Meeting the Engineer
Posted on Mon Jan 22nd, 2024 @ 10:58am by Lieutenant Dashku Zhevou & Lieutenant JG Baaru Liana
Edited on on Wed Jan 24th, 2024 @ 1:30pm
0 words; about a 1 minute read
Mission:
Year One: Whispers in the Wind
Location: USS Moore - Main Engineering
Timeline: MD 009: 1100 hrs
Dashku was on a mission to make Operations her own. It was her first run as a department head and she knew she had to establish herself, her expectations and how she wanted to run it. It was also not lost on her that she was some where in the middle command wise due to her being a full bar Lieutenant.
Once she'd arrived in engineering, she took a moment to look over the place and just take it in. It was the heart of the ship, and she always enjoyed the hum as it ran. After a few moments, she pulled herself from the trance she had been in and started looking for Lieutenant Baaru.
Spotting her near the pool table, Dashku approached, "Lieutenant Baaru? We have not officially met. I wanted to stop by."
Dashku’s timing was impeccable. She’d managed to enter Engineering between songs. Turning to face the new arrival, Liana was about to respond when, Just as she started to introduce herself, the entire engineering bay was blasted with the opening notes of the classical song ‘Grease’ from the musical of the same name, soon followed by a resounding cheer from the majority of the engineering staff.
Looking up at the crewman who has chosen this song, Liana shook her head before returning her attention to Dashku, “why don’t we speak in my office” she said, motioning towards a door off to one side.
After the two had retreated from the off key singing of the engineering staff, Liana gave Dashku a smile, “so, what can I do for you Lieutenant? You’re not here to replace me already are you?”
"Last time I checked, you were listed as the chief engineer," Dashku shook her head, her braided ponytail flicking behind her head as she did so. A smile crossed her lips. "Considering I'm ops, I thought I'd meet all of the department heads. There are a lot of moving parts to this ship and I want to make sure I can best meet the needs of every department. Considering engineering usually needs more specialized equipment, I wanted at least touch base."
Listening to her explaination, Liana nodded, "that's fair. well, seeing as you already know who I am, may I know your name"
Dashku grinned brightly and shook her head more in scolding herself for forgetting to introduce herself. "Of course. Lieutenant Dashku Zhevou, the new Chief of Operations."
Liana’s face lit up in return, “oh well isn’t that just fascinating. Well then, welcome to engineering, I’m more than happy to work with you and your department to keep this ship of wonders together. Have you ever served on a modern ship before? Most of my career was spent refitting older ships”
"Ah, I do love the older ships. They have a certain charm. My first ship was a California class, the humans often joked about it being held together with chewing gum and bailing wire," Dashku laughed softly. "My last ship was an Akira class, so one from the newer age of ships but not like this one. Any particular class you enjoyed working on over the others?"
Liana nodded eagerly, “it was my last post in fact. The USS Lakota, Excelsior Class, refit variant. That ship is simply a symphony of old and new technologies just singing together. It was beautiful just sitting in engineering listening to the systems hum” she said as she started to get lost in memory before quickly snapping back to the present, “I’ve never seen a California class. What are they like?”
"They're a support ship mostly, designed for follow up contact with newer races. Running supplies to places that need them, and anything else to free up the Nebula and Galaxy classes. They're a saucer section with the nacelles on struts and a small engineering hull attached between them. They don't have a lot of the creature comforts of the bigger ships, but they do well as frigates," Dashku explained. "I have an affinity for them because it was my first station, but they're an older ship by the Moore's standard. I would have liked to have seen an Excelsior class beyond just the specs."
“Well you’d probably be lucky to find one soon. Most of them are being replaced by ships like the Luna class or even the Nebula class” Liana said, giving a sigh, “oh well. We’re on this ship now so there’s no use in getting lost in nostalgia. Have you had a chance to crawl around the ship yet?”
"Not yet," Dashku half smiled as she thought about it. "I'm sure I'll get there, but I wanted to make sure I'd met with everyone first. My department will be efficient and well disciplined, but I want to make sure that I fully understand the needs of the crew."
Liana nodded, “that’s fair, just don’t judge my staff as lazy due to the more relaxed atmosphere I like to keep. I’ve found a crew that can relax and enjoy their work tend to get jobs done faster then a highly strung crew.”
"There is a difference between a relaxed atmosphere and a lazy one, as long as your department is getting their work done it's the former. I've found that people become high strung for a variety of reasons, but it's not usually because of my command style," Dashku smiled as she thought about it a moment. "I'm sure as we get to know each other, we'll be able to compare leadership notes."
Liana gave Dashku a smile, “Well, I’m that case I won’t bore you with my tragic childhood. Instead how about talk about this wonderful piece of engineering we’re sitting in. I’m extremely curious about the ships Multi-vector assault mode. Having to maintain three seperate warp cores is quite the challenge”
Dashku chuckled softly and nodded, "I don't mind getting to know my fellow shipmates, considering how closely we're likely to work together we should grab a drink sometime." She paused for a moment before continuing. "And yes, the Multi-vector assault mode. The Captain has already given me a task, something even the engineers that designed this ship couldn't figure out. I'll need your help."
“We’ll do tell, you’ve certainly caught my attention” Liana said, leaning forward, her eyes glistening with excitement.
"It's an interesting problem, but it doesn't fall fully into my department," Dashku paused for a moment. "They asked me to figure out the power transfer issue when the ship is in MVAM. A problem no one has yet to solve. I don't mind tackling the impossible but even I'm not sure about this one."
"Power transfer issues? hmm" Liana said as she thought for a moment, "Maybe the problem stems from how they built the ship. Maybe we need to think of each section of the ship as a separate ship unto itself."
Dashku considered it for a moment, before nodding, "If they're designed to operate independently, the design team could have very well put in lack luster power transfer systems but somehow I doubt getting bigger ones would solve our issue or the problem would have been fixed already. We might need some holodeck time to implement fixes and see what results are yielded."
"Sounds good to me, set it up and i'll be there," Liana replied with a smile, "Maybe the two auxiliary warp cores need an overhaul anyway. I'm not sure if they've been used since testing."
"I'd have to check the logs, but my latinum would be on you being right," Dashku said with a half smirk. "I'll set something up and send you the day and time."
“I’m looking forward to it” Liana said the doors opened and one of her younger engineers stepped in, “Sorry boss, but I’m having trouble with the diagnostic of our Einstein Compensators. Could I get you to show me where I’m going wrong” the engineer said
Giving a sigh, Liana gave the engineer a smile, “Sure thing Amy, we were done here anyway. I’ll meet you at your station” she said before waving they ensign away and returning her attention to Dashku, “Well, duty calls. If you’ll excuse me.”
"My department might be different, but I wear the same gold you do."
Dashku replied with a wave of her hand and a half grin. She followed Liana out of her office and took a second to look over the warp core, before she turned to leave engineering.
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