Posted by Lieutenant Katie Hawkins (Chief Engineer) in Outpost - Deep Space - Katie Departs
“Now, that wasn’t too painful, was it?” Katie asked as she closed the side panel of biobed 5 in the outpust’s sickbay.

The CMO said nothing in response, knowing the comment was directed at him, but rather at the biobed itself. He’d gotten to know her over the past few years. She seemed to treat the equipment with the same consideration and care that he treated the patients who came to see him.

“Doc,” she said, looking up at him,” I’ve enhanced the structural integrity system of the biobeds by using a Bynarian electro-coupling circuit with a Romulan bypass-bolt. To account for the slight invariance between the two technologies, I’ve included a Klingon auto-plating stem. That means your biobeds will be even more efficient when your patients come to see you and they are unlikely to crack under the weight of larger species coming to see you. Larger when compared to me, of course, so that’s … just about all of them.” She chuckled as she said that. She turned to leave, before looking back up at him.

“Right, I’ll be back in a week to make sure the updates work. Call if there are issues, and I’ll be back in a jiffy. Oh, and I’m currently working on an update to that Bajoran/Cardassian misalignment we’ve encountered in the surgical tool readouts. There’s a Vulcan melding process that looks promising, but I’m not prepared to let it go live until … well, I don’t want you doing any surgery on me until after I know it’ll work. I don’t want to grow a foot or something, though shrinking a foot would be worse, I guess.” She left sickbay and prepared to return to Engineering when her commbadge sounded.

=/\= Lieutennat Hawkins, please come to my ready room. =/\=

=/\= On my way, Sir, do your systems need an upgrade? =/\= She asked, as she reached the turbolift.

=/\= Not exactly, Chief. I’ll explain when you get here. =/\=

Katie shrugged, intrigued, but she knew she’d know what it was when she got there. The turbolift ride was slightly inefficient, but she understood why they didn’t want the system to be offline while she used a Talaxian engineering technique she learnt from a recent multi-species forum to improve them, it would require at least eight hours to install and test, and no way was she walking from one system to another … on this outpost that would take her eight hours, even if she tunneled her way through the jeffrey’s tubes and hung upside down to get through the gaps between some decks and sections.

One thing she was pleased about … the turbolifts were voice activated, rather than button activated … she’d have to get someone else to push the buttons for her if they were.

“Command Deck, please, love” she said, and the turbolift began the journey.

The doors opened and she found herself on the command deck.

“We didn’t call for you, Chief, no systems are down and your next scheduled maintenance isn’t …” an officer began.

“The Commander called me,” she replied, looking up at that officer, not missing a step, “to their ready room.”

“Commander,” she said, approaching his doors which swooshed open, “Lieutenant Katie Hawkins reporting as …” she noted that the commander wasn’t alone, there were the two men in grey uniforms and a device she recognised. It was her own design, an object for a challenge that she invented, The Hawkins Phase-Null Cage. A padd nearby was reading its status, it was operational. But … that was just a challenge, wasn’t it. “… ordered.” She didn’t understand why it was here, and why it was working. She stood at attention, all five feet and one oh five pounds of her, her heart racing.

“Lieutenant Hawkins,” her commanding officer said, nodding, “at ease. I presume you recognise your work? These two officers are here to escort you to your new posting. You have a day to pack up, farewell your staff and colleagues, leave your orders and recommend your replacement.”

“Kotan Veras,” she says without hesitation, off the commander’s surprised look, she says, “he is stubborn, he complains about Federation safety protocols being ‘too pampered,’ and he thinks our replicator soup is dishwater. But he can make a Romulan singularity core talk to a Bajoran solar sail using nothing but a roll of copper wire and sheer spite. He is the only engineer in this sector I trust to maintain the cross-species integrations I’ve built here. He doesn’t care who made the part; he only cares that it works. He’s the right man for the Outpost. If you need a Starfleet Chief Engineer to ‘lead’ pick one, but make sure its one who listens to what Mr Veras says and gets out of his way so he can integrate. If you can excuse me, I’ve got to pack, farewell my colleagues and give Mr Veras the happy news.”

