Meeting of the minds in Engineering [Backpost]

Posted on Wed Nov 28th, 2012 @ 9:54pm by Lieutenant Commander Robert Hogan & Lieutenant Mikaela Breland

Mission: Episode 1.1 - "MystiQue"
Location: Main Engineering - Chief's Office
Timeline: Mission Day 01, 1330 hrs

ON:

[Main Engineering, 1330 hrs]

Robert Hogan was busy putting things away in his office, a picture here, an award there. One of the first things on the list to do was meet with his folks, especially his Assistant Chief. He didn't know anything about Lieutenant Breland, but as long as she did her job that shouldn't be a problem.

Mikaela had been on duty most of the day, introducing herself to the Yorktown staff and trying to get familiar with the Legacy class vessel. It was nice to know that some of her crewmates from Starbase 386 were aboard too. She had been informed that the Chief Engineer had arrived about a half hour ago and had been oddly feeling a bit nervous. For the last several years she had worked with the same Chief Engineer - working with someone else would likely be quite a change.

Though she had taken note of when the new Chief Engineer had arrived in Engineering, Mikaela had not initially sought him out. It was likely that he wanted to get settled in and would find her when he was ready. So instead, she had been running diagnostics on the ship's systems while she waited.

Robert took a couple of minutes to straighten some things in the office. The last Chief Engineer, it seems, had forgotten to clean up before he or she left. He looked at his reflection in the data terminal screen on his desk, fixed his hair and tapped his combadge.

=^= Commander Hogan to Lieutenant Breland. Please meet me in my office. =^=

Mikaela paused and tapped her commbadge, "Understood, sir." Glancing at her work, she typed in the command to lock the console and headed over to the Chief Engineer's office. It wasn't a long walk, since she'd already been fairly nearby. Pausing at the doorway, she knocked and waited.

Robert looked over at the door, thinking he'd left it open but apparently had not. "Enter." He turned to face the door and put his padd down on the desk.

Hearing a man's voice from inside the office, Mikaela took a deep breath and straightened her uniform before walking in. Making her way directly to his desk, she stopped short of it and nodded to him, unsure if he would respond well to a smile. "Lieutenant Mikaela Breland, reporting as ordered, sir."

Robert had been handling a padd on his desk when Breland entered. Placing it on his desk, he looked up and smiled. Extending a hand, he greeted her. "Welcome Lieutenant. I'm Lieutenant Commander Robert Hogan."

He motioned for her to sit as he sat down in the comfy chair behind his desk. At least the last Chief had the kindness to leave him a cozy chair to worry and fret about his engines in.

"I understand you spent a great deal of the last few years on a Starbase Engineering department."

"Pleasure to meet you, sir," she answered as she took a seat. Settling in and interlacing her fingers together with her hands in her lap, Mikaela nodded, "Yes, Commander, my last assignment was on Starbase 386 as Damage Control Officer and Shipyard Foreman."

"Shipyard Foreman eh? So you were the one Chief Engineers scorned waiting to get their overdue supplies?" Robert grinned. "Only kidding of course. So what do you think about the Legacy class starship? How does she hold up compared to, say, a Sovereign?"

A bit nervous meeting her superior officer, her initial pleasant expression briefly turned to a frown at his comment, but she chuckled once she realized he was kidding with her. At least he had a sense of humor, that was certainly a good sign. "Well, sir, I spent a few years on a Sovereign class ship, but my experience with a Legacy class vessel is rather limited I must admit. Thus far, she seems fairly impressive. And hopefully we won't have near as many holodeck issues as the Hale did..."

"The Hale? I must admit I am at a loss on that one, but I agree, there shouldn't be as many cuts, bruises and missed shifts on this ship. But, as for the Hale..."

"Yes, the USS Hale; she's a Sovereign class ship, sir, serving in Task Force 9. I was assigned to her for a couple years and...well...let's say the holodeck was a major bane to Engineers. Nothing working at all, safety protocols somehow being disabled, programs freezing," Mikaela explained, shaking her head as she remembered all the times she'd had to make a visit to the holodeck.

