A Late Meeting: Part 1

Posted on Mon Jul 31st, 2023 @ 8:35am by Captain Tristan Faust & Lieutenant Commander Darrod Hanous

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Mission 4: Through a Glass, Darkly
Location: Deck 5: Captain Faust's Quarters
Timeline: M4 MD01 (2268.07.10) 2115

It was about 2115 ship's time when Dar walked to the Captain's cabin. So far, everything seemed to be where it belonged. The Midway appeared to be fitted out like most of her sisters - that was a good thing. He'd gotten a snack, a shower, and a fresh uniform with the Midway's sunburst insignia, rather than the Joyeuse's mark. He looked, in other words, like he fit in here. He walked up to the Captain's cabin and tapped the doorbell button. "Captain? Dar Hanous. The new Engineer, sir."

He hoped the last comment was unneeded, but he'd been on the ship less than three hours - a reminder never hurt.

The door opened, "Good evening Mr. Hanous," Tristan responded as he stood up from the Eames Lounge chair. Normally he would long be changed into pajamas by now and ready to crawl into bed since his days started early and he was technically on call 24/7, but he wanted to actually have a chat with his new engineer. "Come on in and have a seat," he said.

Darrod nodded with a smile, walking in and sitting down. He still had his physical to clear before he would officially be on duty, but as the highest-ranked commissioned engineer on the ship, he was already on call if there was an emergency. He didn't mind that, either - he knew Constitution class vessels, and moreover, he liked them. The design was solid, without too much experimental nonsense, but just enough room that adjustments could be made on the fly. And that was one of the things he needed to talk to the Captain about - what kind of "on-the-fly" adjustments were already in place. "Just 'Dar' is fine if we're being unofficial, sir. I hope my delay wasn't too much of an imposition."

"Sure we can keep it unofficial," Tristan responded as he sat back down, "Tristan is fine then." He figured he would return the courtesy although most people still called him Captain except Dr. Kitchner of course. "The time is fine, although I normally try and turn in early," he explained, "Since I'm generally up early and I'm technically on call 24/7 given my position."

Dar nodded at the Captain, appreciating the candor from Tristan. "I'm accustomed to life on call too; so I'm accustomed to catching my sleep whenever I can." He smiled a bit. "So, Captain, what should I know about Midway before I get acquainted with my staff and the engine room?"

"Biggest thing, right off the bat, is we never recieved a proper shakedown cruise," Tristan explained, "We were on route to undertake it when an emergency situation called our attention. So far the ship has performed well... The other situation..." He sighed, "The key situation which necessitates you coming aboard was our previous chief engineer, Mr. Novo sabotaged the ship twice during our last mission. It wasn't his fault as he was under brainwashing..."

Well, those were two concerning pieces of news. At least the sabotage hadn't been bad enough that he could tell yet. But it did explain part of why he was the man for the job; he'd done enough against ships operating under Orion letters of marque while working on them and trying to get free to know what he was looking for here. "I heard about the early launch, but I'm not overly worried about the lack of a dedicated shakedown. Constitution class ships have been pretty solid in my experience, and just from transport and the feel of the deckplates, I'm not feeling that little hitch that happens when the engine's running suboptimally. But I'm certainly happy to get some diagnostics running when we're on cruise, just to make sure we're running at best-possible specs. As far as the sabotage, I'm glad to hear it wasn't deliberate on his part, and I hope he's getting treatment. Is there a list of systems he's known to have hit, and how? I can start rechecking tomorrow, just to make sure there isn't a 'gotcha' waiting for us."

"Yes, there is a list, Ensign Paige should have it, he's one of the damage control officers," Tristan responded, "The ship is well put together... Mr. Novo was the project manager, but it was long before the sabotage incident... He quite literally built the ship and that's why I wanted him aboard when we launched. He was... is also a good friend." There was more than a dose of melancholy in his voice as he described the situation.

Dar nodded - Novo was a name he knew from the SCE; but he didn't know exactly what it was the man had done. Finding out that he was project manager on a Constitution made sense. He nodded solemnly. "I hope I live up to the standard he set at San Fran, sir. I'm familiar with the Midway's spec sheets, and I've served on other ships of the class. I'm glad there's a list, I will look it over when I meet Ensign Paige. When he's cleared for starship duty again, I'm certain we'll get that resolved."

"Oh Mr. Paige is fine, at least from what I understand," Tristan responded, "He was only a bit shaken up by the whole affair in engineering..." The captain nodded, "The ship has served us well so far," he said, "Although I know a refit is already down the Pike... A colleague of Dr. Kitchner likes to say You know engineers, they like to change things."

Darrod chuckled a bit at the comment about engineers changing things, and nodded. "Well, we don't usually think of it as 'changing' so much as "improving". There's a couple minor retrofits before the big refit project, actually. I'm very excited to see the new dual-coil nacelles they're talking about rolling out with that refit in a few years, though. They think they'll be able to do a refit-in-place for the Hermes and a few other single-nacelle ships, taking them up from a cruise speed of warp 5 all the way up to starship standard, with only a minor adjustment to the core assembly and the nacelle. For existing starships, we'll have some minor maneuverability at warp speeds, faster acceleration, and more efficient power output." Obviously, getting Darrod into a discussion of tech got him a little excited. He genuinely liked what he did, and was always interested in what would make the ship able to do her job even better.

 

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