Discussing the Chief Engineer

Posted on Tue Sep 8th, 2020 @ 7:03am by Captain Kelly O'Connor & Lieutenant Commander Archibald (Archie) Gates

1,296 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Mission 8 - A Blast from the Past
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: 2296/03/03 1100

It had been exactly 24 hours since O'Connor had met with the new Chief Engineer. Certainly by now Gates must have met with him and he must have come to his own conclusions about the Chief Engineer. She wanted to know what he thought because the only thing that O'Connor thought about Radars is that she still wanted to let a phaser overheat in Radar's quarters.

She paged Gates stating on the comm, =^= Commander Gates, report to my Ready Room. =^=

Gates, who’d been familiarizing himself with the ships helm, stood from his station and proceeded towards the Captain’s ready room. He didn’t bother with the door chime as he had just been summoned. “You wanted to see me, Captain?” He asked as the doors closed behind him.

"I did," O'Connor replied in a flat tone. "Have you had an opportunity to meet with the new Chief Engineer."

“I have.” Archie replied with a frown. “I hope you’ve kept the receipt so you can exchange it for a new one.”

O'Connor grumbled. "Unfortunately, Captain Henderson pulled the wool over my eyes somehow. I'm going to kill someone and it very well may be Radars. You ready to take over as Captain?"

Gates smirked, “I doubt I’ll be in a position to take command with an aiding and abetting charge over my head.”

"Then you're in the unfortunate position of having to find a way to change his slovenly and slothful ways," O'Connor told him. "I don't care how you do it as long as it is within regulations." She pulled out a bottle of Irish whiskey, stood up, and walked over to a cabinet where she pulled out two glasses, and poured one for each of them. "I have a feeling that I'm going to have to get a lot more of this before we leave." She handed Gates one of the glasses.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to ship him off somewhere else?” Gates said as he took the glass and brought it to his nose so he could take in the warm aroma.

"Yes and no." She looked over at Gates, "This is where being a Captain is difficult. The politics, Gates. Henderson personally called me and saw that I needed a new Chief Engineer. He said he had the perfect person. The Chief had not left his ship in four years and needed to expand his horizons. Said he was wasted on an Excelsior. And so, I took him. If I ship him off, then there will be questions and more likely, I will be ridiculed. My reputation is of being a hot head. Blame would probably fall to me and not him, regardless of the situation. We're going to have to make it work, even if we throw him in the brig every day."

“He was wasted on the Excelsior?” Archie asked with a frown. “Then surely being assigned to a Constitution class is like taking a step backwards.” The first officer replied before taking a sip of the whiskey and letting the warm liquid run down his throat.

“I understand, but breaking him of this attitude isn’t going to be easy. If he got away with it on the Excelsior for four years then it’s going to take some serious stuff to get him back on the straight and narrow. Is there any particular reason why he is the way he is?”

"Hell if I know," O'Connor ranted. "But whatever it is, I want you to find out and beat it out of him." After a moment's thought she decided to include, "Proverbially, of course."

“I was thinking about getting a bowl of ice ready for my knuckles until you said ‘proverbially’. Shame.” Gates replied before he downed the whiskey that was in his glass and placed it on the Captain’s table.

O'Connor was about to thrown down her shot of whiskey when she started laughing uproariously at Gates' comment. "You can't make me do that when I'm about to drink!" she playfully chastised her XO. "You might make me waste some perfectly good whiskey and that would be a bigger crime than Radars demise!"

“My apologies, Captain.” Gates said with a grin. “I’ll see what I can do with him.” He added before pausing for a moment. “Any word from Starfleet about our next mission?”

"Not yet. I'm sure they will come up with something that is completely out of the way and turn into an utter mess because they underestimated it. That seems to be our lot in life," O'Connor told Gates. Now, she downed her whiskey professionally and soberly.

“I guess we enjoy the down time we have, while we have it then.” Gates replied as he glanced at his empty glass and wondered if a refill would be in order.

"Downtime drives me crazy. I'd rather be out there." She nodded her head upwards towards the sky. "I get itchy sitting in one place. So, even a wild goose chase would be preferable to this. A ship is safest in the port but that's not what it is meant for. Nor am I." She gave Gates a crooked smile.

“I understand what you mean, but it’s not a bad thing to let the new crew members a chance to settle in and get their respective departments ready before we leave. A prepared ship is better than an unprepared one.” Gates replied with a cheeky wink.

"I don't disagree," O'Connor grumbled. "It doesn't change my mood."

“Perhaps another drink will help?” Archie replied.

"It never hurts," O'Connor replied pouring another drink. "Not that we have orders, but how soon until we're ready to go?"

“I reckon 48 hours should do it. Most of the new senior officers have reported onboard so it’ll literally recall everyone and make sure we have all the supplies we need aboard.” Archie replied as he nodded his thank you for the glass refill before picking it up.

"The let's get some extra supplies and have a shoving off dinner in 3 days. Somehow I find that new missions come when such things are planned."

“Dinner for just me and you?” Archie queried with a smirk.

"Cheeky," O'Connor told Archie with a crooked grin. "No, Chiefs of Staff at the very least. Maybe something for the entire crew after?"

“Sounds like a plan. Anything specific you want? I can start getting arrangements made for it now.” Archie said before downing his second glass of whiskey with ease.

"An Excelsior?" O'Connor offered with a crooked smile. "No, just something that will leave everyone in good spirits."

“An Excelsior Class is unfortunately beyond my pay level.” Gates replied with a smile. “I’ll get something sorted, did you want a sit down meal or a buffet type evening?”

"Let everyone mingle. So, do a buffet, I think. Make people get some exercise. It will be good for them, no?"

Archie nodded in agreement. “I’ll speak to Chef and get something sorted. I’ll try and get a little bit of culture in the spread too.”

"If he knows anything new, that would be a miracle. Such things I dream of," O'Connor responded.

“I dunno, I think his stuff is quite nice, but I’ve not been privy to a galley on a Constitution class ship before. The food on my old ship was always bland and dull.” Archie replied with a smile. “It makes a nice change to have something decent.”

"I don't disagree. So, what are you doing still talking to me? Get this party started."

Gates didn’t need to be told twice he was dismissed so he smiled and gave the Captain a brief nod before turning on his heel and headed towards the door.

 

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