Fly me to the moon

1 Arrival

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life-forms and new civilizations; to boldly go where no one has gone before.

The shuttle made its way from starfleet headquarters up to its destination in space, the space dock above earth. It was packed with newly graduated cadets of starfleet academy destined for assignment in space, composed of a variety of different lifeforms like andorians or betazoids but the majority being human.

The most eye-catching one of the earthborns was a girl with short vibrant violet hair wearing casual clothes not the red cadet uniform everyone else was adorned with. She was currently listening to loud music and tapping her fingers along to the beat. The girl was looking about a year older than the rest and not really interested in her surroundings or the people around her for that matter.

The view out of the shuttle windows changed dramatically from the green-brown of earth to the starry black of space. The shuttle took a left turn giving the passengers a good look at their soon to be working place, the Enterprise. The low chatter that had buzzed throughout the shuttle mere seconds ago ceased as everyone was trying to catch a good glimpse at the heroic starship that stopped the romulans from destroying earth.

The loud music still emitting from the headphones was the loudest sound heard in the space shuttle at that point of time. The girl listening to it hadn't registered the cease in the lively chatter nor the view outside the windows, as she was typing symbols furiously on the datapad in her hands a slight frown upon her face.

The speakers of the shuttle blared to life as the captain announced their arrival at the space dock and wished the travelers good luck.

As the soon to be crewman shuffled around freeing themselves of their seatbelts and retrieved their belongings the girl looked up with a start. At the realization that they must have docked on she put her datapad and her headphones inside her pockets and started getting up. After a few seconds of fruitless attempts at that she opened the seatbelt constricting her to her seat. With a red tinge of embarrassment apparent on her cheeks she trailed along her fellow crewmates.

Bypassing the few windows of the shuttle she finally looked outside and registered in quiet the view of her new home floating in silence at the next dock of the space station. With a sinking feeling in her stomach she realized just now what she was up for. Traveling through space, meeting new lifeforms, being imprisoned with 800 other people in a 1200 m long metal contraption build for letting them travel safely through space and armed with weapons to ensure this safety.

Gulping down the building lump in her throat she looked onwards and walked the rest of the way to the crowd standing in the next room waiting for orders. Once she arrived, the last one of the procession of red wearing cadets, a voice boomed out in front of them.

"Welcome on space station one. I know your dying to get on the ship, but first we need you to get out of those clothes. You are now official members of starfleet and therefore entitled to wear the respective uniforms. Proceed down the hall and get your change of clothes at the armory. Good Luck."

The stout man turned around and was gone, never even mentioning his own name. It seemed that he gave that speech every time new cadets came here to board their assigned ships.

The mass of cadets moved to the hallway like one big organism, filing out of the room and into the direction given by the announcer and the signs on the walls of the space station. Upon arriving, the first cadets stood in front of the replicators voicing their name. The machines beeped and the man or woman retrieved their new uniforms from the open cavity in front of them. The procedure repeated itself until everyone got their clothing. Those who left the replicators with their new possessions proceeded to the changing rooms on the side of the armory. The people reentering the room now were no longer cadets of starfleet academy, but ensigns or lieutenants of the starship Enterprise.

The only one not following this lead was the violet haired girl simply put away her uniforms in one of her bags. Waiting for the rest to finish their dressing process, she pulled out her datapad and typed away. Half an hour later everyone, except of course the girl, had adorned their new clothing and the stout man from before entered and all but ushered them to the dock leading to the Enterprise.

Following his lead everyone picked up belongings, the girl put away her time-spending device, and walked to the exit chattering among themselves. The stout man let the crewman pass him as he waited at an intersection. He frowned slightly at the girl, but shrugged it off. The crew of the ship could handle her if she was a problem, or the 'captain' would have trouble and that would be good in his opinion. He left after he was sure everyone found the dock and went through it.

The cluster of new crewmembers moved onto the starship and was greeted by the first officer, who showed them to a conference room. Trailing at the back, the girl studied her surroundings, while walking. The dread that befell her before entering the space dock came back at full force by now actually being on the ship. But with the dread came the thrill of new experiences, new problems to be solved, to use her intellect to help the whole ship. Both feeling were quite equal, leveling each other out, leaving her at an equilibrium between them. Sometimes tipping to one side, but in total the emotion in control being indifference.

