Engineering has been the heart of every ship and the Triumph was no different. Engineers rushed around working on keeping that heart ticking and running smoothly. Though the Triumph had been running smoothly the department not so much. Tensions were high as Commander Aarven was always jumping down their throats. She was never happy with the work they were doing, always finding something they had done wrong and making them fix it to her standards.

While the Triumph had been repaired from the battle of Izar during the Lost Fleet invasion. The last thing on the shipyard personnel’s mind was removing the fleet formation mode following the Frontier Day catastrophe. So it was up to them to purge it from their systems. Both Zhayvu and Savu had been tasked with the job and had been working overtime to get it done.

The Inquiry Class was much larger and a bit more tactfully capable than the Gagarin was. Because of this, it had a larger engineering department just to keep everything up to par. It was impressive and one that Savu hadn’t had the luxury of working on until now. She found it exciting despite the tensions within the department.

“I liked her when she was a Changeling,” said Savu leaning over to Zhayva.

“Agreed,” Zhayva quietly replied as they worked on making sure all of the fleet formation mode was removed from the system. They have been keeping their head out of Aarven’s radar, at least for the moment.

“Want to go to the lounge after our shift?”

“Sure-” she began to speak when she was cut off by none other than the one they were trying to avoid.

“No talking, get back to work or I’ll separate you two,” Aarven exclaimed. “We are here to work, not chit-chat about what you are going to do after your shift. Figure that out either before or after.”

Zhayva looked at Savu as she rolled her eyes. She felt the same way annoyed that they were being forced not to have a conversation while on duty. It made no sense to her, she wasn’t sure how much more she could take. She could tell just by the looks on other’s faces they felt the same way. Taking a deep breath she turned back to Aarven. “Aye, sir,” Zhayva said with a snappy tone to her voice before walking off.

Savu looked after Zhayva before turning her gaze back to the commander who looked like she was going to blow a gasket. She took that as a cue to walk slowly away not to get in the way of her warpath. Walking over to a console that was farther away she had made it look like she was busy but she made a point to keep an eye on Zhayva.

“Don’t walk away when I am talking to you. I suggest you go to my office and we can talk about your attitude,” Aarven spoke harshly.

Zhayva looked up at that and was flabbergasted by the audacity of this woman. “You talk about attitude when you are the one with a major attitude problem.” Zhayva snapped. “You have been treating everyone here like they are little children needing to be babysat.”

Aarvan grabbed her arm. “We will talk about this in my office.”

“Get your hands off me.”

“I gave you an order.”

She still had a hand on her arm. “I said get your hands off of me,” Zhayva replied, taking a deep breath trying to keep her from punching her superior.

“What is going on here,” came the voice of Commander Aleish Trol who had entered engineering to check on things when she witnessed the commotion going on. She knew that the commander had an attitude problem but this was uncalled for. 

“Nothing of your concern I will handle my department,” Aarven replied looking disgustedly at the Cardassian woman standing there. “I don’t need the likes of you butting in.”

Working her jaw for a moment. “Let go of Zhayva and come with me.”

“No,” came her reply. “I don’t take orders from Cardassians,” said Aarvan as she emphasized the word Cardassians with disgust in her voice. In her eyes, they had no place in Starfleet and she refused to listen to anything coming from Aleish’s mouth.

“I suggest you follow-” but before she could finish her sentence Aarven struck her in the face causing Aleish to stumble backward as it was a full-on punch.

“I don’t listen to Cardassians period I don’t care who you are,” Aarven spat before walking off.

After recovering her balance she rubbed her jaw where she had been struck. Others looked at her with open mouths at what they had just witnessed. “Security to engineering,” she said after she tapped her commbadge. She wasn’t going to let her get away with striking her.

“Are you alright sir?” Zhayva asked as she walked up to her after witnessing what had happened.

“I am,” she replied just as both Lieutenants Zain Kraha and Llaxia arrived.

“What’s going on sir?” Zain asked as he could see blood trickling from the commander’s lip.

She led them to where Aarven was, “arrest her for striking a superior officer and place her in the brig.” Trol replied as the two looked at each other before complying with orders. Aarven tried to resist, “Commander Aarven you are being relieved of duty and placed under arrest.”

“See you are all the same,” Aarven spat still struggling against the security officers as they began to lead her out of engineering. “You can go to hell,” she yelled as they walked passed her to leave and Aarven tried to break free to hit Aleish again. The security officers kept a hold of her and she left engineering without further incident.

Aleish took a deep breath before she turned her attention back to Zhayva. “You are now in charge of engineering.”

“Understood sir,” Zhayva replied as she looked at the others who went back to work with a bit more of a relief. You could feel the tensions that once filled the room lift as Aarven was relieved of duty.

Letting out a sigh Aleish began to make her way out of engineering. She needed to have a discussion with Captain Tilana about what had just transpired. First, she needed to make one stop at sickbay beforehand. 

Standing at her window with a coffee cup in her hand as she gazed out at the view that was outside. Thinking about everything that had taken place as things were now vastly different since being reassigned to the Triumph. After being on the Gagarin and enduring all that they did as a crew, she was no more. A new journey was only beginning. The crew seemed to be adjusting to the change as much as they possibly could.

The younger crew had it harder as they were still dealing with the trauma they had caused. She knew it would be a long healing process for them as they went through counseling. She would support them through it all. She continued to gaze out the window as she watched ships enter and leave the system. Ships in the orbital drydocks are being repaired. Interrupted by the door chime she looked in the direction of the door. “Enter.”

“What happened to you?” Tilana asked as she watched Aleish enter with a PADD in hand.

Even though she had gone to sickbay there was still evidence of what had transpired in engineering. She handed her the PADD with the report, “I had gone down to engineering to check on things when I overheard Commander Aarven yelling and grabbing her staff.” Aleish began to explain in detail all that had transpired. “She refused to listen to my instructions as I was trying to defuse a situation when she struck me. I had her arrested for striking a superior officer.”

Tilana listened to what she was being told as she read the complete report. Working her jaw for a moment before blowing out her cheeks. “Are you alright?” Tilana asked, looking concerned that her chief engineer had done such things. Though it wouldn’t be a first as her last posting she also struck an officer who tried to ‘interfere’ with her department.

“I am fine there was no damage done other than a bruised lip.”

“I will have to have a conversation with Fleet Captain Dex about this as it seems you are pressing charges,” Tilana replied, and even if she wasn’t going to she would have as she would not put up with such conduct on her ship. Just then she received a message from Azras Dex to report to the Saratoga along with Commander Trol.

“Well looks like we can discuss this with her together,” Tilana said before looking at the Cardassian woman. “We are being summoned over to the Saratoga for a meeting.”

Aleish nodded as they both walked out of the ready room and began to walk toward the turbolift. Where they would take the lift down to the transporter room. Silence had fallen upon the two as they traveled. Soon later they arrived and stepped upon the transporter room padd and within minutes disappeared from the Triumph.