The Amazing Discernable Sorenson

Posted on Wed Jul 1st, 2015 @ 2:17am by Lieutenant Rianna DiMarco & Ensign Abigaël Sorensen

Mission: The Belle of Bellatrix
Location: Engineering Deck O
Timeline: 2278.50 0930hrs

"Mm, that's not it. Richards was on 80A and 84. That still leaves 85, 89 and 92B unaccounted for." DiMarco sighed as she scrolled through the list of work tickets closed out for the week. She didn't know whether to be amazed that there were already that many work tickets closed since launch or the fact that she was missing logs on who was closing some of them. "A. Sorensen. Who's A. Sorensen?" she asked Esco, who stared tiredly over the rim of his coffee mug. "I don't have a Sorensen, do I?"

"Do you?" he asked, mildly amused as she started picking through the roster again. "Unless the ship has gnomes or elves or those little fairy things that fix broken stuff.. You know what I mean, right?"

DiMarco peered at him for a moment as if he'd lost his mind. "Ok, so no," he sighed. "Remind me to tell you about Santa and the shoemaker's elves when you're in a better mood."

"I lost an ensign, Esco. I have an ensign.."' she muttered, clearly distraught. "On no work team. Under no supervisor. Hanging like a loose thread. I'm a terrible chief.."

"Ri.. we jumped right into the middle of a murder investigation before day one had even rolled around. I think you can be cut some slack-" he had started to say, but she was already up and moving- out the door in her typical rush-rush fashion, leaving him to finish his coffee in peace.

*****

Tracking down the phantom Sorenson was a bit of trial. It seemed she'd been everywhere, helping here, doing there, but not staying put for very long. When Ri finally tracked her down, the young woman was elbows deep in a panel, solo. DiMarco chided herself again internally as she approached, making her footsteps heavier as she did so she didn't surprise her. A fried lost ensign was worse than being overlooked.

"Heeey, hi there. Ensign Sorensen?" DiMarco grinned guiltily, her hands stuffed deep in her pockets.

Half a frown, head tilted, the young ensign listened carefully as she tugged at some contraption inside the panel. "Juuuust a few more seconds." With a groan she tugged some more and winced.

"HA! Got you! No more hissing from you." With a huge grin Abigaël grabbed a rag tucked in her belt and looked up. Spotting the rank on the officer addressing her , she hurriedly cleaned her hands, revealing a series of burns, cuts and bruises in various states of recovery.

She came to attention, studying her superior. Noting the engineering stripes, her mind raced but failed to deliver who this was. Hanging on to a friendly smile she asked “How may I be of service Lieutenant?”

DiMarco's smile grew just a little more guilty. She was polite, too. That just made it worse. "Ri, please. I'm Rianna DiMarco- chief engineer. I'msosorrythatImisplacedyouallthistimeI'lltotallyfixthat and it's nice to meet you."

Taken aback, Abigaël raised an eyebrow and stared at the Lieutenant for a moment. “Sir?” Her head tilted slightly to the right. “I’m afraid I don’t follow.” Her mind raced, trying to figure out if she'd let Chief Watt's down in some way.

"Ensign- I'm going to call you Abby- we haven't met quite yet. You sort of got lost in the hurry-up of getting the ship ready to go. Somehow your entry on the manifest got overlooked and I'm very sorry for that. Normally I'm very thorough. I've been negligent on getting you into a proper work team and having you get your fair shake at things in engineering. I'm sorry for that and I'd like to make it right. Get you involved." The chief pulled her hands out of her pockets and crossed her arms over her chest. Either she wasn't used to apologizing or she was really out of sorts over her mistake. "I've seen your work tickets. You're doing quality work and all, you just shouldn't be doing it alone. Or without recognition."

The young ensign tried not to chuckle, failed, then grinned at her superior. “I wouldn’t worry about it Sir. Seems I’ve been misplaced by starfleet ever since I got out of San Francisco. No one received my transfer order to the Farragut three months ago, then when they did, I had no actual posting. Simply a notice to be here. CPO Watts was in charge of engine refit at the time. ” Pointing at the toolbox near her with her foot she continued “he was kind enough to take me in and help me feel useful.“

Regaining her composure but still grinning she straightened her back. “Tell me where you want me and that’s where I’ll be.” She nodded in deference and struck her heels together before straightening again. Despite the quasi military gesture, her eyes sparkled with amusement as her grin subsided to a half smile.

"Watts.." Ri made a mental note to throttle Watts for not bringing it to her attention. She was still pretty upset at herself for not noticing Sorenson- who sort of stood out in the predominantly male department- she kicked herself a little more. "No. See Watts is great and he's sharp as a whip, but he's one of my guys. And now you're one off my guys, so there's a lot to catch you up on. Are you buttoned up here?"

Abigaël stuck her head unceremoniously into the opening listening for a moment before nodding. “All good Sir.” She popped the panel back into place and promptly picked up her tools, all very well placed along the wall as to not be in the way. With an enthusiastic nod and a smile, she signaled her willingness to follow the Lieutenant. “Ready and able Sir.”

DiMarco finally seemed to relax at that. "Good 'cause now you've gotta meet all of the guys and the team leads. We've gotta get you familiar with all of it and we've got to get you on a shift team. No one works alone and no one does the crap jobs solo. Quick in, quick close as a team. Have you been all around the engineering decks yet? The mess? The bridge? Let's stow your gear and hit the highlights. There's a lot of ship to see."

Ensign Sorensen beamed at her superiors enthusiasm. This, certainly was home.

------------------

Ensign Abigaël Sorensen
Engineer's Mate

Lt. Rianna DiMarco
Chief Engineer

LTJG Mauricio 'Esco' Escobar (PNPC - DiMarco)
Engineer