Strangely Familiar
Posted on Wed Apr 27th, 2022 @ 8:29am by Lieutenant Elen Diari
Edited on on Thu May 5th, 2022 @ 4:53am
1,876 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Episode 12 - Risin' To Risa
Location: Main Engineering - Deck 11 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD002 1600 hrs
Her first round of patients done, Lunara leaned back in her chair. She took a look around - the walls were still barren, her office undecorated. As a counselor, this was a bit of a problem. The crew needed to feel comfortable here. Maybe bringing a few books from her quarters would help? Of course, she'd also need to get a bookshelf - maybe she could bribe an engineer into making one out of replicated wood.
Engineering - she still needed to meet the engineering staff. She'd have to ask them to show her around when they weren't too busy, too. After all, Jalen was an Engineer back in Kirk's day - how much had things changed since then? Two birds with one stone. She pulled out her PADD and began writing a message to the chief engineer.
Hello,
My name is Lunara Hol. I'm the new Counselor here, and I'm trying to make my way between the different departments. Is there a good time I could drop by? Looking forward to meeting with you.
-L. Hol
P.S. On a bit of a personal note, could I trouble you by asking for a small tour? One of my past hosts was a Starfleet engineer a long time ago, and I'd love to see the inside of a modern warp drive.
El's PADD beeped with the message, she smiled at the chime, wasn't often she got notes like this.
She read it, nodded and licked the end of a stylus to reply.
Sure. Come down whenever you like. People are always welcome to visit. I'd be happy to give your a tour, although you will have to ask an expert on Drives if you have any questions. El.
Lunara grinned as she read the reply, standing up and getting ready to go. 'Time to see if I recognize anything,' she thought to herself. She grabbed her PADD and walked out the door, putting a notice on her door panel to call her if needed.
A few minutes later, she arrived in Main Engineering. After looking around for a few moments, she found her target. Grinning, she walked over to her, giving a wave. "Lieutenant Diari! Hello!"
El came over, and gave Lunara a bear hug. "Welcome !" she smiled, "make yourself at home. Cleaned my office for your consultations" waving in the general direction of a glassed alcove, "Just don't do Jose first. He's a Bluewings fan, you'd be there all day", again, waving the other arm towards a stocky engineer cleaning the ring around the warp core.
Lunara grinned. "Well, thanks for the heads-up. I'll save him for last. Mind if I start with you first? I'm eager to see how things work now."
"Sure. Not a problem at all. Things here are about the same as they always have been. Big engine there, being cooled from pipes there and there, going off to the nacelles there. Power generators to the left and right to keep things going, and a display here telling me what's gone wrong now." El replied "as for me. former physicist, now repair person, slowly but surely getting used to being in charge of a starship rather than a starbase."
"Bet there's a story there." Lunara smiled. "Why the move?"
"Politics mostly. Can't get on certain cool projects in Particle Physics unless you have the right connections, so went into science operations fixing things, and just went professional when my team moved to Finland Station, and became the chief engineer there." El explained, missing her friends there.
"Funny how things work out like that, isn't it?" Lunara nodded. "How are you adjusting so far?"
"Apart from still getting used to warp motion again, it's just the same, keep the blinky lights on, and the alarms off. saying that excuse me a moment." El answered, stepping away.
She came back a few seconds later with a tray of coffee and cakes, "that's the new replicator working. help yourself. One thing hasn't changed from the old days, engineers running on caffeine."
"Glad to see some of the old traditions are still alive." Lunara grinned as she took a coffee mug from the tray, cupping it with her hands before taking a sip. "As nostalgic as hearing about overworked, sleep-deprived engineers makes me, though, I have to be concerned about it with my new job. Might even have to force some of your people to get some rest. Hope you don't take it personally," she winked.
"Oh please take it up to Captain Big Ears. I've been trying to get the team a good break after the Drive install, at the moment working a four shift rota down here to give them less work, but I think most of them could just do with at least two weeks planet-side somewhere. Preferably as far away from anything with a warp core they can be." Elen replied, a tone of finally saying that to someone in her voice.
Lunara nodded, taking a more sincere tone. "I know how that goes. I'll see if I can talk to the captain about this, but no promises. I'll do the best I can, but you might have to settle for a space station. In an ideal world, the guys keeping the ship running would get extra time off, but once you put on the gold- err, the red uniform these days, it becomes harder to keep track of what the average crewman goes through." She smiled wryly. "In the meantime, though, I can show you my old department's secret recipe. I don't think any of them would complain." Not that there was hardly anyone alive to complain anyway.
