Navigation Delegation
Seated at a table in the office area of his quarters was Captain James T. Kirk of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Across from him was his Security
Chief, Lieutenant Pavel A. Chekov. The topic of discussion: periodic performance review. Kirk had handed the younger officer the
compu-clipboard containing his efficiency ratings.
As soon as Chekov looked up from his reading, Kirk opened the discussion. “As you can see, I believe that overall, you are an excellent
officer, with great potential. But, as with everyone, there are areas in which you can improve. For one thing, you need to delegate more
work. For instance, you shouldn’t have to organize all the day to day administrative tasks in the Security Department, in detail. You
should assign someone else to do some of them. I understand that you feel that no one else can meet your exacting standards.”
Chekov leaned forward in his chair, “I realize I’m a perfectionist. I can’t help it.”
“But you’ll make life easier for yourself if you learn to delegate. Moreover, you’ll never become starship captain if you don’t learn now. ”
Chekov was dubious, shaking his head, “I don’t know how.”
“Well, it’s time you learn.” Kirk sipped from a cup of coffee. “Although you’re now Security Chief, you still can’t seem to let go of all the
functions of your old position. Mister Spock reports that you’re still trying to program improvements to the ship’s navigation system.
Now that’s definitely a job someone else should do.”
“But who? It needs someone who knows both navigation and computers.”
Kirk smiled, “Mister Chekov, that sounds like the perfect task to give to one of the new crewmembers who’ve just come on board. I
would suggest Ensign Temnikova. She just graduated from the Academy, with specialties in both computer science and navigation. At
the present time, she’d only serve be able to server on the bridge as a relief, so she has some free time and would be an ideal person
for the job.”
Chekov’s facial expression betrayed his skepticism. “Oh really, Captain?”
Kirk nodded, “I think so. I can have her meet with you during the next week. In the meantime, you’ll need to write out a description of
what you need to have accomplished. It should be a step by step approach and should contain enough detail so that she won’t need to
interrupt you too often.”
After further discussion of Chekov’s performance, Kirk closed the meeting, “Carry on, Mister Chekov. Dismissed.”
The young security chief left the captain’s quarters and slowly returned to the office area of his quarters, muttering to himself. “I need to
write out a detailed, step by step description for Ms. Temnikova so that she does not have to interrupt me too often.” As he considered
the task, he became more irritated.
Throughout the day, Pavel began writing out a detailed description of the desired navigation improvements on a data padd. He found
the task rather tedious, to say the least. He welcomed the interruption by the buzzer that indicated a visitor to his quarters.
“Come in,” he beckoned.
His friend, Lieutenant Patrick Shannon, a computer specialist, entered his quarters and stood near Pavel’s desk, facing him.
“How goes it, Pav?” his voice sounded bright and cheerful.
“Captain Kirk wants me to write out specifications for how to program the navigation upgrades that I want.” Chekov complained.
“Captain Kirk wants you to write program specs?” Shannon’s reaction was slightly shocked.
“He didn’t say it in those words but…” Chekov paused before continuing, “You see, the captain thinks that I don’t delegate enough. So
he thinks programming improvements to the ship’s navigation system is something someone else should do and I should write out a
detailed description of what I want done.”
Patrick finished, “So that a programmer can program it without talking to the analyst. Or at least that’s how they describe it in my
specialty.”
“That’s right.”
“You know what, Pavel. They’ve been claiming that for nearly 3 centuries! Take it from me, who works with computers all the time. But
you know as well as I do, programmers can’t program very well without working hand in hand with someone who knows the subject
matter.”
Chekov laughed a little before his mood soured again. “If I have to write out detailed specifications, I might as well program the damned
thing myself.”
“You have a point, Pavel.”
*************
Five days later, a meeting took place in Briefing Room 3. In attendance were Captain Kirk, Commander Spock, Lieutenant Commander
Sulu, Chekov, Lieutenant Hadley, and Ensign Temnikova. Until that moment, Chekov had not previously met Ensign Tatiana
Temnikova. She was tall and slender, with dark brown hair, worn long. She was not unattractive but seemed somewhat nervous,
probably because she was not used to being around the senior officers of the Enterprise.
