Engineering Requests

Posted on 19 Apr 2016 @ 4:11pm by Lieutenant Commander Adam Casey & Lieutenant Parisa Rykov DCS
Edited on on 20 Apr 2016 @ 11:15pm

2,345 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Outbreak
Location: USS Black Hawk | Casey's Quarters
Timeline: MD 5

As Adam watched the girls head into their bedrooms, Adam quickly called up the ship's manifest. He needed to speak to someone about something important, and he hoped they would be happy to help. He tapped his comm. badge (The first time he had done so in many years) and spoke. "This is Lt. Commander Casey to Lt. Rykov." He said.

Rykov was presently in the Mess Hall with a PaDD in her hand and a steaming mug of vanilla chai tea sitting on the table before her. She was not on duty and had slipped out of her uniform an hour ago. She was dressed about as leisurely as she did out in public. A long gown covered her body, her hair was done up and concealed by an olive green hijab.

Her comm badge was on her gown. Though she was not expecting anyone to contact her, she always told her engineers that she was on call if they needed her. Mostly, she had this policy because she was tired of coming in on her scheduled shifts and fixing their work. She tapped her comm badge, and opened the two way communications channel.

Hearing the man's voice and identification, Rykov sat her PaDD down and stiffened in her seat a bit. It was from a man, a Lieutenant Commander, and not a name she immediately recognized. The new Chief Science Officer remembered Rykov as the name sparked in her head after a few moments. Just about anyone else would have gotten a tad bit snippy of a response. However, Parisa did not know the man yet and did not want to prejudge him. Though, she was slightly annoyed by him addressing her by her rank.

She cleared her throat before responding. "I prefer Doctor Rykov" she replied simply, giving no reasoning or explanation. If he wanted to know, he could pull up her personnel file or ask her. "That is, however, beside the point, Commander. May I ask the reason you are contacting me, Sir?" she asked him over the comm channel.

"My apologies Doctor. I was hoping to be able to get a few moments of your time for an engineering request." Adam said. "I need a few...modifications made to my quarters, and I need the best person to do it." He added by way of explanation.

Rykov put the PaDD away, tucking it into her Engineering kit which she often had with her even when off duty. "Technically, Commander, I am not on duty. However, that doesn't stop things from needing fixing or alterations requiring someone of my expertise. What kind of modifications are we talking about, Sir?"

She had already packed up her kit and grabbed her cup of tea before he said a thing. Kit strap slung around her shoulder and a steaming mug of vanilla chai tea in her hand, the Chief Engineer left the mess hall. "Go ahead, Commander. I'm on my way to your quarters" she said as she walked down the corridor, heading for the nearest lift.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your down time." Adam said. "I need to get a statis unit installed in my quarters, along with a kitchen area. I know there is a chef on board, but I rather enjoy cooking for me and my kids." He explained. "I wanted to also discuss installing a replicator into my desk."

Rykov was intrigued by these requests and modifications. In the turbolift, she took out her PaDD from her engineer's kit and started putting in work order requests on the man's behalf. Some things she herself could take care of right on the spot this evening, but some of the requests were more involved and would require assistance and potential approval. "I'll stop by Engineering and pick up a spare replicator unit to install in your desk, Commander. I've also put in requests for work crews to get your a kitchen area by the end of the week...and I'll look into getting you a stasis unit hooked up by the end of the night" she added.

Some of these were interesting requests. "In regards to the stasis unit...what species are you, Sir?" she asked wondering if the unit was for himself. "Do you want a horizontal unit or a vertically standing unit?" she proceeded to ask. "You mentioned kids" said Rykov as the lift came to a stop and she headed to Engineering briefly. "Do you have a wife or husband, Commander?" asked the Chief Engineer.

"Unfortunately, my wife passed away five years ago, so it's just me and my two girls." Adam replied. "I like to make sure they eat healthy enough, so I tend to cook their meals. A lot simpler, at least in terms of nutrition and taste. Trust me, home cooked food always tastes better than replicated stuff."

He didn't tell me what species he was she thought curiously to herself, but it did not stop her from getting what she needed from Engineering and head back towards the lift. "I'm sorry to hear that your wife passed, Commander" she said as naturally as she could. When she was a nurse, she was never known to have a great bedside manner, but in the past few weeks, she had been trying to work on her people skills.

Back in the lift and on her way to the man's quarters, Rykov continued conversing in order to kill time and make the man's wait a lot easier. "No need to trust you, Commander. I know that replicated crap can get very close to the taste, texture, and scent of the actual dish, but nothing beats a home cooked meal" she said confidently. "When it comes down to it, I'd rather have an actual cooked meal over inorganic materialized patterns with synthetic taste and texture" she scoffed. "As much as they push replicators for producing healthier alternatives...you miss out on some of the rich taste of most dishes" she added.

"Plus when you use a machine to do a job as simple as cooking, you take away something important. My mother always told me that if you wanted to experience life fully, you'd need to have home cooked meals as often as you can."

Rykov let out a small laugh, but mostly contained herself professionally. "Your mother sounds like a very intelligent woman, Commander" said Rykov as the lift reached the proper deck, and the Chief Engineer proceeded down the corridors, making the necessary rights and lefts before arriving outside the man's doorway.

"Care to let me in, Commander?" she said as she stopped just outside the door, not pressing the door chime. "I'm right outside your quarters now and have a replicator unit for your desk" she added as she waited to see the man face to face.

