Upwards by Accident

Posted on Wed Apr 1st, 2026 @ 5:45pm by Lieutenant Jeanine Jeffries & Captain Calypso Skyie
Edited on on Wed Apr 1st, 2026 @ 5:45pm

Mission: Lower Decks
Location: USS Chimera | Sickbay

ON

Time had held no meaning. For awhile, JJ had simply existed in a liminal space between sleep, and awake. Between coherent awareness, and surreal dream-state. She floated through reality on a cushion of disconnect. When soft voices did pull her out of a meaningless nothing thought, wading in orange water on a craggy beach, she tried to bring herself to reality. Real reality.

The lights above her felt almost too bright. Too sharp. She sniffed, to try and clear mucus. Tried to turn her head. Everything felt tight. It felt like she was in a rubber suit that didn't want to move. Her hand finally came up to her line of sight. The usually pale skin looking like raw lobster in colour. About what she got from a bad case of sunburn, truth be told.

JJ finally turned her head, seeing the Captain near the entrance of sickbay, talking to Dr. Kellerman. "I assume we dropped out of warp?"

Her voice sounded like gravel, but all things considered, she didn't feel bad. Just physically exhausted.

There was a single nod between Kally and the Captain before Cally's wide smile blossomed and she stepped over while Kally walked off and whispered into a young blonde's ear, "You can assume correctly, Jeanine, I'd have to ask the computer how long it was after you gave the all clear, but short of a malfunction kicking us out, we may have set a record." She pulled over the local stool and sat down next to the engineer, "I have Katie and Jenna going over everything as we speak."

JJ nodded at the last. "Good. I wanted to give the whole system a diagnostic, but..." She gestured at the bed. That gesture with her hand brought her attention back to the moment. "And... yeah, I know. The twenty minute time limit was there for a reason."

"And you went over that." Calypso said in a more serious voice, "To the point where Katie was already on her way to get to you to take over. She was at the hatch, about to open it when you finally finished." She ran one hand through her hair, "If you weren't the best person for the job, I'd have pulled you out of there right at the twenty minute mark. This is why it sucks to be in command, to have to send people where they-" Cally cut herself off before she continued on.

JJ didn't brush off the comment. The fact Katie was prepared to walk into the literal oven, it made her feel both glad and guilty. "You send people where they need to be. Because the job needs to be done." She answered. "That's not ego. That's specialty. Warp is my thing. Should I have communicated better when I was in there? Okay, yeah. That one's on me."

She looked at Cally. She had seen enough people crash and burn at the Academy to know when someone was about to land a hammer. "So... confined to quarters?" She tried to smile. Her skin hurt.

“Quarters?” Cally gave a sharp bark of a laugh, “You’re in here overnight and then Kally will reevaluate in the morning.” The Captain gave her a smile, “Then my guess will be a day or two of bed rest to make sure you’re fully recovered.”

JJ blinked at the Captain's tone. This wasn't going how she had expected. A pleasant surprise, sure, but a confusing one. “I figured with ignoring the protocols, you’d want–* shel was cut off.

“You think that I’m going to let you just lie there and do nothing?” Calypso shook her head slowly at the thought, “I’ve got far better things for my new Chief Engineer to do than sit around in bed feeling sorry for herself.”

JJ’s jaw dropped at that. “I’m sorry, did you say Chief?” Her brain was trying to catch up with the conversation. “I mean... Hell yeah, I like the sound of it, but...” She paused. Trying to think of how to phrase it. “Jenna has time in rank over me. Couple of the other JGs do as well.”

“Jenna is having some issues.” Calypso said, confident that no one would overhear that wasn’t already aware of that particular situation, “And while she was in place as Chief, has been placed on medical leave and then light duty, which I’m going to expect you to arrange something easy and out of the way. She’s not personal non grata, but she needs rehab. My fault, really, I put too much pressure on her, but you actually have time in grade over her. As for that particular point? We aren’t in a union, seniority has its place in the service, yes, but barring someone really really senior, I pick my own replacements. Besides…” Cally slid open a drawer and pulled out an engineering uniform, “For when Kally releases you, I want you walking to your quarters in this.

