Department Cooperation
Posted on Wed Mar 6th, 2024 @ 6:19pm by Lieutenant Commander Lylja Tigerlilly & Lieutenant Alan Harrison
986 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Crossed Wires
Location: Chief Engineer's Office, Main Engineering
Timeline: MD 02: Midday (After "The Strange Silence")
"Computer, contact the Chief of the Engineering Department, Harrison, yes?" asked Lylja.
"Correct and affirmative," replied the Computer.
"Harrison," Alan said in response to the chirp of his commbadge.
"Lieutenant Harrison, Tigerlilly the new Operations Chief here," she said. "I was hoping we could meet up and discuss cross-departmental cooperation and exchange of training between our two departments. It is my belief the engineering and operation are complementary and that things work best when we function in harmony."
"Good to finally meet you, Commander," Alan replied, "I heard you would be arriving any day now, but it's good that you're here right now with everything going on. I'm free now, if you want to meet up, sir."
"Ma'am, if you must be formal, but Tigerlilly is fine," said Lylja. "I will be over directly."
True to her word, she was. "Harrison?" she asked.
"Yes, good to meet you, Commander," Alan replied, standing from his desk, "I apologize for the confusion earlier, I had a previous captain who insisted on using 'sir' only, no matter the context. It's a bit instinctive at this point."
She offered her hand. "Same for me and ma'am," Lylja said, "formative experiences set the tone for your career." She looked around. "I expect being on a newly established colony keeps Engineering busy. So, how can we, in Ops, help?"
"Well, we've had a fair number of issues with power distribution and allocation, especially after some *rather weird* occurrences in the not too distance past," Alan looked a bit off to the side, remembering the "bubble" that turned out to be a holosimulation.
"Well, we should be able to help with load balancing," said Lylja. "I admit, I have not had time to study the power grid in detail but I will add that to my tasks."
"Once things get a bit more settled, we should set up an exchange program so we can get to know what each other's duties are and be better able to support the Colony," Lylja said.
"Sounds like a good plan, ma'am. But in that case, you should meet my two deputies: Lieutenant Mahone and Chief Nilsson. If I'm ever out of action or," Alan paused before the next statement, "missing somehow, I trust they'll be able to handle anything thrown at them. And, before you ask, yes, the Lieutenant is the brother of Captain Mahone... wherever he is."
"Always happy to meet people," said Lylja. "I am not familiar enough with my team to have worked out of chain of command but I will have that in place by the end of the week," She looked at Harrison. "Yes, what has happened to Captain Mahone? The new Captain was unclear," said Lylja.
"Well, if you know anything, that would be more than we know," Alan glanced at the floor as spoke, "All we know is there were signs of a struggle in his quarters, but we've seen neither hide nor hair of him since."
Lylja's tail swung in agitation. "That is upsetting. I was very excited to meet him." She tapped her fingers on her datapad. "Well, best to focus on what we can do."
"The Captain mentioned that we were expecting company in the form of an unresponsive ship," she said. "What preparations have been made for that?"
"We were just discussing that, actually. We'll be setting out on an expedition to try to make contact shortly. We could always use a hand from Ops," Alan replied.
Lylja looked up at that. "Of course, Ops is here to help. How shortly is shortly?"
"You got a bag packed already?" Alan chucked after he spoke.
She shrugged. "Not like I have had time to unpack."
"Ok, we shouldn't be gone too long, but who knows what we're going to run into out there," Alan stated rather stoically - running into the strange was just another day living on Xaeprea, "I'd recommend bringing a quartermaster or two in case we need to organize a resupply for whatever journey they're on."
"Anyone you recommend among the Ops team? I am still getting to know everyone," she looked at Alan. "I have a standard tool loadout I use, but I will have my team review it in case some of the tech has changed significantly over the last few years."
"I haven't dealt too much with Ops recently. However, I do know Chief East is a very competent transporter officer, if you want to wrangle him into this mission. I'm sure it couldn't hurt to have him along, especially if we end up needing to move significant amounts of material over to them or, heaven forbid, do another away mission," Alan replied.
"How large are you wanting this team to be?" asked Lylja. "But Chief East could be assigned easily enough. I see nothing in the immediate queue that would require his attention here."
"The Atala isn't the largest ship around, but don't hesitate bring anyone you think we might need," Alan replied, "I'm bringing 7 members of my department, if that provides some guidance."
"Perhaps, I will have a whip around and see who will like to go," said Lylja. "Everyone likes a field trip right?"
Alan chucked, "Remind me to tell you about a literal field trip we had that went awry some time. Is there anything else? I need to make some more preparations before we catch up with that ship."
"No, that should be all for now," said Lylja making notes. "Keep in touch about the ship mission, I will get an Ops team ready. I will have a power system proposal done after we have completed that." She nodded. "We are off to a good start."
Alan nodded, "I'm glad we finally have someone to keep Ops in order. See you on the Atala's bridge."
"If not before," she said with a wave. "Now, back to Ops. Com me if needed."
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