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Day 05 [0800 hrs.] Meet the New New New New Boss

[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Personal Quarters | Deck 7 | Vector 1 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @uytrereee

If she had learned anything as a freighter brat, it was the power of first impressions. Not to say that she hadn’t learned a lot from her childhood escapades – mainly what not to do in port cities – but this was the one thing that had translated well to her chosen adult profession as a professional and respectable Starfleet engineer. When one only had a few days on any given planet, it was important to know how to make friends quick. Technically, she’d also learned basic starship maintenance as a child, but aside from one notable disaster, that was labeled under school and chores, not escapades.

Upon her release from sickbay early this morning, Azrin had found that her old quarters were still her own. But her stuff had been packed up and put into storage. Clearly her survival had been far from a foregone conclusion. The boxes were waiting by the door, neatly stacked, but she didn’t have the time or desire to start arranging her things right now. At least she still had prime real estate on Deck 7, right below auxiliary engineering. What she considered prime real estate anyway. Azrin wasn’t sure how everyone else felt, sharing deck space with deuterium tanks and antimatter storage.

Her limited time back in her quarters had been spent getting ready to return to work. Replicating a new uniform, ensuring that her extended nap hadn’t caused her to lose or gain any weight that would change the fit. Taking the time to braid her long red hair around her head in a crown – her mother’s favorite way of making her wild offspring look elegant. She looked quite neat when she finished, a presentation that probably wouldn’t last long in engineering, considering the time she spent crawling around Jefferies tubes.

As she worked, Azrin had instructed the computer to play her any music it could find that referenced meeting one’s new boss. Since this was nowhere near an actual genre of music, the selection had been quite varied. Most of it was in languages she didn’t understand and having the UT translate didn’t make the songs any better. What she did understand tended to have some weird cultural connotations from whatever planet it came from. Like this one, for instance.

[“Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.”]

“Hey, what? No! Turn it off! Thea! Skip! Next song!” Azrin’s head had tilted up to shout at the ceiling at the lyrics. She tended to talk to ship’s computers as though they were deities on high. “That’s not cool, whoever sings this song. Makes it sound like all the chief engineers were expendable or something.” As she spoke, the track switched to the next song, a soothing instrumental melody that sounded Vulcan. That actually helped calm her, the trill closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She still couldn’t think of the list of the dead without losing her composure. “I’m sure this Lieutenant Arnold is very different. Commander Solkar was a Vulcan, for starters. Not the same at all. Nope, No…”

“Oh, Great Bird of the Galaxy, I could really use some help today. This is going to be a disaster.” As though the mythical bird were mocking her, the computer chose that exact moment to pause the music and play an alarm she had set. Time to go. “May you never settle on the planet these Infested assholes are from,” she cursed. Then Azrin took a deep breath and left the room.

[ Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ]

Engineering didn’t look like she remembered, which did nothing to improve her depression. And here she’d thought that simply coming down here would be the only cure she’d need. There was something different about the warp core. It had been her pride and joy, so she could see that something had been added even from a courtesy glance from across the room. She wanted to go over and look at it immediately, but Azrin forced herself to wait. There was nothing to be done until she was back on the duty roster. And to be placed on the duty roster, she had to have a meeting with the chief engineer. Since said meeting was scheduled for oh- a minute from now… she really needed to get to that. But that didn’t stop her from looking longingly at the core as she circled it in route to her real destination. 

The only time her eyes left the core was to glance at the other engineers on duty, searching in vain for any familiar faces. From what she had read in sickbay, engineering had been hit hard since the Theurgy had fled Earth. The list of department heads they’d gone through alone… her old ship had faired better during the Dominion War. There were definitely still people on this ship that she’d known, but Azrin didn’t see any of them on this brief walk. It was isolating, like she didn’t fit here anymore.

She paused for a few moments in front of the door to the chief’s office, closing her eyes and bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, trying to psych herself up. She was going back to work! She could do something useful! Fiddling with the warp core always made her feel better. Always. So she’d been asleep for six months, woken up on a renegade ship, and most of her friends were dead. Azrin would get her feet back under her as soon as she was on duty. It would be fine. Perfectly fine. She just had to keep telling herself that. She stood there until she was able to smile again, then rang the chime to Arnold’s office and entered. “Reporting for duty Lieutenant!”

Re: Day 05 [0800 hrs.] Meet the New New New New Boss

Reply #1 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @rae 
[Show/Hide]

Frank hadn't been expecting a visitor today, a casual observer would notice, at least one that didn't know Frank. By 0800 he'd usually been here about 3 hours, taken report from the night shift, and held the first of his morning task assignments as the day shift took over. It was just another day at the office for Engineering by the fifth day of being in total repair mode. Most of the damage had not been that bad to the Theurgy, but the areas that did get damaged, such as the diplomatic bay, or the brig, got heavily so. As a result, Frank was pulling his own fair share of duties.

