NAZGUL #21: Malta NX-22

Posted on Mon Jan 13th, 2025 @ 10:16pm by Captain Rogue "Ro" Green

Mission: NAZGUL: {CD&MISSION} Return to Basics
Location: NX-22 Malta
Timeline: current/somewhere in between

OOC: Rogue Green playing as Rachel Cavender.

ON:

The alarm sounded next to her head, on the shelf that was also the nightstand next to the head of her bed. Lieutenant Commander Rachel Cavender heard the low yield warbling of her alarm, her eyes beginning to flutter as she came back to the world of wakefulness. "I'm awake," she said out loud, the voice activated alarm hearing her words and ceasing its continuous sound. Reaching her hands up after shifting to her back, Rachel rubbed her face and eyes before the hands went to her belly and she blinked at the overhead. The atypical grey Duranium ceiling met her gaze, the same ceiling she had seen for the past two years aboard the NX-22 Malta. Her quarters were dark, but with the electronic panels, and the streaking stars going by at warp four, it was illuminated enough for her to see well. Using her elbows and forearms she sat up on her butt and then used her hands to rotate her legs to the side of the bed. Her knees bent and her feet made contact with the carpeted deck. Again, she rubbed her face and finger combed her shoulder-length black locks back over her head. Out of the shadows an animal appeared, an orange tabby cat, approaching her and giving love rubs to her calves as he went back and forth several times, meowing at her even as he kept looking up expectantly.

"Mornin', Tubby." Cavender reached down and stroked her cat, scritching behind his ears and the back of his head, causing a steady purring to come from within his body. "I know, you're hungry. You know the drill, buddy. Mama needs to wake up first." Sporting a loose tank top and Starfleet bikini briefs, both a dark blue color, Rachel stood up and stretched, her muscular, athletic frame being shown off with the small size of her sleeping shirt. She was a woman who believed in steady exercise and working out and it showed. Hooking a thumb into her elastic leg band as she began to walk, Cavender pulled some bunched material out of her butt crack, wriggled her butt to adjust, then squatted by the cat food dispenser, turning it on. "There," she said, smiling as Tubby ran over and began to eat, ignoring mom for the moment. "You're welcome," she said jokingly, standing up and heading into her bathroom.

Twenty minutes later Cavender came out of her bathroom freshly scrubbed, and nude. She air dried her body, using a hair dryer with its own power source to dry and brush out her hair. Once that was done to get her hair to just barely damp, Rachel then put her hair up into a ponytail to keep it out of the way for her duties in engineering. Hair fixed, she then gathered her duty underwear, a dark blue sleeveless T-shirt and women's boxer briefs. Next, her black socks. Finally, reaching to a hangar on the outside of her wardrobe, Cavender brought her blue coveralls to herself and removed them from the hangar, putting it back where it had been hanging. She slid her legs into the Starfleet coveralls one at a time, then pulled them up to her waist. Taking a moment to decide, Rachel made the decision not to wear the button up black undershirt, instead allowing for the neckline of the blue shirt to be seen by observers. Not against regulations, but often frowned upon by superiors. However, being a Lt. Commander did have its advantages, and one such privilege was being allowed to change the uniform slightly enough for comfort as long as it maintained decorum and personnel standards. Plus, her one go-to excuse when she was caught wearing her uniform like this was; it gets hot in engineering, Sir.

Cavender giggled to herself at that as she pulled her coveralls up her back and over her shoulder, sliding her arms into the sleeves and adjusting everything before zipping up the front. The red department stripes always stood out, and she was proud of that. Starfleet had only recently changed the rank structure, so a lieutenant commander could now exist. Four months ago it was ensign, lieutenant, commander, captain. Now, with the changes, there were far more ranks to attain, and make personnel feel better about promotions. The main complaint had been that too many officers were kept at lieutenant for pretty much their entire careers. So, Starfleet went with the old US Navy ranks to accommodate personnel and give them something to shoot for. Rachel was glad for that since it put her up immediately for promotion from lieutenant to lieutenant commander, which was granted. As the Chief Engineer, she was now Commander Cavender to her subordinates, and many of the ensigns had been promoted to lieutenant JG. It made for a positive and happy work place. Sitting down on the edge of her bed, Rachel slipped her boots on and zipped them up the sides, wriggling her toes within to get the socks to adjust to being compressed and to stretch enough not to squeeze her toes too much. Giving a scratch and stroke to Tubby on her way out the door, Lt. Commander Cavender headed for the crew mess/dining room.

