Lower Deck Tales: The Longest Day
- Thread starter CeJay
- Start date
Another interesting glimpse into the life of an "ordinary" ensign. I like how you touch on the mundane aspects of bridge duty. Often, we only catch the senior bridge crew engaged in heroic (or desperate) actions. This was a great reminder that there are long hours of tedium and routine. Good stuff.
Of course, you also did a nice job of getting us into a tense situation. Srena acquitted herself nicely at the helm, but I fear that Star will indeed find fault - especially considering her own failure to follow procedure. I imagine Owens chewed Star pretty thoroughly.
Poor Srena can't catch a break.
Of course, you also did a nice job of getting us into a tense situation. Srena acquitted herself nicely at the helm, but I fear that Star will indeed find fault - especially considering her own failure to follow procedure. I imagine Owens chewed Star pretty thoroughly.
Poor Srena can't catch a break.
Thanks for the continued feedback everyone.
One of the things I wanted to do here is talk about the routine. We always see people working on computer stations and doing their jobs even when there isn't a battle to be fought without really knowing what it is exactly they're doing.
And yeah, also trying to tell a story here about somebody who doesn't get to share the spotlight on a regular basis.
More coming soon.
One of the things I wanted to do here is talk about the routine. We always see people working on computer stations and doing their jobs even when there isn't a battle to be fought without really knowing what it is exactly they're doing.
And yeah, also trying to tell a story here about somebody who doesn't get to share the spotlight on a regular basis.
More coming soon.
18:11
Srena found herself in Eagle’s observation lounge for the routine department meeting with the rest of the ship’s flight controllers, minus of course the person currently manning CONN. That position was meant to rotate in order to make sure that nobody would ever miss more than one meeting a week.
Including Lif Culsten, the Krellonian primary flight control officer, Eagle had six helmsmen whose main duty was to pilot the starship. There were also numerous other officers and crewmembers with sufficient flight experience to take over the controls if necessary but the department meeting was just for the dedicated controllers.
Srena was lucky to be the beta shift pilot, a position she had been given not because of her experience and certainly not because of seniority but because of her stellar grades at the Academy and the fact that they had lost at least half of their more experienced pilots to personnel reassignments due to Starfleet’s desperate need for qualified people. But she had long since earned the respect of both her boss as well as the other helmsman in the team.
And she got on with everyone.
Her relationship with Lif Culsten had started out rather well after she had come aboard. The silver-haired and earless Krellonian was an immediately likeable guy who wasn’t so much concerned with proper protocol but instead tried to be a friend to those who served with him.
Things had changed between them somewhat after a shuttle mission during which he had ordered her to sacrifice herself by crashing her craft into an enemy ship. Thankfully it had never quite come to that but no matter how hard she had tried, she hadn’t been able to see him quite the same way afterwards. And he had become more distant as well as if he had realized that being a close friend to a subordinate could be a liability during times of war.
The meeting was informal and mostly an outlet for Lif to explain any new practices, regulations or orders he had been given by the first officer. They discussed how one of the portside thruster units was becoming more sluggish and how the internal dampeners needed to be recalibrated in order to smooth out the effects of sudden warp acceleration.
And everybody was cursing their recent problems with the sensors which would create phantom images of Jem’Hadar attack wings and throw them out of bed in the middle of the night. Everybody but Petty Officer Waldorf who was on delta shift duty and up at night anyways.
She wasn’t particularly focused during the meeting which lasted nearly an hour, still lamenting the lack of any substantial nutrition. She also couldn’t deny that her day had sapped most of her energy. She remembered days at the Academy in which she was allowed to sleep in until the late morning, have a relaxed brunch, attend a couple of classes and spend the rest of the day and part of the night with friends. Those good old days when she tended to be amply fed and full of energy were but a distant memory now.
“Srena, could you stay a moment?” Culsten said after the meeting was done and everybody was heading for the exit.
The Andorian nodded and kept her seat.
“I’ve got about half a dozen outstanding reports I’m still waiting for you to complete,” he said.
Her antennae sagged noticeably. Srena rightly thought of herself as a skilled pilot but she was dead awful when it came to paperwork. And Starfleet loved its paperwork. An outdated term in the twenty-forth century as paper had become near obsolete, it was still used to describe the myriad of reports required by Starfleet officers to complete.
“I have to submit these to Star by the end of the week or I’m going to be in big trouble,” he said and sounded meekly apologetic about it. He wasn’t doing this out of spite or because he liked to work her but because it was being asked of him.
She buried her face into her hands.
“Srena?”
“She hates me, Lif.”
He shook his head. “No she doesn’t.”
She freed her face and looked at him. “Oh yes, she does. And now more than ever after she blames me for getting her into hot water with the captain. She’ll find any excuse to criticize everything I do. And you know how bad I am at those reports. That’s just what she needs to kick me off the ship.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing personal. She’s just overcompensating. Nobody fully trusts her after the things she’s done in the past and now she’s trying to reestablish herself as a trustworthy and capable officer. Right now she’s facing a lot of adversary from the officers under her command and it will take some time until we’ll all get used to each other. Give her a chance.”
“Well, that’s great but why does she have to let that all out on me? I’m all for giving her a chance but she isn’t giving me one. It’s as if I have the words whipping girl tattooed on my forehead?”
Culsten laughed.
She didn’t.
“I tell you what, we’ll get together tomorrow and I’ll help you with your reports. We’ll make sure she won’t find a single thing to complain about.”
Srena’s frown was replaced by a beaming smile and her antennae twitched excitingly. “Thank you, Lif, I really appreciate that,” she said and stood.
“Don’t mention it.”