It showed in his apparel, a trademark jumpsuit with 'Arnold' on the left breast on a patch, no sight of pips in plain view, they hid beneath on the lapel of his actual uniform. He wore his toolbelt, his spanner hung at his side like Anduril, ready to spring into action to repair...a broken replicator or something. At the time of Ryn's arrival, this meant that Frank was hard at work underneath a panel on the bulkhead opposite his office door. His headless torso poked out as he laid on his belly in the hole, sparking away happy as a pig in shit as he cleaned up some hasty bonds on a linear arc graphitizer.

Without any warning, he heard from across the bay the chime of his office, and the telltale hiss of the door opening, somebody sounding off reporting for duty to him. He slid out of his access hole and stood up with a groan, wiped the grease off his palms and put his welder back in its rightful place, before he called across the bay, "Uh he's not home!" He chuckled to himself and strode towards the entry to the office.

As he slid into the doorway, he looked Ryn over from head to toe, regarding her from the back, before he cleared his throat. Backlit by the engineering bay, from the lowly lit vacant office, he'd likely look a shadowed figure, until glinting light revealed his warm and pleasant face which carried a light smile. He'd wait a moment more, and then offer lightly to her, "I think you're looking for me?"

Re: Day 05 [0800 hrs.] Meet the New New New New Boss

Reply #2 –
[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @uytrereee

Well, so much for that entrance.

Her mouth fell open for a moment in confusion at finding the office empty. “They told me to report here,” she mumbled to herself, peeking around the room for a moment as though Lieutenant Arnold would pop out of a corner or fall out of the ceiling or something. They’d released her from sickbay at 0600, told her she had two hours to reclaim her quarters, then report here at 0800. “Maybe they forgot to tell him? That’s just-“

“Uh he’s not home!”

Azrin had been turning around to ask the room at large where the chief engineer was, jumping slightly when someone beat her to the punch by stating the obvious. She squinted a bit at the large figure who had entered the room after her, trying to get a good look at him in the dark. “Yep, I noticed,” she replied flippantly. Thankfully, he walked into the light before she continued, revealing a tall bearded human. She would have recognized him even without the patch on the jumpsuit labeling him. They’d never met, but Azrin had done a quick record search yesterday so she would know what the new chief engineer looked like.

“Lieutenant Arnold!” She managed to recompose herself quickly, snapping to attention and grinning cheerfully at him. “There you are!” Must have missed him while walking over here, so much for research. “Lieutenant Azrin Ryn, propulsion engineer, reporting for duty. Not sure if I qualify as new or not, since technically I’ve been on the ship for nearly a year and a half and I spent a third of that time taking a really long forced nap… but that doesn’t really matter does it? Anyway,” she drew the word out to end her tangent, “The nurses in sickbay don’t understand people who need something to do with their hands. Please tell me I can come back to work.”

Re: Day 05 [0800 hrs.] Meet the New New New New Boss

Reply #3 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy]

@rae

"Hurrah! The cavalry has arrived and in mould of Custer for sheer temerity as well, except, well never mind.  Come on in!  Grab a seat!"  Frank exclaimed as he walked passed the trill an piled into his seat with a heavy drop.  He stretched his neck a bit from side to side before levelling happy eyes at the newest member of his staff.  Tapping a few buttons on his console, Frank pulled up the personnel file on Azrin Ryn and make a quick perusal of the pertinent points, occasionally snorting at something he found interesting.  His demeanour changed to a very serious one though when he read the summation of how she'd been injured and her recovery.  When he reached the end of the file though, he couldn't quite contain the chuckle that became a good bit of laughter.  An odd message from security he'd seen this morning now made sense.

Breathing slightly harder, Lt. Arnold turned mirth filled eyes on the Trill.  "I see you're last night was a lot of fun.  According to your arresting officer" His large fingers made very exaggerated air quotes "a Lieutenant, ahhhhh I don't know how to pronounce that name, so we'll go with Zark.  You are an officer of superior leadership potential, ingenuity, bravery, with a great sense of humour, and should be kept busy or on a very short leash.  How do you answer to those charges?" Frank waved the whole thing away before Lt. Ryn could open her mouth.  "Don't worry about the good Lieutenant, she sent a message some time really late at night, didn't actually file anything, and obviously sent it to me with the intent of making you look good.   Anyone else has a problem with it, I'll take care of it, and I would guess that since you made such a positive impression on her, she also has your back."

Frank shifted positions to become more comfortable as he continued to ramble on.  Now, you want to work and I have lots of work for you to do, especially with the propulsion systems.  Buuuuut, we also got the rest of the ship to put back together, so your tendency to get dirty is gonna work out just fine.  Before I tell you what you'll actually be doing, tell me a bit about yourself.  I'm so new on this ship, I hardly know anyone as well, so......"  and his massive arms and shoulders shrugged.  "Oh, I forgot my manners, did you want a cup of coffee or something else?"

