PLOT

[samantha k. tilare]

Samantha Tilare was most likely not the person someone would want to cross, especially when she had been already cooped up on the ground for such a long time. Being an engineer, and the Assistant Chief Engineer at that, she needed to do a multitude of work before the Enterprise could take off. If anyone wanted to not touch the Earth anymore, they would have to wait until the Engineers were done. It was their job, so really it wasn't anything new. What was new was a rookie Engineer who was good at what he did, yes, but today he had to mess up. The day that Sam was on edge, crabby as hell, and stuck on land was not a good day to get her angry. He had done exactly that and put the data chip for the ship's main oxygen system operator and when he tried to force it, he broke off a part of it. They had a few extra of it, but she was lost to as why he was even taking it out of it's slot in the first place. She didn't want answers though, she wanted punishment, justice of the common man, someone to get into that little boy's face and make him look like a blueberry. Sam pulled herself back as she walked down the hall to the room where this little incident happened. He was in there, and she had the back up. Not only was the chip broken, but the slot, and that was for the control system of one of the main control units in the Bridge. At this time she was furious, but before she punched him or anything, she just stormed in the room, put the chip on the table and backed the boy into a corner. He was frightened as hell, and she could see it. Fear was her best friend at this moment. Why don't you tell me why in the hell you would put that chip into that slot." She signified the chip and slot with her hand as she pointed in their general direction. Maybe he was just dumb overall and didn't know any better. That wouldn't stop her from the ass kicking she was about to do. Sam didn't even wait for him to answer and grabbed the collar of his shirt and dragged him to the mess up he had made. "You see this? You broke it, and now I am going to have to fix it because I know that you can't and everyone else is busy getting ready to take off. Do you know how long this will take?" She waited for a moment to see if he even thought that he knew the answer. Obviously he didn't. "It will take at least a few hours, and that's only if I don't get interrupted with other things, which I know I will be. This is also only because I'm am about a thousand times smarter than you, and know that you don't force anything! If you can't fit it, it most likely doesn't go there." After a few moments of him just staring into her eyes like a frightened mouse, she let go of his collar and grabbed the chip.

Taking the chip and making sure the boy was watching her, she put it into the correct slot (which was far away from the other one) and turned to smile at him. He didn't seem to want to talk, so she took the silence and embraced it, loving the awkward and it's advantages in those situations. It didn't last that long though. "I didn't actually want to change anything. A few of my friends dared me to make you mad, so..." Before her could finish his sentence, she knew what she was going to do; kill him. That little worm thought that he was so tough going up against her, teasing her with his stupidity. "Well, now that I know this, I'm going to make sure three things happen:" She put up her index finger, "I'm going to make sure you're off of this ship and any ship for a full year. Only simulations and ground work for you." She put up her middle finger, "You are to report to me everyday for the next week with a message you recorded in front of those friends of yours. You're going to lie to them and frame them. I don't give a shit if this is unorthodox, it's my rules now." He had flinched at her last order and she put up her third finger, I'm also going to punch you in the face so damn hard that you're going to hurt for weeks." A bit angry, she wound up for a punch, but someone had grabbed her from behind. Sam had forgotten that there were others watching. Damn. This wouldn't stop her though, because she could get to him. Worming her way through their hands and arms, she got loose and punched the guy in the face. Two security members that were burly enough to take on five of Sam grabbed her and took her to the Brig. Rather familiar with this sort of situation, the security barely blinked as she kept trying to get loose. It sadly didn't work and they nodded to the man in charge as he opened up a cell for her. It was only so that she would let her steam off and not be able to escape while doing so. They even had considered putting a punching bag in there, but thought on it long enough to realise it would be more of a joke than anything.

Laying on the floor Sam stayed silent, but fuming. Normally her punishments that she gave before knocking someone out were watered down because someone else got control of the situation. Sam thought of what would happen to the boy. She knew that everyone made those mistakes, but she was an extreme hypocrite and enjoyed being that way because it made things easier. Staying in one position, she was waiting for someone to let her out so that she could do her job and get them out into space. Hopefully they would be along sooner rather than later.

OPEN!
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[kentra m. donrav]

The sudden arrest of the Assistant Chief Engineer had thrown the department into a bit of a tizzy. Already under pressure to get everything working in time for the ship's departure from spacedock, the fact that apparently the lieutenant had threatened to punch one of the crew in the face and then had been hauled off by a few large members of the security team had given everyone something to talk about. It had also left the ship without one of its best engineers and the person who was supposed to be running the section when Mr. Scott was not. Wanting to keep everything on track, and also wanting to find out why a senior member of the Engineering staff would threaten bodily harm to another, Kentra Donrav made it her mission to get Lieutenant Samantha Tilare out of the brig and back down to engineering so they could all get on with the business of fixing the ship. Thankfully negotiation was one of the many skills she had picked up from the Donrav symbiot upon joining, and so after a bit of wheeling and dealing and promising the watch security officer that a team of engineers would take a look at the beverage dispenser in the Security Section right away, Donrav was lead into the brig by an Andorian ensign.

The force field was not lowered, and apart from the drink dispenser there were a few things that apparently had to happen before the Assistant Chief Engineer was going to be let out. The apology to the threatened crew member was going to be the hard one. If Tilare had enough of a temper to get locked up in the first place, it was likely that she was not the sort of person who would be apologetic for her behavior afterward. Donrav stood nervously watching the senior officer for a moment, before clearing her throat to alert Tilare that she was there.

"Excuse me ma'am," the Trill said, "I'm Lieutenant Junior Grade Donrav, I work for you. I was able to convince security to let you out. You and I, we just need to sort a few things out. I kind of made a few promises for you, nothing big or anything... but maybe if we could go and apologize to the crew member that you punched."

Donrav glanced at the security officer that was still in the room, grateful for his presence and the fact that there was a force field between her and the other engineering officer. The last thing she wanted to do was to get punched herself, and she was pretty sure that assaulting the crew was not how an officer got to stay aboard the Enterprise. Hopefully if they were smart between the two of them they could get the incident kept off of Tilare's file so she was not transferred off the ship.

[samantha k. tilare]

Sam's head jerked up as she heard voices from her cell. It was a female and the man who was at the front of the brig, the one whom she had passed many a time before. They had developed a bitter friendship, one where they would converse when they were both off duty, but when she was brought to the brig, he scowled and shook his head. She was such a tirant. The other voice was slightly familiar. Sam was never exactly good with remembering voices from past experiences, but this one stuck out a bit. Thinking that it was someone she worked with, she deemed that it was an engineer. Maybe someone had found out and was getting her out of the brig. Hopefully it wasn't someone who had a stick up their ass or asked her to do something for them. Blackmail was always terrible. Sitting up all the way, she listened harder and tried to hear what was being said. Her name popped up a few times, she was sure of that, but the rest of the other sounds were jumbled. Maybe there was something involving getting her out, but she could only hope at that point in time. Hope was really all she had. The Enterprise was to take off as soon as it was sound to go, and if she wasn't there, it wouldn't get done as quickly as it normally would. She was the goddamned Assistant Chief of Engineering, and she wouldn't let some little idiotic prick get in her way of doing what she needed to do. Plus, if she wasn't there and Scotty had to run off to do more important things, one of those mindless peons would be left to be in charge of the Engineers and she would not let that happen. If they got control, she would come back to a whole new ship and it wouldn't be a good thing. Sam would rather jump off of a cliff than to see her position get revoked from her. Her temper was rising as she thought of being left on the ground for a few weeks before getting let back on. Disorderly conduct was not something Starfleet appreciated, but there always seemed to be an exception for her and a few other people. When you get high enough in the rankings there starts to be small holes that was exploited for them. If the offence was high enough there would be proper reprimanding, but this time it was just her punching some guy in the face. He was a newbie and needed to know that when she was frustrated and he was working under her he better not mess up or she'll get a little forceful. Taking her hair tie from her pants (she was only wearing her shirt for her official outfit. When she worked on the ground she liked wearing clothes that could be trashed a little more) and put her hair in a loose bun to keep it off of her neck. She was getting a little bit hot with anticipation for the new person and her fate that she kept hoping was something good and wonderful instead of absolute crap.

Closing her eyes for a moment to relax herself and be full of composure, she listened as footsteps started sounding. Then someone cleared their throat. It was someone she recognised and was obviously the person who had been talking to the other most likely about her release. Sam stared at the woman and her eyes. It was always good to know the intentions of others. She clenched her jaw as she started talking. She was proper, and she had seen it demonstrated before, and appreciated the respect and formality at that time. Of course, there had to be something to ruin it all.

