Post-Intruder Engagement (Backpost)

Posted on Wed Sep 3rd, 2025 @ 3:15am by Petty Officer 1st Class Kael Draven & Lieutenant JG Jenna Jade

Mission: Lower Decks
Location: Main Engineering
Timeline: During End of Pirate Attack

After handing off two unconscious intruders to security and giving Reyes, Thompson, and Patel a series of vague but confident-sounding orders like, “Secure that corridor,” and “Patel, go find something that looks important and don’t touch it,” Kael finally made his way toward Engineering.

The doors swished open to reveal the familiar hum of the warp core and the buzzing of engineers mid-repair. Kael stumbled in, still catching his breath, looking only slightly less disheveled than when the firefight started. Phaser rifle slung casually across his chest and uniform jacket smudged from ducking behind half-melted crates, he took a beat to take it all in.

"Engineering," he said aloud to himself, stepping forward with a grin. "Smells like overheating EPS conduits and productivity."

He looked around for someone in charge—or at least someone not currently on fire—before giving a quick tug on his uniform and announcing, “Petty Officer First Class Kael Draven, Boatswain. Reporting to assist with...uh...whatever non-exploding thing you need me to do.” He gave a half-salute, half-wave to the room.

Jenna had a burn that went up her left forearm and the cause of that was clear as the sub- console to her left was warped and non-functional. She'd just shifted to another console as she worked as Damage Control Central as well as local damage control. Her harried look as she glanced up, but finished her sentence, "Team 4 to Corridor Junction Charlie-Six on Deck 4." Her eyes went back to the holographic ship that still was projected in that central void, though a part of it was flickering from where the damaged piece was and other projectors were trying to make up the part. There was soot on her forehead and left cheek as well, "Non-exploding? That's most of the ship right now, only a few bits and pieces taking the easy way out."

She noted that all of her teams were in motion and nothing new was popping up, "But Ah swear, looks like they set explosives on a hair-trigger just in case they're needed to make things look dramatic. Right now, we're in pretty good shape down heah, but are we sure that Engineerin' is a safe place to be? If there's any doubt at'all, Ah'll happily keep you here to keep us in one piece."

Kael blinked, taking in the burn, the soot, the sparking console, and the sheer chaos with the sort of baffled admiration usually reserved for watching a warp core ballet performed by drunk Nausicaans.

“Lieutenant,” he started, slowly raising both hands like he was trying not to spook an angry targ, “if this is your version of ‘pretty good shape,’ I’d hate to see Engineering on a bad day. Does the warp core just casually stroll off for a smoke break at that point?”

He stepped forward cautiously, glancing at the flickering projection. “And I gotta admit—between the smoke, the fire, and the lightshow, you’re really committing to the full cinematic experience down here. Just missing a dramatic monologue and maybe some tragic violin music.”

At her question, he gave a lopsided grin and shrugged. “Safe? I mean, define safe. Am I actively on fire? No. Are parts of the ship occasionally exploding like they’re auditioning for a low-budget action holo? Yes. But am I gonna leave you alone with a ship that might be held together by spit and replicator rations? Nah.”

He slung his rifle to his back and gestured broadly. “So, Chief, Do I need to Patch a bulkhead? Reinforce a support beam? Hold the ship together with duct tape and dreams? Point me at it—just, you know, preferably something not currently on fire.”

"Chimera is just fine and if the problem were the warp core, Ah'd be all feathers and flyin', because that's my specialty." Jenna sighed, "Besides, keepin' the gal together is what Ah'm supposed to be doin' while you keep us from gettin' all shot up." She pushed away from the console and gave one last glance at the hologram before a Petty Officer took her vacated spot.

The dark-haired Lieutenant(jg) gestured towards a fully lit section near the engine area, "Ah mean no offense, P-O, but if Ah'm not runnin' around throwing patches on various bits of the ship, Ah'd not send you to go do that either, but Ah must ask if you're handy at all with a medkit? Ah don't want to let these guys and gals know it, but this really does hurt a fair bit." She raised her forearm.

Kael tilted his head, giving her a half-smirk. “Well, Lieutenant, I’m no doctor—but I have been known to survive questionable food from deep-space dive bars, so I’m practically a medical miracle myself.”

He stepped a little closer, eyeing the burn on her forearm. “And yeah, I can handle a medkit. Been trained, patched up a few crewmates in my time. Only lost, like… two patients. Both were phaser drills. Totally different circumstances.” He gave a quick, cheeky grin to make it clear he was joking.

Dropping his voice to a conspiratorial tone, he added, “But don’t worry, I’ll make it look casual. Wouldn’t want your crew thinking the Chief Engineer is human after all.”

He glanced around, spotting a medkit by a nearby damage control station. “Alright, let’s see if I can fix you up without setting off any more alarms—or, y’know, accidentally grafting your arm to the console.”

