The thrum from the distant warp core filled the sound of the Jefferies tube, replacing the constant thrum of other’s thoughts as Dael worked in solitude. He enjoyed this moments of quiet sometimes, he had told the previous counselor that it helped his focus to be able to work away some times despite his people’s natural inclination to be around others. He scanned the EPS conduits running through the belly of the Challenger, his work kit near him as he maintained it’s systems. There had been marked decrease in power transfer efficiency in this section and he was determined to track it down. This was now towards the end of this shift and he had acquired a good number of parts in the tray next to his kit as he swapped out the old with the new. All in a days work on a starship, especially one needing to be ready for anything like the Challenger was.

After a few more scans he noticed the energy flow dropping from the bottom conduit. He removed some more paneling and immediately spotted the problem. “Gotcha.” He pointed at the darkened shape of a blown isolinear chip. “One more fix, coming right up.” Dael grinned slightly as he talked to himself, filling the empty void of his normal ocean of thoughts. Focus was good, but even he needed to fill the silence sometimes. He took the old chip out, mildly zapping his fingers as they made contact with one that was still in operation next to it.

Sucking on the minorly zapped finger, he cut power to the module temporarily, and quickly swapped the chips out, then re-engaged power. He checked with his scans. Sure enough, that had been the source. Satisfied, and with the end of his shift practically here, he made his way with the cart of swapped out old parts and his tool kit out of the cramped space of the tube. Walking down the corridors in the direction of Engineering, he passed by several cadets on the way, and the absence of thoughts left as the waves of surface emotions from his fellow crewmates rushed in as they passed. Dael took a deep sigh at the familiar feeling he had adjusted to with life on the ship and continued his trek to Engineering with the old systems. He remembered a time while doing the same on night shift he had come across several of his fellow cadets, and was curious as to who else he might bump into on the way to drop of parts this time.

Cadet Stadi, Engineering