Adam opened the door and came face to face with the Chief Engineer, standing aside to usher her in. "Well, she certainly has her moments." Adam replied. "Thank you for dealing with this so promptly. Normally I would be better prepared, but I only just returned to duty today, so didn't have time to send the request ahead."

"It's not a problem, Commander" said Rykov as she entered the man's quarters. "I normally would send someone else to take care of these sorts of calls, but I am still trying to sort of my Engineering Department and weed out the entirely incompetent ones from the ones with little or some potential" said the woman with a sigh. "I'm rather new to being Chief Engineer aboard. I worked in Engineering aboard the Black Hawk for a little while before they had me move up and take over as Chief Engineer" she explained, leaving out the fact that she practically complained about the Assistant Chief Engineer at the time and took a few mild jabs at the Chief Engineer in her list of demands that she sent to the Captain.

She looked at the Chief Science Officer. "About the stasis situation...you look entirely human to me. Why do you need it, if you don't mind my asking?"

Adam nodded. "I used to be the Chief Science Officer of the Lagos, nine years ago, until I...resigned." Adam replied. "Met your Captain planetside, he asked me to fill in a needed role." He explained, as he walked over to his table, and took a sip of his orange juice. "Before I beamed up, I was able to procure a somewhat decent selection of meat, fruit and vegetables, for cooking with. I've got them in stasis containers in the cargo bay, but I'd like to keep some in here, so I don't need to go to the cargo bay every time I cook dinner." He explained.

"Ah, the stasis containers are for food storage" she said, making changes to the request on her PaDD."Let me just make a minor correction in this request" she added as she made the change. "I thought we were going to need a larger unit for storing a body." The Chief Engineer looked at the man "That didn't come out right. What I meant to say was I wasn't sure if you were human or not until I saw you. I thought perhaps you were an Antedean or some species that requires travel in stasis at some point" she explained.

Adam raised an eyebrow at the first comment, with a smirk as well. "Well, I can assure you I'm not planning on storing any humanoid bodies. Being a Science Officer, I use the right mixture of chemicals to melt them." He joked.

Rykov began installing the food replicator unit that she had brought with her from Engineering. "I should have this unit installed in a few minutes. It will be up and running before I leave" she said, practically promising that she wasn't just going to leave it for someone else from engineering to take care of. "What's your specialty" she asked before adding "I mean what area of science did you specialize in...but also what dishes do you make really well?"

"Primarily in Anthropology, Archaeology and Astrophysics, with a minor in Chemistry." He explained. "As for dishes, I do a decent honey and mustard chicken with coconut rice, chicken paprikash...well, I can do wonders with a chicken." He said, smiling.

She thought the dishes sounded rather lovely, part of her would have loved to try at least one of them in the the near future. "They all sound wonderful, Commander. If there is ever an opening for Ship's Chef...." she joked as she went on with her work. "You sound like a very well versed officer. Expertise in several areas of science, culinary magician, and single parent" she said surmising what she had learned.

Adam smiled. "I know, it sounds impressive. I just do whatever I can do to make sure my girls have the best start in life. Science...well, it's like another child to me. I'm just...well, just another man making his way in the universe." He said. "When you're able, can you install one into my office desk as well? I also want to install holo emitters to be used as a holographic display in the Science Lab, if it's possible. I have the specs here." He said, handing a PADD to the woman.

Rykov accepted the PaDD and throughly looked through it. "I can look into it, Commander, but I cannot make any promises right here right now. If there are no objections from the First Officer and the Captain, I would have no problem installing holo emitters in the Science Lab" replied Rykov.

She tucked the PaDD away. "You are ambitious...I'll give you that, Sir" she said with appreciation and admiration as she finished up the quick install. "This one is taken care of. Expect some of my men within the next hour to start work on the rest of your engineering needs in here. As for the office, I'll head down there now and set up a replicator unit for you. Before I even proceed in approaching the First Officer with this holo emitter request though, I'm going to have to consult Lieutenant Bast, our Chief Operations Officer. I have some concerns with the power demands that the ship will be faced with given some recent requests made by several personnel" she explained.

Adam nodded with understanding. "I understand completely. In terms of ambition, I tend to always think big. It's a good trait, I've been told, for a science officer. Still, anything that you can do I'd appreciate. I helped design those emitters myself; came up with the idea and how it could work. A good friend built it, with the extra sensor inside the emitter, it allows me to adjust the image by hand." He said. He opened his suitcase and removed a small device. "This is a personal version, I generally use it for images and such." He said. He turned it on, and an image of a planet appeared. He touched the image, and expanded his hand a little, increasing the size of the image.

She observed and and a small smile swept across her face, an uncommon sight for most to see. "Well now, that's certainly handy" she said with a light chuckle at the poorly constructed pun. "I'm sorry" she said in a brief apology. "I should be getting down to the science lab and into your office to install that replicator and get out of your hair here. After everything is installed and we get the proper approval, perhaps I could stop by sometime and you can show me more of your ideas?"

Adam nodded. "Sure, sounds good. My door is always open." He said, with a smile. "I've got a few more ideas you might find fascinating." He added, as he turned off the projector. "I appreciate you taking the time to help me out today."

Rykov nodded "Just doing my job, Sir" she said before leaving the man's quarters.

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