She headed towards the exit but halfway there she stopped and turned around. “And how about you talk to her about what you’ve told me? That whole thing about her trying to establish herself and us all getting used to each other. Maybe she’ll go easier on me.”
Culsten didn’t find the right words straight away and fumbled for a moment. “I don’t think so. I like her and all but I’m not suicidal.”
Srena gave him a mock salute. “Your courage is inspiration to us all, sir.”
“Get out of here,” he said with a smirk.
19:22
“Main power is up and running. Structural integrity at one-hundred percent. Impulse engines hot and on stand-by.”
Srena looked over her own instruments. “Life support systems are showing green.”
Dinkins finished up the pre-launch sequence. “All systems check. We are go for departure.”
The elevator platform had already lifted the Osiris into take-off position and the bay doors had fully extended, only a force field now separating the shuttle bay from the cold dark vacuum of outer space.
“Osiris, Flight Ops. We are ready for immediate ESO. Request permission for take-off and clearance of USS Eagle airspace, straight out departure,” said Srena after toggling the comm.
The response was immediate. “Flight Ops to Osiris. Acknowledged. You are cleared for Eagle airspace, straight departure. Please stand by for take-off clearance.”
Srena was relaxed this time around, confident in the knowledge that both she and Dinkins had worked as quickly and as efficiently as possible to get the Osiris into position for take-off. She knew Star would find a way to disagree but she didn’t know what else she could possibly do different.
She stole a glance at her co-pilot but the crewman was entirely focused on his instruments, a serious expression on his face.
They had barely said more than a few clipped words to each other after they had met up on the hangar deck and boarded the shuttle. The truth was that she had taken no enjoyment in speaking to him in the manner that she had earlier. But if she had to sacrifice their comfort in order to do her duty properly than that was a price she was willing to pay.
“Flight Ops to Osiris. Please be advised that this has been an exercise. Power down and return to parking.”
Srena was barely surprised. “Osiris, solid copy on all. Returning to parking.”
“Shutting down engines,” said Dinkins.
The space doors were beginning to close again but before she could see them fully shut, the elevator lowered the shuttle back into the hangar deck. Once the shuttle was back in place and its main power shut down, Dinkins turned to look at Srena.
“Permission to be dismissed, Ensign.”
She was taken aback by the coldness in his tone. “Permission granted.”
He got out of his chair with little delay but had to wait until the ramp was fully lowered before he could leave the shuttle.
Srena swiveled around her chair. “Listen, I’m sorry If I came off like a bossy shrew in the mess hall. We were both off duty and I didn’t have the right to take you to task the way I did.”
He turned around and looked at her for moment. Srena felt tiny when she saw his cold eyes staring down at her from his large six-foot-four frame.
“No,” he said. “You have nothing to apologize for. It was me who was out of line and you were right about the nicknames. They were inappropriate.” He relaxed his shoulders slightly. “The truth is I’ve become so indifferent over the years that I’ve lost perspective. I’ve gotten so used to pushing around fresh-faced and clueless officers simply because I could get away with it, never realizing how much trouble I was causing for them. I am the one who needs to apologize and I promise, I won’t give you anymore problems.”
Srena stood. “Apology accepted. And I know some of those officers. They can be a real pain,” she said with a smile, a mental image of her sometimes-dizzy roommate appearing in her head. “Don’t stop torturing them on my account.”
At that Dinkins laughed.
Srena found herself in Eagle’s observation lounge for the routine department meeting with the rest of the ship’s flight controllers, minus of course the person currently manning CONN. That position was meant to rotate in order to make sure that nobody would ever miss more than one meeting a week.
Including Lif Culsten, the Krellonian primary flight control officer, Eagle had six helmsmen whose main duty was to pilot the starship. There were also numerous other officers and crewmembers with sufficient flight experience to take over the controls if necessary but the department meeting was just for the dedicated controllers.
Srena was lucky to be the beta shift pilot, a position she had been given not because of her experience and certainly not because of seniority but because of her stellar grades at the Academy and the fact that they had lost at least half of their more experienced pilots to personnel reassignments due to Starfleet’s desperate need for qualified people. But she had long since earned the respect of both her boss as well as the other helmsman in the team.
And she got on with everyone.
Her relationship with Lif Culsten had started out rather well after she had come aboard. The silver-haired and earless Krellonian was an immediately likeable guy who wasn’t so much concerned with proper protocol but instead tried to be a friend to those who served with him.
Things had changed between them somewhat after a shuttle mission during which he had ordered her to sacrifice herself by crashing her craft into an enemy ship. Thankfully it had never quite come to that but no matter how hard she had tried, she hadn’t been able to see him quite the same way afterwards. And he had become more distant as well as if he had realized that being a close friend to a subordinate could be a liability during times of war.
The meeting was informal and mostly an outlet for Lif to explain any new practices, regulations or orders he had been given by the first officer. They discussed how one of the portside thruster units was becoming more sluggish and how the internal dampeners needed to be recalibrated in order to smooth out the effects of sudden warp acceleration.
And everybody was cursing their recent problems with the sensors which would create phantom images of Jem’Hadar attack wings and throw them out of bed in the middle of the night. Everybody but Petty Officer Waldorf who was on delta shift duty and up at night anyways.
She wasn’t particularly focused during the meeting which lasted nearly an hour, still lamenting the lack of any substantial nutrition. She also couldn’t deny that her day had sapped most of her energy. She remembered days at the Academy in which she was allowed to sleep in until the late morning, have a relaxed brunch, attend a couple of classes and spend the rest of the day and part of the night with friends. Those good old days when she tended to be amply fed and full of energy were but a distant memory now.
