Dirty Jobs

Posted on Wed Jun 17th, 2026 @ 8:58am by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Chief Petty Officer Aaron Geiger

1,976 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Sins of the Empire
Location: IKS Ch'Tang

Kapowski and the others were awaiting the Chief in the transporter room. Everyone had their toolkit in hand and a phaser on their hip as per protocol. As Aaron walked in Kapowski said in her usual chipper voice, "Time to save the galaxy again Chief. Saving the Federation one repair at a time."

"That's the thing ma'am, Starships are doggedly determined to break down. We keep 'em from what they want as long as we can but eventually, they all win."

Aaron looked to the team. "Listen people. Protect yourselves at all times. Nobody goes off alone. We check in on the PaDD link every two hours if we can't do so in person. Do not subtract." He looked to Rodriguez. "Or ADD to the population. Any questions?" Aaron waited a moment before nodding and joining them on the platform. As he was just about to nod to the Transporter Operator, he spied the doors open and the Skipper entering.

"ATTENTION ON DECK!" Aaron barked, coming to a stiff attention.

Shran entered and looked over the engineers. "Chief, you and the lieutenant seem to work well together. I'm glad Aidan paired you two to lead this little repair excursion. I know you have been briefed, just wanted to wish you all luck. I know serving on a Klingon ship, even just to do a repair job, can be a difficult thing for most. I have been assured by their captain that you will be treated with honor. Focus on getting them up and running again. We'll need them for what is coming next."

"Aye Captain." Aaron replied professionally to Shran. "We'll all be back in one piece soon enough. I'm sure this will make us real appreciative of the Washington." Aaron looked to Kapowski and then to the rest of the team. They were ready for whatever awaited them on the bucket of bolts nearby. Well, as ready as they could be.

"One other thing Chief. The Ch'Tang is a vessel of note to the Klingons. Chancellor Martok commanded the ship during the war. Consider the ship hallow ground from a Klingon perspective" Shran mentioned.

Kapowski scoffed. "Great, a Klingon holy ship. Martok is revered in the Empire. Most Klingon's consider him as cunning as Kahless."

"So you understand why you will need to be mindful while over there" Shran replied.

"Yes sir." Aaron answered. "Not just to the Klingon's but to the legacy of their vessel." He looked to Rodriguez, for once the crewman was paying attention.

"Beam them over Mr. Chu" Shran said the transporter chief.

They dematerialized in the standard blue hue and materialized aboard the Ch'Tang. Miral was there waiting for them. She approached the Chief, "Qapla! I welcome you to our vessel. We have work to do so that we may return to our glorious combat duties against the vile Romulans."

"Qapla!" Aaron replied boisterously, stepping forward to meet the Klingon Engineer. "Let's get to it Miral. Name our challenge and it will be bested." He said nodding to Kapowski and the other members of his team to follow. Aaron followed the Klingon woman through the ship, smelling the acrid scent of electrical ozone. They passed many a Klingon with battle dressed wounds going about their duties.

"How many of your shipmates died in glorious conflict?" Aaron asked as they ducked beneath a bent bulkhead.

"My entire engineering contigent was lost. Only I survive, though I was required to see your medical facilities. My people died with honor in service to the Empire. They journey now to Sto-Vo-Kor" Miral replied as they entered the engineering section. The area looked exactly like the simulations, but it was the smell the was distinct. Super-heated hydraulic fluid had been spilled or ejected, and then there was the blood and scorched flesh from when some of the consoles had exploded. The ship had taken a beating, but like all Klingon ships it had remained functional to continue the battle.

"What do we need to work on first?" Kapowski questioned.

"I have stabilized the core. We have warp power, but many of the propulsion, weapons, and environmental systems still require repair" Miral replied.

"I can handle the environmental systems Chief" Ens Lawrence volunteered.

"That leaves propulsion and weapons for the rest of us. Maybe we focus on propulsion while you work on weapon with Miral" Kapowski suggested to the Chief.

"Aye ma'am." Aaron nodded deferentially. "Everyone, remember we are guests. Treat this ship with the respect you treat our home on the Washington. Remember your check-ins. Rodriguez if I see any souvenirs make their way into your pockets you'll be conducting the weekly PM on the Captains yacht with me for the rest of the year."

Aaron turned back to Miral. "Let's focus on the phaser arrays first. Torpedo launchers will be mostly mechanical and should be straight forward."

Miral nodded, hiding her discomfort in having Humans assist her, even if they were allies.

Kapowski leaned into the Chief, "Disruptors Chief. Klingons use disruptors. They take offense to our phasers."

Lawrence made her way over to the environmental systems console. She took out her tricorder and began translating the data so she could make heads or tails of it. The major parts were functional, but they were going to need some TLC. It was the minor parts of the system that needed to be overhauled. No use complaining, nobody was around for her to complain to anyway. After all, she volunteered to handle this. She took one more glance at the console, and then made her way to to the gravity generators.