"Some of these crew are old enough to be my parents." Jenna stated with some irony as she saw where his eyes had flicked over to and started to casually stroll over that direction, "Ah think Ah can handle bein' seen gettin' seen to, after all Ah am only human as it is. Besides, if Ah'm physically attached to a console, it may only improve my efficiency, assumin' Ah can get some sort of neural interface goin'. How is it out there, anyways, aside from the kabooms?"

Kael gave a short laugh, shaking his head. “Well, let’s just say it’s been… lively. Chief Enor got scooped up by the med team back in Transporter Room Two—looked like he’d taken a rough hit—so I ended up playing tour guide for a fire team of junior petty officers who barely knew each other’s names.”

He leaned against a nearby support, lowering his voice slightly. “We stumbled into Cargo Bay Eight and found this alien satellite—looked like it was either gonna save the day or blow us all into next week. Ended up helping Lieutenant Kellerman and Commander Espersen keep the intruders off their backs long enough to work the thing.” He smirked. “Couple good firefights later, and we kept the bad guys from turning it into modern art.”

Straightening, he added with a wry grin, “So yeah—between kabooms, mystery tech, and rookie phaser drills, I’d say it’s been a pretty standard shift.”

"Yeah, but those little details do matter." Jenna unsealed the jacket and began to peel it off, wincing as she did her best to not scrape it over the burn on her arm, finally turning away from her engineers, "And if the Captain will stop letting these guys hit the ship, I'll be grateful to her."

Kael winced in sympathy the moment she started working the jacket over her arm. “Yeesh, Lieutenant… I’ve seen less painful-looking extractions from a Jefferies tube,” he muttered, stepping in without waiting for an invitation.

“Alright, hold still before you turn that into a long-term souvenir,” he said, already grabbing a medkit off a nearby bulkhead. He popped it open, fishing out a dermal regenerator with the easy familiarity of someone who’s patched up more than a few bumps and burns over the years—usually his own.

As he knelt beside her, he gave a quick, crooked grin. “Don’t worry, I’m not adding ‘Doctor’ to the nameplate—last time I tried that, the Chief of the Boat threatened to reassign me to cleaning plasma manifolds for a month. But I can keep you from losing half your sleeve to medical negligence.”

He worked carefully, running the regenerator over the angry red burn, the faint hum filling the space between them. “There we go. Not perfect yet, but it should take the sting out. We’ll let the real docs do the glamour work later.”

Finishing up, Kael set the tool back in the kit and gave her a lopsided smile. “And hey, if the Captain does stop letting them hit us, I’ll buy the first round at the lounge. Until then—consider me your personal, unofficial, highly sarcastic field medic

"Oh great, my own personal Minerva at mah side." Jenna muttered to herself, shaking her head slightly, but gently touching where she'd been burned and not flinching back from it, reaching for her jacket to pull it on again, burn and all, "But Ah'll take you up on that drink if it works out, God only knows how long it'll take to fix what's been broken... This time."

Kael gave the burn one last careful pass with the regenerator, the hum fading as he clicked it off. He leaned back, eyeing her arm critically, then nodded. “Alright, Lieutenant—good as new. Or at least good enough to keep you from swearing every time you brush against a console.”

He snapped the medkit shut with a neat clack and set it aside, giving her a lopsided grin. “You’re fine. Just… maybe swing by Doc Kellerman when you can. She’ll probably skin me alive for doing a field patch instead of letting her handle it, but we can blame it on the whole ‘ship might fall apart if you stop working for ten minutes’ thing. Priorities, right?”

He straightened up, adjusting the rifle strap across his chest, still grinning. “Besides, if anyone asks, I’ll just say you threatened me with plasma burns if I didn’t fix you up first.”

"And if you could get anyone to believe that, Ah'll give you a cookie and a new set of quarters." Jenna remarked, rubbing the place where the burn used to be. There was still some discomfort, but not enough to really bother her. "Thank you, PO, Ah really do appreciate it. Tell you what, take a seat or a lean in that corner over there and Ah'll let your boss know later on that Ah commandeered you to keep us poor little engineers safe, sound good?"

Kael gave a small smirk, shaking his head. “A cookie and new quarters? Sounds like a deal too good to pass up, Lieutenant.”

He closed the medkit and set it aside neatly, then gave her a short nod. “And you’re welcome. Just doing my part to keep the ship from falling apart—starting with its engineers.”

Crossing the room, he settled into the corner she’d indicated, leaning back against the bulkhead with his rifle resting loosely across his chest. “Go ahead and tell the Chief you commandeered me. He’ll probably be relieved I was sitting still for five minutes.”

His mouth twitched into a faint grin. “Besides, safer here than stuck in a Jefferies tube with Patel asking if cooking torches count as phasers.”

Petty Officer 1st Class Kael Draven
Boatswain

Lieutenant Jenna Jade
Acting Chief Engineer