SD 241310.18 || Joint Duty Log || Cmdr Ivanova & LtCmdr Dahe'el || "Plans and plots."

Posted on Fri Oct 18th, 2013 @ 9:53pm by

1,753 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: In the Dark
Location: Bridge, USS Vindicator

=/\= Bridge, USS Vindicator =/\=

Having pulled bridge duty again, Almar felt somewhat at ease for a change, the feeling on the ship had always been a little hostile towards him, the majority of the bad feelings stemming from what had happened on Earth, while it was still fresh in everyone's mind, had subsided for now.

With that being said, he could feel the eyes of the bridge crew on the back of his head as he sat in the Command chair, he had a stack of padds on his lap and was working through various bits of engineering paperwork.

Rochelle's mind was working, stuck in over drive, as she thumbed through report after report -- all of them curtailing each and every miniscule detail of the ship. Even the counselor had sent her what could only have been described as the ship's own tabloid magazine. The gossip made her head ship, her eyes roll, and her shoulders fall a marginal degree as she stepped out onto the bridge from her office. Somehow the bulk of the rumors seemed centered around the Chief Engineer being a spy, plotting their deaths, sending them all into ruin -- which, while being a welcome change from the guesses being made at her own sex life, were just as unwelcome.
Something had to give.

"Getting comfortable, Commander?" She asked, flippantly as she cruised towards the 'big chair', her hands on her hips in mock irritation. As of late, she had no reason to doubt Almar's genuine nature. The eyes watching them began to dart in a feverish pitch, watching the interaction between XO and Engineer -- or in the case of many of their thoughts; the XO and the Cardassian.

"Never," Almar replied simply as he stood and vacated the seat for the First Officer, "I only take the seat because it's required of me as a department head and an officer above the grade of Lieutenant, I'm sure you know how it is," the Cardassian added as he took the seat to the right of the command chair, moving his stack of padds with him.

"I do." She nodded in response as she settled into the pre-warmed and comfortable confines of the chair. "Of course, I was only teasing. Lighten up, Commander, that's an order." Rochelle all but sighed as she continued to thumb through the information at hand, ready to throw it. In fact, throwing it would have made it more useful if only for the loud crash it would have created upon landing. Something had to give.

"I am as light as possible Commander," the Cardassian replied with a slight smile as he finished off one of the padds and slid it into his jacket for later, the next on the pile caused his brow to raise slightly, he scrolled through it for a few moments and handed it over to Ivanova, "While it might not be interesting, you might find this to be something a little different, it is my report on the readiness of the ship, should we find ourselves in a battle during this mission."

The redhead snorted softly, eyeballing him sidelong as he responded to her quip -- but the glance soon turned from sidelong to full attention as she furrowed a brow and took the offered PADD in hand, the one vexing her turned off and stowed for later vexation. "Interesting." She responded, scrolling and reading, her legs crossing and her body pressing loosely into the warm back of the seat. "Basically we'd be screwed? Is that what I'm supposed to be gleaning from your report?" Rochelle looked up, ceasing her scrolling motions.

"Not screwed, as such," Almar replied with a slight chuckle, "We can still handle ourselves in a fight, however I would advise avoiding prolonged combat or taking on anything more than six Galor class vessels, I based my report around Cardassian ships, since those are the ones we are likely to encounter, but I can tailor it for Tholian or Romulan if you feel we may need the additional information, despite the fact this ship was designed to handle itself well, it is also extremely large and would do better with an escort or two, the fighters can only provide so much protection."

No such chuckle came from Rochelle to mimic the sound that escaped the Engineer. Dismay, however, lit her features and left her with the start of a scowl and a huff. "Please do. More for my own curiosity and a 'what if' clause should arise than anything else." she strained, reaching to pinch the bridge of her nose. The ship, for all intents and purposes, was a gun with a hole drilled through the barrel. A ticking time bomb. "What all can be done to fix her? She was built to be a weapon, not a show pony."

"To fix completely?" Almar asked as he slipped the padd out of his uniform again and reviewed some information, "To make the ship completely battle-ready we'd need to dock and make use of the shipyard facilities," the Cardassian replied as he scrolled through his reports, "We took a significant amount of damage when we were ambushed by the Romulans, I was barely able to hold the ship together under slipstream power, while we managed to get the majority of repairs finished there are still some things that are more likely to fail during a battle."

