Engineering Break up

Posted on Thu Feb 5th, 2026 @ 9:12pm by Commander Benjamin Jamesson & Lieutenant Jennifer Matthews

Mission: Royal Mail
Location: Main Engineering
Timeline: Day 451
1492 words - 3 OF Standard Post Measure

In the bustling heart of Atlantis, Commander Benjamin Jamesson stood in the heart of engineering, a place where he was normally at ease and everything made sense yet the sound still sounded off to him. This Atlantis would never be his fully as his ship which was why he stepped away to form Operations department. He had overseen this engineering since Ensign Michael Sloan's departure but Leroux had decided something more permanent needed to be found and he had very much not wanted to be the permanent solution. He smiled a little as he spotted the chief engineer and offered a wave to the young woman. He purposely kept out of her way most of the time so there was no power struggle between the department but he needed to catch up on the changes he was making to the former MACO areas.

Jenni had been found on the upper level, speaking with a crewman about some metallic strain he had noticed along the magnetic constrictors. More than four hundred days into this far-flung journey, Jenni had expected the list of wear and tear to grow, but she would've predicted that constrictors wouldn't have shown up for another year. It was not a major problem, and since they'd caught it early, there was a chance they could resolve it without external support.

But whether or not they could shut things down long enough to address the issue was another matter. Until then, life aboard the ship had to continue as normal, so when she spotted Commander Jamesson waving at her from the lower level, she knew she had to take a break from business to check in with him. She passed the datapad back over to the crewman, set him back to his work, and then moved for the elevator to join the Commander on the lower level.

The man waited until she joined him before he smiled. “Sorry for interrupting your day Lieutenant. I just thought we could have a catch up over the operations and engineering restructure.” He said in a friendly manner holding the mug of coffee to her. He had not wanted to take anymore officers and enlisted than he needed to when engineering took the engine parts that made them move whilst he took the day to day running of the things that kept the lights on.

She chuckled at the gesture. Offering any engineer a mug of coffee meant one of two things: a mandatory refuel because one was looking more tired than they should, or it was time for a hard conversation. These days aboard the Atlantis seemed to hint that the answer was more commonly both. "It's no interruption at all, Commander," she admitted even though this indeed was an interruption. But all meetings were interruptions for her as there was always some piece of hardware that needed attention.

At that very thought, there was a clatter behind her as a crewman lost their grip on a maintenance hatch and was unable to stop it before it fell to the floor. "Perhaps we should find somewhere where we can focus," she suggested.

“What are you currently looking at repairing that you could use a hand with?” The man offered. “Two hands and we can catch up over the department changes.” He added explaining why he was there so there was no concern of why he was there. He was trying to avoid future conflict.

Jenni shook her head before taking a sip of her coffee. "That's Crewman Burke back there. I've got him checking the deuterium injectors for any mineral buildup that the sensors and diagnostics might be missing. I know we only refueled a short while ago, but there's only one way of knowing for sure if there's a negative side effect, and that's close monitoring. I think we'll be okay with a walk." She took another sip of the elixir he'd offered her and gestured for the door. "Shall we?"

Benjamin glanced around to the area where the noise was and nodded. He knew crewman Burke and in both universes he did make quite a noise doing the most simplest of jobs sometimes. “He doesn’t change.” He said fondly though as he led the way out in to corridor. “I wanted to check up on things for a few weeks but I did not want to make is strange for yourself.” He said once they were a good distance away from the main hub of engineering and any prying eyes and ears.

"It's strange enough getting used to being the one in charge," Jenni freely admitted, adding a chuckle at the end. She tilted her head slightly to the left before clasping both hands in front of her as she walked. "Short-handed, and short-supplied, I can get used to. Ingenuity appears to be the name of the game out here."

“We are all out here before we got lost in space for our ingenuity but short handedness I cannot really help with. I left the crew that knew the engines better than fixing consoles and checking power levels across the ship. But I am always here to help you. I did not leave engineering to just leave you to it.” Benjamin explained gently. “This is not my ship and these engines just sound out of sync to me so I would constantly be on edge.” He chuckled trying to lay it out simple without saying - my mental health could not cope.

As she stepped across the threshold separating engineering from the corridor, Jenni offered a smirk. "The, uh, engines sounding out of sync makes sense. Each dimension operates on its own set of frequencies. What is native to me is not native to you. I'm sure if I had crossed over instead of you, I'd hear the same thing."

“So it makes sense to you thankfully because sometimes I do not think it makes sense but yourself and Lieutenant Diaz at least understand apart from my fellow refuges.” Benjamin said kindly. He knew that both Hughs and Nish both had their issues but they both felt more put together than him.

Jenni offered an understanding smile. "If it gets too bad, I'm sure we could modify a hearing aid to filter some of those frequencies. That way you don't have to wander the corridors and always hear that incessant electrical buzz from the EPS grid." She looked over to him and offered a sympathetic gaze. "To help with those days where nothing's going right."

Benjamin blinked for a moment and looked at the woman before he looked away feeling just for a moment a little teary and overwhelmed by the suggestion of something so tiny but so practical. He was going to discuss it with the doctor and Zac the first chance he got. “That is a very practical solution to my situation.” He finally said.

She blinked in return, nearly astonished that a simple idea would have had such a profound effect. When she made the decision to join Starfleet and see the universe, Jenni hadn't the faintest clue where that road would have taken her. These last 450 days or so had proven time and time again that survival was dependent not just on ingenuity, but also looking after each other, even when she wanted to retreat to her private quarters and curl up with her violin. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help with that," she offered.

“Thank you. But I did not come here just for that. I came to talk about engineer and if there was anything I had missed to hand over when I left.” The man was sure he had left everything together best he could after Sloan left suddenly. He was the type of man to not leave loose threads if he could help it.

Jenni simply shook her head. "Aside from a moldy half sandwich left in a damage control locker?" she joked. Of course, the Commander was not to be blamed for the sandwich. It had been one of her own left days after they first arrived, and she'd been eating on the job. Jenni had been so preoccupied with damage control that she'd simply forgotten she was eating, and it was days later that the sandwich was found. "Honestly, everything is going pretty well, aside from some sluggish data processors. We might need to arrange a time to purge and recompile those."

“I am sure we can blame McManus for that.” Benjamin said grinning. He felt a lot lighter for this conversation and was glad that he had found the courage to have it to make sure the woman knew he was there if she needed help. He was not just abandoning without rhyme or reason. Just for once he was bent a little more selfish than normal and pitting himself first. Hughs would say for once he was growing but he would never admit it.