The Clockmaker, The Engineer

Posted on Thu Jan 29th, 2026 @ 4:40pm by Captain Taliserra Tigran & Lieutenant Marie Breguet

1,051 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Crisis at Zeta-294
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: Md01

A Blonde woman dressed in Engineering gold stood looking down at the Luna Class starship from one of the large drydock windows. She watched with a frown as worker bees danced around the starship, repairing parts of the hull and inspecting exterior systems. The woman's arms were crossed as she watched her green eyes taking in every detail.

"Excuse me ma'am..." a nervous yard engineer asked from her left. She turned to him, still clearly disgruntled.

"What is it?"

"I've been told to fetch you ma'am. The Wolff is ready to receive you now." He explained. The woman let out an exasperated sigh. She crouched down slightly and tugged the strap of the duffle bag that had been sat at her feet. Throwing the strap over her shoulder she turned back to the crewman. "Lead the way then..."

A few minutes later they were both crossing the docking bridge from the drydock to the Wolff. "Is the Captain aboard?"

"Yes Lieutenant, but I'm unsure of their whereabouts."

The woman nodded. "Got it. You're relieved."

With haste in her stride the Lieutenant with blonde hair and green eyes soon disappeared down the maze of corridors. It didn't take her long to find one of the many turbolifts and order it to the bridge. It was a logical place to start when looking for any starship captain, only to be followed by the ready room where they often resided when not needed directly.

The bridge of the Wolff was larger than what she had expected. It was very similar in layout and style to that of a Galaxy Class. However she located the door to the ready room with relative ease. A quick glance at the old fashioned mechanical wristwatch told her that she was just about on time. She leant forward, checked that her engineering overcoat was straight and pressed a single finger against the chime.

Deep in a Padd, Taliserra looked up slightly as the ready room chime sounded, she wasn't expecting any more visitors yet, most of her guests of the day had been engineers both from the Wolff and the shipyard staff with updates about how the repairs had been proceeding. "Come in." She called out.

The doors swished open and in walked the woman. It was then that one would notice that she was rather short compared to others. "Lieutenant Marie Breguet. Reporting as ordered Captain." She said.

"Lieutenant Breguet..." Taliserra repeated not immediately recognising the name, she quickly looked down at a Padd on her desk. "Aahh our new chief engineer." She said after a few moments. "Welcome aboard."

"Thank you Captain." Marie replied her French accent slightly leaking through the translator. "So what is the current status of the ship?" She asked, skipping straight to the point.

"We've taken quite the beating protecting the Marathon." Taliserra replied, she had another Padd somewhere on the desk with the latest repair reports but decided against looking for it, instead relying on what she'd been told over the last few days. "Our shield grid needs replacing, several small hull breaches need more permanent fixes. And a dozen other things."

Marie nodded. "I see," she replied. "And how long have you been without a chief engineer?" She asked. She wanted to jump right into things and get the ship repairs put into the highest gear.

"Luckily only a week, the last chief had to step down and is on her way to Trill right now." Taliserra said, luckily the wheels of bureaucracy had worked fast for once and the replacement was standing before her.

"I see," Marie pondered. "And how many engineering staff do we have aboard? I need to know what I'll be working with here."

"Including yourself sixty, with half a dozen officers and I believe ten non commissioned officers." Taliserra answered. "I recommend you get acquainted with Ensign Larson, she knows this ship better than any other officer onboard."

Marie nodded. "Is there anything that is priority ln the repair list?" Was her next question.

It was clear Marie was eager to get stuck into her work, so far Taliserra was impressed. "We're going nowhere without a working shield grid, that's the priority. However we're only capable of warp 6 right now till our warp nacelles get a more in depth look at."

"What's wrong with the nacelles?" Marie asked raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Our opponents in the last engagement were set on disabling the Marathon and us, they managed with the Marathon, we held out longer but still took some damage there." Taliserra replied. "Preliminary reports are we fused a couple of warp coils, they'll need replacing and the system checking over."

Marie took a deep breath. "Thats not a small job on a ship this size." She said. "I'll need to utilise the workbee's to pull out the coils. But before that we'll need to isolate and disconnect the coils and remove the outer hull playing. How long do we have?"

"Hopefully as long as we need to make good all the damage, no doubt if another ship comes here damaged we'll be pushed down the priority list so take advantage of every moment we can get of the station's work crews." Taliserra replied.

Marie nodded. "I'll have to get back to you on a schedule Captain. I need to firstly assess the work that needs doing. You should also know, I'm a bit of a perfectionist. So if its not perfect, I won't be happy with it."

"Perfectionists have their place." Taliserra remarked. "But don't try to be too perfect Lieutenant. Nothing can be perfect every single moment in time."

"I know a lot about time Captain." Marie replied. "I come from a family of clockmakers you see." she informed her with a proud smile. "So, I understand the concepts of keeping time, especially when its short."

"Then I'm sure you know the importance of making good use of the time we have." Taliserra gave a somewhat weak smile, the events of the last few days were quickly catching up to her. "You're dismissed Lieutenant, we'll talk some more when you're more settled in."

Marie nodded. "Yes sir." she said simply before turning on a heel and walking out of the ready room.


End:

Captain Taliserra Tigran
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Marie Breguet
Chief Engineer

 

RSS Feed