Re: Day 05 [0800 hrs.] Meet the New New New New Boss

Reply #4 –
[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @RyeTanker

A look of confusion crossed her face. Between the ‘hurrah’ and ‘never mind,’ she was vaguely sure that the universal translator had malfunctioned, because the middle bit hadn’t made a bit of sense. But he said not to worry about it, so Azrin gave a slight shrug, filed it under ‘Strange Human Phrases’ and followed him back into the office. Her eyes wandered the room curiously as she took the seat before his desk, seeing what she could learn about her new superior officer from the room. Honestly, she rather liked the fact that he’d been out working instead of sitting in behind his desk – even if it made her start out looking like a fool. Good engineers loved getting their hands dirty.

Her examination was paused frequently, eyes darting back to Arnold with every snort, though Azrin kept silent and let him finish whatever he was reading. She wasn’t sure what had made him laugh – engineering reports weren’t normally this funny – until he finally started speaking. Oh. That. She supposed it would have been too much to hope that medical hadn’t reported her little walkabout. Her mouth opened to explain, but Arnold kept going. For all her threats about pretzels, Zark had really oversold her.

“I feel like I’m new to this ship all over again,” Azrin admitted when it was finally her chance to talk. Arnold admitting his newness brought her grief roaring back. She should have been an old hat on this ship by now, but instead she was starting fresh. “Didn’t recognize anyone on my walk down here. I wouldn’t mind a coffee Lieutenant, if you’re offering.” Sickbay had filled her up with fluids before releasing her, but a little caffeine boost was always helpful. “The keeping busy part is definitely true, but I find ways to keep myself busy when there’s – I guess Zark already told you that… she does go by Zark, by the way.” Azrin paused, fully aware that her words were getting away from her, and took a breath to reset. “Honestly sir, when there aren’t nurses blocking me at every turn, I have outlets for my energy that don’t end with a visit to security.” She smiled, giving a little hapless shrug. In hindsight, Azrin had gone a bit overboard last night. Especially since they’d released her the next morning. But at the time it had felt like she couldn’t breathe in sickbay.

“Aside from the humor part, I think she was way too nice,” she admitted truthfully. “My old CO on the Excalibur said that he only kept me around for morale. He’d threaten to trade me to the counselors if the warp drive wasn’t humming right. I don’t think defying doctor’s orders really shows leadership potential or bravery.” It was definitely a bad idea to deny such a glowing recommendation, but Azrin couldn’t accept it. Taking a six-month nap when the ship needed her wasn’t a sign of leadership or bravery either.

About herself – was else more was there to say? “I grew up on a cargo ship sir. I sleep better when I feel the engines reverberating through the hull. It’s the most beautiful music when I get them tuned up right.” One of her former hosts was a musician. Azrin vividly remembered the feeling Elza would get when a note came out perfectly. It was exactly how she felt with a ship jumped to warp. “I was posted to Utopia Planitia before this. Hot fire testing for newly built warp drives. I watched them build the Theurgy and I knew I wanted to be posted here. Three warp drives mean ten times the challenge getting everything to work in sync. I really want to get back to that.” Back to routine. Back to what made sense.

Re: Day 05 [0800 hrs.] Meet the New New New New Boss

Reply #5 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy]

@rae

The epically bearded engineer tapped a few buttons on his console and the replicator behind him hummed as it materialized a fairly plain coffee service with a metal carafe, sugar, cream, and empty cups.  Personally, he didn't use any of it, but he also preferred to let people prepare their own drinks.  Taking a cup and filling it from the carafe, Frank settled into his chair and listened to the ambulatory but high energy engineer go over her experiences since waking up.  He couldn't help but grin and arch an eyebrow here and there at her story so far.  Needless to say, it had been an exciting round about 24 hours. 

When the woman's tale had come to and end, his grin was still in place. "Well, I like what I'm hearing and at this point, you've received a glowing recommendation as an officer.  I think Lieutenant Zark only commented on those qualities since she knows that's all she's really qualified to answer on, but I'm going to see how you really do as an engineering officer for myself."  His grin grew into a smile to alleviate any fears of possibly overly onerous test.  "I wouldn't worry about it too much, you get back on your feet and be yourself, and I think you'll do fine."