"I kind of made a few promises for you, nothing big or anything..."

Sam normally handled things herself and knew negotiations were complicated without making promises and bargains, but this boiled her blood. If it was anything more than maybe fixing up the security's damn drink dispenser for the millionth time, she wouldn't do it. It wasn't in her blood to make peace with others. She was warm blooded and didn't take shit from anyone. When the Lieutenant continued Sam decided what her answer was going to be.

"but maybe if we could go and apologize to the crew member that you punched."

These words made the woman want to punch that person, to tell her that what she had done was ridiculous. She really wanted to reach through the force field and just do something angry to her. Sam restrained herself to words and stood up, not really thinking anymore. "Donrav, I'm thankful that you at least tried, but I'm not going to go back there and apologise to that weasel. He deserved everything he got." Her temper was rising into her throat again and she stepped closer to the woman countering her. "I would rather steep in here for weeks that do that," this was a lie, but she didn't care as it was heightening her point, "and I know that even that won't happen because the Enterprise needs me. If you don't have the Assistant Chief Engineer, you're going to have a very stressed and disappointed Chief Engineer on your hands. That's never good." She knew that she was important enough to be let out, but in the end she would most likely have to apologise in some way, shape or form. That didn't stop her from refusing to do so, especially when it came from someone like this Donrav. She respected the woman's work, but this made Sam's pride go down a notch. "So unless you have another idea, I'm not going to be out of here until everyone is angry because it took so long to get out of the damn Spacedock." All Sam was thinking about was the bargain, she didn't even realise that if she had enough bad marks on her record at the end of the trip they were about to take, she would be reprimanded harder than she would think at this moment in time. It didn't matter at that time though. Anger was the only thing that mattered.

[kentra m. donrav]

Donrav nodded, contemplating the argument that Tilare was presenting. About halfway through it she realized that it was not an argument that she was going to agree with. Not always agreeing with your superiors was fine, you did what they wanted anyway, but this time she was trying to get her superior officer out of the brig and that was going to look like it would require either her giving up and going back to her own work or telling off the lieutenant. Which was not at all what she wanted to do, not the least of which because there was every possibility that the woman would simply be let out of the brig later anyway, find Donrav and punch her in the side of the head. The Trill continued nodding as she tried to figure out how she was going to manuever this. She had been a diplomat in a previous life, but she had never been an anger counselor.

"Ma'am, I understand what you are saying. However I have to disagree with you. First off I don't even know if Mr. Scott realizes that he has an engineering staff, so I doubt he'd notice if we all were kidnapped by Romulans. As long as he has his ship he seems pretty happy," Donrav explained. The fact was she was pretty sure both of her direct superiors were a few pieces of latinum short of a Ferengi wedding, but that was not for her to say, "Secondly as the Assistant Chief Engineering Officer your role is to act as a conduit between the engineering crew and Mr. Scott. I don't want to tell you how to do your job, but I think that the crew might feel more comfortable with you, if they weren't worried about being hit anytime something you did not like happened."

In Donrav's opinion Tilare was meant to be protective of the crew, and of Mr. Scott. She had to protect Mr. Scott from his own department, and in turn protect the individuals in the department from Mr. Scott and Captain Kirk. Just as Mr. Scott was meant to protect her from Captain Kirk, and Starfleet Command. Going around fighting within the section did nothing to make anyone trust anyone, or feel protected from anything. "Also when you use violence, you lost a certain moral high ground. You may have been justified punishing crewman McTavish, but Starfleet has never allowed such corporal punishment."

"I don't know if you're human ma'am, but Earth had a famous general, a General Patton. He nearly ended his career because he slapped a soldier. In his mind he was right to, but despite being one of his nation state's top officers, he lost his command," Donrav said. She at least credited the lieutenant with enough intelligence to see how that would fit into her situation. By all accounts Tilare was a great engineering officer. It was just the fact that she seemed to have both a temper and a strong sense of pride, both of which combined had already landed her in trouble. The fact that Tilare was already trying to attack her own crew and they had not even left spacedock was a worry, what would happen under real pressure? The last thing Donrav wanted to see was the woman breaking under the stress and attacking those she did not feel were performing up to snuff. Could such a volitile personality handle a Romulan attack, or a warp core breach?