Start of Shift
Posted on 30 May 2024 @ 3:00pm by Lieutenant JG Kai Nokamura
553 words; about a 3 minute read
Mission:
M-18 The Past is Future
Location: Main Engineering, USS Phoenix
Part of the job, when you're maintaining the complicated systems on a star ship, involved what was commonly called preventative maintenance, an umbrella term that covered a range of tasks like replacing filters and running checks on systems to ensure that everything was operating as it should. Being of the mindset best summarized by the expression 'don't fix it if it ain't broke', Kai wasn't the kind who second-guessed design teams by trying to make his own improvements. Mess with one part and you ran the risk of putting a strain on another part which to his mind was the problem with so many inter-connected systems.
And, when the bridge hadn't introduced new and exciting factors, that was part of Kai's normal workday. He stopped by the master console to check the readouts, looking for spots where the systems weren't performing at peak efficiency. Sometimes the fixes were easy such as a bad sensor but often, it was a precursor to a bigger problem, a small part that was failing and by doing so, threatening damage to its surrounding components.
From there, he had the start of his work list. Mostly, this sort of thing was done by the Chief and then the tasks distributed at the start of the shift. Sometimes, work in progress was handed off from one shift to the next. If the job was big enough, then smaller tasks piled up. And because he was the sort that thought no task was too small, he tended to collect those when he had time and space in his schedule.
When the work would take a major system offline, it required coordination with the Bridge and that he generally left to the Chief. But there were always other things that needed doing. Smaller jobs that wouldn't interfere with what the ship was doing. The computer helped in that regard as well, flagging tasks that needed coordination.
The available task list was fairly long and it wasn't hard for him to find enough to keep him busy. Tasks were marked as assigned so that the Chief would always know who was doing what. And since there was nothing major requiring his attention, Kai assigned himself a series of tasks based on the computer's estimates, backed by his own experience, of how long it took to do what. Unless something unforeseen came up, it would be enough to take him through the shift and clear the board for the next shift coming in.
The next stop involved getting his kit together as well as any parts he thought would be necessary to do the job and taking a few moments to be sure that his PaDD had all of the relevant specifications flagged and available. And lastly, a moment or three spent talking with co-workers because building relationships was also part of the job. He was new. An unknown in the department. More importantly, he was Hawaiian. He had grown up on an island where everyone knew everyone. You knew their family, their lineage, and something about their lives. You shared. And in so doing, you found out who liked to do what, their hobbies and interests. All good to know.
Kai fully intended that he wouldn’t be a stranger long.
Lieutenant JG Kai Nokamura
Assistant Chief of Engineering
USS Phoenix
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