Getting to Grips
Posted on Tue Sep 27th, 2011 @ 1:20pm by Captain Elsie Halliwell & Lieutenant JG Myles Hane
1,860 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Taylforth
Location: Engineering and Halliwell's Ready Room
Timeline: Current
ON:
She jumped, the hand on her shoulder catching her by surprise, absorbed as she was by her work she hadn't heard him slip behind her. Turning her head, the first thing she noticed were his two deep blue orbs, alight with mischief.
"Whatcha, Lieutenant. Have you got that report for me?", Myles said, grinning at his XO's response. He was framed by the halo of the light from the warp core, which threw his features into stark relief and gave his blonde hair a blue tint.
The Lieutenant let a small smile through before slipping a padd into his hand and looking back at the workstation screen, "There, Sir. It should contain everything you need for your report to the Captain"
Myles scanned through it quickly, skimming through the content whilst still smiling, "It looks good. How're the EPS systems working for you?"
A sigh, then a tired response, "I'm checking every square metre of our EPS grid, it's... tedious."
Hane patted her on the shoulder, infectious grin plastered onto his face as he turned towards the Engineering doors, "Keep up the good work... I'll be back after my meeting with the Captain."
The doors of Engineering opened and he stepped through, turning towards the nearest turbolift and setting off on a brisk pace. He hadn't seen much of the Captain, and he hadn't yet met any of the senior staff. He'd even had to pass up the chance to beam onto a pre-warp space station.
As soon as he'd beamed on board the Ranger he'd had to deal with an array of problems; holographic emitter misalignments, ghost readings on the sensors, problems with the tertiary phase buffer in Transporter Room 2, and the biggest problem: the EPS grid.
He passed a crewmember going in the opposite direction, a Lieutenant wearing the Teal colours of science and medical; they exchanged courteous smiles.
Less people aboard than the Saratoga, he mused. A referral to his last stationing, an Excelsior-Class vessel which had been decommissioned.
It wasn't as if the problems he had encountered were major. Indeed he might have left them to a subordinate or left them until they were less busy. He may have even gone on the away mission if he had done so. However, he was a man of high standards, for himself and his team. He wouldn't rest until he had brought the Ranger up to it's optimum and made sure the Engineering department and it's work reflected his standards.
"Deck 1", he called, squeezing past a large Bolian crewmember and into the turbolift. The doors slid shut and the lift whisked him upwards at high speed. He became self-conscious, all of a sudden, remembering that this would most likely be his first full meeting with the Captain. He wanted to make a good impression.
Before he could contemplate longer, the turbolift doors opened to the Bridge; taking a step out, he examined the aesthetics. The viewscreen was large, larger than he was used to - it was currently displaying the station that the away team had been sent aboard.
Glimmering in the light of this system's sun, the station appeared to him as a giant snake in the sky, watching over the planet like the snake-god Dahn of ancient Dahomeyan myth. The planet itself was an expansive swathe of green and blue, mostly blue, that took up a large portion of the viewscreen.
He stood for a few more seconds, awash with awe at the sight of the relic which now floated, desolate, in orbit of the planet. He had much respect for early engineers and pioneers, the conditions which they endured to get the job done were much harsher than he or any Starfleet engineer was used to.
But, now was for the present, and he presently headed to the Captain's Ready Room, drawing himself up to his full, and considerable, height and pressed the chime to be admitted.
Elsie barely looked up from the console that had framed her view for the past three hours. She had received a brief report that the away team had boarded the desolate station, but no further details about what they had discovered or happened upon since. Her to-do list was piling high with more and more mission related specifics that seemed to need her attention and approval; not least of all the SOS transmissions they had intercepted earlier that day. She inhaled, swept the console to the right of the desk and sighed, pinching the top of her nose in an attempt to quash the subtle headache that had haunted her since the morning.
“Come,†she called out almost like a bark as the doors immediately opened allowing the lieutenant admission into her domain. She glanced up again, lifting the steaming cup of tea to her lips and then ceremoniously stood to greet the engineer. “Ah, Mr. Hane! I apologise that we haven’t had time to formally introduce ourselves until now but you’ll have to excuse me. I feel our working relationship will have to be developed on the fly, as they say. What can I do for you?â€
Myles stepped towards the desk with a ingratiating smile. "Thank you, Captain. Pleasure to talk with you again. I appreciate you're busy - I have the same problem myself, as you know. In fact... "
He detached two padds from his belt; PaDD was his own report, the other was a report on recent maintenance work which had been compiled by his Engineering XO. He handed both to her. "Some reports for you, I hope they'll make for an interesting read", he said, the last part tinged with a hint of sarcasm.
