Taking the tour - Engineering

Posted on Friday October 20, 2023 @ 10:21pm by Lieutenant Commander Thisbe Bocal & Lieutenant Commander Maximo (Max) Vero

1,675 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 1: Master of Illusion
Location: Engineering
Timeline: MD1

ON:

Following on in walkaround, the new XO paid a visit to Engineering next. He remembered a brief look at her file while on the transport over. Betaziod. His interaction with Betaziods was limited. He hoped he had no bad thoughts walking in. Taking in the warp core was fascinating. Had he not gone for science maybe he would have ended up here. Who knows.

"Chief Bocal I assume?" he approached the dark haired female.

Thisbe turned around from her task-replicating new size 5 bolts. For some reason, they hadn't received any yet, and that was annoying because this ship required them for the hulls.

"Hello! Commander Vero?! How are you?" She asked. She recognized the face, but not the name. "Don't be nervous, I don't read people unless I have to," she said, with a laugh, sensing his unease.

"That's good to know," Max replied. "I decided to take myself on a little tour of the ship. Get acquainted. I'm a science background myself but all of this does fascinate me. Would you indulge me with a tour or engineering Chief?" he requested.

She nodded. "Absolutely," she said, with a smile. "Let's begin here. This is, of course, our workroom. You have your basics-parts replicator, general replicator, in here are storage rooms," she said, pointing towards a bay of storage lockers. "Come on," she said, leading him to the rooms. "In here are extra tools, nuts, bolts, screws, plastic tubing. Anything you can think of, we probably have it," she said. "I still need to reorganize everything-the Fleet has their way, but I have mine-I like to have the screws and nails with the tools they correspond to-for example, under the box of hammers will be the nails, sorted by size, and so on." She paused so he could absorb all the information.

"Well I love nuts and bolts as much as the next guy but what about the more exciting stuff like the warp core?" he smiled at her enthusiasm of filing her tools efficiently. Unfortunately his science lab would never be this tidy. Not from lack of trying, he would just get lost in an experiment. He always did.

She laughed. "Alright! Let's go," she said. She led him further down the corridor. She opened a door. "Wait, do you have the right clearances?" She shook her head. "I am kidding! Here we go," she said. "Betsy." She tapped the outer metallic hull of the processor. "Fifteen tons of dilithium, and she flies. If I forget to feed her, she doesn't." Thisbe shrugged. "Want to try?" She asked, showing him the panels. "Just here..." She showed him the two buttons. "Just a moment." She tapped her badge. =/\=Bocal to Bridge. Warp core testing. Hold on tight!=/\= "Go ahead!"

"Now there's an offer," Max grinned. "Fifteen tons? Really? How frequently?"

"Every fifteen hours that we're not at Warp. Every eight when we are," she said, confidently. She knew this ship, and her job. "Heirs help us if we're at Warp for more than a few days," she said. "Then it will bump up to five hours and I get no sleep!" She chuckled.

"Well you can delegate Commander," Max commented as he worked the controls. "It would be no good to anyone us having an exhausted CEO. I recommend you do. There," he smiled finishing the task. "What's our max warp speed?" he asked.

She laughed. "I delegate plenty. Enough that if one more of those boys grumble any more, out of the Airlock with them!" She said, a hand on her hip. She had a department to run, she didn't have time to coddle twenty-two year old boys. "Our max warp speed is Warp Nine. It's really state of the art," she said. "Or for me, at least, I came from an older Akira class ship," she said. "Exciting stuff. We'll be at our first location in a few days if we travel at full warp the entire time, and provided that we don't run into anything exciting," she said. "Good work," Thisbe said, eyeballing the core. "You're hired!"

"Only in an emergency though," Max commented. "Cruise speeds are always much lower. Good to know though we can high tail it out of a bad situation pretty fast. And grazie," he grinned slipping into his native Italian. "But I much prefer my lab. I will leave the maintenance of the big systems in your capable hands.

He left the console. It had been a fun experience and it was good he was capable as he could muck in if ever needed. Although he doubted that would be necessary. The chief had plenty of youngsters she was whipping into shape.

"Where are you from?" he asked walking over having a look at some of the other consoles. "How did you end up in Starfleet?"

