Meet the Team

Posted on 26 Aug 2024 @ 6:43pm by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kalliste Bacri

2,178 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 20 - Reconstruction
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 4, Main Shuttlebay
Timeline: MD 02, 2120 hrs

[ON]

Kalliste had never worked with a team so...small. Well, it made introductions rather simplistic, didn't it? She had dumped her gear in her quarters, barely looking at the space that was so different from her last home, and headed back out. There was one other member she wanted to meet. Then maybe sickbay. Priorities in life, yes?

The large double doors that made up the shuttle bay entryway hissed open when she walked up to them. One of these days those sensors would malfunction and she was going to bite it, she just knew it. What a day that would be.

Stepping into the large space, Kalliste looked around. It had all of the required sundries...shuttlecraft, crates, various tools and equipment of the trade. All interesting in their own rights, she supposed, but that wasn't why she was here.

It took a few minutes to find the other conn officer. He was currently inside of one of the shuttles, if the open hatch was any indication. A muffled utterance within. Well, it was the only sign of life, and the computer did say that Chief Darius was in the shuttlebay. One day, that computer would be wrong, and she'd be lost forever or something. Kalliste liked all of the technology, but that didn't mean she trusted it.

"Ahoy!" Kalliste called, walking up the ramp a few steps but remaining outside of shuttle. "Permission to come aboard?" She inquired with a smile.

The 'zzz' then pop of an electrical conduit surge was quickly followed by an expletive then the soft tumbling of a hyperspanner across the deck within the shuttle. Barely-audible footsteps followed until Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius' head and torso came into view and peered outside the shuttlecraft to identify the unfamiliar voice. His dark brown eyes landed upon a red-collared woman with short pixie-style crimson hair and green eyes. "Uh," he paused, unsure if she was reporting to him or...

"Chief Warrant Officer Darius. Conn," he introduced himself as he slowly walked down the shuttle's aft ramp to greet her. "Who, um, are you?" he curiously asked.

"My familial name is Bacri, and given - Kalliste. I am certain you can decipher my rank, Chief. I'm the new conn officer." She smiled in amusement. "I thought it would be a good idea to meet everyone in the department. It was a long list."

A new conn officer? That temporarily brightened Darius' evening. More hands to work meant more distribution of tasks and more free time for the three of them. "Yeah, a list so long that the computer flags it as an invalid input," he returned her jest. "Bacri...Kalliste," he verbally sounded out the two names to himself before a grin pulled the corners of his lips. "'B-K'. That's your new callsign here. I called it first so no arguing."

This was the second time in less than an hour she had been reminded of just how busy her new position would be. Kalliste liked to be busy the same as the next person...but drowning in work wasn't quite what she was hoping for. Well, only time would show what the day-to-day would be on the Gulag.

"Not a very creative call-sign, but I've been called worse, Chief." Kalliste replied. "So...any important bits I should be aware of to not deep-six what's left of my career?"

Where should he start.. With the crew's hallucinations which were quickly overcoming their private thoughts? Or with the stoic and intrusive Vulcan chief engineer who'd recently demanded a full shuttlecraft warp core maintenance assessment? "If I don't get a complete warp core diagnostic finished for Virginia here soon, the CHENG is gonna come back and kick my ass. And she's a Vulcan. They hit hard," he shook his head.

"Warp core maintenance assessment? I usually let the engineers manage that. They're quite temperamental when it comes to their engines." Oh, this was a delight. She had been told that she often drew conclusions too early, but it sounded like Darius had somehow run afoul of the woman. Interesting.

"I don't see how knowing that information is going to end my career, but..." She shrugged. "I'd ask if you needed any help, but I don't want to convey that somehow I don't think you are up for the task."

He looked at her as if she were an alien. Well, compared to a Human such as himself, she was, but he meant a true alien. Like a sentient form of tissue paper. "Are you kidding? I can use all the help I can get. Matter of fact, when you showed up here just now, I thought someone had sent you to help me. Your timing's perfect. I just hope you know something about warp field coil replacement...I think we need to swap out a few of them in the starboard nacelle."

"Coil replacement? Why are you doing this? I mean, I'm happy to help, but I'm no engineer." Kalliste began to fold up her sleeves. She had the distinct feeling she was about to get dirty. "Just tell me what to do, and we'll get it done."

That was a good question. Why was he doing this? He knew the answer in all of its trifling glory. "I'm not an engineer either. Let's just say the DENG and I got off to a bad start...caught her in here snooping around and trying to do my job for me, then she got all stoic and petty about it after I called her out. Vulcans, right?" he rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated breath. He'd been holding that complaint in for a while. "So, for my penance, I've got less than 24 hours to get every shuttle's maintenance log into compliance or else said Vulcan's gonna bump it up to the CO and XO and ground each support craft."

