Engineering Insanity

Posted on 14 Mar 2011 @ 4:05pm by Captain Reva Madhava

1,826 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: M8: The Kzinti War!!!!
Location: Achilles Main Engineering
Timeline: During break in "No rest for the Weary"

Nate sat at his desk. It felt strange having an office to call his own, but happy. Engineering was his domain, and he relished the opportunity. Of course along with it, he had a lot of responsibility, and would see to it. Not having met any of his personnel yet, as they were all busy repairing systems around the ship, he figured there would be time for meet and greets later. The Achilles had taken a beating, and Nate wanted it fixed asap. What was the point of having a new toy if it was broken? Plus having a Klingon Captain, he figured the ships combat readiness was of the greatest importance. Glancing up at the ships status display, he frowned.

Too much to get done. Guess I'm not going to sleep tonight. Looking over the Engineering roster, he figured out rest times for each of his people. It felt strange calling them that. His. He sent out the new rotation to the team leads, everyone would be working double if not triple shifts. Including him.

<<>>

Wanting to at least let the primary staff in Engineering know who he was, he decided a quick meeting would be the best bet. Everyone was busy, but his orders couldn't be effectively carried out unless they knew who they were dealing with. Looking at his roster, they were at that moment, just names. =^= Lieutenant Clance and Ensign Madhava, please report to the office in Main Engineering =^=. He was silently yearning to get this over with.



Eva had been busy re-aligning a main power relay when her badge chirped. A mans voice came over it, requesting her. Great, I don't even know who the hell is requesting my presence. She wondered who would have been so daring as to take her office and use it. Looking at the crewman next to her she said "I'll be back in a few minutes, finish the re-alignment and then proceed to the next junction. I have an ass to kick". The crewman chuckled and responded "Aye Ma'am". She crawled back into the jeffries tube ad began back towards Engineering. The fact that she had to make her way back through it with all the panels open and wires hanging out didn't exactly thrill her. By the time she got to the end, she hoisted herself out and unceremoniously dumped herself onto the walkway. She stood up and looked around. Everyone else had been too busy to notice. Good.

She made her way down the stairs, slightly fuming. There was too much to be done for her to be taken away. In her mind this was nothing but a waste of time.



Nate was changing around repair priorities as the doors to his office whooshed open. He turned, and there stood a gorgeous young woman, looking somewhat upset. Her beauty caught him off guard and he froze for a moment, stunned. "I'm Lieutenant Stryker" he managed to spit out. She walked up to him "Lt. Clance. What are you doing in my office?". Still in a state of shock, he took a moment to reply "I'm the new Chief Engineer, so I believe it's my office now". Her demeanor immediately changed, almost as if she was submissive. "I'm sorry Sir. It's been a hell of a day".

Still in a trance from her looks, he let it go. "Don't worry Lieutenant, have a seat. The other isn't here yet. I figure your the next Senior ranking in the Engineering? At least I know who to go to when I feel the need for a sick day" he said jokingly. He considered curbing the infatuation he felt for her. But then again, he figured he'd see how things went.

The other Engineering officer he'd hailed strolled into his office right about then. She was, if anything, striking: black hair coiled into a bun at the nape of her neck, green skin and black eyes. Her figure, curvy and seemingly built with just one thing in mind, helped add to her presence. The expression on her face, however, detracted from her beauty; she looked annoyed. "I was elbow deep in a plasma conduit; this better be good," she glanced from the woman she knew as acting Chief to the stranger. Her demeanor changed slightly and she grinned at him. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Reva Madhava," she introduced herself, flirting as only an Orion could.

Nate's head was swimming between the looks of the two women and the pheromones from the Orion Officer that had just walked in. He forced himself to snap out of it, hoping someone else would come to save him. "I'm LT. Stryker, your new CEO. I wanted to call the Senior most individuals here to introduce myself real quick, but I've also adjusted the repair priorities and I wanted to make you all aware. I know we have alot going on, so I'll keep this brief".

At the mention of who and what he was, Reva's flirtatious look soured. She tossed a glance at Eva and said "When did this happen?" shrugging. Eva answered with a silent shrug and splayed hands that meant, 'I haven't a clue; bossy, isn't he?'. Reva grimaced and nodded. All of the silent conversation was done as soon as Stryker turned his back on them.

