Subject:
Grail : "They Were Expendable"; "A Long Boring Night" Part 2.Kait watched Koscearny disappear in the dull sparkle of blue light. After the transport completed, she headed right to Sickbay.
Upon entering Sickbay, she noticed that it was somewhat darker than normal and that there were two doctors : one with lieutenant's pips and the other which was an ensign. Koscearny was laying on a bio-bed. Kait walked up to the doctor treating Koscearny and explained that she found her having a seizure after doing a space walk to run diagnostics on the navigational deflector. The doctor explained it as being only a symptom of shock. It seemed that Koscearny had a great fear of space walks, then, which would explain her rejection when given the job. However, there was no mention of this in her files.
The doctor injected Koscearny with thorazine, a sedative. Her color slowly returned and the spasms soon ceased.
The doctor looked up at her for a moment, then he said, "She will be able to return to duty within the hour. For now, she should rest here."
Kait was about to say something when he said, "Thank you for bringing her down here. She will be fine." Kait took this as her cue to leave, and instead of saying anything she turned and walked away. It was back to Engineering once again. And back to work, too.
When Kait returned to Main Engineering, Commander Hargen was already there. She was facing the opposite direction. Kait walked up to her and said, "Sir?"
Hargen turned around and exclaimed, "There you are! Where have you been?"
Kait quickly explained to her about what happened with Ensign Koscearny. She looked genuinely worried about her. "Don't worry, she will be alright and ready to work within the hour," Kait reassured her.
"That's good. So what was it you needed help with?"
"Well, let's see. I think the warp core diagnostics are being taken care of. Feel free to see if I've missed anything." Kait waited for a response but Hargen merely shook her head. "So. maybe you could gather information on the power distribution?"
"Okay. Consider it done." Hargen smiled at her.
Kait felt rather odd giving a superior officer a job, but Hargen didn't seem to take notice at all. Kait walked over to a computer console and began to write a memo to Ops. In the memo she wrote, "The Engineering Department respectfully requests that the Ops department run a level four diagnostic on the saucer section's computer core and the star drive's computer core. In addition, it would be much appreciated if diagnostics were run on the life support systems and the ODNs were checked. Please send all results to the Engineering Department. Thank you for your accommodation."
Kait sent the memo and hoped that the response would come before 0800 tomorrow. She looked down at her check list again and sighed in relief. All that was left on her check list now was the saucer separation system, shuttle bays, transporters, and holodecks. She was almost done, but Kait felt ready to collapse. She was tempted to go back to her quarters and catch a few hours of sleep but she couldn't do that since she had made everyone else work this double shift too. Kait wouldn't make her officers do anything that she wouldn't. Instead she went to a computer console and attacked the simplest job first. She ran a diagnostic on the saucer separation system and included the results in her report. Everything checked out. In fact, there seemed to be no problems with the ship at all. Unusual, since there were often small problems to fix on every ship before leaving space dock. However, they weren't even close to being done yet. Next order of business : transporters. Kait walked over to the turbolift. Walking prevented her from falling asleep, but it didn't prevent her from feeling drowsy. Once those engineers were done with their diagnostics on the warp core, she would let all of them go to bed. Surely they wanted to as much as she did. Kait would get as much of the report done but even if it was incomplete, then it would have to be dealt with as it was. There simply wasn't enough personnel and time to finish it and she certainly wasn't going to put these officers through hell for the sake of a ridiculous deadline. Kait sighed in frustration. "Geez. Main Transporter Room."
Kait leaned against the turbolift's walls as it traveled. She closed her eyes until she heard the doors open. She walked out and greeted an ensign. Even more frustrating : the transporter chief wouldn't be on duty till Alpha shift.
"Is there anything I can do for you?" the Ensign asked.
"Yes. I need some diagnostics run on these transporters, and all other transporters, including personal, emergency, and cargo."
The Ensign stood there staring at her disbelievingly. "All that?" he asked.
"Yes, *all* that," she said, not bothering to hide her annoyance. More kindly, she said, "Don't worry, I will be here to help you until the transporter chief reports for duty." Kait saw a chance to get an answer to her question without looking stupid. "Which is in how long?"
"Approximately three hours."
"Okay, first we'll start on the personal transporters." Kait explained what they were going to do exactly and had the Ensign fill her in on anything she missed. They made a great team, and got work done. Even if it was a bit more slowly then she would've liked it, it would've done no good to wait for the chief to report to duty. They traveled to each transporter room separately and ran diagnostics on practically every aspect of the transporters' systems.
