Engineering Engineered

Posted on Mon Jan 1st, 2018 @ 4:53am by Commander K'Niras Sh'howul & Lieutenant Junior Grade Fiona McGowan

Mission: S01E02 D-8 With the Devil
Location: Main Engineering

ON

Main Engineering was exactly like Fiona had pictured it, though with a few repairs needed. Standing in the doorway, it hit her that this was now her main engineering and she was the Chief Engineer of this beautiful ship. She couldn't help but puff with pride just a bit as she headed deeper in, inspecting the core systems as she went. She then located one of the comm panels and flicked it on. "Computer, please hae th' communications chief meit me at their earliest convenience in main engineerin'." With a chirrup, the computer indicated it would deliver the message. Fiona then set about making sure maintenance was properly being done and in a timely manner while monitoring the dilithium chamber maintenance herself.

K'Niras tipped his head to one side and glanced down at his comm badge. He had been sitting in the main lounge of the ship and reading shift rotation reports. As second officer it was his job to make sure everyone reported to duty on time and also to keep everyone informed of what their expected shift times were. Of course the department heads took care of most of the individual scheduling, but they had to give all of that paperwork to K'Niras for his examination. Crew members that were consistently late for shifts had to be corrected somehow. The summons to Engineering was new though and exciting for him. He put his PaDD away and headed out of the lounge and toward Main Engineering. When the doors slid shut behind him, he stood just inside not sure where to go from here. His eyes searched for Lieutenant JG McGowan, head of the Engineering Department.

Fiona was over by the Dilithium chamber with two other engineers looking over a now empty dilithium processor. There wasn't much they could do about it until they got a few new parts - the design itself was why they had been going through crystals like a drunkard on free booze night.

Catching sight of the Caitian, Fiona gave a shoulder pat to one of them to let them know she'd be back and headed over to meet Lt Sh'howul. "Lieutenant Sh'Howul, Ah presume. it's a pleasure tae meit ye."

K'Niras smiled, just his front teeth showing and his ears perked forward. "Pleasure to meet you as well, Lieutenant. I know we've had meetings together, but not much of a chance to work together." He rubbed his hands together excitedly and looked, rather wide-eyed, around main engineering. "I'm sure that you must have something in mind to summon me all the way down here." His whiskers were twitching, his gaze focused back on Fiona.

Nodding, Fiona waved around the room. "Och och aye, th' keptin said 'at yoo've bin takin' caur ay engineerin' fur a while sae Ah was hopin' yoo'd brin' me up tae speed oan anythin' important. Sparklin' new ship loch thes doesnae e'en hae aw th' bugs worked it an' frae whit i've seen, wi' th' war, maintenance is awreddy slippin' sae aam awreddy a bit woriat."

K'Niras tipped his head to the side. The Caitian ear was very sensitive to sound and intonation, but Fiona's accent was thick. He nodded in agreement and understanding, or at least he thought he had understood her. He did wrinkle his nose just a little bit. "I have studied much of at least the communication parts of Engineering. The Enterprise had just been refitted with communication relays when I transferred here to the Musashi. So I know, in theory, how to work with them, I just haven't been able to lay my paws on any." He tapped one of his ears. "My ears, however have been informing me that something is not aligned quite right. I wanted to speak with you about it, today, and conveniently I was summoned." He grinned, once again, just showing his front teeth.

Fiona grinned broadly as she nodded. She liked this Caitian's sensibilities. If it didn't sound right, it definitely wasn't! "Och aye, puckle things huvnae bin in alignment fur a while noo it seems. Let's see whit yer lug tells ye first thocht, shaa we?"

K'Niras tipped his head to the side, still not quite sure he was getting everything she was saying, but trying to stay friendly looking. He walked toward the where he thought the relays might be and then realized that he didn't really know where they were located aboard this particular class of ship. He turned back to Fiona, his ears sort of out to the side in embarrassment. "Uhm... I'm not sure where the relays are," he admitted, dropping his gaze to the deck plating.

Once they figured out exactly where the relays were, K'Niras went about adjusting them. They were indeed out of alignment, but it wasn't all that significant, not enough to really hurt anything, but enough to set K'Niras' whiskers on edge. When out of alignment, the relays emitted a low humming sound. It was possible that his crewmates couldn't even hear the noise, but K'Niras could. His Caitian ears were so very sensitive to sound and his body was sensitive to vibration. He was certain that what he was actually hearing was the vibration of the relays not being in alignment.

It did take a little while and the space was really tight. He was really glad that he wasn't any heavier or he would have never fit in the space and he was also thankful that his paws were small and dexterous. He explained what he was doing to Fiona as he did it, but the space was too small for her to be able to watch him. The minute he had them aligned the humming stopped and he sagged in relief.

He grinned as he exited the space feet first, backing up the way he had come in. "Well, that's a relief. I suggest that perhaps you make sure there's a small person to go in there and align them. Or I can just come down and do it. I don't mind at all. I sort of like Engineering." He grinned a little. "Makes the ship go."

END