Prioritization
Posted on Tue Jan 27th, 2026 @ 9:46pm by Captain Cassandra Hawk & Lieutenant Bayre Hirata
3,495 words; about a 17 minute read
Mission:
Episode 1: A New Sheriff in Town
Location: Main Engineering, Starbase Mojave
Cassandra gave a nod to the barista as she exited the cafe. Her own predilection for beverages of the caffeinated variety had already become fairly known aboard the station. She would decide later if that was a good or a bad thing. In the meantime, she’d enjoy the fact that the barista had a warm jamoji-spiced latte waiting for her on the counter at 0900.
The fact that they even had jamoji, a spice derived from a root in Bajor’s Tozhat province, was a little surprising on its own. She’d stumbled upon a preference for it at the academy, a small exploratory choice at a local shop, inspired by recipes her grandmother had prepared on Bajor. At the time, it was the perfect blend of delicious and nostalgic, reminding her of her late mother, a wound that was still fresh. Now, it was a morning staple, a small way to keep her mother with her even out here on Mojave, but also a necessity by the time it hit 1000 hours.
On earth, it had made sense to have fresh jamoji, though she knew many shops just replicated it. But here, at a shop on the edge of known space that openly announced its non-replicated status on its signs, jamoji hardly seemed like a common selection. Perhaps her reputation for always having a coffee at hand extended farther than she knew.
She shrugged at the notion. A little reputation wouldn’t hurt. “Main Engineering.”
The lift shot down several decks, bringing her toward the beating heart of Mojave, the massive matter/anti-matter reactor at its core. Had she been without her combadge, the lift would have very politely deposited her some distance off without calling attention to it. With it, the security subroutines cleared a much more direct path.
A moment later, the doors whooshed open and the familiar bustle of the Engineering deck reached here ears. She exited, nodding and raising her cup toward the officers who felt the need to address her. She didn’t feel the need for her presences to always grab everyone’s attention, but that opinion certainly wasn’t uniform throughout the fleet and it’d take time for the crew to get used to her own personal command style.
After a bit of searching, she finally found the man she was looking for, midway through what seemed to be some sort of diagnostic on the tractor arrays. He seemed very focused on the terminal, so she decided to give him a bit of advance warning that she was approaching and called from a short distance away as she neared. “Good morning, Lieutenant. How’s our station looking?”
A younger officer, crouched beside Bayre, coughed politely and when that didn't register, nudged the Chief Engineer more directly. "Captain Hawk," he muttered under his breath because you never knew with Bayre Hirata what registered and what didn't. "Behind you."
"One moment," Bayre said as he scanned the results and, nodding to himself, opened a job on the engineering console. "Still got that hiccup in the power flow," he said to Reno as he turned and rose to his feet. "Captain, things are ... good. We've done diagnostics overnight on all the main systems. There are some problems with power flow but they're minor and we'll get it sorted, probably within the next twenty-four hours. The replicators are acting up a bit in enlisted quarters. The problem is with the raw stock supply, no matter what Crewman Drevas says, and we've got a team on that as well."
"I'm assuming you don't want to know about the situation we found Engineering in when we arrived," Bayre continued. "Primary systems, like power and environmental controls, are fully operational though with a few problems but, as I said, those are isolated and being handled. C and C is up and running and the department heads are running their checklists. We're waiting on their results."
The station commander held up hands in a mock sparing gesture. "Look, the construction crew was under a tight timeframe to get the station livable, shielded, and able to support its own construction. As long as you've got it sorted, I don't need to know how the sausage was made. Just consider me grateful for the resolution," she said with a coy smile before dropping her hands. "That is good to hear though. Especially given the request I'm going to make..."
Bayre's expression changed, neutral with an undercurrent of suspicion, that caught Reno's attention as well. "You want something," he said. Behind him, Reno sighed quietly, though he bent his attention over the PADD he carried, already looking for holes in the Chief's schedule.
Cassandra couldn’t really avoid it. It’d be disruptive no matter how she sugarcoated it. “I do, unfortunately. I need to make a command request and ask that you divert an amount of your team resources to completing the Achilles’ tactical systems. We are likely to need them sooner rather than later,” she finally replied.