“Srena, could you stay a moment?” Culsten said after the meeting was done and everybody was heading for the exit.
The Andorian nodded and kept her seat.
“I’ve got about half a dozen outstanding reports I’m still waiting for you to complete,” he said.
Her antennae sagged noticeably. Srena rightly thought of herself as a skilled pilot but she was dead awful when it came to paperwork. And Starfleet loved its paperwork. An outdated term in the twenty-forth century as paper had become near obsolete, it was still used to describe the myriad of reports required by Starfleet officers to complete.
“I have to submit these to Star by the end of the week or I’m going to be in big trouble,” he said and sounded meekly apologetic about it. He wasn’t doing this out of spite or because he liked to work her but because it was being asked of him.
She buried her face into her hands.
“Srena?”
“She hates me, Lif.”
He shook his head. “No she doesn’t.”
She freed her face and looked at him. “Oh yes, she does. And now more than ever after she blames me for getting her into hot water with the captain. She’ll find any excuse to criticize everything I do. And you know how bad I am at those reports. That’s just what she needs to kick me off the ship.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing personal. She’s just overcompensating. Nobody fully trusts her after the things she’s done in the past and now she’s trying to reestablish herself as a trustworthy and capable officer. Right now she’s facing a lot of adversary from the officers under her command and it will take some time until we’ll all get used to each other. Give her a chance.”
“Well, that’s great but why does she have to let that all out on me? I’m all for giving her a chance but she isn’t giving me one. It’s as if I have the words whipping girl tattooed on my forehead?”
Culsten laughed.
She didn’t.
“I tell you what, we’ll get together tomorrow and I’ll help you with your reports. We’ll make sure she won’t find a single thing to complain about.”
Srena’s frown was replaced by a beaming smile and her antennae twitched excitingly. “Thank you, Lif, I really appreciate that,” she said and stood.
“Don’t mention it.”
She headed towards the exit but halfway there she stopped and turned around. “And how about you talk to her about what you’ve told me? That whole thing about her trying to establish herself and us all getting used to each other. Maybe she’ll go easier on me.”
Culsten didn’t find the right words straight away and fumbled for a moment. “I don’t think so. I like her and all but I’m not suicidal.”
Srena gave him a mock salute. “Your courage is inspiration to us all, sir.”
“Get out of here,” he said with a smirk.
* * * *
19:22
“Main power is up and running. Structural integrity at one-hundred percent. Impulse engines hot and on stand-by.”
Srena looked over her own instruments. “Life support systems are showing green.”
Dinkins finished up the pre-launch sequence. “All systems check. We are go for departure.”
The elevator platform had already lifted the Osiris into take-off position and the bay doors had fully extended, only a force field now separating the shuttle bay from the cold dark vacuum of outer space.
“Osiris, Flight Ops. We are ready for immediate ESO. Request permission for take-off and clearance of USS Eagle airspace, straight out departure,” said Srena after toggling the comm.
The response was immediate. “Flight Ops to Osiris. Acknowledged. You are cleared for Eagle airspace, straight departure. Please stand by for take-off clearance.”
Srena was relaxed this time around, confident in the knowledge that both she and Dinkins had worked as quickly and as efficiently as possible to get the Osiris into position for take-off. She knew Star would find a way to disagree but she didn’t know what else she could possibly do different.
She stole a glance at her co-pilot but the crewman was entirely focused on his instruments, a serious expression on his face.
They had barely said more than a few clipped words to each other after they had met up on the hangar deck and boarded the shuttle. The truth was that she had taken no enjoyment in speaking to him in the manner that she had earlier. But if she had to sacrifice their comfort in order to do her duty properly than that was a price she was willing to pay.
“Flight Ops to Osiris. Please be advised that this has been an exercise. Power down and return to parking.”
Srena was barely surprised. “Osiris, solid copy on all. Returning to parking.”
“Shutting down engines,” said Dinkins.
The space doors were beginning to close again but before she could see them fully shut, the elevator lowered the shuttle back into the hangar deck. Once the shuttle was back in place and its main power shut down, Dinkins turned to look at Srena.
“Permission to be dismissed, Ensign.”
She was taken aback by the coldness in his tone. “Permission granted.”
He got out of his chair with little delay but had to wait until the ramp was fully lowered before he could leave the shuttle.
Srena swiveled around her chair. “Listen, I’m sorry If I came off like a bossy shrew in the mess hall. We were both off duty and I didn’t have the right to take you to task the way I did.”
He turned around and looked at her for moment. Srena felt tiny when she saw his cold eyes staring down at her from his large six-foot-four frame.
“No,” he said. “You have nothing to apologize for. It was me who was out of line and you were right about the nicknames. They were inappropriate.” He relaxed his shoulders slightly. “The truth is I’ve become so indifferent over the years that I’ve lost perspective. I’ve gotten so used to pushing around fresh-faced and clueless officers simply because I could get away with it, never realizing how much trouble I was causing for them. I am the one who needs to apologize and I promise, I won’t give you anymore problems.”
Srena stood. “Apology accepted. And I know some of those officers. They can be a real pain,” she said with a smile, a mental image of her sometimes-dizzy roommate appearing in her head. “Don’t stop torturing them on my account.”
At that Dinkins laughed.
You're doing a masterful job of taking some of the most mundane aspects of life on a starship and turning them into very interesting character studies. Staff meetings, "paper work," and drills have been part of ship-board life for centuries. It's easy to skip over these for the sake of the "story," but I'm greatly enjoying the interplay between characters - the tensions, fears, frustrations and camaraderie - that you portray in the routine. It adds depth and realism to the tale - nicely done! 
