Getting Acquainted with Engineering

Posted on Tue Aug 20th, 2024 @ 9:36pm by Lieutenant JG Alicia Santos & Lieutenant Kev Walker

936 words; about a 5 minute read

Kev entered the engineering compartment and paused for a second or two before he recovered and continued on in. He had known that the engineering area would be small, even expected it. Like everything else on the Eclipse, space was a premium and as such compartments were smaller and more streamlined. What he hadn't expected was that there were no engineers present. "Hello?" he called as he came to a stop in front of the warp core.

Alicia finished calibrating the final injector she had been working on and slid the access panel back in place just in time to hear an unfamiliar voice call out. Tossing her tools in her work bag, she shouldered it and climbed back down into the main engineering compartment. "Hey, sorry if something you need is overdue but I've got a list of priorities and that comes first," she called out as she climbed down. Reaching the bottom of the ladder, she turned and frowned at the unknown full lieutenant. "On second thought, can I help you?" she added.

Kev gave a half chuckle and a smile as he stepped forward and extended his hand. "I'm Lieutenant Kev Walker, the new chief of operations. By extension, I'm over engineering as well," he said.

"Oh, so that makes you my new boss," Alicia said as she took his hand and shook it before moving past him and shrugging her tools off onto a workbench. Leaning over a console, she keyed in a diagnostic sequence and studied the readouts before she nodded and turned back to the lieutenant. "Sorry, I'm putting out the last few brush fires on the list of things that have to be done by the time we depart," she said.

"How long of a list do you have?" Kev asked, his concern growing. Eclipse was supposed to be a brand new ship, so if there was a list of things that needed repair than that meant that somewhere something had gone drastically wrong.

"It's not much," Alicia replied. "And before you ask, it's mostly a lot of fine tuning that the shipyard didn't set up right before they turned the ship over to us field mechanics, as one of the yard dogs called me when I asked for a shakedown cruise report."

"I guess they were in a hurry to get the Eclipse out of the slip and gone, then," Kev said out loud and to no one in particular. Turning back to the engineer, he raised his eyebrows. "So, I take it you're the senior engineer?"

"Oh, yes," Alicia said as she turned to another console and checked the readouts on the main screen. "Lieutenant Alicia Santos. Sorry, sir, but I've got every engineer on board running down parts and minor stuff while I take care of the main list, which I might add is much shorter by now then I thought it would be."

"Please tell me it's nothing major," Kev prayed out loud.

"Ok, I won't tell you that it's anything major," Alicia said with a half smile. "Which it really isn't. Most of what's left is basic system stuff that is really operations stuff. Replicator systems, waste management and other support systems. I've been running down all of the power and propulsion stuff. The warp drive and core are both aligned and operating at full capacity. Impulse systems are all the same. I haven't checked the backup power generators or fusion reactors yet, but I wanted to nail down the primary systems first."

"Lieutenant, how long have you been working?" Kev asked, his brow furrowing as he stared at his senior engineer.

"You're going to have to be a little more specific with that question, sir," Alicia replied as she picked up a padd and checked over its contents.

"How long have you been on duty since your last break?" Kev reworded the question.

"I think it's been maybe sixteen hours. I grabbed a couple cups of coffee a few hours ago and I was planning on a shower and a bite to eat before I started on the secondary systems," Alicia answered as she glanced up towards Walker. "Why?"

"Because you're working yourself too hard, and you need to take a break," Kev said as he shook his head. "I want you to take the rest of the day off and get some rest. Report back to duty tomorrow morning."

"Sir, with respect, I'm the only engineer who knows these systems and there's work that needs to be done," Alicia said. "Plus, we really don't have a lot of engineers to begin with."

"The work can wait and the other engineers should be capable of keeping an eye on everything until you're back on your feet tomorrow. Now, as chief of operations and by extension engineering and by default your department head and senior officer, I'm ordering you to take the rest of the day off," Kev said.

Alicia stared at Walker for a moment before she decided that he was correct in ordering her to take a break and that she really could use one. She wasn't going to tell him that, just because she really didn't want to admit it to herself. She finally let out a sigh. "Yes sir," she finally said as she handed him the padd she was holding. "This is the list we've been working on."

Kev accepted the padd and nodded. "Get some rest, Miss Santos. I'll check in with you tomorrow, and I'll keep an eye on your engineers," he said.

"Understood sir," Alicia said before she sighed once more and headed out of engineering.

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