LCDR Nolen Hobart — Lieutenant Commander Wet Blanket
Nolen Hobart
((Captain’s Ready Room, Deck 1, USS Khitomer))
Hobart: ::smirk:: I’ll let you know when you’re needed for wedding stuff.
Shayne: If he’s wise, that’ll be… let’s see… the wedding itself. Anything else, Ayemet’s in charge.
In truth, Ayemet had delegated most of it. Or at least that’s what Talia maintained. Given what he knew about the two women, there was assuredly some commandeering on the part of the Haliian Chief Medical Officer.
Hobart: “Happy wife…”
Dewitt: Response
The Captain leaned forward behind his desk. The time for informal pleasantries had passed, and like any good Commanding Officer, he’d made it clear without any remark or rebuke. How’d he do that?
Shayne: In all seriousness, gentlemen, if we’re doing this, I’d also like to take the time to make some other additions. The Khitomer is a good ship, but I don’t know if she’s truly… ours. Yet.
When the Captain grinned, Nolen exchanged a nervous glance with Connor. It was a flicker of madness they witnessed, untempered for some time, now, by the steady hand of his betrothed. Bacheloritude did not suit Captain Shayne well, and Nolen realized it fell to him to keep the Captain in check in Commander MacKenna’s absence.
Shayne: Actually, I have a few requests that have been mentioned to me. Commander Ohnari spoke of wanting to set aside space to develop something of a prosthetics lab; I think we can expand that to a medical cybernetics compartment.
The Captain passed a list to his Chief Engineer, and Hobart resisted the urge to read over Dewitt’s shoulder, instead focusing on the part the Captain had decided to voice out loud. Time to take that “steady hand” business for a test drive.
Hobart: You sure that’s wise, sir, giving those resources to Dr. Ohnari? Crew’ll be half cyborg before a month is out. ::sharply to Dewitt: She asks, I didn’t say that.
Dewitt: Response
Shayne: Well, that’s just the start of the list, and the best defined. They’ll be tearing guts and bulkheads out of this ship. We may as well get our money’s worth.
Nolen winced at the thought of it. With every panel torn open, there was an opportunity for mischief or misadventure. He knew the ship worked the way it was supposed to right now, and that every system modified or added whole cloth to the ship’s architecture carried with it a small (but nonzero) risk of catastrophe. He knew that if you piled enough nonzero risks on top of each other, you were bound to add up to a significant number.
Hobart: ::looking at the PADD after Dewitt finished:: Maybe we ought to pace ourselves, just the same, sir.
Dewitt / Shayne: Response
He read down the list and saw proposed improvements all over the ship. And he only understood about half of the technical terms used to describe them.
Hobart: Might be best to make sure these are discrete, sir. ::beat:: That is, minimal overlap. For safety’s sake.
His recommendations wouldn't sit well. It wasn't often that Starfleet voluntarily provided ship upgrades to a starship on the frontier. They were being handed a veritable platter of goodies, and Lt. Commander Hobart was there to ensure that they didn't gorge themselves.
Dewitt / Shayne: Response
Tags/TBC
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Lt. Commander Nolen Hobart
Executive Officer
USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)
A240001NH3