The New DCEO

Posted on Friday July 9th, 2021 @ 9:19am by Lieutenant Commander Paul Sharpe & Lieutenant Miles O'Connell

1,804 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: S1-A1-Ep. 1: Spectrophobia
Location: Various
Timeline: After Green Jam II

[ON]

During a break in his search for those elusive doctored Iso Chips and finally corralling that damn plant Paul had only just sat down when he was alerted that a new Deputy Engineering Chief had just arrived, whoever brought them here was a good pilot, he looked up the name "Hmm Lieutenant Jg Miles O'Connell, now there is a proper Irish name for you!" He said to himself and stood up and tugged his tunic down and headed to the Shuttle bay.

As the Miranda class was not a large ship he got there quite quickly and as he entered the shuttle bay he saw a lone officer standing there looking around, so walking up to him.

"Lieutenant Miles Edward O'Connell! Welcome aboard the Poseidon, I am Lieutenant Commander Paul Sharpe your new Department Head" Sharpe announced as he held his hand out to the new arrival.

"Hello, Commander," O'Connell replied. "I am pleased to meet you," O'Connell said returning the handshake.

"Ever worked on a Miranda class before?" Sharpe asked as he led the way from the shuttle bay and headed for the turbo lift with O'Connell in tow.

"I have never worked on an actual Miranda class ship before but I have done some simulations of engines of several old school ships that are still in service, but the retro-fit done to this ship has it up to par with current day ships," O'Connell replied. "I am looking forward to serving on this ship and find it a vast honour to have you as a mentor."

Looks at O'Connell when he mentioned Mentor "I may have ideas on things in engineering Miles, but most of my history has been as security, you may find that I may end up relying upon you for the more in-depth engineering technobabble, but let's go to my Office then I can bring you up to date on things and get you working on some tasks" Sharpe said as he headed towards the nearest Turbo lift.

"Sir, I acknowledge that and will do what I can to advance engineering respectfully for both of us," O'Connell replied as he followed his supervisor into his office. "I respect that you have been forthcoming about your history and I hope that I can make you proud with my engineering prowess and get this ship in shape."

Smiling "I am sure you will Miles, I am sure you will, so while we are on our way to engineering you have any questions?" Sharpe asked as the doors closed "The main engineering" he said and the lift began to move.

"Sir, I am full of questions, but most of them I believe will be addressed as we converse more. So many of them have been answered already. I would say, I am curious as to how this old Miranda class ship is still being kept in service with the upgrades and retrofits when all other Miranda class ships have been mothballed?" O'Connell replied. "Also, how does serving on the ship affect your family life?"

The last question took him by surprise so he tabled that for the moment and answered the others "Before leaving space dock this ship had just finished a major overhaul, but this old ship can no longer receive any more structural alterations, as for the equipment inside, the ship is but a shell, but even with new techs coming out this ships day's are numbered, but until she is lost in battle or decommissioned it is our solemn duty to keep the old girl running" Sharpe said in response to the question of the ship.

As for my family life, my wife is currently acting Captain on the USS Tomcat as the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, luckily we currently have no children and to be honest with you Miles, her temperament would be too big for this ship, some of the things the Cadets on the ship have done would have sent her into righteous fury and would have gotten her in trouble" Sharpe answered.

As they stepped out of the lift Sharpe continued, "I will have you set about with a task, that needs doing, which will be equipping EMH holo emitters in key areas throughout the ship like Engineering, Science, Security and the bridge, the holo emitters in Medical also need to be repaired and made operational, we have begun work but with the latest issue of contraband Isolinear chips having been recently discovered, which are a threat to the ship in its current state. After you have had some time to settle in more I will seek your view on a side project I have going it has been authorised by the CO, but I want to make sure the computations are one-hundred per cent safe before doing it" Sharpe said as they entered his office in engineering.

"I would be happy to get to work," O'Connell replied. "I happen to like working with holo emitters as that was one of the last tasks I performed on my last assignment. I will not let you down with that task. But may I inquire about your side project?"