Halliwell outreached her hand and took the PaDD from him, spinning it to face her so she could read it and glanced at the title. "Maintenance?" she questioned him, an inverted eyebrow now reaching for her hairline as she placed it on a pile of three further PaDDs. "I may have to review it at a later date," she then said, a hint of sarcasm in her own voice now tainting her tone. "Now," she said, placing herself gently down in her familiar support and motioning him to take the vacant seat opposite, "you didn't come all the way up her from Engineering to trouble me with delivering a report, did you? Tea?" she motioned to the pot that rested to her left.
Myles took a seat, inclining his head, "Please... Yes, I've had a few problems. The EPS systems have been keeping me up all night... the grid in the Engineering hull kept giving off minor fluctuations which we couldn't pinpoint. We're in the process of checking each section of the ship's EPS lines for any clues as to where it's coming from", he smiled tiredly, "The Ranger is a stubborn ship, Ma'am."
Elsie raised an interested eyebrow and smiled, nodding as she spoke. "She is indeed, Lieutenant," she said, leaning forward a little and pouring the amber liquid into the other empty china cup on the tray. She placed the pot down, and then leant back. "You'll get the hang of her, I'm sure." She lifted her cup and drank a little mouthful. "So, how have you been settling with us, Mr. Hane?"
Myles took the tea, blowing steam off of the top of the cup and leaning back, "I haven't met anyone much, apart from my team... I've been working long hours and taking dinner late. Now that I've finished most of the jobs I set myself, I should get out more. I was hoping to catch some people in the Mess Hall later."
He ran his hands through his hair, a habit he to himself swore that he'd stop, "If I'm honest Captain, I gave this report to you by hand because I wanted to get to know you a bit better. You have quite a reputation."
Halliwell stopped a little short as she was raising the cup to her mouth again. She cocked her head to one side, knitted her eyebrows in a confused yet intrigued fashioned and curled the edges of her mouth downwards. "A reputation?" she inquired.
Myles stopped himself short, suitably abashed at the Captain's reaction, "I.. uh- When I was choosing which vessel to apply for after the Saratoga.. My previous Commanding Officer pulled your name out of the, well, long list and said, 'That one.'"
"Your work as a Commander, and your contribution as a Science Officer, the way you've dealt with all life's thrown at you has earnt you the respect of many in Starfleet, including myself - to tell you the truth, I had singled out the Ranger from the start."
Halliwell seemed pleased with the reply, if a little bemused, as she continued to raise the cup to her mouth once more, draining the last of the tea from the vessel. "It's nice to know that the Ranger... and her crew, are thought highly of within the Fleet. In fact, I wish that someone would convey such an intimation to the representative of Internal Affairs investigating both me and our current mission. But I'm sure you'll get to hear about that further from the crew." She paused, smiled a little more comfortably to the lieutenant and then threw him a bone. "You yourself don't come without merits, Mr. Hane."
Myles was relieved at the change of subject. Setting down his cup with care, his grin returned, though it was carefully controlled in the presence of the Captain, "I'd like to think I have something going for me."
Then his mood changed somewhat, and with a modicum of seriousness he looked directly at the Captain, "With sincerity, though, I'll get the job done, Captain.. and I'll give it all I've got - I expect the same from my team. We wont let you or Ranger down."
Elsie's face relaxed as she nodded with a small and controlled jerk of the head. As she did so, a strand of golden hair came loose from its grip so she casually tucked it behind her ear. "Just keep her together Mr. Hane and I'm sure that we'll muddle through this."
Her face then took on its usual stoic, professional demeanour as she reactivated the console before her and swiped away her daughter's file and activated another. "Since you seem to have chased all of the ghosts out Ranger for now," she said, gesturing to the report that lay on her desk, "I was wondering if you could give the Science department a hand with the probe we're about to launch. Crewman Sessan's assisting but the project might benefit from an Engineer's point of view."
Myles nodded, "I'll get down there as soon as I can, Ma'am."
OFF:
Captain Elsie Halliwell
Commanding Officer
USS Ranger
AND
Junior Grade Lieutenant Myles Hane
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Ranger
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