For such a small ship, the cramped surroundings of the Thyanis engineering bay were bustling with activity. Around half a dozen personnel were busy making last-minute adjustments to the equipment and ship systems before her impending voyage. Space in the tiny room was at such a premium in fact, that some crew members stood shoulder to shoulder or even physically climbing over each other to complete their tasks. 

While the room was small it was packed with equipment and stations to adjust and monitor every station on the ship. The room was essentially an open-plan alcove, adjunct in parallel to one of the main corridors on the deck; the absence of any doors saved space and complexity while alleviating some of the claustrophobic atmosphere of the room by making it feel larger than it was. 

From entering the engineering bay from the main corridor one would find themselves standing in the ‘control room’ section which was fitted with a wide range of wall consoles and a table console. All of these interfaced with the ship's various systems but were also capable of being transferred to either the table console or the bridge; to allow full control by a limited crew.

Towards the aft wall; the room was divided in half by rails and the necessary seals for the emergency containment blast door. This allowed the Warp Core compartment to be isolated from the rest of the ship, and if necessary ejected overboard.

Finally on the aft wall stood vertically; the Warp Core itself. It was in appearance, a miniaturised version of a core you might find on a Galaxy-class vessel. 

As if the room was already at capacity, one further individual crossed the threshold from the corridor and into the control room. His red uniform caught the eye of everyone, yet they were too focused on their work to give him but a quick glance. “Excuse me," he said, hopelessly trying to get someone to stop working for a moment to give him directions.

“Excuse me there crewman!” he repeated, with more urgency.

“They're all busy!” a voice carried across the room, originating from near the Warp Core. “And unless you can work a Hyperspanner, you're probably in their way.”

Harris Tan stepped forward and peeked into the core compartment, looking for the source of the voice that had just addressed him.

“Speaking of Hyperspanners, could you do me a solid and pass me one from the table?” the voice requested.

Harris looked behind him and picked up the only object he could conceive of matching that description. It was a heavy object with a pistol grip and a data screen attached at a right angle to its barrel. He approached the core, again looking for the voice that was speaking to him but all he could see was an empty compartment and various tools and pannels strewn across the deck. 

“Little to the left.” The voice said prompting Harris to move to the starboard side of the compartment. “Sorry, my left - Port side.” 

Harris complied and moved to the Port side of the room, he had now by this point managed to peer around the back of the Warp Core, he still could not see anyone and began to consider the possibility that his sanity might be departing.

“And down below please.” 

Harris glanced at his feet, he could see a dark-skinned hand reaching out from the crawl space below the foot of the Warp Core; the palm opening and closing a couple of times to indicate it wanted Harris to hand over the tool. 

He obliged; the hand quickly retreated back out of sight, only to reappear a fraction of a second later and toss the tool that Harris retrieved - onto the deck. “That is a Duotrinic probe, and your shoes need a lick of polish Lieutenant Commander!” The voice fed back.

“Well, Im no engineer. I fly ships, I don't mend them… as for my shoes Im in a real hurry here so can you just tell me where I can find the commanding officer?” Harris retorted, feeling somewhat insulted that a common grease monkey had passed a comment on his dress.

“Listen carefully Commander, number one; the commanding officer expects standards aboard this ship, number two you wouldn't know flying If someone drew it out for you and number three…” The voice paused, as Harris grew impatient and insulted for a moment until his taunt's face surfaced from the crawl space. “You're lookin' at him." emerged Wallace Jones - the Commanding Officer Harris was looking for.

“WALLACE!” Harris exclaimed with the joy of greeting an old friend, extending an arm to help the Lieutenant Commander up to his feet.

“In the flesh, though I meant what I said about the shoes.” Jones chuckled, wiping the sweat from his fore-had with an oily rag.

“So you're my new C.O.,” Harris asked with a smile, “How long has it been? Ten years?” he added.

“Nine, but who's counting? sorry for the mess but as you can see, we are quite busy here.” Jones responded, making his way over to the table station.

“I didn't think that such a small ship needed so much maintenance?” Harris asked, his face still broadcasting his joy.

“She doesn't, but she's been mothballed for nearly a year and needs a little touching up…” Before Commander Jones could finish his sentence he was interrupted by the chirp of the ship's Comm system

‘Bridge to Lieutenant Commander Jones’

Wallace reached to activate his Comm badge but suddenly realised he was not wearing his uniform jacket. He turned again and tapped a few keys on the table console to perform the same action.

“Jones here!”

‘Sir, Priority message from Commodore Ekwueme’

“Thank you, route it here please” 

The bridge officer acknowledged Wallace's request and within seconds the recording played on a small screen at the head of the table. Harris observed Wallace's reaction and detected an immediate change in his friend's attitude as the message ended. “Everything okay?” he asked

“Looks like we may have to postpone this little reunion,” Wallace replied; a little look of concern on his face. “Commander Im going to go clean up. Please assemble the senior officers on the bridge in fifteen minutes." He ordered.

“Aye sir!” Harris wasted no time and made his way back into the corridor towards the ladders. This was one of the other quirks of the Raven Class that amused Harris; no turbo lifts. With only 4 decks, such a complicated transportation system was overkill; instead, there were 3 sets of ladders, fore, mid, and aft that provided effective transport to all decks. It was an antiquated feature but simple.

Wallace watched as his new first officer began his duties in earnest, he was concerned for a moment that the assignment he had just been handed might be too great of a task for his little ship and small crew. But seeing how his second in command carried out his order, without hesitation and without debate; reassured him that he was merely underestimating what a well-selected crew were capable of.