Chief Engineer's Log

[Dumbass 0]

The entire engineering staff seems to be suffering from some sort of collective amnesia, myself included.  It is as if one minute I was at the Starfleet Academy graduation grounds, having one last beer with my friends Precip and Garnoopy who were due to ship out to the USS Manticore, and the next minute I was onboard a heavily damaged Galaxy class starship fighting a pitched battle with a Vorcha class attack cruiser.  

 

They say that when you are in a crisis situation instinct takes over.  I do not fully agree with that.  The instinct for most people is to panic, which only exacerbates the problem at hand.  Your awareness, however, may be powerful enough to control your instinct.  It is for this reason that military training is intensive so as to compensate for misplaced instinct and allow for training and skills to guide our actions instead.  That seems to be happening in engineering. Fortunately we seem to have retained the mission critical skills gained from the memory lapse.  After the initial shock those skills have surfaced without me having to give the order.

 

Looking around I seem to be the only one in an engineering uniform above the rank of Ensign.  I can tell it is an engineer's uniform due to the fact it is a two piece uniform rather than the standard black one piece.  It also has pockets, something lacking in other Starfleet uniforms.  Engineers are known for valuing functionality and utility above the spit-and-polish of other Starfleet divisions.  I must be the Chief Engineer, although I specifically remember my Academy major being Operations.  I also specifically remember receiving orders assigning me to the USS Reaent as a Tactical Officer, although I don't remember actually serving on that ship or receiving any starship tactical training.

 

Since we are in a battle Engineering took some casualties separate from the memory loss affecting everyone.  I sent a young woman whose name I do not know down to sick bay for treatment.  The rest of us proceeded with keeping the ship together and making repairs as possible.  A cure for our memory loss will have to come later.  Once the engineering department was running I reported to the bridge.

 

Once on the bridge I realized the amnesia was affecting the entire ship, including our Klingon Acting Captain.  This makes the fact of our fighting a Klingon ship all the more unusual.  The OPS station was empty so I sat down at it, my Academy training beginning to resurface.  I quickly routed tactical controls to the OPS station and, with the rest of the ship, engaged the enemy ship in a Picard Maneuver.

 

The ease of my ability to serve as a Tactical Officer without any training was curious.  During a break in the battle I was able to access some duty and personal logs, apparently recorded by myself.  After graduation I did indeed report for duty as a Tactical Officer aboard the Reaent, was quickly promoted to LtJG, and then transfered to the USS Lakota about 6 months ago.  

 

Yet I remember none of it!