Once upon arriving the first officer divided them into their fields of practice by assigning different parts of the room to them. The girl sauntered over to the mechanical engineers on the right side of the room, stepping into the line that already formed there. Once everyone stood at their respective crowd, all of them stood to attention as the first officer started his monotone speech telling all of them the ways on the ship. After about five seconds into it, the girl tuned out his voice and started calculating in her head. After a few minutes of this, she itched to get to her datapad as the calculating in her head seemed fruitful and she needed to verify that. But knowing that it would not look good to whip her datapad out, while there was a speech going on, she should have listened to. Concentrating back on the monotone voice, she caught the last of the speech.

"... Captain Kirk will arrive at a later point of time tor introduction measures. This will occur in approximately twelve point five minutes. I will now appoint you to your quarters and stations." He stepped forward and proceeded to the left side of the room starting with the science department by asking the name of the first ensign standing to the left of the line. After acknowledging it, he tapped his pad and reiterating the name and adding room number and person to report to once his shift started and the time in short and clipped sentences. This was going on for the whole mass of ensigns until only two were left.

"Name." The voice intoned the question as a statement looking at the man in front of him, waiting. "Barry White." came the reply from the build man standing at attention beside the girl. She was still boredly looking at the opposite wall, not really paying attention, but rolling her eyes at the eagerness of the man beside her.

"Ensign Barry White. Room number 7390 deck seven. Report to lieutenant commander Scott at fourteen hundred." Stepping in front of the next ensign, he paused looking at her. The attention of the girl strayed from the opposite wall as it now was obscured by the body of the first officer.

This was the first time she actually looked at him. In front of her stood a man in science blue taller than her so she had to look up to see his face. And that was nothing like she expected it to look like. Yes, she knew the first officer of the Enterprise was Spock, the one and only Vulcan still in starfleet, but his face was so much like a humans, that she first didn't notice the pointed ears or the slanted eyebrows. One of those were raised currently.

"Ensign, I do believe violet is not a hair colour starfleet regulation cites as suited for a member of a deep space exploration vessel."

Blinking she stood in front of him, not quite comprehending what has been said. Right at this moment the door to the conference room swished open, revealing the captain of the ship himself, only off by 0.2 minutes of Spocks time estimation. Every eye was on him as he greeted them in an easy manner by waving his hand and smiling, while formulating an "At ease." at the non moving and standing straight occupants of the room. He walked over to Spock,who had turned away from the offending hair to greet his captain.

"Captain" "Spock. I just wanted to check on the new crewmembers. Everything going smoothly I presume?" While talking he looked over the new additions to his crew and gave them all a big smile, that was returned by almost everyone. Charming people was really his forte.

While the attention was elsewhere the girl slipped her pad out of her trousers, pressed a few buttons and put it back after finishing. She resumed her previous stance so no one noticed she had done anything out of the ordinary.

The captain faced his first officer again and gave Spock his full attention waiting for affirmation. "As there is nothing that needed a decrease in friction, I presume you mean if everything is in order. This is nearly the case, captain. There is only one violation of starfleet regulation as of now. The ensign..." motioning to the girl standing at attention behind him "...sports a hair colour unsuited for a starfleet officer serving on a starship." Captain Kirk looked around Spock as the half-vulcan was obscuring his view of her.

Looking a little confused at the now smiling girl, the captain uttered "Uhu. And why is that so?" Spock looked with an raised eyebrow at his superior officer like it was the most obvious thing. "Her hair colour is violet." came the prompt answer. "Violet, huh" Kirk looked at the girl for a second and moved a now concerned look right at Spock. "Are you feeling alright?" Spock looked taken aback. "I do not see how the condition of my health is important in this situation." Now it was the captains turn to raise an eyebrow. "As far as I can tell her hair is brown and certainly not violet." Crossing his arms Kirk observed Spock, who now turned around and inspected the object of interest again. The girl was now sporting light brown hair and a big grin looking like a cat who ate the cookie dough, but everyone was blaming the dog for it. "Indeed." was the only response as the first officer observed the ensign, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Ohkay... now that this is out of the way, is there anything else that ensign..." Kirk tried to remember the name mentioned, but was drawing a blank. He looked at her with a questioning look and she helpfully inserted "Charlotte McAllister" and added a "Sir" as an afterthought. "...ensign McAllister needs before starting her duty? Besides changing into her uniform." Now captain Kirk frowned and looked around at the rest of the new accession of his ship. Everyone else was already in their respective clothing. Looking back at Charlotte he questioned "Why aren't you wearing your uniform?"

