Meeting the Engineer

Posted on Wed Mar 20th, 2019 @ 1:39pm by Lieutenant Jera'turak Ros & Grace Winters PhD

774 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Acts of Contrition
Location: Engineering

ON

Grace was carefully making the rounds of the senior officers so that she would have a chance to meet all of them before the ship left the station.

Her next stop was Engineering.

Jera tucked a strand of hair behind one ear as she bent over the railing of the upper level railing and inspected the repair teams welds on the warp core support pylons. So far, they had done a really good job of repairing her ship, but that didn't mean she was about to let up on them. Doing that might invite them to start taking short cuts and screwing up, leaving her to go behind and redo their job. That wasn't about to happen. Satisfied, she nodded and glanced towards the repair team chief. "Ok, I guess you guys are done in here," she said.

"And about time. We've completely redone your main engineering bay, your secondary engineering bay, and all of your workshops. Next you'll be wanting us to redo your shuttle repair bay," the chief said.

"No, next I want you to finish that structural support job in the fusion reactor chambers, then move to the repair bay," Jera said. Glancing down at the main level, she frowned as she spied a civilian walking into her engineering room. "Get to it," she said before she moved to the elevator. Going down to the main level, Jera put her customary frown on as she walked up to the civilian. "Hi, are you lost?" she asked.

Grace took quick note of the woman and her rank pips. "No. I'm looking for you, if you have a minute. I'm Grace Winters, the new diplomat on board."

"Diplomat? We have a diplomat? What, did the captain finally get us into enough trouble that Starfleet decided he needs an overseer?" Jera snorted. "I have a brief minute. Keeping these repair teams in line is a full time job."

"I don't know what sort of trouble the Endeavour may or may not be in," Grace replied. Looking around at the engineers at work, she turned back to the Chief. "I wanted to stop by and meet you--meet all the department heads. As yet, I'm not sure how much I will or will not be working with you later."

"Well, I mostly keep to myself and my engine room, so unless you have problems related to the warp core I doubt that you'll see me much while I'm on duty," Jera said. "Or you have a hole blown in your quarters and need construction work done, then you'll definitely see me."

Grace nodded. "Understood. "No, I cannot foresee a reason for diplomacy to be involved in warp core repair. And I sincerely hope I don't need repairs, but it is nice to meet you face-to-face."

"Ah. Yes. Diplomat. Meaning you like to be sociable and talk," Jera said as she crossed her arms across her chest. "Sorry. I'm not very sociable. I prefer my engineering systems.They don't hurt you unless there's a problem."

"Yes, there is always that risk. But there's an equal risk of finding something good," Grace said. "I'm not the most social of people, either, but it has its benefits."

"I believe the diplomatic quote is agree to disagree," Jera said with a small bark of laughter. "So, you're an antisocial diplomat. Interesting. You sound a lot like what I heard about my father. He was a diplomat who hated intelligent beings. He got along with his vronsker cat better than he did people, and those things hate everything."

"I don't hate people. I love good conversation, and I enjoy small gatherings. What I don't like is the attitude of some diplomats and government officials. I don't like large parties, and I don't like pretense." She shrugged. "So I'm not your typical diplomat."

"Sounds like you're the perfect diplomat for this ship," Jera said as she shook her head. "Welcome to the ship of misfits and oddballs. I do apologize for the mess and possible lack of hot water, but the captain loves to go all out when we get into a fight."

Grace laughed. "I hope I am the perfect diplomat for this ship. Thank you for the welcome--and the warning. I'll have to prepare for all-out maneuvers." She bowed to the Engineer. "I look forward to working with you in the future. Until then, I will let you get back to your work."

"Until our next meeting, Bedah," she said, giving the diplomat the traditional Romulan style farewell, adding a stiff nod as she spoke.

____
OFF

Grace Winters
Diplomat and Counselor

&

LtCmdr Jera'turak Ros
CEO
USS Endeavour

 

RSS Feed