He walked over to his desk and handed the two women each a PaDD. "I'm sure a few of these changes will not to be to your liking, but at this point, we need to focus on the weapons systems. The sooner we get them back online, the sooner we can start an overhaul before we go back out. Let the station repair crew focus on the standard ship systems". He had purposely not been looking at either of the women so as to not lose train of thought.

"Also I've changed up the shift rotations, we all need to be on this. They're going to be some long days. At this point, your looking at a minimum of 16-24 hour shifts, followed by 8 hours off. This will be for everyone in Engineering. Don't worry, I'll probably be working more. Chances are I won't see my quarters for the next week. Not that I've been to them yet anyways". He noticed a sigh from Eva. Looking up, he realized that she was glaring at him as well.

"Have you really thought this through Sir?" she asked.

Not to be left out, Reva chimed in, "Sixteen to twenty four hours on? You're kidding, right? I have...," Antonio "...things to do!"

"At this point, it's not a choice, Ensign. I shouldn't have to tell you that we've got a hell of a threat out there, and the last thing I need is this ship failing to perform it's functions in Multi Vector Assault mode". He looked down and pretended to be looking at something on his console, the two women were causing his thoughts to once again drift.

"The Achilles won't fail! We've been working overtime to get her to the point she's at now; can't we enjoy a little bit of time on the Starbase while we're here?" Reva, who had never been good at just taking orders, argued with her new boss.

Nate had expected some resistance to his commands. "Listen, I know it's not quite ideal. The sooner you each get your lists done that I've provided you, the sooner you can go back to your standard shift. Maybe that will provide some motivation. I didn't exactly plan on living in this room for the next week, but things need to get done. I don't expect the crew to fail the Achilles, I just want to make sure she's all taken care of".

Reva took a moment to actually look at her list, then started to make her own mental list of which crewmen she could get to finish it. It was long and some tasks were complicated; those, she couldn't delegate.

He thought to himself for a moment. He didn't want to be the bad guy, but then again, sometimes you have to be. They had been through quite a bit, and for him it was just his first day. A compromise would help him in the long run. "Okay, here's my only deviation. Go finish what you were working on when I called you here. After that, take the next 16 hours off. I expect both of you to show up and report here when you come back. Until then, as long as the Captain has approved your leaving the ship, you may do so and conduct whatever it is you need to do. Your minds should be adequately rested and back on focus by then". It was his chance to show the crew his dedication as the new CEO, and that he did care about his personnel.

Pausing, Reva narrowed her eyes at the male and wondered whether he thought he was being generous. He did, she realized as her empathy kicked in. He was also concerned, but about what, she wasn't sure. But, hey, he'd given them a concession; she could cut him some slack. "Fine, Lieutenant Stryker," she nodded, "We'll do that, then. If you'll excuse me, I have a plasma conduit to get put back in place." She paused, nodded at Stryker then turned and left.

Eva shook her head. "That one will cause you headaches," she warned the new Chief.

He looked back at her "Well at least she's ambitious. Hell of a way to meet you both. Also, I'm sure I'll find out what the two of you excel in, and be able to put fourth your talents as necessary. I know it's going to take me some time to be accepted. I don't expect things to be easy. But at the end of the day as long as we all can do our jobs and make sure the Achilles is squared away, I'll be satisfied".

She thought to herself for a moment, almost wanting to let him know she sympathized with him somewhat. She decided against it at that moment however. Standing up, she held onto her Padd and turned to leave. Looking back over her shoulder, she simply said "Lieutenant" and left. So much for an easy start. But at least the hard part is over

He grabbed his PaDD, and walked out back into Main Engineering. Time to get to work

<<>>

Da`nal had just left sickbay and was on his way back to the station when Lance caught him waiting on a turbolift. "Ah Captain, glad I caught you. Commodore Sorn has sent us a Chief Engineer, he came over with the stations repair team and the Apocalypse has sent over a few engineers to lend a hand."

________________________
Lieutenant Nate Stryker
CEO

&

Lieutenant Eva Clance
ACEO, NPC'd by Nate

&

Ensign Reva Madhava
Trouble

 

RSS Feed