Engineering Analyses

Posted on Mon Jul 6th, 2026 @ 8:09pm by Captain Akeno Misaki & Lieutenant Charlotte Averis

1,802 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Hunted
Location: Main Engineering

There were those that would tell Lieutenant Charlotte Averis that the very first thing she should do when boarding a new ship was to go see the Captain that would be the one responsible for your life. In fact, about ninety-five percent would say that, the other five percent would state that she could drop her possessions off at her quarters first, then go see the Captain. However, they were all wrong. Charlotte knew that the first place for an incoming Chief Engineer to go was Engineering. Someone else could transport her things to her new quarters and the Captain could wait, but this would be her home for the foreseeable future.

She walked into the place and the lights flickered on as she entered, no watch officers present as they were at Spacedock and she cradled the cloth-covered long item in her hands carefully as she stepped through the main doors. The sound of her heels echoed in the room as she felt the cool air breeze past her bare legs as pressures equalized with the corridor. The tunic was half-sealed, testament to her constant feel that things were just too hot on board a starship, but this... This was where she was at home.

Her last ship had been dealt a raw hand, twice, but that was just in keeping with the name of Pandora. She'd been at some of the worst battles during the Dominion War, especially in the closing stages. In one of them, Pandora had been hit hard, the Captain and Executive Officer dead, a hit had taken out both the Chief Engineer and the Assistant Chief, leaving a Junior Grade Lieutenant by the name of Charlotte Averis to take over the section and fight a losing battle to save the ship while a Jem'hadar suicide team had boarded to ensure she failed. She didn't fail.

Then Pandora had been less than a month out of the shipyard before she was in another fight that sent her right back, needing yet another Captain and several other senior staff, but her new Chief Engineer had stayed alive. Pandora had lived up to her name, but Charlotte Zelda Averis remained tough and true. She placed the cloth item on the main console and reverently opened it to reveal the rapier that she'd carried from Earth those 8 years ago when she went to the Academy in the runup to the war. The hilt fit her hand as if it had been forged just for her, by her, and it had been. Her first true masterpiece and deadly sharp to boot. She'd proven THAT as well.

She brought the blade up to just in front of her, then went into a dance of the sword, bringing the blade around stylishly as she spun on the toe of her heeled shoes, the blade flicking around in muscle memory, then switching hands to move in just as much of a curliqueue motion, moves growing wider yet not losing their speed and precision, Charlotte's body moving to 'dodge' supposed strikes, blade moving to block or parry and riposte as needed. She almost didn't notice the new brush of air on her skin as the doors slid open behind her again, but they could wait. Everyone could wait on her.

"You could hurt someone with that you know..." A voice said from behind her.

A spin, a swipe, then a clear parry, riposte and recovery to a guard position, then motionlessness. “Only if someone is an idiot and doesn’t watch where she’s going, or if I’m not paying attention, which I’m most assuredly am.” The green eyes went to the figure standing just inside the doorway, “My Lady.”

The woman who was leaning against the doorframe of the empty Engineering blinked a few times. "My Lady?" she questioned out loud. "You know for some species, that could be considered..." she shook her head and gave the engineer a smile. "Anyways. Welcome aboard the Wayfarer. I'm Captain Akeno Misaki."

Charlotte brought the blade up in salute, then in a fluid movement brought it down near vertically to come up behind her back and she gave a slight bow before placing it on the cloth sitting on the console, “I’ve been addressing Dukes, Duchesses, Knights and… Guests for most of my life, My Lad-“ she sighed, “Captain. A habit I haven’t been able to kick. Lieutenant Charlotte Averis, your new Chief Engineer.” There was only the slight hint of a smile as she stepped towards Akeno, two inch uniform-gold-coloured stiletto heels clicking on the ground softly.

"I thought Knights only existed in fairy tales?" Akeno pondered. She shook her head and returned the bow. It wasn't that she was playing along, it was just what she had been taught ever since she was very small. After she straightened up. "So, is the ship meeting your expectations?"

Charlotte looked around, “She’s an Intrepid, like Pandora, plenty of space in here.” She gave a half-shrug, “Once I get to know her quirks, she and I will get along well enough. But to answer your other question, Pegasus Falls is a re-enactor’s township. Only enough technology to be getting along with as needed, totally self-sufficient without modern technology. Everyone is in character, all the time, children are no exception. Outsiders come in to get away from things, then go home when they get bored.”

