An Evening in Utopia

Posted on 18 Jan 2016 @ 9:56am by Lieutenant JG Natalya Kirilova

2,063 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: Bennett's Bar & Grill, Utopia Colony, Mars
Timeline: MD 12, 1915 Hours

[ON]

Utopia Colony was known far and wide for its key role in the shipbuilding industry. Its orbiting fleet yards had produced many, if not most of Starfleet’s premier starships, and as a result its facilities were always at the cutting edge of technology. It boasted a sizable population of engineers and technicians, and a modest commercial sector to accommodate them. Tourism was steady, but definitely a niche market, catering to the kinds of people that very well might have worked there, had their lives not gone in a different direction. But aside from the fleet yards and adjoining facilities, it was just another colony. Like many colonies, it had been founded to do one thing, and it was situated do that one thing well. In that regard, Utopia Colony very much reminded Natalya of home.

On the surface Bennett’s Bar & Grill seemed like just another local establishment, ubiquitous and unremarkable. It was clear that it had been popular for a long time, as it featured an array of additions that had been renovated to give the appearance of uniformity and mask the disparity in architectural styles. Fusion weld a couple nacelles on it, and the joint would be just like a kit-bashed Miranda-class starship, the design that refused to fade into history.

Whatever the restaurant was on the outside, on the inside one thing was made abundantly clear: Bennett’s was far more upscale than it ought to be. It was a glorified truck-stop, albeit one with the kind of reputation for… something that had people competing for reservations. They must be doing something right; that, or the competition was doing something terribly wrong.

The folks at Utopia Planitia that had invited her to dinner had said it was just that… dinner. Aside from advising her not to show up in uniform, there had been no other instruction. What was a Starfleet junior officer to do when she was invited to dinner by some very important people? The answer was simple, she wore one of the fanciest outfits she had. As a result, her options were limited. A little black dress somehow didn’t seem entirely appropriate, so her backup amounted to a burgundy blazer over a plain white blouse, and a pair of snug, black fake-leather pants that stopped short of her ankles. On her feet were a pair of nearly-matching burgundy pumps that looked as uncomfortable as they were tall—both unnecessarily so. She was far from being the best-dressed person there, but that didn’t really matter; luckily, her outfit had just the right amount of trash and pizazz to allow her to fit right in.

As Natalya made her way to the table where her associates were seated, she couldn’t help but notice the type of interaction that was going on. She wasn’t so arrogant to say that she could always pick an engineer out of a crowd, but there had been times when she would’ve been willing to wager that she could. This was one of those times. The amount of back-room dealing that appeared to be going on was staggering, and at that point Natalya realized that Bennett’s Bar & Grill was probably a place where decisions affecting significant portions of Starfleet resources were made, all under the supervision of alcoholic beverages. Which was really messed up.

“Ah! Lieutenant Kirilova, you’re right on time. Please, sit.” A man said, gesturing for her to take a seat next to a smartly-dressed Vulcan. Their table featured circular booth seating, with her spot right at one of the edges. She recognized the one who’d addressed her, he was Captain Walter Aldredge, the man who was responsible for the Excalibur-class refit program that was now taking effect after the ship design’s initial ten years of service. The Vulcan seated next to her had to be Doctor Sasek, Chief Designer of the Excalibur-class. She’d become familiar with his work during her years of service aboard the Excalibur. She didn’t recognize the third man.

“Captain.” Natalya said to Aldredge as she took a seat. The others began to take stock of her while the captain promptly began the introductions.

“Lieutenant, this is Stepan Devram, Assistant Director of Operations here at Utopia Planitia, and Doctor Sasek, Chief Designer of the Excalibur project.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet all of you, thanks for inviting me to dinner.” Natalya said genuinely, though she was still not exactly sure why she’d been invited to dine with them. The Excalibur had just docked for an extensive refit, which was expected to take at least three months under ideal circumstances. Normally, she’d be taking an extended shore leave, or perhaps volunteering to help with the refit, had she not submitted a transfer to another ship, the USS Galileo. She could certainly see the chief engineer meeting with these men to discuss a few things over dinner, but why her?

“The pleasure is ours, Lieutenant…” Director Devram replied first. Though younger than the doctor and captain by at least a decade, he looked like a man well suited for his job. He had a personable demeanor about him, but he was also clearly someone who was ambitious and full of ideas. He was an administrator, but he also might be an engineer. Before he could reply further, a waiter arrived with a bottle of wine and menus. He set the menu datapads down in front of all of them and then poured each a glass of the wine in silence. The wine was red, though Natalya couldn’t have said whether it was an Earthling blend or something more exotic. The waiter seemed to know at least some of the men at the table with her, and thus he didn’t introduce himself or go through the usual niceties. He went away as abruptly as he came, giving them some time to decide what to order.

There was almost a moment of silence as everyone reached for their glasses and took a sip of wine. “Mmm… this would go good with a grilled steak. Beef, of course.” Natalya said, now feeling very hungry.

