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Day 34 [1800 hrs.] Watermelon Sugar

[ Lt. Cmdr. Rutherford | Auxiliary Engineering 01 | Deck 06 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @uytrereee
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It had been a few days now, since Samantha had come aboard the Theurgy and had been installed as the Chief Diplomatic Officer. A position she had never held prior, anywhere. So, even though she would’ve never admitted that to anyone, it also held a whole set of new responsibilities and duties she had to grow accustomed to first. The initial days in the ‘Diplomatic Council’ – as the flag bridge was now unanimously referred to – were quiet. VERY quiet. For the most part she hadn’t known what to say, to her subordinates, or how much to say. At the initial first staff meeting she had told them she was not a micromanager. And even though she had yet to learn to trust the work processes of each and every one in her department she didn’t want to appear as if she were monitoring their every steps. So for the better part of a week, almost, she had let them do what they had been doing before she arrived. It wasn’t ideal …

Now the officer needed a distraction: There were a couple of things that hadn’t been kept in mind when repairing and refitting the flag bridge to be the hub of diplomatic efforts aboard the ship. So the blonde had figured to go and talk to the responsible Engineer of Vector 1: Frank Arnold. While they were still in dock maybe there were some minor amendments that could be done. Her senior officer clearance allowed Samantha to take the turbolift right into the auxiliary engine room and she excited across from the horizontal warp core. Watching the impressive piece of machinery as she circled it the woman arrived at one of the pool tables - Wasn’t that what inventive engineer minds called the central consoles?

“I am looking for Lieutenant Arnold?” Sam instructed a young Ensign in golden sleeves who had made eye-contact with her first. The Andorian man smiled mischievously, as if he knew something she didn’t. Or as if he expected something to happen. Before ultimately walking off to catch the Asst. Chief. Tapping the back of her PADD with her fingertips the blonde spun in her position slowly to take a look around engineering. She could only imagine what it would be like up and running on full power.

Re: Day 34 [1800 hrs.] Watermelon Sugar

Reply #1 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Auxiliary Engineering | Deck 06 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @stardust 
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Frank had taken the morning off, to go and see the Fighter Bay on Deck 02, part of his cross department familiarization, but by the evening, he'd returned here. By all rights he should have been relaxing or taking a holodeck hour, but he needed to get some work done in Auxiliary Engineering 01. Not that the ship actually needed much work, but it was more buttoning up. That was exactly why he had the primary cowlings off of the power trunking junction, and was hard at work with a micronized welder. He was wearing coveralls over his uniform, and a refit standard welding mask with the auto-dimming timer he'd requested.

The Ensign would reply to Sam, "Of course Lieutenant Commander, the Assistant Chief is over there." Where he pointed, was awash in the bright blue of arc flash, and a myriad of sparks across the colour spectrum. Frank had found a few hairline cracks in one of the buttresses when he was finishing his buttoning up review, and whilst he was assured they would cause no power loss across the junction, when they were about to set off, he wanted to make sure that everything was a hundred percent right. The Ensign would eventually lead Lieutenant Commander Rutherford over to the junction terminal, where Frank was talking to another young lady, a Vulcan Lieutenant Junior Grade who was standing there holding what appeared to be a box of tools.

From the junction panel, from which Frank's lower half stuck out, came a muffled voice that offered, "The thing about micronized welding is, it's slagless, so it's hard to know which way to move the bead, push or pull. But I've always been of the opinion that the shrouding effect that the field provides from the hand device, has enough of an impact, that you should push through the pool. It's a less stable arc, more tricky technique, but a much stronger weld." Another shower of sparks would emanate from the place, and if the Lieutenant Commander had gotten too close, they might get on her shoes. "Lieutenant, my Defan-Ultrasonic please." The Vulcan would hand it down into the dank space.

Before Frank could start his inspection of his welds, the Ensign would speak up, "Uh, Assistant Chief, you've got a visitor." With that the young man would nod to Sam, "Sir" and would return to his work about the Auxiliary Bay. Slowly Frank emerged, sporting a protective mask, which he pushed up over his face, after removing his protective gloves. Under his PPE, was a middle aged man, with a greying beard, and soot about his cheeks and chin, which were red and rosy with the confined space work. He was just shy of 6 foot, with a very broad chest, slightest belly, and very thick arms. He looked strong, even if he didn't look that defined.

