First Impressions
Posted on 04 Nov 2025 @ 2:51pm by Lieutenant Lelina Evans & Ensign Ryan Collingway
414 words; about a 2 minute read
Mission:
After Tarvik
Timeline: Morning
///Deck 8//
“Damn light,” Ryan said, working on it with his screwdriver. Now that his shore leave was over (not that he could remember most of it) he was focused on fixing the smaller problems on board. This particular light had shorted out a few days ago. His fellow engineer had gone for a coffee. He heard footsteps and assumed he had returned. “Hey, can you pass me a flathead? This isn’t working."
A hand passed him the tool. Ryan gave a satisfied noise as it worked. “Thanks.”
“You're welcome,” a female voice said, surprising him.
Surprised, Ryan got down from the ladder and saw a woman with red hair tied back and strange black/brown eyes. “Ensign Collingway, I presume. I’m Lieutenant Avans.”
“You must be the new CEO,” Ryan said neutrally. He had heard rumors that a new one had been selected. Of course he hadn't been considered. He shouldn't have anticipated anything different.
“Yep. I’ve heard good things about you as well,” Lelina said warmly. “Let’s take a walk for a moment.”
“How is Commander Boren?” Ryan asked. It was clear that she would not be returning if Avans was here.
“Settling in to the Starbase, the last I heard,” Lelina said. “I’ve looked into what happened on the last mission. It sounds like things could have gone a lot worse. Hopefully the next mission will be a little more stable.”
“We can hope for it. But I haven’t seen it yet,” Ryan said truthfully.
“I’ve talked to some of the engineering team. They say you’ve been takingnextra shifts getting things back to working order.” She had read his file of course, including the accident. And she didn’t need to be a psychologist to know that he was an overachiever with something to prove. Of course she couldn’t exactly call it like that. Getting the Ensign on the defensive was not a good way to make a first impression.
Ryan tried to shrug that away. “I didn't want any new CEO walking into a mess."
“Well, let’s split the workload a little more fairly from now on. Besides, I’m eager to look at the nuts and bolts of this ship. Let’s talk about her sore points right now.”
"Yes ma'am," Ryan obliged, going over the minor repair work that still needed to be done.
Lieutenant Lelina Avans
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Arawyn
Ensign Ryan Collingway
Engineering Officer
USS Arawyn
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