Arriving at her destination, Rachel immediately stepped to the beverage area and gathered a thermomug of black coffee. Once that was obtained she stepped to the food line, getting a tray and setting it up with a plate and saucer, placing her coffee mug on the opposite top corner from the saucer. She went with sausage links, some bacon strips and scrambled eggs. the saucer she used for several crescent slices of honeydew melon. Having gathered her breakfast Cavender then turned around and stepped out of the way of others, her eyes scanning the room for a good place to sit. There, over in the far corner, a four place table next to the viewport. Getting to the table she placed her tray and then sat down, placing one cloth napkin on her lap, the other being used to dab her mouth when needed. Taking up her utensils she began to eat, chewing each piece completely before swallowing. As Rachel chewed her food, now holding a piece of bacon between thumb and finger to bite from, she stared out at the streaking stars and the stars beyond them, lost in a myriad of thoughts.

"Mind if we join you, Chief?"

Cavender blinked a few times to come out of her reverie, looking over and up at the voice that had spoken. Ensign--wait, now Lt. JG, Roy Kessler looked down at her with a smile. He had two others with him, one she recognized as a new officer in engineering, the other she had never seen, who also wore gold stripes. "Please," Rachel said pleasantly, motioning with her bacon strip for them to take the other seats.

"Thanks, Boss." Kessler said with a smile, the man always seeming to be filled with positive energy. So much so that his positive vibe often infected those around him. He had a way of putting people at ease without even trying. The others sat down, and along with Kessler adjusted their trays for digging in, as she had done earlier.

Rachel finished her bacon strip, licked her thumb and finger, and then used the napkin to do away with any excess. Her meal was done, having eaten what she could as her hunger was now satiated. She never overate, or tried to stuff too much into her body. It showed with how clean her dishes were, her brain having automatically chosen the proper portions for her depth of hunger. "Have you heard anything on the warp six upgrades?" Cavender asked.

Kessler shook his head no, since he was chewing a bite. She allowed him the time to chew, swallow and drink down a sip of OJ. "Not yet, Commander. I figured you would hear something before I would."

"My PADD was quiet this morning," Rachel admitted. "I can only figure that the warp six engine is holding up as expected."

The younger man, the new face in engineering, added a bit to it. "I know they were looking at power oscillation last night, Commander. From what I could overhear, everything was fine."

"Thank you, Ensign..." Cavender glanced at his name plate. "Morris."

"My pleasure." He gave a grin and went back to eating.

Cavender pulled her PADD from her thigh pocket as the others shared small talk and ate their meals. The overnight reports from Beta and Gamma shifts showed no discrepancies. Kessler had been working on the antimatter inducers last night before Alpha shift had ended, and why she had asked him if he had heard anything. The inducers needed to be fine-tuned with the new power levels for the warp six engine. As the Chief Engineer, Cavender had a few ideas on how to tweak the systems for the engine and get a better performance out of it. Her father, Nathan Green Jr. had been Starfleet for years, an engineer, as had her grandfather on his side, Nathan Green Sr. Rachel chose to use her mother's maiden name of Cavender, not wanting to ride the coat tails of her dad and granddad, which they understood. Both men had been engineers, her mother had been a medical officer and scientist.

"I'll see you boys in engineering." Rachel said as she stood up and gathered her tray. Going to the bin she dumped it inside, then refilled her mug of coffee.

As she had gone, Ensign Morris had watched her go, his eyes wandering down to below the waistline, which Kessler did not miss as Morris made a comment. "That is one fine looking engineer."

Kessler, his normally friendly face now looking upset, said quietly. "Keep those thoughts to yourself, Ensign. Yeah, she's a looker and one of the only women who can make coveralls look good. All that aside, she's a damn fine engineer, officer, superior, and friend. Got it?"

"Whoa!" Morris raised his hands defensively. "Just an observation, Lieutenant. No offense intended, okay?"

Roy's face slowly went back to the friendly guy, and he gave a grin to show his moment of anger had passed. "Cool. Nothing wrong with checking out women, I just thought you were going to cross a line with something crass."

"Not even a thought, man. Sorry for getting your hackles up."

"Let it lie. It's over now." They all went back to eating, though in a much more subdued manner.

***

Cavender walked into main engineering, seeing bustling bodies all over the place as Alpha shift was now in full swing. Ascending the steps to her CEO perch right at the engine, Rachel slid her PADD into her pocket and began to tap keys. Her eyes read the reports from the Gamma shift, then the Beta shift. According to the reports the warp six engine was doing fine. The Malta had yet to stretch her legs to that speed, beyond the initial shakedown for the engine, but to see the numbers all in the green after the upgrades was a good sign. As the shift progressed, Cavender saw to duties in every corner of the department, aiding some, while also leading small teams to aid herself. It seemed it was going to be a good day in Main Engineering.

OFF: