Better Than New
Posted on Sat Oct 24th, 2026 @ 12:29am by Ensign Millicent Ambrose & Maren Malbrooke
Edited on on Sun Oct 25th, 2026 @ 10:10am
2,118 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
Episode 18 - The Edge of Darkness
Location: Main Engineering - Deck 11 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD003 0715 hrs
Maren left her quarters carrying the repaired EPS flow regulator beneath one arm and a PADD tucked against it, the doors closing behind her on a room that had seen considerably less sleep than she had originally intended.
She had slept.
Technically.
There had simply been rather a lot of testing between finishing the repair and deciding she ought to close her eyes for a while.
The regulator had survived all of it.
That was the important part.
By the time the turbolift deposited her on Deck Eleven, Maren had already checked the overnight results twice more and found nothing she disliked enough to take the unit apart again. Her hair had been pulled back with only moderate success, her mother’s coat hung open over a shirt and dark trousers, and she carried herself with the unmistakable satisfaction of someone returning something in better condition than when she had received it.
Main Engineering was already properly awake. The quieter atmosphere she had encountered the previous night had given way to the morning watch, with personnel moving between consoles beneath the steady blue-white pulse of the warp core. Voices crossed the compartment over the low mechanical thrum of the ship, status updates and technical shorthand blending into the ordinary rhythm of a department beginning another day.
Maren stepped inside and looked around.
She had not actually arranged to meet anyone.
That seemed unnecessary.
Somebody in Engineering would know what to do with the regulator, and if they didn't, Maren was perfectly capable of explaining it to them until they did.
Her gaze settled on the first officer within reasonable distance: a young woman around five-eight with a lean, well-conditioned build and light brown hair falling below her shoulders, several streaks of magenta cutting through it. Dark brown eyes stood out against a fair complexion, expressive enough that Maren noticed them even before she registered the ensign’s uniform.
Good enough.
Maren adjusted the regulator beneath her arm and crossed towards her.
“Morning.”
She stopped within conversational distance, waiting until she had the woman’s attention rather than simply depositing several hours of work onto somebody’s console.
“I’m Maren.” A faint smile tugged at her mouth as she lifted the regulator slightly. “I’ve got something that belongs down here.”
She placed the unit carefully within reach, then set the PADD beside it with the diagnostic results already open. Whatever exhaustion remained from the night before had done very little to blunt the quiet pride in her expression.
“It was broken.”
Maren rested one hand against the casing.
“It isn’t anymore.”
Her smile widened just a little.
“Actually, it’s better.”
Hearing the words from the woman who had come up to her, Millie put her tool down upon the work bench.
She had been working on recalibrating the synchronization of the personal emergency forcefield emitter.
"Better? I am very interested." Millie stated with a warm smile.
"I'm Millie, and I am quite interested in what you've done. What's your name?" picking up the PADD to look at what the new arrival had brought into Engineering.
Intrigue and curiosity could be felt coming from Millie and one thing that she also noticed was the girl's hand. There definitely were the signs of she most definitely worked with her hands.
Maren’s eyebrows rose slightly when Millie asked her name again, the corner of her mouth already beginning to curl.
“Maren,” she repeated, with just enough emphasis to make it clear this was not new information. “Still Maren. I did say that bit, but it’s early, so I’ll give you one.”
There was no real bite behind it. If anything, Millie’s immediate interest in the regulator had already earned her considerably more patience than somebody who had nodded politely and set it aside for later.
Maren noticed her attention shift towards her hands next.
She followed the look down, turning one hand over as though checking whether something unexpected had appeared there overnight. There were enough small marks to tell their own story if anyone cared to look: faint burns, old cuts, the sort of tiny scars that came from years of reaching into machinery that did not always appreciate the attention.
When she looked back up, amusement had settled comfortably into her expression. “They’re hands. Very useful. I’ve had them ages.”
She let Millie have the PADD, shifting closer to the workbench as the regulator became the more interesting subject again. “And yes, better. It had a bad induction coupler, but replacing that would’ve just made it work the way it did before, which seemed a bit pointless once I’d already opened it up.”
Maren rested her fingertips lightly against the casing and nodded towards the results on the PADD. “Starfleet builds everything assuming all the clever little fail-safes behind the first fail-safe are still going to be there when you need them. Which is adorable, but not especially useful once half of them are already dead.”
Her grin returned, bright with the satisfaction of someone who had spent far too much of the night proving herself right.
“So I made it less stupid.”
Millie's cheeks colored, her brain reminding her that Maren had already introduced herself.
"Maren, sorry. My brain was just a little slow on registering your name. It was more focused on working on this project." She gave a nod toward what she had been working on.
"Other than that, I am glad to see what you've done to make it less stupid." Millie had a warm, friendly, twinkle in her eyes.
"I will agree with you, there are times when some of the equipment has way too many redundancies. Though, at times, there does need to be some in place to prevent someone who isn't an engineer from making a stupid mistake."
Maren glanced towards the regulator, then back to Millie, her expression creasing slightly as she worked through that.
“I mean... if somebody who isn’t Engineering or Ops is opening one of these up and changing things, I feel like we’ve already got a bigger problem.”
There was a small smile behind it rather than any real challenge. She shifted closer to the workbench and tapped lightly against the regulator’s casing. “I’m not saying fail-safes are bad. Having backups is great. Really great, actually. I’m just not used to backups that assume all the other backups are still alive too.”
Her hand moved through her hair while she searched for the simplest way to put it. “Where I’m from, if the first thing failed, there was a decent chance something else had already exploded, somebody had shot through the next one, and the third was running on whatever power you could steal from somewhere else.” Maren gave the regulator another little tap. “So I changed this one so it stops waiting around for systems that might not be there anymore. That’s the bit I thought was stupid.”
Millie looked at the regulator even more closely.
"There are times when it takes way too long to, let's say, stop damage as it is happening. Or, for that matter, there is the need for something to act quicker, when a split nanosecond means living or dying."
She looked back at Maren. "This is really good, and sounds like you've been around some rather—nail-biting situations."
There was the sense of Millie's interest growing even more.
"And I am all for improving the way the ship runs," she added.
Maren’s mouth pulled slightly to one side at nail-biting. “Yeah... something like that.” There were probably better words for growing up around Dominion patrols, running repairs while somebody was shooting at you and learning which alarms you could afford to ignore because the other one meant you were about to die, but she wasn’t particularly interested in finding them at seven in the morning.
She nodded instead towards the regulator. “Anyway, it held through everything I threw at it last night. Sustained load, forced transfer, primary path failure, secondary failure straight after that. It stabilised faster every time.” A little of the pride returned to her expression as she glanced at Millie. “You’ll probably want to run your own tests before anybody actually puts it back into service, which is fair. I would.”
Maren rested her hip lightly against the edge of the workbench and looked at the unit again. “If it breaks, though, I’m blaming whoever installs it.”
Millie gave a laugh. "Well, it would be me that installs it, so yeah, if it breaks, I'll get into trouble." She shrugged. "Nothing new. Just as long as it gets fixed, then no problem."
She heard the note of pride in Maren's voice.
Millie turned the regulator slightly in her hands, her eyes following the changes Maren had made before flicking briefly toward the diagnostics on the PADD.
"Seriously, I will test it, but from what I'm looking at, I'm liking what you did here." Millie was impressed, and it could be heard in her voice.
"So... sometime, do you want to tell me where you learned your incredible skills? Truly, I'm impressed, and I love it."
Maren blinked at the enthusiasm before a decidedly wicked little smile crept across her face. “Wow, Millie. Are you asking me out on a date? We've only just met. At least buy me breakfast first.” She managed to keep a straight face for all of two seconds before breaking into a grin. “I'm kidding. Although I do appreciate the compliments. Keep those coming.”
She glanced at the regulator, pleased that somebody was taking a genuine interest in what she'd done rather than questioning why she'd been allowed anywhere near it. “Most of what I know started with my dad. He taught me loads when I was little, and after that...” Maren shrugged, running a hand through her hair. “You get pretty good at fixing things when the alternative is being stuck somewhere you'd really rather not be. And when you don't have a nice shiny replacement sitting in a cupboard, you learn to get creative.”
Her smile returned as she looked back at Millie. “But yeah, sure. I'd be up for that. It's not like I've got a duty roster or anything. I'm basically just wandering around your ship finding things to do until somebody tells me to stop.” She paused, considering how that sounded, then added with a cheeky grin, “Which hasn't happened yet, so I reckon I'm doing pretty well.”
Maren tilted her head, curiosity getting the better of her. “So, what did you have in mind? Because if you want to talk engineering, I'm definitely interested. Just don't expect me to sit through a lecture about Starfleet maintenance procedures. I've had enough excitement for one week.”
A chuckle came from Millie, her eyes twinkling before she spoke.
"Nope, no sitting through a lecture on procedures, and I'm thinking you may have already read something of that nature."
She placed the regulator back onto the workbench, giving it a gentle caress before looking back at Maren.
"It would be talking about Engineering, and also getting to see what you can do. I'm really interested in learning more about your skills."
Millie looked back at the regulator.
"This... this is a work of art."
Maren glanced between Millie and the regulator, a grin spreading across her face. “Okay, now you're just trying to make me blush. It's working, by the way, so congratulations.”
She appreciated the enthusiasm, though. It was nice having somebody take an interest in what she could do without immediately asking whether she was qualified to do it.
“But yeah, I'd like that. I'm always up for talking engineering, and it's not like I've got much else keeping me busy.” She glanced towards the equipment Millie had been working on earlier, curiosity getting the better of her. “Actually, what were you doing before I interrupted? Anything interesting?”
Maren gave her a cheeky smile. “I've got some time if you want a hand. Promise I'll ask before improving anything else.”
Millie looked at Maren, recognizing the talent the young woman had, as well as her knack for looking at things from a different angle and noticing other details. Millie felt it would be fun, and she might actually learn a few things from Maren as well.
"Sure, come on. I'll show you around, and we can get to work on some projects."
A Joint Post By
Ensign Millicent Ambrose
Engineering Officer, USS Pioneer
Maren Malbrooke
Civilian, USS Pioneer
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