Lieutenant Asante quietly strode through the dimly lit corridors of the engineering deck, focused on the the diagnostic reports forwarded to him on his PADD. They read the Chicago‘s warp field harmonics had been fluctuating slightly – nothing drastic, but it triggered an automatic alert in the computer’s flagging system and he wanted to take a look. He, like a number of the other recently transferred officers, were not too familiar with their new vessel, she was a lot beefier than their California-class, but considerably older and took some getting used to.

He wasn’t expecting to find anyone else in engineering; the gamma shift had already cycled out, most of the systems were on automated running and there weren’t any active work orders, at least any he was aware of. But near the main power conduit, hunched over an exposed particle capacitor, was a crewman he didn’t recognize. She was on the ground, her sleeves rolled up, her face stuck in concentration. She didn’t notice him as he approached.

“What are you doing here so late?” Asante asked inquisitively, folding his arms.

The crewman jumped and looked up, startled, the tools she was using letting out and echoing clang as she dropped them to the floor. She let out a breath. “Sir- uh, I was running a screening on the warp plasma regulators. We had that small spike in antimatter containment earlier, I thought it was an issue with the dilithium chambers at first, but I traced it to a misalignment in the original plasma flow.”

The Lieutenant nodded, looking at her plainly. “That’s why I’m here, Petty Officer…”

The crewman jumped to her feet and stood at attention. She stood a little over 5 feet tall, with long black hair that flushed around her shoulders, and fierce green eyes. He could tell she had been working, her sleeves were stained with grease and there was a line of sweat running across her forehead. Asante didn’t recognize her, but then, he didn’t recognize most onboard yet. “Petty Officer First Class Nicole Wolff, Sir.”

He nodded. “How drastic of a misalignment are we talking?”

“Point zero three microns.” Wolff admitted. “Nothing major, but if it drifts any further, it could start interfering with the warp field.”

Asante nodded again, and raised an eyebrow at her. “And if that happens when we’re traveling at warp speed?”

“It could cause a plethora of problems. Worst case scenario, some serious warp field instability. And our friends up on the bridge wouldn’t be very happy.” She grinned slightly. “I was about to realign it myself, but I figure you or the Chief would want to take a look at it first.”

Asante studied the Petty Officer for a moment before tapping a few commands into the console she was underneath. She was right – the misalignment was minor, but the buffer patterns indicated this problem wouldn’t resolve itself. It could definitely trigger warp containment issues as well, and at the very least, a major headache for engineering down the line.

The Lieutenant, not one to catastrophize, instead nodded calmly to Wolff while reaching for his own tricorder. “Good catch, Petty Officer. Most would have relegated this to alpha shift, if they hadn’t assumed it was a rounding error first.”

She returned a half-smile, obviously trying to be modest. “I try my best to be thorough, Sir.”

“Thorough is what we need around here,” The Lieutenant chimed, briefly glancing around the still unfamiliar engine room. “I’ll leave this to your more than capable hands, if you want to keep at it yourself. If you need me, flag me, I’m on until alpha shift starts. Make sure you run a final diagnostic before you close the panel.”

“Yes, Sir.” She was clearly pleased at being left in charge of the task herself.

Asante almost turned to leave, but studied the Petty Officer again for a beat. “Have you ever thought about putting in for OCS?”

Wolff hesitated, clearly surprised at the abrupt question. “Yes, actually. Both my parents are officers, but I was eager to get my hands dirty. Didn’t feel like four years at the Academy suited me at the time. Wanted to learn from the ground up, turn some wrenches first.”

The Lieutenant nodded approvingly. “Good thinking. I’m a mustang myself. If you ever need a letter of recommendation, you know where to find me when the next cycle comes around.”

He turned and made his way to the exit from which he entered, pausing at the passageway and glancing back. The Petty Officer was already back to where she was earlier, hunched underneath the exposed panel with her sleeves already rolled back up.