The Chief Engineer set his cup down and bent under his table for a shelf to grab a large PADD before coming back up and syncing it to the central computer then passing it to the Trill. "Congratulations, you're back on the Engineering crew as of right now.  I was thinking of easing you into things, but that would probably drive you bananas, so you're officially the Assistant Chief Engineer of this flying broadsword. So, why you?"  Chief Arnold physically leaned onto his desk mirroring his mental dive into the topic.  "First off, it came down to you and a Lieutenant Kala Marika.  She came from the Cayuga, and is still coming up to speed on a lot of the ship's systems.  She's getting there, but there's nothing wrong with your mind as far as we know, so you'll still have more technical knowledge advantage over her. I also need a right arm that I can fully trust with the ship, and that's you. There is nothing wrong with Marika as an engineer, but you know her a lot better."  A large hand up to help the Chief count off his reasons where his middle finger joined the index finger.  "Second, as you know, we have three vectors on the ship and we need a straw boss for each one when we're at red alert.  Marika, already has vector 1, and you're getting vector 2.  Given your propulsion background though, I'm going to have the Captain switch you to vector 3 and main engineering.  I'm more of a hull and general systems engineer, plus the fighter assault deck is on Vector 2 and I'd be more useful there.  I know you just got your quarters, but be prepared to move." 

The thumb popped out.  "Third is a bonus reason I want you in main engineering as much as possible. I don't know if you know about the Savi, but they helped us out by installing a Quantum Slipstream Drive similar yet very different from the one Voyager brought back.  You're the most suited to actually getting the thing operating normally, so I want you to be the subject matter expert on the drive. The QSD as we call it is going to be our trump card in a lot of cases and we need to make sure it doesn't blow up or break down on us when we need it. Learn it, live with it.  I want it purring like a cat at the Captain's command." Frank let out a quiet snort at his own use of her previous CO's example.

The ring finger came up for four, and the pinky looked ready to spring.  "Reasons four, Lieutenant Zark made a point of superior leadership potential, and as a senior surviving officer as it is, you're going to have to exercise that quite a bit and get used to it.  The higher up you climb, the more of a people manager you become.  You're lucky in that you're only deputy boss.  That  means you can still run and play with the gizmos while I deal with things like reports and chains of command.  You'll have your share, but I get more.  I'm still going to be here quite a bit unless the ship gets separated like once before, so don't worry about having it all dumped on you, but you have the mystique of the original crew, and that's a comfort to a lot of the staff to have one of their own back from the dead.  Which is also a reason for you to be the number 2 engineer on the ship."

The pinky did spring up now opening up his massive hand as his jovial business expression became deadly serious. "Reasons five.  You think you're not brave, but what you did back in Sol says otherwise, and that's an example that everyone can follow.  There's a just reward for people who go above and beyond the call of duty whether they think they did or not.  Now, this could be painful and I want you to take you time with it, but I want you to be as open and honest about what happened from what you remember when the ship was under attack, and the circumstances around you jumping into the antimatter injection system to make that critical repair for the record.  If you did what I think you did, then damn well I want it part of the record when I submit the recommendation for the Medal of Honor."  and with that, Frank's very serious blue eyes bored in on the new Assistant Engineer.

Re: Day 05 [0800 hrs.] Meet the New New New New Boss

Reply #6 –
[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @RyeTanker

Wow. Where to even start.

Once he started talking, Lieutenant Arnold seemed like he was never going to stop. And the shock piled on higher and higher as the reasons compounded. Azrin helped herself to some coffee as he began, her own cup getting a decent splash of both cream and sugar. Given the choice, she preferred her drinks sweet. She took a sip, a small appreciative hum escaping her lips at the taste. Then her attention returned to the chief engineer as she waited straight backed and attentive for her orders.

The first bit didn’t worry her. Azrin had a healthy well-deserved ego in regards to her skills. Old commander’s joking aside, she knew she was good at her job. She loved it, threw her heart, soul, and brain into it, and excelled as a result. Besides, she’d always liked a challenge. If he wanted to test her, that would only help push her to be even better. Bring it on. She really was going to have to send Zark some sort of thank you note though.

Hearing the sweet sweet words “you’re back on the engineering crew” was such a relief that it took Azrin a few seconds to register the next part. So he was already into his explanation when her eyes belatedly widened with shock. Even that perfect Starfleet posture lapsed a bit, the trill leaning back into her chair as he leaned forward onto the desk. It wasn’t that she didn’t want the post. What engineer didn’t want to rise through the ranks until they called the shots in main engineering? She had the experience and time in grade for the job. She’d even been searching around for an assistant chief engineer’s post… before. Those were goals that seemed distant and unimportant for the few days she’d been awake. She did remember vaguely noting that there were no assistant chief engineers on the roster – weird for a multi-vector ship that was meant to have two – but Azrin had been to focused on finding names she recognized to have worried about that. Last night Azrin would have taken the lowliest job on the ship just for something to do, and here was Arnold practically giving her the keys to the place. He even wanted her in main engineering, not one of the auxiliary engineering hubs that the assistants usually got. If it weren’t for the coffee cup she was holding far too tightly, Azrin would have pinched herself to make sure she wasn’t still in sickbay, dreaming. He was practically giving her the warp core.

The bit about moving quarters snapped her back to reality a bit, the shock on her face transforming into something rather amused when she thought back to all her things still packed. At least one good thing came out of that.

