Lets Change the Beat

Posted on Wed Jun 2nd, 2021 @ 2:04am by Lieutenant Nir Giorgiou & Ensign Noah Balsam & Ensign Sheila Mulhern & Lieutenant JG Sheldon Parsons

Mission: The Place of Skulls
Location: Main Engineering, Starship Sojourner
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 1330

[Main Engineering]
[1330 Hours, Day One]

Nir Giorgiou looked over the gathered faces in the small Engineering Bay of the starship Sojourner. In its bones he could see the origins- the Defiant Pathfinder gave rise to the Nova and, in its beefed out reiteration, the Rhode Island. The prototype of the Defiant pathfinder was in the Fleet Museum. And though there were changes, much of its basic superstructure was the same. Jazz it up with the new LCARs interfaces, the amber holographics with their advanced haptics, and the new Theta-9-Kori Matter-Antimatter Reactor Assembly. Call the computer, "computer," or "index," it was all still built on known bones.

"Good Afternoon," Nir started with a nod to the gathering of a dozen people. He had a deeper end of the mid-tone voice, accentuated with something very diluted but possibly Palestinian or Greek in origin. "Let's start with names and skill focus. I've been aboard less than an hour so I don't know anyone." He did a two-finger double-tap against his left pec which to his people meant everything and to anyone not from Kentauros, it meant entirely nothing, "I'm Giorgiou. Matter-Energy specialty, background in Materials." He chin jutted to Ensign Sheldon Parsons.

"Ensign Sheldon Parsons," came the reply. Parsons was tall, lanky, and not exactly well suited for crawling around inside Jeffries tubes, but somehow he made it all work or he wouldn't be there. "Propulsion and warp field specialist. I also dabble in matter-energy transfer," he offered a prim smile that did not reach his eyes, possibly in an effort to spark some affinity bias from the new Chief. He turned next to Mulhern -- who stood to his right -- figuring Giorgiou would want to continue the round robin of introductions.

"I'm Sheila. Mulhern," she clarified, adding on her last name. "You can call me either. Or Ensign, whatever works," Sheila offered a demure smile. "Our last Chief was fairly informal but if you need me, I'll come to whatever you prefer, sir," she nodded slowly. "My specialty is in systems maintenance and electronics," the woman explained, gesturing at master display console. "You'll usually find me around here or crawling about in the tubes."

Nir nodded greeting to two of the officers that had just spoken, turning a hazel gaze to a few of the specialists. Each named themselves and their specialties. Noah felt his heart flutter anxiety as the role-call crept his way. He was the last, standing at Nir's left. "Noah Hyman Balsam," he said, "Systems Specialist." OK that was less painful than he feared, Noah decided when Nir nodded and then glanced away.

"Alright. Mulhern, you touched on something I want to say." he gestured at the woman. "I don't know much about the guy that came before me. I don't plan to make a lot of changes either." His gaze swept the gathering, "Titles like Chief Engineer don't mean shit to me, folks. These," he gestured at his pips, "Don't mean much either. I'm from Kentauros. Back home it's what you know and how you use it that matters."

Noah interjected with wide eyes, "Is it true Kentaurans are anarchists?"

Nir smiled at that, a surprised lift of his eyebrows coming with it. "Yes," his irreverent look swiveled the crew, "But before you all worry about me breaking down your doors and torching your property, that's not what an anarchist is. But if you want to discuss that, let's have a drink later."

Nir straightened some and flicked his fingers. The amber glow of holographics on the center console table blossomed to life before them, like a fast sketch of the ship's schematic. "What I mean is you don't need me to give you orders. You're all professionals. You're well-trained. And that's enough for me. We do our jobs, we help each other out, we get the work done. We all know what needs to be done. Pull your weight. Warn each other if you see Red-Cuffs dropping in. That's when your pips matter again."

Nir looked around, "Questions?"

"None here, sir," Parsons said, obviously not getting the message about pips and ranks and all that. Or perhaps it was just habit to refer to a superior officer as such? Either way, he shook his head to indicate no further direction was needed. It was time to get to work and he was ready, even if the Chief was a new face. At least we don't have so much history, Parsons thought to himself, his thoughts racing back to The Five. Five people Chief Oliveria had all but ordered him to let die. He'd long since forgiven Nico for putting him in that situation -- it couldn't be helped -- but that didn't mean there wasn't still baggage there.

Sheila, for her part, looked up at Nir with the biggest of smiles. "Just one. How does 0900 sound for that drink?" Despite the smirk on her face, it seemed she was quite serious. "I've always wanted to meet a Kentauran anarchist," Mulhern winked. "Beyond that, though, no...I'm good," she nodded with finality.

Nir smiled into a cheek, "Make it 0915, I pray at nine." Sheila had met one, then. "Alright, I understand that," he pointed at Noah who blinked, "Was running the show best you could on the way from Antares." Noah blushed and nodded once, fidgeting long fingers at waist level.

"Um yessir." Parsons was not alone in having to probably work off a habit.

Nir smirked good-naturedly, "Giorgiou is fine, kid. Save the Sirs for the Red-Collars. What is your assessment of this vessel's operational readiness, Balsam?" Nir's brown eyes waited on the fair-skinned Midshipman while Noah composed himself with a glance around his colleagues. Rank or no rank, he was still very green.

Balsam hesitated, "We-we have a lot of bugs to iron out. A lot of details. Sticking turbolifts and factory-set plasma regulator flows. Wuh-one of the subprocessors went down for a few hours because of a bad patch upload. And the um," he pointed at the core, "Is running about 700K hotter than, um, it needs to." Noah could have gone on- his steel-trap memory had seen the eye-popping list of modifications and repairs that seemed to trickle in like a showerhead.

Nir accepted the testimony with a nod. "Alright Engineers," he brought up the list with a wrist flick. "Divide and conquer. They don't build them like they used to."

"See you at 2115 hours, then," Sheila chuckled and nodded to Nir. Motioning then to Parsons, she said, "Lots to do and there's only so much time. C'mon Sheldon, let's get busy, hmm?" It looked like the man was about to protest about something -- maybe the "getting busy" reference? -- but his friend's arm snagged through and around his, leading him off towards the first thing on their to-do list. It was going to be a very busy day indeed.

Nir's gaze studied the list and then, with a flick he brought up the schematic of the Rhode Island-class. He sighed, knuckling the console table. "Allah, be merciful on this one," he muttered. They had their work cut out for them. He flicked his fingers through hologram again, returning to the list. Nir poked into the amber light, highlighting several power distribution and power relay imbalance tasks as, "In Progress- N. Giorgiou."

A Post By:

Lieutenant Nir Giorgiou
Acting Chief Engineer

Ensign Sheila Mulhern
Engineer

Ensign Sheldon Parsons
Engineer

Midshipman Noah Balsam
Systems Specialist