Turbo Lift Troubles

Posted on 01 Dec 2021 @ 2:04pm by Lieutenant Colonel Alexandria Somers & Lieutenant Leland Hawksley
Edited on on 10 Dec 2021 @ 12:31pm

2,633 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: General Sim Postings
Location: Deck 09
Timeline: Prior to Current mission

[ON]

Leland had finished his shift, and he was tired. The feeling was a good tired and not one physically exhausted. The past few days in his new position within Engineering as Deputy was intense, given, his last post as Chief FC was less than demanding.

Although it was a long career serving Starfleet in the FCO position, he was more than capable and willing to advance towards leading Engineering. Born on New Mars Colony, Hawksley had been a tinkerer, a fixer, and shuttle crafts and engineering systems for the local power plant.

Hawksley was waiting for the lift when he finished his shift. Tired, he changed into a pair of khaki shorts and a long-sleeved sweatshirt. Holding his padd with him and his re-useable stainless steel cup in his hand, Leland noticed a slight variance in his left ocular implant, a V 4.2 - advanced retrospective analytic prosthetic. "Going to have to check on that." He grunted, suddenly feeling slight sharp pain.

Shaking it off for the moment, he stiffened his back shoulders, noticing that the lift doors had revealed Colonel Somers. Hawksley had reacted with a sharp one-off salute. "Ma'am." Hawksley had stepped in the lift as the doors to the busy engineering had then closed behind.

Alex was riding the lift from the lower levels when the lift stopped and opened up on the new Deputy Chief Engineer, she smiled and stepped to her right "please Lieutenant, no need to salute, you are not a Rifleman but Fleet, you are not obliged to do so, but I am gratified you did" she said "please join me, how are you finding your new position in engineering?" she asked taking note of his off duty attire, she was still in her duty uniform with the Rifleman Officers belt sash when was over her left shoulder and ended low on the right hip.

The Lieutenant noticed the Colonel pause at his attire. He didn't see anything wrong since he technically was off his Engineering shift. "Colonel Somers." Leland had replied, stepping in and aside from the Commander. He held his hands together in front as he glanced her way. "I have been blessed. Engineering has me on my feet, consistently." Which was a lot for Leland.

*Smiling as she looked at him* "I am happy that you are happy EL-tee, I take it you are currently off duty, judging by that colourful ensemble?" She asked checking his attire as the lift doors closed and began moving again.

"Yes." He replied to the Colonel. "The position is much more stimulating. More rewarding to me. I cannot thank you and the Command staff enough for having approved my department transfer." Hawksley lent an acknowledgement. He then raised his silver mug and took a drink of it, swallowed.

"How has your Husband been faring on the Poseidon? It is, I believe. Lieutenant Sharpe is the Chief Engineer. Fascinating vessel." Hawksley found something in common to chat regarding their short-term ride together. Of course, he wouldn't let Somers know he had fancied Red Heads all along.

Studying the Lieutenant with an amused eyebrow "Lieutenant Commander Paul Sharpe, my husband is very well thank you and apparently enjoying his position on the Poseidon, personally, I think he is happy just not being a Security Chief for once" she responded, "Yes a Miranda Class is a dated ship and probably why he is loving it, an old ship to keep flying would be a challenge" she added.

Leland was amused by the retort from the Colonel. "Miranda. The sturdy ship, good bones. Fantastic shield deployment system." He nodded.

"I believe the Tomcat has the upper hand when it comes to firepower, speed, manoeuvrability," Hawk replied, gesturing slightly to the Colonel musing in thought. "Although the reliant is due to be decommissioned I am sure soon. Sadly, a bygone era."

"Yes, it is a sad thing that almost all the Miranda's have been mothballed, there is only a few still left in service, but boy have they been the Federation workhorse for many decades, I think they passed their designated lifespan thanks to upgrades, but even those can only get a ship so far, eventually the ships will not be able to be updated and I think the Poseidon has reached its last renovation," Somers said shrugging.

Just then what had sounded like a screech between a metal doorway and metal on metal grinding, the turbo lift shuddered, the flooring vibrating to an inevitable mechanical halt. As this happened the emergency lighting engaged as a bulkhead locked in place, securing the lift as a safeguard. Leland nearly missed the Colonel as he was jolted to his right, hitting the lift interior and sliding to the grey carpeted flooring.

