“Sir?”

Ensign K’lev crawled out from under the half-exploded antimatter containment master control panel he was trying to repair.  Looking up, he saw a crewman standing there, holding a PADD.  “What is it?” he asked, mildly irritated at the disturbance; he’d finally been making some progress on a persistent issue with the antimatter pod restraint controls that had kept failing to properly secure the test articles.

“A message from the task force commander and exec just came in, marked to your attention.”  The crewman offered K’lev the PADD.

K’lev accepted the device.  As the crewman walked off, he called up the message and read it.  “Well, I suppose that could be fun,” he muttered, then composed and sent off a quick reply in the affirmative before returning his attention to the console.

It took several more minutes, before K’lev made an excited exclamation.  “There you are, stinking sneak circuit!”

He stood, then turned to a nearby mobile work table that carried a replacement control panel.  Quickly swapping it out, he then tapped his combadge and hailed another crewman in the containment chamber.  “Go ahead and put in another test article; I think I’ve got it now.”

“On it; one sec,” came the reply, followed shortly after by “All ready here.”

“Okay, here goes,” K’lev said, then activated the containment pod locking mechanism.  Sure enough, the clamps engaged, holding the test pod firmly in place.

“Yes!  That did it!” came the call over the combadge.

“Come on out; we’ve all been given shore leave, and I’d say we’ve earned it.”

The crewman exited the containment bay and headed off.  K’lev looked around, a satisfied smile on his face, then left engineering for his quarters to change and pack.

About an hour later, K’lev, now no longer in uniform, but in more comfortable attire – a loose-fitting shirt and pants, with a lightweight long coat over the top – and carrying a small duffel bag, exited a gangway into an arrival lobby.  He looked back through the bay window to see the Culver City, badly battered from her last service but already looking better as she underwent much-needed repairs in advance of her recommissioning.  He smiled, then turned and walked away, looking for the transport to Khitomer and his leave.