Elbows Deep in Engineering

T'Pren was a young lieutenant of many talents, it seemed. She'd been on the ship for the better part of the day once she was allowed back on duty, running diagnostics, calibrating the systems, getting the feel for the way the Hippolyta functioned. She was in Engineering alone, which made it look completely empty...because she was flat on her back under one of the consoles with her arms stretched as far up into an open panel as they could go, dressed in her uniform pants and the regulation tank top. Sometimes being small was very useful. This was one of those times.

The commander silently entered Engineering. She spotted T'Pren working under a console and stared at her for a few moments.

She cleared her throat, "Lieutenant."

Generally speaking, T'Pren's Vulcan hearing would have alerted her to someone else's presence -- maybe even to this specific presence -- if she were actually currently paying attention to it. But her mind was focused almost entirely on her work and the hum of the ship, which was just about as close as a girl raised in space could come to a lullaby. So when Tal'Ara cleared her throat, the half-Vulcan sat up in surprise.

Well. She would have sat up in surprise if the console's lower panel hadn't been in the way.

Thunk.

"...ow."

"Getting acquainted with the ship's systems, I see," she chuckled.

"Getting acquainted with the bulkhead anyway," T'Pren grumbled as she extricating herself from the wiring and panels and finally sat up to look at the Commander. She squinted a little as she rubbed at her forehead with her flat palm.

"I've been running diagnostics all day. The array needed tweaking," she explained, nodding at the exposed innards of the ship behind her.

Her hair, because she'd clearly been at this a long, long time, was shoved up into a very messy bun that let the points of her ears peak through a little.

Tal'Ara smiled when she saw T'Pren's ears.

"I assume you have read your briefing on the Artificial Singularity Core? I'm down here to inspect the progress of the installations."

"I read it," T'Pren assured the Romulan, shoving herself to her feet and dusting off the back of her uniform. "With your permission, I'd like to finish inspecting and calibrating everything already installed and running on the ship before we set up something that...can't be shut down."

Now that she was standing, it was obvious that something had changed in the last twenty-four hours with the lieutenant. She looked well-rested, which gave her an even more youthful face, but her whole being seemed more centered and stable, her aura a little more mature.

"With the crew as new as they are, I'd like to ensure everything goes off without a hitch."

Nevermind just how new T'Pren is as well. But Starfleet fast-tracked her.

"Yes, I agree," said Tal'Ara.

She stepped forward.

"Is there anything I can help with? Or perhaps would you like me to assign a few ensigns to assist you?"

"I'd love a Chief Engineer," T'Pren said, only slightly joking. She glanced at the open panel and then at the diagnostics she was running on several screens before looking appraisingly at the Romulan. She wasn't particularly keen to be responsible for showing a former Tal Shiar agent Federation tech, but it was bound to happen eventually and she was getting a good look at Romulan engineering.

"I'd love some help, if you have the time. There are only so many things I can manually calibrate at once." She nodded to one of the nearer screens. "Everything that isn't quite lining up there is going to need tweaking."

"I think I can spare a few hours," said Tal'Ara, "What do you need me to do? I'm afraid I dont know too much about Federation technology, so any insights would be helpful."

"It's pretty self-explanatory," T'Pren began, but then stopped herself and shook her head. "Actually, it may not be if you didn't grow up with it." She tapped a particular diagnostic result and made it larger so that more detail could be seen. It was barely off, well within Starfleet regulation according to the danger level lines on the charts, so apparently the lieutenant was just being obsessively careful.

"Basically each of these scans corresponds to a panel and each panel contains a conduit array made up of a grid of chips. I'm going through and checking each of the chips individually to find out where the discrepancy is a and then adjusting that piece individually before reinstalling it. And then I'm running a second comparative diagnostic on that section to make sure that fixed the issue."

Tal'Ara glanced quickly at all the instruments T'Pren was referring to.

"Why do you have to go through it manually? Cant you just run a diagnostic to find where the problem is?"

"Oh, I can," T'Pren agreed, shifting around the various charts to show the ones that needed attention. "But this ship wasn't built to communicate with Romulan technology and Romulan technology wasn't built to communicate with this ship. I'm not leaving anything to chance." She gave a tilted smile and a shrug. "Besides, I find it relaxing. So much of science is years of careful research and trial and error. It's nice to be able to just...fix something for a change."

"I see. So, what do you need my help with, exactly? Or would you just prefer my sunny disposition to keep you company?" she teased.

"Well, you don't have to," T'Pren assured her CO with a smile as she continued to manipulate the data. "But if you don't mind rolling around on the floor with me, you'll take this," she picked up an extra handheld scanner and pushed it toward Tal'Ara, "and take out each chip in a grid and scan it for irregularities and then make a pile of those for me to adjust."

"How could I pass up an opportunity to roll around on the floor with you, Lieutenant?" she smiled.

She took the scanner, crawled under the console near T'Pren, and got to work.

This was not work she was accustomed to. She had not done any kind of technical work since she was in school.

"You know, this isn't exactly my forte... but I can see how it is relaxing, in a way."

T'Pren grinned at Tal'Ara's response and set about taking apart another panel so she could start work on that one.

"It's refreshing to have finite answers to a problem and the ability to fix it immediately with your own hands," she agreed as she scooted under her panel and shoved her hands up into the grid.

"My fathers used to keep old clockwork equipment around in the living room so that if they were feeling stuck or frustrated, they could do something with an actual result."

"That sounds... nice."

Tal'Ara never had such experiences with her parents. Lessons from her father were usually on how to lie or kill people without leaving a trace.

She frowned and continued scanning the various grids - thus far, nothing seemed out of sorts.

Tal'Ara sneezed. Dust.

"My allergies have been acting up lately. I think it has to do with that Phylosian..."

"Da-an?" the lieutenant asked needlessly. There wasn't exactly another Phylosian anywhere nearby. She smiled up at her work just at the thought of the being and it translated into her voice. "You might want to see about getting an allergy hypo from the new doctor, then. We're going to turn this station into a park." The idea obviously pleased her greatly.

"I can't say I am a fan of that idea. I've never been particularly fond of nature," she said coldly.

"Unfortunately, you'd be vastly outvoted." T'Pren's voice made it obvious she was grinning as she worked. "Just be glad the Federation vetoed the Captain's original plan to turn the whole station into a rainforest."

"Democracy at its finest," she joked.

Her scanner indicated an irregularity in a chip, so she removed it.

"I think I found one."

She held it out for T'Pren.

"The needs of the many, et cetera, et cetera," T'Pren joked, carefully extricating herself from her panel to take the chip from the Romulan. She took care not to touch the other woman's skin in the typical Vulcan fashion.

"Thank you!" she chirped with satisfaction, bringing it over to another station and plugging it in. "Oh, yes. There you are, you little scoundrel."

Tal'Ara noticed how T'Pren avoided touching her skin. A shame, her skin looked very soft.

"Glad I could be of service," she smiled.

She looked over T'Pren once more. Those tiny ear points poking out of her hair.

"You know, you are by far the most expressive Vulcan I have ever met. Even for a half-Vulcan. I assume you know of Ambassador Spock. I met him a few years back when he was on Romulus working on the reunification movement. You'd never know he was half-human."

Whatever T'Pren might have said about being an expressive Vulcan went right out of her head when Tal'Ara mentioned Spock. And then the lieutenant started geeking out.

She whirled back around to stare wide-eyed at the Romulan. "You met Spock?! The Spock?! Ambassador Spock, formerly first officer of the USS Enterprise under the command of then-Captain James Tiberius Kirk?! That Spock?!"