"Are you alright Colonel?" Leland grasped the side of the wall, righting himself upward.

suddenly the lift screeched to a halt and shook throwing the DCEO to the floor narrowly missing her as she fell the opposite way, steadying herself she responded to the Lieutenants question.

"I am thank you, Lieutenant, you?" She asked "I have never felt this off-balance since I had a drinking session with a bunch of Klingon's and some vintage bloodwine," Somers said with some levity.

"Bloodwine. Please. I'm about to need a bottle in a few moments." Hawksley had looked over the Colonel just in case she had a cut or something she didn't notice. "I'm good. Thank you, Colonel." Hawksley had reached for his tricorder in his khaki shorts, opening it.

He turned slightly to the right of the turbo lift wall. "Seems there was an attenuation servo failure." He reported. "Funny thing. The last servicing of the attenuator servos was over three months ago. This is…" He breathed in and then outward, calming himself. "Seems to be a structural defect."

*Shrugs* "the amount of battles this ship has been in over the years, it is not surprising something should fail, this ship has not had a good overhaul since Fleet Captain Somers took Command fourteen years ago, battle damage is bound to accumulate," Somers said.

"Exactly. There is a crack in the attenuator servo release mechanism. I can identify a crack because there is a higher degree of metal heating the cracked component. This would be from fleet yards ID YW-004-SS." Hawksley then clasped his tricorder upward.

"So. Do we wait for someone to help us, or do we just pop the hatch and rig the door for Deck 08 above us?" Leland offered the Colonel. Nobody wanted to be seen, especially the Colonel and the DCEO being helped out of a turbo lift with gawkers.

"Let's sit down for a bit, I could do with escaping duties for a spell, besides I can authorise a site to site transport for us anyway when needed," Somers said with a smile as she sat down and leaned her head against the lift wall. "When we get out of here Lieutenant, have you a look at preparing the damages and look for other possible faults that might have been missed when docked at the Starbase, you now have the rare option to ask me about me and such, make use wisely," Somers said with a smile.

Hawksley turned his head to the side. He had the habit of cutting off his CO, his leaders of actually seeing them as people beyond obliging to orders. Of course, they were people. He just felt anxiety when having to speak to one, especially a Colonel in the Marine Unit. One who had tentacles into every depth of the Fleet Operations and every breathing Unit Commander or essential official.

Hawksley did, in-kind, slide back down the wall. With his knees propped upward, he clasped his hands together. “You know—the sound of this turbo lift, the ODN flow. The vibe sound is so relaxed. I could sleep in here.” Hawksley closed his eyes, a cheeky smile plastering across his face.

"I prefer open spaces, still," Somers said as she looked at the top of the turbolift at the emergency escape hatch "if I wanted to I would use the escape route, but I am liking the quiet too much," she said non-committally.

“Ok. Since you did open up the session of Q and A, I will indulge.” Leland’s eyes opened, gazing back at Somers. “Who gets to call you Alex? And when?” He was his first lame starter.

She looks from the roof and directly at Hawksley "while it is given that the CO will occasionally use their subordinates first names, where the Subordinates calling the CO by their first name, depends but nominally when on duty it is sir unless it is on the bridge and then it is Captain, only other time a subordinate is allowed to use the COs first name is worth permission and not on the bridge" Somers answered.

“Was there ever a time during command that you felt like you were about to lose it. As in, I can’t deal with this mission any longer, nor any diplomatic diplomacy you just had zero heart for?” Leland was curious. He knew that the Colonel belonged to a long line of serving, dedicated Officers. The exterior neutral expression was what he was used to from Alexandria or Alex. Leland never had the chance to do this sort of sit-down and hash it out, as it were. Hawksley was enjoying it.

She gave him a thoughtful look as she ran things through her mind, "well the first time I felt like that I was a Marine Corporal and at seventeen I was on a classified mission a Government denies all knowledge one if things went south type mission, on that one I lost one of my closest friends due to bad intelligence, she was the first actual death I saw in combat, I still have some form of PTSD from that. The next time I thought I was about to lose it was when I was given a Field Commission to Second Lieutenant and given command of a Squad and was given my first mission" she paused as her mind went back to that time.

"Where the diplomatic stuff is concerned, I was brought up in the environment and had some training in it, but I did not go that route, what little experience I had there made me feel like a guppy in a room full of sharks" she answered. "Otherwise I have not encountered any diplomatic issues, I generally avoid such situations, you encountered anything like that Lieutenant?" She asked.