Spock opened the meeting. “Lieutenant Chekov has designed some improvements to our navigation software which he would like to
have implemented.”
Kirk added, “And I feel this would be a good opportunity for Ensign Temnikova here to use her knowledge of navigation and
computers.” He directed the others’ attention to the young officer who grew visibly more nervous. “Ensign, let me present to you my
officers.” One by one, the captain introduced each of the others.
Chekov described his request, “It seems as though, when the Enterprise was refitted and upgraded, they did not include the latest
version of the Seminov algorithm for navigating through subspace. You see, over the last few months, Gennady Piotrovich Seminov, of
the Russian Academy of Sciences, developed a new method of navigation where one can travel at higher warp factors, with less
damage to the ship.”
Sulu gently elbowed Chekov, whispering, “Of course you’d want an algorithm developed by a Russian.”
Chekov whispered a retort, “Well, Russians are experts in starship navigation.”
Further discussion of the requirements ensued. Chekov presented his requirements specification to Temnikova who asked a few
questions. When the meeting broke up, Chekov walked out of the room with Sulu. As they walked down a corridor together, Chekov
turned to Sulu, “I’m not sure that Temnikova knows what I want. She seems somewhat nervous. And so green!”
“Well, look who’s talking. You were pretty nervous when you were an ensign fresh out of the Academy.”
“I guess I was.” Chekov conceded the point.
***************
Along with his usual duties of supervising the Security Department, Chekov also found time to draft requirements about the second
phase of his navigation system improvements. He assumed that Temnikova would not be done for another 2 months, figuring that it
would normally have taken him 6 weeks and, given the fact that she needed to learn the ship’s computer system.
About 3 weeks later, Chekov was seated at his desk, in the office area of his quarters, catching up on Security Department paperwork.
He heard the buzz of the intercom and clicked a button. “Pavel Chekov here.”
Appearing on the intercom monitor was the smiling image of Ensign Tatiana Temnikova. “This is Tatiana Temnikova. I’m nearly done
with Seminov’s Algorithm. I have a few questions on how to integrate my software with the ship’s computer system.”
Chekov was taken aback. After getting over the shock, he suggested, “Why don’t you come over to my office around 1300. We can
discuss things then.”
“Sounds good.”
*******
At the appointed time, Temnikova arrived at Chekov’s office, data chit in hand.
“Come in,” Chekov beckoned and gestured towards a chair. As soon as she sat down, Chekov smiled at her. “So what do you have to
show me, Tatiana?”
“I have a prototype version of Seminov’s Algorithm. At the moment, it’s a stand alone simulation since I still have some questions on how
we can integrate this with the ship’s computer. “
“Okay, let’s go ahead and load your prototype.” Pavel indicated the slot on his work station for loading external media.
“Thank you, Lieutenant Chekov.” An obviously grateful young woman placed the data chit into the designated slot.
“You don’t need to address me as Lieutenant. You may call me Pavel.”
“You mean as simply Pavel? And not the more formal Pavel Andreievich as they do in Russia?”
Chekov nodded, “Yes, simply as Pavel.”
“Thank you, uh, Pavel. I must admit no one has called me Tatiana Ivanovna since I moved out of Russia when I was 13.”
Pavel chuckled. “The North Americans are less formal people than the Russians.”
“Da!” she grinned.
“You haven’t totally forgotten your Russian,” Pavel quipped, “although you barely have an accent.”
“Most people are amazed when I tell them I was born in Russia since I have no accent. Some say I speak with a lilt but no obvious
accent. You see, we moved from Russia to San Jose, California when I was 13. So I talk like a Californian, to some degree.”
At that point, Tatiana’s software had finished loading so she and Pavel directed their attention towards the computer station. Chekov’s
facial expression showed his anticipation. “I’m looking forward to see what you’ve done.”
She turned towards the computer monitor, issuing the command, “Run program Seminov 1.”
