Posted by Ensign M’Nalie Eshenti (Engineer) in Checking in with the CE.

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Mark Pierce (Chief Engineer) in Checking in with the CE.

Posted by Ensign M’Nalie Eshenti (Engineer) in Checking in with the CE.
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻
M’Nalie had done her medical and her psycological in her dress uniform as she had just wanted them over with as fast as possible. But her next stop was engineering which meant meeting her chief. She wasn’t going to go to work dolled up like a house cat. She set the uniform aside to wash later and after a quick pass at the fresher donned her work gear. It was close to standard but modified to fit her anatomy. She had been forced to get it designed specifically for her by a starfleet tailor. Unlike most engineers she had pouches and tools secured by harness. The weight didn’t bother her and it saved time. It’s not like she could fit into a jeffries tube even if she was naked anyways.
She tapped her com badge.
=^=Computer. What is the location of the Chief Engineer lt. Mark Price?=^=
She didn’t wait on the answer before she set off towards Engineering. She would need to log into the duty roster anyways and there was a good chance he would be there.
Four years at the academy and she was still expecting her officers to be females. She wondered if she could ever shake that bias the Matriarchy had instilled into her from birth.

Ensign M’Nalie Eshenti. Engineer.

An NE staggered into Mark’s office, “Sir, there’s a… um… a tiger just checking in, new crew. It- uh, she is looking for you.”
“Ensign Eshenti arrives at last. Send her in.”
“Y-yes sir.” He walked out to M’Nalie. “Um, excuse me, Chief’s in his office. He’s waiting for you.”

When she entered, Mark was strikingly unphased by her appearance. “Ensign M’Nalie Eshenti. Welcome aboard the USS Ogawa. We’re going to have the meeting you were expecting, but make no mistake, as of now you are on duty.”

-Lt(j.g.) Mark Pierce, CE

M’Nalie nodded, rising from all fours to her full 7‘3” height. She was surprisingly quiet for her size, considering she had several toolkits worth of tools strapped to her.
She was impressed that the CE didn’t react to her size. But then if he was a good officer he would of known all about her before she set foot on the ship.
“Sorry I’m late sir.”, she rumbled in a deep but feminine bass. “I apparently caught the measles on my visit to Earth and was in quarentine till now.”, she continued.
Her tuftless tail tip took to twitching as she spoke. “I will make up for the lost time by working a extra half shift till I am caught up if it pleases you sir.” She rumbled
With a hint of resignation for things that must be endured, while her tail made a violent slash then settled into a slower wave front type undulating motion “My specializations are  Materials Fabrication. Replicator Maintenance, and Cargo Handling Sir: With apologies sir I do not fit into Jeffries tubes.” , and her tone took on a answering a frequenrly asked question before it was asked quality. She looked down at himso she could meet his eyes rather than look over his head at the bulkhead. It was as much so that he could see her ritual scars as to take the mans measure. She couldn’t help but think on how she would be happier if the CE was female but he did have a air of competence once all was said and done. “And sir. Eshenti is a title bestowed upon me to honor me on Earth. It is not official. But to not respect the elders wishes would be impolite.

Ensign M’Nalie Eshenti.. Engineering.

“I’m not going to penalise you for being quarantined Ensign. If you choose to pick up extra shift time, that’s your prerogative. That said, given your delay, you won’t have time to settle in, your shifts will be at full pace. Your restriction regarding the Jeffries tubes is noted and if any portion of a repair you’re working goes into an area you can’t traverse, I’ll allow you to switch repairs with another engineer who can perform that duty. The rule around here is; do your job, follow orders to the best of your ability, and we’ll never have a problem.” Mark made the customary round to the replicator. “Have a seat. Anything from the replicator?”

-Lt(j.g.) Mark Pierce, CE

M’Nalie took a look at the standard Starfleet chair as she approached it and shrugged, it was not built for any Caitan but for her it was more like a stool with a inconveinantly placed backrest. She would be working with this man for years in all likelihood and they were engineers. So some of the overly polite trappings needed to deal with other officers could likely be relaxed. So rather than sitting on the chair she moved it out of her way and kneeled sitting on her crossed ankles in a manner very simular to how the Japaneses sat at a family table. To her the standard table was almost the perfet height so seated. She nodded to Lt. Pierce, “If sir it is no trouble. Beef broth in a 16 oz mug hot. “, and she pulled a cloth wrapped cylinder tied with ribbon from a pouch and placed it on the table. Then folded her hands before her. And watched him as he went to the replicator. Content to wait till he sat and resumed the conversation.

Ensign M’Nalie Eshenti. Engineer.

