Reporting to Mr Smythe

Month 16 Day 4

1600 Hours

Lt Vojeck, Engineering, St Elmo

When Jennifer Vojeck entered engineering, she saw a middle-aged man in a Lt Commander's uniform standing before the open office door, regarding a small group of ensigns and technicians. Some of the lower ranks could hardly keep their eyes open, but they had been told to report, so here they were, trying to stand at something resembling attention. Jenni hurried forward, inserted herself before the newcomer, and saluted. "Commander Smythe? I'm Lt Vojeck, C shift supervisor."

The man quickly returned her salute, and offered his hand. "Lt Vojeck, good to meet you. What kind of rotation have you all been working since the accident?"

"A and C shift have been working 16 hour days, or more."

"And D shift?"

"Mr Baker never issued any orders for D or what little remains of B shift; they've been working their normal hours."

He cast a frown at the floor. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Never the less, that's what's been going on," she stated, hoping he wouldn't direct his anger at her. She wanted to like him. He was, after all, here to help. And having anybody in charge other than Baker has to be an improvement.

"Where can I find your computer supervisor? Or were they injured during the accident?"

"Lt Roosevelt was servicing a computer in the mess hall and wasn't involved in the accident. I believe she's in her office."

"Do I take it from that that, like D shift, the computer specialists have been working their normal shifts?"

"That's right, sir. They aren't part of Engineering proper."

"Does that mean Mr Facchini doesn't cross-train any of the sub-departments?"

"He does up to a point, sir. Some of the sub-departments are simply too different from what we do here."

Smythe grunted at the statement. "Well, I have some chores for the comp sci guys to do, but I'll take that up with them. Now, do you know where your A-shift counterpart is?"

"Here, sir!" Jamison said as he hurried forward and placed himself at her side. He saluted with his bandaged hand, a half-eaten sandwich in his other. Smythe returned the salute, and Jamison offered, "My apologies, Mr Smythe. I went to sick bay for a bandage, and hoped I had enough time to grab a sandwich on my way back, but apparently I was wrong."

"Quite all right. Go ahead and finish eating. The hand doesn't look too badly damaged?"

"Just a scraped knuckle, sir."

Smythe nodded and looked around at the crowd that had gathered in engineering. "Has anybody seen my Lt MacDowell? Or Baker?"

"She went to remove the nacelles from the power grid," Jamison told him.

"And she took Baker with her," Jenni added. Under her breath, she added, "She seemed to think he didn't know how to do it."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Smythe muttered, and glanced at the chronometer, then at the group of engineers—which had grown since Jenni's arrival. "Well, I do see a couple of energetic faces in the group now, so they must be D shifters. I don't suppose one of them happens to be the D shift supervisor?"

Both Jenni and Steve looked over the new arrivals, but Steve was the first to answer. "I'm afraid not, Mr Smythe. But Lt Rominoff is the one I'd promote to shift supervisor, if we needed another one, and I was in charge of it."

Smythe looked surprised, and turned his attention to Jenni. "Do you agree?"

"Well, he didn't get it the last time there was an opening, and I though he should have," she offered.

Smythe nodded. "Thank you. I'll keep that in mind as I hand out assignments. Now..." He stood up straighter and addressed the entire group. "Here's how this is going to work, now that I'm here. A shift and C shift can go off-duty; return here for your regular scheduled shift tomorrow. That means midnight tonight for the A shift, so I suggest you get some sleep. I'll call in D shift to work tonight until midnight, and then for B shifts starting tomorrow. There will be no days off until we get this ship put back together. With any luck, it will only be a few days, and then I'll redistribute people until those on B shift are released from sick bay."

There was absolute silence in engineering, but Jenni could feel the mood lift. Smythe turned his attention to the 2 shift supervisors. "Before you go, could I get you to call in the D shift personnel? The ones who aren't here?"

"Of course, sir," Jenni responded, beating Steve by mere seconds. "May we use the office to do that?"

"Absolutely," he agreed, and stepped aside to call for "Lt Rominoff."

Jenni and Steve were in the office then, and it only took a few minutes to set the computer to call the remaining D shift personnel and have them report to duty. As they turned for the doorway to leave, Steve suddenly slapped his forehead. "I forgot to tell Mr Smythe the doorbell isn't working."

"What made you think of that?"

"Take a look," he said. "It's obvious."

Jenni saw that a small panel next to the doorway stood open, and two wires were detached from their connections. "Who would do that?"

"Well, just a guess, but maybe somebody who wanted Baker to appear to be slow in responding?"

"You said she was no nonsense. You didn't say she was devious."

"A person can be both," he stated, and stepped forward to reach for the wires.

"Thank you, Mr Rominoff," Smythe said outside the door and stepped inside. "What are you doing?" he asked Steve, who had stopped in his tracks, his hands out-stetched.

"There seems to be something wrong with the office doorbell," Jamison told him. "I remember Lt MacDowell saying so, and it's obvious what the problem is, so I thought I'd fix it before I go."

Smythe glanced at the panel, then flipped it closed. "She just happened to mention it, did she?"

"Well, she used the intercom to summon Lt Baker, and when he finally got here, he couldn't get in the office."

"He wound up pounding on the door," Jenni added.

Smythe's mouth tightened. "Well, a malfunctioning doorbell is the least of our worries right now. We'll deal with it later. You 2 are relieved. Go and get some sleep."

"It wouldn't take but a—"

Jenni slapped his arm. "Thank you, Mr Smythe." She pulled Steve out the door with her, and towards the exit. "He's not worried about the doorbell!"

Steve snorted. "Obviously, but it would only have taken a minute to put it right."

"I thought it odd when she mentioned such a trivial matter, but she was covering her ass. And now, so is he."

Steve thought about that for the time it took them to reach the lift. "Well, it is a pretty trivial thing, in the scheme of things," he decided.