SD 241211.04 JL | LtCmdr Neyes, LtCmdr Dahe'el & Lt R'heil | Core of the Matter

Posted on Mon Nov 5th, 2012 @ 9:39am by Captain Landon Neyes & Lieutenant Te'shara R'heil
Edited on on Tue Nov 6th, 2012 @ 10:58am

1,858 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Romulan Ale.. I mean Aide
Location: Main Engineering

=/\= Outside Main Engineering =/\=

Neyes hadn't been one too partial to writing reports. In fact, most cases would have ended with him trying for several minutes to think of a way to get out of it. These would be dedicated minutes, in which many a theory and brain-storm would take place. Today, however, Landon was trapped in protocol. The report for the Helm and Security walk-through would never be able to be escaped. As hard as he tried, there was literally no one else on the entire staff of senior crewmen who could have the report pawned off to. The Chief of Security and the Chief Helm Officer needed to acquaint themselves with Engineering and submit a formal report on their 'impression' along with a litany of other mind-numbing subjects to be written on. The thought made the side of Landon's mouth curl.

So he waited. Waited for Lieutenant Te'Shara R`heil, the Caitian security officer, to arrive. He'd been early, of course. So it wasn't as if she was late. He did feel a little odd standing outside Engineering, however. He thought about just going in, and almost had more than once in the few minutes he'd been idle, but something was stopping him.

'No', he thought passively. He'd better wait for Te'shara.

Te`shara walked into engineering from rounds, she wanted to find out what was going on in Engineering. She saw one of the officers, it was Lt Commander Neyes.

She walked to him, "Hello, Commander. What's up in Engineering? I came in to see the new Chief Engineer." Te`shara said as she stood there, wagging her tail slowly.

"Oh good you made it. You get here ok? I know the ship is different, and still incredibly massive." Landon laughed light-heartedly.

Te`shara looked, at Commander Neyes, "I asked the ship's computer, 'where is engineering'... so I followed the arrows here, so here I am." She purr-giggled a little.

"Good... well then," Neyes looked at her for a moment, taking it all in. "I think we should get started. Since Akida is stepping down, I think it's good we're going this. Gives us a chance to look over the new Chief of Engineering, don't you think so?" Landon said, pulling out the PADD with which he would write his future report. Plus, he felt more important while taking notes. Everyone did. Note-taking while moving about and judging things always made people feel superior, and there was no reason he couldn't get in on that action.

"You ready?" Neyes asked.

Te`shara looked at the commander, "I'm ready to go if you are." She said to him with a short smile on her face and her tail wagging slowly.

She was on her way to meet the new Chief of Engineering, with a padd in her hand, maybe she can get ideas on what engineering works and what not.

Almar once again found himself hanging upside down below the gantry around the Quantite Fusion core assembly, there were a few tweaks needed to the fourth core, a slight misalignment, luckily it was caught before the core was powered up fully.

Landon walked inside the massive engineering section. For something so necessary to the ship, he found main engineering a little under-developed. The sparkling details of the rest of the ship's interior were noticeably absent. There were embellishments, naturally, but not to the scale as the rest of the ship. He supposed that's how it should be. Engineering was a place to solve problems, not to clutter up the efforts of the crew.

The same Quantite core pulsed furiously at the heart of the room, and Landon took a moment to feel its deep rhythm touch his inner engineer. He missed spending all his time down in Engineering.

"Commander Dahe'el", Landon said as he approached the cores. Their illuminated opulence only appeared more intense as he and the young Caitian strolled onto the grand engineering floor. The crew about them passed by undisturbed, since they were all busy with the task of shifting commands and prepping the Vindicator-E for a new commanding officer. Everyone appeared to be running around, except for the chief. Landon stifled a surprised chuckle at seeing his chief engineer hanging upside down. "How's it hanging?"

"Can you pass me up the flow regulator and the resistance dampener," Almar replied quickly, indicating the toolbox on the floor next to Landon, "It seems the engineer I assigned to assist me has gone AWOL,"

TE`shara looked at the new engineering chief, "Hello, Commander. My name is Lt Te`shara R`heil, I'm security here so if you have any problems with unwanted visitors in engineering, call on me and i will be at your service," she said with a small smile on her furry face and tail wagging.
She then walked over by the tools, and handed them to Commander Almar Dahe'el, "Here, sir. Here's your tool box," Te'shara said to the new Engineering Chief,and she picked up a tool, maybe that would be the Flow regulator. "Here you go sir," Te'shara's tail wagged, and her whiskers twitched as well.