Devram nodded approvingly. “The steak is excellent here. I’m not sure if it’s real or replicated, but either way the chef does an amazing job with it.” He didn’t bother reaching for his menu, and to her it seemed obvious what he was going to order.

“It’s a pity that they don’t serve Andarsian wild beast here.” Captain Aldredge added. “Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy beef as much as the next man, but it just gets so boring after a while.” Clearly, Aldredge had spent some time out in space if he’d enjoyed that meal before. The Andarsian system was hundreds of light years away, and more than a bit off the beaten path.

“You ever have Andarsian wild beast, Lieutenant?” Aldredge asked her. He was a tall and somewhat stocky man, starting to grey around the edges. He had a rough and tumble air about him, but it did little to detract from his warm demeanor and aura of experience.

Natalya shook her head in the negative. “No sir. Haven’t had a chance to get out that way yet.” She’d heard of the system, but didn’t know anything about the wild beast the captain had mentioned. She’d have to check it out… maybe a recipe existed in the replicator database.

“I’ve heard that the Andarsian wild beast is considered to be toxic to Humans.” Doctor Sasek spoke up, glancing at Natalya from over the edge of his menu datapad. Clearly, he meant to dissuade her from the captain’s choice in meals. Sasek’s age was indeterminate, but Natalya would have guessed he was well into middle age. As a Vulcan there was something strange about him, and it took her a second glance to realize that his style was more human than anything. His mannerisms were decidedly Vulcan though.

“The trip to sickbay is well worth it.” Aldredge muttered.

The group fell to silence as they consulted their menus and sipped at their wine. The server returned almost as soon as Sasek had finally put down his menu datapad. Both Natalya and the director chose the sirloin steak with baked potato. Aldredge chose something Andorian… iidrijan pie. Sasek chose eggplant parmigiana with a side of pasta.

“So… Lieutenant.” Director Devram said once their orders had been placed. “I hear you’ve put in a request for transfer to the Galileo.”

News travels fast. Natalya thought. Natalya had only put in the transfer the day before. “Yes, Director. I saw that they had not assigned a new chief engineer.” She had no idea what had happened to the previous chief. She knew nothing about the ship at all really, except that it was a Nova-class, and that it had been involved in some recent escapades that were beyond her security clearance.

“Well I’m sure you will be selected for the job.” Devram said. He seemed poised to say something further, but didn’t get a chance.

“I’d watch yourself around those Nova crews.” Aldredge interrupted. “Eight decks, and zero secrets. Not to mention all those scientists fighting over one or two science labs.” He shook his head. Natalya almost thought she saw Doctor Sasek do the same.

“It is regrettable that you won’t get to see the improvements we intend to make to the Excalibur-class first-hand, but your decision to seek a promotion is certainly understandable.” Sasek said.

“And… that brings us to why we’re all here.” The director added. “To put it simply, we wanted to thank you. For all the time and effort you put in on the ship. You and Chief Allen are the only two engineers in Starfleet who’ve been aboard an Excalibur-class from their launch until now.” He looked to Aldredge to continue.

“We had an idea of what we wanted to do to improve the ship in advance, of course.” Aldredge said. “And we expected many of those ideas to change after we started getting the data and recommendation reports from active ships. The report you and the chief submitted was very… enlightening, to say the least.” He seemed impressed. In a way, all three of them did.

Natalya had been expecting to hear that that report had put a bunch of people to sleep. After all, it had been some eleven-hundred pages long—a decade’s worth of data and engineering logs kept by Natalya, Chief Allen, and various other colleagues. Unlike the patchwork, hand-me-down reports submitted by other crews, theirs had been comprehensive and contained several long-term feasibility studies on various systems and parts of the ship that were likely to receive upgrades.

She opened her mouth to say something… exactly what she wasn’t quite sure. Natalya didn’t do well with praise. Especially not when people were singling her out. At least, it seemed that way with Chief Allen not there. Thankfully Captain Aldredge interrupted her.

“Even if only a quarter of our engineers stayed put like you did, we’d get the kind of quality reports needed to increase the survivability ratings of our designs. But most seem concerned with playing hopscotch all over the fleet, trying to make admiral. I can’t say when, or how many, but one day Lieutenant, your decision to stay put and not chase pips will save a lot of lives.” Aldredge seemed firm in that belief.

Unsure of how to deal with the spotlight, the Denalian engineer thought back to how her mother and father dealt with such praise from colony investors when their projects were finished on-budget and on-time. They often used humor to lighten the moment.

“Wait a sec… who said I never wanted to make admiral?” Natalya said, seemingly serious.

Everyone blinked. Even the Vulcan. Of the two humans, Devram laughed first.

“I believe we now have our toast.” Doctor Sasek said, raising his glass. “To your admiralty.” The others joined in and quickly echoed the sentiment. The meals arrived with near-perfect timing, and were laid out in front of them only a few seconds after the toast had been made.

[OFF]

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Lieutenant JG Natalya Kirilova
Asst. Chief Engineering Officer
USS Excalibur

 

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