Every now and then, Kait would tap her comm badge and ask how things were going down in Engineering and if anyone was finished. Once one person was finished, she had that person come up and assist them with the transporter evals. The transporters in the cargo bay were the last to be checked, and there were three Engineering officers now working on that, including Lt. Brennan, and the Ensign from the Main Transporter Room. Once all the diagnostics were done and Kait had several padds in her hand, she thanked the Ensign and left to return to Engineering with her two officers. Upon entering Engineering, she found that nearly everyone there was bent over a console or leaning against something from lack of energy. The only person who seemed unaffected was Ensign K'tel, the Klingon engineering officer. Until now, she would've considered a Klingon engineer a contradiction in terms. But that was the last thing that was on her mind right now.
Right now, she had every intention of letting these people go soon. Kait walked up to where the bulk of them were working, and asked, "How far are we coming along?"
Lt. Porter responded, "We haven't much farther to go before we're done. Perhaps another hour and these particular diagnostics are finished." Porter seemed to be less than thrilled that this was only part of their entire job. She didn't realize that this *was* the entire job.
Kait noticed that Commander Hargen was no longer bothering with the power distribution charts and was helping the other officers get their work done. Hargen looked up and added, "I don't think it will take even an hour. Maybe a half hour to forty-five minutes, tops."
Alpha shift would be starting soon. Kait was surprised to get all the diagnostics on the transporters done before the transporter chief even returned to duty. The only things left to start now were the shuttle bays and holodecks. Kait decided that those parts of the report would be left blank. The shuttle bays would simply take too long, and she would explain this in her report. And the holodecks were not an essential part of the ship. Whatever was last on the list did not get done, after all. Then, Kait noticed that Ensign Koscearny was back on duty. She asked if she would be alright working or would she rather take off for the day. Koscearny had responded that she would work for a little while longer before leaving.
Kait helped the other officers form their part of the report on the warp core and ordered the ones who finished to get some sleep. As all the reports were coming to a close, Engineering became more and more empty, until it was only Hargen, K'tel, and Brennan left.
"I don't know about you," Kaitlyn said to Commander Hargen, "But I'm about ready to join them."
Leaving Engineering, however, would be leaving it without an Engineering crew. An empty Engineering was unheard of.
Kait watched a few more officers come in at the beginning of the Alpha shift. She was overjoyed to find out that all of them were engineering. Main Engineering might only have three people in it, but that was better than nothing. And these were extenuating circumstances. Kait let her chief set the officers straight on their job, then said, "Okay, I think we all can go get some much needed rest."
Looking at Commander Hargen, she said, "You want to split? I organize half the report, and you do the other half?"
"Sure. Save me some trouble."
"Which part do you want? The higher priority or the lower priority?" Brennan asked.
"The lower priority," Hargen responded.
Kait looked at the two padds she had in her hand now, and handed one to Hargen. Her chief looked over it briefly and rolled her eyes at Brennan. "Did it really matter which part I asked for? You were going to give me the high priority anyway?"
Kait had done it intentionally but played dumb. "Huh? Did I give you the high priority. I'm sorry."
"Yeah, right," Hargen said, not fooled in the slightest. "It's okay, I can do this."
Kait smiled at her. "Thanks, I really appreciate it. I don't particularly feel like coming up with an introduction to the report."
"Ah, it's simple," Hargen explained, "All you have to do is give a short outline of what the report is about. Nothing to it."
"If you say so. Personally, I'm too tired to want to bother with something new." Kait yawned for emphasis. "And I mean it, too." Commander Hargen dismissed Ensign K'tel after thanking him for staying so long, then she left too. Kait stood in Engineering and realized one thing : she never felt more tired in her life. It was time to return to quarters. She thought about asking the other officers if they would be okay down here alone, but decided that she was too tired even for that. Kait walked into the turbolift and said, "Deck 3, personal quarters."
<<Personal Quarters>>
Her quarters were bare, as usual. Far from homely, but it's only purpose was a place to sleep anyway. Kait set the alarm for tomorrow (or today) at 0900. She would get some rest first then work on the report. It shouldn't take too long and she would be able to get it done quicker if she was rested than if she was overwhelmed with fatigue. It seemed to be a wise choice. Kait took her comm badge off and hopped into bed, not caring that she still had her uniform on. At times like this, she didn't care where or how she slept. Kait laid on the bed and stared at the ceiling. After a few minutes, it didn't seem like she would ever go to sleep. Was it possible to be too tired to sleep? Kait laughed at this thought.
Then she got up and grabbed the padd. Might as well work, if not sleep. She didn't work on it long before she knew that she would fall asleep very soon. And sleep she did, putting an end to a very long and boring night.
<OOC : It looks like Kaitlyn will have something to be working on during the staff meeting.>