Departmental Check: Engineering

Posted on Fri Feb 4th, 2011 @ 8:46pm by Captain Anna Johnson

1,515 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: On Typhon Station
Location: Main Engineering

Anna made her way to engineering. Commander Skylar hadn't been on board long but she hoped he had gotten familiar enough with the department to have a report ready for her. She stepped through the doors and made her way to his office and rang the chime waiting to be allowed in.

Skylar signed the last padd, and nodded to the door, a strange habit, he wasn't entirely sure where, he had picked up.

"Open." He said.

Anna stepped in, "Commander Skylar, I'm speaking with each department head to see if they have their departmental reviews ready. If you need more time to review files I understand seeing you haven't been here long. However, I would like to know if your report is ready or not." She said.

Skylar turned to Anna. "There are two hundred, fifty three parts that need replacing in the next month aboard station. There are fifty three thousand, two hundred and ninety one, which will need replacing within the next year. The total efficiency of the Operations department's repairs of this Starbase is 92.4%, admirable, to say the least. There are 18 members of this department who are up for promotion, or transfer. In addition, the Athena Orbital Spacedock program is now officially cleared by the Engineering department, all paperwork regarding this has already been passed through to Operations, as of 12 minutes ago, and the first few thousand parts should be coming in in approximately 1.5 days. Construction slated to begin immediately." Skylar said, then quirked an eyebrow. "And lastly, I have a strange request regarding someone who has requested a transfer to this station."

Anna smiled, "I hope you have all of that information written down for me and what kind of request with the transfer I can see what I can do about it." She said.

"The information is in the report, sent to your desk, 13.27 minutes ago." Skylar said. "And there is a critical discrepancy with Starfleet personnel policy. A Lieutenant Junior Grade Clements is being transfered to Starbase Typhon, supposedly, as an assistant Chief Engineering Officer. There are two issues with this. One, I already have four designated assistant Chief of Engineering officers, with the workload for two. Two, Lieutenant Junior Grade Clements' record stipulates that she deserves a Department-head level position on her own, however, due to, what I'm assuming is a disability, Starfleet has refused to assign her, despite the fact that, if I read the assignment roster for new ships correctly, there is a USS Circe expected to depart Utopia Planitia in several weeks, with no current assigned Chief of Engineering."

He refrained from adding that he was uncomfortable handling an officer with an audiology based disability. That wasn't the primary concern, from his point of view.

Anna frowned, "I can look into her records. If what you say is true then there is no reason she shouldn't be given a department head position of her own." Anna said. "I would not want someone to be held back for something they can not control as long as they are qualified to handle it."

"Based on her record, her career has been held back repeatedly, since enlisting in Starfleet, simply because she cannot hear, and the current audiological implants bother her. I find this... distressing, as she is a good officer, who deserves the chance." Skylar said. "In addition, I decided to bring this up with you, rather than make such a recommendation myself, because my recommendation, alone, is but a whisper in Fleet policy, and will probably be overlooked."

"It could also appear you simply don't want her in your department which wouldn't help her cause any." Anna said. "So yes it would probably be better if I'm the one to point this out. I can go to Admiral Burke with it if I need to."

Skylar nodded, appreciating Anna's grasp of the situation. "I am most grateful, Captain. Hopefully, for the woman's sake, we can get this..." he stopped, and pondered for a moment. "...paperwork misfiling sorted out before the Artemis arrives. I suspect she will be rather surprised to hear of it, though."

Anna nodded, "It sounds like you have settled in here pretty well in your short time here." She said noticing he wasn't being quite as serious as the first time she met him.

Skylar quirked an eyebrow. "It is difficult to get the hang of some human social interactions." He stopped, pondering Raven briefly. "Some, more so than others." He added, after a brief moment.

Not knowing exactly what he was referring to Anna said, "If you have questions ask. I will do my best to help you understand if it is something I can help with. Sometimes humans even have trouble understanding each other. Especially if the opposite sex is involved."

"Am I that transparent?" Skylar asked, quirking an eyebrow. "I had thought that my body's skin made my personal thoughts a little bit harder to read than a large bulletin board with 80 point print."

Anna blinked, "I didn't know you were talking about a female. I was just stating a fact. Men and woman have misunderstood each other since the dawn of time I think." She said, "If you have had a problem understanding her it could be mutual. Maybe she just mistook your reactions and you seeing hers made you mistake hers. If you are really interested in her talk to her. Try to clear things up. Don't assume she knew what you were trying to tell her."

Skylar shook his head. "Trying to clarify things, and express what I meant to say is what caused the discrepancy between myself and R..." He stopped, and cleared his throat. "Her."

"Sometimes when you think you are being clear it isn't as clear to the other person. It may be that she was hurt recently I don't know but if so then she may be afraid to move too quickly. Sometimes its hard to trust again after being hurt even if it is with a different person. If you truly have feelings for her then give it a chance. Let it move at its own pace, if nothing else at least continue hanging out as friends. If it is meant to be more then it will happen in its own time." Anna suggested.

Skylar nodded. "As the computer has suggested, in it's books on psychology." He said. "At any rate, I am pleased that you are backing my opinion to back Lieutenant Junior Grade Clements' 'proper' transfer."

"The computer doesn't understand the human aspect of a relationship as it has no emotions at all suppressed or otherwise. The human factor makes it so that it is not an exact science. Relationships in the best of circumstances are experimental at best. Learning about the other person, allowing them to learn about you, likes, dislikes, the more you learn the less likely misunderstandings are to happen. I won't tell you they will never happen but it will get better. As soon as I get back to my office I will check into why she was overlooked for the other position. Thank you for bringing Miss Clements' record to my attention." Anna said not letting him change the subject quite that easily but answering his other statement as well.

Skylar merely nodded. He looked behind Anna. "Did you put that stack of PADDs there?" Skylar asked, noting that they had not been there, last he looked.

"I did not." Anna said, "Though I'm sure the stack on my desk has multiplied by now as well. Oh and if you do feel like you might need to apologize to whoever we are talking about." Anna said, "Chocolates and flowers usually help with most women."

Skylar nodded. "I am aware, especially with this one." He stated. "And I believe counter-measures must be taken, as the operations department has apparently gotten so clever, as to require ninja-classes as a training requirement."

Anna raised an eyebrow at that statement, "I'm not sure I understand what you mean by that."

"Every time I complete my paperwork, I take my attention off the door briefly. Just briefly. Mysteriously, paperwork appears on a table, or surface I am not paying attention to." Skylar stated. "Were it not for the fact that I have access to the transporter logs, and that the transporter has an audible whine, I would suspect them of beaming them in."

Anna laughed, "I know the feeling. You only have to deal with the paper work for one department. Imagine how it is for me having to deal with the entire starbase." She said.

Skylar nodded to Anna. "Speaking of paperwork, I guess I should get started on this, before Operations demands to know why it wasn't filed before my shift ended, even though that's 10 minutes from now." Skylar said.

Anna nodded, "Very well I'd better head back to my own office to check in before my shift ends as well." Anna said then turned to leave, "Have good evening."

Captain Anna Johnson
Executive Officer
Starbase Typhon

Lieutenant Commander Skylar
Chief of Engineering
Starbase Typhon

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