Posted by Captain Willow Taylor (Commanding Officer) in Side sim: Captain’s Office

Posted by Senior Chief Petty Officer Oscar Cameron Cascarrabias Demalia (Chief Engineer) in Side sim: Captain’s Office

Posted by Captain Willow Taylor (Commanding Officer) in Side sim: Captain’s Office
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Willow looked up from the file she was reading and absently scratched the side of her neck. Carefully she stacked the file on top of some of their paper work and opened a comm.

=^= Mister Cascarrabias Demalia please report to Captain Taylor’s office.=^= she said and sat back to wait.

Willow Taylor
CO

Oscar had not seen the Commanding Officer in quite some time. He had, of course, spent some time with Cai, and so Captain Taylor’s brother had shared small tidbits here and there. The boy was bright, although Oscar still was a little uncertain why the boy had taken a shine to him. The trip to Unroth III had not really allowed Oscar to figure it out, between the camera crew and that Human Resources representative hounding him for not actually putting his palm print in the system to transfer his personal information onto the new Ogawa crew roster. Still, he was sure that he hadn’t done anything untoward - well, at least for him.

Then again, the Captain was the young man’s legal guardian, as far as Oscar could tell (he had never actually broached that particular subject with Cai), and so she may have just been wanting to address her concerns, or ask for an update. The worst she could reprimand him for was teaching the kid how to turn some spare parts from a phaser, a PADD, and a transporter into a miniature replicator.

Whatever the reason for the summons, the Captain had timed it uncannily. Oscar had actually been in the middle of doing nothing, quite literally - it was one of his more treasured past times, because he could be quite honest when he told people, “Oh, nothing,” when somebody asked him what he was doing - and therefore technically didn’t need to stop or put aside anything to answer it. About four minutes after receiving the call, Oscar arrived at the office door and pressed the chime.

“Here I am,” Oscar said to the door.

Oscar Cascarrabias
Engineering

=^= Acknowledged.=^= GALEN’s computerised voice said back and opened the door for Oscar.

Other people on board had been taken aback when they heard a voice that was not the regular MAJEL interface they normally knew. Oscar had spent a stint on a Trafalgar-class, so he knew GORBI’s Russian parlance. He had also worked on a Memorial-class which had an AI that had adopted the voice of a publisher from the 20th century and preferred to be called “Excelsior”. As such, non-standard interfaces were not new to him.

Willow looked up at the swish sound and gave a smile. “Oh good. That was quick, please come in. Have a seat.” She indicated a chair in front of her desk and waited for him to get comfortable sitting or standing if he preferred.

He tended to like blatantly ignoring requests from his superiors (by rank, at any rate), but that typically stopped with his department head and junior officers. There had been a couple of times where he had done it with an XO, but in the cases of both individuals, the whole crew had hated the XO in question, so it was less his typical contrarian nature and more rare solidarity with the rest of the crew. When it came to the Commanding Officer of a vessel, even Oscar didn’t like pushing the limits. He sat down.

“I have…an interesting opportunity presenting itself and wondered if you would be interested.” She said slowly, deliberately choosing her words.

Willow Taylor
CO

Oscar cocked an eyebrow, but it included a squint, making it clear that, unlike the Vulcan manner which indicated curiosity, he was a bit dubious of the statement.

“Those aren’t words that I’ve heard many times before, Captain, and I usually don’t like them,” Oscar admitted. “The last time I heard it from command staff on a ship, it was to send me to a post on a station as a subordinate to the quartermaster. I wound up doing nothing but inventory checks and distribution order fulfillment for six months. ‘Give you some experience that you missed at the academy,’ they said.”

He leaned back.

“I hope that this ‘opportunity’ isn’t just a way of shoving me somewhere in the galaxy where I’ll be out of everyone’s hair for a while.”

Oscar Cascarrabias
Engineering

Willow smiled. “ I can understand the sentiment however no, in this case the opportunity is more about putting you somewhere where you’ll be in everyone’s hair for as long as you want to be. You’ll be aware that our current Engineering chief has been unfortunately called away. I want someone who isn’t afraid to tell me their honest opinions and was involved in the original briefings on this new ship and new engineering systems. In short Oscar I want you to be the Ogawa’s new Chief Engineer.”

Willow waved her hand in an open there you have it gesture and waited for his response.

Willow Taylor
CO

Oscar was a little bit surprised, but then he considered the ramifications of the offer.

“Sorry, boss, no can do,” Oscar finally replied. “I made a promise to myself after I washed out of officer’s school at the Academy that I would never exchange my panels for pips, and I’m not about to break it just because Engineering needs a new chief. I don’t care if you promote me to Commander or something for how long I’ve been in the fleet. I am happily a noncom, and I intend to remain so until I retire.”

Oscar leaned back and sighed.

“Heck of a job to have for whoever does want it, though. State of the art equipment - for the doctors. AI assistance for practically everything, module maintenance and swapping, plus whatever else needs upkeep. It’s a crazy combination of posh and a pain in the… well, actually, pick an extremity, you’re going to hurt it eventually.”

Cascarrabias knew that the reverie made him sound like he wanted the job. Maybe he kind of did; the implied promotion to officer was the one part about it that he hated. That was why the position of Chief Engineer was a non-starter. Guys like him didn’t usually get placed in charge.

Oscar Cascarrabias
Engineering