He looked to the woman across from him, and extended a massive mitt, over-sized even for a man, and offered a light, "Assistant Chief Arnold, how can I help you...?" He studied her pips, "Lieutenant Commander." If she took his hand he'd give hers a firm but not crushing shake, and she might feel the apparent callouses about his palm, a sign that this sort of work was not a novelty to Frank, but a regular occurrence.

Re: Day 34 [1800 hrs.] Watermelon Sugar

Reply #2 –
[ Lt. Cmdr. Rutherford | Auxiliary Engineering 01 | Deck 06 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @uytrereee
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Samantha had to admit that the view of the man, half sticking from a sparking, flashing manhole was a sight to behold. It was like he was being chewed up by the ship. In a way, he was. And he had good ass. It always intrigued the officer a bit, seeing a scene such as this. As a diplomat she always vied to know what someone was doing and why, to deduce a possible angle from it. As a private person, or when she wasn’t on a ‘mission’, that curiosity was still very present. What exactly was he fixing? What was that blue glass-fiber cord, running just below the rim of the deck-plating? Was this Lieutenant Frank Arnold or was this the guy that was sealing him into the bowels of the ship?!

Listening to the man’s elaborations, echoing muffled from the junction panel, Samantha couldn’t really make heads or tails from it, to the point where he could’ve spoken an alien language. At least then the universal translator would’ve helped. But it apparently wasn’t set to ‘gearhead’. Sure, she had versed herself in a myriad of topics to be able to make polite, superficial conversation on just about anything. But this was next level engineering jargon. They were welding something, the blonde deducted, lips pursed, eyes squinted. Hence her previous assumption that maybe they were sealing someone in. Then something ‘ultrasonic’ came into play before the Andorian spoke up and announced the commander. Now they were cleaning something?

Shaking her head free of increasingly painful mind knots Samantha readjusted her stance slightly, erecting her elongated stature more, as the man crawled from his cave. Hmmm … if she had to describe the perfect seasoned engineer to a sketch-artist, that would’ve been the look. Doing a subtle once-over, the man with the greying beard had kind eyes and broad shoulders, befitting of his occupation. There was a lot to be learned about a person on first glance, before they could realize who they were talking to and bring their walls up, she had experienced. Most importantly though, that this first impression should always be taken with a grain of salt.

“Oh no, I am Lieutenant Com…” the officer interjected quickly in between the man’s statements, jumping to the erroneous conclusion that he was addressing her … not introducing himself. Amateur blunder. “Oh you meant …” and once again she spoke right into his recitation of her rank. The blonde stopped herself from spewing more stupidity like a fountain of incompetence. Ultimately dipping her head down in a light shake, a chuckle echoing from her nostrils. Locking blue eyes back with Lt. Arnold she shook her side-swept hair back with a smile. “Now, that was a potential ‘Abbott & Costello’ moment.” she snickered.

“Chief diplomatic officer Rutherford .” Samantha finally introduced herself, tipping the PADD in her hands at her torso for subtle, nonverbal clarification. “I was wondering if you had a couple of minutes to talk about a few technical questions I have about the refit of the flag bridge which – as you know – has been repurposed to serve my department.” She explained professionally. “But I can come back if you have more … welding to do.” Leaning sideways for a moment, Samantha gave the hole in the floor a quick once-over, though it seemed as if the other engineers were about to seal it.

Re: Day 34 [1800 hrs.] Watermelon Sugar

Reply #3 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Aux. Engineering 01 | Deck 06 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @stardust
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Frank looked the Diplomatic Commander from head to toe. He actually didn't know really what a Diplomatic Chief did aboard a ship, especially one like the Theurgy that was persona non grata from Starfleet and the Federation in general. He supposed they had various foreign allies, at least Klingons and Aldeans, and someone had to be responsible for balancing the intricacies of the various cultures, where they overlapped and where they differed. The notion of it made his head hurt a little, it was all too much people for him, and like as not it didn't involve too much of the straightforward behavior he was used to. What he did know what, the Lieutenant Commander certainly looked the part.  She was average height for a woman, not too imposing, was finely framed, with nice features, attractive, and no doubt smart as a whip, like most everyone he'd met so far in Command. That track didn't attract many dummies.

