SD 241511.02 Joint log: Executive officer and Chief Engineer

Posted on Tue Nov 3rd, 2015 @ 7:56am by Lieutenant Jera'turak Ros & Commander Isabella dei`Silvisi

1,087 words; about a 5 minute read

Isabella couldn't help but to frown as she read through the most recent report that engineering had submitted on the status of repairs that were still being completed throughout the ship. She knew that the original schedule had been a rough estimate, but the new report indicated that the repairs would now take twice as long and for roughly the same amount of work. Isabella wasn't an engineer, in fact she knew only the basics of most of the shipboard systems other than those she had worked with before, and so the new repair schedule confused her just a little. As first officer, it was her responsibility to check on activities such as repairs, and Isabella was starting to see that she needed a little more training in understanding the basic functions of the engineering department. With a sigh, she tapped her commbadge. "dei`Silvisi to Ros, please report to my office."

Jera growled as the summons to the XO's office beeped in her ear. She was currently hanging upside down and overseeing repairs to one of the fusion reactors outer protective casing. It wasn't a difficult job, but she did want to make sure that the crewman doing the work actually did a credible job and didn't screw up. Checking the weld that the crewman had done so far, Jera nodded and patted the crewman on the shoulder.

"Keep working on that weld. Once that's done, call one of the techs over to check it. Don't sign it off as completed until an officer checks it and gives their approval," Jera said. When the engineer nodded, she pulled herself back up onto the catwalk she had been hanging from and shook her head before standing and heading out of the reactor room. It was short walk and turbolift ride from deck seven to the XO's office, and when she arrived Jera simply walked right in. "You wanted to see me?" she asked.

Isabella stirred just a little as the chief engineer walked into her office without even the decency of ringing the door chime. She understood the thought process behind the action, since Isabella had summoned Ros to her office, but the complete apparent lack of protocol and respect towards the ship's executive office couldn't be explained away. It took her a brief moment to take a deep breath and calm herself as well as biting her tongue to cut off the sharp retort that was quite literally on the tip of her tongue. When she did speak, however, her tone was a bit flat and more professional sounding than normal.

"Please have a seat, Lieutenant," Isabella said. Once the chief engineer had sat down, she continued. "Miss Ros, to start with, I would appreciate it if you started applying the behavioral standards for Starfleet officers to your everyday actions."

"Which means?" Jera asked casually.

"Which means you will start using the door chime and wait to enter another officer's office, and you will observe protocol when reporting to a command officer. You're a senior officer aboard a Starfleet exploration cruiser, and as such you're required to abide by Starfleet regulations as well as set an example for the rest of the crew," Isabella said, a faint trace of icy steel creeping into her voice with each word.

Jera flinched as the XO's words hit home. She opened her mouth to respond, only to Pause when she realized that she really was in the wrong And the XO had not only the authority to pin a department head back in place but the responsibility and obligation to do so. "Yes ma'am," she finally said. "I'm sorry commander. I guess I've gotten a little lax lately and it's become a habit."

"I understand," Isabella said, softening her tone and even offering a friendly smile in an effort to diffuse any tension in the room. "However, as I said, we as officers must set an example and abide by all regulations set forth by the Starfleet uniform code of conduct. As senior officers, we must be even more aware of our actions. Now, on to the real reason for this meeting. I've been going over your latest report on the repairs, and I had a few questions about the new repair schedule."

"Um, yes, we ran into a few technical issues on some of the repairs and working around those problems is going to take time," Jera said. "Which means it'll take longer to finish repairs."

"Ok. Can you elaborate on the 'technical problems' so that I gave a better understanding of the new repair schedule?" Isabella asked, her confusion showing.

"We have to use a drone to go in and remove all of the conduit cables that run into the shield system, then run new cable and field test the new lines. What was installed by the shipyard wasn't supposed to be in place since our shields draw more power than other Intrepid class ships. We've also found some stress cracks on the fusion reactor casing in two reactors that are the result of a manufacturing error. We got the ok to weld the casing, but I'd really like to replace the whole thing. There also a few other minor things I want to address while we're working on everything, so I added them to the list as well," Jera said. "I submitted a full report the other day."

"I've read it, I was just trying to make sense of it," Isabella said with a nod. "Are any of the repairs critical or something we'll need to worry about later on?"

"After we finish, everything should be good so long as the proper preventive maintenance is done on time," Jera answered. "I made sure that we had everything we need to bring the Endeavour up to full operational status this time. When we finish repairs, we'll be in top form until the captain picks another fight with someone."

"Which will hopefully not be anytime soon," Isabella said. "Alright, Lieutenant. Thank you. I'll brief the commander and let him know what's going on."

"Yes ma'am," Jera said as she stood. "I'll see if we can shave a day or two off of the schedule."

"Thank you. Dismissed, Lieutenant," Isabella said.

Jera stiffened to attention before she turned and walked out of the XO's office. Stopping briefly outside, she sighed before she started off towards the turbolift. It had already been a long day, and she had a feeling that it was going to be an even longer week.

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