Both men stood in front of her waiting for the answer looking quite interested in her response. Fumbling with a thread on her trousers she replied "My duty only starts at fourteen hundred. In my free time I may wear appropriate casual clothes as it is stated in starfleet regulation 619.02." She shifted her attention between the two, nervous about the full attention both men were giving her.

"That is correct." Spocks voice startled her a bit since she was looking at the captain at this very moment. But her answer arose suspicion in the young captain. "How did you know when your duty starts? This information is not that easily accessed." With the inquiring look of captain Kirk upon her, she stumbled over her own answer. "Well... I asked beforehand." And now she was praying to every god, who was available and any god, that might listen, that they didn't prod who she asked for that tiny piece of information.

But she needn't have worried as they dropped the topic because they don't want to loose more time than necessary. Captain Kirks voice boomed through the room. "Since everything is now clear, gentleman and ladies" At ladies he waggled with his eyebrows. "You may now all go, unpack, get accustomed and... do... whatever. Welcome on board the Enterprise. We are to leave space dock one at eleven hundred board time. Dismissed."

Everyone moved, got their trappings and filed out of the conference room. As soon as she was dismissed Charlotte whipped out her datapad and typed in the calculation that was running through her head during the speech. Reaching blindly with her left hand for her belongings. She got both of her bags at her third attempt. She weaved through the crowd dodging collisions in the last moment as her attention was still focused on typing. After she left the conference room Charlotte turned right and headed down the hall until she was stopped by an "Ensign McAllister" sounding from behind her.

Charlotte turned around and looked at commander Spock, who seemed to wait in the hallway for the new crewmembers to ask for directions. She answered him with an "Yes, commander?" because she was not sure, why he would address her now. "You are heading in the wrong direction. Your room is located in section B down this hall." He pointed in the opposite direction she was currently walking. Squinting at him, Charlotte contemplated if the half-vulcan was making fun of her. Deciding that vulcans don't do such things she uttered: "Thank you, sir." and moved in the pointed direction already typing away at her datapad again.

She passed the first officer and took two paces until something occurred to her that made her pause in her walk. She turned around and looked at commander Spock, who was still standing in the same spot he was before watching the ensigns filing away. Shifting the bags on her back while lowering her pad Charlotte took a step towards him and called out "Commander?" He turned at being addressed. "You have an inquire, ensign." raising an eyebrow as question mark. "Well yes. You don't happen to know my room number, do you?" Charlotte scratched her head in embarrassment for forgetting to ask such important questions before heading out to actually go there.

"You have claimed you acquired information concerning your assignment on board." He stated looking leveled at the slightly squirming ensign before him. "Yes, I inquired my shift, but my room number was not my point of interest at that point of time." The embarrassment now reddened Charlottes cheeks. She hoped the smile she was giving the commander would speed up the answer to her question. Inclining his head Spock picked up his datapad filing through the data a moment and told her "Ensign Charlotte McAllister. Room number 6371 deck 6." "Thank you very much, sir." she nodded once in the direction of the commander, turned around and started typing again, while she walked to the next turbolift. The vision of Spock lingered a moment on the retreating back of the ensign before returning to his post on the bridge, no new ensign left in sight and thus his duty fulfilled.

Finding her room at the second attempt, since she now paid attention to her surroundings and not her datapad, Charlotte took a look around her new home. Standard issue bed on the left, standard issue desk on the right, standard issue closet and standard issue bathroom adjoined. She was not surprised as starfleet loved standard issue things. She put her bags down and flopped onto the bed resuming to give her pad attention. Half an hour before she was due for her shift Charlotte decided to get her workwear on herself including changing her hair to black with a few taps on her datapad. Satisfied with her appearance she started sown to engineering bay, her datapad safely tugged in her belt as her uniform, the standard short dress every women in starfleet wore, had no pockets.

