Checking in
Posted on Wed May 18th, 2016 @ 9:22am by Commander Titus Livius Drusus PhD & Lieutenant Commander Le Austin
Mission:
Brave New World
Location: USS Montreal, Corridors
With the station achieving some resemblence of sanity, Austin made his way to his next realm of responsibility: The USS Carthage. A lot was changing in the command structure of the station and the Carthage, not the least of which was the new commanding officer, which wasn't a new face at all.
"Hey, Doc!" Austin called as he spotted the man walking down the hallway. 'Captain' would probably have been a more appropriate title, but Titus would probably always be 'Doc' to Austin.
Titus stopped and turned at the hail. There was only one person in the whole Starbase who called him Doc, but the Magna Roman didn't mind in the least. It seemed that the further up Starfleet's own cursus honorum he progressed, the further away from his calling as a scientist he felt. The name Austin had assigned him grounded him, reminded him of who he really was.
"Ah, Commander," he said in a tone that he considered folksy, but most would hear as slightly-less-formal-than-normal. "What brings you aboard?"
Austin fell into step beside the man, grinning brightly, "Well, the Starbase may be home, but the Monty is always my best girl. I've got things working well enough on the base. Wanted to come over here and see how things are going over here and whip my guys in the engine room into gear getting all the dings buffed out," He explained.
"How fortunate," Titus said with a smile. "I'm on my way to the engine room right now. Let's walk and talk."
"Sounds like a plan," Austin replied with a grin.
"When I brought the Montreal here after shakedown, I remember the engineers reporting something about an efficiency issue with the plasma coolant injectors," Titus said. "I didn't pay too close attention at the time because I was moved elsewhere in the station, but now that I'm back I thought I'd follow up on that point. Do you know anything about it?"
"Bastards..." Austin said, his brow furrowed. He seemed to jump a bit, "Sorry, doc... uh... No, I don't know anything about that. Last time I was in the engineering room, she was running at top efficiency. No idea why my boys on board would have let the old girl get that way," Austin explained. "They promised me they wouldn't," He said, sounding almost wounded.
"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," Drusus said with a crooked grin as Austin squirmed. "If she was at top efficiency when you were last here, I'm sure your people have sorted the issue. Let's go check it out, though, just so we can be sure."
"Sounds like a plan, Doc," Austin said, grinning as he took the lead to Main Engineering.
The two easily carried on light conversation as hey walked, talking about everything from the Sojourner attacks to the state of the station to new arrivals on base. Finally, a few turbolift rides later, they reached main engineering.
"Alright, you lot, let's hear a status report!" Austin belted out.
"Bossman!" One of the younger engineers yelled with a bright grin, "Running at .7 efficiency! We took some damage during the Sojourner attacks that had us all busted up, but we've almost back to expected levels!" She rattled off, saluting sharply.
"ETA on getting up to where she was before?" Austin asked.
"One day, sir, all shifts. This time tomorrow, she'll be purring like a kitten again," Another Engineer said from upper floor.
"Good," Austin replied, grinning. "Well, you've got my undivided attention for the next shift or two. Let's see if we can't shave that down a bit," Austin offered, brightly. "Good job on the hustle so far, folks!" He offered.
There was a quick acknowledgement before they all went back to work, "Knew they wouldn't let me down," Austin said, grinning brightly, seemingly forgetting his grumpiness earlier.
Drusus had been watching the exchange from just behind Austin, standing with his arms crossed and an interested expression on his face. He cracked a smile and relaxed his stance just a little. "You've got a good team, Commander," he said before starting to head for the door. "I'll be aboard for a little while longer if you need me for anything. Tell your team they've done good work."
"Will do, Doc!" Austin called with a smile and a wave, before turning back to his crew, "Alright, boys and girls, let's spit shine this beauty!"
Cmdr Titus Livius Drusus
Chief Science Officer, SB332
Commanding Officer, USS Montreal
Lt. Cmd. Le Austin
Chief of Operations, SB332
Chief Engineer, USS Montreal