In what could only have been described as a rare moment of surprise for Neyes, he practically choked on his own breath when the Lieutenant Commander turned to face them. Landon's blood ran cold and he had to take a split moment to collect himself, and to be sure he wasn't imagining things.

"You're Cardassian." Neyes' voice had an inescapable burn to it. The words escaped his lips before he could think to pluck them from his thoughts, and had he the power to rip them from the air he would have done it.

"Very well observed Commander," Almar replied as he placed the tools on the gantry above him and then holding on with his hands as he righted himself, landing on the deck heavily on his feet.

Landon managed an insincere smile, barely a gesture of good manners. Given what he had been through with the chief's people, he thought it was at the very least a show of his good character. "Forgive my ignorance, Commander. I'm just not used to seeing your people on a regular basis. I guess I've been so busy I didn't check the whole crew's profiles before I started transferring my department."

It was an understatement. Landon was already letting his mind trace down the paths of torture this man would bring them. He couldn't help it. The thoughts just came to him naturally, from more than a lifetime of trying to escape one devious and twisted Cardassian plot after another. A deep suspicion was already brewing, and even though Neyes knew better than to entertain those thoughts with a fellow ranking officer, the inhibitions weren't making it easier. Each awkward second that ticked by only made him more uncomfortable.

"I suggest you give my profile a quick read Commander," the Cardassian replied with a slight smile, "I understand that some of the crew are rather... how should I put this, disturbed... by my presence here," he added as he reached down and closed his toolbox, "Simply put, I was bought up believing a man should be free, regardless of race,"

Te`shara listened to the 2 men talk, as she couldnt believe hes cardassian, "WoW, a Cardi for a chief Engineer." she said to the new chief engineer. "I guess i have to keep up on the starfleet happenings. "she purr-giggled, "im not making fun of you , im just shocked, thats all." she said with a short smile.

Eager to change the subject, Neyes looked up at the core. "What were you working on before we interrupted you? I assume the warp matrix is similar to the Excalibur class ships, but I'd like to take a look at the Slipstream core when we get the chance."

"Your assumption is incorrect Commander," Almar replied as he began to talk business, "There are only two ships to carry this warp core configuration, the Excalibur Refit class Vindicator D and this ship," he continued as he nudged his toolbox out of the way with one of his boots, "The Quantite Fusion Core is quite a piece of engineering, this one is slightly more advanced than the experimental one in the Vindicator D,"

Landon's attitude visibly relaxed as they began to talk ship-shop. "I specialize in warp mechanics and theory, but admittedly I'm a little uninformed when it comes to this engine. If you have some time in the next couple days I'd like to go over the drive specs. Slipstream technology is newer and I'd like to see what it can take when pushed to the limit. I'm also going to ask the Captain for a trial run to see how far we can raise the bar." Neyes grinned playfully.

"That sounds like it might be a good idea, the slipstream drive is something I've not had too much experience with, but I've been studying it every day since I was given this assignment," the Cardassian replied as he moved to the large console and bought up the blueprints on the screen, "It is truly a powerful system,"

"Now, which crystal matrix does the Quantite Fusion drive use? Benamite or Dilithium? Whats the penetration time-frame after the quantum field is in place?" Neyes looked over to the security chief, who appeared to be tolerating their discussion with child-like disinterest. He realized there would be time enough later for all the questions. For now they needed to finish up their report. "Well anyway we'll have to schedule a time to get together and work on the details. Once we're underway."

"Each of the four cores uses Dilithium, Benamite is generally only used in single core configurations," Almar replied with a slight smile, he was in his comfort zone, "Indeed, you're most welcome to join us Commander."

Neyes turned to Te'shara, "You have any questions for the Chief, Te'Shara?"

TE`shara looked at Neyes, "Nope. No questions what-so-ever." She said with a soft purr. "I think he will do a good job as Cheif Engineer." She smiled, even though she was shocked that he was a Cardiassan.

"I'll check back with you about that engine detail." Landon said pleasantly, he felt a satisfaction in having someone who seemed so capable running their engineering dept. It was difficult for him, at times, to accept the work other people put forth as their best when it came to engineering. As such, he seemed to have an equally difficult time getting along with the engineering staff. Hopefully, this would mark a change to that, and improve the effectiveness of both their Depts. It wasn't as if he didn't get along with Commander Jackson, but he was happy to see her move on from such a distracting place.

"Thank you, Chief. Let us know if you need any help before we start putting this baby to the test." Neyes added as he and the security officer headed for the door.

=/\= END LOG =/\=

LtCmdr Landon Neyes
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Vindicator

LtCmdr Almar Dahe'el
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Vindicator

Lt Te'Shara R'heil
Security Officer
USS Vindicator

 

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