As the Lieutenant Commander stuttered over his introduction, he gave a slow chuckle, and let her figure out her blunder. He joined her chuckle with a light smile, and met her eye to eye once more, even though it meant he had to incline his head ever so slightly to do it. As she said it was a potential Abbott and Costello moment, he raised a brow. He was familiar with certain parts of twentieth century and twenty first century culture, but it was primarily around the motorhead and metalworkers aspects, he knew very little pop culture from that era outside of Jazz, so the reference was lost on him, and it showed on his face. "Abbott and Costello? I cannot say I am familiar, you'll have to explain that one to me I'm afraid."

As she introduced herself finally, he gave a slow nod, and a light 'ah', as he wiped his hands on the coveralls, before he unzipped them and started to roll them down, revealing his standard uniform underneath. He undressed as they spoke, practical in his nature, it made little sense to waste this time. "By all means Lieutenant Commander, the Flag Bridge refit was a large piece of work. I came in close to the end, I arrived with the Klingons, but I've thoroughly reviewed the work, added a few touches myself."

He would drop his micronized welder back into the toolbox, and offered to the various staff nearby, "Button that up after you run the UT Probe over those welds. I don't think you'll find any voids, but if anyone would, it's you." He laughed gently as he motioned Sam to follow him as he headed for the nearby master control table, mostly it just showed static readouts and systems readiness checks, as this area was never operating fully unless the Helmet was broken away from the main ship body.

He leaned his forearms on the table, and looked at her, raising a brow, "Alright, the former Flag Bridge, what do you want to know?" He smiled passively, inclining his head, "I've got all evening now, that was my last button up job, so I'll just be spinning my wheels until we get the go ahead to set to space once again. That is until Chief Tiran finds me work" 

Re: Day 34 [1800 hrs.] Watermelon Sugar

Reply #4 –
[ Lt. Cmdr. Rutherford | Auxiliary Engineering 01 | Deck 06 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @uytrereee
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Samantha wasn’t really an aficionado of 20th centuries' early steps in, what was then called, television and comedy. It was just one of the many subjects she knew a superficial amount about, enough to make polite conversation. So she couldn’t do much more than fend the Lieutenant’s request off with a good-mannered shake of her head and a tongue-in-cheek smile. “Just … an odd reference.” She admitted herself. Somehow, she was not on her vocal a-game today. The initial awkwardness leading her department was still ever so slightly beating down her confidence. Or at the very least the confidence in her qualification.

Letting her eyes slide down the notion of the long zipper the blonde diplomat soon looked back at the man’s face without letting the occupational striptease bother her much more. Weren’t their uniforms kind of designed to endure every department’s needs? Wasn’t that the point of a uniform too? No one could’ve possibly faulted an engineer for having a dirty one. Curious, how mundane her thoughts had gotten. Nodding once more with a satisfied smile the woman readjusted her stance ever so slightly. “Then I have come to the right man.” She concluded, following him gladly to the large holo-table.

Maybe it was the fact that she wasn’t in her comfort zone being at engineering. This entire room felt like a foreign environment to her, not one she was used to. And while she was incredibly adept at appearing comfortable just about anywhere, this wasn’t exactly her favorite place, or feeling. Placing her PADD on the edge of the table the officer swiped the schematic upward and it transferred into the master display, now showing a layout of the former flag bridge.

“I am sure there is always something to do …” Samantha smiled before adjusting the schematic so it would serve her explanation needs. “First of all, I was wondering what the encryption level on these access points were.” The blonde pointed at the 12 consoles that were placed in two crescents around the holographic table in the center. “Diplomatic staff workspaces should be at 7 or above according to Starfleet regulations.” Looking up at the man by her side she was looking for any kind of confirmation before proceeding.

“Additionally, I was hoping we could place another access point here.” The diplomat pointed at the head space between the two crescents. Opposite the UFP logo on the floor. “This would serve as my workspace so I’d need at least encryption level 10. Plus direct communications access and a Starfleet uplink – in case we’ll ever figure out how to tap back into the main database remotely without being detected.” It was a lot, really, even more so given that they were all pressed for time. “What do you think?” she asked, turning 90 degrees to lean against the table sideways, arms crossed expectant of a positive answer.

