Posted by Captain Aaron Foley (Commanding Officer) in Ready Room - Engineering Gets A Case Of The Blues (Tag CO)

Posted by Lieutenant Kendric Tor (Chief Engineer) in Ready Room - Engineering Gets A Case Of The Blues (Tag CO)

Posted by Captain Aaron Foley (Commanding Officer) in Ready Room - Engineering Gets A Case Of The Blues (Tag CO)
Posted by… suppressed (16) by the Post Ghost! 👻
The shuttle rendezvoused with the Challenger and slipped into the hangar and settled on the deck. As the door opened, a bulky blue-skinned individual stepped out; a huge smile on their bifurcated face. One of the ship’s Security officers, a Cadet, stepped up with a PaDD and said “Welcome to the Challenger. Name and purpose of visit, please?” The smile grew slightly larger and the figure set down their bag and said “Hi! Kendric Tor. Lieutenant. New Chief Engineer. I was told to speak to the Captain first before going to my quarters. I know the way, but do I need to be escorted?”

The Cadet looked at him a moment and then said “Um… I…” and Tor leaned forward and said “Check your current crew roster and see if I am listed. If I am, then my clearance has already been put in the computer and I don’t need an escort. If I’m not listed, Im not crew yet and will need one.” and he gave the Cadet a wink. The Security cadet nodded and said “Thanks, Lieutenant. My first shift on board.” quietly. Tor nodded and said “Well, that puts you full shift ahead of me. You’ll have all tis down in no time, I bet.” The Cadet nodded and said “You are on the roster, so feel free to go the Captain’s ready Room, Lieutenant. And.. thanks. I’m really nervous.” Tor nodded and then whispered “Don’t worry… so am I.” and he picked up his bag and said “Thanks, Cadet. See you around, I’m sure.” and Tor walked out of the hangar.

A few minutes later, Tor pressed the chime on the Ready Room door and rocked back and forth on his heels as he hummed a song and waited.

Tor, CE

“Enter!” Aaron called from where he stood in front of a holographic display that took up almost the full wall of the ready room opposite of the windows. In the middle of the display was what looked like a large nebula in various shades of yellow and green, and several dozen callouts with various readings were scrolling quickly past it along the sides. In his hand Aaron held an open notebook where he was taking notes as he was looking over the information that was coming in.

The Ready Room definitely felt like someone had only half settled in, probably a hold over from when Aaron thought he might actually get a chance to go back to his research full time at some point. There was a small bookshelf tucked into the wall, with a few scientific texts on it, as well as a stack of PADD’s. The desk itself was remarkably clear, except for a pot sitting off to one side with a half empty cup next to it, seemingly forgotten. The couch on the other hand, what wasn’t covered by a star chart had more stacks of texts and PADDs covering.

“What do you think?” Aaron asked gesturing towards the nebula, without taking his eyes off of it.

Capt Foley - CO

The Bolian’s eyes went to the holo display and he watched for a few moments without speaking. “Well sir, I’m not quite up to speed on my celestial mechanics; but I would say that if one was going to explore inside that they would need to have one of the old-school plate-polarization systems and not put up deflector shields. See here?” and he pointed a blue finger at one of the readouts. “That type and level of Scartisian radiation would grab hold of a ship’s shield’s and feed off it, meaning you couldn’t go anywhere and eventually the nebula would consume the ship. Polarizing the plates on the other hand would let the ship slide through the nebula like an otter through the water.”

Tor, CE

“Interesting point,” Aaron said closing his notebook and turning to look at the Bolian. “You are correct though, and that is a point that most of the cadets I’ve taught over the years would have glossed right over. It’s sometimes easy to forget that shields aren’t the miracle answer. But that’s why Starfleet has miracle workers on each ship, isn’t that right Lieutenant?”

Capt Foley - CO

Tor grinned. “In the business, we just call ‘em ‘Engineers’, Captain.” and he chuckled. He stuck out a hand and said “Lieutenant Kendric Tor, Captain. Your new Chief Engineer and resident miracle worker.”

Tor, CE

“Welcome aboard Lieutenant,” Aaron said taking Tor’s hand and shaking it. “I hope your trip to the Challenger was unexciting.”

Stepping back from the display Aaron walked back over to his desk and sat his notebook down. Picking up the coffee pot, he gave it a slight shake before walking over to the replicator.

“Care for anything to drink?”

Capt Foley - CO

“I never turn down a good cup of coffee, Captain.” Tor said with a grin. “Oh, I brought you a ‘Thanks for having me aboard’ present.” He set the bag on the deck and opened it, rummaged around for a moment, and then brought out a tall, slender, dark green bottle. “Limoncello. Made it myself when I had access to fresh lemons. Figured that would be an addition to the CO’s stock that wouldn’t be the same old bottle.” He set the bottle on the desk and then said “So if I may ask… what happened to your previous Engineering Chief?”

Tor, CE

“2 coffees,” Aaron said to the replicator. Picking up the cups he headed back towards his desk. “I would classify it more as serviceable. I’ve made a few tweaks to the recipe, enough to make due until I get a chance to stock up on some real beans again.”

Setting his own cup down on the desk he handed one to Tor as he picked up the bottle. “Cream and sugar is on the desk if you’d like some.”

