Assuming Command

Posted on 20 Mar 2021 @ 1:39am by Lieutenant Parker Voss & Lieutenant JG Kemm & Chief Petty Officer Tarsa Rogers

838 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Extinction
Location: Main Engineering
Timeline: Mission Day 15 at 1100

(Wondered if everyone might want to do a joint post. together.)

Voss, having just left the captain, walked into main engineering. People were busy doing their assignments. No one seemed to notice him.

He steppped further into the large room, and put his fingers in his mouth and let out a loud whistle.

Alora, who had been working on an upper level, leaned over the railing to look down at what the fuss was about.

Lieutenant Kemm, in his usual tall and lanky Kelpien manner, was positioned over by the warp core, running a careful scan on the coolant tanks to be sure that pressure and temperature were within optimal levels. The whistle startled him, as it was something that he hadn't often heard in Engineering. Well, that is if it wasn't coming from a ruptured conduit. He looked around the tank to see a new face in Engineering, with two solid silver pips adorning his breast. This could only mean one thing; that the Black Hawk had a new Chief Engineer. It seemed prudent to pause his work for now and join the crowd of engineers who were now assembling around their new boss.

Voss watched as the engineerng staff started to come towards him. "Everybody, gather around." He waited for the stragglers to arrive. "I am Lieutenant Parker Voss. I am the ship's new Chief Engineer. Now, I haven't learned your names yet, but before long, I will and we will be talking separately. I will be making changes. To start, everyone will have to learn every system in here, and be prepaired to be able to repair that system in case the tech assigned there isn't available. If you'r happy with the current duty shift rotations, we will leave them as they are for now. If you'd rather work another shift, come see me in my office. Next, there will be no, under any conditions, food or drink allowed anywhere in main engineering. If you are hungry or thirsty, take a break." He paused for a moment. "There will be further announcements in the future. Now, are there any questions? When you ask your question, please identify yourself. The floor is now open."

Kemm raised one of his long-digited hands. "Lieutenant, many of us have already cross trained throughout the whole ship through necessity, at least those of us who've been aboard the ship for a while. How would you like to track our progress to your satisfaction to be sure our cross training is thorough enough?"

Tarsa chuckled. "Consider this a warning, Lieutenant," she said, looking at Voss. "Kemm is going to need solid metrics to meet. Being thorough and checking all the boxes isn't a bad trait for an engineer, mind you. But it doesn't always make for good conversation." She leaned over and patted the Kelpian's shoulder with a grin. "No offense."

Voss smiled and laughed. "Mr. Kemm, we will find a way to do that. And being attentive to your job isn't a bad thing either." He moved around in front of them. "Okay, I'm not going to be a tryant or a task master, but as long as this department is running at peak performance, I'll be happy. Anyone else have something to add?"

The lanky Kelpian shook his head at Chief Rogers. She understood him all too well. He also didn't have anything to add to the Chief Engineer's arrival speech, so he also shook his head to the Lieutenant and waited for anything further.

"Not to be rude," Tarsa started, "but are you planning on being here awhile? We seem to go through Chief Engineers pretty fast here. Everyone here is good at their jobs. Good engineers all around. So even with all of the changes at the top, we still get things done. Before you try to put your mark on the department, make sure you'll still be here to see it through. Otherwise, you're going to change our routine for nothing. Which is a waste of time. For you and for us."

"Why would you think that was rude?" He asked Tarsa. "Unless the captain isn't happy with my job performance, I plan on being here for awhile." He hoped that answered her question. "If there is nothing else, was nice talking to you all, and I hope to get to know everyone a little better. My door is always open if you have a question, or a suggestion. Get back to work." And with that, Voss headed to his office.

Alora had climbed down as the others talked, listening carefully from the back of the room. They had been going through CEO's fairly quickly, she hoped he was able to stay longer than the last one. "So back to work then?" She asked no one in particular.

"Looks that way," Kemm confirmed. He nodded to the rest of the group, reactivated his tricorder, and returned to monitoring the coolant tanks.

"Well that was easy." Alora replied then turned and started climbing back up the ladder.

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