USS Malinche NCC-38997-A

<April 15, 2376, Main hangar, Cait Homeworld, Ferrassa Shuttle Services-1100 hrs>

"L'randil?" The hangar foreman stated as he walked along the floor passing several mine shuttles. He seemed to be a bit tense, although that was normal enough. Not regarding her superior very highly, L'randil just said a simple "yeah" while she was still inside a compartment of a shuttle. The teenage caitian was more concerned about her ships than her public opinons.

"You have an hour to finish this one and get started on number twenty over there." He pointed with his clip board, the tip of his tail flicking in annoyance. She rolled her eyes as she leaned out of the hatch and nodded. "I mean that, Randi get it done. I can't have you being perfect on this one." He huffed and walked off.

"Yeah, you say that." She muttered when he got out of range. "But it still comes down to me making this place hum." She went back into her compartment to finish her work. When the time came that she was done, she put the panels back on and went on to the other order. "Ha," She said to herself "45 minutes and perfect. Top that".

A pilot walked by. A young male, even younger than her. They often liked to flirt with the female mechanic, being that she was a unique thing in this shop.

"Hey, good lookin." He greeted with a smile. "Don't forget to tune up number 31. I'll make it worth your while later on, if you get my drift."

"Talk to K'tal." She said flatly, continuing to her next project. "I get my orders from him." She hardly took orders from him but she used it to get out of favors.

"Whatever, hot stuff. I'll see you around." The cocky pilot walked onward to his craft. She shook her head and watched him walk away. He had been hitting on her since she arrived. Perhaps if she wasn't a technician she would be drawn to his advances, but she had a lot of work because of his careless handling. Things would dent and crack on a regular basis, which bothered the perfectionist to no end.

She dialled an access panel taller than her and it hissed as it released. It slid down to the floor and she moved it to the side with some effort. Then she climbed up into the nacelle to disengage some things before going further.

This hangar was a mix of active and maintained shuttles, some were rather large. It was routine for pilots to move them around in the tight space with the power of the shuttle's thrusters. Usually this wasn't a problem, as there was very little thrust reaction.

She climbed out of the nacelle and released the second access hatch in the same way, leaning it on the side of the craft before proceeding to move her service cart in place.
"Alright, relays disengaged. Now to the top conduits." She said to herself, climbing up the side of the large craft to the nacelle junction.

She stopped to sit and look at the view of the large hangar for a moment. "What a living. Get to work on ships and be depended on. What more could I..." She was interrupted in her thoughts by a large rush of heat and air from a passing shuttle. This one was running at a much higher velocity than normal. It was enough to throw the normally well balanced caitian to the ground, a fall over fifteen feet. To add insult to injury, the panels that were leaning on the shuttle were knocked into by her fall. She laid there semi concious, unaware that the panels had fallen on her.

<1500 hrs>

It wasn't until K'tal, her supervisor came to inspect his subordinate's work that he realized she was injured. He dropped his clipboard and ran over to her. Seeing her tail and head sticking out from the panels but otherwise being covered, he feared the worst.

"Somebody get help. Man down!!" He shouted. A couple pilots rushed over to help with the panels. She began to respond incoherently when the panels were lifted. A medical crew arrived eventually, sliding her onto a stretcher. She was still unaware that her feet were at odd angles and how much really hurt. That didn't come until she woke up the next day in the hospital.

<April 16, 2376 Cait General Hospital, Intensive Care Unit 1630 hrs>

"Wha." She uttered but stopped because her ribs hurt. She motioned for a nurse. "What...Happened?" The nurse took a moment to think how to say it.

"You were in a...an accident. You have five bruised ribs, a partially collapsed lung, a broken leg and foot and a sprained neck."

"Wow." She said in shock. "Go big." She said in a sarcastic tone, as she tended to respond.

Her father walked into the room, since he was waiting for her to wake up. The nurse smiled and exited. L'randil tried to smile when she saw him but even that hurt. The pain was sympathized by her father, it was apparent in his attempt to hide it. He sat down on the bed next to her and stroked her ear fur, knowing it would at least feel good to a small degree.

"What are..." She began to ask but he stopped her.

"The hospital called us because they weren't sure you would make it. You were almost killed, Randi. Thank goodness you did." He stopped and had a look of uncertainty of how to express his mind.

"What is it, daddy?" She asked.

"I think you should look at something a bit less..."

"Less what?"

"Life threatening, dear." He sighed. "I have supported your pursuits thus far because I know they fit your ability. FSSC is frightening me. They haven't claimed responsibility yet and claim you were the careless one." When he said that, she forgot the bruised ribs and sprained neck for an instant and tried to sit up.

"My fau..." She realized her pain and laid back down, closing her eyes temporarily.

"Yes, they want you to admit to it in order for them to pay the medical bill. I don't think there's enough evidence to make a case on them though."

"How can... They? I did so much for them."

"It's wrong but they cover their own backs and that's all."

"Clearly." She responded. "Now what?"

