Engineering Meeting

Posted on Friday May 26th, 2023 @ 10:31am by Lieutenant Commander Rachel Williams & Lieutenant Miles O'Connell & Lieutenant J'Loni Mo'Bri Daughter House L'Keth & Lieutenant Lazarus Kord

2,557 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Shore Leave
Location: USS Poseidon; Deck 4, Main Engineering Complex
Timeline: Following the events of "Shore Leave"
Tags: 2395, Introduction, Character Development, Departmental Meeting

[ON]

Rachel was in her office, prepping things, for the planned staff meeting, she looked up the list of current on-duty staff, and she sighed it was a small amount, but then again it was a small ship, getting her stuff ready, she tapped her Commbadge =/\= Could Lieutenants O'Connell, Kord, L'Keth, report to the Chief Engineers officer promptly =/\= Williams said and closed the link. At this time her hair was in a high and tight ponytail and she had her back to the door, so when the doors opened she knew her staff had begun to arrive.

Lazarus Kord had just finished his expected shift on watch during their vacation on Risa. After the incident with the Klingons, he decided to volunteer for an on-duty time during leave. This way there'd be no further issues. Once his combadge went off, he promptly gave a reply and headed for the Chief Engineers office. He had overheard that Sharpe had recently left. It would be interesting to see his new boss.

Turning a corner, he entered the Chief's office and stood at attention. "Lt. Kord, reporting in as instructed," the Gorn said.

=/\= O'Connell here, I will be to engineering in about ten minutes, I am in sickbay getting the last dose of my treatment from the radiation I was exposed to on Risa. =/\= Miles then prepared to wrap up his treatment.

Tapping her Commbadge =/\= Acknowledged, Williams out =/\= she said then looked at the new arrival and smiled "Hello Lieutenant Kord, you are the first Gorn I have seen on a Federation Starship, then again I have been stuck on earth for a long time, please have a seat, we will wait till the others arrive, while we wait can I offer you a drink?" Williams asked pleasantly.

"No thank you," Kord replied. He gave a smile - or what passes for one for a Gorn. "I am in a unique situation. I'm sure if you're ever cleared for that information, I can relay it. Needless to say, the Federation saved me from slavery. I am now here. I have no home back on Gorn."

J'Loni entered the office, "J'Loni Mobri, House L'Keth reporting as requested" she said.

O'Connell entered the room and was a little on the wary side as this final treatment was a stronger dose of anti-radiation meds. "Sorry to be late but I am fully cleared for duty now." He then took his seat to the right of Williams.

*Looks at Kord* "I am cleared for that Lieutenant, perhaps we can chat sometime it would be good to hear what your homeworld is like as I have never been there" she said then looked at L'Keth "please be seated Lieutenant L'Keth" she said with a smile, finally entered the last of her Command team she squinted her eyes "you must be Lieutenant Miles O'Connell my Number Two, you looking a bit peaky, you okay?" She asked.

Kord nodded. He'd have to verify first, but he wasn't about to make an issue of it in public. "Of course, Ma'am," he replied briskly.

"Yes, ma'am," O'Connell replied. "I was exposed to some odd radiation on the surface of Risa and just had the final dose of treatment to rid the effects from my system. I have been fully cleared and I am ready to get to work as the three days of treatments have me rearing to go."

*Smiling* "Good, glad you are okay" she said then looked at those assembled as she sat "Okay this is mainly a get to know your new boss plus some other stuff. I am Lieutenant Commander Rachel Williams, Commander Sharpe asked me to take over from him when he was reassigned to earth, I plan to run the same style as he did with my crew, meaning you do your work with both initiative and assigned tasks and all will be okay, but if anything bad I will come down upon you like an angry Klingon on a killing spree, got that?" She asked she did not raise her voice or get angry she kept her tone matter of factly.

Kord felt himself involuntarily fidget at being called out. Sam and he had an encounter with a rather rowdy band of Klingons during shore leave. Cadet Etoshi Lagiv, a Federation Klingon, had perished during the events of the Battle of the Bright Nebula. Jazik Lagiv was her father and had sought honourable revenge from Starfleet, taking his anger out on any he saw first; Lazarus and Sam being the two unfortunate he saw first. He gathered a band of Klingons and tried to confront them outside their vacation venue on Risa, however, both Sam and Lazarus were able to hold their own.