The woman sighed, a painful little noise that could often be heard from those who have had their heart broken. The Vindicator was alive, limping, but alive. That much made the redhead happy -- but their lack of readiness and preparedness to take on whatever foe lay just beyond the horizon for them left her empty inside. "Docking her would be what you'd recommend," She began, her hand dropping back down to the armrest. "Wouldn't it?" Rochelle's eyes dared to play over the intricate features of the Cardassian's face as she waited and judged and marked his response. She knew what the right thing to do was -- but the idea of presenting it against herself and to the Captain seemed an unfit cause without due and justified reasoning.

"In an ideal world, yes," the Cardassian replied frankly, "If we could have spared the time and resources while in Sector Zero Zero One, I would have recommended docking for at least seventy-two hours to complete full repairs, Captain Neyes asked me to push the Vindicator to escape the Romulans, in doing so we had to risk losing some of the inherent structural integrity."

With a nod, Rochelle pursed her lips and sat in silent thought for a moment. Her slender fingers drummed along the armrest they lay upon. In her mind waged a small battle - the best way to present the information at hand to the Captain. "I assume all of this information is already listed in the rest of your report?" She asked, chewing the inside of her lower lip.

"It is," Almar's response was punctuated with a fervent nod, "As I said, we could take on a small flotilla, but I would advise caution, I may also be able to strengthen the shields to compensate somewhat, luckily the QFC gives us a little extra power, should we need it."

"M." She hummed in response with a slight nod. "Once I get your addition concerning our abilities against our other unfriendlies, I'll present it to Captain Neyes. There's little to no sense in us running face first into something that's just going to have us come apart. Especially when it could be resolved quickly and easily."

"I'll need to run full simulations before I can give you the additions, I should have them to you within the day," Almar replied as he tapped in some reminders and began to set up the programs he'd need to run in the holodeck, "You are more than welcome to join me during the simulations, they can be quite interesting."

"Thank you." She nodded in response, before her eyebrow quirked upwards and the drumming of her fingers ceased. "I'll most likely cringe through the majority of them, but it'd be my pleasure." A hush fell over the bridge. She ignored it. The fodder for the fools was far too great, she knew there'd be rumors and perhaps, more importantly, the majority of them would see that even their savage little Executive Officer could be civil and polite, even gracious, when working with the Engineer. He was, after all, an officer first and foremost. And a damned good one.

"I doubt it, they're not your typical simulations," He replied with a slight smile, he could feel the mood on the bridge change at their exchange, the eyes of the crew burnt slightly and he buried the unease at the pit of his stomach, "I prefer to run full battle simulations with each variable in the holodeck, it makes them a little more interesting to work with."

"Anytime I see this ship take a hit is cringe worthy, even if it's just a simulation." Rochelle chuckled lightly, her spirits slowly beginning to lift, "But in good company. I suppose it could be entertaining and a good learning experience and give the added plus of being an eyewitness when I drag the Captain into this." She all but chirped, ignoring the eyes flirting with disaster in their direction

"You'll be able to tell him exactly how the ship is likely to react," the Cardassian began with a slight smile, "That will include what it will be like on the bridge,"

"Perfect." She mirrored his smile, knowing just such information was the proverbial ace in her sleeve when it came to getting what she wanted -- at least in this case. What she wanted was a fully functional ship with all the nasty bells and whistles that sat astride such a powerful war machine. "When do we begin?"

Almar held up the padd in his hand and turned it so the screen faced towards the Executive Officer, "I'm compiling the necessary changes to the programs now, they should be ready in an hour or two, I've drawn some extra capacity from the main computer to increase the speed of compiling them."

Nodding, Rochelle read over the list quickly before leaning back into her seat. "Perfect. Sounds like a plan." She answered, almost giddy to finally be getting somewhere after the attacks.

(To be continued...)

Commander Rochelle Ivanova
Executive Officer

&

Lieutenant Commander Almar Dahe'el
Chief Engineering Officer

USS Vindicator.

 

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