"I know old Big Ears would if he could, probably someone higher up the food chain wanted to look busy so send us here. Thanks for the offer on the recipe, but I'm just going to keep them on light duties until we're all a lot less tired. Had to send Bill home last week, nearly shorted half the ship mixing up power cables due to almost falling asleep. You couldn't have a word with him, tell him to take it easy, doesn't listen to me?" Elen asked.
"Already putting me on the other side of the desk, hm?" Lunara chuckled. "I'll see what I can do. These sorts of attitudes..." She exhaled, "Well, they aren't sustainable. I'll talk to him, but make sure you're not neglecting yourself, hm?"
"I'm fine. Been taking it easy myself, and once this mission's over, I'm off to EngCon back home on Betazed at the end of the month. With two weeks extra leave at my folks after it. Really looking forward to being with Pa in his workshop- just sawdust, homebrewed tea, and the new puppy." El replied, smiling at the thought.
Lunara perked up a bit. "Back to Betazed, hm? What part are you from? I studied at Betazed U for a while, right in downtown Rixx."
"Me, Ceil, Eastern Azure Peaks. Didn't go near the Rixx campus. Mostly hung around the Cataria one, as that where the Physics faculty lives. Heard some interesting stories about a couple of sororities at Rixx though, especially regarding the Lavender wine speakeasies of the early 80s." Elen answered.
Lunara grinned mischievously. "They're probably all true. I had a few friends in one of the big ones. Those speakeasies didn't shut down after the '80s. The parties they threw?" She whistled. "I haven't seen anything like them. And I remember the end of the Dominion War." An exaggeration, perhaps, but it was funnier that way. The sorority parties certainly left an impression on the young, sheltered, at the time unjoined Trill.
"I was off-world during the War, being a teenager at the Yoshizawa cascade while Mom and Pa worked there. From what my cousins say, was such a liberation party that some family haven't sobered up yet." El smiled " Although, my memories are a bit faint from then, you know, if you've seen my file- it's probably the thick one that's structural in the conselor's office."
Lunara snorted. "Oh, the one I've been doing my best to avoid reading?" She wasn't much thinking about what she was saying, but immediately felt shame as she realized what she was referring to.
"I don't blame ya. Seven years of various flavours of your lot trying to work out either I'm not crazy enough for treatment, or should be put somewhere with various attractive librarians wanting to do salacious things with my body, otherwise known as retirement. Most of it is them arguing with each other." El explained, thinking about the librarians again.
"Librarians, hm? Sounds like I went into the wrong retirement the last couple times." Lunara winked. "Well, maybe I'll be the next flavor to examine you, hm?" Her voice sounded joking, but there was a definite undertone of you're coming into my office one way or another.
Elen seemed happy about that "Sure, not a problem, maybe after you've done the usual diagnosticy things, they'll close my case, and I can get on with work, or even build that third-epoch starjammer I've been imagining for years, like the one in the foyer of the 'Zed science museum."
Lunara chuckled, shaking her head. "Well, no promises, hm? I've seen how engineers can be. I know allllll your tricks."
"Nah, no tricks, wouldn't get me anywhere. Still taking the meds, trying to keep the stress levels manageable, so I don't freak out, but still have the odd episode. Was talking to my friend Jon the other day, he was showing off a new soccer, sorry football, shirt- he collects them- told him I thought Tajen would love one like that, he had to remind me that Tajen doesn't exist in this timeline. First time in years he's had to." El remembered, slightly embarrassed.
Lunara nodded sympathetically. "Timeline issues like that... can be difficult. My advice would be to try not to forget. I haven't lost friends to time distortions, but I did get to know a... transporter fuse, for lack of a better term. If you ever studied the Voyager journies, it was similar to the Tuviz incident. It ended the same way." She shook her head. "My point is, if you feel you can... keeping their memory alive can be healthy."
"Yeah.. Jon, the guy I was on about, he's the grandson of a transporter fuse- an Andorian Human hybrid. I mean the distortion was 25 years, so it's going to pop up now and again, surprised that it did so easily." Elen answered. "Think I really need that holiday."
"Taking time for yourself is always the best answer. Enjoy the shore leave that the Captain has granted, perhaps you will find what you are looking for, or at the very least you will find yourself." It was the best advice that Lunara could give, it was the best advice that everyone on the ship should take.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Elen Diari
Chief Engineering Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Junior Grade Lunara Hol
Chief Counselor, USS Pioneer
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