Reflection

Shaka sat at the engineering console, drumming her fingers on the side of the desk. Why the hell am I sitting here? she asked herself. I'm not an engineer I already told him that. Some people never listen, I guess. She returned to her duties. She smiled ear to ear when Devore fired up the slipstream drive since it gave her a chance to nit-pick it and make tiny adjustments to increase its efficiency. After more repeated use, she hoped to hammer out more of the kinks. She still held to her original belief that it needed more lab testing.

"Ensign Shaka," Devore said. Shaka kept working but turned her antennae towards his voice. "I want a report on the slipstream drive by the end of the hour."

Shaka looked at the chronometer. It read 1747 hours. She rolled her eyes as she scrolled through the ship's battle report. I sure as hell hope he doesn't expect me to write the engineering report also. The slipstream experienced two glitches and one bug; nothing she wasn't able to handle on the fly, but she was sure to keep a running list. Shaka downloaded her report on the slipstream drive to a padd and rushed to the ready room fifty paces away. She pressed the door chime several times, impatiently.

"Enter!" a harassed-sounding voice answered.

Shaka squeezed through the doors as they opened and tossed the padd to his desk.

"Here's my report," she said. As soon as she got her last word out, she turned tail and started out the door.

"Not so fast. This is the first piece of literature I'm getting from you, and it probably won't be the last. I want you here when I read it. Take a seat."

"But sir, I have" Shaka began.

"Now," Devore said sternly.

Shaka took a seat, unwilling to risk another confrontation. She knew she was treading on thin ice as it was.

Devore read through the report. He smiled in some parts and looked somewhat disgusted in others. He began quoting from her note at the bottom.

" 'The slipstream drive performed with few deviations from norm, but you would have ended up approximately fifteen light-years from your destination had I not been able to correct the problems as they occurred. I am currently devising a way to more closely integrate the long-range sensors with the slipstream drive to make the slipstreams more accurate. In the meantime'."Devore's voice trailed off at her explanation. "This is an excellent report, Ensign," he stated, tossing the padd to his desk. "We are fortunate to have you aboard."

"Thank you, sir. I would like to make a request, however."

"Yes?" Devore asked.

"I would like permission to convert the Science II station to a dedicated slipstream drive station. It would give me more control over what I could do."

"Is it necessary?" he asked.

"It's not necessary, no," she responded. "I could always sit on the floor with a tricorder and upload my commands from there"

"Sarcasm notwithstanding," Devore responded heatedly, "would it increase your efficiency?"

No. I'm just asking for the pure hell of it, she thought. "Yes, it would," she said, forcing a cheerful face.

"I'll look into it, then. Dismissed."

Shaka headed to the door when the Commander stopped her.

"Ensign? One more thing my doorbell is not a toy. Ringing it once is sufficient."

Shaka grinned as a response and left the room.

Shaka sat at the engineering console watching the chronometer tick down to when her shift would end.

<The time is 2000 hours. Gamma shift has ended, > the computer announced. Shaka couldn't have torn from that console any faster had she been equipped with a slipstream drive herself. Almost running into the turbolift doors, she announced, "Deck eight."

In her quarters, Shaka reflected on the day. Was she letting Devore get the better of her? Was she overreacting to everything? Was Devore ? Only time will tell, she thought, changing into a pair of pajamas. Crawling into bed, she announced, "Computer, lights out," and fell fast asleep. Maybe tomorrow she could find some time to stretch her legs in the lounge.