Re: Day 34 [1800 hrs.] Watermelon Sugar

Reply #5 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Aux. Engineering | Deck 06 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @stardust
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Was equally not an afficianado, so perhaps the reference would make for an awkward start to an otherwise pleasant conversation. Frank had made his introduction this morning to Ji, and he'd put his foot in his mouth after stepping in dog crap, so to speak, so he really had no room to judge right now. Which was why as she said it was just an odd reference, he gave a gentle smile, and said lightly with a shrug, "Well you got one up on me, so that works well enough." He chuckled, and leaned on the main table.

Frank wasn't the sort of guy to keep a dirty main uniform, he was happy to don a set of coveralls, that he'd replicated for himself for the dirtier work, so he could maintain a professional look on the deck, even if the black around his fingernails, and dusted over his knuckles told a different story to his uniform. But for Frank, it was the implicit notion of trying to appear professional, that mattered.

He gave a slow chuckle, saying lightly, "You have indeed, I am in charge of the Engineering department for the Helmet, although ultimately we're all accountable to the Chief Engineer." Kaylon had Vector 02, and of course 03 was Blue's baby. At her questions, he gave a slow chuckle then and nodded, highlighting the comms trunks that spanned the junctures of the room edges. He would say lightly, "The Flag Bridge always shared Deck Two with Intelligence Operations, and the ship's onboard AI core, as well as the first level of the primary computer core, so all the decks, at least First through Fifth, have the infrastructure to meet a variable number of encryption requirements, up to and including what would be needed for the super spooky intelligence work. And all the processing power you could want in your wettest dream." He gave a nod and a little chuckle as she said Starfleet Regulations, "I can assure you that all of your workspaces fully conform to Starfleet regulations."

As she started to explain she wanted a new workspace for herself, and she highlighted a place, he began annotating on the schematic, writing 'E-10' as he sketched in what he was thinking for that. He would stroke his beard, "I don't reckon that'll be a lot of trouble, it'll just be a matter of setting up another station, making a bit of room between those two buttresses, and running some access cabling. I reckon two or three of my engineers could have it done in, no more than about eight hours." He raised a brow, "If it's urgent I can start them on it now."

He mused on the topic of direct communications and gave a nod, "I can manage that yes, we'll obviously still run your line through the same trunk as all the other outgoing communications, as ultimately they all end up at the same place, but we can make sure it's on its own line, so your traffic isn't interrupted by high priority messages and the like. Starfleet uplink is pretty standard, when I wire you into the communications array, you'll have that anyway." He chuckled, "Not that it'll do you much good right now, unless you speak nice to Intelligence." He winked at her.

"I have to ask, what does a Diplomatic Officer do aboard an exiled vessel like the Theurgy?"

Re: Day 34 [1800 hrs.] Watermelon Sugar

Reply #6 –
[ Lt. Cmdr. Rutherford | Auxiliary Engineering 01 | Deck 06 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @uytrereee
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Ah, the ‚helmet‘, was Vector 01 in engineering jargon. Raising her brows temporarily in acknowledgment, the blonde made a mental note of this professional vernacular. It made sense, she supposed, from a metaphorical point of view. Nodding slowly, in thoughts, the officer also supposed it made sense that, because Deck 2 was basically only Intelligence, Diplomatic Council and a lot of technical areas, that both departments shared a similar infrastructure. She had to laugh lightly at his description of intelligence services and his particular choice of words in describing the potential of onsite systems. She could understand that the SID seemed elusive to a lot of people, mostly because intelligence officers usually shared a certain air of … privacy – to put it nicely. Yet for someone who usually worked closely with said department, not so much.

“That is funny … I usually find intelligence to be the most straightforward of all departments aboard a starship.” Samantha shrugged casually. “But that impression might be occupational.” It was at the very least true in her department. Diplomacy was not very straightforward at all! Hearing that all work-spaces would align with Starfleet regulations entirely the officer was visibly satisfied. She was a stickler for regulations and protocols – everything that supplied a certain order to rely on. Much like engineering principals she supposed. After all – and to use one of the most basic of rules as an example – electric current always ran from the positive to the negative poles.

Samantha followed Frank’s elaborations on how to set up her additional workstation with interest. She always enjoyed her requests being fulfilled effectively and satisfactorily. Watching the man amend the schematics with symbols and lines her brows furrowed ever so lightly in an effort to catch up. A wide smile growing on her plump lips the blonde erected herself once more, away from the details, looking at the engineer with an appreciative nod. “That’s what I wished to hear.” she praised.

