Posted by Lieutenant Paige Garrison (Chief Engineer) in Main Simm - Engine Room

Posted by Ensign Elemirre Serinde (Engineering Officer) in Main Simm - Engine Room

Posted by Ensign Elemirre Serinde (Engineering Officer) in Main Simm - Engine Room
Posted by… suppressed (11) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Paige made her way first to the Engine Room once she got off the shuttlepod, if the ship was really in that much hurry to get out of spacedock, there would be time for pleasantries later. Plus she had already met the new acting XO.

She did stop long enough to drop her duffel in the small room that had been designed for the Chief Engineer’s use. Based on the dust patterns on the floor it looked like it had only been recently cleaned out, leaving a small desk and a chair against one wall. She’d have to worry about that later though.

Next stop was the warp core. Paige stepped right up to the core and gingerly laid her hand on it for a second, feeling the thrum of the powerful engine for the first time. They would have plenty of time to get to know each other, but for now there was work to do.

“Alright, so whose gonna bring the new girl up to speed on the ship,” Paige said loud enough for everyone in the engine room to hear as she turned to face them.

Lt. Paige Garrison - CE

“Well ma’am, our scheduled down time was cut short, but we had gotten any system maintenance and repairs out of the way the other week, and have been mostly twiddling our thumbs since then,” a Crewman said speaking up.

“Fair enough,” Paige said looking around the room. She almost missed the slight jump in the ship leaving port before the inertial dampers kicked caught up with the movement. “I feel like there will be plenty of opportunities to stay busy soon enough. Let’s start off by doing another check of the ships systems, I want a good baseline to compare to once we hit open space.”

Lt. Paige Garrison - CE

“A deep baritone English voice approached from the side. “That would be PO Fawkes and Crewman Morales. They’re manning system diagnostic monitors.” A tall (6‘4”) broad man boasting a square face and equally square beard bearing Lt jg insignia came to stand a respectful distance apart.” Paige might notice a few stray grey strands in his beard. “Lt Reginald Green,” he said by way of introduction. “Welcome aboard.”

He turned to point along the long hulking line of the warp core to two of four workstations where stood a short, swarthy slim woman with dark slightly curly hair. “Crewman Rosa-Marie Morales,” he said. “She is covering sub systems. Sensors. Life support. Structural Integrity.” Pointing to another just beyond Rosa-Marie he said, “PO Emerson Fawkes. Warp, Power distribution.” Emerson was an average sized man with sandy brown hair parted in the middle. Where Rosa-Marie hawkishly looked at the monitor with a body language of waiting to pounce on anything, Emerson stood stock still almost like something out of a poster. The other crewman you spoke to was Dorian Grigio.”

“The Bonnie is a good ship,” he said. “Barely broken in. She’s seen one fight and our last survey mission was only partially completed before being recalled back to Earth. We did come across abandoned Vulcan containers that we scavenged some bits from and have secured as our inventory.” He gestured to a hatch across the room. “Machine shop there. Ensign Serinde was cataloguing, testing and implementing a training program for their use. Our other officer, Ensign Sasha Gagarin is on the next shift. I see good things coming from him, Lt. He’s good, eager, but young. There’s more to him than elbows and knees which is all you see when you first look at him. During the battle I mentioned he was in charge of the damage control teams. I had suggested a commendation for him from that.”
Lt Jg Reginald Green, Eng

Paige nodded as Reginald came her the run down. It seemed like everything was pretty squared away. “Thanks for the run down Lieutenant. Paige Garrison,” she said extending her hand towards him.

He inclined his head in response. “This team has been together since the ship launched a little over two years ago. We had some change up when there was a transfer from the Bonnie to the Sojourner. For the officers I came over as a transfer as did Serinde. Sasha was new and green as you get.” He glanced about and said in a low voice, “Chief, you have your work cut out for you to engender a trust. You’re the third chief engineer in three years with significant gaps in between. Yes crew come and go but the team has not had a consistent rudder. As chief you certainly have their respect, ” he said and in his tone suggested that he would ensure that, “but there is an uphill climb for trust.”

Paige let out a whistle. She had heard that the turnover had been bad through some of her friends, but that would have been rough for any crew. “Honestly, I’d be more surprised if the crew wasn’t suspicious of me. With that kind of track record, they’ve learned to not expect for a Chief Engineer to stick around for long.”

“The only positive in this, ” Reggie continued, “is that the loss has been transferring out and not losing a Chief. That, I think, is the hardest on a team. They are a good bunch. Sasha is very keen. You know, one of his ancestors was Yuri, the cosmonaut who started us off in space. You have some good senior NCO’s. Tyler has a lot of experience with him. Bekele will do anything for you.” He nodded toward Emerson Fawkes at one of the stations. “Emerson’s father is dying. We’re not sure how long he has. And don’t get between Seaman Darlene Kohl and her coffee mug.”

“Seems like you had everything pretty squared away, I’m almost surprised they didn’t offer you the chief job.”