Kapowski had begun her work on the propulsion systems. Miral had been correct, the warp engines were functional and ready, but the impulse drive and trusters were badly damaged. She was working with Ens Tauriel, and the Vulcan was quiet and focused on the work as usual. "Tauriel, what is the status on that plasma conduit?"

"I am completing the repair now lieutenant. Plasma flow should be back to full in another minute" Tauriel responded in typical Vulcan fashion.

Kapowski continued her work. She liked Tauriel, at least as a colleague. Vulcans though were not her cup of tea in general. She was actually more likely to be friends with Miral or other Klingons. She understood passionate races, those that expressed emotions. Tauriel was a solid engineer, but she was likely to get moved to the T'Pau or the Surak in the next crew rotation if she didn't learn how to work and live with nonVulcans. Suddenly, the plasma flow activated, and the impulse drive returned to life. "Good work Tauriel" Kapowski noted as she made a few minor repairs that she had to wait to perform until the engines were functional again.

"Shall I continue assisting you, or would you like me to move on to a new task?" Tauriel inquired.

"I've got this. Got ahead and start the work on the thruster assembly" Kapowski replied.

Aaron had quickly become waist deep in the power transfer unit for the disruptor interface module. "Miral we're gonna need to rip all this cabling out and start from scratch. You can smell the plastic had vaporized when the wiring overheated and fused together. Until we do that we won't know the true extent of the damage. Maybe we'll get lucky but, well one thing I tell my Engineers is Starships desperately want to explode, it's up to us to deny them that privilege."

Miral offered a snarl, the closest thing to a smirk one could get from a Klingon. "Very well." She couldn't deny his technical skill. even though she wasn't sure if he was a warrior.

Aaron began removing what seemed like hundreds of feet of cabling after he gave authorization for Miral to use the mobile replicator. "It's best if you give the directions to the unit. I know you use different couplings and voltages, this'll save us the time." Aaron said with a grunt as he yanked a cable as thick as his forearm out of the access bay in the deck.

Miral provided him with the necessary components. "We will have full power to the disruptors soon with this. The captain will be pleased. I can begin to refit the torpedo launchers, and then we will be fully prepared for battle."

"Thanks." Aaron said heaving the newly replicated bundle of cables down into the access trench. He took a look at the coupling and double checked the replicated replacement would line up. Satisfied, Aaron began to fasten it down with his hyperspanner, filling the passageway with the smell of ozone as the bonding was made.

"Alright, take a look at this." Aaron said, taking a moment to share his observations. "So this module here." Aaron pointed with his small flashlight. "This is your data module, see how it's just resting on the cable? Whenever the ship takes a hit, the module bounces and degrades the connection. This means not only do you not get accurate data on Disruptor strength, but you're not getting accurate fault data. No warning when the system is about to fail." Aaron began to remove the small component and held it up to her. "We'll need a replacement; in the meantime I'll work on a stabilized housing for it."

Despite their adversarial meeting at first, once Aaron got to work, he became The Chief with a junior officer once again. Miral was just another one or two pipper to him now whether she liked it or not, and Aaron like the generations of SNCO's before him would leave her brain housing group fuller than he found it.

Miral looked at Aaron a bit confused. "Our systems do not do what you are suggesting. You are suggesting adding redundant systems, secondary backups. What is the purpose of this?"

"You just had your first scrape is that right?" Aaron asked, rolling his sleeves up to his forearms to make working easier. "It won't be your last. Maybe some will be easier, but most will not. Everyone running in the vacuum can punch back. You're going to lose people. It's just the law of big numbers, inevitable."

He looked her in the eyes. "Regardless of your feelings of honor, you will, I promise, start to think of what you could have done to keep them alive. If there was one thing you could have done, one system you could have double checked, one piece of routine maintenance that would have kept that EPS conduit from overloading." Aaron pointed at her sternly. "Make no mistake Lieutenant. If there is something you overlooked, it will not leave you. Those deaths WILL be your responsibility." Aaron hadn't even realized that he called Miral "Lieutenant" regardless of not knowing her actual rank.

Miral looked at Aaron intently. "Are you challenging me? You question my honor, my ability, so you must think you are more capable than I. I can assure you, if you wish to see the honored dead in Sto-Vo-Kor, I can send you there. Or perhaps you are impugning me and believe I am destined to Grethor." She pulled out her dagger, the prongs flicking open. "What was your intent?"

At that moment a signal came over the comm, =^= Chief, this is Lawrence. I've gotten environmental systems back to full capacity. Do you require any assistance?" =^=

=^="Ma'am, we could always use more hands to route cable. Every Engineer a conduit technician."=^= Aaron said tapping his commbadge without breaking eye contact with Miral.

"Let's stay focused. We can sort this out later." Aaron said beginning the custom replication for the module housing. Maybe she wouldn't see what he was trying to communicate. That was fine. This ship would get back in order one way or another. Whether or not the Klingon Engineer would take anything from what he was saying was up to her.

 

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