Once a high-profile Klingon by the name of Councilor Vort became involved, Sam explained that one of the Klingons they faced off against in Risa had been Romulan - blood samples proved it. Thankfully with the skeleton crew on watch - Security Officer Lt. Oscar Vladinchi being mistaken as the Captain by Councilor Vort - Sam was encouraged to prove the blood's authenticity and help clear Kords name. They were able to successfully do so and a diplomatic incident was quickly avoided. The Klingons "pardoned" the native Gorn of the Poseidon, leaving Lazarus a warning of possible future encounters of honour.

For others, the final warning would have been uncomfortable and perhaps even dreadful. For Lazarus? He enjoyed the fight. He felt somewhat ashamed at that, but he had enjoyed defending his friend, Sam, and fighting someone so capable of almost besting him. Perhaps in the future, they would face off again, but under more honourable circumstances and without such high-profile stakes.

"Understood, Ma'am," was all Lazarus said in reply, looking away briefly in slight embarrassment.

"Understood, Chief," O'Connell stated in response.

Rachel looked strangely at Kord, there was something there, but not being able to read Gorn facial expressions she did not know what had just gone through the Lieutenant's mind.

*Nods* "With that out of the way, I want to know if there are any issues with your part of engineering faults if any?" She asked.

"None of my ends," reported the Gorn. "Lieutenant Commander Sharpe had me fixing consoles and, ultimately, helping him replace the gel packs with the traditional system in place now. As long as we keep a good eye on the power systems - which was my job - I believe we'll be fine, Ma'am. That is unless you had any other plans?"

Looking at Kord "Okay, Lieutenant Kord, I have a slightly bigger job for you, I, need you to do an on-site inspection and assessment of all power relay points on this ship, on my inspection I noticed a few faulty connections to said panels, concentrate on the bottom level and mid-level get three others with you as it, is more than a one-man task" Williams said.

"Who would you like me to team with or is it my choice?" Kord asked, a hint of eager excitement in his voice.

"The choice is yours, Lieutenant, you are in charge of this duty, choose seven others, with you that is eight, perhaps you can split into two teams to speed up the work, but it is your team to assemble, any problems with that Lieutenant Kord?" William's asked plainly and without attitude, she was the type to have selected team leaders who could do their job with minimal to no supervision from her.

"None at all, Ma'am," Lazarus replied crisply, standing at attention briefly. "I'll select a few cadets also, give them some experienced. If I'm dismissed?"

"Not yet, you will be when all other business is done, just please be seated Lieutenant, how many engineering Cadets do we actually have anyway either of you knows? I have not had time to look through the cadet names as I have been on the go since I got here" Williams asked both Miles and Kord

"I know we have a few, but I don't know their names," Kord said as he sat down.

"Ma'am, I was recently approached about how I felt about doing more teaching to new cadets. I was advised that I would be good at the task but I am in my space as an engineer and could not imagine being at the academy. I was then also led to believe that we were to take on more cadets in a training role. As long as I am allowed to still be an engineer first, I am okay with what comes our way. Commander Sharpe was a decent Chief and I look forward to serving under your guidance. I would have to add that my fault is that I don't seem to know how to unwind and you may find me in engineering when I am to be off shift still working as my mind will not let me stop until I finish what I am working on. One of the last tasks Sharpe assigned me was to integrate holo-emitters throughout the ship to allow the EMH to be of more assistance in key areas. That system does operate on a secondary power supply and does not affect any such emergency systems or such." O'Connell then finally realized he talked for too long and shut his trap to give Williams a chance to respond. He was just so happy to be back in engineering and out of his quarters.

Looking at her deputy "I have read Commander Sharpes after action reports, due to this ship's age and current systems he had to deactivate those emitters in all but sick bay, something to do with them being too much for the ship's current systems. Also, he returned the holodecks back to isolinear and by all accounts, the holodecks passed muster. Now your task besides helping me to run engineering is to train any engineering cadets we have and train them well, any questions?" She asked.

