Measure Twice

Posted on Sun Mar 8th, 2026 @ 3:42am by Technician Tahlina Yanez-Tahli & Lieutenant Kesden Lokn & Technical Sergeant Josi Baro & Senior Technician Jaime Mallory

1,158 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Quiet Stone
Location: Cargobay, Lovelace x Docking Berth, DS9

Tahlina was taking her time with the manifest; she didn't need to, but the more she could annoy Starfleet, the more she did it. "...I'll sign off in a few," she said, looking around for the engineer.

"Really, just sign off on it. We have a lot of work to do," one of the quartermaster mates said. It took everything in Tahlina not flip them off as she walked over to the engineer.

"Here's the manifest. I did a quick mock-up where we can place everything, and how everything will be strapped into place." Tahlina said, " Just the pilot walked up. "Right, you can also take a look at what we are loading up," she added, kinda glad that two more people needed to look over the manifest.

Kesden had stepped into the cargo bay without announcement, drawn more by the tone than the summons. His eyes took in the manifest display, the cargo layout mock-up, and the barely concealed irritation in the air. He didn’t comment. He moved closer to the projection, hands loosely clasped behind his back as Josi approached.

Josi accepted the padd from Tahlina without ceremony, already skimming as she walked toward the layout display. "Field generators… sub-surface imaging arrays… environmental control modules…" she murmured, reading more to herself than anyone else.

She studied the mock-up next, eyes tracing crate placement and tie-down angles. She stepped closer, tilting her head slightly as she recalculated the weight distribution. "You did fine with placement," she said at last, her tone even. “Balance looks solid."

Then she paused briefly before adding, "But if half of this is archaeological instrumentation, we’re not tossing it into cargo like spare rations." She tapped the manifest lightly. "Once staging is finalized, Engineering will recalibrate the dampening grid to the load. I also want shock tolerance verified on anything labeled ‘custom’ before we commit to atmospheric descent."

Kesden reviewed the schematic a moment longer, then gave a small nod. "Coordinate final placement," he said calmly, not looking at anyone in particular. "When Engineering confirms the grid alignment, we’ll seal the manifest and proceed with loading." His gaze lifted briefly from the display. “Let’s keep it clean.”

"Agreed," Tahlina said, looking at the updates, "...give me, what three, maybe four hours to get this done," she added, looking at Josi, before spotting Kesden, before turning to the Starfleet personnel. "...do you see why I didn't sign off on the manifest?" She added her tone, staying calm but making sure her point was driven home.

Kesden inclined his head slightly at Tahlina’s estimate. “Three to four hours is acceptable," he said evenly. "Notify Operations when staging is complete. We’ll adjust departure accordingly.” His gaze shifted briefly to the Starfleet personnel, not confrontational, just measured. “Due diligence prevents delays later.” He looked back at the cargo schematic. "Let’s make sure we only load this once."

Josi didn’t look up from the manifest. “If we load it wrong, we recalibrate twice,” she said evenly. “If we load it right, we recalibrate once.” She glanced briefly at the dampening schematic. “I prefer once.” Then she smiled, "Sir."

The faintest hint of amusement touched Kesden’s expression before it vanished again.

"Good," he said evenly.

"And never fear, for Jaime is here!" Behind them, the blonde lavender-eyed hybrid was approaching.

Dismissing himself, Kesden responded to her high five on his way out.

Jaime’s grin lingered for a moment after Kesden departed, then faded as she turned her attention to the cargo layout display. "Let’s see what you’ve got us flying with," she said, stepping beside the projection. Her lavender eyes tracked the distribution markers, mentally overlaying the Lovelace’s mass profile over the cargo positions. She tilted her head slightly as she ran through the numbers.

"Balance is good," she said after a moment. "But it’s tighter than our usual runs." She tapped one of the cargo clusters. "With this much additional mass aft, she’s going to feel a little heavy on descent. Nothing unmanageable, just… sluggish." Jaime glanced toward Josi. "We’ll compensate on approach. Might take a little more thruster work to keep her steady if the atmosphere kicks up."

Josi didn’t seem bothered. She was already adjusting the engineering readout. “The dampening grid will handle most of it," she said calmly. “Once the cargo locks are finalized, I’ll tune the grid to the final mass distribution. That’ll smooth out the worst of the turbulence." She gave the cargo layout one more look. "Provided everything stays exactly where Tahlina put it."

A faint smirk crossed Jaime’s face as she watched the quartermaster force another microscopic adjustment. "Then I’d say the ship is in the safest hands possible."

With the help of Starfleet personnel, the cargo was slowly brought aboard, inspected, moved into position, checked, double- and triple-checked before moving on to the next piece. The Starfleet personnel were groaning at this speed, but Tahlina was not gonna be rushed; she had seen what rushing does when it comes to loading cargo, and lives had been lost.

"No, no wait," she sighed, looking at her PaDD, which showed how the cargo should be placed, "to the right point zero six cm," she said, knowing that this would drive them crazy, but that small adjustment was the difference between this loadout work and not working.

"Are you serious?" one demanded.

"Yes, now get it moved, and we have one more, and then we are going to be done," she said with a smirk, walking over to him and patting him on the shoulder.

A few hours later, the final crate slid into position. Josi reviewed the engineering readings one last time, verifying the updated mass distribution and dampening alignment. "Grid calibration complete," she said, satisfied. "She’ll fly clean."

Jaime glanced once more over the cargo schematic, mentally walking through the Lovelace’s descent profile. "Helm can work with this," she said. "She’ll handle fine."

Tahlina just nodded, looking around the bay, feeling proud, something she never felt when she was with ECS, or even just independent freighters. "Just need the ex-oh to sign off on this," she called out, still finding those words odd coming out of her mouth.

Kesden returned to the cargo bay just as the last diagnostics finished scrolling across the display. He studied the manifest and cargo schematic for a moment before giving a small nod, “Good work,” and adding his authorization to the manifest beside Tahlina’s. "Cargo’s secure. Let’s let our Starfleet friends get back to their ship."

Tahlina nodded, taking the PaDD, "...oi, Fleet boys, we are done, and if you want to be done as well, come get this PaDD." There was grumbling, but finally one of them came forward, took the PaDD, and shook their head in pure annoyance. And with that, the next step was disembarkment.

 

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