Posted by Lieutenant Miranda Martel (Chief Engineer) in Side Sim - Engineering - not an inspection

Posted by Commander Mwezi (Executive Officer) in Side Sim - Engineering - not an inspection

Posted by Lieutenant Miranda Martel (Chief Engineer) in Side Sim - Engineering - not an inspection
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Mwezi thought about some advice he’d been given as he stepped into the Engineering section of the ship. The “rabid pelican” was such a small ship that it didn’t take long to get there. Such an odd name, he wondered how they’d come up with it. The tall officer glanced around, seeking the relatively unfamiliar sight of Lt. Martel. From what he’d learned of Engineers, they didn’t like meeting in neutral locations. They preferred to chat on their own territory, while working on familiar tasks. He noticed an NE who was checking engine levels on a console and waited just within sight of the young officer until noticed.

“Oh, hi… you must be… our new first officer?” the NE asked, looking up, and up, and up until their eyes met. They swallowed, apparently intimidated by Mwezi. Well, he did look like a predator from their planet.

“Yes. I am seeking Lt. Martel.”

“Oh, alright. She’s, ah, in that area.”

Mwezi nodded and headed off into that direction.

Mwezi, XO

The engineering spaces of most Federation ships of the line were spacious. However, the Brazen-class was not as roomy. Space was at a premium aboard the destroyer/escort. And with an after-market cloaking device plugged into the vessel, even well-designed as it was, meant there was even less space. But still, it wasn’t too tight for someone of Mwezi’s stature to get around.

He would soon come upon a pair of legs sticking out from an access panel, with a soft flowing string of swearing and cursing. A loud pop came from the interior in a bright flash. The panels nearby went dark accompanied by more cursing of which the wielder of such seemed to be proficient from frequent or at least recent practice. Sliding out, a the sable-haired engineer with seafoam green eyes bumped into one of Mwezi’s legs blindly. Moving to sit up she cracked her head on the underside of one of the control panels with a barked curse. Holding her spinning head in one hand she looked up.. and up.. and up.. enough to get vertigo from the floor.

Then it dawned on her who the fuzzball was. “Commander,” she grumbled in greeting as she moved to stand up.

Of course there was no uniform, this being a mutineered pirate vessel and they all had to not just pretend the part but to BE the part. Instead it was replaced with a pair of black heavier boots, dark gray thick cargo type pants that rode a little low on her hips, and a form-fitting dark shirt that looked comfortable, businesslike, and clung to her to prevent anything loose from getting caught in any machinery. She wore a baseball style cap with her hair tucked up into a short but neat ponytail. Ship’s combadge, the only thing ‘Starfleet’ left, rested over her left breast. And of course the liberated phaser poking out of one pocket from their recent haul.

“What can I do for you,” she said as she wiped at something on one hand.

Martel

((Bumping so it doesn’t get lost))

Mwezi was already dressed in his ‘bodyguard’ outfit for their excursion on the Cloud tomorrow, getting comfortable walking around with the vibes of a bodyguard. “If you would allow me to have a conversation while you work? If that wouldn’t be too much of a distraction, of course. I had not spent much time getting to know the crew as a Security Officer, and that was a mistake. I believe that as a member of the command team, I should gain the trust of those I work with, including yourself.” He seemed a little awkward to the trained eye, and if Martel was good at reading people she’d be able to tell that he wasn’t accustomed to seeking out people to just “chat”.

Mwezi, XO

Looking wasn’t even necessary. She could tell by the way he spoke. Then again, she didn’t seek people out too much these days either. For reasons. Slowly she rubbed her head, then leaned against the console for a few moments. It wasn’t like she was working on anything terribly important. But that damn ODN relay was being fiddly again. She might have to replace the whole thing. Or maybe it was the damn optical coupling. Last thing they needed was for the reactor control board to go down in the middle of a fight. Or to not be able to feed power to the right systems at the right time. Ops could do it, but Dacascos would be on The Cloud with her and the rest. So some jumped-up NE would have to do it. She had her doubts they’d be up to task. At least their Ops Chief knew what she was doing. Mostly. But it was one thing to be able to use the toys and another to have to fix them when they broke. But most operations chiefs had a decent grasp of engineering, and usually sciences too.

“If you’re looking for a ‘getting to know you’ kind of conversation.. should have brought beer. Or whiskey. Or I suppose if you’re really low-rent, some ‘shine would do.” She broke out into a grin then. Was that .. that was about a week ago. It felt like months, or a year. Might as well have been a lifetime ago. But that had been a mostly good night. In some ways, she supposed it felt like a going away party. Acknowledging that they might not all make it back. Or any of them. Miranda visibly sobered.

A small sigh escaped her as she felt her heart starting to sink. Now is not a good time to spiral out again. And it’s not like you can talk to Gadi anymore. And you damn sure can’t talk to Paddy. “What do you want t know?”

Martel

Mwezi glanced at his hands. “No beer, sorry.” It hadn’t occurred to him. He made a mental note to bring alcoholic beverages to subsequent meetings with Martel. Maybe not during work hours though. He crouched down so that he wasn’t towering over Martel so much and shrugged slightly at her question. He then thought of a useful thing that would be good to know. “What is it that you need here in Engineering? Is there anything I do, within my capacity as the Executive Officer, to make your job a little easier?” The mechanics of everything that went down here in Engineering was way above his head, as a man who had never been particularly skilled at such things. The most complex thing he knew how to mess with and fix was a phaser rifle.

Mwezi, XO

The change in height didn’t change his size or mass. But she appreciated the effort to not tower over her. “You askin’ Starfleet or are you askin’ the pirate,” she replied after a moment. “Technically we’re fine. With the machine shop we can pretty much make whatever we need, so long as we have fuel, and preferably material to convert. That’s easier than brute-forcing energy-to-matter conversion.” She shook her head. “It’s more crew needs rather than materials or supplies. It’s been all-hands-on-deck since we got here. Overhauling the ship in dry dock. New guns, new armor, cloaking device. Scarring her up inside and out. Operational preps. I know Security has been pretty busy too. I doubt there’s anything you can do, and there’s only so much this ship can do for blowing off steam.”

She paused for a moment. “If we live through this… and don’t wind up getting court marshaled and stuck on some Federation penal colony somewhere, some extra leave would probably be great. Or something. I dunno.”

Marti, frazzled CE

Mwezi nodded slightly. “And crew is not an easy thing to get when we are in a situation like this. There are not many people one can trust,” he said thoughtfully. “I will keep that request for extra leave in mind. Perhaps we can arrange for the entire crew to have a good vacation after all this is over and let the Starbase figure out how to get the ship back to normal.” That last bit was partially to himself, but not spoken quietly enough to prevent Martel from hearing it.

“Do you think we’ll be allowed to keep the cloaking device?” he asked. He knew there were rules about cloaking devices in the timeline he’d come from, but hadn’t looked into such things in this one.

Mwezi, XO