Hawksley had listened intently. When the Captain, Commander, Department Head ever spoken to him, he heard verbatim.

There was a faint distant glance, if you would, to see the human interior of the Colonel. Somers as it was an ethical human. She felt things for good or bad to read any situation. Sure enough, there was a team leader situation where the turn out was the loss of an officer, in her case, a best friend. The feelings of guilt and anger would have been enough for anyone to endure if they wanted to let that line of officer and commander become blurred. Friendship, the best friendship, was a powerful force. All too often, in Starfleet, this was tested.

Hawksley furrowed his forehead a bit, taking in the reply. Without wanting to turn into some preachy counsellor, Leland offered his sympathy. “That. That is a hard one.” He slowly looked at his fingers and then began to fidget his large thumb and boney fingers together of his anxiety.

“Have I ever experienced? A situation that difficult? Yes. I’ve piloted fighters as your aware, Sir.” Leland breathed outward. “Atmosphere of any planetary body. The avionics, the thruster descent ratios, the atmospheric pressures, shear forces of gravity. Not all pilots have an intuition as keen. My former colleague could not hack an emergency descent one time on Helios IV. Very crude gravitational anomalies for any pilot to handle… Hearing his fighter descend, the last thing in his cockpit as he called out to me. It’s not fun, is it.” Hawksley paused.

He turned his focus upward. The sudden talk had soured his mood. If not, on the outside as well. “How about we catch that hatch servo, let the lift egress to the lower deck.” Hawksley already figured a step 4 override in his mind.

"Oh! let's give it a bit longer, but when we get the Fleet Captain back I will be returning to Earth and back to Starfleet Academy to complete my training, when next you see me I should be a Captain as I will have to change branches, topic change what is your take on your new Department Head?" she asked.

“Congratulations.” Leland was genuine. He knew full well that the Somers clan was indeed a dutiful bunch and definitely, no doubt the Colonel was going to be a Captain. He nodded at hearing that and smiled. “It would be an honour to serve with under you, be it on the Tomcat or in the future.” He then paused and furrowed a brow upward at how that sounded.

“I have found my home. Engineering has always been a keen interest, a calling. Back on New Mars Colony, when I was younger, I interned at a flight mechanics garage. It wasn’t Starfleet, but it was enough to think of the mechanical engineering streams. Pun intended, Navigation set me on a course for Engineering. I can only thank you again, Colonel. Other CO’s might not be so willing to let a flight officer change streams with ease as you did for me.” He acknowledged fondly of Somers.

“Will you be joining us on the Tomcat or looking for your Command shortly?” He didn’t want to jinx it for the Colonel, but come on! The Somers. The Family. The history. They all ended up being leaders.

Thinking over Leland's question as she gathered her thoughts before looking at him "unless things change when the time comes I will end up taking over from the Fleet Captain and command the Tomcat, but by then I will be a Captain, not a Colonel, I will so miss my Marine rank" she responded and sighed "I suppose we cannot put it off much longer" she said standing up and holding out her hand in offer to help the Lieutenant up. "you ready to get out of here Lieutenant?" She asked.

Leland listened. Often people opened up to him as he felt he were just as receptive to being open to others.

"Just one last question. Ma'am." Leland accepted the Colonel's hand as she helped heave him up.

Waiting a moment to catch the Colonel's full attention. Leland asked as he turned to the mechanical panel to unlatch the top hatch clutch. He turned, "Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?"

"We do not need to go that way Lieutenant," she said indicating the hatch "as to your question when I am not with my husband I sleep with a Phaser under my pillow, what made you think I slept with a stuffed animal! My cheery disposition," she said with a smile then tapped her Commbadge =/\= computer site to site transport two to the corridor outside of this lift, energize on my command =/\= She said and looked at Hawksley.

Leland watched back at the Colonel and chuckled a bit. He was more than ready to work on the turbo lift. Checking the maintenance records on the malfunctioning servo.

=/\=Energize site to site=/\= Somers said and the pair vanished from the turbolift and arrived outside the lift, the Colonel nodded to Leland and headed away from the engineer.

[OFF]

Lt Colonel Alexandria Somers [P: FCapt Somers]
Acting Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Jg Leland Hawksley
Assistant Chief of Engineering

 

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