Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Lisa Caldwell (Engineer) in Pre-sim CE’s Office
<snip>

Lisa noticed the pause, she wasn’t sure why. Maybe he was just as nervous about meeting her as she was of him? She pushed it from her mind as she sat in the chair Harry had indicated. Lisa silently hoped that he wouldn’t ask about recent events but she prepared herself mentally for the question and how she would explain it. She looked around the office while she waited. She realised she hadn’t responded and again, nearly kicked herself.
“Thank you Sir”
“I must say you do have a very nice office. Have you been here long? What drew you to the ship?” She had more questions but just wanted to fill the silence.

Lt.(j.g) Lisa Caldwell (Eng)

<Bump>

“Shall we start with the first question?” Harry said, with a slight smile. “I’ve only been here a couple of months; still getting used to the job.” he continued. “As for the ship, well, I couldn’t exactly refuse a Chief Engineer’s job when it came up.” He moved across to the replicator.

“Can I get you a drink?”

Lt. Archer
Chief Engineer

Lisa smiled back and nodded.
“It does take a while to get used to. That feeling that people will now do what you tell them and are fully reliant on your decisions. It was…” Her voice trailed off as she fought back the memories of being Chief Engineer. The pride she felt when she got the job, the anxiety of her first day as Chief and then her disciplinary and sadness. She got lost in her thoughts before she realised she was mid sentence.
“…Special. It was special.” She added and then.... What happens if you don’t drink?
“The warpcore will explode.” She murmured to herself and coughed trying to cover and desperately hoping Harry had missed it. Since the incident she developed an annoying tick. Sometimes she was aware of it happening, other times, mostly when she was distracted, not.
“Coffee, black would be lovely. Thank you sir.” She replied.

Lt (j.g) Lisa Caldwell (Eng)

Harry didn’t catch what Lisa had said, but knew she had muttered something under her breath. He chose to let it slip, but thought he should at least reference her time as Chief Engineer.

“Coffee, black, and English breakfast tea, with a dash of milk,” he said to the replicator. It hummed into action, and the two drinks materialised. He placed the drinks down on the coffee table by the chairs in his office.

“I did see from your file that you were previously the Chief Engineer on the USS Mckoy,” he started, before pausing. “Do you want to talk through what happened?” he asked, with a sympathetic voice.

Lt. Archer
Chief Engineer

Lisa felt relieved that Harry hadn’t heard anything. She needed to be more careful but she couldn’t help herself. Why do I have to say it out loud EVERY time? She thought to herself. She fought down the frustration. She picked up the cup of hot coffee and took a sip sighing slightly and placed the cup back on the table.
“Thank you.” She said as she paused taking time to respond.

She thought back to that day. The day she regretted immensely. If only she could change things. Her heart began to race as she remembered what happened, seeing her injured team, the Klaxons ringing loudly and the panic she had felt. She had the thousand yard stare as she remembered.
“I....I.” she began then stopped and clenched her fists under the table. She took a deep breath.
“I nearly blew up the ship.” She stated, her voice trembling.
“I had completed research for months on increasing the efficiency of the warpcore. It would have meant that we could’ve increased the time taken to get to warp, increased the range and warp speed. It should have worked, it was going to work! I…” She paused to control herself before continuing.
“I nearly killed everyone. I couldn’t stop it. One of my team managed to shut the core down, but not before several were injured, one, almost died because of me.” There was a deep sadness and regret to her voice as she explained the events, somewhat sporadically to Harry.
“It should have worked.” She stated, tears had started to fom in her eyes but she fought them back.

Lt (j.g.) Lisa Caldwell (Eng)

Harry puzzled for a moment. “Do you mind if I ask whether there was an investigation done afterwards?”

Whilst he wasn’t one to approve of modifications without referring back to the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, the ship’s safety systems should have prevented such an occurrence from happening, even if there had been an error with the calculations.

Lt. Archer
Chief Engineer