Pulling her PADD back, the schematic remained in the temporary memory of the status display for Arnold to fiddle with it as he needed. Hugging the portable computer to her chest the diplomat listened to the solution for her database issues. Sure, the Theurgy computers were cutting edge with all the memory space one could desire. Yet it still was too, nothing more than a mobile computer, compared to Starfleet and Federation central libraries. Which housed all the minutely detailed information available on all the species known to the Federation at this point in time. No diplomatic detachment could function effectively without it.

She nodded: Her own uninterrupted line sounded satisfactory. She didn’t need to share her bandwidth with someone downloading Klingon mating rituals from the sociological database. Another nod, followed by a sarcastic chuckle, at his mention of speaking nicely to Intelligence. “I think I know how to get what I want.” she smiled ominously, it was a nice jumping board for the answer to his last question.

“Well.” the blonde’s blue eyes trailed off for a moment, kind of trying to figure that out for herself yet. But in her line of work, admitting to not knowing, was not really an option … and also never a problem. “There are a lot more bridges which need to be rebuilt (alluding to the flag bridge) and we’re in dire need of more allies. But basically, I am here so we don’t have to use departments like tactical and the fighter wing and so you can focus on regular maintenance and improvements, not patching up battle damaged flag bridges.” Samantha concluded with a pleasant, if not almost self-appreciating smile. It was the kind of easing, encouraging prospect she always wanted to convey to a crew. “Exiled is just another word for being misunderstood.”

Re: Day 34 [1800 hrs.] Watermelon Sugar

Reply #7 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Aux. Engineering | Deck 06 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @stardust
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The Helmet was the designation given to Vector 01, Vector 02 being the Sword, and 03 being the Stallion. There were other names for the combinations of vectors that were not the entire Theurgy. He'd just been quickly broken in on the ways that his assigned Vector was referred to by the crew. He found if you learned the lingo quick, you fit in quick. When in Rome, and so on and so forth. Her laugh had him confused though, a raise of the brow indicated such, but he didn't ask any clarifying questions. He just moved on.

He gave a slow shrug and said lightly, "I feel like that's the same as saying that your favorite fruit is a tennis ball." He chuckled gently, not finding that intelligence had ever been straightforward. "A conduit is straightforward, a phaser is straightforward. You put in an input, and you get the expected output. Unless it's broken, and then at least you know it's broken." He shook his head slowly, "A profession that deals strictly with people, especially of all races, can then hardly then be straightforward. Because you can shovel in the inputs, and get a thousand different outputs. Machines are simple, people are, strictly speaking...a pain in the ass." He chuckled, "At least in my humble opinion. And I've got a fair few of those." He looked at her for a reaction to his manner of fact analysis of her job.

At her response, he took it to mean she probably wanted it taken care of right now, so he looked down at his PADD. He was admittedly still getting to learn the personnel assigned to him, their particular skill sets and preferences. But he was never going to learn by doing all the jobs himself, so he looked down the manifest for maintenance personnel, trying to skip over those with a propulsion skill set. "Hmm..." He raised his voice, "Cobb, Kowalski, the Lieutenant Commander here would like a new terminal set up over in the new Diplomatic area. Set up a new station with encryption capabilities please, and run some access cabling to the main trunk." He motioned to the main table, and offered, "You can download my suggestions here if you'd like them, but you're both perfectly capable." He nodded, and the pair took a look at his suggestions, and then headed off to gather their tools, it wasn't as though they had much else to do.

As she said she knew how to get what she wanted, he gave a slow shrug, "Oh I'm sure, you seem fairly resourceful." He chuckled gently, and rolled his shoulders, "But I'll say leave the specifics to your own confidence." Partly because he didn't want to be implicated in anything that might result, even if it was all above board. Frank was happy to do what was requested of him, and in this instance, she'd given him what he needed to know in order to do the job. He smiled at her, "I think it should be done by morning shift, if those two don't get it done, it'll get handed over." Of course unless something urgent came up, and then it'd be left, but he didn't feel the need to trouble her with that modifier.

