LT. Kammus Corelli and ENS. Josh Herrick — The New Grease Monkey (Part 1)
markanthonyparker
(( Shared Quarters, Deck 8, USS-’Oumuamua ))
Josh had met with his new commanding officer yesterday, and it had gone quite differently than he had been imagining. Better, actually. He reminded himself to try and not walk in with expectations, but that was human nature. He had just been reading up on his new department chief, Corelli, before the start of his first duty shift.
A subtle alarm he had set to make sure he was on time started chirping on his combadge. He got up from the small horizontal alcove allotted to him in the shared space and gave himself a once over in the mirror.
Herrick: oO Shirt, check. Pants, check. Boots, check. Acceptable level of stubble that makes people think you could actually grow a beard, check. Oo
Inspection ready, the young ensign headed out his quarters towards Engineering. He wanted to get an understanding of the ship from the inside out — and the best way to do that was crawling through the guts of the ‘Oumuamua.
The cramped jefferies tubes had been a source of panic attacks when he first started at the Academy. But, through sheer will, he had ‘mostly’ acclimated to coffin-sized tunnels — as long as he kept himself distracted, he could push down that the feeling.
((Deck 11, USS-’Oumuamua ))
Three ladders and a few shafts later, the feeling was starting to creep back. At that same moment, he started to hear a small hum as he passed an EPS conduit. He tapped a panel beside the conduit to run a quick level 4 diagnostic, but all results came back clear. Not being familiar with the ship yet, he made a mental note to bring it up later.
After crawling a bit more, he tapped the button that would let him escape these small confines. A small hatch opened, and Josh slid out feet first. Using an inactive panel as a makeshift mirror, he attempted to smooth out the uniform as best as he could.
As he unsuccessfully tried to take care of the last 2 minor wrinkles, he caught 2 amused officers walking past him. Feeling as ready as he’d ever be, and not wanting to be any further entertainment, he walked through the large double doors.
(( Main Engineering, Deck 11, USS-’Oumuamua ))
Engineering was always busy. Between the deck officers, and the non-commissioned technicians there was a buzz of activity at any hour. Most voices couldn’t be heard above the general hum coming from the equipment, everyone kept their voices low which seemed to promote an atmosphere of calm.
The doors whirred open, and Kammus glanced up as a new face carefully walk into the main area. Watching from his desk, he waited for that initial question. All new faces asked the same question.
Herrick: ::catching an officer walking by and smiling apologetically:: Hi there, um… can you tell me where I could find the chief?
The officer nodded in the direction of an open door. The new engineer walked towards the office but stopped just short of entering it, unsure of if he should just walk in or knock on the door. Handling open doors of senior officers might make a good addition to future academy training, he mused.
Corelli: Hello there! Just arrived?
Kammus spun around in his chair to face the open office door. The Ensign was framed like a picture standing halfway in the door.
Herrick: Yes, sir. ::the muscle memory of Academy training snapping him at rigid attention:: Ensign Josh Herrick, reporting in from Starfleet Academy, sir.
Whipping out of his chair, assuming a statue like rigid attention posture, he returned the introduction with a sharp nod.
Corelli: Chief Engineer Kammus Corelli, report acknowledged. Relax Ensign, we are only formal during formalities.
Kammus relaxed, and returned to his chair. Mirroring the Chief Engineer, Josh took a seat across from the Chief Engineer; a tad more relaxed and leaned in toward him.
Herrick: On my way here, I noticed a humming noise coming from an EPS conduit, 11-Baker-4 if I recall correctly. I’m not too familiar with this ship yet, so I wasn’t sure if that was expected. It sounded a bit like… ::attempting somewhat successfully to mimic the noise:: hummmmm.
Corelli: Hummmmmmm….. ::he nodded slowly:: Yes, that doesn’t sound correct. Probably something is out of alignment, or its Breen sabotage. Never can tell…
Kammus raised one eyebrow, half serious, half testing the new ensign on just how serious the fresh graduate would be. Kammus always took ceremony in Engineering very solemn and serious, but in theoretical conversation, there was always room for a jovial comment.
Herrick: Well… I didn’t catch anyone in freezer suits… yet. ::he winked:: Since I was there anyway, I ran a Level-4 but it came back all clear. Perhaps I should try a Level-2, sir? If something comes back, I’d like to double check every EPS conduit around this ship just to make sure this one was isolated.
Corelli: You want to do what?
Herrick took a moment, it was not even the first 5 minutes of meeting his new boss, and he came in with an idea of his own first assignment. He didn’t want his concern to read as trying to overly please or show off.
Herrick: What I’d like to do is start with understanding if there’s a problem with that first EPS conduit. And if there is, then we’d probably need to check all of them if the system isn’t picking up a fault. Which means crawling through the ship to check most of them and (beat) something I’d be up to do.
Corelli: You want to crawl through the ship, and check all of the EPS grid near 11, B, 4, by hand, because you think there might be a problem, and it's your first day?
Kammus beamed, bright eyed, staring directly at the Ensign, a sly half smile crept onto his face.
The internal mental dialogue slowed down and he felt more at ease. Just like with the Commodore, it appeared that Kammus was more amiable than the bulk of his commanding officers back at the academy.
Herrick: I’d feel better knowing there’s no ominous humming anywhere… and ::he smiled:: I’ll be able to skip leg day at the gym.
Kammus grabbed his purple T88 scanner laying on the desk, and stood. The stacks of PADDs would have to wait. They had a mystery.
Corelli: We have a mystery Ensign, and mysteries always come first.
====
LT. Kammus Corelli
Chief Engineer
USS 'Oumuamua
Writer ID: T239807KC3
&
Ensign Josh Herrick
Engineering Officer
USS ‘Oumuamua
Writer ID: O240005JH3