Honor Among Engineers

Posted on Thu Jan 5th, 2023 @ 5:58am by Cadet First Class Pallas & Lieutenant Edruj Daughter of Thrawn

Mission: The Goddess
Location: Main Engineering
Timeline: Backpost -- sometime after "Set For Greater Things"
1756 words - 3.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Edruj stood in Engineering and went over the few last things she had on her to do list. She had been looking forward to knocking off and relaxing for a time. The past few weeks had been exhausting. One of the engineers spoke up as she heard the doors to engineering open and close. "EL T someone to see you." Edruj turned and saw a Cadet entering. "Can I help you Cadet?"

“Cadet First Class Pallas, sir,” the young woman said as she entered, saluting sharply. “It’s an honor to meet you, Lieutenant Edruj. I’m here on my Fourth Year Training Cruise. I plan to rotate through all the departments during my time here, as is expected, but I didn’t want to wait until my assignment to Engineering before introducing myself. I have a particular interest in Engineering, so I also wanted to let you know that I am here in case there’s anything you need help with. I realize I don’t have my commission yet, but I’m not too good for moving scrap or stacking crates.”

"Well it is always an honor to hone someone's interest in Engineering. Is there a specific division of Engineering that interests you. I myself am partial to system integration. How all the systems of a starship come together and interact." Edruj was curious to see what the Ardanan would be interested in, as her people built a floating city.

"Applied mechanics, sir. Maintenance, repair, construction of physical plant, or of system interfaces, both on starships and, maybe especially, on away teams. I like fixing things that move," she said simply. "Perhaps more than that, Lieutenant, I like a challenge, I love learning, and most of all I want to help people. If I can do that by helping keep the Gladiator in tip top shape, sign me up."

Edruj smiled, and it was rare that someone so young got a smile out of the Klingon. "Consider yourself signed up. But you should know that serving in Engineering is perhaps the most dangerous place to serve in Starfleet. It is always engineering that gets hit first in combat, and your life will be put at risk simply repairing the ship in the jeferies tubes. So, I ask is any day a good day to die?"

"Today is a good day to die," Pallas recited back. A peculiar saying of the Klingons, of which many volumes, perhaps entire libraries worth, of anthropological treatises and academic theses had been written. The cadet had only read a sliver of all of that, but what she appreciated was the simplicity of the ideal: death comes to all of us, so the question is never whether one will die, but how they die. If one approaches life--and death--with a positive attitude focused on the values taken into those inevitability, then it would be a good day. Both for living and for dying. "Our instructors at the Academy were very deliberate about ensuring we understood the dangers of Engineering... as well as the casualty rate. I do not know if Professor Leonides was teaching Introduction to Starship Systems, but like he always said, 'Security ain't got nothing on us when it comes to getting blown apart!'"

"Yes he is a wise man..." Edruj began as her laugh died down. "...Now I believe I could use your assistance in getting another set of systems back online. We have been restoring the Gladiator since it arrived in dock. The warp core has been brought back online and reintegrated. Now I feel work should focus on weapons and shields. It seems that there is a power interruption to the tertiary shield emitters. What say you to assisting in getting them back."

"Absolutely, Lieutenant." Pallas actually grinned at the idea of getting her hands into the inner workings of the ship again. She walked directly over to an open console and pulled up the monitor logs for the shield systems, as well as the diagnostic logs. "You must be pretty far along in repairs if you are working on tertiary systems now. It is impressive, sir, that you have managed so many repairs in so short a time," she said, shaking her head as she saw the never-ending list of repairs that had already been completed since the new crew came aboard. "I wish I had been here to see you reintegrate the warp core. I have read about how to do that, but... for obvious reasons never seen that before." Pallas found the problem that Edruj was referring to.

"We have been working around the clock. However, when it comes to system engineering I tend to work from the inside out. I like to repair the backups and the tertiary etc before bringing the mains online. This way if there is an issue with the main we have something to fall back on. Warp core integration is a long and delicate process." Edruj walked over to the console as she spoke and then a thought occurred to her. "I know it is not the same as witnessing or assisting with the real thing. However, if you wish we can reintegrate a core on the holodeck. This way you can see how it is done."

