Awkward moments in a lift

Posted on Thu Mar 23rd, 2023 @ 7:25am by Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani & Lieutenant Commander Rin

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: USS Elysium
Timeline: Episode 1 MD12 (Back post)
873 words - 1.7 OF Standard Post Measure

The Mornings flurry of transports done, Miraj shut down Acheron and disembarked a few moments after the last Engineer hopped off. She had a few hours before the ferrying started up again in earnest, and she decided to head down to her quarters and work on the disheartening but necessary jobs of updating the personnel files of her department, to mark the injured, the missing and the lost.

She could do it in the office attached to the Main shuttle bay, but if she went down to her quarters, no one would see if she had a little cry. So she gathered a padd and a portable heater from the Traffic Control room, and went for the turbo lift.

With even fewer people on board the massive vessel, and most of them occupied with repairs, she wasn't expecting any company, so she was surprised when her trip to deck 18 stopped short, on deck 10.

Crewman Easta shuffled onto the turbolift, tool kit hanging heavy in one hand. The Bajoran engineer been working 18 hours straight and wanted nothing more than to get to the shelter she was now camping in, as her own living space was unreachable.

She paused momentarily on seeing Miraj, grunting out a curt greeting between gritted teeth.

Miraj glanced at the Engineer's stiff prickly posture, and tried to make herself small, shuffling over as far as she could in the lift. "Which floor?"

"23," Easta growled. That was all she had planned to say. She just wanted to sleep. And yet, here the Ensign was, who had impressively managed to get the ship knocked out of the galaxy.

"If you can mange getting me that far," she added.

Miraj winced at the jab. "I'm sorry." How many people had she apologised to now. "I thought I was doing the right thing at the time."

"There's an awful of people who aren't in a position to accept that apology. Now we're being told our *best* chance is evacuating to an ice world without civilization. All for what, to prove we can get to our destination a little faster with that damn drive?"

Miraj didn't raise her eyes from the floor, guts twisting as she heard the words, "We could have broken up entirely if i hadn't."

"Hadn't what? The quantum drive was already activated before we struck the filament. There was no need to use that damn drive in the first place. We weren't in any hurry. But you had to show off."

"but, but," Miraj stuttered. "That's not what happened. We didn't know what it was, we were trying to get away, and it looked like we were being pursued, No-one realised we were flying along it." You should have realised her conscious jabbed at her. You know all the space hazards, you should have figured it out.

"You can't tell the difference between a pursuing ship and a space anomaly?"

Normal people couldn't, not when it was a quantum filament. But Miraj didn't count herself with the normal people when it came to fly, she didn't ever class herself with the superb people, or the brilliant people. She was out there in a league of her own, and that meant she should have been able to tell. even if she was half asleep as it was three in the morning and running on nothing but adrenaline. "I know, But" she stopped. The 'but' felt so limp and useless, a shoddy workman, blaming her tools. "I know. I'm sorry. I should have figured it out."

"Understatement of the year."

The coldness of the firm statement was just the worst. There was no floor indicator inside the turbolift, and Miraj wondered how long it would be now. she couldn't be far off, only a few seconds she hoped.

"We'll get home." Miraj tried to sound more confident than she felt. Once the QSD is up again, its three to six months, that's all. We'll be back at Earth for spring break."

"That's all? That's ALL!?!" Easta exclaimed, barely able to process Miraj's casual dismissal of the situation. "My brother is getting married in 2 months. My father may not be with us in six months! Maybe not even three months. I'm supposed to go on leave next month to care for him! A third of the crew is dead. What little sleep I've had in 4 days...five days? Sorry, I've LOST COUNT, because all I've managed since you bounced us off that filament is the occasional nap on the floor of Engineering. You think I give a damn about making it back in time to drink myself into a stupor with humans? Some of us have actual places to be!"

Miraj was pushing away from the Engineer as her rant got louder, not sure what she could say or do to make it better. And then the doors behind her parted and she flopped out backwards onto the floor with all the grace of a landed fish. She heard Easta laughing at her until the doors closed.

Miraj sprawled on the floor and stared at the ceiling for a minute. Well. At least things couldn't get worse.

[OFF]

Crewman Easta Lian
Engineering
(Written by Lt. Rin)

Ens. Miraj Derani
CFCO