Keval was not in a good mood. He already had been on board as Challenger’s Chief Engineer, and still had not had a chance to actually meet with the CO. Something about an earlier than anticipated arrival, and scheduling issues, and missing PaDDs, and time travel accidents (well, the last one was never said specifically, but it was about as plausible as everything else so far).

In the meantime, though… “Cadet, do you have the diagnostic results for the plasma injectors?”

A nearby cadet looked up from a PaDD he was working on, and quickly rushed over to Keval. “S-sorry, Lieutenant. I’m still having trouble interpreting the resonance change…”

Keval’s grumpy mood caused him to interrupt the cadet. “And what is the worst-case scenario if we can’t figure out the cause of the new resonance in the plasma injector?”

The cadet thought for a moment back to his Academy courses. “Since the resonance change is less than 0.5%, the recommended course of action would be to do a manual inspection of the plasma injector during the next scheduled warp reactor maintenance.”

Keval antennae curved slightly in encourgement of the answer. “Excellent answer, cadet. Straight out of the text-book.”

Keval continued after pausing. “But that’s not the worst-case scenario. The worst-case scenario would be a warp core breach, and that would be unfortunate as there’s a chance I could accidentally end up in the human version of the after-life, where you and I would then have an eternity to discuss the finer points of diagnostic interpretations. And as entertaining as that may be, I think the human after life would be a bit too warm for me.”

Keval noticed the cadet pale a bit, so he put on a grin and continued. “But that’s unlikely to happen. So keep working on interpreting the diagnostics, and we can continue enjoying this learning moment without having to worry about temperature changes. Let me know at the end of your shift what you have come up with.”

With that, Keval went back to his brooding.

-Lt. Keval Vras, CE