Fresh Glitches
Posted on Tue Apr 8th, 2025 by Lieutenant Amelia Baird
Edited on on Tue Apr 8th, 2025
1,134 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
M02 - The Sixteenth Rule
Location: Main Engineering, USS Hooke
Timeline: Present
Amelia Baird had considered it to be an experiment, watching the warp core swirl in front of her as the vessel dropped out of warp. Well, perhaps not so much as an experiment, but interesting to watch from time to time. This was her space after all and it only seemed right that she spent as much time there as she could possibly do so. Any second and the diplomatic team would probably be coming aboard, Amelia's thoughts drifted toward them...
The diplomatic team.
She grinned when she thought about the mission they'd been given, it meant that the engineers around her could spend some time making the modifications she'd requested. "Starships are never very efficient after coming out of the yards, they require that special touch." She mumbled. Her engineers had worked tirelessly to track down any glitches in the various systems early so that they could be resolved. So far the engineering team had found approximately five such glitches that would have potentially caused problems later.
"Hey Amelia."
Amelia tilted her head before turning around, that voice sounded so familiar to her. When she saw Lieutenant Miley Kirk standing there Amelia immediately found herself grinning uncontrollably. "Miley!" She exclaimed excitedly and covered the short distance in less than a second. Amelia pulled the other woman into a hug before letting her go, "I didn't know you were with the diplomat?"
Miley returned the hug, "As soon as I found out what ship you'd been assigned to and about this mission I volunteered to come so we could spend some time together. Besides, I don't think Nuri would want me to miss out on what promises to be a fun mini vacation with her."
"Nuri's the diplomat right?" Amelia asked after having released her hug.
Miley nodded, "Yeah, and we have a bit of an ongoing relationship." She added the last part with a smile before raising her hands in defense. "Don't worry I'm being careful."
Amelia nodded once, "Good." She answered. Amelia remembered distinctly the last relationship her friend had and how it turned out quite poorly when the guy turned out to be rather abusive. She shook her head at the thought, to think some men thought they needed to control their women even in this century. "So tell me about it?"
Miley shrugged, "There's really not much to tell. We only just started dating," Miley remarked. She'd known Amelia since their academy days and had been assigned to the Fonvor together. Miley was a former engineer that had only recently converted to the diplomatic corps where she eventually had met Nuri on some joint mission the two of them were part of about a year earlier.
"She's great though," Miley added. "So how have you been?" Miley asked the Engineer, "Chief Engineer of your own starship and everything I see."
Amelia felt her cheeks flush slightly, "Yeah well," She shrugged. Amelia had taken a great deal of pride in the fact that she was now a departmental commander. The Hooke was turning out to be a fine ship after all, and she was slowly making engineering her own baby. "What made you decide to change to the diplomatic corps?"
Miley didn't have a direct answer to the question, "Well I was on Earth for some much needed leave when I met this El-Aurian who was preparing to go off on some negotiation event. It sounded interesting and he invited me to tag along, after that I felt like I'd met my true calling. I've been in the diplomatic corps ever since, though for this trip I'm just here to observe. I'm basically a babysitter," Miley remarked sourly.
Amelia frowned, "Why are you babysitting Nuri?"
Miley abruptly shook her head, "I'm not babysitting her," She said after her head motion had quit. "I'm here to babysit our illustrious doctor that Starfleet thought they needed to send with us. He's useless, if we have any medical needs then I'm sure your ship's Chief Medical Officer is more than capable. Besides despite her inexperience I'd trust her over Doctor Hayes any day of the week."
Amelia recalled the conversation during the staff meeting the day prior. "I heard he's quite the trip." She didn't know any details beyond his questionable practices.
"I honestly think Starfleet is trying to just get him out of their hair, he's been sitting around at headquarters pestering people when he's not tucked away in some back room. Honestly the man gives me the creeps," She said then leaned in close. "Sometimes I feel like he's following me." She shivered.
Amelia frowned, "That's bizarre indeed. Perhaps you should talk to Captain Cohen about it," She suggested with her usual soft voice.
Miley shook her head again, "Nah I'm not gonna bother the Captain with this. If you don't mind I think I'll spend most of my time on board here in engineering. When I'm not with Nuri in the conference room or going to dinner with her, speaking of which it would be wonderful if you'd join us for dinner one of these days while we're here."
"Oh of course," Amelia said, "I wouldn't have it any other way. And if you feel safer here in engineering with me when you're not doing other things than I'll be more than happy to put you to work. You wouldn't believe how many glitches a ship coming out of the yards can have. We've found a few already," Amelia told Miley with a heavy sigh.
Miley had been a computer expert when she was an engineering officer and it was a skill she still maintained, which was in part useful during her tenure as a member of the diplomatic corps. "Oh I can certainly help you with that." She said with a devious grin, "I'm going to go see if Nuri has gotten her things in her assigned guest quarters, my stuff is already aboard. I pack pretty light in comparison."
Amelia didn't buy that, however, she said nothing about it. "Okay, I'll be here." She said and watched Miley Kirk walk out of main engineering before sighing. She really wanted to know more about this Doctor Hayes, he sounded like quite the stand up guy. She considered this with due sarcasm before returning to her spot in main engineering just as one of her engineers approached her. Amelia found out that yet another minor glitch had been found in the main computer, it was probably hard coded.
If Amelia's engineer hadn't found it though, it could have turned into a security issue. Though she wasn't quite sure how they were going to fix it, but they needed to do so before it was discovered by anyone else...
Lieutenant Miley Kirk
Written by: Amelia Baird
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