"I took the opportunity to look into Starfleet. They are a bit more regimented than you are used to, but you overcome what you have to. A girl who becomes a star mechanic for FSSC can do anything. I'm not saying you are locked into it, but it would give me a lot more peace of minde to know you are safe and out of that miner's dump of a hangar. I'll let you think about it. You made it out of this one lucky cat. It may not happen again." He kissed her cheek and walked out of the room.

She looked out the window at the night sky, deep in thought. To think in the future sense and not be invincible was out of her norm. She felt betrayal too, since her business was turning its back on her.

"What have you gotten yourself into, Randi?" She muttered to herself. "May as well try Starfleet. What can I loose?"

The next couple weeks of rehabilitation and recovery in the hospital were slow. Her father would come to visit when he could, and bring all kinds of study books for the starfleet exam. These began a spark in her mind that she had not rememebered for some time. Curiousity about the outside world. The more she studied the more the thoughts became the only way. The shuttle company became second rate and dingy.

<May 17 2376 Cait General Hospital>

Toward the end of her stay, she was walking around the hallway of the hospital and a foreman from the company came to meet her.

"L'randil?" He greeted. She stopped and responded.

"Yes?"

"We have decided that we will admit guilt if you will come back to us. We need your expertise."

She thought for a moment and smiled an empowered smile. These moments were usually due to her surly nature, but this time it was because she knew something more.

"No."

"No?" He didn't expect the response.

"No. I don't need you anymore. I don't need your backstabbing, betraying, badgering, beligerent and otherwise backwards mining company and that's my final answer." Before he could respond, she turned and hobbled away back to her room.

He stood there blinking for a moment in disbelief. She smiled when she closed the door of her room. It made her feel empowered to tell off a foreman. Especially the chief foreman of the company.

"All I have is forward now. Make it count, Randi". She thought and smiled, looking out the window.

The caitian limped out of the hospital with a cane. The recovery period from the accident took several weeks, but now it was time to go outside. Her father was there to help his teen aged daughter along, though she refused in typical manner.

"You need help, dear." He insisted, carrying her bag. She shook her head.

"No, daddy. I am quite capable of doing this on..." She winced as she put weight on her recovering leg. "...my own. No point to babying me over it."

He smirked. "You always were the independent one. You know what your mother would say if she was here."

"That I was being un-lady like and I should take help from a handsome man before I lost the chance."

"For having lost her a long time ago, you know her well." He patted her back. "I am glad you decided not to go back to that shuttle shop. You have so much more talent than they give you credit for. From what I hear you will like Starfleet better."

"I hope. Ferassa co. wasn't all that bad other than the way they handled the incident."

"That was enough to frost my opinion, Randi. You will have a lot to learn about hierarchy and rules. I know you hate arbitrary rules and the like but that is how things happen. It's just like a power core. Everything has to do it's thing and fit the right parameters."

L'Randil nodded and rolled her eyes a little in teenager manner. "I know, dad. If they make sense I don't mind it so much."

The pair sat down on a retaining wall under a tree. The sidewalk was empty of pedestrians and the air was slightly chilled. He put his arm around her and she leaned into him. It felt good to get off her feet for a while.

"I will say, the rules won't always make sense. If you manage to control your attitude you will go far. Let that attitude of yours get the best of you and the fleet will not hesitate to handle it."

She understood but only began to grasp what that entailed as they sat there in silent thought.
---
A few weeks later the caitian found herself in a land of mostly hairless humanoids. The Academy was a good deal different from anything she had seen before. The grounds were well kept and orderly and the classrooms were even more.

Gone were the dingy dirty bays and hangars. The engineer's labs were pure white and lit, devoid of mining grime. She walked along the gardens to the hangars for an overview session with an officer. When she got there, the hangar was mostly empty aside from a few custodians.

She walked up to the ranking officer after straightening her gray cadet's uniform.

"Commander Lucas?" She greeted, not sure whether or not to salute.

He smiled. "Yes, cadet. You must be here for the proficiency evaluation."

"Yeah." She said reflexively bluntly. He raised an eyebrow with a slight smirk.

"I think you meant 'Yes, Sir', cadet. You will do well to learn etiquette early on. Your test is to overhaul this power regulator. If you need help I will be around, but the point is to see how well you do on your own. The manual is on this data PaDD. Any questions?"

"No, Sir."

"Good, then go to it."

The cadet looked over the gray box and set quickly to dismantling it. The fleet unit was very similar to her mining shuttles so it was simple and rote memory. Lucas watched her as he took notes on his PaDD, looking over her shoulder.

"Am I doing it right?" She asked with a hint of sarcasm. He raised an eyebrow to the tone.

"You are, but control your attitude, cadet." He firmly stated, which made her pull back a little. Regaining her composure, she resumed the work on the regulator as she was.

L'Randil needed little help from the manual for setting it up to specifications before handing it back to her teacher several moments later. He uncrossed his arms and received it from her suspiciously.

"That was fast." He said flatly. The disbelief was apparent in his tone.

Without hesitating, L'Randil responded "How slow should I be, Sir?" Her tail flicked as she put her arms up. "I did what I was supposed to didn't I?" It was becoming apparent quickly that she had a lot to learn on how to deal with personal skills.