Five minutes before her shift started, Charlotte entered engineering bay and marveled at the technique sitting in front of her. Excitement bubbled up, because she was envisioning to tinker with the lines until everything worked to perfection. While curiously looking around Charlotte heard a shout from one side of the room.

"Get down there, dammit! Those pipes are no monkey bars!" Her curiosity piqued she searched the origin of the cry. Walking around the engineering bay Charlotte turned around a rather large pipe and spotted a red wearing man, who looked up at an insectoid lounging on the cooling agent pipe of the impulse engine. The engineer was exasperated, while the insectoid looked amused down at him and didn't budge. Stemming his hands into his sides he started to address the little nonhuman again, but Charlotte chose this moment to interrupt.

"Lieutenant commander Scott?" Still scowling at the jesting insectoid he replied absentmindedly "Yes. What now? The captain already got his reports." Taken aback Charlotte reminded herself, why she was here. And that didn't include staring at the conductor right next to the chief engineer. "Ensign McAllister reporting for duty, sir." Now the man turned around and looked confused at the saluting girl before him. "Is it already time for shift change?" At this she whipped out her datapad and checked the time. "No, sir. There are still two point five minutes left, before shift starts." She put her pad away and waited for a response.

"Good your early. I would have totally forgotten to greet the new cadets. You're one of them, right?" While talking he moved to the front of engineering bay, ruffling his hair with his hand, Charlotte in tow. The simple answer to his question was given in confidence. "Yes, sir." Arriving at the operation center, he turned around scrunching his face while replying. "Cut that 'sir' crap. Everybody just calls me Scotty."

"Everybody?" was the amused reaction of Charlotte. "Everybody besides Mr. Spock. Ok. I give you that point." He gave into the smile of the ensign and admitted to that fact. Right in this moment the turbolift doors opened and the rest of the new mechanical engineering ensigns walked into the operation center of engineering bay.

And thus started the first working shift of Charlotte McAllister on the Enterprise.

After getting welcomed and instructed by lieutenant commander Scott, now Scotty as he told everyone to call him, all of them got to work. Well not really. Everybody got acquainted with the engines and systems down there as no immediate problems arose to be solved.

Wandering around the complex, Charlotte memorized ways to get from one point back to the operation center, because she was prone to getting lost about anywhere. She walked through the maze of pipes, cables and machines recalling the purpose of each. Sometimes Charlotte met one of her fellow engineers, but those encounters dwindled in number after she climbed ladders and squeezed through openings, abandoning the labeled ways.

Four hours into this voyage Charlottes stomach started to rumble. She was currently on her way to the warp nacelles, so she turned and around and weaved her way back to the turbolift, hoping Scotty was in the viscinity of said transportation. As she turned the last corner, Charlotte spotted the chief engineer at a console and walked over to him. The red clad man was talking to one of his experienced engineers over the intercom.

"... and that would be like the step response of a diraque impulse." A boisterous laugh sounded over the intercom and Charlotte chuckeled at the engineering joke, drawing the attention of Scotty to her person standing there looking at him. "I'll call you back later." He closed the connection and turned to the ensign. "Yes? Ensign … McAllister, right?" Leaning on the console he looked at her expectantly. Smiling at being recognised, Charlotte shifted her weight to her other foot.

"Yes. I wanted to ask for your authorization of a break." Scotty simply looked at her, blinked and, after a little shuffling on her side, started chuckling. "You don't need my authorization for that. Just go over to that panel and check out. You got half an hour break time. Whatever they taught you at the academy, just forget those regulations about asking for a break. Whoever came up with those should be..." He coughed for emphasis. "Just be sure that someone's still here for observation, alright?" With a clip "Yes." and a smiling salute, Charlotte all but skipped over to the panel, entered her code and checked out for break.

Calling a "Later." over her shoulder, Charlotte mounted the turbolift and got her favorite pastime out of it's hiding place in her belt, the ever-present datapad. Still chuckling Scotty turned backed to his console and muttered "... authorization for break"

The turbolift stopped at the deck the mess hall was located and Charlotte started down the hall, scowling at her datapad as she scrolled around the opened document. The deck was mostly empty as the crew was either in the mess hall already eating or at their respective posts. Her attention was distracted by her pad as Charlotte turned around a corner and ran point blank into a solid figure.

