06-11-2024, 09:09 PM
<<DS9/Promenade<<
==Simultaneous with Ju's Party==
Jaein always felt proud when he walked through a Vesta these days. Even though he knew that this wasn’t one of his – Artemis had been second off the main line at Utopia Planitia, not one from 40 Eridani – he had been so involved with building so many of them that he felt he knew it like the back of his hand.
As a result, every time he saw a minor deviation from spec, he added it to a running tally in his head. He had been up to twelve before he even realized he was doing it. He may have run a production line with hundreds of people and dozens of managers, but he still did walkthroughs personally and he’d continuously make notes to give back to those managers on what needed to be addressed. He shook his head, dismissing the count with a smile; that wasn’t why he was here.
No, he was here to meet up with a friend – well, a colleague, at least – and compare notes. Elias was from a simultaneously similar and yet very different background. Neither of them had been taught their engineering skills the “Starfleet way”, picking up their craft as they went along and fixing starships as best they could with what they had. Where Jaein had actually worked on military craft most of his life, though, Elias had worked int eh civilian sector instead. Jaein also had more managerial experience, not only managing the whole line constructing Vestas at 40 Eridani, but also as the chief engineer of a Bajoran system defense ship – actually an old surplus Miranda they had upgunned – and of the USS Spirit, the original Slipstream testbed.
He sighed as he kept walking down the corridor, taking in the sight of the ship. Spirit had been an interesting ship to work on. As a testbed ship, he’d actually had nearly as much authority as the captain on board. While the captain controlled the maneuvers, he’d had the last say on what those maneuvers were supposed to be, since the whole idea had been to test the Slipstream to the breaking point. But it had worked if not flawlessly then well enough for the bureaucrats to install it on everything they could.
Finally, though, he snapped out of his reverie as he rounded the corner and stepped into main engineering. The place was still abuzz with activity; it may have been slightly less than during actual operations, but there was never a shortage of things to do even in port. Hell, half of them are probably trying to make sure the DS9 engineers don’t screw something up, he thought with a smirk. Having been one of those DS9 engineers at one point, he couldn’t help but laugh.
He walked on through, admiring the workers concentrating on their jobs and ignoring him, and walked into the chief’s office. It was dark, which surprised him. He also banged his shin on a table that was overturned, which surprised him more. “What?” he asked no one around a swallowed curse. “What in the Prophet’s name happened here? Lights!”
The lights came up, and the office was ransacked. Most of the shelves were bare, their contents on the floor. The desk was littered with padds and other objects strewn haphazardly about. More concerning, though, was that there was a fine layer of dust across the debris – whatever had happened, it hadn’t been recent. It had been several days, at least.
He turned and stepped out with a purpose, picking a crewman walking by. Her hair was a bright pink, and she was doing her best to keep her head down. Jaein didn’t let her. “Crewman, where is Commander Elias?”
The look she gave him could have murdered lesser people, but Jaein refused to be deterred. “Why?” she asked through teeth laced with venom. “Haven’t you people done enough already?”
“Miss,” Jaein said, taking the path of peace rather than continuing a confrontation. He raised a hand in a placating gesture. “Ben offered me a tour when we talked last week, and I’d just wanted to take him up on it. What happened?”
The crewman seemed to finally register both the color of his collar and the number of pips on it. “Oh, sir,” she started, eyes widening. “I’m sorry, it’s been… I’m sorry, I’m not sure I should talk about it. I’d recommend you speak to Commander Coleman.”
Jaein nodded, and gave her a smile. Now that her rage had broken, the poor woman almost seemed on the edge of tears. “I’ll do that, miss,” he told her. “Any idea where I can find him?”
>>Party Thread>>
==Simultaneous with Ju's Party==
Jaein always felt proud when he walked through a Vesta these days. Even though he knew that this wasn’t one of his – Artemis had been second off the main line at Utopia Planitia, not one from 40 Eridani – he had been so involved with building so many of them that he felt he knew it like the back of his hand.
As a result, every time he saw a minor deviation from spec, he added it to a running tally in his head. He had been up to twelve before he even realized he was doing it. He may have run a production line with hundreds of people and dozens of managers, but he still did walkthroughs personally and he’d continuously make notes to give back to those managers on what needed to be addressed. He shook his head, dismissing the count with a smile; that wasn’t why he was here.
No, he was here to meet up with a friend – well, a colleague, at least – and compare notes. Elias was from a simultaneously similar and yet very different background. Neither of them had been taught their engineering skills the “Starfleet way”, picking up their craft as they went along and fixing starships as best they could with what they had. Where Jaein had actually worked on military craft most of his life, though, Elias had worked int eh civilian sector instead. Jaein also had more managerial experience, not only managing the whole line constructing Vestas at 40 Eridani, but also as the chief engineer of a Bajoran system defense ship – actually an old surplus Miranda they had upgunned – and of the USS Spirit, the original Slipstream testbed.
He sighed as he kept walking down the corridor, taking in the sight of the ship. Spirit had been an interesting ship to work on. As a testbed ship, he’d actually had nearly as much authority as the captain on board. While the captain controlled the maneuvers, he’d had the last say on what those maneuvers were supposed to be, since the whole idea had been to test the Slipstream to the breaking point. But it had worked if not flawlessly then well enough for the bureaucrats to install it on everything they could.
Finally, though, he snapped out of his reverie as he rounded the corner and stepped into main engineering. The place was still abuzz with activity; it may have been slightly less than during actual operations, but there was never a shortage of things to do even in port. Hell, half of them are probably trying to make sure the DS9 engineers don’t screw something up, he thought with a smirk. Having been one of those DS9 engineers at one point, he couldn’t help but laugh.
He walked on through, admiring the workers concentrating on their jobs and ignoring him, and walked into the chief’s office. It was dark, which surprised him. He also banged his shin on a table that was overturned, which surprised him more. “What?” he asked no one around a swallowed curse. “What in the Prophet’s name happened here? Lights!”
The lights came up, and the office was ransacked. Most of the shelves were bare, their contents on the floor. The desk was littered with padds and other objects strewn haphazardly about. More concerning, though, was that there was a fine layer of dust across the debris – whatever had happened, it hadn’t been recent. It had been several days, at least.
He turned and stepped out with a purpose, picking a crewman walking by. Her hair was a bright pink, and she was doing her best to keep her head down. Jaein didn’t let her. “Crewman, where is Commander Elias?”
The look she gave him could have murdered lesser people, but Jaein refused to be deterred. “Why?” she asked through teeth laced with venom. “Haven’t you people done enough already?”
“Miss,” Jaein said, taking the path of peace rather than continuing a confrontation. He raised a hand in a placating gesture. “Ben offered me a tour when we talked last week, and I’d just wanted to take him up on it. What happened?”
The crewman seemed to finally register both the color of his collar and the number of pips on it. “Oh, sir,” she started, eyes widening. “I’m sorry, it’s been… I’m sorry, I’m not sure I should talk about it. I’d recommend you speak to Commander Coleman.”
Jaein nodded, and gave her a smile. Now that her rage had broken, the poor woman almost seemed on the edge of tears. “I’ll do that, miss,” he told her. “Any idea where I can find him?”
>>Party Thread>>