The One Where They Meet

Posted on Thu Mar 9th, 2023 @ 3:40pm by Lieutenant Commander Diane Doctrine & Lieutenant Isla Hamilton
Edited on on Thu Mar 9th, 2023 @ 3:48pm

Mission: Evacuation
Location: Engineering

Diane walked into engineering and looked around. There was a minor problem with the Intel communications relay. It was a dedicated, secure system for the Intelligence department to send and receive classified messages and files. She could have fixed it herself with no problems but there was a new chief engineer and she needed to let Lieutenant Hamilton know it was normal for her to work on the Intelligence systems on the ship.

Isla was working away in the small enclosed area near the warp core. There were a few minor bugs and problems throughout the ships systems. She strode out of the area to access the 'pool table'. She noticed the red collar amongst the yellows and approached.

"Hi there..." she said her Scottish accent coming out a little.

"Hello," Diane greeted, "I'm Commander Doctrine, you are our new chief engineer?" Diane had seen her file but it was never a bad idea to confirm, "Lieutenant Isla Hamilton? Am I right?"

Isla nodded. "That's me," she replied as she moved over to the pool table. "What brings you down here Commander?"

"There's an unacceptable phase variance in the dedicated intelligence communications array on several channels," Diane explained, "I just need to recalibrate the inverter and reset the system." she motioned with one hand the jeffries tube she needed to climb into, "It shouldn't take but a few moments. You're okay with that, right?"

Isla sighed. "Sure, I can help you with that... Whoever was running things down here before missed a lot of problems. I understand that Galaxy Class ships are complicated, but I've been finding problems everywhere," she explained. She stepped away from the pool table and opened up one of the wall lockers. She pulled out an engineering kit and slung the strap over her shoulder.

"I've got everything I need," Diane proffered her own took kit, "I got this if you're busy. It's not a big deal."

"I'd rather come with you. It'll help me remember where it is. I've not been a ship this size before, I'm still getting used to all the... space," she explained with a slightly nervous smile.

"Ah okay, It is a big ship but not impossible to get around in," Diane realized what she was up to, not a bad idea. "All right then, off we go." She practically dove into the jeffries tube and started crawling.

Isla shrugged and them followed into the tube. "I guess you've been aboard a while?" She asked curiously.

"About a year or so," Diane explained as she shimmied forward, "I was on Jupiter Station before being assigned here." She stopped to check the label on a panel. "Ah, only a few more meters."

"I see" Isla replied. "I wasn't aware of an Intelligence branch being assigned to Starships. Is this a new addition to the Galaxy Class fleet?"

Diane found the panel she was looking for and sat with her legs crossed in front of it. "For about the last eighteen months or so more agents have been assigned to the field," she explained as she pulled a tool from her kit used to released the latches holding the panel closed. "I have a feeling it's related to the Dominion ships coming through the Bajoran wormhole... and their apparent allying with the Cardassians."

"Yeah, that does make me nervous," Isla replied. "But I just keep doing my own thing, let the higher ups deal with it."

She pried the panel open and began inspecting the inards with a tricorder. "Ah, here we are," Diane used a delicate looking device to calibrate the inverter. "The higher ups claim to know better but I'm not always convinced," she answered Isla's comment without looking up.

"Who knows" Isla smirked as she opened her engineering tricorder. "I wonder why these blew out. Power surge?"

“A possibility,” Diane agreed while making a final tweak, “More probably is… and sadly, a lack of regular preventative maintenance…” she consulted her tricorder once more, “That should do it… but now that we have a new chief engineer I’m willing to bet this won’t happen again.” She offered Isla a friendly wink, perhaps a habit she picked up from Rutherford once she realized what she’d done.

"I won't let it happen again. I've spent most of the day fixing stuff which had been left to break," Isla sighed. "A starship needs maintenance constantly."

Diane snapped the compartment shut, "I'm sure you'll do great," she offered with a optimistic tone. "I think with all the things going on lately, a few minor maintenance tasks have fallen through the cracks. You just got here so don't take it too hard."

"Being a Chief Engineer is an never endless job. These Galaxy Class Starships are still rather advanced, even in today's standards," she stated. "It's still quite an accomplishment to serve on one apparently. The best thing for me to do is to keep this one somewhat running..."

Diane offered a knowing smile, "It might seem like a big job as we've just off loaded evacuated colonists but as I said, I'm sure you'll do great... and you'll have lots of help."

"I hope so" Isla responded. "Earlier the ship tried to eat me, the maintenance hatch closed whilst I was still crawling through" she sighed.

Diane chuckled, “She’s just testing you. As the chief engineer you’ll have a special relationship with ol’ Res.” She patted a nearby bulkhead affectionately.

Isla frowned. "When she's not trying to eat me," she said. "Look at this!" She said as she unzipped her tunic and pulled up her yellow undershirt to reveal her midriff. Her thin belly was badly bruised right across the middle where the hatch had closed on her. "Apparently I'm rather tasty..."

Diane’s eyes widened a bit, “That’s one helluva bruise. Have you thought of going to sickbay?”

"I might go later. Right now I have too much on my plate," Isla responded. "It's not exactly a life threatening injury."

“True, but I wouldn’t let it go too long,” Diane answered while packing up the small amount of equipment she’d brought with her. “All right then, on to the next task.”

Isla nodded, she winced a little bit as she changed position. "I think I will go to sickbay. I do need to update my medical records anyway..."

"I happen to know our CMO... rather well," Diane added as they started making their way to the jeffries tube exit, "I can assure he's a top notch doctor."