Engineering

Posted on Thu Apr 14th, 2022 @ 11:39am by Captain Dirk Taggart & Lieutenant Commander Henry Castle

Mission: Team Building
Location: Engineering

Captain Taggart stood and stretched after reviewing reports and finalizing paperwork. He had been in the Ready Room for several hours and decided it was time for a walk about. There were a few new officers on board that he hadn't had a chance to welcome yet, so he decided it was the perfect excuse to get out of the office, as the expression went.

He made his way to Engineering first, the sight of the warp core, drew his gaze like the siren's call to sailors of old. He stared for a moment looking at the heart of the Pennsylvania's engines, the lights emanating from it was nearly entrancing. As a former security officer he knew next to nothing about it except what he needed to, in order to run the console in extreme emergencies; but that was why there were engineers onboard, he thought to himself.

Henry Castle heard the hydraulics of the large double doors open, and close. The shift duty personnel were already at work - he had met with them earlier, and gotten to know the people he would be working with. Chief Engineer of a Starship. It was a grand title, as far as he was concerned. Captains gave the orders, sure. He was the one who kept the engines running.

Setting a PADD down, Henry rose from his workstation, and headed into the main floor of the engineering department. He already had the sleeves of his uniform jacket and undershort rolled up - he had always been someone who was ready to jump into the thick of repairs himself. The man who stood, looking the Core had four gold pips on the collar, and so Henry walked smartly up to him. "Captain Taggart. A pleasure to meet you, Sir."

"Lieutenant Castle, nice to meet you too. I was coming by to see you to make sure you were settling in, but I got a little caught up watching the core lights. Anyhow I would like to welcome you aboard the Penny, she's a good lady."

"Aye, she is at that." Henry agreed. He had spent most of his time going over recent engineering reports, to get a feel for the ship, and any reoccurring hot-spots, as any posting had their own quirks. "She's certainly different to the outside."

"Yeah she needs a bit of attention, the Astrae has built some parts for us so we can fix our industrial replicator that way we can build whatever else we need. We've had to do some patch work to keep her going and haven't been past warp 5 or 6 in a long time," Taggart explained.

"Warp 6?" Henry raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like something I can begin to dig my teeth into." He was eager for a chunky challange to get started on. "Eager for a change after working on the Tabula Rasa outpost."

"I don't know how much your briefing covered but I'm sure you heard about us getting ambushed outside Tabula. The Federation had the Graviton Catapult shut down by then and Iota didn't have the equipment we needed either. So yeah you definitely have a puzzle to sing your teeth into." Taggart paused a moment before continuing, "we've had several different engineers come and go recently, so after you have a chance to look e erything over I'd like you to give me an honest estimate of the state of things down here. Let me know what you need to get us 100% operational then let me know what would be on your wish list."

"I knew there was 'an' incident." Henry agreed. "I wasn't aware it was quite that serious." He had only just started going over recent repair reports. With the Catapult shutdown now for about six months, the thoughts of resupply were starting to become prominent.

"Yeah that was one of the reasons we stopped at Ketram a few weeks ago, we heard they were traders there. Unfortunately it didn't quite work out. Either way once we can get the large replicator online again everything else should follow. Is there anything else you think we'll need?" Taggart asked the engineer.

Henry considered the question. "Honestly? I won't have a full idea until I wrap my head around the ship. I like to get to know an engine's quirks before I start tinkering with it. No two Warp Cores are identical."

"I say the same about weapons," replied the Captain. "I was a security officer before going into Command as an XO. If you need anything just let me know, I try to keep a running list of needs and wants for each department. I need to move along here in a minute, I have an inspection to conduct. Is there anything you need answered before I go?"

"No, Sir. I'll get you a list once I've gotten settled." Castle was pleased to find this man was willing to let Castle do his job. He had heard too many stories of Captains trying to micromanage. "I won't keep you, Sir. A pleasure to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too Lieutenant Castle, don't forget that list" Captain Taggart said before leaving the engineering department.

#TheEnd