"Ma'am, I am very eager to get back to work and if that means training newbies, so be it. I would like a chance to tinker with the emitters and see if we can't get them on par with the systems we have as I know they were all in working order when were installed. I think it would be a good training exercise for the cadets to learn how to do the basics in holo-technology as most of the newer ships have holo-emitters installed throughout their systems." O'Connell replied with a more than eager tone to his voice.

"Sadly Commander Sharpe's report said that the ship's systems almost crashed with that many holo emitters active, but you can use the holodeck to train the Cadets on the holo emitters stuff, then perhaps show them a real one. I will be honest with you Miles, with all the ad-hoc systems and a less than stellar job by the techs at the starbase this ship launched from more than one of those emitters would be too much, the only way they would work as if this ship was put into dry-dock and gutted its frame reinforced and replaced worn parts and then put in whole new systems. The one thing I noticed about Starfleet ship hulls if maintained they can last well past their lifespan, look at the many Mirandas that took part in the Dominion War, this ship would need ten years at minimum to bring her up to current modern standards and I do not think the Captain could do a ground-based job during that time, but I am only assuming that as I have not had a chance to have a proper chat with him, anything else Miles?" William's asked.

"Ma'am, my apologies for the emitter situation. After they were installed all the diagnostics checked out. However, I never looked into the effects of the systems that were rigged to work in the various methods that made us go." O'Connell replied. "I am up to whatever duties you feel support our current mission of training and will give the cadets the best of my abilities."

"I never doubted it for a minute, but your assessment mirrored that of Commander Sharpe the holo emitters were jury-rigged to work with a system not meant for the task, to date only the Medical Centre one works and that is only in an emergency, the others have been deactivated, the idea was sound but on a ship with a ship this old they would not have worked for long, still it is a good idea, is there anything else I should know about Lieutenant Mo'bri of the House L'Keth?" she asked.

"She was the original Chief Engineering Officer," Kord piped up. "She's taken a back seat due to personal issues and generally does a lot of engineering work in the background."

"Thank you, Lieutenant Kord, that I knew I was asking the Lieutenant and it was in reference to her duties," she said with a smile at Kord.

"Ma'am I was only assigned here after Lieutenant Mo'bri of the House of L'Keth had stepped down from the chief, but she has been a good engineer to work with on the ship," O'Connell replied.

J'Loni looked at both Kord and O'Connell and nodded in respect as to their acknowledgement of her tenure before taking a back seat in engineering. "Chief, I have a lot to keep me busy as her Damage Control chief. The Poseidon, being a Miranda, does present a good deal of constant repairs being needed. Maybe not on a daily basis but weekly, and when emergencies do pop up. That being said, with respect to teaching cadets, I can do that but only a few at a given moment and when not in an emergency situation needing my utmost attention. To teach a good cadet, of course, is not only good book and classroom teaching but also on-the-job training as well. I can be tough on cadets if they don't listen but that is who I am. My bark is worse than my bite but, as a rule, I am pretty easy-going on new cadets," J'Loni finished saying, her eyes never looking away from the chief.

"So I will assign the official task to you and Miles on training the Engineering Cadets, some may work with Kord, but you pair will be ultimately responsible, got it?" Williams asked.

"Understood Chief," J'Loni said nodding to O'Connell ever so quietly.

"Aye, Aye, Ma'am," Miles stated in response.

With a nod to the answers "Okay then if there is no further business you may go about your relevant tasks if none has been assigned, we need to keep this old girl going for as long as possible" The ship creaked when she mentioned old, Rachel looked up "sorry, but it is true" she said to the ship a little unnerved at the timing of the creaking sound, now she looks at her team, "okay people get to work!" she said and watched them leave her Office when they had all gone she sighed and made sure she had the correct PADDs for her next task.

[OFF]

Lt Cmdr Rachel Williams
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Poseidon

&

LT Miles O'Connell
Deputy Chief Engineering Officer
USS Poseidon

&

Lieutenant J'Loni Mo'Bri
Damage Control Specialist
USS Poseidon

&

Lieutenant Lazarus Kord
Engineering Officer
USS Poseidon

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