“What!?” she burst out finally, the resolve to stay quiet and let him finish like a good officer crumbling completely at his next, mind shattering revelation. “We have an actual, working, functional…” Azrin was scrambling, in a such a shock that she couldn’t even get the words out. She let him keep talking then, because the words stopped coming out at all. Azrin could accept many things. Some super sneaky assholes had taken over Starfleet Command. They were fugitives on the run from their own organization. She’d been in stasis for six months. She was being promoted in spite of that. Even if she was far from ok with it all, she accepted that as her current reality. But this – this was one step too far. A fact that showed clearly when she deposited the coffee cup back on the tray and give her wrist a good hard pinch. Just to be sure.

She wasn’t fully focused on points four or five, the words filling her ears and waiting patiently for her whirling brain to acknowledge them. When Arnold did finish, she was still firmly on the topic of the drive. “That’s what I saw earlier! I thought something about the core looked different when I walked in- and it works? It really- have we used it?” She looked more like a kid at a candy store than anything. She’d been stationed to Utopia Planitia when Voyager had returned to the Federation. But her team had never been called upon to study the strange technologies they’d brought back with them. The idea of recreating the slipstream tech catalogued in Voyager’s computer had captured everyone’s imaginations. But they’d never figured it out. “Learn it, live it, love it – it’s already my new best friend.” There was nothing Azrin wanted more than to make it sing. She might never leave main engineering again.

Then at the end, an abrupt topic change, too enamored by what was waiting outside to stop herself from replying idly to his final comment. “I heard Starfleet wanted to arrest us, how are they still taking medal recs?” However, at the moment, Azrin thought that being a traitor might actually be worth it if she had a functioning slipstream drive to play with. She’d probably hate herself for feeling that way later. She was already regretting opening her mouth, that was for sure. “Ah- anyway. Thank you, Lieutenant! I won’t let you down. I’ve found my dream job.”

Re: Day 05 [0800 hrs.] Meet the New New New New Boss

Reply #7 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy]

@rae

Lieutenant Frank Arnold grinned as his new Assistant Engineer was snowballed with new information and desperately trying to keep up to the massive change in her life.  In his opinion after reading her file, she was well on track for the promotion anyway, and since the ship was effectively at war, these sorts of promotion would come thick and fast.  She definitely needed seasoning though as most her vocal attention was focused on the technological aspects the Theurgy had integrated recently. Still she had a few good points that definitely needed to be addressed.  "The system has been used.  The ship's most recent adventure was the result of what amounted to a direct warp jump from Aldea most of the way to Qo'nos.  The rest of it though was a soliton wave."  And the Chief engineer rubbed a temple at the damage the wave had caused in hurling the ship the rest of the way.  "So to answer your question, yes, we have a working QSD"

Taking a deep breath Chief Arnold decided it was necessary to impress the significance of a medal deposition. "I understand your confusion regarding a recording the medal for valour" Frank sat back in his chair for moment and looked passed her as he searched for the right words to frame his request.  "By any measure, what the crew of this ship has accomplished is nothing short of extraordinary.  Stories and songs will be written about the Theurgy and her crew, and I'm sure the historians are going to have a field day at some point.  Is Starfleet taking our recommendations for medals?  No, but they will one day, and that will include your record on how this ship managed to escape into warp because one engineer" his free hand pointed directly at Azrin " jumped into the anti matter injection system and effected a critical repair at a critical time before being mortally wounded for her trouble."  The Chief Engineer's hand dropped back on the desk as he leaned forward and his blue eyes continued to bore into hers.  "The crew of this ship owe you their lives.  The mission and the Federation owes you it's life because of what you did, and it does the crew good to eventually recognize one of their own, just as one day, the Federation will too."

Frank hoped the significance of what he just said sank into the geek sitting across from him as he held her gaze for a few more seconds before looking over at the newly synced PADD and passing it over to her and looking her in the eyes again.  "I  expect your deposition in five days."  Chief Arnold finished.  His smile came back since he could now move on to engineering topics again. "Now, hopefully I've terrified you sufficiently to do my bidding, it's not all pomp, doom, and gloom.  You're right.  It is a dream job, and you're going to live every second of it.  Don't lose that PADD, it's synced with the priority of work orders and status updates across the ship from myself and the other team leaders."  Frank leaned back again and took a slug of coffee before continuing.  "You've got a reputation of an engineer that gets her hands dirty, and that's all well and good, but I'm looking forward to seeing how you manage the personnel for the parts of the ship we need to put back together.  If you see something, you think needs to be higher priority, punch it in and I'll take a look at it, or come to me with what you're looking to get done.  In any case, use your judgment and initiative" Frank stood up abruptly.  "In the meantime though, let's go take a look at your 'friend'" and he gestured for the Trill to follow him to the Quantum Slipstream Drive.

