“Try it now.” Mason yelled from underneath the shuttlecraft while accessing the ship’s external systems control panel. 

For the last few days, this one particular shuttle had been such a pain and refused to cooperate. There was some sort of error in the tactical controls that, whenever those systems were activated, it caused a ship-wide power drain of about one and a half percent. Though it wasn’t a substantial power loss, and the ship’s main power had more than enough juice to compensate for the drain, he still needed to get to the bottom of why this was occurring in the first place. 

It seemed as though, ever since Mason reported aboard at Starbase Bravo, this damn shuttle had been an issue from the start. He quietly cursed his predecessor who accepted the shuttle delivery from the starbase without performing more detailed inspections to ensure it was fully operational and without any flaws. But, there wasn’t anything he could do about that now, and like it or not, this shuttle was his problem. Maybe if I hadn’t been so thorough in the first place… He laughed to himself. 

“Bringing the tactical systems online.” A shout from the engineer that was assigned to work with him. Mason waited a few seconds and then shook his head in aggravation, noticing again this damned unexplained power drain on the ship’s systems. “Alright, shut it down.” Mason yelled back to the crewman, who’s name escaped him. He felt bad not remembering it, but all his attention was on this shuttle, and for the moment, all he felt like doing was setting the shuttle’s self-destruct, opening the bay doors and just letting it go. 

Mason came out from underneath the shuttle, replacing the systems access panel and wiping his forehead. He looked to the engineer and shook his head, “I’m beginning to think this damned thing doesn’t want to be fixed.” He offered a small concession smile before exhaling, “Well, let’s revisit this again tomorrow. I’ve had all I can take from this ship today. Meet you at 0800?” The engineer nodded and smiled before leaving, and Mason did the same, making his way to the Starlight Lounge. 

Mason walked over to the large aquarium and set his drink down on the nearby table, crossing his arms and looking over at the fish swimming by in the tank. He had never served on board a Sagan class vessel before, and didn’t know if this type of feature was normal throughout the class, but he definitely appreciated having it on board. The water always relaxed him. Though he was born in London, his family eventually moved to Brighton and Hove, spending so much of their time at the beaches. He loved their house on the water, and seeing the aquarium somehow reminded him of home. 

Sitting down and taking a sip of his drink, he brought out his PADD to start working on his report about that damned shuttle. It wounded his pride, but he was ready to admit to himself that it was probably time to escalate this problem to the chief engineer, he could take no more of that shuttle spitting in his face. After a few paragraphs, he looked out to the rest of the lounge and smiled at the bustling center of the ship’s social activity. Though he had only been on board for a short while, he was looking forward to getting to know all of the new faces and make some new friends here. 

Finishing up on his report, he decided to head back to his quarters to get some rest. His next duty shift was right around the corner, having been assigned to the night watch this evening. Finishing up his drink, he stood up and looked over to the aquarium one last time before making his way out to his quarters.