Posted by Lieutenant Sapeth (Chief Engineer) in Check In - Cadet Caelian Weir Reporting for Duty

Posted by Cadet Caelian Weir (Engineer) in Check In - Cadet Caelian Weir Reporting for Duty

Posted by Lieutenant Sapeth (Chief Engineer) in Check In - Cadet Caelian Weir Reporting for Duty
Posted by… suppressed (11) by the Post Ghost! 👻

<snip>

Caelian acknowledged the Vulcan’s advice with a nod. He lingered at the conduit long enough to complete a visual inspection, then gathered up his tools. Glancing around the office quickly, he frowned. There were only so many places that could cause this much heat without setting off the ship’s safety alarms… or causing a fire.

“That means—” he murmured to himself, tracing the system backward in his mind. “—that the next logical problem would be with the thermal regulator.”

Caelian crouched behind the chief’s desk and began unsealing another conduit panel. He nearly had to pry the thing open, but when he did he wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Heat roiled from the revealed relays, buffeting his face and teasing more beads of sweat to dance on his brow. The inside of the panel was like an oven, and it took a bit of tool-juggling for him to get at what he needed to without burning himself.

Note to self, he growled as he tinkered with the regulator, requisition a pair of insulated gloves for my toolkit.
—Caelian Weir, Cadet—

Opening a drawer on the workbench along one of the walls of the office, Sapeth reached in and pulled out a pair of insulated gloves. He moved forward towards the Cadet and extended them towards him.

“Having you injured during this test does not serve a purpose. It will only delay when you will be able to start your regular duties. In the future, I’d advise you make updates to your kit. Or you can ask for assistance.”

Sapeth looked over at the chronometer. “3 minutes left Cadet.”

Lt Sapeth - CE

Caelian paused long enough to accept the gloves, nodding his thanks. It certainly made dealing with the regulator easier, even if it ate crucial seconds. With a bit of good old fashioned elbow grease, he managed to reset the thermal regulator. He flopped back as the displays flickered from red to blue and the baleful heat subsided.

“Whew, and with a minute to spare!” He craned his head back and gave the Vulcan a sly grin. “Was my performance satisfactory, sir?”
—Caelian Weir, Cadet—

Sapeth walked over and tapped a command into the console. After a minute of examining he readout he nodded. “Very good Cadet. Please,” he said as he indicated one of the stools in the workshop. He took a second to evaluate the cadet, he had not had a chance to review his file that extensively before coming in to finish this early assessment.

“How do you feel your performance was during this assessment?”

Lt Sapeth - CE

At the Vulcan’s question, Caelian’s playful manner banked back, leaving him a touch more focused and serious. His father had warned him about these kinds of questions, had taught him to be critical of his own work. An engineer’s worst enemy is complacency. He took the offered seat, stared at the senior officer for a moment while he gathered his thoughts.

“Adequate,” he replied evenly. There was neither pride nor condemnation in his voice, simply fact. He was talking to a Vulcan, after all. “While I was able to restore the environmental controls to tolerance within the time allotted, I’d estimate requiring another ten minutes to properly stabilize and diagnose the systems to meet Federations standard. For the purposes of ‘repair under pressure,’ it would hold. I also assumed that I was required to take this test alone, which was why I didn’t ask for help. I suppose during an actual system failure, that wouldn’t be the case aboard ship.”

Caelian placed his hands on his knees and nodded, more to himself than Sapeth. “If there’s anything else, sir, I’d appreciate your view on the matter.”

—Caelian Weir, Cadet—

Sapeth nodded as he listened to the Cadet. His analysis was well reasoned, and thought out, there was definitely promise.

“Your analysis of the situation is correct. To use analogy from the doctors, you treated the symptoms but did not cure the illness. However, I concur with your assessment, and estimate it would have taken you approximately 8 minutes and 52 seconds longer to apply a complete fix of the environmental system for this office space.

“While you are that the idea was to evaluate your skills alone, and if you had asked for assistance I would have declined, it is prudent to understand when it is appropriate to ask. Many tasks here on the Challenger will be done as part a team, and not as an individual. Please make some time to familiarize yourself with the other engineering cadets during the next week here on the Challenger.

“But now that we have that assessment out of the way. Please briefly tell me about yourself, and what made you interested in pursuing a career in engineering.”

Lt Sapeth - CE

“Yes, sir,” Caelian replied warily. It was a perfectly logical question, he supposed. It was simply… unexpected. It also gave him a shiver of deja vu.

“Well, I was born and raised on a Federation science vessel, the USS Venture. It gave me the opportunity to view both sides of what the Federation is built on, both civilian study and exploration and, of course, the more structured Starfleet workings. I come from a line of Weir engineers, so I suppose that part of me wants to follow in the family trade. But I also enjoy understanding how things in the universe work, sir, and engineering is a way for me to do that. It also serves as a means for me to keep family and friends safe.”
—Caelian Weir, Cadet—