Upon impact Charlotte let her datapad fall out of her hands, because she was shocked to have actually ran into someone. The momentum of her movement was reflected, the figure didn't budge one bit, and thus she landed unceremoniously on her butt. Still surprised and shocked she watched the man in front of her bending down and picking up the datapad that laid before her after it clattered down to the floor. Shaking herself out of her reverie Charlotte stood up scrambling and looked at Spock holding her pad.

"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to run into you." He tilted his head and replied "This reading material has to be of great intellectual value that it distracts a person to the point of colliding with persons in their way. May I inquire the content of this datapad?"

"Yes, you may." Charlotte answered and they looked at each other expectantly. After waiting a few seconds for an explanation and not getting any, Spock raised an eyebrow. Getting the clue she elaborated. "I am trying to shorten the time needed for beaming and in there..." she pointed at her datapad "... are my equations. But they seem to be faulty and right now I was searching for the error in my calculations."

"How do you know they are faulty?"

"Well right now the estimated time for beaming is minus three seconds." Inclining his head at understanding Spock looked down at the equations listed on the screen of the pad. "May I have a look at them?" Contemplating the offer she gave Spock a scrutinizing look. Shrugging her paranoia off mentally and shrugging physically she replied "Go ahead."

"We are not heading in any direction." came the puzzled voice of Mr. Spock. Blinking Charlotte rectified her answer to "No. I meant: Yes you may have a look at them." He started scrolling through her equations, his eyes flitting from left to right studying the calculations. After a couple of seconds Charlotte started shuffling, feeling like being back at the academy and having her exams evaluated right in front of her. Stopping his motions he looked back at her and held the pad out for her. "I believe the reaccumulating energy has to be added and not subtracted." Snatching her pad out of his hand she studied the equation.

"Damn those little buggers. Always being there and changing from one line to the other!" She started typing corrected her error. "I do not see how a mathematical sign is able to induce negative emotions." Looking up from her pad she gazed at him, still wearing concentration upon her face. A second later it vanished and made way for a rose tint on her cheeks. "They don't. I am just mad at myself for swapping those from one line to the other." She scratched the back of her head in embarrassment.

"Thank you, commander." Charlotte turned around and started back the way she came resuming typing commands into her datapad.

An "Ensign McAllister." stopped her in her tracks, again, and she turned back around a questioning look on her face. "You were walking in the direction of the mess hall, I believe, before our encounter." Charlotte squinted in the direction she was walking and then back at Spock. "Yeah, right." She turned on her heel and headed back to the hall were Spock came from before, returning to typing. As she passed Spock, he spoke up.

"I see your hair changed its colour." Freezing in mid-stride Charlotte turned her attention back to the ever observing commander. "Black is not against starfleet regulation." she deadpanned. "That is correct, but how is it possible to change your hair colour without dye?" A questioning eyebrow made its way up on Spocks face, while Charlotte replied "How do you know I didn't use any?"

"My olfaction is greater than that of a human."

"You would have smelled it." Charlotte asked for clarification. "Indeed, that assumption is correct." Spock inclined his head for further affirmation. Mulling the question over in her head, if she should tell him or not. Charlotte squinted at her commanding officer. Coming to a conclusion she shrugged and answered his initial question. "Nanites."

If a vulcan could look intrigued, then Spock would right now. "Please clarify." he asked for further information. Right in this moment the intercom blared to life with the voice of captain James T. Kirk.

"Kirk to Spock." The called commander walked over to the speaking device and pushed a button before replying "Spock here."

"Meet me and Bones in conference room 4012 in ten minutes."

"Immediately, sir."

"Kirk out."

Spock turned back around and started to say something, but Charlotte beat him to it. "That's on my way. If you don't mind I'll tag along." The eyebrow was back up. "Conference room 4012 does not border on the most efficient way to the mess hall from here."

"That's why I said it's on my way there." Charlotte smiled at him putting emphasis on "my". "Very well. Please proceed." Motioning with his arm in the direction of their destination Spock started walking down the hall. Following him, Charlotte started her explanation.

"I have built nanites to change the colour of my hair. They refract light prismatic in such a way, that an observer sees the colour I programmed the nanites to show." She started to ty on her datapad an held it out for Spock to look at. "That's the program. Here I can choose the colour from a palette or by RBG code. You want to try it out?" Taking the offered datapad in his hand, Spock looked at the program and entered the first colour on the palette: fiery red. Half a second later Charlotte was now sporting a mob of red hair atop her head.

