Engineers, Engineers

Posted on Mon Feb 8th, 2021 @ 10:03pm by Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Rozia & Ensign Rajeo

Mission: New Beginnings
Location: Chief Engineer's Office
Timeline: Before Reaching Pathstone

"Ensign Rajeo, I presume?" The redheaded engineer wearing the collar insignia of a Chief Petty Officer asked with an Irish accent and a PADD in her hand, with the face and apparently whole personnel file of the Deltan Ensign arrayed on it in very tiny script. She had a smile on her face with the question as well and cocked her head slightly to the side.

Rajeo looked up from the report he was writing. “That would be me.” He saved his work to give the Chief his attention.

"That's what I thought." She waved the PADD like a fan for a moment, "Well, sir, I'm Chief Terrix, senior NCO down here in the Palace, but for the moment I've been asked by the Boss that all incoming officers be directed over to her in her office and I know fer a fact that she's available at the moment."

Rajeo looked excited. “Fantastic!” He exclaimed. The Deltan man had an unplaceable accent when speaking Federation Standard. “I’ve been meaning to touch base with Commander Rozia.” He smiled at the Chief. “Your hair is lovely.” He spoke sincerely.

“Aww, why thanks.” Lisa’s face scrunched up with a pert smile and she tapped once on her PADD, then swiped, then tapped again, then paused for a moment before deciding to have some mercy on the Ensign, he seemed like a really nice guy, “Just walk on in sir, don’t worry about knockin’ or nothin’, and call her Evelyn, not Commander or ma’am, she likes being pretty informal if there aren’t any official guests or anything around.” She winked at him and stepped past, reaching up to pat him on the shoulder, “You’ll be fine.”

Rajeo took a shallow breath and walked into the office. "Blessed morning." He said in greeting, spotting the Chief Engineer. "Chief Terrix sent me in." He smiled nervously.

The smile on the face that looked up from the PADD she herself was looking over was bright and shiny, almost as if ready to face whatever was thrown her way and she straightened up in her chair, “Ensign Rajeo, our resident Deltan!” She pronounced, “Come on in, grab a seat and let me know if I can get you anything to drink or snack on, gotta keep our strength up yknow!” She gestured to the replicator and her coffee and cookies, “I’ll admit I’m not totally up in Deltan customs, but is it just Rajeo, or is there something else you’d rather be called?”

The Deltan smiled. "Not many people ask. Yes, it's just Rajeo. Or Raj if you want. that's what my father calls me." He regarded her coffee. "If your replicator can manage a dry cappuccino I couldn't say no." Rajeo had grown accustomed to real Italian coffee in his 4th year at the Academy. He was working with shuttlecraft development office in Milan and used to make a point of stopping by a little cafe every morning as he walked to work.

“You got it, Raj!” Evelyn stood up and gave a very big stretch as she did before making her way to the replicator, “Evelyn, Eve, you can even call me Evie.” She grinned, punching in the request and waiting half a moment as the cup appeared and she brought it over to him before perching on the end of her desk, “We’re all family down here unless we’ve got the Captain or someone above her come to visit. Oh, and if this is off, see Lisa, Chief Terrix, and she can fix the recipe easily enough.”

She gestured around to encompass the entirety of engineering, not giving him a chance to get a word in edgewise at the moment. “We’ve got just over a hundred engineers on board all told, Myself, a Lieutenant, two Jay Gees and eight Ensigns, the rest are all enlisted, so we’ve got a shortage of qualified officers. That itself doesn’t bother me much, because no one gets into this engineering crew unless they’re considered trustworthy.” Her smile never faded, but turned musing for a moment, “And you’ll get to learn all about the heart of Astraea, the Quantum Slipstream Drive, but I’ve got another task I’d like you to take on.. If memory serves," she gestured to the PADD to indicate what her ‘memory’ was, “You studied warp theory prior to the Academy?”

Raj had taken a sip of his drink and foam was left on his bare upper lip. "I did, at the Decron Centre." He smiled.

"Good. Now, this warp core is the most recent generation that Starfleet has to offer, with about a three percent increase in power generation and seven percent increase in overall dilithium matrix efficiency." It really was a massive increase in design and capability that Evelyn was talking about, "Lieutenant Brognan is himself a propulsion specialist and thinks he knows more about warp cores and everything in that regard than everyone else. However, Raj, I happen to think his experience and abilities have a far better use than watching over the warp core, its reaction and tuning and refining our field geometry." Her words were optimistic in form, but her eyes told another story entirely, "So if you're up to the challenge, I'd like to have you take over the day to day oversight. Of course, I'm available at any time as is Lisa and while I intend to keep him busy with learning additional aspects of engineering, the Lieutenant as well."

As if it were a reflex, Rajeo pulled a PADD and pair of spectacles from his pocket. He quickly put the spectacles on and quickly noted the percents his superior wanted. "I think that doable." He smiled.

Being the nosy type and from her perch above his PADD, "I think you're slightly mistaken, those aren't goals for you, those are just the numbers that this girl has over the old model." She shook her head, "If you can get any sort of optimization, that'd be awesome, BUT I don't expect any, since, well, people who've been in on the design of the Odyssey-class and the core upgrades were working hard on the thing!" She chuckled, "Of course, you're going to be one of the first people on hand to see how those intentions work out. I will, naturally, be watching over your shoulder the entire time and will selflessly take ALL the credit if you perform some sort of miracle." She winked at him as she fanned herself with one hand, her tone of voice making it obvious that she was joking about taking the credit.

A smile trace Raj's lips. He peered over his glasses. " Excuse my eagerness." His voice had a soft timbre to it. " I am really looking forward to working with you, and the rest of the engineering crew."

"And I'm sure you'll fit right in!" Evelyn agreed jauntily, "And never, ever feel sorry for being overeager or having new ideas. If it's a bad idea, so be it, at least you're keeping your mind open. Now, I'm sure you're wanting to get to know your new warp core, so I won't keep you longer than you want." She gave him an odd look, "Now, someone's already decided to name it 'Georges', but don't feel like you're stuck to that."

Rajeo couldn’t help but chuckle. He stood, his bald head reflecting the room’s lights. “It was fantastic meeting you.”

She slid off the desk and reached out her hand to him, "The pleasure was mine, Raj. If you need me, for anything, you know how to get a hold of me."

Rajeo shook the hand firmly. “Thank you.” Was all he said before turning and departing the Engineers Office.

Evelyn smiled at him as he left, that would be a good one to watch. Hadn't gotten into the whole drudge of the regular Fleet operations yet, and having gotten his engineering education initially outside of Starfleet before the Academy, he should be able to bring an outside point of view to how things worked.

She took a couple steps towards the door until she could see Lisa, who was overseeing one of the enlisted people while keeping an eye on Evelyn's door and raised a finger to her and the NCO nodded, patting the crewman on the shoulder before walking off and glancing at her PADD.

"Lieutenant Fletcher, sir." Evelyn heard the Irish accent say sweetly, "As I'm sure you remember, I'm Chief Terrix, the senior NCO down here." There was a muffled response and Evelyn could almost hear the cocking of Lisa's head and that impish smile, "Well sir, I know that the Boss wants to meet one on one with all new officers and it just happens I know she's free at the moment..."

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