First Day And New Friends
Posted on Dec 28, 2016 @ 8:20am by Ensign Lynette Ryan
Edited on on Dec 28, 2016 @ 8:21am
Mission: Aftermath
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“FIRST DAY & NEW FRIENDS”
(Continued from Susan's “The Two Faces of Eve”)
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Location: USS Phoenix
Scene: Engineering Dept. Briefing Room
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A large contingent of personnel stood assembled together, a herd of black and yellow, inside the briefing room for the Phoenix’s Engineering department. Lynette stood with Asta Elgin and Jonathan Maynell having a quick discussion before their new superior arrived.
“Does anyone know what happened to Crichton? Has he been re-assigned to another posting?” Jonathan asked an unsure tone to his voice as he had only just arrived back aboard the Phoenix after a period of shore leave so was a little unprepared to not seeing Jake in Engineering anymore.
“Don’t know. Heard something about family problems.” Asta replied shrugging her shoulders a little.
“Attention all.” The door to the briefing room opened and a tall Grazerite walked in with a heavy and stern stride to his step. The tone that sounded matching his steps. The assembly of engineers stood at immediate attention..
“My name is Malin-Argo and I have been assigned as Chief Engineer of this starship.” The Grazerite stood in front of the viewscreen and turned to face the crew that would be serving under him during his tour of duty aboard the USS Phoenix. His eyes passed over the faces of each and every one of them with a glint of coldness in his eyes, making a judgment on what he saw visually and making mental notes that would be useful in future encounters with them.
“Let me be clear about one thing. I am not here to make friends. I am here to ensure that this vessel runs at its very best and that you all do your job to the very best of your ability. I am not running a social club so I expect you to keep non-workplace discussions to a bare minimum.” Malin-Argo began to walk with slow and heavy steps around the confines of the room, his hands firmly clasped behind his back. This made the team feel intimidated and uncomfortable and they kept facing forward, it was like the feeling of being before a Marine Drill Sergeant.
There was a pause in his speech as the Grazerite continued to walk around the room. Lynette and Asta glanced at each other with confused, unknowing expressions on their faces.
“I have looked over each of your service records and you have been assigned to this vessel because Starfleet has seen praise in your engineering talents and grades. I like to make my own opinions and determinations. If you display exceptional work, you will be praised. If you do not live up to my expectations, you will be in my office to explain yourself. Am I clear?” Malin-Argo stopped at the desk at the front of the room where laid a stack of PADD’s.
“Yes, sir.” The team responded almost in a choir-like synchronicity.
“Here are your duty rosters. Read them over and then begin your assigned tasks immediately.” Malin-Argo stated and then he began to call out pairs of names. Lynette was glad that her and Asta’s name was called out as she was one of the first of the Engineering team she had met and they seemed to have hit it off almost instantly.
“Dismissed.” All of the engineering team filed out of the briefing room and as soon as the doors closed behind the last member, the gossiping began. Lynette overheard the comments and opinions on their new Chief, as they walked away from the briefing room, with most of them being of negative nature.
Lynette and Asta read the details of the PADD that contained their assigned duty before exchanging a casual glance to each other and heading to grab a toolkit to begin their work.
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Scene: Main Engineering
Time: Two hours later
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Bridging the lines of Chaos. That was what you could basically describe the situation in Engineering, but if you only saw it with your own eyes it well went beyond that description. The air inside the Main Engineering of the starship Phoenix was tense as engineers rushed across the spacious chamber, puffed and trying to catch their breath, sweat dripping from their brow as they tried to complete their task within the strict time-frame set by their new department head.
“Asta, pass me the Coil Spanner.” Lynette asked, her half-disembodied voice echoing throughout the conduit that she laid in. The Ensign’s upper body mid-way inside the conduit, her legs dangling through the opening.
“Here.” Asta grabbed the Spanner from the open toolkit and placed it in Lynette’s open outstretched hand. Lynette made some fine-tuning adjustments to the EPS regulator before sliding out of the open conduit with a burst of effort.
“How are the readings now?” Lynette asked as she stood upright next to the console that Asta worked at.
“Efficiency….ninety-four percent. Calibrations still off.” Asta reported after performing a quick diagnostic of the system.
“Damn it.” Lynette’s fist slammed down on the side of the console and she let out a heavy breath of frustration.
“Is there a problem, Ensigns?” It was as if a dark wintery cold fell upon them both as the familiar voice spoke and they looked up to see the heavy build of the Grazzerite Chief Engineer appear before them. Inside the twin engineers cringed a little at his presence, that uncomfortable feeling they had felt before in the briefing room had now returned.
“No problem. We are continuing to re-adjust the EPS regulator to within efficiency of ninety-six percent.” Asta replied trying to make only minimal eye contact with the Grazerite and his cold, almost unforgiving eyes.
“I want ninety-eight percent and no less. Keep working until it is done. Understood?” Malin-Argo stated with that same emotionless tone to his voice.
