Piccolo's Tale (USS Athena Prequel)

[Devika Sedush]

"Stan, hand me that quantum regulator, will you? I think that the problem is in the warp core matrix flux capacitor. According to the tricorder, we are showing lower-than normal levels of kedion particles in the microdine enhancer..."

Lieutenant Commander Daniella Olivieri continued to work at the problematic flux capacitor for several minutes, as attested to by a continuous stream of curses in Italian (as well as several extraterrestial languages) that one would normally not expect to come out of such a petite woman. But then, LtC "Piccolo" (as she was discreetly known to her staff, who would NEVER think to call her that in her presence) had spent almost a decade in Starfleet engineering rooms, and almost two decades before that aboard an independant freighter called the Stellar Ascendant, which was owned and operated by her Uncle Fredrico and Aunt Lucretia.

Daniella's parents had been Starfleet officers themselves. Tomas Olivieri and Rachel Adams were both eager young lieutenants aboard USS Prince of Wales (NCC-1505) when they fell in love and were married. Rachel was in her third trimester when the couple were due to be rotated back to Earth. The Prince of Wales had dropped them off at Starbase 24, where they had transferred to a courier ship bound for Sol. But the courier was attacked by what is widely believed (but never proven) to be an Nausicaan vessel. Within hours of the mayday call, a freighter out of Pico found the drifting remains of the courier, Rachel Olivieri the only survivor. She only lived long enough to prematurely deliver her child, whom Tomas' private logs revealed would have been named Daniella.

As the baby's only relatives, Frederico and Lucretia assumed custody of little Daniella. She grew up as a space boomer, living her entire life travelling the stars. She was an inquisitive little girl, and her curiosity guided her to spend many hundreds of hours in the Stellar Ascendant's engine room, learning how to "make it go" from Frederico and retired Starfleet Master Chief Engineer's Mate Ari Shimuzaki. It was Shimuzaki who discovered that the little girl had an ear for music, and gave her his own piccolo, a family heirloom, since he had no children of his own. He was also the one who started calling her Piccolo.

When she reached 18, Daniella decided to enlist in Starfleet. Her decision did not sit well with her uncle and aunt, but there was nothing that they could legally do to prevent the girl they raised from infancy from following in her biological parents' footsteps. She excelled in engineering (not surprisingly) and after graduating from Starfleet Academy in 2260, she became Ensign Olivieri, Engineer's Assistant, aboard the USS Constellation (NCC-1017), a pre-Constitution-class heavy cruiser. Five years later, she began her second tour as a lieutenant aboard the USS Athena (NCC-1760). When Chief Engineer Allen Franklin left the ship upon accepting a post at the Academy, Daniella Olivieri found herself with a promotion to Lieutenant Commander and became the new Chief Engineer. Thus far, Captain Nelson Calloway and his Caitian first officer, M'riel Drox, seemed pleased with Daniella's performance. The only thing she didn't seem to like about the situation was that, as Chief Engineer, she was third in line to the Captain's Chair.

"I never understood just why it is that whenever there is some dangerous away mission, those two just have to be a part of it. Does 'away team stupidity' just naturally come with the gold uniform? Much safer to wear Operations-Red" she thought as a nearby panel announced that the comm officer was looking for her. Technician Stanley Roberts stepped aside as she climbed down out of the jeffries tube and approached the panel, punching the transmit button.

"Olivieri here, Bridge."

The captain's voice came out of the speaker. "Mister Olivieri, have you locked down that problem with the EPS flow?"

"Yes, Sir, I just finished up with it. You should be showing a 2.5% increase in the particle flow," she replied.

"Excellent. I'm letting you know that we have reached the Alhena system. Starfleet plans to set up a Deuterium refueling station here, and the Athena is supposed to keep watch until the first construction vessels arrive with their escort a few days from now. In the meantime, we've detected a spatial anamoly, so M'riel and I are going to take a shuttle and go check it out. You have the Chair, Mister Olivieri, until we get back..."

[RexCelestis]

"Much safer to wear Operations-Red"

{giggle} I love reading your stuff, Dancer.