It was true, of course. As regional hostility was increasing, Cassandra knew that it was only a matter of time before the raiders attempted to overwhelm one of their shuttles or runabouts. They needed to have a big gun, and fast. The problem was, Achilles remained unfinished. That’d been a drawback since she saw the ship’s dossier back at Starfleet Command.
Most of her systems were able to be updated prior to departure, but not all. Part of this was due to Cassandra’s own requests to modify the vessel beyond its original specifications. It wasn’t just a modernization of the older systems. She’d also had line item requests to make fundamental changes to the vessel. A modification of her impulse engines to add a new slim impulse deck to each pylon for extra speed and maneuverability had already been completed. But one of the larger changes, the integration of her quad-pulsed phaser cannons was far from complete, with only preliminary power conduits run. The components themselves sat on the ship’s own hanger floor. And the work for the ship’s Emergency Ablative Armor Generators hadn’t even been begun, though that could likely wait if needed.
"An actual request or an order," Bayre asked. And while he waited for her answer, he found the specifications in his prodigious memory and started formulating a task list. Two major tasks that carried with them a wealth of smaller tasks. Required a team and a redistribution of the ongoing work -- lower the priority of things that weren't exactly necessary which would certainly have people screaming in his ear for the next week. Still, if everyone agreed to work a few extra hours and he devoted the majority of his attention to the project, it was possible though not in a day. Hopefully, she wasn't that sort of captain, the kind that asked for things in an unreasonable time frame.
She pursed her lips, weighing the Lieutenant’s words for a moment. “An order, I suppose, though I hate to call it that. Your teams are busy on important work already, and frankly, it’s partly my own damn fault. I chose a mothballed, partly built ship, made a bunch of modification requests, and then jumped her halfway across the known galaxy,” she said, hoping he didn’t check the math on her hyperbole too closely. “Unfortunately though, our hand is being forced. Having Achilles at combat readiness will make it so our supplies keep flowing, which will make all our lives easier.”
Cassandra adjusted her stance slightly, finding a more upright posture. She was feeling apologetic, but she didn’t want to undermine her own authority so much that the orders didn’t carry weight. Her command style was still new, and partly finished, much like her ship. She’d need to find the right balance there. “She should be in pretty good shape in terms of shields and phaser arrays. Those were fully replaced and calibrated prior to launch. But her phaser cannons need to be installed and her torpedo launchers need to be correctly calibrated for the new Quantums and Photons she’ll be armed with. Unless you’re way ahead of schedule, I’d say let’s hold on the armor generators until we’re more settled.”
The station's Chief Engineer was shaking his head as he listened. "It's a wonder we arrived in one piece. The ship will likely need more than what you describe," Bayre said. "I won't promise it within twenty-four hours and it will require longer shifts from all of us but its doable. I'll head the project myself."
“Wouldn’t dream of it that fast. I know she needs a lot. Just as fast as you can,” Cassandra said, before second guessing herself. A long history of command and engineering negotiations on deadlines passed through her mind. Better not to cede too much ground perhaps. She could at least set a deadline. She offered her compromise. “Let’s try and spare those longer hours and make it the end of the week. I need my ship ready, but I want it done well. That doable?”
"With standard shifts," Bayre said, running calculations as he spoke, "it will take two weeks. And that, would be done well. That's assuming we can continue working on priority projects on the station as well."
Cassandra felt a tug of war within herself here. When she'd first brought Achilles here, she'd viewed it as a long term project. She wanted to give her officers a stable work balance here, especially as Mojave was new and impressions were still being formed. And she certainly didn't want a rush job on the ship. She'd need to last for the long run. Sparing quality for urgency wouldn't do much good. And yet, every day they didn't have a response felt like it opened them up to threat. Expectations and reality so often found themselves at odds. And thus, the negotiations.
