Engineering Check-In

Posted on Fri Jan 23rd, 2015 @ 9:14am by Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Matthews & Captain Jacob Lambert
Edited on on Fri Jan 23rd, 2015 @ 9:15am

1,165 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 4 - Parallels
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: 1110

Jenni stood alone in the turbolift, her arms characteristically crossed in front of her. Her eyes, though fixed on the doors in front of her, were in no way focus on them. She hadn't got the chance to meet the captain before the ship got underway and was actually quite content to wait for a more opportune moment. Now probably wasn't the best time, but it would have to suffice.

The thought of the ship accelerating to maximum warp under nominal status was simply too hard to ignore. In her history of interstellar travel, maximum warp was used only to run away from trouble or run to something or someone in trouble.

When the lift stopped, her gaze clicked back to normal with only a slight delay. She stepped out onto the bridge, looking briefly around to see if she had, by chance, been noticed, not that she wanted to be recognized, but she did not want to be embarrassed by her momentary lapse in focus. Fortunately, no one had seen her.

What she notice was that the captain was not on the bridge. The officers on the bridge were occupied by their duty, and rightfully so. She noticed not a sense of urgency in the room, nor a tremendous amount of tension. Jenni crossed the bridge to the Ready Room and calmly tapped the chime.

From his desk Jacob was still writing his reports when the door chimed. He pressed the panel on his desk to open the door. He looked up and saw Lieutenant Commander Matthews.

"Come in Commander." He called out to the Engineer in his doorway. He stood and held his hand out to shake the officers hand. Welcome aboard. I regret we haven't had time to talk before we set off, but you know how Admirals get." Jacob smiled. "Please," he gestured to the chair in front of his desk, "Have a seat."

"Thank you," Jenni replied, sitting down in front of the desk. "Yes, I do." Jenni was referring to one occasion when an Admiral traveled aboard her first assignment, the Chimera. He constantly had complaints about a malfunction with the climate control in his quarters. Jenni had checked it multiple times herself and found nothing wrong with it. To amuse the Admiral as he watched, she used a paint stick (the Admiral was unaware of its purpose) and made some "adjustments" to the unit. The Admiral never called again, finally satisfied with the temperature.

"The Unification is a good ship, Captain," Jenni said. "I'm actually glad I had the chance to settle in before officially reporting. It gave me the chance to get to know the girl a little bit."

"Yes, shes a good ship. So many memories, both good and bad. But the future is the direction we look. Though we can never forget what happened here, the lives lost." He took a moment to compose himself. "How are you finding it? Are there any issues you have at the moment with any of the systems?" Jacob asked.

"Nothing outside of the usual glitches," Jenni reported. "There are a couple anomalies within the internal sensors, but we're getting that back into alignment right now. Other than that, the ship is performing remarkably well."

"Well considering it took just over a month to dismantle and put her back together, I think thats excellent. And with hardly any errors, your engineering team has outdone itself, I know how much they were working before you came on board." Jacob replied.

It was a shame Jenni couldn't take any of the credit. She came aboard at the very tail end of the project, and it was her experience aboard the Katana that enabled her to quickly wrap up the loose ends. Now if she could only keep that pool table functioning in Engineering...

"They are an excellent group of engineers." Jenni smiled. "I'm sure we'll be able to handle whatever is thrown our way." Her smile faded, choosing to change the topic, albeit slightly. "Captain, as an engineer, I'm just as grateful as the next girl for any chance to run systems tests and diagnostics, especially on a quick and extensive refit. Don't you think it's a bit early to run an unscheduled performance test on the warp drive?"

"No, I disagree." Jacob replied, shaking his head. "Its the perfect time. We don't know what's around the corner, but nothing seems to have happened, yet. So we can test the warp drive for now. It should only take a few hours, and if you compartmentalise the tests, we should be able to remain at limited warp at least. After the warp tests, weapons are a priority."

Jenni nodded with a soft smile. Something was clearly amiss, and it wasn't her place to know. She was fine with being out of the loop, but not at the expense of her being prepared. "I suppose we'll need shields and other defensive measures as well?" Jenni prompted behind a weak smile.

"Its almost like you read my mind." He smiled at her. "I can't tell you everything, but you have to trust me. I know we haven't known each other for that long, but I really need you to trust me."

Jenni nodded, halfheartedly. Even though she wasn't being told why, there clearly were other factors at play. At the end of the day, she was simply the Chief Engineer, and she'd be expected to perform her duty without fail. That was a role she'd be more than happy to play.

"Of course," she replied to her captain, still bearing her smile. "I know it's my job, sir, to be prepared for anything. And to patch us up quickly so that we can stay prepared for anything. Whenever possible, I'd appreciate nothing more than a simple heads up, not for my sake, but for the engineering staff. I don't want to send a man to plunge a toilet when I should have him prime the warp injectors." It was a crude example, but she hoped her point came across.

"I will keep you in the loop, Commander. And rest assured that as soon as I can give you more information I will. Just keep up the great work, and don't hesitate to ask me for anything." Jacob replied. "Anything further?"

"No, sir." Jenni hoped she was effective in her first interaction with the Captain by leaving a good impression. She understood it took time to earn anyone's trust. Yet, rather than aiming to please, her only interest was to perform her duties. "Just that it is a pleasure to be serving under your command," she added with a slight nod. "Thank you for the opportunity."

"Dismissed Commander, and welcome aboard."

Jenni kept her smile as she nodded a final time. She rose from her seat and left the room, off to prepare the ship for whatever could come next.


=====

Capt. Lambert, Commanding Officer
&
Lt. Cmdr. Matthews, Chief Engineer

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