Tokyo?”

Before Tamaz could answer, a slap on the console was given with both hands by Yozria as she looked up from her console but not at them. “Let’s drop the subject of our past Lieutenant. What happened on that ship, stays on that ship, plus I do believe you have a pad to get fixed?” She looked back down on the console as Varujan shrugged and nod at them both leaving the hub.

“Was that really needed?”  Tamaz said with a shrug, seeing Varujan walk away. “What happened on the Tokyo left a scar on us all, but this new crew doesn’t have to pay our grievance” Tamaz knew how badly this had hit Yozria regarding her brother and such. Taking a deep breath, “Look, Yozzy…” Tamaz gets somewhat personal and sees her stiffening up hearing that name and focus on what is in front of her, “If you need to talk, let me know….I am always available, you know that….” With that, he taps gently her shoulder and walks off to resume his own duties.

“Breath, little star, this is natural and will happen eventually.” A bitter flashback.

Meanwhile, Yozria stood above the console frozen after hearing the personal touch of Tamaz, she wanted to run, she wanted to resign, she wanted to forget. But she is here doing the work her brother loved. Was she doing it for herself or for her brother….while saved, is a mere plant at Caelum Station, unknown if the brain damage done by the Borg could be undone? She blinked a tear away, taking a deep breath, and she resumed her work, for now she was doing what her brother wanted her to do.