Junko fidgeted as her various shipmates offered their perspectives. The visceral rush of the combat simulation, with the alarms, orders, and tension, had brought a long suppressed part of her to the surface. Rather than the cold calculating demeanor that so frequently underpinned her superficial behavior, she was now reacting emotionally. And unfortunately, she was mainly feeling anxious.
Her shipmates may have had valid suggestions and areas for improvement, but all of them seemed minor compared to the way engineering had… well, the word failed, however accurate, was bothering Junko immensely at the moment. For what seemed like the thousandth time during the briefing she glanced discreetly over at Endoh. The neko still looked distracted much as she had during the simulation. Junko really had no idea what was distracting her, but at the moment, rather than dismiss the other engineer as a professional failure, she tried empathizing. It was an uncomfortable feeling.
But responding to the Taisa’s request for feedback was too strong an imperative for her emotions to override. Feeling thoroughly dejected for any ramifications that her speaking up might bring, Junko gathered her courage and looked her commander right in the eyes. “Ma’am, well, I think that engineering was clearly a failure point during the exercise.” She paused for a moment, cognizant of the attention of all of her shipmates, and then continued, still in a smaller voice than she was wont to speak in. “We were inefficient in reporting damage, regulating systems, and providing damage control. There was a break down in communications that was, well, unacceptable, ma’am. If the Taii hadn’t called down for action, we might have failed to do anything at all. We were a problem, ma’am. But…” She dropped her head for a moment. Looking back up, she tried to will the others in the compartment to sense her earnest intentions. “Taisa, I do not know how to solve the problem.”