I haven't quite caught up yet, but I did want to drop a couple lines. Man that simulation was very intense. Very well written stuff there. Like the others I'm also liking the friction between Star and Srena. You've really done a good job of making Srena likable, relatable, and believable. She remains a great window into the goings on on Eagle and seeing your main characters from a different light.
I'm stunned that Dinkins apologized. I didn't see that coming at all. Well done, Srena, standing up for yourself seems to have paid off!
I'm kind of worried that Srena is just going to pass out at some point. Don't Andorians need to eat more food, more often than humans? And she's eaten like half an apple during this entire crazy day? Come on, Srena, get thee to the replicator and get a protein shake or something!
Liked the meeting of the flight controllers. "Your courage is an inspiration." Heh. I also liked the little look at the change in the relationship between her and her boss after he ordered her to her death ... that kind of introspection and real-world emotion is something we don't often get to see after the big decisions like that in Trek.
Great stuff, and I'm really enjoying it.
I'm kind of worried that Srena is just going to pass out at some point. Don't Andorians need to eat more food, more often than humans? And she's eaten like half an apple during this entire crazy day? Come on, Srena, get thee to the replicator and get a protein shake or something!
Liked the meeting of the flight controllers. "Your courage is an inspiration." Heh. I also liked the little look at the change in the relationship between her and her boss after he ordered her to her death ... that kind of introspection and real-world emotion is something we don't often get to see after the big decisions like that in Trek.
Great stuff, and I'm really enjoying it.
I'm liking this more and more. A great mix of humdrum duties, interpersonal snafus and moments of extreme tension. In the previous instalment, I was blown away by Star's odd behavior. Taking a risky course of action without notifying the captain? Youch. Not a good decision.
As it happens, this is my first real introduction to your series. I had started "All the sinners all the saints" a while back, but haven't finished it yet. This story, however, has already sold me on the Eagle crew, despite the fact it centers on "background" characters.
Good work all over the place! Looking forward to more!
As it happens, this is my first real introduction to your series. I had started "All the sinners all the saints" a while back, but haven't finished it yet. This story, however, has already sold me on the Eagle crew, despite the fact it centers on "background" characters.
Good work all over the place! Looking forward to more!
To concur with what everyone else is saying, this continues to be a thoroughly engrossing and compelling tale from a real lower decks perspective. A perspective that gives a great insight into the mundane everyday aspects of life onboard. I find that absolutely thrilling somehow. I especially like the fact that through this perspective of Srena we are getting to see quite a few of the Eagle/Star characters from a new angle. I've never been a solid fan of Lif Culsten to be honest but in All the Sinners, Saints I was sitting up when he made that call that could have ended Srena's life. I love how you touch on that again here and how it has impacted upon their relationship in an awkward manner. It has made me a little more amenable to Lif truthfully to round him out in this way via srena. I eagerly await more insights and angles and wonder just how we might view Owens from Srena's POV.
To quote TLR:
Continued great stuff.
To quote TLR:
You're doing a masterful job of taking some of the most mundane aspects of life on a starship and turning them into very interesting character studies. .... I'm greatly enjoying the interplay between characters - the tensions, fears, frustrations and camaraderie - that you portray in the routine. It adds depth and realism to the tale - nicely done!
Continued great stuff.
Thanks for all the positive responses to this story. Honestly I wasn't so sure that a story about the 'routine' would create a lot of interest. It turned out the feedback was so encouraging that I went back and rewrote at least one segment. (Originally Srena's duty shift was going to be rather eventless.)
Galen, I'm glad to hear that you've started to tackle All The Sinners, Saints. That monstrosity is clocking in at somewhere around 180k words so I'll appreciate that it may take a while to get through. But by all means, once you do, don't hesitate to let me know what you've thought of it.
Mirandafave, just a minor correction. The episode between Culsten and Srena referenced in this story is from Cry Havoc in which the character is first introduced, not All The Sinners, Saints.
Thanks again for all the comments. This story is due to wrap up very soon.
Galen, I'm glad to hear that you've started to tackle All The Sinners, Saints. That monstrosity is clocking in at somewhere around 180k words so I'll appreciate that it may take a while to get through. But by all means, once you do, don't hesitate to let me know what you've thought of it.
Mirandafave, just a minor correction. The episode between Culsten and Srena referenced in this story is from Cry Havoc in which the character is first introduced, not All The Sinners, Saints.
Thanks again for all the comments. This story is due to wrap up very soon.
20:05
She was on her way back to her quarters feeling a lot better about herself and a nice hot Andorian style dinner was the only thing on her mind when the call interrupted that pleasant fantasy.
“Commander Star to Ensign Srena, please report to my office.”
Srena wanted to scream in frustration but then decided that perhaps doing so, in the middle of a busy corridor no less, may not have worked out in her favor.
“On my way, ma’am,” she said instead and came about.
As she headed towards the dreaded lion’s den, she tried desperately to go through everything that had happened today, from the red alert in the night hours and her late appearance on the bridge, her poor performance in the ESO in the morning, her death in the holodeck simulation to her rattling the ship during their trip through the asteroid belt. They were all fodder for Tazla Star’s ultimate goal and if she wanted to survive the day in one piece, she’d better have a good justification for all her actions ready.
It turned out she was only second in line to get chewed out.
Once again she had to wait for Star to finish off with Louise Hopkins.
“We have identified the anomalous sensor readings and traced the problem to a faulty subroutine in the navigational deflector array. We believe this was caused by damage we took during the battle in the Illirium system last week. Preliminary findings show that the wrecked Jem’Hadar vessel in the Gamma Tauri system may have created sensor shadows, aggravated by an increased solar flare output from the Tauri star and the misaligned subroutines in the deflector array.”
