Asking For Help

Posted on Sat Jun 14th, 2025 @ 7:45pm by Lieutenant Commander Drevas & Lieutenant JG Elen Rell

1,982 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Prologue
Location: Tactical Department, USS Guinevere
Timeline: 2388

Elen hesitated outside the door for the span of three full warp pulses. That was enough time to walk away. Enough time to pretend she'd meant to be somewhere else, like literally anywhere but here. Instead, she sighed through her nose, palmed the door panel, and walked into Tactical like she belonged there...which she absolutely didn't! She wore her mustard-gold uniform with the sleeves pushed up to reveal crocheted cuffs, the same warm ochre tones carried in the fingerless gloves hugging her hands. She held a PADD in her hand. "Hey." She stepped into the space with the same loose-limbed confidence she carried in Engineering, but tempered now...Tactical didn't hum like a warp core. It watched. And so did the tall Kelpien at its center.

Elen had heard there was a new Chief Tactical Officer. She’d skimmed the transfer manifest with half a brain, more focused on warp field harmonics than anything else, but Kelpien had caught her eye. Not a species you saw in every corridor. So she wasn't surprised when she saw him since she knew to expect him.

Gangly to the casual eye, but Elen knew better than to be fooled by form. She'd seen structures with narrow support beams hold up entire warp nacelles. His presence felt like that. Like something made to endure, flex under pressure, but never break. She’d worked with Tactical officers before. But Drevas didn't radiate ego or detachment. Just a quiet certainty, the kind some people mistake for aloofness. Elen didn't. She read people the way she read warp cores, not just on output, but on resonance.

And this one? He was built for storms. Not the gentle storms that sometimes went across Mars, painting the planet in red sand. No, this was the sort of storm that tore ships apart...and she was pretty sure that Drevas would remain standing afterwards. "Elen Rell, Engineering...got a question..." she said, introducing herself but also pretty sure that she shouldn't waste his time. Chiefs were busy. She had learned that just by sticking an 'Acting' in front of hers. She held up the PADD. "I need a walkthrough. I got raw data but to me it reads like someone tried to teach power redistribution to a warp field by interpretive dance...and mime..." she moved closer to him, the PADD held out to him. "And you look like someone who knows what a triangulated phaser matrix wants when its at home. Which is sort of what I am after. I keep trying to improve power distribution and make sure that when you go all guns and blazes in battle that we don't experience any power drain...from either side. There's a 0.3 second drop in simulations and I want to get rid of it, but to do that...I sort of need to know what you do. Or any data you have. Seriously, I will even take more raw data and then tell the computer to make me smarter..."


"...yes, miss Lang, we will have the departmentwide meeting tomorrow, in the briefing room, at 0730 hours. I will send out a memo informing the department of such shortly. You may inform the NCO corps of it." The lanky Kelpien she was looking for seemed to be doing about three things at once, walking round the hub with his PADD in one hand, typing on consoles with the other, ensuring their good working order, and talking to a short, sprightly-looking human petty officer walking next to him, who ran off somewhere else as soon as he'd finished talking. Clearly he'd done it all before - not in this exact combination, maybe, but it showed in the smoothness of his multitasking.

Then he noticed the brunette in yellow trailing him round the room. He seemed a smidge bewildered as to how she'd gotten there for a moment before speaking again: "Oh. Pardon me, lieutenant - could you kindly repeat what you've come here to do, a little more slowly, please. I'm afraid departmental business has kept me quite busy for the past few minutes, and I wasn't been paying enough attention." Then he flashed her a polite smile, one that suggested that maybe, just maybe, he'd deliberately asked her to slow down and consolidate her thoughts. Or perhaps he really was just trying to be polite. Who knows.


Elen blinked. Her mouth, suddenly aware it had outpaced her brain, stopped mid-sentence. She let out a short breath, equal parts sheepish and amused. "Right. Yeah. That was...a lot." She held up both hands as if surrendering to the pace of her own enthusiasm, and acknowledgement she had just barged in and started talking with no regard that he was in the middle of his own work. "Sorry. Sometimes I forget that there's people outside my own brain..."

She gave a quick, lopsided grin, then tapped her PADD like it might organize her thoughts for her. "Okay. Short version. I'm working on improving power redistribution efficiency during sustained Tactical engagements. There's a 0.3-second energy dip in simulations when you go full phasers-plus-shields. It's not huge, but it bugs me. I think it's a flow sync issue between systems, but I need to understand what Tactical actually expects in real-time during high-load maneuvers." She held the PADD out again, slower this time. "So. I was hoping you'd either walk me through your side of the systems, or let me poke at your data until I stop being confused. Preferably before I end up writing a dissertation titled 'Why Did the Phaser Bank Cry: A Systems Engineer’s Tale.'"