Re: Day 05 [0800 hrs.] Meet the New New New New Boss

Reply #8 –
[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @RyeTanker

She’d been at slipstream. She’d been on a ship with a slipstream drive, going at slipstream velocity… and had missed the entire thing because she’d been in stasis. She wanted to shout at the unfairness of that. Azrin already felt out of sync, sleeping through such horrible times. But to miss such an important event! That was beyond aggravating. Aldea to Qo’nos was an incredible distance – even if they hadn’t made it all the way. “Was there some sort of malfunction that caused us to drop out of slipstream too early?” she asked immediately. Working wasn’t the same as working well. Azrin had winced at the mention of a soliton wave. Sure, that was a fast way to travel, but it wasn’t exactly safe or predictable. She’d gone surfing on the holodeck a few times. Crashed way more often than she’d flown. Based on Arnold’s face when he mentioned it, the wave hadn’t been a resounding success.

Azrin’s quip about awarding medals had been a thoughtless, throwaway line, but the Lieutenant answered it seriously. She managed to keep her mouth shut this time, shifting uncomfortably in her chair at the praise. Maybe she would have considered herself extraordinary had she managed to fix the warp drive and escape without nearly dying. Though honestly, she’d probably put that under ‘doing her job.’ Azrin wasn’t in it for awards. Getting to work on the drive systems was prize enough. However, this time Azrin had enough sense not to fight him on it. “Thank you, sir.” The reply was too stiff, and she took a sip of coffee to avoid meeting his gaze any longer.

Belated it might be, but the chief engineer’s change to a more depressing topic was enough to remind Azrin that she’d probably been a bit too excited earlier. He hadn’t seemed put out by it… but assistant chief engineers weren’t supposed to act like over excited children either. Even when faced with new drive systems that were impossible three days ago – from her perspective anyway.

Like Arnold, Azrin perked up again when the topic changed back to something cheerier – work. The now empty coffee cup was abandoned on the tray in favor of the PADD, which she quickly scanned to get a gist for the info. Skimming the titles was enough; scheduling, work orders, reports, completions, priorities, etc. It wasn’t anything she hadn’t seen before, but there was far more of it. She’d have to read it all to get a grip on the ship’s status before she could even think of ordering people around based off this. Before, her access to these systems was limited to matters pertaining to a propulsion engineer. Now she was seeing every engineering task. Major decision making was still firmly in the chief engineer’s corner, but the assistant had to be up to date too. Just in case… No Azrin, she thought angrily to herself as Vojona’s list of the dead department heads whispered through her brain again. Don’t go there. She brought plenty of doom and gloom without his help. Azrin took a breath and did her best to meet his eyes again, surprised to find that she managed it quite well. “Yes sir, I’ll get on it. I used to be friends with the whole team. We worked together really well. Of course, there are a lot of new people now… but I’m sure we’ll get along great too.”

"In the meantime though, let's go take a look at your 'friend.'" Decorum be damned, the trill grinned so widely that her face was in danger of cracking, practically jumping out of her chair at the opportunity. Azrin would have loved the slipstream drive no matter what, but after the horrible last few days, she was latching onto this one good thing with even more enthusiasm than normal. If she remembered her resolution to be less excited – made only moments ago – it only showed because she stayed with Arnold instead of running ahead. When they reached the new components on the M/ARA she’d noticed earlier, Azrin immediately got close and started examining them, hands clasped behind her back to keep from touching. Experience had tempered her enthusiasm in one way. Azrin never touched a system she didn’t understand. “Hello beautiful. I can't wait to figure out exactly how you work.”

Re: Day 05 [0800 hrs.] Meet the New New New New Boss

Reply #9 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy]

@rae

Lieutenant Frank Arnold stared took note of the questions that the his deputy and new right arm was asking and filed them away temporarily as he led Lieutenant to the physical heart of the ship, the matter/anti-matter reactor that powered the warp core.  With the ship in dry dock, the core was shut down and the Chief Engineer was thankful that he had his propulsion specialist back to give the reactor and the core a thorough once over.  The ship had been worked hard, not as bad as the run from Sol, but still enough to need a complete inspection and blue eyes fell on the smiling red head as she approached the newest attachment to the core and began getting to know it.  Some people would have thought Lieutenant Ryn's reaction as crazy.  How did one interact with an inanimate object as if it was a living breathing being?  Frank mentally smiled that question.  It was simple, it was the collective will of the crew that gave life to a ship, made it a living, breathing entity to those who served on her.  And it was those personalities like the new Assistant Chief Engineer that made ship's special.

Getting back to the question at hand, Chief Arnold took a breath before crossing his arms across his broad chest.  "As far as the transit records indicate, the system was stressed as far as it would go and the phase variance became more than Thea thought was safe for the ship.  As to why, I'd hazard a guess that in our haste to get the new drive setup, there were compatibility issues that were overlooked."  Broad shoulders shrugged. "Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest since it's not tech that was designed with Starfleet, like DS9 had all those issues trying to get Cardassian, Bajoran, and Starfleet technologies to cooperate."  The compatibility problems that DS9 was infamous for made the engineer shake his head in amusement.   The Chief walked to the reactor and laid his hands on a nearby console as he stared into the drive's possibilities through his mind's eye before turning to face Azrin once more. "The ship's AI, Thea, was recording the whole thing, so when you're looking into what happened to the QSD, you can ask her about it as well."

