Nuts and Bolts
Posted on Tue Apr 14th, 2015 @ 2:47pm by Lieutenant Alana Tovan & Commander Titus Livius Drusus PhD
Mission:
Pandemic [Incomplete]
Location: Main Engineering, USS Carthage
When you do get your own command, Drusus, make damn sure you've got a good head looking after the nuts and bolts.
The wise words of his former captain were at the front of Drusus's thoughts as he stepped off the turbolift near Main Engineering. Captain Bartlet was a tremendously practical woman, but she knew her limits. Like Drusus, she came up through the ranks as a science officer and wasn't all that certain about exactly what a self-sealing stembolt did. Hence the importance of having a good chief engineer to look after the nuts and bolts.
Although the Carthage wasn't exactly Drusus's own command, he was in charge of this mission and so needed to be sure that the old ship's nuts and bolts were in good hands. The last thing he wanted was to fail in this mission because some very technical component of a machine he couldn't identify failed to do whatever it was supposed to do.
So he went to see his chief engineer.
It's hard to say what Drusus had expected to find when he entered engineering, but the mess of wires, hoses, and equipment scattered about was probably not on the list. Gold shirted engineers and technicians moved about the room, taking apart consoles, reconfiguring the wiring, and putting them back together. At the center of the chaos was a young woman with long raven hair. Armed with a PADD instead of a baton, she was the one conducting the orchestra that was tearing apart the engine room.
One of the technicians approached the young lieutenant with a tricorder and a manifold of some sort. The two took a moment studying the equipment and the results of a scan before the lieutenant sent the crewman off on another errand. She went back to her PADD, studying the data displayed there as Drusus approached.
"Lieutenant Tovan!" he barked as he approached the diminutive lieutenant at the centre of the maelstrom. He hadn't intended for his voice to be as loud or reproachful, but he was quite disturbed by the state of the engine room.
Tovan looked up from the PADD and noticed the science division commander approaching her. She nodded her head in his direction. "Aye, sir. I'm Lieutenant Tovan. What can I do for you?"
He looked at her with one raised eyebrow, as though it was pretty self-evident. "I was told that this ship is ready for an immediate launch," he said before gesturing around them. "Have I been misinformed?"
Alana shook her head, surprised by the insinuation. "Not at all, sir. The ship is ready to launch on your command. Why would you think otherwise?"
The Magna Roman looked around at the state of the engine room and found himself taken aback by the chief engineer's seeming disinterest in the mess. If it had been one of his science labs looking like this, he'd have been ashamed. "This room looks like it's been torn apart by voles, Lieutenant."
Tovan nodded along at the sudden realization of what Drusus was talking about, but she didn't show any alarm. "Oh, that. That's nothing to worry about. When I came aboard I found years worth of shoddy repairs that were probably done in a hurry, and then never properly fixed. I've had everyone working to bypass those systems, most of them non-essential, and start working on the clean up and getting the job done right. The bypasses aren't any worse than what we had before, so there's absolutely no reason why we can't launch immediately. This mess won't be a problem once the repairs are done properly. I run a tight engine room, sir. You can count on that."
He looked at her skeptically for a moment, unsure whether Tovan was telling the truth or covering for something. She didn't strike him as the kind of person who would lie to a senior officer and her relaxed attitude to the mess might mean she knew what she was doing. In that moment, Drusus decided he needed to trust her; what other choice did he have? "I will be counting on that, Lieutenant," he replied, maintaining a stern edge to his voice. "I want to be underway within the hour. I was going to ask you if you could squeeze any more speed out of the warp drive, but ..."
"I hope to be able to squeeze more speed out of these engines. They're forty year old rebuilts, but they still have plenty of life. Once we get these other repairs done we won't lose so much power in the transfers. We were seeing a 3% power loss, which is frankly unacceptable. There's no sense in making the reactors work harder than they need to, especially in case we need that power later." Tovan said all of this matter-of-factly, as if it should be obvious to anyone.
Drusus watched her talk and actually understood what she was saying - from his scientific background, it made sense. One thing that was becoming abundantly clear to him was that he could let Tovan look after the nuts and bolts while his mind was kept on other matters. Exactly what I need.
"Very good, Lieutenant," he replied with a nod. "I trust you'll correct that power loss and get me that extra speed I need."
"Of course, Commander. I've been drafting a request to overhaul the engines, but obviously that would require them to be taken offline. We'll have to take care of that after our mission. In the meantime, you'll have the speed you need."
"Thank you, Lieutenant," Drusus replied, even allowing himself a small half-smile for a fleeting second before he nodded and turned away. "Keep up the good work. We'll be departing in one hour."
"Aye, sir. Thank you, sir," Alana replied, very nearly allowing a small half-smile of her own. If she was going to get anywhere in her career, she had to avoid getting giddy at the first sign of a compliment. After Commander Drusus walked away, she let out a brief sigh before getting back to work. This ship wasn't going to maintain itself.
Commander Titus Drusus
Acting Commanding Officer
USS Carthage
Lieutenant Alana Tovan
Chief Engineer
USS Carthage