Star was paying close attention to the young engineer. “Solutions?”
“We can realign the fault subroutine to reduce the chance of sensors picking up ghost signals but to fully repair the damage we need to install new parts we can only get from Starbase 224. But since we have located the Jem’Hadar ship which has been the primary trigger for the sensor echoes, I think we will see a sharp reduction of false alarms until we can reach the starbase.”
“Very well, Lieutenant. I will discuss rerouting to 224 with the captain as soon as possible. Dismissed.”
Hopkins nodded sharply and then turned away from Star’s desk to leave the room. She mouthed the words good luck to Srena before she managed to slip out of the room.
“Ensign.”
The Andorian quickly stepped up to the desk and stood at attention. “Reported as ordered, ma’am.”
“At ease.”
She put her feet apart and placed her hands behind the small of her back to stand at parade rest.
The first officer looked over a bunch of padds spread out over her desk but then put them all aside and glanced up at the ensign who made sure to keep her own glance fixed to a point on the wall behind the commander. “You think I’m riding you too hard, don’t you?”
Srena panicked. Had Culsten talked to her after all? If he had told her that she was in anyway unhappy with the way she had been treated, she may as well have thrown herself out of an airlock right away.
She hesitantly made eye contact. “No. No, ma’am. Not at all, ma’am.”
The red-haired Trill couldn’t quite suppress a chuckle. “Ensign, I was a junior officer once, too. I know exactly how you feel,” she said and stood. “Point in fact, you should consider yourself lucky you weren’t in my shoes. My superiors back in the day worked me so hard I was seriously considering resigning my commission. And back then we weren’t even at war. Which, coincidently, means that you don’t have that luxury.”
Srena nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
“That brings me to my point. Surely you understand that while we are at war we need everyone to perform to the maximum of their abilities. We cannot afford any weaknesses.”
“I understand, ma’am.”
The exec picked up a padd. “I’ve had another look at the results of your recent exercises. You did much better in the holodeck simulation than your roommate but as a bridge officer that is to be expected.”
Srena fought the urge to swallow. The fact that she had survived longer than Mikki had been her only true accomplishment.
“I’ve read Lieutenant Nora’s assessment of your performance. What do you have to say for yourself?”
She thought about that for a couple of seconds. “I did my best, ma’am.”
“No, you didn’t,” came the prompt reply.
Srena’s eyes opened wider, her blue antennae twitching slightly.
“You let your guard down. You did a decent job to withdraw from a deck that was clearly lost and you got your people out of harm’s way initially but once you met up with the Marines you simply stopped paying attention to your surroundings. You became complacent.”
“There was nothing I could’ve done. We were surrounded, even if I had kept up my guard, we would have been overrun in a matter of minutes,” she said, her words now flying out of her mouth. She immediately regretted the outburst. “Sorry, ma’am,” she added after a moment.
“So maybe you could have given yourself a few more seconds. Maybe a rescue party was on the way and would have gotten there in time to find survivors. The point is, you don’t know what could happen. But your duty is to ensure your subordinates’ survival for as long as you possibly can.”
Srena hesitated for a moment. “I think I understand.”
“Good. Lucky for you, you were never meant to survive the simulation.”
The ensign was at a loss for words.
Star smirked and raised her padd. “You never took the Kobayashi Maru test at the Academy. You did now.”
“This was a no-win scenario,” she mumbled mostly to herself.
The first officer nodded and took her chair again. “And you got further than most other officers I’ve put through it. Well done.”
The compliment had been delivered so quickly that Srena had almost missed it. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“Don’t even think about resting on your laurels. Your ESO times have improved quite a bit but I think you can do even better.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Now let’s talk about what happened during your shift on the bridge.”
Srena couldn’t help avoiding the urge to swallow. Star was doing the good news, bad news spiel and surely would let her have it now.
“You did a pretty good job getting us through that asteroid belt without taking any damage. Not an easy task with a Jem’Hadar ship in tow.”
The air was pregnant with an unspoken but and Srena braced herself for it.
Star wasn’t looking at the ensign anymore. Instead she appeared busy while attending her padds. “But you managed to get me into trouble with the captain,” she said after a short pause. “If you had gotten us out of there without that little bump at the end he would have never been the wiser and I could have spared myself a very unfortunate conversation,” she added and looked straight into her eyes.
Srena had no idea how she was supposed to respond to that.
“Do you have any thoughts on that, Ensign?”
She didn’t. She wanted to tell her that it had been her job to get them through the asteroid field in one piece while keeping their cargo safe, not to make sure that the captain would not be alerted to Star’s unorthodox mission. But she didn’t quite have the courage to do that.
“I’ll come clean with you,” she said. “I was not happy and I would have loved nothing more than have you removed from your current position after that. But then I realized that it wasn’t you I was angry with. I take it you know about what has been said about me?”
“I’ve heard stories, ma’am.”
She smiled. “Some of them, I’m afraid are true. I have a difficult task on this ship, Ensign. I have to find a way to make the captain and the crew trust me, something they don’t at the moment. And maybe going after the Jem’Hadar ship in that asteroid belt was the wrong way to do that but I’m not willing to sit back and let things continue the way they are now.”
Srena mustered all her courage for her next question, one she had never asked any superior before. “Permission to speak freely, ma’am.”
The Trill seemed as surprised by that request than the ensign had been of asking it. But she nodded. “Go ahead.”