"Re-enactors?" Akeno pondered her head cocking to one side. "I guess that I'll have to believe you." she then froze and stopped talking in her tracks. She held up a finger to pause the Lieutenant. Slowly she turned around, and took a few steps over towards the doors of main engineering. She peeked around the door into the adjacent corridor.

She looked left, then looked right, all whilst trying to remain hidden (quite badly) as she did so.

“I’ll forward you the ad.” Charlotte sighed. No one on Pandora had believed her either, until confronted with the ad, but oh well. Of course, now the Captain was showing signs of paranoia and had they not been in the docking slip inside the Starbase, Charlotte may have reacquired her weapon. Paranoia, after all, wasn’t a bad thing at all, “My Lady?” She asked in a hushed voice, only loud enough to reach Akeno, “Is everything all right?”

"Good, he's not here..." Akeno said letting out a huge sigh of relief. "I think so." she walked past Charlotte and towards the warp core. She looked up at the deactivated core. It was grey and dull, no signs of life like usual. She then spotted the backed stools placed neatly by the main systems console.

She flopped straight down into the stool and slumped back. "Look. I'm going to be straight with you. Starfleet has it out for me. There's another Captain aboard. He's here to 'assess' and evaluate me." She explained as she seemed to relax. "I'm trying my best to be the Captain that they want. But its hard you know. Like, I'm not used to being all proper and Picard-like."

"Sorry to push all this on you, its not what a Captain should be doing." she leant forward resting her arms on the console, then her head on top of them. "I've not been able to relax ever since he came on board. So its nice to be somewhere he wouldn't expect me to be." She lifted her head from her arms slightly to look at Charlotte. "Please tell me that everything is good down here, the last thing I want is for some crap to give me a bad score and all..."

“In the last twenty minutes since I arrived on board, I haven’t seen anything go wrong.” Charlotte offered up, “But that’s not to say there is anything wrong.” She watched the CO, noting just how much like one of the Ensigns from Pandora she seemed: Utterly defeated. “Engineering will forever be a safe place for you, My Lady, no matter the circumstances.” Charlotte reached out and squeezed Alena’s shoulder with a soft smile, “I can give you a better report in a couple hours, but I wouldn’t worry about things here, they will be fine. What do you know about USS Pandora, My Lady?”

"I know its a starship," Akeno said lazily. "Thats about it... Oh, and just so you know. There's a briefing scheduled for 0900 tomorrow morning." she added.

“My last assignment, look her up.” Charlotte suggested, her face going still for those words. It felt just wrong to talk about it herself. It had been a pair of nightmares and she hadn’t been sad to be reassigned. Of course, the ship wouldn’t have made it back if she hadn’t been as… Creative as she was, at least those Captains didn’t bother her too much in her own domain. If this one was under siege as she said? She may not get so lucky here, “I’ll have a better and more comprehensive report tomorrow on the state of my engine room.”

Akeno looked up and straightened. "I can tell that you lost something or someone important on that ship. We all did..." the image of her grandparents flooded into her mind for a brief moment. She shook it off quickly and jumped down off the stool. "The most important thing is that we've all been through similar trauma and loss. But on the Wayfarer, its made us all a family. I hope you stay with us. I think you'll like it here."

With that said she began to slowly walk towards the doors of Engineering. She stopped just as they opened, looking back over her should she said softly "Once again, welcome to the Wayfarer family."

“My Lady.” Charlotte watched as she started to walk away, unable to explain the loss of two CO’s and her own boss whose dead shoes she had stepped into when she was still just getting used to the ship, then kept them when no one else had been available. Among others, those she’d gotten to know and seen go down under the precision fire of Jem’hadar, how SHE hadn’t been able to protect them. She inclined her head to Akeno in one of the gestures that came naturally to her from since she was a child.

As the Captain left, Charlotte stood there beneath the lights and sighed. Well, there was no time like the present to get started. Shed practiced enough, it was time to see if the cause was Pandora’s alone, or if the Gypsy had been right. If it had been hers.

Posting by:

Captain Akeno Misaki
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Charlotte Averis
Chief Engineering Officer

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