He sighed as he placed it on the testing rack. The unit flashed a few sequences and functions, eventually displaying green. The human turned back to his student with a surprised expression.

"You managed to make it work but you did not make it to specification."

"But it checked green. How is that not acceptable?" She replied incredulously.

"Don't get me wrong." He replied. "You made it pass but it is not to specification and it would have been had you taken the time allotted to perform the task." He took it out of the test jig. "You need to learn to take more care in your work."

The remark hit a nerve with the caitian. She put her hands on her hips and flicked her tail intently. "How dare you infer that I don't care. I made the unit perform better than specified if you would check it. Furthermore I would have not done it differently if I did to it slow."

"That will be quite enough, Cadet. Your grade has now dropped because of your outburst. I suggest you leave and contemplate what just happened while I am in a good mood." He pointed to the door.

The teen aged caitian huffed and walked out the door to the academy grounds. When she reached a garden with a bench she decided to sit down. Her frustration eventually turned into faint crying, which was out of character for her. This was the first time she had been scolded for her tweak on the fly style.

The San Francisco chill blowing off the bay barely entered her mind, partly because she had fur but mainly because of the hurt. She placed her elbows on her knees and her head on one hand, tail in the other as she looked into the pool of water. Fish were swimming in it between the lily pads.

A man in plain clothes walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Normally she would have swatted it off, but this time she was more tempted to lean toward it. She turned to look at the person.

"You look like your spirit has been crushed, little lady." The gardener said in a gentle southern accent. "My guess is the world didn't want to be changed yet?"

She looked him in the eyes in amazement. "How did you..."

He shrugged and smiled. "I've been around this campus enough to know when a little engineer cadet like you walks out hurting from the testing lab it's usually because they went and tried to fix the world." He sat down beside her, placing a hand on her knee.

"What am I supposed to do? Aren't I supposed to want to change things?" She asked between tears.

"Yes, but not yet. You have to learn the ways of the fleet before you can expect to change it."

"But I know how to do it already. I was an engineer back home for a few years already."

He looked at her. "A few years, my dear? You hardly look like you got out of primary school, let alone old enough to be here."

She rolled her eyes. "I am 16 which is plenty old enough where I come from I will have you know."

The gardener smiled, then laughed a little. "There, that's more like it!" He patted her back then stood up. "That sounded more like the fire is coming back. Just keep in mind you are a cadet first, then you will become an engineer. Enjoy your time here, go. It's dinner time."

She smiled faintly. "I will then. Thank you." L'Randil stared back at the fish for a while before pursuing his suggestion.

"Computer, begin message." L'Randil began as she laid back on her bed's headboard. The padd chirped in response.

"The academy is not as easy as I had hoped. All the rules and regulations are frustrating to say the least. I can't wear my hair loose or change my uniform's look if I want to. Uniformity...conformity...confining. I don't know how much I can take of this. I had improvements to a system the other day and they said I couldn't! What kind of fleet is this? If there was a problem at Ferassa corp they would have changed it immediately." She paused and sighed as she looked at the ceiling of the dorm room.

"Dad, I know you wanted me to grow but I don't know how much more I can take of this. Every fiber of my personality is screaming out but I know that Ferassa is not an option any more...ever." Her rant was interrupted by a human girl entering.

"End message. Save to drafts." The computer chirped again and the caitian sat up.

"One of those days, Randi?" the brunette asked, changing out of her cadet uniform.

"Yeah." L'randil replied. "Science might have been a better specialty."

Sarah laughed. "Sorry to burst that bubble, but Science is not much better. The fleet is the fleet. I hear it's better once we get to ship duty though." She slipped a uniform-blue 'skant' uniform on to match her major, then sat down next to the caitian to put her boots on.

"We can hope. Got a date?" She asked. Normally she didn't place much concern on it, though today it seemed like a nice diversion.

The human blushed. "Yeah, a bajoran senior. He's a command major." The infatuation was quite apparent.

"Don't get carried away with it, Langley. You know what happened to the last senior you dated."

"Yeah but he was Red Squad. After the unit crashed I decided no more fighter pilots. He was a bit cocky anyway. Barenn is different, he is hansome and considerate and gentle."

"Well, have fun then. Just remember if you need someone to back you up I'm just a badge away. Not like I'm busy..."

"Oh knock it off, Randi." Sarah tapped the caitian's foot. "You need to let it roll off and have some fun. Come with us, the fresh air might do you some good. Get some wind in that fur of yours. We were planning on going out to the Alcatraz park. I'll see if he has any engineer friends to snag along."

Sarah was the kind to mean well and ignore refusals and this was no different, so L'Randil went along with it. Deciding to follow form, she switched to her more casual uniform also.

"He better not mind my unshaved legs!" L'Randil joked.

"I think there's a lot more than the legs to worry about there, cadet kitty." Sarah elbowed affectionately. "Honestly, I like the look of your fur. It's different and unique. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You may be rough around the edges..." The human continued as the walked down the corridor, then she was interrupted.

"I get it. I just hope the profs do before too long."