New Digs

Posted on 17 Jan 2013 @ 7:57am by Senior Chief Petty Officer Keval zh'Erinov & Lieutenant Lilou Zaren & Lieutenant Jared Nicholas

1,389 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: Desk 7, Main Engineering
Timeline: MD -02 1100 hrs

Keval had looked at the schematics of the Galileo, had committed them to memory in fact, but he was very much a visual person and wanted to take a look at things in person.

Besides, he had enjoyed his little meeting with his old friend Tavish and was hoping to run in to him when he paid a visit to Engineering.

Technically he was off duty, so he wore his pips and com badge on a purple tunic opened at the collar and a pair of black khakis.

He walked out of the office, cubical if you were more precise, he'd been assigned in OPS and stepped into Engineering.

Lilou turned from her console, eyeing the officer in civilian dress. She didn't know who he was or what he was doing here, but he wasn't her department and he apparently wasn't on duty, so she was fairly sure neither of those things mattered. It took her a few seconds of suspicious staring before she remembered that he didn't outrank her and she could actually do something about it. "Lost?" she asked.

"No m'am, he replied with a smile. "I'm Ensign Greysan. I am in Operations, but was just stopping in to see if I could get a tour of Engineering. My friend is the new Assistant Director."

"Your friend," Lilou repeated, brows drawing together. Assistant director? What did he think this was - the FNN newsroom? Bloody Operations officers... she sighed and pointed, "Console, engineer, console, engineer," then she pointed to herself, "and engineer. Hope you enjoyed the tour. Don't forget to leave a tip. Willis - I need those PADDs with the assignments!"

"They're coming, Chief. This coffee is horrible."

"But strong," she called back to him. "Strong is what you asked for. Don't forget the IDF diagnostics. I want to get a real time sense of stress we're putting on it."

"Yes, Lieutenant-"

"I'm not your bloody lieutenant," she muttered, then turned back to see 'Ensign Greysan' still standing there. "Sorry, we don't have an assistant director here. This isn't a film set." She straightened her shoulders, "I apologize. I'm not having a wonderful week. Who are you here to see?"

His smile faded somewhat. "I wasn't here to see anyone specifically but my friend is Tavish Hunter, he is the Assistant Di, he is the Assistant Chief Engineer, ma'am. As I said I'm just here to see if I can get a tour."

"Ah, my deputy," she tapped her head. "He's not on until Beta," Lilou assured Graysan. "And I'm not a ma'am."

He let out a long slow breath. His left antennae twitched slightly but there was no other indication of his mood. "Pardon me sir. He doesn't have to be the one who gives me a tour. I'm not really here to see him.~If I wanted to see him I'd be in his cabin and it wouldn't be the Galileo's design I'd be checking out. I am simply wanting to get a tour of the facilities if that is possible."

Lilou blinked twice in quick succession. "Rothgra!" she called.

Willis came out of the CEO office holding twelve PADDs. "He's off duty. You gave him the morning." He dumped the PADDs in her arms, "And you gave me the morning after I finished these. Which I have."

"Yes, fine. Beta, don't forget." She watched him go and looked between the PADDs in her arms, "You want a tour," she repeated. "Of Main Engineering." She eyed him. "Why?"

"Because," he said standing up straighter, both antennae now erect, Engineering and operations are supposed to work together. Cooperate. A tour of Engineering would help me.

I am, a visual person. I've memorized the schematics, but it doesn't really 'come alive' for me until I see it for myself. Oh and by the way, you might want to check the setting on your matter anti-matter mix, if you listen carefully enough you can hear a discrepancy."

"We're working on it," she said between her teeth, which they were, but she didn't like someone from Ops of all places wandering into her department and telling her what to do. "If you're looking for something to keep you from being bored, you could start with the replicator in the chief's office which has never once made a decent cup of coffee, or the lights on the way into the mess hall which tend to flicker when we're at a starboard tilt in atmo, or any of the twelve non-functioning door chime complaints that we've gotten in here in the last five days, which we then had to forward to you, but which came to us because apparently people think that we're here to do your jobs. Now. What. Do you want to see. Tell me. Because clearly my job in this department has gone from actually fixing things, which I like to do, to filling out forms and taking off-duty officers on tours of this one room, and pushing PADDs around a desk that should belong to a man who is far more qualified than me, but isn't here because I had to go and chop his bloody arm off." She took a deep breath. "Like I said. Not having a good week. So." She forced a smile, "What is it that you would like to see?"

"Look sir, I shouldn't even be here. T'Janik was supposed to be your new ops guy, he got delayed and now I'm your guy. I tell you what. Assuming my Chief is okay with this, you just forward all those requests you get to my desk. I'll sort them out, prioritize them, get them assigned, or do them myself. I used to run Ea, I used to run a little company before coming to Star Fleet. I'm pretty sure I can handle the pressure here.'

"I didn't say that you couldn't," she said tiredly, rubbing her temple. "You're an ensign. And like every other commissioned officer on this boat, you've probably been one way longer than I have. But I've got a department to run and I don't have my apprentice on hand right now because I kept him up for the last day working on fixing things that shouldn't have needed to be fixed but had to because the Engineering Corps left a bunch of nitwits in charge of building this gorgeous ship. So it's just me. And Slak," she pointed. Slak looked up at them and then turned silently back to his console, "who doesn't talk. So if you could please just tell me what you want to see or need to know, I would be more than happy to get to the point, but if you want a general 'look how pretty reactor coils ooh' tour, you should really wait until Rothgra's on duty. Or ask Hunter. I'm sure he'll have a good sense of the place in a couple days. Meanwhile, is there something particular I can help you with?"

"No sir, I mean yes sir, you need to take a break from whatever it is you're doing. I mean your problems will still be here in an hour from now. You need to come back to my place and listen to some Andorian Blues. I play a pretty mean alto sax, if I do say so myself. Great therapy."

She squinted at him. "So my anti-matter/matter mix is off and I need therapy." She closed her eyes, "Ensign Graysan. I'm going to count to five. And when I open my eyes, I want to be alone in my department office with Slak and my blinking consoles and my ratio problems. Maybe, at some point in the future, I will hear your alto sax. But it will not be today. Ready. One."

He shrugged his shoulders, turned and started walking out the door. Just as he was about exit, he looked back over his shoulder, "I'm not making a play on you sir, we don't swim on the same team, I was just trying to help."

"Thank you. Another time. Two."

He gave her a smirk and was out the door, before she could get to three.

[OFF]

A joint post by

Keval Grayson
Operations Officer
USS Galileo
(pNPC Jared Nicholas)

ENS Lilou Peers
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

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