Star Trek: Theurgy

CH03: S [D06|0800] Did Somebody Lose a Chief Engineer?

February 10, 2019, 02:24:07 AM

CHAPTER 03: SUPPLEMENTAL [ DAY 06 | 0800 HRS. ] DID SOMEBODY LOSE A CHIEF ENGINEER?

[ William Robert O’Connell | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | USS Theurgy ]  ^{Attn: @alphawiz (& @FollowTommorrow,  @Absinthe, & @fiendfall if the Engineering Department eats breakfast together).}

Breakfast.  The most important meal of the day.  Also the first.  Although what exactly the first meal is gets mighty vague when you and your crew continuously pull all-nighters.  Acting Chief Engineering Officer Master Chief William Robert ‘Billy Bob’ O’Connell, alias ‘Night Shift Willy’ had actually managed to get a few winks in last night and was looking forward to eating breakfast with some of his morning shift in the recreational lounge area on Deck 28 known as Below Decks.  He had given his order to the raven haired hologram in the purple and grey server’s uniform called Xenia when he glanced over her shoulder and noticed Lieutenant Kaylon Jeen, the chief engineering officer of the USS Cayuga wandering in through the starboard door.  The thing was, the USS Cayuga had departed the vicinity to rejoin the fleet and hunt down the Borg cube that was menacing this sector of space.  So what in Sam Hill was Kaylon doing here?

”Excuse me uh moment,” he muttered to the others at his table as he got up and walked over to his fellow chief engineer.  ”Hello again sir,” he said carefully.  ”Ah gotta admit, Ah say Ah gotta admit thet Ah wasn’t expecting yew tuh still be here after the Cayuga left.  Did somebody lose a chief engineer sir?”

Re: CH 03: S [D06|0800] Did Somebody Lose a Chief Engineer?

Reply #1 – February 18, 2019, 04:33:58 PM

Lt Kaylon Jeen | Mess Hall 0800| USS Theurgy | Attn @Doc M.


"Hello again sir, Ah gotta admit, Ah say Ah gotta admit thet Ah wasn't expecting you to still be here after the Cayuga left.  Did somebody lose a chief engineer sir?"

Kaylon smiled in spite of his situation.  "That makes two of us, Chief.  I spent some time with a member of the crew here last night, and wound up staying over.  Not unheard of, to be sure.  Then this morning when I getting ready to head to the transporter room to beam back to the Cayuga, I see her out the viewport, jumping to warp.  I have no idea why they left without me.  It's not like she had an overabundance of Engineers on board."

Prior to coming to the Theurgy, Kaylon had ensured that the situation had been stable aboard the Cayuga, and then beamed over.  There had been a few consultations, and then he'd sat down to have something to eat in the Mess Hall where he had met, and begun a conversation with Ens. Cir'Cie.  One thing had led to another, he'd even briefly returned to the Cayuga for the plant in his quarters, a couple of confections made from it, and that fated bottle of liquor that seemed to have been the cause of his and Cir'Cie's mutual downfall the previous evening.

"Until the Cayuga returns though, I guess I'm an Engineer without a ship.  I was going to head to the bridge to speak to the Captain about my uh, situation and see what, if anything can be done about it"

Re: CH 03: S [D06|0800] Did Somebody Lose a Chief Engineer?

Reply #2 – February 19, 2019, 03:19:07 AM

[ William Robert O’Connell | Below Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | USS Theurgy ]  ^{Attn: @alphawiz (& @FollowTommorrow,  @Absinthe, & @fiendfall if the Engineering Department eats breakfast together).}

”Well if yuh need someone tuh put in uh good word fur yuh Ah kin go with you,” O’Connell shrugged.  ”Ah’m sure it wuz jest an oversight, uh mistake that is.  But Ah want yuh tuh know if yer stuck here, you’ll always have a home in th’ Engineerin’ department.”

Despite his relaxed tone, O’Connell was concerned about the Cayuga’s departure.  One of the first things a commanding officer does before casting off was to check in with the chief engineering officer.  The chances that Lieutenant Jeen was left aboard the Theurgy by mistake was unlikely to say the least.  It was more likely the Anna Zeigler had left him here on purpose. 

The question was, why?  The Cayuga needed repairs and was heading into a battle, a combination that almost guaranteed to have the starship turn around and head back to the Theurgy as soon as Jeen’s absence was noted.  The sobering answer was that it was likely that Captain Zeigler didn’t like the Cayuga’s chances.  No doubt she reckoned that the engagement with the Borg was one no one on her ship was coming back from and figured that the Theurgy needed someone more capable than Billy Bob O’Connell was a chief engineer.  Besides, even if they survived the engagement, once the eldritch creatures from beyond space and time that were running Starfleet found out about the Cayuga’s contact with the Theurgy any survivors aboard her ship would be quietly murdered anyway.  Leaving Jeen aboard the Theurgy would be Zeigler’s legacy, and best chance to keep the fight going in the long run.  It had probably been a spur of the moment decision. 

Re: CH 03: S [D06|0800] Did Somebody Lose a Chief Engineer?

Reply #3 – February 19, 2019, 08:27:45 PM

Lt Kaylon JeenBelow Decks Lounge | Deck 28 | USS Theurgy ]  Attn: @Doc M.

"Well if yuh need someone tuh put in uh good word fur yuh Ah kin go with you, Ah'm sure it wuz jest an oversight, uh mistake that is.  But Ah want yuh tuh know if yer stuck here, you'll always have a home in th' Engineerin' department."

Kaylon smiled outwardly and took a sip of his coffee as inwardly he was still trying to decipher everything the Chief had said.  The universal translator was great with languages but sometimes left a bit to be desired when it came to dialects that were mostly a mishmash of bad grammar.  After he parsed it all, he said "I'd appreciate that, Chief.  This is an embarrassing enough situation, and frankly, I've no idea why the Cayuga left without me.  I don't know if there are any other of the Cayuga's crew on board or not.  But I think the sooner I can find out what the hell is going on, the better."

There wasn't much he could do about it after that, unless the Theurgy's captain had an idea.  Short of sending a subspace message or going after the Cayuga, Kaylon realized he was probably going to be stuck here for a while.  The silver lining to that cloud was he'd get a chance to work on the Theurgy's engineering systems.  He'd always liked this class ship and had studied the schematics every chance he got since the Cayuga had first encountered her...not that he'd had many spare moments.  The Cayuga had been on the verge of flying apart at the seams for weeks.  Even now, she was barely held together with little more than emergency force fields, temporary welds and something one of the human crew members had called 'duct tape and baling twine'

"Let me grab a couple pieces of toast, and we should probably go see the Captain." he said.

- FIN