Getting to Work

Posted on Friday August 11th, 2023 @ 2:51pm by Lieutenant Commander Rachel Williams & Lieutenant Miles O'Connell

1,186 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: The Grand Tour: Part One
Location: Poseidon - Various
Timeline: After Engineering Operational Briefing Post
Tags: 2395, Mission Post, Sub Plot

[ON]

Rachel just returning to Engineering after speaking to the CO and XO enters and knows Miles is there somewhere "Miles my Office Pronto!" she said loud enough for him to hear as she entered her office, now she waited for him to arrive as she sat and began to type on her Padd.

"Hello, Ma'am. I was in the bowels of the warp core, sorry for my delay." Miles stated as he appeared in her office door covered in grease and grim from crawling in the shafts around the core.

She looked at him, head tilted to the left and a raised eyebrow, glad to see one of my crew is not afraid to get dirty" she said blandly then straightened her head, "Put someone else on your tasks Miles, I need you to assemble an engineering team, we are upgrading the Phaser Banks both Ventral and Dorsal, the Pulse canons on the rollbar too. Have two teams assembled, and use our engineering Cadets, they may as well get the experience on the old girl before she is decommissioned" she said as she picked up a Padd and handed it to him "On this Padd are the recommended new specs and what to upgrade and how on that Padd is also the Phaser Bank tolerances which are much higher than what they are currently at once upgraded fine-tune them, when ready I will speak to the Captain and ask if we can do a firing test, and while your teams do that I will have a team work on the SIF and shields" she said.

"I have always enjoyed getting my hands dirty and not just on machinery but in all aspects of dirty," Miles replied. "An upgrade on the Phaser Banks, interesting as I have felt they were long overdue for such a task. As for the tasks I was working on, they were just side projects I wanted to work on so they are not a necessity, merely my pet projects. Two teams so one team for the Ventral and one for the Dorsal and then I can pick a few from each as the work winds down to the rollbar. How many engineering cadets do we have on board?"

"To be Honest Miles I have no idea, they have been lax in reporting to me when you assemble them and impress upon them *she uses an American-Italian speech pattern used in gangster films with the impress comment*, that they need to report to the CEO upon arrival on the ship, this, they have not yet done all I know is we have some if you need to have someone lead the other team use Kord, supply him with a copy and tell him what I told you to do, I will deal with the SIF and Shield systems upgrades, I will warn you that some jury-rigging may have to be done with the Phaser banks as the plans you have bordered on the limited upgrades a ship of this class can handle. Of course, if the Captain would allow it we could pull into a Space dock and with teams working around the clock I could have this ship have another ten years of life, I would have to gut the ship totally and get the dings and dents out of the spaceframe and strengthened, but that would take a minimum of ten years and I mentioned such to the Captain and he would not go for it, mainly I think down to there is a new ship in the works for us a Poseidon-A if you will, there is also the fact that he would be starbase or planet bound for ten-years as would the crew, not a selling point that." *she smiled*

"I will see what I can do about educating the new engineering cadets and getting them to comply with the system works," Miles replied to Rachel. "I agree with you about the upgrades needing some jury-rigging and I am certain that the cadets will catch on as to the age or our little ship warrants the need to think outside the box. But I would enjoy a total overhaul of this ship as that is why I became an engineer."

*Smiles* "Well I do know a new ship is in the works, an Intrepid class if memory serves, slightly bigger than a Miranda and has integrated systems and gel packs, so we will be able to do a lot more, but for now we have to work with what we got, so if you can get on those weapon upgrades Miles I will concentrate on the SIF and Shields when you are done let me know, so before I let you be on your way have you any questions?

"Well there has always been one question that I have had since I was a child and it never has been properly answered," Miles added. "However, it is not about the work at hand so I will not address it now. I will certainly get to work on the weapon upgrades and let you know of our progress and completion."

Looking at her Deputy "What is the question Miles, out with it!" She said her tone indicating no escape for the Deputy Chief Engineer.

"My question is why is space so dark with all the stars in it?" Miles replied. "I would always ask that question when given the chance and I could not resist working it into our conversation. Thank you for letting me ask it and I will be on my way to get my teams assembled."

*Looking at him puzzled* "That Miles is a damn good question and If you ever get that question answered, you will be sure to let me know, yes?" She said straight-faced.

"I will get to work now ma'am," Miles stated not sure what to think of her response as he knows she must have been holding back her true feelings about his question. "May I now be dismissed, ma'am?" Miles asked before turning to leave Williams' office.

"Yes, let me know when you have completed the weapon upgrades and as they will be to the specifications I have given you, when your job is completed I will be able to brief the Captain First Officer and Security/Tactical Chief, as there is nothing further I will let you get to your duties," she said.

"Yes, ma'am, you will hear from me when the work is to the specifications you have given me." Miles stated as he took to a full attention stance and saluted his chief, know she likely did not expect it but he respected his new chief and wanted her to know it.

With a final nod and smile, Rachel watched her Deputy leave, she thought he was finding it hard with a new Engineering Chief, but not knowing the man well enough she could not be certain of that, so she returned to her Padd with the SIF and shield upgrades she had planned.

[OFF]

Lt Cmdr Rachel Williams
Chief Engineer

LT Miles O'Connell
Deputy Chief Engineer

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