She chuckled a little. "I was raised on Starships, but we eventually settled on Earth when my father passed away," she said. "My parents were both Starfleet-my father was an Engineer, too, and my mother was a civilian diplomat, and sometimes taught the school children," she said. "So...it's in my blood, you might say," she said. "How about you? What brings you to the Pisces?" She asked, her black eyes smiling a little at the memories.

"A command science post opened up. My previous boss suggested it. I didn't expect to be going for XO as well but its the natural next step," he answered. "My parents are an odd couple," he mused. "An ambassador from Argelius II and an Italian opera singer. And no I did not inherit my fathers singing abilities."

Thisbe laughed. "I see!! Well, that is exciting. Science, huh?! I almost went into science. Kind of. I wanted to do aeronautics but it turns out that it's a lot of research and I am one of those types that needs to be DOING things," she explained. "Anything else in particular you'd like to see today?" She asked.

"How about the impulse engine?" he said. He was really just being professionally nosey. "How many coils do we have?" he asked.

"Four nacelles," she said. "We're going to use all of them when we are in Warp," she said. "It's a really stupid design," she said. "They could've just made the two-cell Cores work better, in my opinion. We have that tech now," she said, black irises rolling towards the ceiling. "So, 8 times 4 is 32 potential problems for me and my team to fix," she said. "Did you know that we can go up to 74,770 km/s? It's roughly a quarter of the speed of light! We're moving quick, Sir," Thisbe said.

"Perhaps you should put a proposal together on the two cell cores and submit it to Starfleet command?" he suggested. If she was correct justify it and point out all the benefits of making changes.

Thisbe waved her hand. "I've done that before. This is the current design they're stuck on for whatever reason," she said. "I could probably get a few of the other Chief Engineers I know to complain, too, but it DOES do its job, even if I personally prefer a different setup. It's because of the retrofitting; they couldn't fit all the bells and whistles that Captains want if they went with a traditional two-cell design," she explained. "Plus...we couldn't go as fast. Someday, I might be an Admiral and can have that kind of influence, but for now? I am stuck with this," she said, with a shrug.

"I'm sure you will make it work," Max stated. He wasn't sure that Captains got much input into ship designs but he could be wrong. I mean he wasn't a captain. He would have to ask Captain Vellv he mused.

"What about the old familiars - worker bees? Shuttles. How many of them do we have?" he asked.

Thisbe nodded. "I am sure I will, it's just one of those nit-pick-y things, you know?" She asked. "I have a full staff-my assistant and four other officers, plus fifteen enlisted Engineers, three propulsion specialists, and one Transporter person, which I am not sure why she's attached to ME and not Ops, but I don't ask those kinds of questions," she said. The Betazed was many things-loud, brash, and a bit feckless, but she wasn't stupid. She didn't do anything to purposely draw attention to herself. "Shuttles-we have ten standard currently, and-a cargo shuttle, and 3 light shuttles. 2 work bees! Unfortunately, I understand we only have two pilots, so two are in dry dock, essentially. The Propulsion guys are constantly at work in the Hangars," she said. Mechanics wasn't her favourite, but she knew a bit about fixing the shuttles. "Would you like to check in on their work? We have Ensigns Sar and Garcia today," she said.

"We have numerous pilots. I myself can pilot a shuttle. There are plenty of staff with that qualification. Flight department is a little barren presently but I will be building it up," Max informed her. "Transporters should not be assigned to you. I will sort that out."

He hadn't asked about what staff she had, only worker bees and shuttles.

"I don't need to check on their work. I'm sure everything is in hand."

Thisbe nodded. "Well. Anything else you'd need from me today?" She asked. "I have tasks delegated but I do like to check in hourly, if possible, with my teams," she said. "And I need to arrange a meeting with the Ops chief. I'll do that shortly. I like to get to know them separately, since we work together so often," she said.

"No I'm happy to see everything is in order. Ops chief is on my list to meet as well. Carry on Commander and thank you for indulging me with a quick tour and letting me have a go at adding the dilithium," he nodded.

She smiled. "You're welcome. Anytime, sir," she said. Thisbe stepped forward.

"Let me walk you out," she said, leading him to the doorway and to the corridor.

 

RSS Feed