"The nanites are reproducing themselves, because environmental effects reduce their numbers. They take the growth of my hair to build new ones." Now her hair colour changed to hazel.

Explaining the more intricate structure of the nanites and changing hair colour, they walked down the hall. Charlotte was underlining her explanation with wild hand gestures while Spock looked up briefly each time he entered a new command, sometimes nodding to show he understood the mechanics. They didn't notice the doors of a turbolift opening behind them, where captain Kirk and a grouchy man wearing blue emerged.

"... and than she said I can shove it..." Noticing the pair in front of him, captain Kirk interrupted the rambling man beside him. "Bones, I think I need my eyes checked." Frowning the doctor looked at his friend concerned. "What? Why?" Still looking forward he just motioned for Bones to look in the same direction. Following his captains lead the doctor saw Spock walking next to a nearly waving girl. "So?" As his word left his mouth the hair colour of the girl turned from platinum blond to iriscident blue.

"No species I know of is able to change its hair colour at will." was the dumbfounded acknowledgment of Bones. Resuming walking, as he had stopped at the sight in front of him, captain Kirk called for his first officer. "Spock." Reacting to his name the commander turned around and waited together with his talking partner for the captain to catch up. Charlotte stood at attention beside him not moving away, because datapad was still in the hands of Spock. With his hands folded behind his back, he pressed a button on it one last time.

Reaching them Kirk asked his first officer "You saw it, too. Right?" Spock merely looked at him. "To what event are you referring?" Stemming his hands into his sides the captain all but huffed, knowing that the vulcan probably knew what he was referring to. "Her hair colour changing by itself." Spock tilted his head slightly while the ever-present eyebrows were both up in his hairline. "I believe hair is not able to change its colour on its own volition." Staring a second at his first, captain Kirk turned his attention to the girl beside Spock for the first time. She was sporting light brown hair again. "Ensign McAllister." he acknowledged her surprised. "Captain Kirk."

"How the hell did you do that? Changing your hair from platinum blond to a deep blue in seconds?" interrupted an aggravated Bones, who reached the group in this moment. Instead of answering the question, Charlotte turned to commander Spock and asked incredulously "You played with them?"

"I did not as you say play with them. I investigated the variety of possible changes and the time they need to adapt to the new settings. That is what you may have observed, doctor McCoy." Grinning like a fool she motioned for the vulcan to give Charlotte her datapad back. After receiving it she tapped a few seconds and suddenly her hair turned back to being blue. Twirling a strand of her hair between her fingers Charlotte inspected it thoroughly. "Nice blue. I think that will go into my collection. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting with a sandwich in the mes hall. Captain. Doctor. Commander." She nodded at each one of them turned around and walked away in a hasty retreat, while changing her hair colour yet again to black.

Staring dumbfounded after her, the doctor muttered a "How?" under his breath. Spock turned his attention to McCoy and answered flatly "Nanites. Shall we proceed to conference room 4012?" shaking his head Kirk replied simply "Yes." and all three of them were on the move.

After dinner Charlotte got straight back to work. Arriving at engineering bay she was intercepted by Scotty, who sent her to the cooling device of the environmental system. The temperature of the cooling agent was fluctuating. Nothing serious, but nerve wrecking if you are standing under the shower and the water temperature changes the whole time. After searching ten minutes for the right machine, she started working. Opening the panel with the screwdriver she laid it next to the machine.

She checked the electronics and the programming first, because only god knows how many machines were disassembled to be proven in working order but the program being faulty. Nothing wrong so far. Next: input parameters. Something about these values seemed to be wrong. There: the temperature of the recycled water was stationary and that was simply not possible. Conclusion: temperature sensor in the recycle stream damaged.

Charlotte pulled up the construction plan of the devise on a nearby screen and searched for the location of the sensor. Having found it on the bottom of the supply pipe, she closed the drawing and crouched next to the pipe. Looking up and down the length of said pipe she located the sensor a bit to her left and a bit further away from Charlotte. Opening her toolbox, she pulled the screwdriver for small devices and a new temperature sensor out of it. Lying down Charlotte inched closer to the damaged sensor and unscrewed the cables leading to it. Then she removed the sensor and put it aside. After fitting the new probe into the holding and connecting it back up to the system Charlotte tried to sit back up. But by being so far under the pipe she only succeeded in hitting her head really hard on the flange next to Charlotte.

