The hum of the warp core for most Engineers was a calming, peaceful noise. For Thomas, it was a reminder of just how dangerous those explosives were. He found himself with a rare moment alone in front of the warp core, just looking up at the warp drive. It’s constant humming, and Shawe’s breaths, were the only noises filling the otherwise silent room. As Shawe let the vibrations fill his body, his hand subconsiously rubbed the burns on his face. The wooshing of the doors opening brought him back to reality as a half-vulcan woman in the Engineering yellows stood by the door.

“The results are promising sir, this little pet project of yours seems to be going well,” the vulcan said, her eyebrow raised in curiosity as she reviewed the results on a PaDD. “A few more tests and the captain will be ready to see it.”

Shawe took the PaDD and looked over the data. The phaser casing seemed to be holding OK, but Shawe noticed that temperature seemed to be a problem with prolonged use. “It needs to be able to be held, Ensign. If it’s too hot to hold, then the device is useless,” he said absentmindedly, still staring into the blue core, as if looking deep into someone’s soul.

“The strenght levels, however, are satisfactory. Give our lab-rat another week to recover from the last testing. It seems his been a bit more compliant since our last test,” Thomas commented, with a twinge of disappointment that he hadn’t had an excuse in the last 7 days to test it on him again. “Becoming more alert. Which means it has had the desired effect, but if he keeps up the satisfactory work,” he continued with an emphasis that it was still far from optimal work that the Tellarite was performing, “then we may need a new test subject.”

Shawe turned his head slightly so that he was now facing his new ACE. “However, a week is a short time. Keep an eye on him, and if he steps out of line, we can schedule another test of our prototype.”

The Vulcan acknowledged the order and was about to leave when Shawe called out one more time. “T’Pak. The warp core is also at .002 power definicency. It will need to be fixed before it becomes a problem.” During the conversation, he finally figured out why the warp core sounded a little bit different to the normal, even though it took him a moment to hear the slight groan on each pulse.

Meanwhile, in Sickbay - a Tellarite was starting to think about revenge.

To be continued....

Lieutenant (J.G) Thomas Shawe, CE et. al.