Chief Arnold pressed his beard into his chest for a moment as he considered Azrin talking to Thea, and decided it would be a good warning for the newly thawed geek. "There's something you need to know about the AI." Big fingers tapped on his thigh in thought.  "Thea was first of her kind on any ship.  She's in many ways the main prototype for all AI's to come for Starfleet, but through this ship's journey, something happened to her and she's far exceeded the programming and expectations that her original designers had in mind.  The files made interesting reading, but she's spent time as an organic being as well.  I don't understand how it worked, as far I know, it was courtesy of something of a Q like being that keeps meddling in the life of Picard."  The Chief Engineer smirked at the thought of what Azrin was going to think of the technology having a personality already instead of having to suss it out like she'd do with the QSD.

With that, Chief Arnold stood there and tried to think up anything else that he needed to tell Lieutenant Ryn, and give her a chance to mull over the new information and ask any questions. 

Re: Day 05 [0800 hrs.] Meet the New New New New Boss

Reply #10 –
[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @RyeTanker

“Really?” She blurted out, jerking back to attention and whirling around to face Arnold again. He had brought up perhaps the only thing that could have possibly distracted her right then. She knew about Thea, from her previous year on the Theurgy. Azrin had been rather in awe of the programming that had created the ship’s AI, though she’d never had much to do with her. In a fit of responsibility, Azrin had focused herself on the ship’s warp drives first. All the other new technologies on the ship could come later. She’d thought she had plenty of time.

And now she had to make up for that mistake. With the addition of a quantum slipstream drive and a highly evolved AI. “That’s amazing! I’m really regretting not studying more artificial intelligence right now. Although…” Azrin paused with a look hungrily back to the slipstream drive. “Or all the specialties really. I need a bigger brain. Then I could have mastered- annnd that’s a useless train of thought. Anyway. I will definitely – very happily – go talk to Thea. Sir. I read about the project when I came on board, but I never really spoke to her. I wish I had, then I could have noted the progression.” For Azrin, who tended to see personalities in machines anyway, the idea of Thea evolving in this manner was exciting, not shocking. It wasn’t like it was an unheard-of development. Commander Data of the Enterprise was quite renowned in Starfleet, even after his untimely demise. “But no use crying over lost cargo.” Just be happy you didn’t get lost with it. Azrin couldn’t bring herself to finish her dad’s favorite saying today. It was hitting far too close to home.

To hide the shadow that crossed her face, Azrin faced the slipstream drive again, continuing her visual examination while shoving her inconvenient emotions away. She was not ok with the idea that she couldn’t see her parents and assure them that she wasn’t a traitor. But this wasn’t the place to dwell on that. Looking at the foreign technology was calming in itself, the unknown practically daring her to uncover its secrets. “But don’t worry dear,” she whispered quietly to it, “You will assuredly be number one in my heart. But don’t tell Thea or any of the warp cores. Don’t want anyone getting jealous.” It wasn’t that she actually thought the drive systems were alive. Thea might have progressed to that point, but the slipstream and warp drives clearly weren’t there. But talking to them like they were… it felt right. Like the ship was a giant pet that protected them from the dark and cold of space. If she was nice to the drives, they would be nice to her in turn.

When she spoke again, it was in a normal, professional tone, this time meant for Lieutenant Arnold to hear. “I’ll go through all the data we’ve already gathered before touching anything. Don’t want to waste time repeating any mistakes we’ve already solved. The old Voyager logs too, for correlations. Once I have an idea of what’s going on, I’d like to take it fully offline for a few days and take it apart, so we know every component. Would that be a problem?” She glanced back to Arnold as she asked, “Medical told me that we’re planning on shore leave for a while yet, but I don’t know what readiness we’re meant to be at.” Azrin moved a few steps over to the console closest to the system, correctly assuming that it was the monitoring station. It was already offline, which rather answered her question for her. “With accurate scans and imaging of every component and the flight data we’ve already accumulated, we can start making an accurate holographic simulator.” Less dangerous troubleshooting. “And ask the captain for some test flights. That way when we fall out of slipstream again, there wouldn’t be a time crunch to get somewhere.” Hopefully they had been running continuous scans during the journey. Then she could separate the damage from the drive’s malfunction vs the soliton wave battering the ship.

“Plans subject to change once I finish my homework.” She finished with a grin.