He listened to her, and gave a slow chuckle, "And they can't be rebuilt with the types of tools I use. The bridges I mean." He nodded gently, and rolled his shoulders, "So then, for the sake of my own nosiness. How do you reckon you're going to keep us out of the fighting?" He raised a brow, rolling his shoulders, "Exiled is precisely what exiled means. No more, no less." He had to disagree with her point about being misunderstood.

Re: Day 34 [1800 hrs.] Watermelon Sugar

Reply #8 –
[ Lt. Cmdr. Rutherford | Auxiliary Engineering 01 | Deck 06 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @uytrereee
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Samantha nodded as Frank explained his view about what straight forward was. And that was exactly what it was, HIS point of view. Which was what every sentient species was doomed to be stuck with. No one would ever be able to truly walk in someone else’s shoes. Not even the Vulcan mind meld could achieve that, it just allowed for an intimate exchange of thoughts. It didn't make you that person but maybe understand them better. “I do agree, people can be unpredictable, but only in the sense that you cannot always understand their motivation. No one acts at random – only seemingly so – behind every action is a motivation. Just as in physics behind every action is a counteraction.” the blond explained with a warm voice. Whenever you explained something to someone the key was the delivery, or it could be very quickly be regarded as criticism or judgment.

“From my point of view, for example, engineering isn’t very straightforward. Just because a wire is blue that doesn’t tell me what it does. Because I am lacking the appropriate deeper insight. In my opinion it’s pretty similar with humans – who are just elaborate biological machines, for that matter.” The diplomat chuckled lightly. Surely the physiology was a bit more complicated but even a neuron inside a human’s brain did not fire in a certain order by happenstance. But because the person’s genetics and experiences had conditioned them to work that special and unique way. Just like a machine was designed to function a certain way. Didn’t mean everyone understood WHY that machine did what I did or how.

Brushing her plump lips together, running a moist tongue tip across the middle of them, the diplomat watched the engineer intently as he relayed his orders. A small smile slowly growing on her now slightly more glossy cushions. Giving the other two officers a brief nod with a kind squint of her eyes, the blonde ultimately focused back on the bearded man. “I’ll make sure to avoid the area until noon tomorrow then, thank you.” Samantha nodded appreciatively. Cheeks rising ever so lightly with a growing smile she acknowledged his self-reflection. Everyone was here to do what they were best at, nothing else.

“Well …” the officer shrugged, letting her gaze wonder to the corner of the ceiling for a moment, as if the task was not a big one. Which was of course not true by any means. “… in my opinion so far, with the information available to me - and I can’t speak for the captain’s ultimate course of action – but to disarm our current official image, we have to continue bringing our persistent loyalty to a wider attention. Loyalty to peace, liberty and the Federation as an institution.” she strung together from the top of her head, looking back at Frank somewhat more seriously. “It’s a little hard to do that while using force, even just as a defense … so I want to try and keep us out of situations where we have to defend ourselves as good as I can.”

At the man’s last point, she nodded in agreement. In agreement that that was his point of view and personal opinion. “To you we’re exiled, to Starfleet we’re running, to the Klingons we’re potentially cowards and to some, well, maybe we’re heroes. But we’re actually none of those things - and a little bit of each and every single one - at the same time.”

Re: Day 34 [1800 hrs.] Watermelon Sugar

Reply #9 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Aux. Engineering | Actions and Consequences] ] Attn: @startdust
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He smiled at her, he could only anticipate what her response was going to be. For everyone, their chosen profession seemed like the straightforward path, and everything else seemed convoluted. It was likely a result of a complex technical mind, and not understanding another line of work innately. Thereby, it must be too complicated to be understood, which was in of itself a fallacy, because someone had to write the rules...Frank just rubbed his forehead in a pinching motion, with his middle finger and thumb. He shrugged lightly, "Typical diplomat reframing the argument. I didn't say random, I said not straightforward. An action can be both designed, and not straightforward." He was disagreeing with her, but perfectly pleasant about it.

He tapped on the table, before he started wandering, figuring she'd follow him, eventually rapping on the side of the horizontal warp core, taking a slow stroll across the bay, "This warp core, is designed, but it's not straightforward." He gave a slow chuckle, "Diplomacy is the quantum theory of the people world, and medicine is the mechanics." He winked at her, "Just don't tell the CMO I said they're a people mechanic." In Frank's mind, if you didn't understand why it worked, and it wasn't something fairly accessible, then it really wasn't straightforward.

