New Chief In Town

Posted on Fri Apr 13th, 2012 @ 10:05am by Lieutenant Reggie Eito & Senior Chief Petty Officer Gilbert Bones [PNPC] & Captain Alexander Gunning

Mission: The Mystery Men of Mira
Location: Maintenance Bay 12 [Engineering Section - Deck 2032]

[ON]

Bones sighed as he leaned on the railing of the small fabrication room. It had originally been designed for automated repair controls but given the lack of any such system in Maintenance Bay 12, it had become somewhere for Bones to supervise the team responsible for the refit of the station's turbolift system.

He had barely seen the outside of the Engineering section for a month since the project began. Dismantling and reconditioning the lift cars was taking an age, despite the fact that he had every engineer he could make available working on it. The station was just too big and the myriad turbo shafts were too expansive to be taken on by just a few thousand engineering staff, most of whom had proficiency in turbolift systems but nothing more. After all, when would an engineering student need to know it? It was a job for the Corps of Engineers building and refitting star ships. No-one wanted to be those guys.

His pores were clogged with grease and his hands were so covered in it that he could no longer wipe it away from his face. The sheer monotony of spending his days up to his elbows in circuitry and microconducer coils while batting away the comm calls from angry officers wanting to know why the turboshaft outside their quarters was out of action. He sighed and considered setting up some kind of call centre to deal with it. A job for another day, he thought to himself. What day is it anyway?

Reggie Eito had been watching the Senior Chief for a while. He was clearly over tasked with the horrors of rebuilding a complete system with major Fleet assistance. But Reggie also saw the Man wasn't afraid to tackle any situation. That was an admirable trait.

"Senior Chief, how is your progress?" Eito was looking at one of the lift cars...

"Hmm, honestly? Not great, Lieutenant. What we need is a construction battalion to come in and blast through the work as quickly as they can. They're trained for this sort of thing; these guys are mostly just maintenance engineers. They don't really know what they're doing when it comes to major system refits." He glanced at the Lieutenant, realizing that he'd never seen him before. "Hope you don't mind my asking sir, but have we met before?"

Eito glanced up and looked at the senior chief carefully. "I'm not sure if we have met. I don't recall it if we did. But that's not important really. Were you aware the coils are aftermarket parts? This lift will burn through those things quickly." Eito glanced back at the lift car. "The system is old and the original manufactures have been selling aftermarket replacement parts to the fleet for years." Eito touched a harness junction box and frowned.

"This junction box here is supposed to be made of high grade metal that reduces heat, sort of like a shield. Unfortunately it is a an example of low grade composite to reduce weight." Eito looked back at the senior Chief.

"I am Reggie Eito, you have been expecting a new Chief Engineer. I have been sent to accomplish that goal."

Bones let out a long sigh of relief. Finally, someone that knew what they were talking about. He extended a hand to the new Chief. "Senior Chief Petty Officer Gilbert Bones. It's a pleasure to have you aboard, sir."

Reggie shook the mans hand. "Thank you, I just arrived. I will admit this station is completely overwhelming. This being my first time in space I shall keep my nose buried in work for a while."

Eito looked back at the lift car. "Sadly I think this project will take a few industrial replicators to repair. I do have some connections and will get the plans and part numbers so we can do some creative rebuilds."

"That would be ideal." Bone said, wiping some of the grime from his hands with a cloth. "I've been trying to get my hands on one of the industrial replicators we have here but Starfleet Command have issued instructions that they're to be put into use to get the vessels which are here for refit ready to roll out. It just seems that the more ships we send out, the more Starfleet send in. It's as if they're preparing for war."

Reggie glanced up to the ceiling, the temperature seems funny to him... "I was going to ask if it would be possible to get a staff meeting set up with your Engineers to review and prioritize some projects here on the station. Lets say this shift sometime if you can. We can reallocate some manpower to get this issue solved as it is clearly more than a one man job."

"That should be fine, yeah. I believe my reassignment to the USS Fleming will kick into action now that you've arrived but I'll get that sorted out for you and get you a detailed report on the other maintenance and repair issues we've got on our plates at the moment." Bones stopped for a moment. His transfer would go through. It had been a throwaway comment but he'd pretty much forgotten about his transfer until now. He allowed himself a little smile before returning his attention to the Lieutenant. "I'll try and get them assembled around thirteen-hundred."

"Excellent. I was unaware of your departing the Station. But any assistance with the department you could help out with would be good. I do hate to lose personnel of your caliber, but you need to continue your career as you see fit. Took me a long time to get here to the station. I would never hold anyone back from their chosen path. I'll see you at the briefing then. It was nice to meet you Senior Chief."

Reggie smiled and headed for the lift station. It would be a slow process with his new team. Eito was sure if he could get them focused things would swing his way. A few hours of studying the projects under development in his new office could bring him up to speed.

"You too, sir." Bones replied as he scratched his head, still trying to work out how the Lieutenant planned to get his hands on industrial replicator time.

[OFF]

Lieutenant (JG) Reggie Eito
Chief Engineering Officer

Senior Chief Petty Officer Gilbert Bones
Acting Chief Engineering Officer
Starbase 332