"Suppose we deprioritize work on Mojave in the near term. Other than mission critical systems, could we pull engineers off currently queued projects until Achilles is done," she asked, looking around the room as if able to gauge available resources herself. "She'd be a capacity bottleneck, but only while she's being actively worked on. If we get her finished faster, it'd free up the entirety of the assigned force earlier than if she's a side project for longer."
Bayre's expression, unreadable by most, hardened. "Understood ... Captain ...," he said. "Achilles is the priority and we'll get it done ... well ... as soon as we can. I won't sacrifice quality for speed but I will ensure that its first on the job list, above anything but what's necessary to keep everyone on the station alive and breathing. Fair enough?"
Bayre's expression remained only about as annoyed as usual, but Cassandra didn't need to be a telepath to hear the shift in his reply. She'd pushed him beyond where he was comfortable compromising his own priorities and project structure, but he'd given some ground. And then she'd pushed a bit beyond that. She'd need to remember to be forthcoming with praise when the ship was completed. Someday she'd figure out the balance of how far to push her officers, how much friction was reasonable, and when not to push too far. For today, she'd settle with the fact that the ship was going to be prioritized and combat ready in the near-term. That fact alone would allow for greater flexibility in other matters. And like she'd said earlier, it'd keep their supplies flowing which would make all their lives easier.
"I think that will work. And this forced re-prioritization is short term. Once Achilles is complete, control of the docket is yours again," she said, as a peace offering of sorts. The fact that Achilles might be receiving damage which would then need repairing could be a discussion for another day, but it likely wouldn't derail system operations the way it would to effectively become a defacto shipyard crew to complete her systems. "Now that I've complicated your life, anything I can do to simplify it in a different way. Any supply shipments we need rushed? Tasks I can temporarily shift to Operations or other departments?"
If there was one thing Bayre's instructors at the Academy and those in command over him had noted was his lack of knowledge, or even interest, in social niceties. He was uncompromisingly honest, saying what he thought, without regard to the consequences. Probably why he wasn't featured on many diplomatic teams which was fine with him. He wasn't comfortable with social interplay and the manipulations which he recognized and generally rejected at once.
The Captain, Bayre thought, wasn't any more manipulative than any other commanding officer he'd met. It was, perhaps, part of the job. Still, there were things she needed to know if she wanted him to be her Chief Engineer. His expression turned speculative as he spoke, "you rushed the engineers working on the Achilles, compromising their work, and putting a burden on me. Alright. I accept it but I won't accept you compromising my work. So, if that's what you need start looking for a new Chief Engineer now." He paused long enough to accept a PADD, glance over it, and nod at the engineer. "That's good work. Gather everyone up and stick them in an open space, will you? I'll be there shortly."
"Reno will send along anything that needs a bit of expediting ... that's not something I pay much attention to." Bayre's expression softened somewhat as he continued. "I get your priorities and I will deliver ... but you can't make me send something out half-done. I mean, you can, you're in charge, but it won't work between us if you do that. And while I hear you say that the 'docket' is mine after the Achilles, I don't believe you. The next time you see something that needs doing first, I think you'll be back here again. Or I'll be up in the Ready Room which is more likely. The station needs to be operational and that's as essential as the ship. The Achilles might protect us but there are any number of systems on this station that, if they aren't finished, could kill every person living here just as quickly as a firefight ... or at least make them profoundly miserable."
Bayre nodded toward Reno who was doing his best to read both of their lips as he watched the interchange. "He'll be your ally in that. He understands the social niceties much better than I do."
Reno grinned at that, waving slightly, as he said, "it gets better, Captain. I promise. Bayre's the best. Once the ship and the station are ready, the priorities can be more fluid."
"Go help gather up the others," Bayre said as he turned back toward the Captain, waiting. He understood that he wasn't for everyone and he fully expected that he'd be back in that hellhole of an office at the Academy before long. Honesty applied equally to himself as well as others. "Well, Captain?"
