Inspection: Engineering

Posted on 05 Jul 2017 @ 12:32am by Captain Harvey Geisler & Chief Petty Officer Tarsa Rogers

1,256 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: The Finnean Crisis
Location: Main Engineering
Timeline: MD 2 || 0815 hours

With the ship warping towards Finnea Prime, and it being the very first morning aboard his new command, Harvey felt it critical to revitalize one of his own traditions: the Morning Inspection. In keeping with his long overdue custom, Harvey first stopped by the Officer's Mess where the ship's chef had his carafe of freshly brewed coffee waiting for him. With great pleasure had he filled his stainless steel travel mug emblazoned with the Starfleet delta. The first sip was heavenly and the aroma satisfying.

Harvey nodded at the chef, thanking him for the elixir as he left. A short turbolift ride later, and Harvey found himself on Deck Nineteen, the first stop on his inspection tour. He'd spend more time later today touring the entire ship, but understanding his critical departments would be essential in the coming days. Harvey traversed the clean corridor, nodding at every crew member as he passed them.

Ultimately, he arrived at Main Engineering, entering through the large open portal. The room was large and open, stretching three decks high. The centerpiece was a massive warp core, pulsing softly despite the massive power it funneled to the warp nacelles. He stood just inside the portal, coffee held in the middle of his torso, as he admired and studied the warp core, betting he could stay here for several minutes without anyone noticing.

"sh'Relwani!" Tarsa shouted from the master systems display, trying to get the attention of the Andorian duty power systems engineer. "You said the secondary EPS node for the tertiary environmental controller would be back up by now."

A female Andorian head popped out from an access panel. "I'm almost done, Chief. Hold on," she replied, her antenna twitching. She disappeared into the access panel again.

Tarsa threw her hands up. "I don't know where they find these people," she said to no one in particular. She studied the MSD to try to find other issues. As a systems specialist, and one of the senior enlisted engineers, she often found herself at the MSD coordinating the work of various teams. This morning was no different.

The sudden outburst from Chief Rogers snapped the Captain back into reality. Naturally, it was only then that Harvey realized that he was standing almost directly across from the talented engineer and fellow Black Hawk veteran. "Everyone comes from somewhere, Chief," Harvey remarked. "It's good to have you back with us," he then added.

"Captain," Tarsa said, recognizing the voice before she looked up from the MSD. "Inspection, I take it?"

Harvey offered a confirming nod. "A Captain's got to get to know his new command," he told her.

Tarsa chuckled. "Wouldn't be a tour under your command without an inspection, sir." She'd served on the previous Black Hawk and knew the Captain's penchant for visiting all of the departments. The nature of her job took her to all corners of the ship pretty regularly, unlike Geisler, so she didn't share his interest in wondering it for fun.

Ensign Alora Nasek was working in the upper level deep in thought, trying to reconcile the ambient nadion frequency with the oscillating flux capacitor output on a wall console. She vaguely heard voices of others in the department but, not hearing any tones of alarm, tuned them out in favor of focusing on her work.

Ensign Nasek finally noticed the smell of coffee, she had a keep sense of smell. Not unusually so just keen, especially when coffee or chocolate was involved. "Darn now I want coffee..." She thought as she made the final adjustments. She stepped back and nodded once to herself in satisfaction, the harmonics were finally in sync.
Then she went and climbed down meaning to head for the Chief and her master board to find out if she was needed anywhere else before going to grab a quick coffee. She hit the main deck and started walking over when she noticed the Captain talking to their top noncom, she paused for a second wondering if she should interrupt or simply back away.

Michael had been working in his office on some reports until he noticed a small group assembling through the window. After locking the LCARS interface he was using and grabbing his cup of coffee he walked outside only to notice the Captain. Opting to quickly walk down he would then proceed to walk to Harvey. "Captain, welcome to Engineering"

Ensign Nasek, sensing the air was too thin up here in brass hat country for her quietly backtracked opting to call a copy of Chief Rogers repair board to another console into order to check to see if she was needed anywhere else. Routine repairs seemed to be proceeding well so she put it in the background and continued to work from the console off to the side of where the impromptu meeting was taking place.

Harvey spotted the Chief Engineer moments after the lieutenant had begun speaking. "Impressive engines you have down here, Lieutenant," he remarked, nodding at the Chief before taking a sip of his coffee.

Michael smiled at the compliment. "Thank you, sir. They definitely are but they wouldn't have been as impressive without the work of my staff"

"What's your impression of the ship so far?" Harvey asked, looking down at the largely detailed pool table. Lights flashed all over the displayed schematics, providing indicators on status updates and possible alarms and faults.

"I have to compliment the designers, sir. The ship is performing excellent so far and is proving to form a pleasure to work with. While I cannot yet say how it will perform in a more stressful scenario such as combat I do think it will likewise be capable of excelling at that stage as well." Michael replied to the question.

"Is there anything I need to be concerned about, Mister Griffin?" Harvey asked, still looking down at the table, getting as much information about the ship's current status as he could.

Tarsa, eavesdropping more due to proximity than genuine interest, chimed in before the Chief Engineer could respond. "The secondary power grid, sir."

With an eyebrow raised, he turned to face the ranking Petty Officer. "Chief?" Harvey asked, expecting an explanation.

"Well," she began, "this ship has a pretty high power output. The mains are more than capable. But the secondary system..." Her voice trailed off, figuring the captain could figure out her intended point.

"Not so much," Harvey finished, using a phrase that didn't expound on the technical. The Captain sighed, not exactly thrilled by the news. Still, he looked again at the warp core and sipped from his mug of coffee. "Refit's not an option, not now. We're embarking on a mission where we're going to need every system at peak efficiency. That means you're going to have three days to get it where it needs to be."

Ensign Nasek was walking nearby hearing the last and giving a mental nod. No doubt that would be a meeting soon. Not wanting to wait until the last minute and figuring it will be a priority, she sits down at the nearby console to call up the data Chief Rogers based her statements on. Then began to study, keeping one eye on the repair projects log in case needed.

Tarsa grinned. "My people have got this, Captain. I've gotten pretty good at this over the years."

"I'm sure they do, Chief," Harvey replied. "I shall leave you all to it. Carry on." With that, Harvey turned, sipped his coffee, and left Engineering.

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