Meeting Engineering

Posted on Fri May 15th, 2020 @ 4:06am by Captain John Theisman & Lieutenant Honoka Kousaka

1,248 words; about a 6 minute read

Lieutenant Honoka Kousaka stood by the warp matrix controls in Engineering looking up at the grey warp core. Today was the day they were due to bring it online and after checking all the ships power systems, switch from external to internal power. She had everyone standing by, a faint music played in the room rather 'pop' like, but casting a relaxing atmosphere over the room just how Honoka liked it.

John stood behind the pilot seat as the pilot officer angled the shuttle towards the shipyard scaffolding that the new Intrepid class USS Hyperion was nestled in. Even with her primary power offline, he had to admit that the sleek ship was an impressive sight. Smaller than his last command, the original Hyperion, but easily a class ahead, the new Hyperion was a beautiful sight to behold. The orbital shuttle eased up to the port side airlock that he recognized as one of the primary airlocks on deck 8.

"We've got permission to dock, Captain," the pilot said.

"Proceed," John said. Silently he hoped that he wasn't catching his crew off guard.

The orbital shuttle docked just as a shipwide announcement came over the comm system.

"Lieutenant Kousaka to all hands. Prepare all stations and systems from warp core activation and transfer to ship power in five minutes. We're nearly ready to boot this puppy up people! Engineering out"

The airlock hatch cycled just as the power systems switched, which caught John a little off guard. He took that first exciting step onto the ship and raised his eyebrow as he took note of the ship and the cluttered corridors. He had known that the fitting out was still ongoing, but wasn't sure the actual condition. Now he had an idea. Figuring that the engineering chief would be in engineering, he nodded and passed the transfer of his gear off to the quartermaster and went off to find his engineering chief. He had memorized the layout of the Hyperion easily enough so finding his way to engineering wasn't hard. He entered engineering and tried not to pay attention to the clutter that was spread all over the compartment.

Honoka didn't notice him come in. She was busy talking with a yard engineer comparing something on a set of PADDS. The warp core hummed softly in the background as they talked. The red haired woman eventually signed something off on the engineers PADD and returned to the warp matrix controls.

Looking around, John spotted an engineer who matched the description of his chief engineer and walked over. "Lieutenant Kousaka?"

Honoka looked up. The man in front of her had a rather intimidating presence. He was also wearing command red. "Hi" she said before noticing the rank pips. "Ah, Captain. I'm guessing your the new skipper of this boat?" She asked.

"I've been assigned to the Hyperion as commanding officer, yes," John said as he raised his eyebrows towards the energetic officer. "Are you the chief engineer who is going to be responsible for keeping her in one piece?"

"That would be me yes" Honoka said. She bowed to her new commanding officer. "Lieutenant Honoka Kousaka. Chief Engineer. I've been here overseeing the final fitting out Captain" she explained to him.

John nodded his head in reply to her bow. If there was one thing he had learned in his time in Starfleet it was that it was always a good thing to at least show respect to the customs of others. The Japanese were still a proud traditional people and it never hurt to be a little polite. "How long until she's ready for action?"

Looking up Honoka smiled before beckoning him to follow her to the warp core. "I'd say we'll have her upto full power in the next twelve hours. Then a few minor things to bring aboard, and we should be all ready" Honoka said with a smile. She looked around the engine room at her engineers and the yard engineers. "I'd say all together, you can have us out of spacedock in just under twenty hours, give or take"

John nodded and glanced around the room before up at the warp core itself. The Intrepids were known to be fast, well armed and highly capable. All traits he needed in a ship that he was taking in the shadow of the raptor. "Make sure everything is secured and right, I don't want any mistakes. But I want us underway ASAP," he said. "I want to be underway in 48 hours. And I'm going to push her to the limits as soon as we're clear of the gravity well."

Honoka raised an eye brow and sighed deeply. "Why are you pushing everything so hard?!" she asked in an almost whiney tone of voice. "That means I'll have more work to do!" she crossed her arms and her face changed to a little pouty. "And we've just got it all working right, do we need to break it yet..." she asked looking away.

"Look, Lieutenant, we're heading into Romulan space to continue the mission that the predecessor of this ship began. That ship disappeared seven months ago, and I knew a lot of the people on her. Starfleet may have given up on them, but until I see the dead hulk of that ship I refuse to believe that those people are dead. To that end, I will do everything in my power to find that crew. They deserve for us to at least try. And, if I didn't challenge my crew, they wouldn't do such a great job," John said.

Looking back at the Captain Honoka stopped her pouting. "Ok" she said simply. "But, I should warn you. This ship is good and all, but she's no match for more than two Romulan warbirds"

"I don't have any intention of going up against any warbirds," John said. "But just in case, I want a full check on all ship board systems by the time we depart. You'll have five weeks to get this ship ready for anything after we depart."

"Sounds like a hoot" Honoka said. "I'll get it all wrapped up for you..." she said twiddling her thumbs slightly whilst looking away like she had done something she shouldn't have.

"Excellent," John said as he glanced around the engineering bay. "Ok, so is there anything major that I need to know about on the ship?"

Honoka shook her head with a slight smile. "She's all good. Nothing's come up yet. Apart from the regular problems you get with new ships, we've got nothing to report" she explained simply.

"Well, that's something at least," John said. "There is one thing, I need an automatic lockout of all primary systems set in place. Think of it as a fail safe in case someone tries to capture the ship." Silently, he hoped that his new engineering chief wouldn't ask any questions, because he wasn't sure just how many answers he could give her.

"That system is pretty much installed already. Its a new system from Starfleet Security" Honoka said. "Do you expect someone to take us over?" she asked giving him a strange look.

"We're heading into Romulan territory, and it happened before on the original Hyperion," John said. "I want precautions this time. And since time is limited, I won't hold you up. Carry on, Lieutenant," he said. With a nod, he turned and started out of engineering, at least satisfied that his ship was in good hands.

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