The Happy-Go-Lucky Engineer

Posted on Tue Jan 15, 2019 @ 4:45pm by Master Chief Petty Officer Thomas Barnes & Lieutenant Commander Alex Rho

Mission: On Slippery Ground
Location: USS Victorious || Main Engineering
Timeline: MD 1 || 1200 hours

Alex had spent the couple of hours going over personnel files of those he planned to run in to during lunch. And since Master Chief Barnes was a spokesman in the briefing for the gel-packs, he would be the first candidate. Alex picked up the Commodore's PADD and gave the Master Chief's file one more go-over; especially the Starfleet psychological reports. Once finished, he checked the time and expected Barnes to be in the Mess Hall or somewhere grabbing a bite to eat. But he was the Chief Engineer; he probably kept a ration bar or sandwich in his pocket.

"Computer, what is the location of Master Chief Thomas Barnes?"

The computer clicked and whirred before its trademark sing-song voice replied, "Master Chief Barnes is presently aboard the Victorious."

"Ah, okay. Maybe I could even get a bit of an insight into the others on that team," he said aloud. Alex activated the personal transporter armband and vanished in blue whirl. The Intel Chief reappeared aboard the Victorious in Shuttlebay Three. Alex walked out of the bay and headed to Lower Main Engineering on Deck Two, where he hoped to find the Chief Engineer. His plan was to stay off sides for a moment, observe, and probe before engaging.

The Intelligence Chief's plan was successful as Tom was certainly oblivious to non-Engineering personnel in the room while he and an ensign worked at one of the power transfer conduits. The Victorious only could handle a handful of personnel, but it wasn't unexpected to have several other personnel aboard to help prepare the small vessel for launch. After all, the ship wasn't always powered up and ready to go, and the longer a warp core spent inactive meant more work to get it prepped for launch. The warp core itself couldn't function with more than a micron of dust particles.

"Stand by," Tom said, closing the final hatch on the PTC near the warp core, having performed a manual and fine adjustment to the magnetic constrictors. He relocated himself to a nearby control console where a pre-programmed procedure awaited to sterilize the PTCs. "Sterilization in three... two... one."

Tom tapped a control stud, and instantly there was a bright flash inside the translucent windows followed by the whirr of a vacuum, quickly sucking out what contents remained. "All right," he said, looking at a diagnostic readout which showed nothing remained inside the conduits. "Set intermix ratio of one point four to one for initialization and primary power switchover. As soon as levels are stable, even out to one point one."

"Aye, sir," replied the Ensign, moving over to another console to begin the initialization sequence.

Alex watched and listened from his spot. He wasn't completely understanding of what was going on as he didn't have that much of an engineer's mind. But the mind he did have would allow him to probe Tom's thoughts. He hoped he wouldn't have a lot of 'clutter' to sort through before getting to the deep parts. But with everything that was going, that was doubtful. Alex slowly entered into Tom's mind, reading his thoughts and sifting through what was at the forefront of the Chief Engineer's mind at the moment. If there was anything about a big score or connecting with someone not on the crew, he'd find it.

Tom watched the warp core closely, glancing away only to check readouts to ensure that systems were functioning properly. The magnetic constrictors flashed blue as matter and antimatter were brought to the dilitihium chamber. A moment later, a glow emitted from there as the power transfer conduits came back to life with warp plasma being fed to the nacelles.

The warp drive was now one thing he could check off his list, leaving a million other items he had to do with the ship to get her ready for launch. "Let's shift over to main power," he called out, giving the order to separate the Victorious from the tri-core. Once they were on their own power, a final series of level four diagnostics would confirm any final activities that would be needed to perform.

List oriented...getting things in order as needed...prioritizing...he's organized, Alex thought to himself. His thoughts seem as ordered as his work. The psychological profile states 'highly analytical.' If only they knew the depth. Hmm, someone as particular as this would have a very tough time hiding conspiratory thoughts. Alex brushed by the images of the tric-core, transfer conduits, and schematics that showed Tom's outward work and searched deeper into his thoughts. Alex was looking for that compartmented section in an organized mind that might house the mind's secrets.

Tom continued to focus on the matter at hand, watching a bank of displays along with a couple other crewmen, to see if any systems would spit out unwanted numbers. So far, just the impulse drive seemed unusual, soon to be joined by the replicators and transporters. "Great," Tom muttered. He'd expected the impulse drive, but not the others. "Sanchez. Tarex. Get down to transporter control. Get a Level Two diagnostic going."

Alex had neither sensed nor seen anything in the man's mind. That was a decent enough answer, but a verbal confirmation would cinch it. The Intel Chief approached Tom. "Greetings, Master Chief. How goes the preparations?"

The Master Chief had been about to bark another order to a nearby Ensign when he heard the Ullian's voice. If Tom was surprised, it was only that he was being visited by someone not accompanying the smaller craft on its voyage. Instead, he gestured at the Crewman to perform a visual check on the primary ODN shunts. "Lieutenant," Tom greeted, turning towards the Chief Intelligence Officer. "Everything's ship shape so far, aside from the usual suspects. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Usual suspects..., Alex thought to himself. He's probably talking about non-animate objects, but still. "That sounds like good news, then. I'm insuring that all things Intel related are safe and secure before the shipette leaves. You know, looking for the usual suspects in my field. And since there's not an Intel office or department, I thought that the best place for that would be Engineering."

Tom couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, even if it was ever so slightly. Engineering was perhaps a logical choice, but with all of the hustle and bustle, he was a bit surprised that the Intelligence Chief hadn't used a better location, such as the computer core, for his work. "You're more than welcome to a console, Lieutenant." His eyes scanned the room for any sort of private area, but in the already sparse engine room, privacy was at a premium. "Provided you can find the space for it."

"Space shouldn't be a problem," replied Alex. "I'll find a console somewhere off-sides. Oh, what usual suspects seem to be the problem on your side of things?"

"Impulse drive, transporter control, secondary EPS taps," Tom rattled off without hesitation. "Anytime a ship just sits, dust collects and other hazards appear. Takes a while to knock out the cobwebs before going out for a drive."

Alex nodded. "That sounds about right with most anything that just sits." He walked over to a console that had been recently vacated and quickly entered some commands. The readout was normal for the Intel analysis codes. And it looked like things were going well for the ones in communications, too. He pretended to check a few more codes and algorithms, but was really digging further into Tom's mind. It seemed that no matter how far back he went into the man's memories, he couldn't find anything about subterfuge or a big score. Alex quickly perused any out-of-the-way areas of his mind to just make sure. He was quite confident that the Chief Engineer had nothing to hide regarding their current mission. The only odd thing in Tom's memories that stood out to Alex was an unusual pet name that he would most certainly keep locked away.

With that, he finished his work at the console and turned back to Tom. "I think that should take care of it, thank you. If you or anyone else runs into an issue with something that may be connected our stuff, let me know."

"You'll be the first to hear, Lieutenant," Tom called out to Alex. From where he was at the console that monitored the inertial dampeners, he couldn't see the officer. Rather than look for the lieutenant, he remained hard at work. There was much to do, and so little time to do it in.

Alex nodded at the busy Chief Engineer and smiled. One down, many more to go, he thought to himself. The Intelligence Chief headed out of the Victorious' engineering and back to the bay he transported into.