Meeting the Chief Engingeer

Posted on Sun Jan 14th, 2024 @ 10:38am by Captain Grace Stark

818 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: 1 - Cruising through the galaxy
Location: Deck 1 - Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: After post "Senior kids on the block"

As the day dragged on, Grace still had many more Cadets to interview about their plans to lead their department. The fat woman sat on the sofa that lined the inner pink wall of her pink-carpeted office, picture frames of her family covered a section of her desk where the other section had a collection of PADDs, walls filled with pictures or framed letters of her achievements, some duty.

Dave was waiting patiently for his turn to meet with the captain, his feet nervously tapping as he waited for her to call upon him. He was prepared for this, well as much as he could, he had no idea what the Captain was to ask of him or what she was expecting from him, but he could only help himself.

Grace let out a sigh, commanding a teaching ship that was draining her of life. "Enter," She called out, before the officer in training could even mutter a word she imposed a seat by pointing at a pink armchair across from a small coffee table. "Captain Stark or Ms Stark." She said exhausting her hand through the air.

As he heard the voice he stood up straight, taking a deep breath as he entered the room, giving a small nod as the Captain motioned towards the chair. Taking a small pause he began to introduce himself, "Senior Cadet, David Holloway. Assigned as Chief Engineer Officer." Nothing the Captain wouldn't already know, "Please to meet you, Captain Stark."

"Likewise," Grace said with her false smile. "So Dave, can I call you Dave?" She asked rhetorically, not given a moment of pause for an answer. "You're a Technologist, oh do tell me what the particular field of technology you want to specialise is." She was going to be seeing the Seniors quite often, it would be best if they felt comfortable around her, seeing her as a close confidant.

Dave gave a small nod and was about to answer but before he could say okay to his name, Captain Grace had already moved on to the next bit. "Uh.. yes, I am good with the technology. I specialize in programming software, and also at Hardware programming, and coding in general." Anything that runs on a code, he can code. But put the parts in front of him and he can build it, he was a natural hacker as well, but that information would not do him any wonders would it?

"Well, that is marvellous. Starfleet could always use more programmers," Grace knew sweet fanny ann about programming, she didn't want to push the boat out even further. "I take it Chief Eningeer wasn't the position you were hoping for?" Grace asked, sitting comfortably in her seat.

"Not Really... I applied... well my preference would have been filling in for the Computer Systems specialist slot, that is where my strength lies. I didn't expect I was capable enough to be selected as the Chief Engineer." He was one of the smartest kids of his batch, but his communications sorely lacking and of that, he was very well aware. He knew he was a much better fit as a Computer System Specialist, but this was a new venture and one he wasn't going to abandon.

Grace's fingers were interlocked. "Let's get down to business then," She stated wanting to know how her chief engineer would deal with her ship. "My ship is 40 years old, and things such as the Subspace Pulse Engine is incompatible with modern-day equipment. What are your plans to resolve this before we leave Spacedock Chief?" She asked knowing the answer full well to this question.

Dave gave a small gulp, he didn't know that this introduction would turn into an interview, "I have studied the old Subspace Pulse Engine and the other modules... there are two fixes... first is simpler but more expensive... we should go to the Shipyard and source ourselves the latest Modules and Engines... This is the safest option... The other is a risky option but less expensive. We only need to replace a few modules... The old hardware is still compatible, the old software is not, I would have to change a few lines of code... well a lot of lines, but it could work, and will be more efficient. Of course, Along with that, I will have to add extra chipware to bypass the compatibility verification..."

Grace was amazed, she didn't know there was a solution, yes Cadets came up with solutions but the way they sold them to her didn't convince her. "Well, I just turned the thing off." She commented not knowing what they did in the first place. "Starfleet is mass mobilising starships, there's no such thing as spare parts at the moment. Please proceed with the risky option... Chief," She said, there had been little times she had been impressed with the Cadets but this cruise was somewhat different.

 

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