Kalliste's brows rose as she listen to his rant regarding how unfair his current situation was, which by his own admission, brought on by his own actions. She attempted, rather poorly, to keep her expression neutral, but eventually the laughter began to escape. "Oh, Chief..." There was a brief pause before she continued, "Well, there's nothing else to be done. The shuttles have to be flight-worthy, otherwise I'll never get cleared to fly. So, it's in my best interests to help you although I will deny it all the way up to a captain's mast that I assisted you in order to stay off the DENG's naughty list."

"I won't say anything," he innocently shrugged with a small grin and privately grateful for her help. She'd just saved him a good eight hours of individual work by volunteering to assist. But then his better conscious got a part of him. "You don't have to do this, though. You just came on board...you can take the night off to get yourself settled."

Kalliste nodded at his agreement for silence. "You are joking, right? I've had six months of simulations to occupy my time. I have no desire for more 'rest.' Besides, how would it look if if let one of my superiors run afoul of the engineering gods? I have to live here for the next few years, thank you very much."

"There may also be an ulterior motive in assisting you. You don't mind a friendly interrogation? I got to meet Tarin and Caradec...but I'd like to know just what the hell kind of place I've been transferred to."

He returned back into the shuttle and motioned for Bacri to follow him. His attention to the task at hand resumed and he started to tap away at one of the aft LCARS panel's interfaces to release the maglocks on the nacelle housings. "You sound like one of us now," he grinned in reference to her denial of rest. "As for Galileo? Shit, I've been on board for almost four years. First came on straight out Fleet re-training from the Corps in '89 as the ship's COB. Did that for a year then my warrant commission was approved by Starfleet Command and I transferred to conn. This ship's been through hell and back over the years."

"The Corps, eh? Well that is an interesting track. Mine was perhaps a more straightforward route? Made some big wig sick on a shuttle ride to Starbase 1 showing off...but in my defense he did ask for it. I was punished with a promotion...or at least that's how I'll tell it." Kalliste chatted pleasantly enough as she helped Lamar drop the housings to expose the coils. "Are you sure we should be doing this? This seems to be some next-level maintenance."

He dismissed her concern with an audible 'pfft' while casually waving a dismissive hand in her direction. "All the procedural steps are in my PADD. It can't be that hard. Just need to procure all the correct tools first...some of them down in engineering. I'll take care of that soon. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? We trigger a warp core breach in the shuttle and one of us has to fly it away from the ship and Regula I before it goes critical?"

Kalliste gaped at Darius, her expression hiding nothing. "The worst that could happen? Oh, I dare not test those waters, Chief. Surprisingly enough, being in a spacecraft with a warp core criticality is not on my list of life goals." Of course this didn't stop her from helping him continue to remove the casings. "So, what's the flight plan, then? How much help am I going to be if we still are missing tools?"

"Well, first I have to get the tools...without the CHENG or any of her people noticing. That might be tough. But doable. Definitely doable," he confidently nodded to himself while his astute mind started to formulate a plan of action to infiltrate main engineering without drawing any unwanted attention. "Ever play a game called Capture the Flag when you were young?"

Kalliste's expression shifted to humor to one of non-understanding. "Capture the flag? I can't say I've ever heard of that." This was the challenge of being Centauran...often-times humans assumed she was 'one of them.' This wasn't an insult or even a bad thing...but she did lack some significant cultural references to understand much of their distinctly interesting idioms. She shifted her face to hopefully convey innocence as she awaited an answer.

He frowned to himself while giving her an inquisitive look. "Really? They don't play those games in France?" To a man like Darius born and raised in the urban Philadelphia area, her accent sounded distinctly French enough with all of its strange word pronunciations. Not that he was judging. "Basically the idea's to pursue an objective - the flag - and run on foot to get it - capture it - then return back to your own 'base'. It's a team game and there's a halfway line on the game's field to mark your own side. Cross the line to the other side? You can get tagged and caught if someone from the other team touches you in their territory and then you're out of the game. So it's a sport of stealth, speed and misdirection. Get in then get out without getting caught and cross the line back to your own side. Make sense?"

Kalliste's eyes brightened as he explained the premise behind the game. Humans did have the most interesting games. "Not at all." She said with a laugh, but held her hand up before Darius had the opportunity for rebuttal.

"I understand what you said - I just don't know much of sports. Regardless...so you are saying that you're going to utilize the strategy surrounding this "Capture the flag" to purloin engineering tools to perform the required maintenance to turn into the CHENG who is holding a proverbial blade over your head? Am I understanding this correctly? Because if I am...wow, Chief. Just...wow. Do you need help?" Oh, this was a bad idea...but with a department of three, could the captain afford to remanding the other two conn officers to the brig? Oh man. This was not the ideal justification.

Her recap of his explanation was surprisingly sound and accurate. Then when she offered assistance, his dark brown eyes brightened and a subtle yet devious grin developed across his lips. "Exactly. And since you asked...I'd love some help," he winked at her.

Kalliste's smile could have lit up a dark room. She loved nothing more than the rush of doing something 'exciting.' "Well then, let's get the shuttles fixed, Chief."

[OFF]

--

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kalliste Bacri
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC M'Lyr'Zor]

CWO3 Lamar Darius
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Tarin]

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