He shrugged, "Apart from Thea, machines really are just a vessel." He shrugged lightly, "Anyway, we're not going to agree, I don't swim in your world, you don't swim in mine, we'll go round and round and round, until we're both all twisted up, and in dire need of a drink. Now if you want to get a drink with me after shift, I'll happily go round and round with you about the intricacies of biological machinery, until dawn. It'll be the most academic lounge conversation, that's been had in some time." He laughed softly, having invited her out, and crossed his arms. He shook his head, "Don't need to avoid the area, they're setting up a single terminal, might as well use the other ones, the engineers won't be loud, or in the way."

He listened to her explain how she wanted to avoid conflict, and would say lightly, "But we have an obligation to defend the people of the Federation, and our allies. That necessitates we will inevitably have to put ourselves between bad situations, and sometimes you have to shoot your way out of those things." He shrugged, "Otherwise they wouldn't put phasers on vessels." He shrugged, "Can't buy our way back into good graces, not doing what we're meant to do. We cannot support peace and liberty without being willing to do so pragmatically. Otherwise why did we all leave our lives behind?" He was honestly curious now, she'd piqued his interest, "Now I'm just wasting good drinks conversation."

He laughed softly and said, "We can't go home, call it whatever you like, but I'd like to be able to collect my motorbike without a one way trip to a penal colony."

Re: Day 34 [1800 hrs.] Watermelon Sugar

Reply #10 –
[ Lt. Cmdr. Rutherford | Auxiliary Engineering 01 | Deck 06 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @uytrereee
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Smile growing into a wide grin Samantha’s eyes sparkled with enjoyment of the engineers rebuttal or … correction. But it always amused her to realize when she just couldn’t help herself, even in a setting where diplomacy was not an occupational hazard, but rather a corner stone of peaceful human interaction. “A fair point.” She conceded with a continuous smile. Sure, admitting error was an intricate thing, but by now she could differentiate quite well when it helped the situation and when it compromised her stand in a conversation. Though an argument could possibly be made about the action still being straightforward to the designer – but it didn’t have to.

Following Arnold gladly on the small tour through engineering the blonde let her blue eyes follow his notion to the large piece of machinery in the middle of the room. “This warp core is not straightforward to you?” she recited with an arched brow, a faint call from her ¼ Vulcan heritage. She figured that maybe it really wasn’t but was far more inclined to suspect he knew fairly well how it worked and what result a certain action to it would yield. Unlike her. Then she had to laugh at his joke. “I am sure it would still be one of the more flattering vernaculars attributed to medical.” she comforted him, even though it wasn’t necessary.

The wide smile persisted on the officer’s face as she grew accustomed to the man’s strong character and polite humor. Her visit had developed into an unpredicted – yet enjoyable – topical conversation. “That was pretty diplomatic …” she praised, white teeth flashing ever so lightly between rosy lips as the very tip of her tongue got caught between them. Of course, part of being a diplomat was also indeed going around in circles until someone gave up. But Samantha could understand that it was not a notion one would’ve wanted to entertain off-duty. Not even herself. For now, however, she would deliberately let him hang and challenge his sincerity on the nested offer.

“Good to know … I’ll adjust accordingly.” the diplomat agreed with a dutiful nod, brushing her lips together to wet previously exposed teeth once more. Listening to the next topic, the blonde grew a bit more serious. But only because it required her professional stance to come forth more, alongside the Vulcan training her grandfather gave her. “You asked what I was going to do to keep us out of the fighting.” She reminded him kindly but matter-of-factly. “I am not saying that your arguments aren’t true and aren’t bound to happen, but they are beyond my sphere of influence.” She shrugged lightly. “And yours probably too.”

“Diplomats don’t have the sure-fire way to peace but intend to find a common ground on mutual interests and agendas. Arguably that is not always possible, and conflict can be a result. But the aspiration, at least in my line of work, has to be to try.” And the somewhat more earnest mood quickly transitioned back to the light-hearted conversation of their encounter’s past, with Frank's subtle joke.

