A siren wailed as crewmembers rushed down corridors. Lights were flashing along the walls. Ensign Patrick jolted to her station in Engineering. She quickly began to type onto the panel. Her heart was beating rapidly, knowing the situation is dire.

"What's the status, Ensign?" Lieutenant Levinson asked Ensign Patrick over the commotion. He was her superior officer and head of Engineering. He was fifteen years older than the young officer and worked his way up to this position aboard six ships. He cared about the ship and the crew. He saw Patrick continue to type and search through the data. "Ensign?" Levinson asked again, this time with a demanding tone to his voice.

The Ensign looked up from her station toward her Lieutenant. "There is something really wrong here, sir." Lieutenant Levinson walked to the station to see what the problem was. When he looked at the panel, all of the information showed that everything was running efficiently.

"I don't understand this shows that everything is ok, what is the problem?" He started to become increasingly agitated.

"Sir, the fact that the panel shows everything is okay is the problem. The warp core has a malfunction but we are unable to get accurate information from the computer. We would have to do a complete diagnostic on the system." Patrick explained to her senior officer.

Levinson appeared frustrated. "Yes, I am aware that we need to run a diagnostic on the system, but that isn't our main priority at the time, Ensign, we have to repair the warp core. Think about your priorities!" He stormed away from her to another officer working on the warp core.

"But I am thinking about my priorities!" She yelled back to her superior officer. "I am trying to save the ship!"

Levinson had just about all that he could. "Look, you may have been top of your class and a good engineer, but on this ship you need to follow command and you have a bad habit of doing things without being authorized to do. So you are going to follow my command or you are going to be relieved of your duties. You are just getting in my way here." The Lieutenant spoke sharply and went back to working on the warp core.

Ensign Patrick left Engineering without question. A million thoughts were running through her head, not sure what to do. She knew that the problem with warp core was caused by a much larger problem that they were unable to detect on their equipment. If this wasn't discovered, all of the systems could fail and could mean the loss of the ship and its crew. She took a deep breath and ran down the corridor to an access tube.

She opened the small door and crawled through the internal caverns of the ship. She pulled out her tricorder and scanned the walls. After passing a few meters she found the anomalous reading she was looking for. Patrick pried the panel cover from the wall to expose several wires, tubes, cables, and connecters. She scanned again and the reading was more prominent. She knew this was the place, but still not sure what she was searching for.

The Ensign moved to the adjacent panel and pried that off. She pushed her hand through the cables and felt something wet on her fingers. She pulled her hand out to see a glowing blue gel on her fingers. "Gotcha!" She exclaimed. She found the problem. Now she had to figure out how to repair it, and time was running out. After assessing what cables were connected to what, she began to cut the ones that were unessential. Patrick was now able to see a large cable with the gel bubbling out of it. She got up and reached the panel on the wall where tools are kept, grabbed what she needed and headed back to the problem. She repaired the leak, sealed it and cleaned up.

Suddenly the access tube door opened and her Lieutenant came through with two crewmen in tow. "Ensign Patrick, once I saw that the access door was opened, I knew I would find you in it. Alright, come with me, we are going to the Captain."

She wanted to explain her case; however she felt that it would be fruitless at this point. She knew she was in major trouble this time. This was not the first time she upset her superiors and defied orders. She always thought that she was doing the right thing, and for the right reason.

Levinson led the group to the Captain's conference room. Once there, the two crewmen stood outside the door, obviously she was now being under guard. This did not make her feel any more comfortable.

Captain Cirroc sat behind his desk and didn't acknowledge anyone. He was an older man who started off his career in Starfleet over thirty years ago. He was highly decorated and forced respect. However the gray hair atop his head conveyed that he was getting older and out of touch. Some would say that he was not fond of advancements in technology and was hesitant to change how his ship would run. He developed a reputation of being a real hard-ass and sometimes unfair towards the younger generation.

After waiting for what Ensign Patrick thought was an eternity, the Captain looked up at the Lieutenant. "So, Levinson, tell me what happened."

"Well Sir," Levinson started, "during the commotion, while trying to correct the problem with the warp core, Ensign Patrick disobeyed my orders. After being relieved of her duties, she was discovered in an access tube tinkering in the main control panels."

The Captain had his two pointer fingers resting on his lips while he was listening; he dropped his hands and looked through the digital files. "Ensign Cora Patrick, is that correct?" He stopped and looked up at the nervous Ensign; she nodded. "I see here that you have had multiple issues with Lieutenant Levinson since you have been aboard." He put the PADD down on his desk. "I am not going to put up with this anymore. I have a crew taking a shuttle back to Starfleet and I want you on it… You are dismissed."

"But wait, Captain that is unfair. You didn't even let me explain what happened!" She protested as she was being escorted out of the room. The security officers walked her back to her quarters where she was to remain until the transport was ready to depart. As she was packing up her personal belongings, she received a message to report to Admiral Pike upon returning to earth for a debriefing. Cora sighed and fell back onto her bed, "My career in Starfleet is over."