A Bit of Help

Posted on Sat Sep 8th, 2018 @ 8:37pm by Commander Abigail Prescott & Commander M'Mira & Lieutenant Commander Catrina (Cat) Tendai
Edited on on Mon Sep 10th, 2018 @ 9:53am

1,496 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: The Return to Faltan
Location: Faltan - Chief Engineer's Office
Timeline: MD06 - 1600

After a few hours of digging through whatever she could, Catrina started to get frustrated. She was working, and she was glad about that. But some of the systems were throwing her for a loop. She knew she'd get the hang of it, but needed maybe a bit of assistance. As much as she didn't want to ask for help on her first chief position, and wanted to show she could handle it, sometimes there wasn't a choice.

So, remembering who the first officer said to call upon, she sent a message off to Lieutenant Commander M'Mira, asking that she come to her office when she had a chance.

M'Mira received the message. She was immediately offended. The Chief Engineer wants me, the Chief Operating Officer and Second Executive Officer to come to her? And she was already late to the station making me do her work?! This woman needs to be put in her place. Before doing anything, she looked up her profile and decided immediately, Threat! Definite threat!

Before M'Mira did anything, she tapped her commbadge, =/\= Mint, arrre you alone? =/\= The irritated tone sounded like a half-growl/half-purr.

=/\= Unfortunately, =/\= Mint quipped, sounding like she was both frustrated and joking at the same time. =/\= What's up, M'Mira? =/\= she refrained from calling her "Pussycat", thinking the Caitian woman wouldn't appreciate the joke.

=/\= Ourrr new Chief Engineerrrr. Do you know that she sent me a message rrrequesting that I come TO HERrrr?! Just who on Faltan does this woman think she is? On top of that, have you seen her dossier? It is like the woman was taking a glamourrr shot. I don't like this one. I'd rrrratherrr continue worrrking doubles than have this woman on the station. =/\=

=/\= M'Mira.... we've been over this before... =/\= Mint sounded like she was in the middle of moving things around. =/\= Other department heads can request your help. Besides, I told her to speak with you at some point since the two departments work together a lot. Look, M'Mira, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to deal with her, I don't have the time nor the energy to continue doing triple shifts. =/\=

=/\= I don't like herrr, alrrready, =/\= M'Mira told Mint. =/\= She seems like she has as many brrrain cells as Damon. But I underrrstand you being tired. Me, too. Next time we go to Faltan, tell the Captain not to get shot. It is rrrather inconvenient. =/\=

Mint rolled her eyes, despite the Caitian not being able to see it. =/\= She's definitely much smarter than him. =/\= A soft thud and whispered swear word could he heard from Mint's end. =/\= Seriously M'Mira, she's fine. She's not a threat. She's here to take work off both of us. Now go talk to her before I lose the second batch of nail designs. =/\=

=/\= She is a thrreat. Trrrying to be prrrettierrr than me and steal prrrospective mates with her bimbo attitude. =/\= Mint could hear M'Mira growl frustratedly, presumably about the nail designs. =/\= Forrr you, I will meet the hussy. M'Mirrra out. =/\=

M'Mira stalked out of her office and headed over to the other half of the operations and engineering building to the Chief Engineer's office and rang the chime.

Not knowing when M'Mira would end up showing up, Catrina was digging around looking for a few replacement pieces. She jumped at the sound of the door chime. "Come in," she stated, still digging in the parts.

The Caitian's eyes narrowed as she walked into the Chief Engineer's Office. "You rrrequested to see me, Lieutenant Tendai?" There was an unusual emphasis placed on the word "Lieutenant" by the Caitian.

Coming out of the replacement parts pile, Cat gave a smile to Caitian in front of her. "Commander M'Mira? Thank you for coming. I know everyone is busy, I won't take up too much of your time." She caught the emphasis on the ranking, but was not bothered with it.

M’Mira’s whiskers twitched. “We arre busy. I have been doing my job, yourrr job, and acting as the Executive Officerrrr while our Captain has been shot, so you need not tell me about busy,” she responded in an all too professional manner. “Yet, you have called me away from worrrk, and rrrequested my prrresence. What is so imporrrtant, Lieutenant?” The words came out somewhere between a purr and a growl.

This is going to be interesting, Cat thought to herself. "Just trying to sort out a few of these systems that I'm not familiar with. I've never worked a station, and I swear it seems like some of the systems are crossing with each other." She sighed. "Just trying to sort out a few things is all."

"They do," M'Mira answered simply. She then allowed her eyes to shift to the floor and back up at Catrina. "Have you not rrread my rrreport of the station when I arrrrived?" Knowing that Catrina had not, the disgusted Caitian explained briefly, "Six weeks the previous admin team had been missing. Dust, however, appears to have been here much longerrrr. Everrrything was in disarrrray. Powerrr cells were failing and I sent a team of engineerrrs to investigate."

“I did read it, on my way here. And I know you are probably mad that I didn’t show up with everyone else. I had to finish some things before I headed out. I did everything I could to get out here as soon as I found I had the position.” Catrina watched M’Mira for a moment. “All I need is the report from the last two days, everything else was sent to me. Or even a breakdown of what is hooked up where, as those reports are probably in my pile.” She moved to her desk, which was covered in parts and PADDs, nodding to the seat across from her. “I’ve been here a few hours, Commander. I don’t want to make things worse by unhooking something that is powering something important.”

Clearly incompetent, M'Mira concluded. "Commander Prrrescott has alrrready been in here. Everrrything should be functional. You do not need me forrr this. I would suggest that you catch up and do yourrr job." Once again, her whiskers twitched as M'Mira became more aggravated.

Cat held her tongue. Oh great, this is what I get to deal with? "Yes, Commander Prescott has been here, Commander Mi'Mira. However, she was only able to give me a very brief rundown. I was told to go to you with any questions." She started to dig through the PADDs, "However, if you'd rather go and do whatever it was you were doing, I will take the time away from trying to fix this place and find the layout of the connections on one of these PADDs in here."

A hiss escaped from M'Mira. She tried to reign it in but failed. How dare this woman try and dismiss ME? Her commanding officer?! Who the hell does she think she is? Incompetent AND presumptuous! She needs to be put in her place. M'Mira pulled her claw to her face, her blood red nails with some sort of silvery/grey design on each nail were made obvious to Cat. "What specific questions do you have, Lieutenant?" The words were uttered in a near staccato manner and each was emphasized, as if the uttering of them were painful to M'Mira.

Taking a deep breath, Catrina leaned against the desk. "Commander, I am not trying to show any disrespect. I know that to power certain areas of the station, systems and their power supplies are crossed all over the place. I just do not want to drop the power somewhere if I go to give power to another. I am simply asking if there is a quick layout of what is crossed where so we can all get back to work."

"And I am telling you," M'Mira hissed again, "that there is no layout and this rrroom has been fixed by the Commanderrr."

"I know this room has been fixed!" Cat gave up, M'Mira was not going to be easy to work with. "Know what? Forget it! I meant something to show me what wires were crossed where so I could warn people if I am about to shut something off!"

A low growl rose from M'Mira's throat. "You had better watch yourrr tone before I wrrrite you up and have you shipped to the nearest garrrbage scow. I will not tolerrrate this sorrrrt of behaviorrr. Do I make myself clearrrr?"

Catrina stared at M'Mira for a long moment, not saying a word. But there was no point fighting this early into getting the position. To say she was angry was an understatement, but she only stated a few words while seething. "Understood, Commander M'Mira."

"Good," M'Mira answered, her eyes glaring and her tail standing upright. With that, she turned on her heels and stalked out of the Chief Engineer's Office.

 

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