This week with Arlene and Jeff:
...The First Officer had deliberately refrained from rushing to the engine room when the ship suddenly dropped out of warp. The Captain had, as usual, gone into a tirade while demanding to know what had happened, as well as when the ship would resume its progress. Of course, he continued with his usual rant about an incompetent engineering department, despite the Chief having warned him over and over that the warp coils were operating with parts basically manufactured by hand. After giving the engineers time to assess the situation, the First Officer had the galley prepare enough food to last the engineers for a multi-cycle - which he oversaw to be certain there was no chance that the food was poisoned. With a cart following him, he stopped at the sealed hatch to ask for admittance, even though the hatch would have opened for him because of his rank - and his friendship with the Chief.
After a moment, one of the engineers opened the hatch, weapon in hand.
"Sir, I could see who was outside, but the Chief would have my ass if I opened this hatch without a weapon ready," he said in apology.
"And, you would have caught hell from me, also," the First assured him.
Nodding to the trailing food cart, "You brought food," the sub said, his voice brightening. "The Chief is setting up the replicator to begin building the first part of the many we will need. You know where the replicator is, right?"
"Of course," the First responded, although he was far from certain that he could find it in the massive engine. "How about telling everyone about the food?"
"Thank you, Sir. I will do that. Those ration packs get old quickly. With the breakdown, we would have been sealed up in here until we were moving again and the Captain had, hopefully, calmed down a bit."...
Have a goodun;
Roust