As Mark returned, he noted M’Nalie’s improvised seating. He gave her the broth she asked for and sat down with his black coffee. “You graduated in the middle of your class at the Academy, excelled at athletics, no behaviour citations, all good signs. I have my theory why you didn’t graduate with honours. Bored in the classroom setting, preferred active, practical work. You didn’t do badly, but classrooms didn’t hold your attention as well as real work.”

-Lt(j.g.) Mark Pierce, CE

M’Nalie flicked an ear cocked her head a bit then replied, “I did nery well at the practical application sir. Rather poorly at the theoretical though I still passed them. You are correct I do not sit still long without taking action. I excelled at athletics. There is one practical class I failed though. I got stuck in a Jeffries tube the panel I had to diagnose out of reach. Just as well it was a holographic simulation or they would still be trying to pull me out. I told the instructor I wouldn’t fit.”, she near snarled her ears flattening to hide the embarrassed blush in her ears. ” I must of been very scary. They shut down the program as they fled the holodeck. I broke three claws.” She rumbled forcing herself to calm. “I do not always handle embarrasments well. Sir though it may be to the academy’s benefit as I am told instructor Goodman is much more patient. He would not teach any class I was in after that so I have no experiance of his newfound humility.”, she rumbled her tail dancing behind her. She picked up the cloth rapped cylinder with both hands and holding it her palms up open handed to Lt Pierce. “It is the tradtion of my clan to give our leader a knife. Should I ever become a threat to you it is yours to use. And she indicated a spot on her breat. Thrusting here is the best use sir. I made it by hand myself. Out of the best duranium. While it is not a Federation approved practice it will honor me if you keep it even if you do not wear it. The handle has a grip sized for a human the blade retracts into the handle to a length of 12 inches”, she rumbled with a hint of pride. And she finally lifted her mug. ” May you never need it sir.”, and drained her mug.

Ensign M’Nalie Eshenti. Engineer.

Mark raised his mug and drank from it. “I’ll keep it here.” He didn’t know quite what else to say. An NE broke the silence. “Sir- sorry to interrupt- replicator on deck 6 has been making tomato soup continuously for 5 minutes.” Mark nodded. “Ensign M’Nalie, time to go to work.” The NE held out a PaDD with the incident report on it. “Replicators are your specialty. Part of it. Let’s go.”

-Lt(j.g.) Mark Pierce, CE

She stood fluidly and moving to the replicator placed the mug to be recycled. “Aye sir. “, and dropping to all fours to clear the door she followed him out.
Keeping pace with him to the turbo lift. Once inside she unstrapped her pad to bring up ship schematics and pinpoint the exact location. “Might be fastest to yank the unit to stop the outflow and just slip in a replacement once the mess is cleared.sir. I’ll take the broken unit to the repair bay to work on it there. If it pleases you sir.”, and she stepped out onto deck 6 and making room for him waited for his reply.

Ensign M’Nalie Eshenti. Engineering.

“Sounds fine to me. Just be sure it’s ready and functioning as soon as possible. The doctors on this ship wear these things out, skin grafts, new tools, everything, so they’re in high demand.”

When they arrived in the crew quarters where this incident was taking place, it looked more like a murder scene than an engineering job. Mark set the repair kit on a table and opened it. “I’ve called for the replacement unit to meet us here. I’ll shut the current one down and you disconnect it from the wall panel.”

-Lt(j.g.) Mark Pierce, CE

She chuffed at the smell and wrinkled her nose. “Sir you might want to stay here. This soup would likely be slippery under your boots.”, she rumbled as she flexed her toes and unsheathed her foot claws. As was typical of Caitan’s she refused to wear boots or footwear when not in a eva situation. She didn’t wait for a reply as the replicater was leaking gallons of tomato soup onto the floor but made her way over her tail high behind her to avoid it dragging in the soup. She of course tried the off button before she pulled the tool needed to release the magnetic interlocking stem bolts that kept the replicator in place. “Who eats this stuff anyways. The overflow inhibitor should of kicked in as soon as the cup or bowl was 3 quarters full. The flow should also of stopped when the replicators material storage was depleted. So we are looking at multiple issues to at least two seperate function controls. The automated refill is not supposed to trigger while the unit is in operation. I think sir we have a practical joker. Who is decidedly not funny.”, she rumbled as she unlocked the panel with hot soup pouring over her leg. She looked over at the lt. “Never removed one of these while it was still in use. So not sure just what comes next. But on your word sir.”

Ensign M’Nalie Eshenti. Engineer.

“Or-“ Mark stepped in and next to M’Nalie, then leaned down to a panel next to the base and pulled it away. He tugged at something for a moment and then the flood of tomato soup stopped. “We manually cut off the power supply.” He held up a fuse. “Take It out at your leisure Ensign.” Mark stepped out of the mess to give M’Nalie room to work.

-Lt(j.g.) Mark Pierce, CE