She was dismissed and in her head was already running through what she needed to do. She put a comcall through to the engineering deck, and asked for a team huddle in thirty. She told them Kotan Veras was to be there, and to tell him to complain to her if he was woken from a nap. She went via her quarters, packed her uniforms and personal effects and left them just outside her door. She’d get them on the way back from Engineering. On the way, she went via Science, Lieutenant Sirlin, a vulcan scientist who she knew from the Academy was on duty. She told him the news, that she was being reassigned, and it was all very secretive where she was going. Sirlin nodded, and gave her the vulcan salute. She saluted him back. “Live Long and Prosper, Lieutenant Hawkins,” he said, “Peace and Long Life, Sirlin”, she replied. He reached onto his desk and gave her an object, “I understand that humans like trinkets from people they know. Here’s such an object for you.”

She looked down and smiled, it was a rock that she brought back for him from a mission that she said reminded her of him, because it was solid, but the middle of it was pure beauty.

She left and continued on her way to the Engineering Deck. Her team were assembled, Federation, non Federation, former enemies, all part of her team. Just as she was able to combine the parts of technologies of different species to work together, so she had been able to get the members of the different species to work together as one, each componesating for the other’s blindspots. And she counted herself as having her own blindspots.

In particular, she noted Kotan Veras, the Cardassian was standing between a Bynar and a Romulan, his arms crossed, and a frown on his face, he stamped his way across to her. “I was told to complain to you about being woken to be here, Chief,” he said bluntly.

“Pleasure to see you, Kotan,” she replied, smiling up at him, “don’t worry, you’ll be able to return to your beauty nap once we’re done, Chief.”

“Chief?” he said, confused, “but that’s you …”

“Brainiacs all,” she said to the room at large, “let’s get this over with so that Mr Veras can complain and return to his nap.” All the engineers stopped, and looked in her way, some of them made comments about the Cardassian, which he heard, but didn’t respond to.

“You may recall the Hawkins Phase-Null Cage I created for a challenge. Well, it turns out it was more than a challenge, it was part of a selection process for a new role, and apparently it won me the role. I leave within the day, I’m being escorted to my new role, the Commander doesn’t know what it is, I don’t know what it is. All I know is … I have to leave all of you and all of this,” she motioned around the deck, “behind.” Some chatter started up, and she held up a hand, which was unseen, but Kotan Veras could be seen, and he said, “brainiacs! Silence! The chief is still speaking.” The silence returned and was deafening.

“I was told to pick my successor. The Commander was surprised as the individual I picked wasn’t Starfleet. The individual I chose doesn’t care that part A is Cardassian and part B is Bajoran or Ferengi or Bynar or Federation, this individual was chosen because they look beyond that to see what works. This individual and I butted heads initially, but conceded that while the Ferengi cell was trash, but by bypassing the primary capacitor, it’ll give us the torque we need. The commander said that the Federation would want a Starfleet Chief of Engineering/Operations, and I replied, just as long as that individual is smart enough to let my team of Brainiacs do their job and keep things working, that will work. And I know you lot will say aye sir to the new chief and follow the instructions of my replacement. My recommendation for my replacement is Kotan Veras.” Applause went up around the Deck, and Kotan Veras looked stunned at first, before looking down at Katie.

“Well,” he said gruffly, “Good. Maybe now I can get some real work done without a five-foot whirlwind telling me my plasma-manifolds are three microns off-center.”

“Now that’s taken care of,” Katie said, “those of you on duty …” She stopped when she saw Kotan shaking his head, and stopped.

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” he said, “Brainiacs, as Lt Hawkins was saying, those of you currently on duty, stay at your posts. Those of you like me who aren’t on duty join us at the lounge. We need to send her off in style.”

And a group of them followed Katie and Kotan to the lounge, where it seemed the word was getting around that their five foot nothing Engineering Chief was being reassigned.

• Katie Hawkins, Chief Engineer, Leviathan

OOC: I literally ran out of time on this

The outpost commander was there and gave a speech extolling Katie’s virtues and saying he wouldn’t be giving her up if he had any choice in the matter, but he was willing to let her experience … whatever it was she was going to experience. The commander nodded to the two officers standing near the doors to the lounge, and told those in attendance that they know where she’s going, but no one on the outpost does … not him, not Katie.

Katie was congratulated by those in attendance, and she couldn’t recall the nunber of times she told people that the news really changed everything and that it really felt good. And she was ready.

=/\= Katie Hawkins, Chief Engineer, Leviathan =/\=