As they walked towards the engineering section Sharpe responded to the question "I will tell you more in-depth at a later date, but basically I am looking at creating a holographic warp core on the holodeck and tying it into the main power supply when active to give this ship an extra five minutes of power to SIF and environmental systems. But the wall I am hitting is keeping the power distribution stable for longer than one minute and the fact that holographic energy has a different frequency to that of the actual ODN lines, I have figured out a converter somewhere along with the link and the lines from the holodeck to the converter would need to be reinforced and their thermal output increased significantly. As for how this idea came about I will tell you at some point, but for now, we have to keep with current events" Sharpe said as they entered engineering.

"Well this is Main Engineering, that is our office," he said pointing to the separate area "it is small but it can accommodate two users, are there any questions so far Miles?" Sharpe asked as they entered the office, he directed him to the other seat while he took his seat behind the desk, all the while the buzz of activity was a welcome sound, never did he think that he would be happy being in engineering again after his last experience.

"I am just ready to get to work and make myself at home here," Miles added. "I do look forward to working under your guidance and learn more in person than one can learn from reading. I hope to make you and the ship proud."

"I know you will Lieutenant," Sharpe said with a smile "right another thing we are currently facing is on its last time in spacedock the ship had some starbase engineers that must have been agents for foreign governments *pulls out the contraband Iso chip* this little beaut was found in some key systems that were interfering with the main ship systems, I found it in a key system while in the tubes and re-routed the system and pulled the chip" he paused as he held the chip out to his Deputy. "That chip is likely one of many and originates from the Orion Syndicate, but it has Tal'Shiar trace programming which is a perverted version of the code I came up with decades ago on my only undercover mission which went south, long story and for another time. But while you and a team are working on the holo system keep an eye out for such chips that seem out of place. Do not know if I mentioned that the sickbay holo emitter is in dire need of repair too" Sharpe said and fell silent.

"I understand, sir. I will get on top of the holo-emitter systems and will keep an eye out the sinister isolinier chips." O'Connell replied. "I am hoping to do my best to keep this ship operating at the top of its abilities."

"All we engineers are hoping to do that Lieutenant *smiles* but it is good to know, so do you have any final questions before I let you go?" Sharpe asked as he took the chip back and placed it in a secure drawer.

"Sir, I know it seems odd, but I really don't have any more questions," O'Connell replied. "I am just anxious to get to work and make myself at home on this ship."

*Smiling* "that is what I Like to hear Lieutenant, now if you have to dump your stuff in your quarters and then get you to work, I do not micro-manage my team, I expect them to do their jobs with little or no supervision from me. So you know what you have to do I will let you get to it" Sharpe said and stood and held out his hand "again welcome to the team Miles" he added with a smile.

"Sir, Thank you. I am grateful for this opportunity." O'Connell replied as he reached out to shake Sharpe's hand. "I will really enjoy working on this museum."

*Raises an eyebrow* "Museum indeed, you may be right there Lieutenant, but do not insult the old girl too quickly, she still has to support us, so you know what tasks you have, do you have any other questions that you have?" Sharpe asked.

"Sir, I am ready to get to work and get the holo grid established for the greater good of the ship," O'Connell stated.

"Excellent Miles, I shall let you go so as you can get to work," Sharpe said standing and holding out his hand "again welcome to the Poseidon," he said.

"Thanks, sir. I do want to get my hands to work as well as my head." O'Connell replied. "I shall go and see if I can get the holomatrix up an running on the ship." O'Connell then turned to leave the office and set about his duties.

With that, he watched his new Deputy leave his office and shook his head in amusement, then sighed and remembered he had to get to that section in the tubes that had that pirate Iso chip in and put in as currently, that section had a weakness, sighing heavily he went over to a sealed locker and after opening it he pulled out a small carry box with untouched chips, he opened the box to make sure all was normal before closing the box and the locker and heading to the nearest Jefferies tube hatch.

[OFF]

Lt Cmdr Paul Sharpe
Chief Engineering Officer

&

LT. JG Miles O'Connell
Deputy Chief Engineering Officer

RSS Feed