“Understood, sir.” Lynette and Asta spoke in almost unison. There wasn’t even another word from their superior as he turned and walked away, that uncomfortable aura that he radiated disappearing along with him.
“After this I could use a drink. Did you want to join me at the Tribble later?” Asta asked casually as Lynette prepared herself to re-enter the conduit.
“After this I am going back to my quarters to have a much needed shower and unpack. Let me think on it though.” Lynette replied having a light stretch before she would go back to the small confines of the conduit.
“Ensigns. No more small talk. Back to work.” Malin-Argo’s disapproving voice sounded from meters away from within the busy engineering department. Lynette and Asta looked at each other in almost disbelief of the Grazerite having heard them from that distance and with the surrounding noise. The pair of ensigns waited until he fully disappeared from view before starting up again.
“Damn, he’s got almost Ferengi hearing.” Asta gave a light chuckle as she bent down next to the conduit with Coil Spanner in hand as Lynette climbed back inside.
“Asshat.”
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Scene: Deck 3, Room 7
Time: Another Two hours later
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*Room 7* Lynette read to herself from the faceplate of the door that was in front of her. She touched a button from the panel beside to reveal Lynette’s new home travelling amongst the stars. She felt an instant sense of familiarity as it was a layout similar to what she had back at the academy.
Upon seeing the small lounge suite inside, she dragged her tired body over to it and just let herself fall into its comfort. She let out a big relaxing sigh as her body touched down against the soft cushions.
*So nice to just stop* Lynette thought as she let her limbs just relax and begun to close her eyes. If she really wanted it would have been very easy for her to just fall asleep in this position due to the strain that her body had been put through but it was too early for her to sleep. Their shift originally had meant to have finished over an hour ago, but their Chief Engineer or ‘Asshat’ as Lynette liked to call him in private would not them go until the calibrations had been completed to his satisfaction. It certainly didn’t do her back any good to have laid there for a long period trying to tinker profusely with the EPS regulator and associated systems to get the system within acceptable limits.
Lynette heard a soft gasp and her eyes flickered open to see a woman with flowing blond hair standing before her wrapped in a fluffy white robe.
“Sorry. I didn’t think anyone was here. I really should get dressed.” The woman replied almost ready to head back to her bedroom to change.
“Nah…. its fine.” Lynette said waving an uncaring hand. They were both women with all the same parts and she didn’t care that she was fully dressed or not. Lynette was that comfortable that she wouldn’t even bat an eyelid if this woman wanted to walk around the room naked as she was comfortable sharing with other women. Only the department heads and officers the with rank of Lt. Commander and above received their own quarters but Lynette didn’t mind at all.
“Sofia.” The woman smiled widely and she turned back and took a comfortable seat diagonally to Lynette.
“Lynette.”
“I wondered when I was going to meet my room-mate.” Sofia said with sense of excitement to her voice.
“To tell you the truth, I had completely forgotten.” The over-worked engineer replied with obvious fatigue in her voice as some of her syllables slurred and softened at times.
“It almost looks like you have been dragged through a dilithum mine.” Sofia commented. Lynette’s face was a deep red and parts of her hair were matted from the amount of sweat her body had produced while she had been overworked.
“Tell me about it. I decided the first thing I needed after finishing my shift was to have a shower and get myself cleaned up.” Lynette thought of how refreshing it would be to clean all the bacteria and dead skin off her body and to just freshen up and feel human again.
“I just finished mine as you have probably noticed.” Sofia said giving a quick glance down at her robe, her smile continuing.
“Pity they aren’t real water showers. It was one of the best things when I stayed at my uncles farm. Having a real hot water shower…. Absolute heaven.” Lynette gave a slight pleasurable moan just thinking of the shower on the farm and the calm and relaxing feeling of washing in water.
“Speaking of which I’m going to go get myself cleaned up and if you like I’m going to head up to the Vulgar Tribble to meet with a colleague. Welcome to join us and you can tell me about yourself on the way.” Lynette explained as with effort she pulled herself up from the comfortable lounge and headed towards her bedroom. Originally she had planned on just cleaning herself up and then doing a little unpacking, but with the day she had had Asta’s suggestion of catching up for a drink in the ship’s lounge was very appealing at the moment.
“Sounds good. Let me get changed.” Like Lynette, Sofia lifted herself from the couch and moved towards her bedroom. Lynette smiled as she opened up a duffel bag to choose some casual clothing appropriate to the Vulgar Tribble’s setting before entering the ensuite that contained the sonic shower and wash basin.
Lynette smiled as she undressed and entered the cubicle, her tired body giving her slight discomfort from her hard day’s work but she was happy to be going out and to have found new friends aboard the starship that was going to be her new home away from home.
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NRPG: A much shorter post on a brief description on Lynette's first day of work and the introduction of her new boss.
I enjoyed writing the social interaction (Something I am now getting used to) and very happy with how this turned out (Unlike my last one)
TIFFANY: Roomies!!! Hope I wrote Sofia right.
Phillip Wright
Writing for
A Tired and Overworked Lynette Ryan