Re: Day 05 [0800 hrs.] Meet the New New New New Boss

Reply #11 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy]

@rae

If the Chief Engineer wasn't desperately short of people and absolutely certain Azrin was brilliant at her job, he'd consider sending her off to get a psych evaluation.  The problem was that he had much the same identification syndrome that all Engineers developed with the ship and couldn't possibly justify sending her to the shrinks.  Still, the level of ...... attachment that as being displayed was approaching the surreal.  Frank decided it was better to let Azrin carry on with her job and demonstrate that her attitude was merited so no one could yank her off the line for a personality quirk.  He was also sure he'd be screening any interference for her and sighed as he saw his work load increase.  To be fair, he wished he also had a bigger brain to absorb all the changes that were going on around him.  Maybe Blue handled it relatively well because she ate twinkies like the ship was going to run out as compensation.  It was a good thing he had broad shoulders to carry the burden of command on and squared them, it was a lot easier on his waist line, that's for sure!

"Go ahead and shut down the QSD  It doesn't work at the moment since our supply of Benamite crystals has been exhausted.  Till we get a new supply and figure out how to use them in an efficient and stable manner, it will be tough to try going to slipstream.  It just won't be as stable as a the regular warp drive."  Chief Arnold shrugged at the line of thought.  He wanted to have a stable QSD, but it was just so damn finicky that it was hard to recommend using it.  He could only hope that Azrin could get it sorted out before they needed the system once more.  "You should now have access to the scans and the historical records, so do what you can to piece together what happened.  It'll be lots of lab and holodeck work in the meantime.  If we can get new crystals, I'll ask the Captain for a test flight after you sort out what modifications need to be made and can demonstrate significant system improvement."  The Chief Engineer smiled in encouragement.  "If anyone can figure how to make the slipstream drive work, I'm sure it's you."

Chief Arnold tapped arms one more time before deciding he'd better let the Assistant Chief Engineer get to work so she could properly gush over the systems.  "Remember the rest of the systems need TLC as well.  Immediate priorities are tactical, hull breaches, and propulsive systems.  You've get most of the repair load for Vector 3 as well, so don't dawdle on it."  A big smile that combined equal measures relief and happiness split Frank Arnold 's face as he held out his hand to shake Azrin's before he took off to see to other details. "Thank you Lieutenant Ryn. it's good to have you back with us once again."

Re: Day 05 [0800 hrs.] Meet the New New New New Boss

Reply #12 –
[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @RyeTanker

One day, a starship was going to gain sentience – this one was apparently well on its way – and Azrin was going to be the only one it listened to, because she’d been overly nice to it the entire time. And if that never happened, treating the ship like a living thing made her work more fun. Win win. Getting weird looks along the way didn’t bother her in the least.

Besides, talking to the drive was a buoy to her spirit, as the console was confirming the facts even as Arnold said them. The slipstream drive wasn’t operational. It was a letdown after being told there was a working one on board. There was a working one on board, she amended bitterly to herself, while I was sleeping. Six months had never felt so long. Azrin mentally added ‘find benamite deposits’ to her list of things to do. She was here now, so she was going to get the crystals they needed to power it. This thing was going to work.

“Taking it offline now Lieutenant,” she confirmed, powering the drive down fully. If it didn’t work anyway, there was no point in letting it idle and feeding it power until they started running tests. A few taps to the console found the shutdown procedures already programmed in. She ran them after a quick once over, logging the drive’s status change while she was at it. Once that was finished, she looked back to Arnold with an excited grin. Nothing could keep her spirits down for long, not with this technology at her fingertips. “Ships used to rattle around at warp too. Give us some time to figure everything out, and you won’t even be able to tell the difference between warp and slipstream.” She’d been hoping for more than one test flight. Since they’d already proven that the drive wouldn’t destroy the ship, the fastest way to troubleshoot was to keep hopping in and out of slipstream. Normally Azrin was a big fan of holodeck simulations, but they weren’t as accurate when it came to technology the computer didn’t fully understand. Real time data from test flights would be a massive boon in making a simulator. But she’d have to make do. Azrin decided to view it as a challenge instead. Demonstrate significant system improvement.

“I’ll have a look at the other propulsion systems too.” Getting slipstream as smooth as warp wasn’t an accomplishment if the warp systems were damaged. “I knew those systems really well already. It will be like getting back to old friends. I'll get on the tactical systems and hole patching too.” The last two were outside her area of expertise. It would probably take longer, but she’d figure it out. “I’ll make sure that's all on track first.” Before she got entirely distracted by their shiny new toy. Azrin accepted his hand for one firm shake before releasing it. Unable to resist one last little joke, she replied, “Thank you! I was beginning to think that they’d never let me out of sickbay. I prefer it down here.”

As the chief engineer walked away to return to his own duties, Azrin shot one last look towards the slipstream drive and sent it a silent promise to give it her undivided attention later. Then she found an empty console and started pulling up damage reports. Unfortunately, she couldn’t even get to the lab and holodeck part until she’d caught up on what she’d missed.

–FIN–
 
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