The New Boss

Posted on 17 Jan 2013 @ 12:15pm by Lieutenant Lilou Zaren & Ensign Tavish Hunter

1,612 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 7, Main Engineering
Timeline: MD-01: 1000 hours

[ON]

It was Tav's second day on the ship, and the first in his new role as Assistant Chief Engineer. He had been asked, by a simple computer memo, to report to the department at 1000 hours and no earlier, no doubt to get the morning briefings out of the way.

After spending an hour in the holodeck weight training he was raring to go. He located the Chief's office just off the main engineering area. Behind the desk stood a woman around his age, slender frame, and quite short. Tav's eyes, however, were immediately drawn to the dark spots running down the sides of her face contrasting with her pale skin. As the door was open he tapped on the frame and waited for her to respond.

Lilou's gaze snapped from the check-list on the wall-board to the sound, her heart hammering in her throat. She'd just seen Watt off without, she hoped, making too big an idiot of herself. Now she was getting scared of knocks? Enough was really getting to be enough. Ducking her head to hide her jumpiness until it passed, she waved him in. She'd gotten a memo about an assistant transfer only that morning. At least it saved her from having to figure out how to select someone from her already overworked staff. "Come in, come in, no use holding up the door, it's one of the few things we haven't had to repair yet." She was grumpy, but that was mainly because she was still trying to make her heart stop racing as though she'd just been shot at. Tavish Hunter, if she remembered right from the memo. She glanced at the floor she'd been using as a desk, PADDs and schematics spread out inconceivably over almost the whole surface. "Just... don't step on anything. So you're Hunter, right?" she asked, although she wasn't really asking. She just needed to talk. It was either talk or stand, gaping silently, and be incredibly obvious about how uncomfortable she was with life in general and this specifically. "I'm Peers. Welcome to the mad house. When did you get on board - I only got your transfer notice this morning."

"I got mine two days ago," Tav admitted with a smile. "And yes, Tav Hunter, apparently your new deputy."

"Provided you approve," he added, as he stepped over the assorted data devices to reach a chair piled with more.

Considering the memo she had received had named Hunter as her assistant in the department, Lilou wasn't entirely sure she had a right to approve or not. Two weeks ago, he would have outranked her. Even now, they were on the same standing, command wise. The whole matter was incredibly convoluted. And this was why I liked being non-com. "Have you had an opportunity to check out the ship schematics and familiarize yourself yet?"

"I had a look on the way," Tav replied, as he moved the PADDs from the chair to her desk. "Do you mind if I put these here?"

Lilou nodded, noting where the PADDs were moved to. The office might have looked like a warzone, but she had it organized in her head.

"I was on the Excalibur prior to coming here, the technology is pretty much the same, it's just more compact, and seems to be placed haphazardly depending upon where there was a space."

"Right..." LIlou hedged. "Except it's not quite. It's a fresh build, a new design, and that means - yes, there are things shoved places because the designers hadn't quite figured out the layouts for what was needed versus what they had in mind, but also that we're the guinea pig. Fresh builds mean Engineering Corps hasn't gotten the manufacture of the ship down to a science yet. We're an experiment. And as such, we don't get to trust this girl as much as we might one of the ships that's been in construction for six or seven modification runs. And for this one, it seems they decided to cut corners a few more places that I'd have liked. We just had a strut malfunction yesterday because the gaskets they used to connect the hardware on the original build were faulty. Fun stuff like that." She paused, eyeing him quizzically, "Was your intention to sit in that chair, or just see what was underneath the PADDs?"

Tav sat in the chair, not consciously aware that he was still standing. First day nerves were undoubtedly kicking in.

"Right, well they didn't include that in the pack I got," he explained. "It mentioned development technology, but it was just literally that, a mention."

"Oh, well that mention was probably about the-" She cut herself off, wrinkling her nose, "what's your security clearance?"

"Level four, as of yesterday," he responded succinctly.

"Right." Lilou frowned, "I'll check with the commander and see what I can say. In the meantime, just... there's more to this ship than just being a fresh build. I'm afraid I can't explain much more than that without permission from up the chain." She sighed. "However mad that seems considering you're supposed to help me keep this thing flying," she added in a mumble. "You received a fairly glowing recommendation from Commander Yates." She wasn't sure where she was going with this. Was this how all department heads felt? As though they were wearing a costume two sizes too big? "Did you have any questions? About the ship? The department? Anything?"

"Not if you can't answer them," Tav replied with a smile. "I have lots, if you have time just show me around the basics and I'll work from there. I'm on beta shift, is that right?"

"At the moment," Lilou nodded. "But I'm always a comm away." The basics. What did he mean by the basics? It was a ship, a main engineering console. What was there to show him around? "Ah... right. In here," she pointed to the board covering the wall behind her. "This is the current Fix-It board. Next to each item/system is a name, or two or three. These are the teams that are assigned to repairs for that system." She paused, hearing Quinn's words echoing out of her mouth. "Commander Yates and Captain Saalm seem to think you're what we need, so I'm not going to give you an assignment. Chief Quinn gave me reign to find where I thought I could be most helpful and assist in any way I saw fit, and that opportunity gave me a chance to show him my skills. I'm going to do the same for you." She paused, tugging her ear, "I don't trust people, Hunter, not easily and not without knowing them, so this is me giving you faith. You earn the trust."

"I'm looking forward to earning it," Tav replied, the excitement showing on his face. He looked over the list on the wall, the majority of issues were trivial, the problem with trivial was they were constantly moved to the bottom of the pile. "I'll find my way around, but I'll also get started on that."

He pointed to the list.

"I'm guessing you want me to lead beta shift," he said, checking his understanding of the structure.

"That would be nice. I'm going to keep an eye on it the next few days, but that would be nice." She smiled slightly, "This is part of the trust-earning. Have you met everyone?"

"No one, so far," he responded. "I said hello to a few people on the way through, but that's all."

"You'll want to meet people. Willis. Ameen. Watt. Brauer. Slak. Rothgra. That's the whole group. Us against the Void." She looked at him carefully. "Us. I don't need a hotshot. I'm a hotshot and I don't even need me. We're a small department, we've got a lot to do, and traveling the way our command seems to, we have to make sure we keep the power reserves stocked and every nut and bolt in premium shape. Yates said you were good with department morale. They need it. Do what you're good at. Ask for help when you need it. Let the specialists specialize. Do you want me to call a department meeting, or can you manage?"

"No, that will only stop people from working," he said, shaking his head. "I'll go and find them and say hello, helps me get to know where the SCE put things too."

"Good." She tapped her PADD at her side. "Ah... more questions?"

"No, I'll give you a shout if I do," he replied, smiling and getting to his feet. "Not that I endorse fratenising with the boss, but it's a small ship, if you want to grab a drink when, or if, you get a break, let me know."

Fraternizing with the boss? She wondered if she should tell him that people didn't generally seek her out for fraternization even before she was promoted. Probably not. "If we get the same break," she said with a small nod. "Go, settle in, get a lay of the land, and I'll see you top of beta shift."

"1600 hours," Tav confirmed. "See you then."

He headed out of the office. She seemed friendly enough, almost as new as he was to running a department and desperately trying to keep her head above the water, but that's why he was here. Tav to the rescue, he thought and smiled. He couldn't seriously believe he would rescue anyone, but it was a good joke never-the-less.

OFF

Ensign Lilou Peers
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Tavish Hunter
Assistant Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

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