Arrival of Engineering

Posted on Tue Apr 2nd, 2024 @ 3:29am by Captain Rylan Gray & Lieutenant Sarah Graesyn & Lieutenant Commander Harrison Knox
Edited on on Mon Apr 8th, 2024 @ 7:15pm

1,847 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Opening Moves
Location: Bridge | Deck 1 | USS Thunderbird
Timeline: MD001 - 1200

Sarah peered out the window of the shuttle craft as it moved toward the docking bay of her new assignment, inspecting every bit of the ship that she could see. Once the shuttle landed she took her time to walk around the ship as much as she could, though she was very careful not to overrun her reporting time.

She strode down the boarding tunnel and made her way to the bridge, glad that she had worn her braces today as her knees were currently flared. When she stepped out of the turbo lift she adjusted her uniform and came to attention at the edge of the bridge. “Chief Engineer Lieutenant Graesyn, Reporting for Duty, Captain!”

Lieutenant Commander Harrison Knox stood from his seat and smiled. "Always with the Captain," teased Knox. "Welcome aboard, Lieutenant Graesyn. I'm Lieutenant Commander Knox, First Officer."

"Another PADD full of data to review," Rylan said, in the cultured accent he'd learned growing up in the public school system in London and Kent, "One wonders why they don't improve the storage capacity on the bloody things." He came to a halt, seeing a woman standing directly in front of the other turbolift, and said at once. "My apologies, Lieutenant, I didn't see you there."

Knox looked at the Chief Engineer. "It's true" stated Knox. "Captain Gray would miss a mugato in the middle of the opal sea. Always has hid nose in a PaDD" quipped the First Officer.

"Or rather, the crew isn't expected to report on board for another three weeks," Rylan shot back with a cheerful grin.

"Captain Gray, this is Lieutenant Graesyn, our Chief Engineer. Lieutenant, this would be the man of the hour, Captain Gray" Knox added making introductions.

"And that would explain it," Rylan said. "Why don't the two of you come join me in my Ready Room and we'll have a chat about what the next three weeks will look like."

Sarah gave a small bow and followed, already sure that the enigmatic duo in front of her were going to be a very different command than her previous which had been very serious nearly always. Once in the ready room she waited for the indication to take a seat as she looked around the room at any decorations.

This being his first day aboard, there were a few unpacked crates near the sofa. Rylan ignored them. With so much to learn, moving in was one of the last things on his mind. Instead, he directed Possum and the newcomer to take seats in front of his desk as he circled to find his own spot. This would, in fact, be the first time he'd sat down in here. Another small step on the way to assuming command of the Thunderbird.

"Please, have a seat," Rylan said. He waited until both were seated and then sat down himself. "As you can see, we've only just arrived ourselves. Over the next three weeks, you'll be given in-depth briefings and training. The Akira Class is new and we're to be one of the first five scheduled for launch. The data we accumulate over the next few months will help Starfleet work out any problems that arise before production begins officially."

“She shouldn’t be too much different than my previous posting in that regard then; the Alexandria was chock full of experimental tech. I highly look forward to getting to know the Thunderbird.” She smiled, one hand idly drifting to the bulkhead and feeling it briefly; listening to the ship for the energies that flowed through her.

"The Thunderbird isn't experimental, Lieutenant," Rylan said. "Rather, what we have aboard will be the standard for the class. Some of it will be familiar, of course, but there will be differences. And, given your situation, we'll need to be sure that there's at least one individual who can perform at your standards on the away teams." He paused a second, running down the list in his mind, of what needed to be said. "Are you familiar at all with Bajoran and Cardassian technology?"

Knox had taken a seat and listened intently to what Graesyn and Gray had said. "You could make the argument we are still field testing some newer tech," added Knox. He was curious what Graesyn had to say about Cardassian and Bajoran tech.

Rylan nodded in agreement; in a sense, they were field testing the entire ship. Making sure that the Akira Class performed, under working conditions, how the engineering and design team thought that it would. He relaxed back in seat, hands folded in his lap, and waited for Graesyn to answer.

Knox had carried a PaDD in with him and sat it atop Rylan's desk. It received some information that caught Harrison's eye when the screen illuminated. He looked at Ry but said nothing as he picked it up and skimmed over the information and took a very deep breath. He decided not to inform Captain Gray that his Yeoman had arrived as it wasn't exactly a pressing matter.

