Shifting Space
Posted on Sat Sep 27th, 2025 @ 9:07am by Captain Mitsu Sato & Lieutenant Kev Walker
705 words; about a 4 minute read
Mission: Respite
The quiet of the ready room was a small comfort after the long string of difficult days. The stars stretched beyond the view port, steady and unchanging, offering some small comfort in their deadly beauty. Mitsu sat on the small couch nestled under the ready room view port with a Padd in her hands, reviewing crew rotation lists and thinking over quite a number of things that she knew needed to be handled. She wasn't putting anything off, but she was taking a bit longer than she needed to as far as getting things in order. With a heavy sigh, Mitsu lifted her eyes from the Padd and mentally scolded herself. Just as she was considering taking a break, the door chime rang out. “Come in,” she called.
The doors parted with their usual hiss and Kev walked into the ready room. It was early, but he figured that the captain had good reason for calling him away from his duties. Seeing her sitting on the couch to the side, he braced to attention. "You wanted to see me captain?" he asked.
Mitsu stood and gestured toward the seat opposite her desk as she stepped towards her own chair. “Good morning, Lieutenant. I appreciate you making the time. We’ve got some structural changes to discuss.”
Kev glanced at the captain expectantly as he sat down. “What sort of changes are you envisioning?” he asked, a little concerned.
Mitsu leaned forward slightly, folding her hands on the desk. “I need to know if it's possible for us to accommodate at least two civilians on board without loosing any of our crew compliment," she said.
Kev’s eyes closed for a moment as he thought, then he opened them and nodded. Reaching out, he tapped a control on his side of the desk and brought up a holographic schematic of the Eclipse. His eyes flicked across the schematic, tracing corridors and compartments quietly. He’d memorized half the ship by heart already, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt to look at the actual diagram.
“Hmm,” he murmured, dragging a finger along deck six’s overlay. “We have several unassigned compartments on deck six. We can actually use two of them and put in two quarter cabins in each compartment. That way, we won't loose any of our compliment and we can technically gain two additional crew if you decide we need another two officers. There's no need to convert the current quarters we have, since all our our cabins are standard, so it would just be a matter of picking two or four people to move from deck four to deck six. I can draft the plans, but we’ll need engineering assistance. And frankly, we’ll need the ship in dock. Starbase 24 would be the right place to handle it.”
Mitsu gave a small nod. She had glanced through the schematics herself and reached a similar idea, but she had always tried to be thorough when she could. “Exactly what I expected you’d say. I don’t want our operations crew burning themselves out on construction when there are starbase resources available. But I want the planning to start here," she said. "How long will the actual work take?"
Kev frowned just a little at the question, but quickly shrugged. “With the starbase crew helping us, no more than a day or two once we begin. I’ll prepare a full plan with materials list, estimated labor hours, routing diagrams. If you’d like, I can also draft the official justification to Starfleet Facilities, so the starbase knows exactly why the work is a priority. The more prep work I do now the less time it'll take to get started. Once we get started, it should go quickly.”
Mitsu inclined her head toward him. “Draw up the plans. Present them to me within forty-eight hours, and we’ll forward them to Engineering at Starbase 24. I want this to be seamless.”
Kev rose from his chair. “Consider it done, Captain. I’ll have drafts on your desk before the end of tomorrow’s shift.”
Mitsu inclined her head again, her expression calm but thoughtful. “I won't hold you up any more then, Lieutenant. Dismissed.”
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