Introductions

Posted on Sun Jul 29th, 2018 @ 4:56am by Commander Fiona McCray & Lieutenant Robinson Drake II
Edited on on Sun Jul 29th, 2018 @ 4:57am

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Present Tense
Location: USS Victory, Deck 3, Second Officer's Office
Timeline: 2285

Not too deeply into his posted office hours there was a smart rap on Drake's doorjamb. The new first officer stood silhouetted in the opening jacket off, duty vest showing her rank and com link and her sleeves pushed up like she'd been getting into some hands on management.

He'd seen the small red blur in the hallways several times during the course of the morning but this was the first time he'd actually seen her still long enough to get more than a glimpse in passing. She looked more like a miniature school teacher than an executive officer. Casual version of the uniform aside she just seemed a bit too fragile for the post until you got a good look at the determined slant of her shoulders and the stubborn lift to her chin.

"Permission tae enter?" came the polite request in a richly accented contralto that didn't quite jive in the tiny elfin female darkening the second officer's doorway.

The freshly promoted mustang lieutenant blinks, shifting his focus from the hard copy of Victory's armament schematics, several sections circled in old fashioned sharp red, rolled out on the desk and smiles, " Of course, Commander. "

She strolled into his office and stuck out a hand " I thought I'd drop in and introduce m'self. Fiona McCray, I'm tha new farst officer." Her accent was almost thick enough to slice.

" Robinson Drake. " he reaches out to take her smaller hand in his admittedly medium sized hard calloused one. " I think I'm supposed to verify the weapons refit. " the small grin is almost embarrased.

The dainty hand was startlingly strong and had a fair share of calloused surface on it too. She gave a light but firm shake then let go.

"Joost wanted tae drop in and check how ye ware doin with the change oover." She looked down at the schematics. "Aye, the refit, how's it goin?"

" I think we're good overall. I'm cleaning up spotted a couple of problems.. " he points to one section. " Here's one.. If we take a hit on the phasor bank or it overloads, there's a chance it could surge the main computer through this routing. " his finger lays on a junction just off a fiber optic node. " When we get through shakedown I'm sure more will show up. Right now the main topic is EPS redundancy and the auxiliary targeting systems. "


She leaned over and peered down at the drawing, the tip of her braid bounced lightly against the desk. A frown crossed her elfin features and she growled. An honest to god peeved tabby sound. "I'd give a moonths wages tae get me hands on the lug who set this place oop" She fished in her hair for a moment and pulled out a blue pencil. She brandished it at him " May I" she asked before coming anywhere near his paperwork with it.

" Go ahead, " he steps back, " I don't think it's going to be a show stopper or major refit. I put it on the 'needs doing' right after power and targeting. "

"mm" she muttered already sketching " Bring it oop here...through this juncture. It shuid be suffciently clear oov tha fiber optics.....and while yer at it do an extra layer oov insulation oover there with a backup.......here"

His brown head near her's, peering at the modifications, "" Right.. right.. and another layer at the bulkhead seal in case of blowout. "

"Aye" she nodded " It won't be pretty boot it will damn sure be a sight safer than that" she tapped the offending node with her pencil.

" Right. Good. " he initials the blue notes. " Ok, while you're here.." he rolls the schematics over to the problem that's on the top of the list.

" EPS redundancy to the primaries. " he taps the point, " we're getting surge variance of 3%.. way over tolerance. I've been racking my brain, needing a qualified engineer.. oh.. like that new commander I've heard about, to point out where in system to put surge containment.. (oog: Oh blither blither )

She straightened her vest " Well...my knowledge is a wee bit oot oov date. Hae ye talked to yer Chief? I kin thet wasn't done under tha old Captain boot fruim what I've heard the man's a pure genuis." she frowned down at the drawings " if I'm joost makin a wooly arsed guess...I'd put it here...here....and here" she indicated the likely places.

" I was working on getting the right questions lined up. " the former technician admits as he looks at her suggestions, " Yes, ma'm.. that looks like a good a place as we can get without having to tear open the saucer section for another refit. "

She snorted " Since we have a grand total oov 3 weeks tae get tha dear lady space worthy...I dinna think thet will happen" she rubbed her jaw absentmindedly with the hand that still held the blue pencil and managed to draw on a thin blue beard.

" Here, marked yourself. " Drake hands a tissue over and points to his own jaw .

" You know.. " he says slowly after glancing back at the drawings, " if we do this right.. the entire system could hold enough power in reserve for a half second of function if the core fails.

"Bollocks" she grumbled as she rubbed the mark off " do thet all the time. Thanks" she nodded " hmm and half a second can be a lifetime when ye'v got need oov it."

" Yeah. " his eyes are already distant, " but what about bleed over..Wait..buffers here and here. That's.. oh.. triple check on surge, double on redundancy.. smooths out. " he grabs a PDD, "" ..to .03 variance.." his eyebrows raise. " Wow.. "


She nodded "Wow is reet." She shoved her pencil back into her hair and checked her watch " Alreet, I'll leave ye to it. Got miles tae go" she gave him a wry grin and headed towards the door " You know where me office is and my com code, don't hesitate to ping me if ye need anything"

" Will do, Commander. " he grins, " You'll have to sign off on all this anyway after I get engineering to approve. "

"Put it atop the ever growing pile up!" she said cheerfully " I'll sign it and kick it oop tae herself post haste"

Drake waves one handed at the diminutive officer's back, his full attention back on the drawings and PDD, transferring the written changes to copy before taking the full hardcopy in hand and heading out.

" Linela? EPS problem off the list. Targetting is up.. " he stops at the next office and waits for the human yoeman to hand him the next set of schematics " Here you are, sir" she said crisply " Sorry for the lag, been a really busy morning"

" So say we all. " he hands over the modified schematics, " XO was just here, fixed a few things.. Have engineering validate these and then route to her inbox. "

Yoeman Linela nodded " Yes sir, I saw her..she's been ....everywhere. " the young woman looked a little frazzled. " I'll get these to engineering ASAP"

" Yeah, part of the command job. Wait a second.. " and almost rolls the modified drawings out on her already overflowing worktable, " So here's what she did on the EPS.. and here's that fix on the network surge. "

" On your way to engineering take a break at the canteen and look these over. " he taps the EPS modifications, " My numbers work out to .03, double check me. Please. "
"Will do sir" Linela said with a nod " Should I send you up some coffee?"

" Yoeman, that'd be awesome.. " he grins, " and if they ever get pie.. well.. that's a dream. "

She laughed " Yeah...right up there with decent tea" she rolled up the drawings and hustled off to do his bidding.

 

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