Posted by Fleet Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Ready Room - Recognizing Expertise

Posted by Lieutenant Kaia (Chief Engineer) in Ready Room - Recognizing Expertise

Posted by Fleet Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Ready Room - Recognizing Expertise
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Cochrane smiled as the approval came through the comms. He had been waiting for the Fleet bureaucracy to move its behemoth backside so he could do something he had wanted to do for months. The sudden departure of the former Chief Engineer seemed to grease the proverbial wheels, and Cochrane smiled as FINALLY a departure of a key component of his staff was not entirely negative.

He tapped the comms and said =/\= Ensign Kaia, report to the Ready Room immediately. =/\= Oddly, the summons was broadcast through the entire ship… not just to the diminutive Enginner’s location.

Cochrane, CO

Kaia heard the announcement, and her keen ears picked up on the sterio nature of the sound That wasn’t just coming from her Commbadge.

The engineer was waist-deep in a regulator casing, just her legs sticking out, but extracted herself from the machine to tap on her comm. =/\=Ensign Kaia reporting, sir. I’ll be there as quick as I can.=/\= “NE Grant, can you tighten up these bolts and make sure the regulator is back in business? I’ve got–“

“A call from the big guy upstairs, yeah. We heard,” the human woman replied with a chuckle, stepping over and grabbing one of the tools, Nohl wandering after her and grabbing one of the diagnosis tools. “We’ll take care of it.”

Kaia nodded her thanks and rubbed her hands on her shirt. “Clean up, or be there quick… eh… Captain said immediately. He should know what to expect when it comes to–“

She was interrupted again by the sight of Johnson holding a clean uniform shirt in her size. “What the Va’al?”

“We’ve got some idea what’s going on,” the human male said, helping Kaia tug her shirt off and assisting in the donning of the clean one. He handed her some wipes. “You’ve got a little engine grease… everywhere.”

“Thanks,” Kaia started to wipe her metal arm, cleaning off some of the engine grease.

“For the Turbolift, Boss,” Johnson started pushing her towards the door, shaking his head in amusement.

“Boss?”

“GO!” Nohl shouted from the regulator, and Kaia shook her head, just as confused, as she scampered out of engineering and towards the Turbolifts.

–

It was just a few minutes later that she finally arrived in the ready room. A small pile of greasy wipes were deposited in a nearby recycler, and her face and both her natural and metal arms were clean.

“Reporting as ordered, Captain.”

Kaia, Engineer

Cochrane smiled and said “Take a seat, Ensign. We have a matter to discuss.” His voice was congenial but serious. “And I will be honest.. I am not exactly happy with the way things are going in Engineering right now. Especially when it comes to you. You have been… well… there is no other way to say it, I’m afraid. Your performance has been lacking, Ensign. Not at all what I expect from someone in your position.”

Cochrane, CO

Kaia hopped up into her seat and smoothed her pants, looking up and freezing in confusion at Cochrane’s words. Her thoughts stopped for a moment before she began to process again, eyes wide and tail bristling slightly. “I… I’m sorry sir,” she stammered, confused. At her last performance review, she’d been given a glowing review. Why would he notify the entire ship that he wanted her in the Ready Room, only to state outright that she wasn’t performing adequately in her job? Her confusion broadcast out through her Empathic Organ, even if there was no one to receive it.

Kaia, Eng

Cochrane shook his head slowly. “Yes… lacking indeed. I mean, first you show up here out of uniform. Then I have to actually tell you that your department reports are late. And you completely missed the latest Command Staff meeting. Honestly… how do you think I should proceed here? I mean, how would you handle one of your Engineers in your department walking around with the wrong rank insignia on… Lieutenant?” As he stressed the last word, he slid a small gold box towards Kaia and opened it. Inside sat Lieutenant pips.

Cochrane, CO

Out of uniform? Department reports? What in the world was he talking about?? Kaia’s confusion got more and more pronounced, her ears pulling back, her tail lashing back and forth…

Lieutenant.

Kaia froze, staring at the gold box and its contents. Her eyes flicked up at Cochrane, then down to the box, then up at the man again. Her fur bristled as she began to make the connections between what he’d said, and she was too upset about what appeared to be some kind of sick joke to fully process the implications of the pips. She stood up on her chair, starting soft and getting louder as she spoke. “I’ve been a model Engineer. More than that. I do my job, I even do more than my job because others can’t seem to manage to stay in the Chief position, and this is how you treat me? You call me in and you… you berate me for not doing something that’s not even in my job description when I’m already doing far more than is expected of me? You… you scold me for being in the wrong uniform?? I got changed into a clean uniform just for this meeting, because of how much I respect you and don’t want to get reactor lubricant on your clean chair! How are you scolding me for not doing a Department Head’s job when I’m NOT a Department Head?”

Kaia, Engineer

Cochrane grinned at her. He looked at her, cocked his head to the side,gave her a look that clearly said Really? You aren’t picking up what I’m laying down here? and then he chuckled and said “Lieutenant?” and he picked up the box and shook it slightly before her eyes.

Cochrane, CO

Kaia snatched the box and glared at him, a little bit of the fire gone now that she’d said her piece. “This is a very cruel way to promote someone, Captain.”

She pulled one of the pips out of the box and clicked it into place next to her existing ensign pip. “Very cruel indeed.”

There was almost a sulking expression on her face for a moment before she finally sat down again. “You can’t expect a woman to do a Department Head’s entire job before you’ve told her that she’s been promoted. Even if she’s already doing half of it.”

Kaia, CE