The young Andorian hesitated. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was allowed to say in a situation like this. Where was the line? Could anything she said be used against her? She was certain there were protocols about this kind of thing but they escaped her at the moment. “I think that maybe you’re trying too hard. I can’t imagine that the captain would have agreed to keep you on as a first officer if he didn’t believe that you could be trusted. Somebody told me today that all I needed to do is give you some time to get used to the rest of us. Perhaps that’s true. Maybe we all need is just a little bit of time and perhaps then trust will follow,” she said but didn’t dare to look her into the eye. If anything she tensed even more.
For a moment nobody spoke and Srena felt unbelievably uncomfortable, immediately regretting every single word she had said.
But eventually Tazla Star laughed. It was so odd to hear her do that that Srena couldn’t help but look at her. She had never seen her laugh before.
“So now it has come to this, has it? I’m getting advice from a junior officer?”
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” she said quickly. “It wasn’t my place to –“
“Do me a favor, Ensign.”
“Ma’am?”
“Stop calling me ma’am and start calling me sir. It’s been driving me crazy.”
That didn’t help putting her at ease at all. “Yes, sir. Sorry.”
“I’m going to tell you something I probably shouldn’t,” she said, this time keeping her eyes on the short Andorian. “I think you have the potential to be a pretty damn good officer. If you keep things up you’ll move up quickly on this ship and beyond. I’m certain of that.”
Srena felt her words stuck in the back of her throat as a beaming smile came over her face. “Thank you, sir,” she finally managed.
But Star quickly shook her head. “Don’t do that,” she said. “Don’t thank me and don’t give me that smile.”
It disappeared from her face.
“If you’re serious about unlocking that potential of yours, you’ll have to work hard. And don’t think for even a moment that I will let up on you. On the contrary, you will come to hate my guts.”
She couldn’t quite keep her lips from curling up slightly. “I don’t think I will, sir.”
Star smirked. “We’ll see,” she said. “Now go and get some rest. You look dreadful.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, turned on her heels and headed for the exit.
“Oh and ensign?”
Srena turned before she reached the doors.
“Our little conversation will not be leaving this room.”
“It’s like it never happened, sir.”
20:21
She really wanted to replicate some sort of dinner when she entered her quarters but she simply didn’t have the energy.
Unsurprisingly, Mikki was already in her bed and snoring away.
Srena found her own moments later. She kicked off her boots and removed her black and gray uniform jacket by letting it fall unceremoniously next to her bed before she fell face first into the soft mattress. It had been some time since she had found the inclination to change into her pajamas before going to sleep. Sometime before the war had broken out, she thought.
She closed her eyes and that smile returned onto her full red lips. She was completely exhausted. It had been one of those days that just didn’t seem like it would ever end.
But before she dozed off into blissful sleep, she felt an undeniable sense of fulfillment and accomplishment. It had been a long, hard day and there had been many moments in which she had began to doubt her competency, her standing as well as her future as an Eagle crewmember and a Starfleet officer.
But all those fears were now gone, didn’t even think of the war and the constant threat that each day could end up being her last.
She was going to get exactly three hours and thirteen minutes of peaceful rest.
23:34
“Attention, a ship-wide red alert has been issued. All personnel report to your duty stations immediately.”
She was on her way back to her quarters feeling a lot better about herself and a nice hot Andorian style dinner was the only thing on her mind when the call interrupted that pleasant fantasy.
“Commander Star to Ensign Srena, please report to my office.”
Srena wanted to scream in frustration but then decided that perhaps doing so, in the middle of a busy corridor no less, may not have worked out in her favor.
“On my way, ma’am,” she said instead and came about.
As she headed towards the dreaded lion’s den, she tried desperately to go through everything that had happened today, from the red alert in the night hours and her late appearance on the bridge, her poor performance in the ESO in the morning, her death in the holodeck simulation to her rattling the ship during their trip through the asteroid belt. They were all fodder for Tazla Star’s ultimate goal and if she wanted to survive the day in one piece, she’d better have a good justification for all her actions ready.
It turned out she was only second in line to get chewed out.
Once again she had to wait for Star to finish off with Louise Hopkins.
“We have identified the anomalous sensor readings and traced the problem to a faulty subroutine in the navigational deflector array. We believe this was caused by damage we took during the battle in the Illirium system last week. Preliminary findings show that the wrecked Jem’Hadar vessel in the Gamma Tauri system may have created sensor shadows, aggravated by an increased solar flare output from the Tauri star and the misaligned subroutines in the deflector array.”
Star was paying close attention to the young engineer. “Solutions?”
“We can realign the fault subroutine to reduce the chance of sensors picking up ghost signals but to fully repair the damage we need to install new parts we can only get from Starbase 224. But since we have located the Jem’Hadar ship which has been the primary trigger for the sensor echoes, I think we will see a sharp reduction of false alarms until we can reach the starbase.”
“Very well, Lieutenant. I will discuss rerouting to 224 with the captain as soon as possible. Dismissed.”
Hopkins nodded sharply and then turned away from Star’s desk to leave the room. She mouthed the words good luck to Srena before she managed to slip out of the room.
“Ensign.”
The Andorian quickly stepped up to the desk and stood at attention. “Reported as ordered, ma’am.”
“At ease.”
She put her feet apart and placed her hands behind the small of her back to stand at parade rest.
The first officer looked over a bunch of padds spread out over her desk but then put them all aside and glanced up at the ensign who made sure to keep her own glance fixed to a point on the wall behind the commander. “You think I’m riding you too hard, don’t you?”
Srena panicked. Had Culsten talked to her after all? If he had told her that she was in anyway unhappy with the way she had been treated, she may as well have thrown herself out of an airlock right away.
She hesitantly made eye contact. “No. No, ma’am. Not at all, ma’am.”
