Crawford had taken the longest sonic shower of her life and had gone slowly in putting on her fresh new uniform with her rank ensign rank pips.  She’d tied her long hair tightly into a bun and secured it with several devices.  She was about to step into a role that she was wholly unfamiliar with in practice.  Her assignment as Chief to the Zebulon Pike had been a lark, and she’d struggled with her position in life since the destruction of her first and only command.  Now she waited outside her quarters for the CO and wondered what was next for her.  Would she ever rise to the role of Chief again?

“Ensign Crawford.”  She nearly jumped at the voice of her CO as he sidled up beside her.  He cast her a wry smile, “Good morning.” She squinted at him briefly, and he chuckled, “I am the CO.  I am allowed to surprise.  Follow me.”  And she did.  As they walked, he asked her about her history, her home, and her father.  She shared openly, and he answered her own questions as freely as she had.  

They arrived at the doors to main engineering, and she turned to him, “Captain, is there anything I should know about her?”  

Halsey shrugged, “The crew’s only been together a few days.  She’s a passionate interim chief with eyes for the top job.  She’s become quite attached to the Mercy, so be ready for that, I suppose.”  He stepped forward and the doors droned open, revealing a smaller engine room but still larger than the Pike.

Neva had her ever-present PADD out, alternately looking at it and a screen beside her. As she heard the doors open, her fingers dancing over the PADD and she stopped. Putting it in her knitted pouch, which was crossed over her body. 

Neva stood and nodded her head deferential to the Captain then smiled at the woman beside him. “Hello Sir. What can I do for you?”

Leopold gestured to Crawford, “Lieutenant Cordon, Ensign Crawford.  She’s been assigned as an engineering officer.  Welcome aboard.”

Neva nodded once and kept her smile up. “Welcome Crawford, to the Heart of my Iron Lady.” She stepped forward and continued. “If I saw right, you were Chief on another ship. Do I need to worry about my job?” Her smile became a slight smirk. 

Halsey chuckled, “I’ll let you two get to business.”  He left out the door, and Crawford nervously thought about her answer.

She settled on, “No, Chief Cordon…you won’t have to worry about that.  I made chief right out of the academy.”  She explained as much as she was allowed to about the Zebulon Pike’s mission and it’s close-knit crew.  “I think I need to be an engineering officer for awhile on a bigger ship before I start thinking of, well, the bigger things in my career.”  Crawford looked around the room, “How did you find your way here?  She’s a lovely ship.”

Neva smiled brighter and held up a hand “Please, call me Neva, Chief, or something like that.” She lowered her hand. “I’m not used to Chief Cordon…yet.” Neva waved Crawford to her office.  “We need to talk and I think my office has less ears.” 

Neva led the way to her office. She sat down in her chair and made a motion for the Ensign to sit in the chair opposite Neva. ” OK…as to how I got here, it’s not that big of a story.  Put in for a transfer after the Romulan Crisis, it came to our Captain, and here I am.” She spread her arms in an effort to encompass the whole of Engineering. “So I’m in charge of keeping our Iron Lady in the best shape She needs to be.” 

Neva’s ebony eyes gazed pointedly at the young Ensign, though her smile softened. “I may be considered weird for how I talk about this Ship, but she’s MY responsibility. Lives depend on how well me and mine coax the best out of Our Lady.” 

Neva put her folded hands on the desk. “Which leads me to this. What would you say about training to become Assistant Chief Engineer?”

Carolyn smiled at hearing the warmth and passion with which Neva talked about the Mercy.  She felt the smile fade in shock at the suggestion of training for ACEO.  She fumbled for the words before finding them, “I..uh…that’s a big thing to think about, to be honest.”  She thought for a moment, “I guess I would be open to it.  You’re not one to waste time, are you?”  Her quiet smile returned at the end as she looked back at Neva.

“Not usually,” Neva admitted, “but in the same token, you had the experience of being in my position. That counts for something in my book.” Neva stood up from her chair and walked along side of it. Passing Crawford as she left her office, Neva pulled out her PADD. Tapping a few things on it as she led the way to Main Engineering. 

“Ok, Crawford, show me what you’ve got.” Neva lifted her arm to let the other woman go first. “I want you to tell me if there’s anything amiss with the transporter systems after today’s little excursion.” Neva took a step back from Crawford to give her space to go where she needed.

The engineer cocked an eyebrow.  Definitely not a waster of time, this one.  She stepped to a console and began to tap her hands across the screen, “We”ll start with the standard diagnostics…†she spoke as she worked, “…those sweeps show standard readings across the board with the transporter systems.  Next, I’d do a buffer check to see if anything”s outside of the operating specs,” she shook her head as she worked the console further, “Readings are coming back mostly green,” she tapped carefully at the console now as she pulled the details on the variables in the buffer report, “Looks like we caught some of the particulates from yesterday’s away team.  They’ve been assigned out to the science teams onboard, and that investigation is ongoing.” 

Crawford returned her attention to the transporter systems, “Second-level diagnostics are showing minor power fluctuations in the EPS conduits near two of the transporter rooms – well within operating specs, and it’s an issue that’s been cataloged even before the Mercy was refit.  Still, something to look into.”  She turned to Neva, “I can dig in deeper if you’d like – transporters are one of the critical systems on a starship like the Mercy – supporting our various missions is kind of a big deal.”

Neva’s eyes went wide at her Assistant Chief Engineer’s proclamation. “Dig as deep as you can!” She said almost shouting. “If ANYTHING is in those transporters from that place…Get. It. Out!” 

Crawford nearly jumped as her Interim Chief nearly lost her damn mind.

Neva hit her commbadge. =^=Cordon to Captain Halsey. I need the Science team OFF those transporters NOW! Crawford found anomalies in the EPS conduits on the transporters we used last night. Sir, I advise STRONGLY that those be put out of use until further notice. I won’t let our Girl get a dose of….That…ANYWHERE=^= She slapped her chest, ending the transmission so she could calm down.

Halsey’s voice came through after a pause; = ^=Understood, Lieutenant.  Keep us updated.=^=

Crawford turned to Neva, her eyes a little wider than before, “You OK?”  She handed her the PADD, “You did hear the part where I said it’s been an ongoing issue since the refit.”

Neva sagged back on the rail around the conference table. “Yeah, I’m good.” She took a couple more breaths and stood back up. Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, she took the proffered PADD. “I guess I’m still a little jumpy from what happened on the Colorado.” She swallowed a lump in her throat and continued. “Good catch by the way.”

Carolyn chuckled, “Engineers always have a unique relationship with their ships, no doubt.  Just…trust me in this – if it’s something bad, I’ll be loud and proud making it clear that something is going wrong.”  She took the PADD back, “I can connect up with the science teams if you want to take the EPS conduits?”

Neva nodded. “Right now, I think that’s best. I’ll know what to look for.”