A blink. A moment. A dawning realisation. JJ processed the fact she wasn't in Kansas anymore. Not only was she a Department Head. She was being given full Lieutenant, from the collar of the fresh uniform. Her eyes met Cally. Her brain tried to adjust. "That's... wow. Thank you." And all she had had to do was microwave herself like a potato.

“No need to thank me now, you’ve earned it for a few reasons. Number one, you took the initiative and the opportunity to solve a problem that maybe two or three people on the ship could have recognized. Two, I need someone new in charge of the rabble down there, which you’ll get a briefing on soon enough, probably just a note on your PADD, mostly regarding your new assistant-former-chief. Three, we’re going to be visiting home soon, at least far enough in to get a REAL refit done, not some catch-as-catch-can and I don’t want some full Lieutenant who thinks their shit don’t stink coming on board and telling me that because they have two full pips that they’re entitled to take over your engineering section. You’re going to need some clout to convince the Starbase that you need to be listened to, especially if I’m off at HQ telling them what we need most.”

JJ smiled at that. Starfleet was not above having a fair number of egos in its ranks, particularly in the engineering and sciences. “Speaking of quarters, I guess this means I have to move.”

“That all depends on if you want to.” Cally said, “I can definitely arrange for a set of quarters of your own, but for medical reasons I’m not allowed to move Jenna out of her set of quarters at the moment, or so I’ve been told. I have a set of VIP quarters just a hair further from Engineering if you’d like them in the interim? Larger, better accoutrements, an even more eclectic selection in the replicator as well. I highly doubt we’ll be hosting anyone who’d need them for well… Who knows when. They’ve been sitting empty this whole time, in any case, so getting you moved in would be a cinch.”

JJ considered it for a moment. The junior officer quarters were fine. She didn't necessarily have any real issue. The thought of furniture arrangement, though. That would give her something to do in her downtime. Were VIP quarters too much though? A frown crossed her brow, but JJ shook it away for a moment. Of course, if the Captain hadn't been genuine, the offer wouldn't have been made-- she cut short the over analysis. "I'll take it. It'll give me something light to do, other than sitting around."

"Excellent! That means I won't have to come down to engineering to kick your butt out because you got bored, right?" The Captain chuckled at the thought, but knew it wasn't an empty idea. She knew her engineers were diligent and tended to overwork themselves, "I know you're going to do an excellent job, Jeanine, no questions asked. Just promise me, if you feel overwhelmed with things, come talk to me? Or Alex if it comes to it, or just... Anyone. We're here to help, some of us have a lot of experience that we can use to help.”

“You have my word there, Captain.” JJ’s voice became serious, the Irish brogue creeping into her voice, as it tended to do when things got real - really real, as she sometimes said.

“I have no intentions - short of an actual, genuine emergency, to go running around Engineering.” She cast a glance over at Kellerman, and hid a smile. “Some fates are not worth it.”

“No, no they aren’t.” Cally agreed, “Besides, she’s more likely to tie you down if you try anything too dumb, she’s threatened me with that more than once and she’s not bluffing. Oh, and not playing around with it, serious she is. But, is there anything I can do to help you help yourself or your department? I won’t promise I won’t pawn it off onto the Exec, but if it’s something I can do, I’ll do my best.”

JJ shook her head just a touch. "I tell you what. Give me a few days after I get out to figure that out. I'll get back to you, but right now I can't think of anything that we immediately need."

"Then, I suppose I should let you heal up to get back on your feet, shouldn't I?" Cally reached out to squeeze JJ's shoulder, "And when you're out of here, we'll have to arrange some time to get better acquainted, won't we?" Her eyes glinted mischievously.

JJ wasn't quite sure how to read the Captain at that - her brain was still playing catch-up with everything else, amid having lost more than a couple of brain cells. "Aye, Ma'am." Was all she managed, before Cally left.

Laying her head back, JJ let the concept of a promotion wash over her. Chief Engineer of a Luna-class. The grin on her face was not entirely from pain medication. "Cool." She whispered to herself.

OFF