The red-haired Trill couldn’t quite suppress a chuckle. “Ensign, I was a junior officer once, too. I know exactly how you feel,” she said and stood. “Point in fact, you should consider yourself lucky you weren’t in my shoes. My superiors back in the day worked me so hard I was seriously considering resigning my commission. And back then we weren’t even at war. Which, coincidently, means that you don’t have that luxury.”
Srena nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
“That brings me to my point. Surely you understand that while we are at war we need everyone to perform to the maximum of their abilities. We cannot afford any weaknesses.”
“I understand, ma’am.”
The exec picked up a padd. “I’ve had another look at the results of your recent exercises. You did much better in the holodeck simulation than your roommate but as a bridge officer that is to be expected.”
Srena fought the urge to swallow. The fact that she had survived longer than Mikki had been her only true accomplishment.
“I’ve read Lieutenant Nora’s assessment of your performance. What do you have to say for yourself?”
She thought about that for a couple of seconds. “I did my best, ma’am.”
“No, you didn’t,” came the prompt reply.
Srena’s eyes opened wider, her blue antennae twitching slightly.
“You let your guard down. You did a decent job to withdraw from a deck that was clearly lost and you got your people out of harm’s way initially but once you met up with the Marines you simply stopped paying attention to your surroundings. You became complacent.”
“There was nothing I could’ve done. We were surrounded, even if I had kept up my guard, we would have been overrun in a matter of minutes,” she said, her words now flying out of her mouth. She immediately regretted the outburst. “Sorry, ma’am,” she added after a moment.
“So maybe you could have given yourself a few more seconds. Maybe a rescue party was on the way and would have gotten there in time to find survivors. The point is, you don’t know what could happen. But your duty is to ensure your subordinates’ survival for as long as you possibly can.”
Srena hesitated for a moment. “I think I understand.”
“Good. Lucky for you, you were never meant to survive the simulation.”
The ensign was at a loss for words.
Star smirked and raised her padd. “You never took the Kobayashi Maru test at the Academy. You did now.”
“This was a no-win scenario,” she mumbled mostly to herself.
The first officer nodded and took her chair again. “And you got further than most other officers I’ve put through it. Well done.”
The compliment had been delivered so quickly that Srena had almost missed it. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“Don’t even think about resting on your laurels. Your ESO times have improved quite a bit but I think you can do even better.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Now let’s talk about what happened during your shift on the bridge.”
Srena couldn’t help avoiding the urge to swallow. Star was doing the good news, bad news spiel and surely would let her have it now.
“You did a pretty good job getting us through that asteroid belt without taking any damage. Not an easy task with a Jem’Hadar ship in tow.”
The air was pregnant with an unspoken but and Srena braced herself for it.
Star wasn’t looking at the ensign anymore. Instead she appeared busy while attending her padds. “But you managed to get me into trouble with the captain,” she said after a short pause. “If you had gotten us out of there without that little bump at the end he would have never been the wiser and I could have spared myself a very unfortunate conversation,” she added and looked straight into her eyes.
Srena had no idea how she was supposed to respond to that.
“Do you have any thoughts on that, Ensign?”
She didn’t. She wanted to tell her that it had been her job to get them through the asteroid field in one piece while keeping their cargo safe, not to make sure that the captain would not be alerted to Star’s unorthodox mission. But she didn’t quite have the courage to do that.
“I’ll come clean with you,” she said. “I was not happy and I would have loved nothing more than have you removed from your current position after that. But then I realized that it wasn’t you I was angry with. I take it you know about what has been said about me?”
“I’ve heard stories, ma’am.”
She smiled. “Some of them, I’m afraid are true. I have a difficult task on this ship, Ensign. I have to find a way to make the captain and the crew trust me, something they don’t at the moment. And maybe going after the Jem’Hadar ship in that asteroid belt was the wrong way to do that but I’m not willing to sit back and let things continue the way they are now.”
Srena mustered all her courage for her next question, one she had never asked any superior before. “Permission to speak freely, ma’am.”
The Trill seemed as surprised by that request than the ensign had been of asking it. But she nodded. “Go ahead.”
The young Andorian hesitated. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was allowed to say in a situation like this. Where was the line? Could anything she said be used against her? She was certain there were protocols about this kind of thing but they escaped her at the moment. “I think that maybe you’re trying too hard. I can’t imagine that the captain would have agreed to keep you on as a first officer if he didn’t believe that you could be trusted. Somebody told me today that all I needed to do is give you some time to get used to the rest of us. Perhaps that’s true. Maybe we all need is just a little bit of time and perhaps then trust will follow,” she said but didn’t dare to look her into the eye. If anything she tensed even more.
For a moment nobody spoke and Srena felt unbelievably uncomfortable, immediately regretting every single word she had said.
But eventually Tazla Star laughed. It was so odd to hear her do that that Srena couldn’t help but look at her. She had never seen her laugh before.
“So now it has come to this, has it? I’m getting advice from a junior officer?”
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” she said quickly. “It wasn’t my place to –“
“Do me a favor, Ensign.”
“Ma’am?”
“Stop calling me ma’am and start calling me sir. It’s been driving me crazy.”
That didn’t help putting her at ease at all. “Yes, sir. Sorry.”
“I’m going to tell you something I probably shouldn’t,” she said, this time keeping her eyes on the short Andorian. “I think you have the potential to be a pretty damn good officer. If you keep things up you’ll move up quickly on this ship and beyond. I’m certain of that.”
Srena felt her words stuck in the back of her throat as a beaming smile came over her face. “Thank you, sir,” she finally managed.
But Star quickly shook her head. “Don’t do that,” she said. “Don’t thank me and don’t give me that smile.”