Edruj switched from a friendly tone to a more teacher kind of tone. "Now tell me what issue do you see with the tertiary shield emitters."

"Looks like it could be a couple of things," she pointed at her monitor. "The sensors are not picking it up, exactly, but these spikes here signal a potential heat dump failure in the plasma microrelays that feed the tertiary shield emitters' limit switch. If the Computer thinks the limit switch is powered but it's not giving the go ahead, the tertiary shields stay off." Pallas took in a quick breath after blurting that out too quickly. "I am hoping that is not the problem, though; we would have to strip through seven or eight layers to get to those microrelays. Open heart surgery on the hull of the ship. Fingers crossed, it's this," she pointed to the other screen. "Parity check errors. A hard localized reboot should clear it up."

"'Q'pla! Well done, well done indeed. When it comes to engineering very often the simplest answer is the right one. I believe you have earned the honor of executing that reboot." Edruj smiled which on a Klingon could look scarier than a scowl. The Cadet had impressed Edruj and she was now eager to see what else the Cadet knew.

Pallas returned a smile at the compliment from the Klingon woman. The toothy smile was certainly intimidating, but the intent was clear. "Thank you, sir, and with pleasure." She executed the command with a series of quick taps, and turned back to Edruj, waiting for the reboot to finish. "May I ask you a question, Lieutenant, if you have a moment? I have been asking pretty much everyone I have met on the Gladiator this question but, given that you are an Engineer and Starfleet Engineers were the ones who made me want to join in the first place, I am particularly interested in your answer. Unlike many cadets, I have not yet definitely decided on what my path will be after graduation. Do you have any advice on how to make that decision? How did you decide to become an engineer?"

Now that was an interesting question one that the Klingon woman could sink her teeth into. "Allow me to address your second question first. I became an engineer the for sweet science of it all. You see some of my people seek glory and honor through combat. I respect that most ancient tradition and uphold it. I also uphold the idea that glory can be found in anything. Including repairing technology. You see those up on the bridge may get the visible glory, but it is those like me toiling down here that make their victories possible." Edruj paused for a second and thought how she should answer the Cadet's other question. "As to how to make the decision. I would advise to see what truly makes you happy. What gives you pride. I know that when a ship is running at its utmost efficiency and that it is because of me that is when I feel true pride and fee like I am truly myself. So, the question you have to ask yourself is one that every Klingon asks themselves when they step out into this galaxy. qatlh bIqem, qaH? (what brings you true honor?)"

"Helping others," the cadet responded without pausing. "Saving lives brings me true honor, it honors the ones who came before me who did not have that opportunity. Did not have the choice to help their fellows. Not just from death, which is far from the worst fate. But saving them from suffering, from avoidable and preventable pain and deprivation." Pallas looked around Engineering. "Though the root of my answer perhaps differs from those traditions of the Klingon in where my honor stems from, I actually find that my thinking often comes to a place similar to your own. Fixing systems, repairing that which others have written off for the salvage heap, making sure that, when the time comes, the transporters work at optimal efficiency to teleport asylum seekers out of a dangerous environment, or the replicators can keep up with an influx of refugees. And the rest of it." The cadet paused. "I think, though, that I am not always certain that I know what makes me 'happy'... to the first iteration of your answer. Pride and honor go together for me, but happiness..." she frowned slightly. "It is a harder one to pull together. I enjoy learning, and I think I can find that more in some fields than others. But the honor pulls me away, I think, from learning for the sake of learning. Hence, Starfleet, rather than the Daystrom Institute."

"Well I believe that you are off to a great start. There are not many as young as you who know where or what they want out of life. You have already discovered what makes you fulfilled and how you want to use that knowledge. Allow me to help you on this path as we get to work on these sensors." Edruj meant what she had said. She found honor where most didn't. Today it seemed that teaching this Cadet is where she would find honor this day.