Mastering a New Department

Posted on Mon Nov 26, 2018 @ 9:24pm by Commodore Michael Aravan & Master Chief Petty Officer Thomas Barnes

Mission: On Slippery Ground
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: MD 1 || 0830 Hours

After the new squadron leader had left, Michael continued his way down the roster before he frowned. The Chief Engineer had been requested a transfer to another ship and now he found himself looking for a replacement among the crew. After looking at the personnel in Engineering, he decided against promoting Devereaux to the position as he feared something horrible would happen.

A few minutes later, the Commodore began to look at other personnel to see who he could shuffle around before he came to a name that he was seeing more and more of and made a decision to see if the man would accept the move.

"Master Chief Barnes, report to the ready room," Michael ordered before going to pour himself another cup of coffee.

Tom had been in the Operations Office, finishing the staff briefing for that shift. While the ship hadn't been going anywhere, this was indeed a perfect time to take care of some maintenance that had been put off. No sooner had he said the word Dismissed did the call from through from the Commodore. "On my way," Tom replied over the comm. Looking to his trusty deputy, Ensign sh'Paveress, the Chief Operations Officer turned over command of the team to her and started his trek to the bridge.

The Chief was still impressed that the bridge wasn't on the top level of the ship at all. Having it fortified in the middle of the ship, far from stray torpedoes, was an excellent design decision. Of course, everyone had to wonder what had taken Starfleet so long to make this happen. It wasn't long before he found himself in front of the ready room door, sounding the door chime.

"Enter," Michael called out.

Tom did as instructed, once the doors had parted to allow him to do so. "Commodore," he said, approaching the desk. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Master Chief. Please, have a seat," the Commodore said. "Would you care for some coffee before we get down to business?"

"Thank you, but no," Tom said as he took the offered seat without a single reservation in his mind. Twenty years of life in Starfleet taught him to be ready for change, especially at 0830 on a day when the ship is technically in port.

"Mister Barnes, I'm facing a dilemma which I'm hoping you're able to help me out with," Michael started. "Our Chief Engineer has requested a transfer to another ship and you're one of the most experienced personnel we have on the ship. Would you care to shift from Operations to Engineering?"

Tom's eyebrows, both of them, raised themselves in surprise. In his years of service, he'd been many things, dabbling in engineering thanks to the transporters and other various assignments that required the cross training. "Me, Commodore?" he asked, still unable to wrestle surprise's control away.

"Unless you know of another Master Chief Barnes on the ship, then yes, you," Michael stated and tried not to grin at the man's response. "You've done a superb job in Operations and I'm certain your assistant can continue that, but I need someone in Engineering immediately. There's a good team there, but they need a great person to lead them and I think that person is you."

The NCO didn't know what to say. This certainly was a great opportunity, especially with the rank he now held and the threat of being whisked away into some desk job. Being assigned to such a vital role would help to combat that fear for the next few years. Of course, that still left some rather large questions about Maddy's future in Starfleet. Sooner or later, she'd be given an ultimatum, he was sure of it. "Ensign sh'Paveress has certainly been my rock in the Operations department," he said at last. "I am confident she'll be great. I don't think I can find the words to tell you how honored I am about this opportunity, Commodore."

The Commodore transferred the Master Chief's position from Chief of Operations to Chief of Engineering. "The honor is mine, Master Chief. Oh, don't let Devereaux get to you in Engineering either. He has a lot of odd habits, but he's a master at Damage Control. I just wish he'd apply that to his off duty life."

"Duly noted, sir," Tom said with a nod and a smile on his face. In many ways, he was glad he didn't take up the CO's offer of coffee. Not only would he have performed a perfect spittake, but the news had energized him in ways he wouldn't have expected. "I don't suppose you have any specific orders for the time being?"

"Do a check on the Transwarp Drive," Michael requested. "We just used it for three days and I want to know it's performance and durability for continued use if we need it again soon. This is as hard as we've pushed it since I've been in command of the ship."

Tom was familiar enough with the drive, having to monitor its power requirements and output since coming aboard. "Will do. The fact that we're still in one piece should be a testament to its operation thus far."

"Which is how it should be unless we want to be blasted halfway across the quadrant. Any questions?" Michael asked.

The Master Chief shook his head. "Seems rather self-explanatory enough," he replied. "Any estimate on how much longer we'll be here? Or should I have the inspection and diagnostics finished yesterday?"

"We should be getting our orders this morning, so yesterday sounds good," the Commodore said with a laugh. "Since there's no more questions, I'll let you get to it. Dismissed."

"Aye, aye," Tom said, rising from his chair. "Thank you again, Commodore." With a nod, the Master Chief turned and departed, bound for Engineering.