"Ouch! Damn." She scooted away from the pipe and started rubbing her hurting head with her free left hand. After the pain subsided a bit Charlotte stopped and picked up her instruments. A red liquid on her left hand made her stop. Lifting it before her face she inspected it. But Charlotte didn't find a scratch on her hand, which meant she must have hit her head so hard it drew blood. "Not good." Charlotte screwed the panel back to its designated place took her toolbox and jogged back to the turbolift.

"Hey, lass. How is the repair going?" Whipping around in mid stride Charlotte found the source of the voice standing next to a pipe labeled 'hot steam'. "The repair is done. The temperature sensor was defect. I replaced it." She motioned to the way she came. "Great. Your the first one ti figure that out." The Scotsman grinned at her. "It was a test?"

"Of course. I've got to see, who is good enough for my lady. Why were you in such a hurry anyway?" Remembering her head-injury and the now ever-present pain in her head she simply said "I have to check out again." "What for?" Scotty asked puzzled. "I need to go to medical bay." Charlotte hold up her bloody left hand to prove her point. " Good lord. Why didn't you said so in the first place? Off you go." Scotty started waving his hands in a motion that showed she should hurry, shooing her out of engineering bay. Nodding her head, Charlotte placed her toolbox back and mounted the turbolift.

After a short ride and a quick walk, Charlotte arrived at medical bay. Upon entering she heard a voice yelling from one of the backrooms. "Five goddamn minutes and you get yourself in trouble. In the botany bay no less. Goddammit Jim, you know they have toxic plants there and you go and touch one!" Not knowing what to do Charlotte simply stood there for a second before she was approached by a nurse. "May I help you?" The blonde woman smiled at Charlotte, who in turn pointed her finger at her head. "I hit my head in engineering bay and it started bleeding." Shrugging helplessly Charlotte waited for instructions. The blonde nurse looked in the direction of the still ranting voice of the doctor and, after heaving a sigh, she motioned Charlotte to sit on one of the biobeds. She went to on of the shelves and retrieved a dermal regenerator.

"Listen. Normally the doctor would help, but as he is currently occupied and that won't change in the near future, because he got his favorite patient in there." The nurse told Charlotte while pointing in the direction of the still arguing voice with her thumb. Pushing her blonde hair behind her ear the nurse continued. "I am qualified to apply the necessary treatment, but only with consent of the doctor or the patient if the doctor is unavailable." Looking patiently at Charlotte the blonde waited for a reply.

"Yes, please go ahead. I don't want to be here longer than I need to." Charlotte smiled reassuringly at the nurse, who picked up the dermal regenerator from the table she had previously placed it. She took a stand behind Charlotte and searched her head for the cut. Right after she found it she started the procedure. After a moment of thoughtful working Charlotte asked the nurse to evade the tense silence. "What's your name? I may need to know, who to ask for, if I need medical attention again." A short silence later the regenerator beeped, signaling the end of the treatment. The nurse rounded the biobed and extended her hand. "The name is Christine Chapel. And you are? I need it for the report."

"Charlotte McAllister" and both women shook hands. Scribbling on her pad nurse Chapel inquired "You need medical attention often?" flicking her eyes from the pad to look at her patient, who scratched her head in embarrassment. " Ah, well... Yes. I'm quite accident-prone. Hitting my head, cutting my hands... Well I need to get back to work. Thanks for the treatment" Charlotte hopped of the bed and waved at the nurse while walking away. Shaking her head Christine Chapel resumed writing the report ignoring the constant banter in the backroom.

The rest of the day was quite uneventful for Charlotte, if you don't take the averages in some crew-quarters into account. After ending her shift she trudged back to her room, the ever-present datapad in her hand. The typing was slower than before and often interrupted, while Charlotte was yawning.

Making her way back to her room she met few others in the hall and didn't collide with anyone. Upon arriving she simply sat her pad down, laid on her bed and fell asleep awaiting a new exciting day to come.