Robert shook his head. "I remember days like that myself. On one of my assignments, we actually found out the Chief Engineer was purposely disabling the safety protocols and engaging in dangerous programs. He had some mental issues and failed to keep several appointments with the ship's counseling staff."

Mikaela blinked, surprised. "Wow. That's certainly....not good. I suppose the only bright side there is that the ship wasn't malfunctioning. Still though." Hoping to move to a better subject, she asked, "What do you think of the Legacy class, Commander?"

"It's not a Sovereign class, but it's pretty darn close." Robert grinned. "I actually worked as an Engineering consultant for about the last year of the Legacy project. My own contributions to the project were small, but I like to think Chief Engineers can thank me for the design of their office chairs."

Chuckling slightly, Mikaela replied, "I'm sure the department and ship overall will benefit from you having consulted on the Legacy class, sir. Any highlights you'd like to share or things to watch out for with this design?"

"Well, as I recall, the navigational deflector array was somewhat tricky. The induction stabilizers all got hairline cracks and the maglocks were demagnetizing. Most ridiculous thing you ever saw."

"Really?" Mikaela asked, a little surprised. "How were those issues addressed?" They certainly weren't things one would hope to see while traveling around the universe.

"We replaced the maglocks four times then I performed some diagnostics on the locking clamps themselves. The problem was a contractor one and we switched to a different contractor. The stabilizers were cracking during transport. That was harder to narrow down. It took several months before we figured that one out. The problem was in the actual transport of the stabilizers from the contractor's cargo hold onto the fleet yards. They were using a malfunctioning cargo transporter pad which had an error in the Heisenberg compensator."

Shaking her head, the young woman said, "Wow, they do sound like they would be difficult to pinpoint. I suppose those types of issues can come up no matter what, but I can see why it would take awhile to come to those conclusions. I'm glad to hear they were fixed."

"Yes, well as you can see, we have to be prepared for anything out here. We don't have the luxury of a starbase facility to just go and retrieve a new batch of whatever. Out here, we don't have the luxury of six months to figure out a problem. Of course, how else would Chief Engineers keep the mystique of being miracle workers?"

Mikaela grinned, "Quite true, sir. It was convenient having the materials we needed at our disposal on the base, more or less...but it certainly took away the challenge and excitement of finding a way to fix an issue with more limited resources. Overall I'm rather glad to be on a ship again." After a few moments of thought, she asked, "Is there anything I should know about how you like to run Engineering or how you view my role as your Assistant Chief?"

"I'm glad you asked. I see the Chief and Asst. Chief working together; when I make a decision in public, don't disagree with me. If you have an issue with something, we can discuss in private. I also don't like to let the hammer down on my folks in public. If someone screws up, we can talk about it privately - unless it makes a clear hazard for the ship or other crew. As for you and I, I like to hear ideas and have discussions, but at the end of they day it's my hide on the line to the skipper. Also, I don't know everything, so if there is something you see or have a better idea on by all means speak up."

Doing her best to take in the information Robert had given her, Mikaela slowly nodded. His viewpoints were not dissimilar from what Kilana's (PNPC) had been on Starbase 386, or from her own for that matter. "Understood, Commander. I'm used to an environment like that - discuss issues privately unless it's necessary to quickly prevent danger. And I appreciate that you're willing to listen to ideas and discuss theories. If there's anything I can do to help make your job easier, just let me know, sir. Otherwise, I'll do my job as best I can and work with you and the others."

"Sounds good Lieutenant. One other thing, when we are in private, behind closed doors, you can call me Robert." He stood, shook her hand and nodded. "I'll see you later Lieutenant. If you'll excuse me, I need to finish some things in my office."

OFF

Joint Post by:

Lieutenant Commander Robert Hogan
Chief Engineer
USS Yorktown

Lieutenant Mikaela Breland, (PNPC)
Asst. Chief Engineer
USS Yorktown
Played by: Lieutenant Darvetti