Taking the bottle he opened the cap and smelled the contents. “Much appreciated. You will definitely need to meet our new lounge host at some point, she is a wizard when it comes to making drinks. She will probably want to pick your brain.”

Sealing the bottle he set it to the side of his desk he added some sugar and cream to his own coffee before taking a sip.

“As for the previous chief, there was a family emergency that called them away. Add in that their tour was almost up anyways, I made the call to just move up the timeline for a permanent replacement instead of just bringing in a temp. And well your resume floated to the top of the stack, and there were a few nice things said about you as well in there.”

Capt Foley - CO

“Probably just someone that likes my cooking.” Tor said with a chuckle. He kept his coffee black and took a sip and nodded. “Not bad at all for replicator work.” He then looked directly at the Captain. “I have reviewed the current list of issues and requests. I don’t see anything glaring or critical, but until I really get in the there and start doing my diagnostics and system audits. I will warn you, I do mine a bit differently than most. Standard approach and what they teach in the Academy for a Department Command change-over is to run a level two diagnostic on all critical systems and then, as time permits, non-critical systems. A level two relies mainly on the computer telling you what is and isn’t operating within normal parameters. I start my audits at the baseline: looking directly at the core components of the individual systems and taking measurements directly, not through the Central Computer. I then cross-reference the direct system measurements against what the computer says. If they match, great. If they don’t, I go back to the components and re-inspect. If my measurements are the same, I know the computer has an error and then I can go and address that. This approach takes a lot longer, but it is much more accurate. And in a setting like we have here with Cadets on board, it will be valuable knowledge that they simply do not get in the Academy itself.”

Tor, CE

“I’d hope that there wasn’t any major issues with the ship right now,” Aaron said with a chuckle. “The Challenger is an older ship I at this point, and she does have its quirks. But I do leave my department heads to run their departments as they deem fit. Yes the cadets are here to learn, but they are also here to learn how a ship in the fleet actually operates, and not just a simulation or out of a textbook.

“If that is how you like to operate, I have no issues with that. As long as the ship remains operational, and it isn’t going to affect day to day activities. Plus I like keeping the cadets on their toes now and then. We have so many conveniences these days, it’s important for them to remember that unexpected situations that technology can’t solve can still pop up.”

Capt Foley - CO

Tor grinned. “Then you’d love my ‘Practical Applications of Engineering Principals’ course. I give the Cadets a single system that I have disabled in some way. I then have them tell me why it’s not working and how to fix it; but they can’t use a diagnostic program and no tools that require a power cell outside of a voltage meter. And just to throw them a curveball, if they tell me ‘You have to replace the ‘X’ component.’ I tell them that for the purposes of the exercise, that component isn’t available.” and he chuckled. “Oh, the dirty looks I get from that.”

Tor, CE

“Oh that is just evil,” Aaron said chuckling before taking another sip of his coffee. “But you are right, I do like it. We had to get a bit more creative over in the science department. And poisoning the cadets was frowned upon.”

Capt Foley - CO

Tor waved off the last statement. “What good is being an instructor if you can’t risk the lives of your students? Seriously, where would the fun be then?” and he laughed. “But in all seriousness, Captain… how has the caliber of Cadets been in your tenure here? I ask both as an instructor and as a crewman. I know for a lot of these Cadets, it’s their first time working on a star ship. And that is a whole lot different than being a passenger on a well-appointed runabout.”

Tor, CE

After sitting his cup down, Aaron leaned against the edge of his desk. “I’ve definitely seen a wide range of cadets during my time here on the Challenger. But that’s also partially because I was the ship’s XO, before getting promoted to Captain.

“In general though, we do tend to start at the higher end of the Cadet pool, academically speaking. As you know, while every Cadet typically has a chance to spend some time on a ship in the fleet, there is only so many opportunities to do a semester, or a year, tour on a ship. Because of that, for the most part our cadets are either ahead of their class in the classroom setting, or have demonstrated that they are very capable of working in an independent learning environment.

“That makes a difference in approach and in what we need to be on the lookout for.” Tor said.

“And while these cadets are all very smart on paper, that’s very different when putting those skills into a real world situation. Some cadets can take that stress and thrive. While some, well, don’t. Which is fine, not everyone is cut out to serve on a starship. Starfleet needs people to serve in a wide variety of locations. And I’d rather a cadet find that out now, instead of when they are on a deep space mission with no chance of transferring out.”

Capt Foley - CO

Tor nodded and said “Exactly. I kept trying to tell the stuffed shirts in the Commandant’s office that we need to incorporate more real-time and realistic training scenarios… especially for Engineers. I even submitted a proposal to have decommissioned ships put in a stationary orbit and used as Practical Application labs.” and he shook his head. “They almost laughed the blue off my aft section for that one.”

Tor, CE

“Well at least we can help a few cadets each term here on the Challenger. It’s the little bit we can do.

“So we’ve got through our teaching styles. Any questions for me so far?”

Capt Foley - CO

“Yessir.” Tor said without hesitation. “I like to cook. Love to cook, actually. And the more I can cook for, the better. In that vein, I’d like your permission to utilize the kitchen in the Officer’s Mess from time to time to cook for the crew. I’ve done that on all my past ships, so I know how to do it efficiently and without disruptions to work. But it also means sometimes getting supplies brought in. But I don’t do anything without your approval first.”

Tor, CE