Lt. Paige Garrison - CE

A shadow passed across his face. “I am on the list for promotions to a chief engineer appointment. My name has not come to the top as yet,” he said. There may have been a hint of disappointment in the tone too. “I am ever at your service, Chief.” He paused. “Ma’am how do you wish to be called here so we’re not shooting grapeshot with ma’am, chief, Lt and such.”
- Reggie Green, Lt Jg, Eng

“I’m sure you’ll get there soon enough. Command usually has some sort of plan, even if they rarely share it with us,” she said with a slight laugh. “As for what to call me, let’s keep it simple with Chief, or Lieutenant.

Green gave an encouraging smile and supporting nod.

“Now you said that the ship is barely broken in, but I’ve never known a ship that hasn’t needed at least some work. So let’s see what is hiding from us. Because the last thing I need is for the Captain to try some crazy stunt, and the ship to fall apart.”

Lt. Paige Garrison - CE

“The Captain is, in my opinion, conservative. Our pilot, on the other hand, Lt Laursen, would strain our systems without batting an eye. But for crazy stunts look to Ensign Serinde. She’s growing in her sense of being an officer, and as meek and mild as she is Serinde does what she thinks is right. Luckily for her she is more often than not right but rules are something she will follow until they are not.” By the tone it seemed to Paige that regulations were quite important to Reggie, and the fact that his uniform was immaculate showed his care and attention.
Reggie, NL Eng

OOC: Our last sim was a exploration one that was cut short on a return to earth call. This latest sim was a quick turnaround and recall from shore leave so we could suggest that some areas of refit may not have been completed or been a bit slap dab. .. Gene

“Ensign Serinde…” Paige trailed off as she tried to remember everything that Reggie had been telling her so far. “I believe you mentioned earlier that she was over in the machine shop, correct? Why don’t I check in with the Ensign and make sure she’s not doing anything that crazy. With this quick turn around from Earth, it would be prudent to double check that they didn’t take any short cuts on the refits. Sometimes those space dock engineers are known to just slap a piece in so they can clock out on time. Up for taking the lead on that Lieutenant?”

Lt. Paige Garrison - CE

“Absolutely, Chief,” Green said, straightening and squinting in quick thought. “I will gather a report of what the station jockeys had done and begun. I know what my detail was overseeing with engineering software updates and a mainframe board replacement integrating the warp coils and computer response. It is supposed to have improved auto-diagnostics to self correct in flight and for faster response times with the helm. Warrant Officer Jackson was seeing to the other team that was doing inertial damper and life support improvements. As you are seeing Serinde, she was assisting the QM with restock.” He paused then said, “With your leave I’ll meet with WO Jackson and coordinate verification teams.”
- NL Green, Eng

“I appreciate the rundown Lieutenant, and I look forward to reading your report,” Paige said as way of a dismissal.

Green nodded and moved off …

It took a few minutes for Paige to locate the machine shop. Having looked at the ship schematics was not the same as actually walking the halls of the ship, something she was going to take time to do on their flight out. As she turned the corner and entered the machine shop she didn’t immediately see anyone, but the lights were still on, so someone had been here at least somewhat recently.

“Ensign Serinde?” She called out.

Lt. Paige Garrison - CE

It was a tidy shop. Not huge with it being on a ship but it had what it needed, or at least what was felt necessary. To the right of the door was a line of machinery - lathes, precision drills and presses and the like. The smell of oils and metal permeated the air. The machinery took in that section. To the left were floor to ceiling racks of materials, bins and the like that extended half way along the far wall which included longer pieces of metal. An overhead winch and it’s track made a swivel pattern on the ceiling.

“Here,” came a muffled voice from the direction of a long lathe in the center of the room. Some shuffling sounds later a smudged face appeared from the far side revealing an attractive Asian woman with her hair hair tied back. Her look was momentarily puzzled then she said, “If you are from Earth Eng-Core who was involved in the refits you could have done better. Nearly all of my machines are needing recalibration and I’ve found two hardware installs that were not seated properly. You dumped all the crates for restocking me in the cargo space without verifying what you brought so we will have to check these by hand. Moreover I’ve had to do three warp coil adjustments on the fly because you left them at factory settings and didn’t bother to load the ship specifics through for precision alignments or test them to recalibrate to the new coils. Er, ma’am.”

She did that in a breath and spoke very calmly, almost Vulcan like in a way though there was a spark Paige could see in her eyes. Moreover, her mentioning the warp coil adjustment ‘on the fly’ would be a remarkable effort given the computations necessary for those changes.
- El, Eng Ens.

Paige raised an eyebrow, machine calibrations were one thing, she wasn’t sure if she had ever had one probably set up before the delivery crew left. But adjusting the warp coils, she made a mental note to go back through and double check what was done, just to see for herself.

“Anything else you’d like to add to the list?”

Lt. Paige Garrison - CE

“The life support air filters given to us were of the updated ship designs. In other words, round. Ours are square so the PM shift will have to jury rig them to fit. We had run into issues on a prior mission where an alien creature had damaged the tactical panel on the bridge which severed direct tactical feeds to the armory. To fix that they ran cabling but never terminated it on either end. The new juicer machine in the galley doesn’t work. The updated software governing the deck gravity is glitchy on C and F deck. And one of your people took my sign down from the transporter room.”
- El, Eng