The Chief Engineer's What the What of a Day

Posted on Sat Jan 13th, 2024 @ 12:36am by Captain Remy Johansen & Lieutenant Commander Nash Winters & Civillian Sara Winters

1,013 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Mission 0: Where do we go from here?
Location: Winters Family Quarters
Timeline: MD: -7 days to launch

Winters hadn’t eaten anything in hours and was famished. Stale coffee and replicated pretzels can get one only so far. He needed to lock down engineering and go home.

“Doc! Doctor Kurtz! I’m locking down for the night. We can pick up in the morning. Please call it a night and….go do….whatever you do with yourself. I need to go see my family. That’s an order,” Nash said curtly.

"We're almost done here, I'm going to lock down here in five." The Doctor called out "Have a good one."

Winters arrived in his quarters on deck 8, called out for his wife and daughter before slumping down into the couch.

“Sara! Alex! I’m home…..finally. Where are my girls?”

Nash called for his wife again, walking through the living area into the bedrooms. He stopped at his daughter’s room and found Alex.

Alex was in her room sitting on her bed with her feet propped up with what appeared to be a half a dozen pillows. She had headphones over her ears listening to music and didn't hear her father come home. She blew a bubble with her chewing gum as she worked on her physics problem. She was ready for other teenagers to show up and actual classes to start. She hated this home study nonsense.

“Alexandra.” She didn’t hear her dad the first time. “Alexandra!” He snapped his fingers by her head to get her attention. “Hey, little girl. Where’s your mom?”

Alex rolled her eyes and slipped off her headphones. "I am not a little girl anymore, Dad. I'm 13. Quarters aren't that big. I'm sure she's here somewhere, did you look under the couch?" she teased, making a silly face.

“I’m sorry, kiddo. I know she’s here somewhere. Ok, so are you having trouble with your homework there? Something I can help you with? Your book is open. In the meantime, there’s an arboretum that also serves as like a gathering place for the crew. There’s a playground, places to sit and eat. I was thinking we could go for breakfast tomorrow, meet and mingle with the crew. Maybe meet some new people. What do you think? We don’t get to hang out together that much, especially now.”

Nash continued. “By the way, there’s going to be a school on deck 11. No more home school. You can be around kids your age. It’s not fully staffed yet, but we launch in about a week. All the crew transfers should be done by then.”

"I know, dad. It's just boring being here before the other kids show up. The ship is so empty," Alex pouted.

"I heard another family with kids onboards tomorrow," Sara said softly from the doorway. "Sorry, was in the bathroom," she said, kissing Nash before continuing on. "Alex, how's your homework going? Let's take a break and eat something now that Daddy is home," she said. "Maybe we can check out the school facilities this week, too," she said, pulling Nash along behind her as they headed out into the main living area.

Alex tossed her PADD to the side, and took her headphones off from around her neck and crawled away from her pillow dome and followed her parents to the main room. The kitchen area was offset from the living room space. There was a small partition hiding the replicator, warmers and coolers, but functionally it was one large room.

"These quarters are bigger than our last place at least," Alex commented, though she didn't really care that much what size their quarters were as long as she had her own room.

"Yes," Sara said, nodding. "More for us to spend time together in," she said. "But also, a bigger room for you to clean," she said, noting her daughter's pile of pillows. "Do you really NEED that many pillows?" She asked. She didn't want to make it a THING, trying to be mindful that the teenager was facing some changes, but still. It was still a small space, and she didn't want it to get cluttered by unnecessary things.

Nash pulled Alex in for a side hug as they walked. “You can have as many pillows as you want. I want you to be comfortable and happy here. This is our home, Alex. You may not feel it right now, but this crew is our family, too. I think….I think we’re lucky. Sometimes families get separated when an officer’s posting gets changed. Ships out there don’t keep parents and kids together. I get to go to work everyday and come home to you and your mom. Same goes for Mom, right?”

Alex stifled a laugh as she hugged her dad back. Dad just contradicted mom right in front of her. He was acting funny. She made a mental note it was probably a good time to ask him for something. She'd have to think of what.

From the kitchen, Sara called out. "What do you feel like for dinner?" She asked. "Maybe we should check out one of the resturants on the Promenade," she said. "I need to figure out the cooking situation here," she said. "And I spent the day unpacking." She sighed. It had been a long day, but of course, not as long as Nash's. This doctor sounded insane, in her opinion. "Besides, the civilian science lab opens in a couple of days, so I'll be back at work shortly," she said.

"I dunno that many of the restaurants are open yet, but the mess hall has a chef today and I heard they have tacos!" Alex offered.

Sara nodded. "That sounds good," she said. "What do you think, Nash?" She asked her husband.

Nash gave his daughter a stern look. “A chef on a starship? Nooo…..can’t be. I guess we do have one, Alexandra. I think I could go for some tacos. Who’s in for meat and cheese? Alright! Let’s go before it gets too crowded.”

End

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