A More Logical Career Path

Posted on Mon Oct 20th, 2025 @ 8:00pm by Lieutenant Commander Andrew Star & Captain Patricia Cooke

1,400 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Ghost Starship
Location: Ready Room, Deck 1

Following the Missouri's formal commissioning, Patricia found herself in need of more senior staff. She had put out her open positions to Starfleet on what she needed to Starfleet Command: Operations, Medical, Intel...

But the situation in engineering gave Patricia pause: Commander Star had by far and away done an exceptional job as acting Chief Engineer, which had prompted Patricia to investigate his personnel file. That was when she had discovered that Star had more of an engineering background than a science one. To Patricia, the choice was obvious, but nonetheless, she had to go through the formalities to transfer Commander Star to engineering, if he so desired:

"Cooke to Star:" Patricia tapped her combadge. "Can you come to the ready room at your earliest opportunity?"

Down below, the warp core sang her song, its blue hymn lighting main engineering. Andrew, still wearing his teal tunic stained in various engineering fluids of all colours. With the incumbent missing after 'Operation fire the bee into space' was halted, Andrew was still in control of engineering. After assuming control without authorization, he had tasked himself with overseeing the repairs.

When the summons was in, it wasn't and was wanted. He replied back in the affirmative, brushing his hands on his teal shirt, and, whilst climbing out of the narrow shaft to the universal prime variance drive with a hyperspanner in hand, gave control of main engineering to another officer.

On the ride up, he had time to think about the situation, how old it made him feel. Andrew was exhausted, filthy, sore, and out of his depth; he'd never worked with post-Voyager engineering equipment, heck, not even military engineering equipment. Standing outside the CO's office in the corridor on deck 1, preferring to use the side door, wanted to be permitted entrance.

Patricia was surprised when the chime came from the side door. Yet nonetheless, she rose from her chair and turned to face the alternate entryway:

"Enter:" Patricia called out.

Andrew entered, still a mess, his hair askew, looking as he did in 2003 when there may or may not have been an attempt to repair an automobile that had definitely blown up an apartment complex in Glasgow. Knowing what he was summoned for, the repair list. "Captain," he said, his tone conveying a desire for a long nap. "The majority of systems have been repaired. We've had to combine the dynamic interference sequencer and the negative pulse matrix together to support the antimatter injector coil, but it should hold until the Chief Engineer is found."

"Excellent work, Commander:" Patricia nodded. "It'll be a shame to have you return to science once the repairs are complete, that's for sure."

While she was speaking, Patricia observed the unkemptness of Andrew, and devised a plan to guide this conversation to its natural conclusion:

"You look like you've been busting your ass in the Jefferies tubes." Patricia observed. "Would you like some refreshments?"

Though a seat wasn't offered, Andrew took the chance and slouched down onto the sofa along the window, looking towards the stars that hurtled past the mighty Missouri. "New Rosean IV water, please," he said, His drink of choice, heading for a sit-down. "Well, if the engineers need the perfect fit for the jefferies tubes, they know where they can find me." He quipped.

Rising from her chair, Patricia strolled over to the replicator as Andrew sat down and had his quip.

"New Rosean IV water." Patricia ordered.

The replicator beeped in acknowledgement, and within seconds of this confirmation, a glass of New Rosean IV water was ready for collection and delivery to its intended drinker:

"And what if that location was one that the other engineers could go to in trust?" Patricia proposed. "What if it was the Chief Engineer's office?"

Andrew took the glass and savored the peach-like flavour, remembering the day he visited New Rosean IV before space capitalism came for the quiet world. The impiled question went over the bushwacked kid's head. "Well, if the Chief Engineer needs help finding their office, they should find a Yeoman because I wouldn't know where it is... Near the main engineering, I'd guess."

"It's right within Main Engineering." Patricia explained, as she returned to the replicator to order her own beverage. As the raspberry ice tea materialized, she considered the answer to her question, and how she could possibly rephrase it to make it more clear that she was offering him the job full time. "Let me put it to you this way: Have you ever considered diversifying your skill set, Commander?"

A slight head tilt and 'Ahh' left his lips, of course Capt Cooke knew the deck layout of her spaceship. Though the question made him smile. "Yes," He said, sitting upright, placing his glass onto the window ledge behind him. "After 95 years of fixing things for grups, I picked science when I joined the academy!" The conversation was getting interesting, 'skill set?' was he being sent somewhere to learn another language, his mind wondered.

"I see..." Patricia muttered. "Well, I suppose there's no way that I can convince you to take over Engineering full-time, then?"

Patricia wasn't sure that the same reverse-psychology tactic that had gotten Akira to accept the 2XO position would work on Star, but at this point, she needed to pull out the stops:

"In that case, I'm sure Starfleet will furnish me with a replacement for Lieutenant Ventari in time." Patricia sighed. "Though, surely, their experience won't amount to... How many years did you say? 95 years of engineering experience?... Well, unless Starfleet sends another Vulcan, of course..."

The offer was enough to wake Andrew even if he was dead, though his wish for grups to say what they mean instead of beating around the bush. "I'd love to take the offer!" He exclaimed in childish joy, "But I would be like a madman with a fire axe... Who would be crazy enough to fight fires with an axe?"

Andrew had been out of the game for some time now. The engineering dreams that Voyager brought back, which were installed on the Missouri, Andrew wasn't well-versed or even trained in their operation. "I am super duper old! I wouldn't know how to repair the slipstream..." Now a smile crept across his face, a smile of glee. "But I've been dreaming of these toys long before you're parents were a thought." Yes, Andrew was tired, and when he got tired, the connection of brain to mouth was often separated, forgetting how hurtful that could be to some Humans. "But I would love to play with these toys. Sign me up, Captain!"

A smile spread on Patricia's face. She was surprised that reverse-psychology trick actually worked, but didn't let it show.

"I knew you'd come around, Commander." She said, extending a hand. "Welcome to Engineering... Or, I guess... Welcome back to Engineering?"

Andrew was overjoyed, as much as he enjoyed working as a chemist in Starfleet and also enjoyed passing the bridge officer test, thankfully, he wasn't about to find out how much paperwork was involved with transferring a scientist to engineering without a Starfleet engineering diploma. "This is going to be super fun!" He exclaimed, "But I will not sugarcoat anything! I won't compromise with you, ma'am."

"I should hope not." Patricia remarked. "You are hereby dismissed, Commander: I would suggest switching into Engineering gold at your earliest opportunity."

The smiling child tilted his head. Although exhausted, there was still work needing to be done in his new kingdom, so to speak. "See you later, Captain!" He quipped for dashing out with his class of water.

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