It disappeared from her face.
“If you’re serious about unlocking that potential of yours, you’ll have to work hard. And don’t think for even a moment that I will let up on you. On the contrary, you will come to hate my guts.”
She couldn’t quite keep her lips from curling up slightly. “I don’t think I will, sir.”
Star smirked. “We’ll see,” she said. “Now go and get some rest. You look dreadful.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, turned on her heels and headed for the exit.
“Oh and ensign?”
Srena turned before she reached the doors.
“Our little conversation will not be leaving this room.”
“It’s like it never happened, sir.”
* * * * *
20:21
She really wanted to replicate some sort of dinner when she entered her quarters but she simply didn’t have the energy.
Unsurprisingly, Mikki was already in her bed and snoring away.
Srena found her own moments later. She kicked off her boots and removed her black and gray uniform jacket by letting it fall unceremoniously next to her bed before she fell face first into the soft mattress. It had been some time since she had found the inclination to change into her pajamas before going to sleep. Sometime before the war had broken out, she thought.
She closed her eyes and that smile returned onto her full red lips. She was completely exhausted. It had been one of those days that just didn’t seem like it would ever end.
But before she dozed off into blissful sleep, she felt an undeniable sense of fulfillment and accomplishment. It had been a long, hard day and there had been many moments in which she had began to doubt her competency, her standing as well as her future as an Eagle crewmember and a Starfleet officer.
But all those fears were now gone, didn’t even think of the war and the constant threat that each day could end up being her last.
She was going to get exactly three hours and thirteen minutes of peaceful rest.
23:34
“Attention, a ship-wide red alert has been issued. All personnel report to your duty stations immediately.”
Ha! I thought Star might have had a soft spot for Srena, but after the tractoring incident, I wasn't so sure. It's nice to see Star doing some self-reflection. Great scene between the two of them.
As for getting some rest ... that last line made me laugh out loud for the poor thing. No rest for the weary ... but that's life in wartime.
Nice story, CeJay. I'm definitely a Srena fan!
As for getting some rest ... that last line made me laugh out loud for the poor thing. No rest for the weary ... but that's life in wartime.
Nice story, CeJay. I'm definitely a Srena fan!
The ending is just pure laugh out loud. With just less than half an hour to go in the day and she finds that it not yet over. Hee hee.
As to the rest, a terrific character piece - not just on Srena as it was just as telling on Star and how she is fitting into things aboard the Eagle. This last scene in particular with Star almost getting advice from a junior officer about how to approach winning the support of the crew is very telling. It remains to be seen whether Star will take heed of it but can be said for now that the Commander has a learning curve of her own to undergo but she seems to be part of the way there when she can admit to Srena that she was angry more at herself rather than her. But it was terrific to see Srena fleshed out the way she was in this tale as well as the whole lower decks perspective. It was all brilliantly done and great perspective on so many different aspects tot he ship and its crew. Good Stuff CeJay.
As to the rest, a terrific character piece - not just on Srena as it was just as telling on Star and how she is fitting into things aboard the Eagle. This last scene in particular with Star almost getting advice from a junior officer about how to approach winning the support of the crew is very telling. It remains to be seen whether Star will take heed of it but can be said for now that the Commander has a learning curve of her own to undergo but she seems to be part of the way there when she can admit to Srena that she was angry more at herself rather than her. But it was terrific to see Srena fleshed out the way she was in this tale as well as the whole lower decks perspective. It was all brilliantly done and great perspective on so many different aspects tot he ship and its crew. Good Stuff CeJay.
I was quite impressed with the quality of this. I like your "Star" stories anyway but I thought you did this with very "clean lines", if you will. A lot of fanfic comes across as a mere surface snapshot of the ST universe or, conversely, has so much depth the reader drowns. You managed to make it breath like a living thing. Bravo! 2 thumbs up! 
A terrific capper to a highly enjoyable ‘behind-the-scenes’ Star Eagle story!
I really liked the final conversation between Star and Srena. We actually get to see some humanity behind the mercurial façade of the disgraced XO, and how she has come to recognize the potential of the young ensign. Not that she plans to let up on our favorite Andorian… oh no…
Plus, Star’s own admission of her missteps vis-à-vis Captain Owens was refreshing, and demonstrated a level of introspection I hadn’t thought Tazla capable of… at least at this point.
Once again, you’ve put together a really wonderful tale here. Kudos.
I really liked the final conversation between Star and Srena. We actually get to see some humanity behind the mercurial façade of the disgraced XO, and how she has come to recognize the potential of the young ensign. Not that she plans to let up on our favorite Andorian… oh no…
Plus, Star’s own admission of her missteps vis-à-vis Captain Owens was refreshing, and demonstrated a level of introspection I hadn’t thought Tazla capable of… at least at this point.
Once again, you’ve put together a really wonderful tale here. Kudos.
Thanks everyone for reading and commenting. I'm really excited to see that the story was this well received. Srena grew on me myself while writing this and Tazla Star continues to be a flawed character with much potential for improvement.
I have one other story planned for the Lower Deck Tales series. Probably won't see the light of day until later in the year and it will mark a radical departure from the ones I've done before. Or so I hope.
I have one other story planned for the Lower Deck Tales series. Probably won't see the light of day until later in the year and it will mark a radical departure from the ones I've done before. Or so I hope.
Intrigued as to what the different take will be this time. Can't wait but will try my best to do so. Hee hee
The next Lower Deck Takes story will be a while but there is more Star Eagle Adventures coming much sooner. If everything goes smoothly, as early as the coming weekend.
I'm looking forward to find out what you and others will think of it.
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