“I am not terribly familiar with Bajoran technologies but I am fully trained on and have personal experience with Cardassian. I’ve been aboard a handful of Cardassian Battlecruisers….” She paused, stopping herself before she said anything further though her face may very well have slipped her personal feelings on the matter of Cardassians while she took a breath. “I apologize if I seemed… overzealous. I know the Akira is new tech. What I meant is that my experience with the experimental tech on the Alexandria should give me an edge adapting to anything on board the Akira since she is absolutely top of the line.”

"Handful," Rylan asked, his expression losing the polite veneer, turning more serious, "few have been on one. How did you happen to be aboard so many?"

Knox was intrigued as well. "They aren't exactly the sort to roll out the red carpet" he stated. "If anything, they aren't very fond of non-Cardassians aboard."

“The captain of the Alexandria was an altruist to say the least. He believed in the old maritime laws of Earth in that any vessel stranded or struck disabled was to be aided, regardless of personal feelings towards its occupants….” She paused to collect her thoughts and decide how much to reveal about her personal feelings. “If I am honest I have never been fond of Cardassians myself, considering my condition and my mother. But I am not going to disobey orders from my commanding officers. During the course of the Alexandria’s mission there were several times that we came across disabled Cardassian cargo vessels as well as their escorts due to the Maquis and we rendered assistance. For me it was a chance to get a glimpse of the tech that contributed to my condition but it was also a chance to prove that I can indeed put duty before personal feelings.”

"As does Starfleet," Rylan murmured quietly. "However, you are not rated for away teams; as I understand it, that's a condition of your service. And yet, you've been aboard not one, but several, Cardassian battle cruisers?"

“The circumstances were unique, Captain. Both myself and the Chief Medical Officer were aboard after he had ensured that the situation on board the cruisers was stable and safe for me; and I was additionally accompanied and monitored by one of the medical team as an assurance. The cruisers were entirely disabled and the Chief Engineer was tending to the Alexandria’s needs while we were working to get their systems operational again. It was a very long procedure, one actually designed by the Chief Engineer to allow me some extra freedom from the normal routines. I do not expect the same to be allowed here on the Thunderbird; particularly as I will be fulfilling the extra duties that come along with my promotion.”

"And what exactly was it that took down several battlecruisers rendering them inoperable at the same time," Rylan asked.

“A clever use of the surrounding nebula by a group of Maquis attackers, Captain. They had set a decoy vessel up as bait and rigged its engines to release a Magneton Pulse upon a transporter lock being detected that ignited the gasses of the nebula that then knocked out and fried the majority of their major systems and left them disabled.” She paused and looked at the PaDD that the XO had brought in with a small grin. “May I borrow that, Sir? I can pull up the incident report and my personal log”

Knox gave a polite nod and handed the PaDD over to Sarah Graesyn "Knock yourself out, Lieutenant. I am sure the Captain would love to know the details of this one," he said and looked at Rylan. After passing the device over to the woman, he stood and proceeded to the replicator. "Raktajino, hot" he said ordering himself something to drink.

"I would," Rylan said. "It's an odd situation. Why were so many battlecruisers in one place, answering a distress call."

Sarah put in her credentials and accessed the Starfleet records from the Alexandria, inputting her credentials once again to gain access to the crew records files and then pulling up the incident from the Alexandria’s uploaded records. She spent a moment or two longer gathering any connected departmental logs concerning it and then the tactical reports and analyses from before the Alexandria had entered the Nebula as well as the entire time that it was inside and rendering aid before she handed the PaDD back over.

“It’s a bit of a lengthy read with everything I connected together for you, but it should give better insight. The only logs that I personally cannot access about the incident are any logs made by the XO or the Captain.”

"Commander, If you could send a copy of all of that to me and then read through it yourself as well," Rylan said. "Lieutenant, I'll investigate this more thoroughly but in the meantime, I want to make it clear that no such allowances will be made for you on this ship. You are not authorized for any away team missions. Now, having said that, I want to formally accept your transfer to the USS Thunderbird as our Chief Engineer. Computer, make a note in the ship's record."

"Noted," the computer responded in a neutral male tone.

"Unless you have any questions for me, I'm certain you have quite a bit to do in the coming weeks," Rylan said. "And I'll want regular progress reports."

“Understood and as expected, Captain. No questions, I have much to do indeed and you can expect reports to be entered into the ship's log in the morning and evening.” She gave an impressive bow considering her condition and then stood, turning for the door with a smile. ~To be honest; I am looking forward to routine, once it’s established anyway~

"Dismissed, Lieutenant," Rylan said to her retreating form. "And welcome aboard." He turned toward his Executive Officer and said, "So, what's next?"

 

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