"To the contrary, lieutenant, a dip of 0.3 seconds is in fact the hard limit of our current equipment, based on specifications alone." Drevas smiles kindly. Now that she wasn't talking like she was on some kind of high caffeine rush, he could actually understand her - both literally and figuratively. He understood how it felt to know that, despite best efforts, there would probably always be a point which seemed so near, yet so far from reach.

"Come. Let me show you." Drevas doesn't put away the PADD he's carrying in his other arm; no matter what, he's still got work to do while doing this, of course. He brings her over to a console and pulls up the specifications for the Guinevere's tactical systems, before proceeding to explain, patiently, the limitations of their equipment, helpfully pointing out where she should pay attention to as he runs his own set of sims.

"See? As you too achieved, a 0.3 second momentary decrease in energy transfer rate. This simulation is backed by ample real-world data." He replies, pointing to the numbers on screen. "We would love for this delay to be shortened - but alas, given what we have at the moment, that is likely not possible."

"What does matter, however, is how we make up for this deficit. Sound tactics, backed by intelligence, is how we do it." He adds. "We make sure that, as far as possible, our fire counts. The heartware makes the difference."

Elen studied the simulation as he spoke, her brows drawing together...not in frustration, but something more like awe dressed in analytical thought. Her voice, when it came, was softer around the edges. "Huh. So it really is the edge of the line," she murmured, mostly to herself, before glancing at him sidelong. "Guess that’s the thing about physics. It gives you the rules and dares you to find a loophole." She let out a breath and smiled, smaller this time, but genuine. "I've been trying to muscle past it like it was just a system I hadn't sweet-talked properly yet. But you're right. If I can't beat the delay, I can design around it. Build smarter. Anticipate the dip instead of fighting it mid-flow... use my headware as much as possible and leave the heartware to you who know what to do." Her eyes lingered on him for a beat longer than was strictly necessary, taking in not just the technical competence, but the quiet confidence, the calm clarity he radiated like it was part of the uniform.

"Exactly right. Rest assured that we will make the best of what you give us, as we are trained to do." Drevas replied with a kind smile as he tapped the screen, and it went dark. His point had been made sufficiently, at any rate.

"Few officers dare to ask for help when they are not yet sure of something. Many of us want to think that we possess all the answers, don't we?" Drevas added "Keep asking and clarifying, lieutenant. Never stop. Willingness to admit that you in fact do not know everything and need the guidance of a more experienced other will get you far."

“Look, I’m just an engineer pretending to be Chief Engineer,” Elen said with a grin, eyes meeting his with a flicker of warmth. “I know the warp core and how to keep...or stop the whole damn ship from blowing up. What you do? That’s a whole other language my brain-pan’s not quite wired for.”

She hesitated, then added softly, “So... question, no pressure...do you ever get cold here? Like cold neck, cold hands… cold feet?” There was an honest tone to it, a want to do something as thank you for the man.

"Cold feet? I have, multiple times. The trick is to trust my training and what I know is right to do." Drevas replied with a kind smile and a momentary mischievous gleam in his eye. That was probably not really what she wanted from him and he knew it - but hey, a free reminder is just that.

"I don'f feel terribly cold anywhere at any point, however, and even if I did, I can adjust the environmental controls to make it more comfortable." He adds. "Why?"

"Just… you know," she trailed off, realizing she’d have to get creative. Maybe a knitted hat with earflaps...for those times he wanted something protective. Or a blanket? Those took more work, but the weight of one was comforting; she always liked them. Maybe he would too. "Anyway! Thanks for your help, Commander. 'Preciate it!"

"You're welcome, lieutenanr. Though I really do have to get back to work now; I'm only halfway done with my systems inspection." Drevas flashed her an apologetic smile. As much as he didn't terribly minf talking to her, both of them had jobs tk do, moreso him than her. It'd do neither of them good for him to keep her here for the purposes of conversation. "Until next time." He was already turning to look at the console he's swotched off earlier, noting down the results before tappimg the screen away. One part of his systemwide check (albeit by accident), several more to go.

Elen gave a nod, fully feeling the sting of work interrupted...no one liked that, and this time, she was the culprit. “Well... yeah! See you around and... next time...” she said, tossing him a lazy salute as she snagged her PADD and slipped through the doors.

Once they clicked shut behind her, leaving her in the quiet corridor, she closed her eyes for a beat. Her mind was already bouncing all over the place again—too many threads, not enough focus. She knew she needed to ground herself. Actually, she did know what.

Knitted hat with ear flaps. Teal. Bright teal. It’d pop against his colors, maybe even compliment him.

With that little plan tucked away, she set off...back to Engineering. Back where she belonged.

---

Lt. jg Elen Rell
Acting Chief Engineer
U.S.S Guinevere

&

Lt. Cmdr Drevas
Chief Tactical Officer
U.S.S. Guinevere

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