Welcome Aboard

Posted on Mon Dec 18th, 2023 @ 11:40pm by Lieutenant Pharos Ventari

1,670 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: Campor III - Resupply
Location: Engineering
Timeline: MD-C17

The new crew member's file was on her desk that morning. The usually feckless Chief Engineer had simply settled in for a read. Interesting. She wasn't familiar with his race, but his record said he was a good Engineer. Truthfully, that's all she cared about-that someone could do their job and do it well.

She stood up, and headed out to the Bullpen, where the males of the team were gathered around the Pool table, messing around with...well, she had no idea, really, and she wasn't about to ask. The two other females, both enlisted, were off in a corner, gossiping. She didn't mind-they were both hard workers, and she liked them.

"Alright, people, listen up. We have a new person, Lt. Junior Grade Pharos Ventari. Say hello!" She smiled. "You all have your daily ticket assignments. Sar, please follow up with Commander Chalan about the water tower thing when you can, after your tickets. Thanks. Alexander is the Officer of the Day until I return from boring Chief stuff. Get to it!" She watched as they scattered to collect toolboxes, PADDs, and various supplies. Later, she was due to do some upkeep on the Warp Core, but first. Boss stuff called.

"Mr. Ventari? Please, come on in to the office," she said. "Help yourself to something from the replicator. I'd be careful about taking coffee from Sar; he's got that crazy Vulcan gut-rot stuff," she wrinkled her nose. A moment later, she led him into the office.

Pharos paused for a moment in the office door, glancing back at the personnel in engineering but failing to identify which one might be Sar, let alone what his 'gut-rot' concoction might be. After a moment, he pushed it aside and followed the Commander into her office.

"I hope your first day is finding you well. I am Lieutenant Commander Paisley F'rar. My acting assistant is Lt. Adam Turner. He's very much the opposite of me, and honestly, he should be the Chief. But here we are," she said. She picked up her coffee and sipped it, waiting for the man to respond.

The lieutenant dipped his head respectfully. "It is an honor to be here, Commander Far... Rarf... Fer... Commander, sir." The universal translator was a remarkable technology, but it had its limitations, and couldn't always help when trying to pronounce the names of individuals, especially for the first time. He would need to tweak the translation matrix later into something his mouth could reproduce. "You have an amazing ship here, sir. I offer my skills and expertise, wherever you feel they might be of the greatest benefit."

Paisley simply nodded. "First, it's always ma'am. I am not a man, and "sir" is what people call my father," she said. "But thank you," she said. "I run this department fairly loosely-if you do your work and keep your nose clean, I'll leave you alone. I don't require much except good, hard work and a little respect for each other. That said, the group is pretty solid, but if anyone gives you trouble, let me know right away. Sar is the Vulcan. He's adorable. He'll most likely ask to tag along-he likes to learn a lot. Turner and Andrews are both your classic Engineer types. Both are married with families. Um...Garcia and Janes are both enlisted. They are very responsive to requests, and quick on the assistant duties. You'll likely tag along with me usually-I, too, am trained in damage control and repair. I prefer to do that kind of thing, but alas...warp cores are my life now, I guess," she said. "Any questions about anything?" She asked.

"Many things," Pharos replied with a nod. "But none that I need to bother you with at this time. The ship and her systems are new to me, and it will just take a little time to... 'get up to speed', as I believe the saying goes. As for the team, if they do indeed give me 'trouble', I am capable of looking after myself, and you have my promise that I will endeavor not to eat any of them." Back at the academy, Pharos' human roommate had often encouraged the Rechakan to employ humor to defuse tense or awkward situations. Unfortunately, Rechakan humor didn't always translate well.

Paisley laughed. "Well. You need to do as you must," she said. "Feel free to ask anything anytime. What do you prefer to do? Unfortunately-or maybe fortunately-damage control isn't something we're doing a lot of out here. We're not a battleship. BUT I do try to give people their first-choice of assignments each day." She said. She tried to be as fair a boss as possible, when she had to do that kind of thing. Which she hated, but she was learning.