In response, the Tatiana’s version of the Seminov Navigation Algorithm ran. She issued further directions to highlight its various
capabilities and to demonstrate its response to events as they occurred. Pavel observed, with rapt attention. Once it was complete,
Chekov smiled widely. “That’s very good, Tatiana! “
“Thank you, Pavel.” She was grateful. Then her tone of voice changed, “But now I need to know how to integrate this with the rest of
the ship’s navigation systems. I can’t do that on my own since every computer is slightly different, with slightly different nuances. And
the same locations for storing data and software on computers at the Academy are not necessarily the same as where they would be on
a starship.”
“You’re right.” agreed Chekov. “I’ll need to show you some examples on how similar software was integrated here.” The young security
chief looked intently at the computer monitor, scanning for relevant information. When his search finished, he turned to Temnikova and
directed her attention to the monitor. “And here is an example…” He explained that example to her.
When he had finished, Temnikova promised, “I should have the integration changes ready for you tomorrow.”
“And then I can load it into the Navigation Test system that can be tested in the computer lab. We’ll be working hand in hand with
Lieutenant Shannon. And once we’re successful, we can demonstrate to Mr. Spock and Lieutenant Hadley.”
Tatiana then revealed, “And as part of this effort, I’ve developed a utility subroutine for translating coordinate systems. I think it’d be
handy for most navigation algorithms.” She explained that routine to Chekov.
“That looks impressive!” Chekov beamed at her.
“Thank you so much. I’m glad you like it.” She then pointed to a chart. “I was doing my own research on Seminov’s Algorithm as part of
this project and noticed a slight error in the calculations you gave me. The endpoints of one of the integrals looked a bit off. We need
to set the lower endpoint to D1 instead of D2. This is to take into account Darfan’s factor. The total distance covered would be less
otherwise.”
In response, Chekov looked intently at the chart and studied the calculations. He looked up afterwards, “You’re right, Tatiana. Good
catch!”
“Thank you, Pavel.”
**********
The next day, Chekov and Temnikova took a turbo-lift to the Computer Lab where they met with Lieutenant Shannon. Chekov
performed the introductions.
“Pat, this is Ensign Tatiana Temnikova. She has just finished work on Seminov’s Algorithm and we’d like to test it out with the ship’s
navigation system and we would like to test it. Tatiana, this is Lieutenant Patrick Shannon, who’s in charge of the computer lab.”
“Pleased to meet you, Tatiana. Pavel here is an old friend of mine. We met at the Academy and were fortunate to get assigned to the
same ship.” After more pleasantries, Shannon escorted Chekov and Temnikova to the work station housing the test navigation system.
Once the two visitors were settled, Shannon inserted the data chit into the external data slot and loaded Tatiana’s new software.
Initially, Tatiana demonstrated the operation of each of the basic functions. After that, Pavel performed more extensive testing. When
he was done, he gushed, “This is very impressive! I’m sure Mr. Spock and Lieutenant Hadley are going to be very pleased.”
*************
A week passed. Seminov’s Algorithm was now in operation as part of the navigation system for the U.S.S. Enterprise. Chekov was
having lunch in the ship’s commissary with both Sulu and Shannon. They sat at a square table, with Sulu and Shannon seated on
opposite ends and Chekov at one of the adjacent sides.
Sulu greeted Chekov with a sly grin, “So, what do you now think of Ensign Temnikova?”
“She implemented Seminov’s Algorithm in much less time than I expected.”
“That’s great! Especially considering that you weren’t exactly confident about her capabilities, initially.”
Patrick leaned forward in his chair, inching closer to them both. “We all know that Pavel here hates to let go of his old tasks.”
“No kidding!” cracked Sulu.
Pavel’s voice became serious. “And not only have I found a good programmer but a new friend. We like the same music and share
many hobbies in common.”
At the time, the door to the recreation room opened and Temnikova entered the room and walked over towards them. Chekov and her
walked over to one of the privacy booths together.
Sulu and Shannon stared at him in envy. The helmsman asked, “How does he do it?”
“One of these days, he’ll slip up and tell us.”