Cornered at the Control Center

Posted on Sat Nov 12th, 2022 @ 9:23am by Lieutenant JG Rafe Hunnicutt

848 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: The devil wears tripolymer
Location: Main Engineering

Finished with her review of the latest diagnostics reports, Dove Baka stretched her arms up and out, looking over the engineering deck as she did so. She scanned the faces of her team. After the micromanagement and extreme standards of the previous CEO, it had taken some time for the remaining team member to relax under her leadership. Slowly, Engineering was returning to an atmosphere of camaraderie and good spirit.

On her scan of familiar faces, she found one that was still elusive. Over the last few weeks, she had managed to talk one-on-one with most members of staff. Rafe Hunnicutt, however, had been a difficult squirrel to track down. "Lieutenant Hunnicutt," Dove greeted with a sudden appearance right next to him. The alcove he worked in was the perfect grounds for trapping him, Dove's small frame managed to fill the doorway, his only escape... unless he scurried down the open jefferies tube hatch.

They both looked at the hatch and Dove smiled and shook her head. "What would the Chief think if you ran out on her right now?" she asked for him.

"I'm pretty sure with the length of my legs, I'll outrun her," Hunnicutt said, looking down for a moment, as if he was judging if he could make the leap. Well, make the leap and not break anything, because then she'd without a doubt catch up with him. "And if not, I'll find a place to hide..." he added, before looking at her with a slight grimace, and held up his hands as if surrendering. "Well, you caught me, Chief. I confess, just don't put me in front of the firing squad. I am here, double checking the ODN relays. And I may have forgotten to file that I was going to do that, but I thought I saw a blip, or bump, on some readings. Most likely it was just the ship sneezing."

"You'll never be in trouble for doing your job," Dove scratched her head, once again wondering what sort of trauma the previous chief had instilled in the crew. "I'm here merely to say hello. I haven't been able to meet you yet..."

"I have a strict never be seen, never be heard policy. Keeps me out of danger of promotions," Hunnicutt said, giving a small chuckle at it before he smiled. He lowered his hands before picking up the ODN recoupler. "Of course, now that the tribble is out of the bag...it's nice to meet you, Chief."

"Oh, you want to be promoted? I'll have to keep that in mind for the future," she had an impish grin as she looked over the tall man. Presumably, he was human. But of course, you never could be quite sure without a medical scanner to confirm it. "It's nice to meet you, too. If you could wake up tomorrow and have one thing change in Engineering, what would it be?" Baka asked, seemingly at random.

He looked at her, somewhat surprised. He looked around, clearly thinking about it, taking it for what it was. "Warp core upgrade, new ODN network, and comfortable chairs," he said, with an easy smile. "Hey, you never said that it had to be realistic."

"You have time to sit?" She gave him a surprised look.

He looked at her with equal surprise, at being asked, before he looked around. "I don't know...my Chief might complain..." he said, but with a playful smile to show he was joking. "At your disposal, Lieutenant, so...it is up to you."

She let out a short huff of amusement, "It wasn't an offer... Though, now that I know the chair are uncomfortable, I don't feel so bad that I haven't had a chance to try them out."

He chuckled, nodding as he looked at her, clearly thinking about it all. "I have, occasionally, even had time to nap. After shift though, usually when I need to wait for some diagnostic to finish. The chairs are bad. Painful on the lower back. The rest..." he tutted, considering it. "Well, as much as I'd love to strip the warp core and re-do the ODN, I just..." he stopped, looking down. "She's a good ship and she works well. There's a few odds and ends that need to be tidied up, but we do that as part of our job. We make do, we mend."

"Indeed," Baka agreed. Until she had been promoted to chief, she had worked opposite shifts from Hunnicutt. She knew nothing of him, except of the reports he filed and the second-hand gossip of the crew. "I do appreciate the good work you do. And if you ever need me for anything, don't hessitate to ask."

"Oh, I...I will," he said, somewhat surprised before he gave her an easy smile. "Thanks boss. Although you know what they say...as long as the warp core hums...we're happy."

"Indeed," she returned his smile with one of her own. "It's nice to finally meet you. Don't be a stranger." And with that, she let him return to his work.

 

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