Compared to his previous Gorn CEO, Commander F'Rar seemed practically easy-going, and being asked what he wanted to do was about the last thing Pharos was expecting on his first day. On the other hand... was this a test? Pharos' spines started to tense at the thought. Was she seeing if he was a hard worker by offering potentially easy duty and seeing if he instead opted for something tougher? Or was it more likely he was reading a little too much into it? After a few more moments of consideration as his spines relaxed, Pharos nodded, four hands clasped behind his back. "I am not afraid to get my feet dirty if there is difficult work that needs doing, but if the regular duty roster is already filled for the day, I could take the opportunity to review the technical laboratory facilities, and perhaps revive some personal projects that have been on snow." That didn't sound right. "Or ice? Yes, on ice."

Paisley nodded. "A technical laboratory? Sounds interesting. We have some free space on this deck, feel free to use it. I will start sending you daily tickets tomorrow-no one advised me you were coming aboard, so I assume it was a last-minute thing," she said. She wouldn't ask-not because she didn't care, but because she figured he'd tell her in time, if he was comfortable to do so.

"Why don't you start on that, then? Get me the schematics for it, and we'll give you some supplies. Coordinate with Commander Soros, she's the Chief Operations person, and maybe science. I am interested to see what you come up with," she said. "I will inform command, don't worry about that. Captain is pretty easygoing, and the XO is a personal friend so I don't see it being a problem," she said. "Anything else? If not, feel free to get started. Like I said, I don't want to be a babysitter, but I do like updates every so often. We meet first thing in the morning for a few minutes to pass out assignments or whatever, and then again at shift change to pass on information. Do you have a shift preference?" She asked. "I can't guarantee you'll always get that one, but I do my best to have a few people spread out."

"Wherever you wish to put me is fine," Pharos assured. He wasn't exactly picky anyway, but if she was almost giving him carte blanche to pursue the project, then the least he could do was remain flexible as far as shift assignments. "And thank you, sir. I will review the available spaces and find one that fills all the requirements, then devise a preliminary design." The lieutenant had no doubt that the Columbia had all sorts of research labs that could be used, but if she was offering the opportunity to create one from scratch to his own specifications, who was he to say no?

Paisley nodded. "Alright. Sounds good. I won't keep you any more, then. I am headed down to the Warp Core. You'll be reporting to Lt. Alexander, since Turner is on Beta today," she said. "I can't hear much down there," she said. "I will be around to check in with later, and in case of an absolute emergency, I keep channel 3 open as the direct Engineering line," she explained. "You're dismissed!" She said, standing up to get her tool kit. "Extra tool kits are stocked next door, in the supply closet. Take a bit to familiarize yourself with the office, and then get on it!" She smiled. "I'll walk you out, and introduce you to Alexander, unless he's introduced himself already," she said, locating her toolkit, and hoisting it up. "We are waiting for more Anti-Grav lifts, but if you find one, feel free to borrow it from Ops," she said. "Let's go," she said, leading him out the door and down the hallway to the nearby propulsion labs, where Alexander and Sar were supposed to be starting that day, doing...well. Whatever it is they did in there. Paisley didn't care much about making sky vehicles go forward outside of the slip streams and warp cores, so she let them handle it. She peeked in. "Hello, gentlemen, this is Lt. Junior Grade Pharos Ventari. He'll be building a new Technical Laboratory facility. He'll be checking with you today, Lt.," she said to the shorter brunette man. "I am headed to the Core to do an upgrade," she said. "As usual, channel three. See you all later," she said. "And BE NICE," she said, shaking her head.

"Of course." Turning slowly on the spot, Pharos watched as Commander F'Rar departed, and he absently clicked the tips of his mandibles together as he considered his new boss. Being the first day, it was difficult to draw any conclusions with any certainty, but she was not like any of the superior officers he'd served under before. After another moment of consideration, he turned to Lieutenant Alexander and Ensign Sar. "I like her," he stated simply, before continuing the introduction and checking in with the Lieutenant. The chief had given him his first assignment, and there was no sense in waiting to get started.

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