Cassandra felt her hackles go up for a moment. Part of this, she knew, was the fact that she was feeling defensive. It'd been one thing to accept blame for the situation they were in as a way to try and lessen the blow of commandeering the Engineering workload. Having that thrown back at her as an accusation was another. There was a part of her which wanted to give him a piece of her mind. But that wasn't who Cassandra preferred to be, and it wasn't the captain she was trying to be either. And she'd had enough years of Diplomatic Officer training to give her the restraint to avoid letting her first reaction be the one that governed her tongue. If the flash of anger had made it to her face, it'd have been only for a moment. Her Chief Engineer, blunt as he may be, meant well here. His protests were not unreasonable, and in an admittedly more abrasive way, he was doing the same thing she was: looking out for the station and its inhabitants. When she spoke, her tone was controlled and steady.
"Mr. Hirata, I understand my ask here is throwing your plans into disarray. I don't want to undermine your work, but we are not sitting at the Academy, where the biggest disruption of the week is whether a jacket is necessary. We're out on the edge. And try as I might, I can't just request that pirates and marauders don't attack our supply convoys because it's a busy week," Cassandra said, never letting her tone acquire an edge.
"The delays to Achilles may be my doing, but I stand by my choices. I chose the ship because I believe she is what we need to achieve our mission out here. I made the modifications I did because I felt they were what was needed to make the ship the best version of herself. And while rushing her out of drydock did result in you and your team shouldering the weight of finishing her, it is also the reason that you and I are standing aboard Mojave to have this discussion and not sitting in the lounge of some other ship waiting for weeks as we slowly get warped out here. Achilles has bought us the spare time I'm asking for you to use to finish her," she said, gesturing around the room.
"You're a brilliant Engineer, Lieutenant, and I do want you as my Chief Engineer. I am serious that I will try and afford you as much latitude and control as I can. But yes, sometimes there are external situations that will by necessity need to override our previous plans. If you can accept that sometimes I'm going to need to step on your toes because of forces outside the station, I'll accept that sometimes I'm going to need to get an earful about why I can't ignore forces inside the station. If that compromise is acceptable to you, I think we'll get along just fine."
"I never wanted to be at the Academy," Bayre said flatly. "And its not just my plans. It's getting everything operational because all of this," he gestured with his hands to encompass his surroundings, "it's all interconnected. Systems depend on each other. It's a balancing act ... and space is unforgiving. I'm well aware of that." He nodded, slowly, thoughtfully. "I understand, have always understood, that being out here comes with additional challenges. And if anything wants to attack the Achilles or the Station, we'll be there to do our part to answer. Always. And that won't be stepping on my toes because I'll already be doing everything I can to help. All of this is a temporary situation. Once we're up and running, I'm up for whatever comes my way. So ... I believe we're good."
Cassandra felt the smile hit her eyes near immediately. Another diplomatic victory. "Then we're good," she said with a finality like it was settled law. She briefly considered jokingly saying she needed the replicator in her quarters overhauled, but then thought better of it, choosing a sip of her latte instead. Better not to push her luck. "I'll get out of your hair. Go rally your troops and blame me as needed. And, Lieutenant, I do appreciate it."
Bayre nodded and headed off to where the engineers were already assembling. "Change of plans," he said as he approached, "and the captain says you can blame her if you need to. Now, here's what we're going to do ..."
Cassandra watched as Bayre headed off to address the gathered engineers, allowing herself a chuckle as he immediately offered her up for blame. She hoped she hadn't pissed him off too much, but things were at least patched for the moment. She'd make a mental note to avoid throwing any more curveballs his way until Achilles was finished and settled for a bit.
She mouthed an appreciative 'thank you' to Reno before turning back toward the door. A quick look at her chronometer told her that she had a good amount of time before she was needed back at Ops to provide an update to command. That time would probably be best used with a visit to the main Security office. There hadn't been any major crises that had arisen in the last day or so, but that didn't mean things weren't brewing.
She took one last look back at the Engineers, watching Lieutenant Hirata continue to address his staff. They'd get this place working. It might be bumpy for a few weeks. But once the dust settled, this place would shine.
Captain Cassandra Hawk
Commanding Officer
Starbase Mojave/USS Achilles
Lieutenant Bayre Hirata
Chief Engineer
Starbase Mojave/USS Achilles
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