“And you’re still doing it.” She replied with a subtle tone of mockery, eyes falling to his hands idly before the blonde took a step backwards to leave. Looking back up, blue orbs glimmering with a hint of mischievousness, Samantha added: “Wasting more good drinks conversation.” Referring to his motorcycle story – which was a peculiar one too. Did people still keep connections with unique inanimate items in the age of replication? She still had her husband’s necklace, sure, it held a certain value you couldn’t replicate. But you couldn’t wear a motorcycle around your neck. Where would you even put it? Well, hopefully she would find out.

Turning to leave with an almost wink the officer counted on the fact that Arnold would try to reassert the offer. Yet if he wouldn’t, she could still get in touch with him. After all, the journey had only just started.

Re: Day 34 [1800 hrs.] Watermelon Sugar

Reply #11 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Conversation for another Time | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @stardust
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Frank was also smiling at this point. He enjoyed having a back and forth with someone. Usually when he made his own opinion known, he got an, 'uh huh' and that was it. Most command officers were interested in command issues, not Frank Arnold's opinion on a field of which he basically knew nothing. He smiled, "I am glad you think so. I thought so." On his point anyway, he was glad they could come to some heading.

He gave a slow chuckle, and said, "I'm a metallurgist by trade, I did a year of warp theory as part of my engineering training, but I was always more interested in structural systems. Lieutenant Kaylon Jeen is the propulsion expert aboard, I am the expert on hulls, structure and damage control. We share things like data systems, and I have some computation experience. I know enough to run a warp core efficiently, but I'd never be able to design one top to bottom, and I wouldn't deign to call them straightforward." He grinned gently, and would give a shrug, "Medicine is a practice like Engineering, based in science, but nuanced. That and the machines don't do what they're told." He smirked, "Diplomacy is based in bullshitting." He winked at her, clearly giving her a hard time.

As she said what he said was diplomatic, he laughed, "Ooooh no Lieutenant Commander, don't you dare go batting those baby blues at me, and complimenting my acumen and trying to get me all buttered up so I'll agree with you." He chuckled softly, "Aww fine, I do like butter and gorgeous eyelashes." He smirked and leaned into the warp core now, not exactly doing something on assignment that required his immediate attention. "Oh definitely beyond my sphere of influence, that extends about as far as my wrench reaches."

He nodded lowly, "Well I hope you're successful, it'll mean I have more time to carve wood if there aren't big holes in the ship." He nodded sagely.

He gave a nod as she said he still was wasting good drink conversation, "Well, yeah, I guess I am." He chuckled, "Well, then you're going to have to have a drink with me sometime, so I can bore you." He raised a brow at her, expecting some sort of response, but as she turned to leave, he said lightly, "Have a good day Lieutenant Commander. Nice to meet you."

Re: Day 34 [1800 hrs.] Watermelon Sugar

Reply #12 –
[ Lt. Cmdr. Rutherford | Auxiliary Engineering 01 | Deck 06 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @uytrereee
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Samantha had to admit, the conversation was quickly taking a turn for the more joyful. It wasn’t at all what she had expected, coming to engineering for a tech upgrade to her desk, but it was a nice surprise. Tensions were at an all-time high, she had noticed just after arriving. So it was always helpful, no, crucial, to have those people around who could make light in the darkest of prospects. It didn’t feel like they were Starfleet’s most wanted right then and there. But it also didn’t feel like a joke.

She had to agree, Frank had seen right through her attempts at coercing the situation in her favor. It was her prerogative as a woman and as a diplomat, after all. “So, we’ll get along just fine.” The blonde smiled kindly as he gave way, just a little. It was always a character strength, she found, to make concessions even though you weren’t in a position where you had to. At his reassurances she just nodded in agreement, for their both sakes. No one needed to die anymore, the Theurgy had seen enough of it. Sure, it was unrealistic to assume, but it was also human to hope.

Already on her way off, the officer bit her bottom lip with a silent chuckle as the engineer called after her once more. She already had her reply ready to go. Turning in her walk, pacing a few steps backwards to the turbolift, she could already hear the doors zipping open behind her. “I keep a box of authentic Garonne Brandy as official gifts in my office … and you know where that is.” She smiled, stepping backwards into the turbolift, hugging her PADD. As the doors slid shut, she grinned. Now that had been an interesting encounter.
 

Re: Day 34 [1800 hrs.] Watermelon Sugar

Reply #13 –
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