Engineers Unite!

Posted on 24 Aug 2022 @ 10:56pm by Lieutenant Commander Remington Dodd & Lieutenant Leland Hawksley
Edited on on 20 Jul 2023 @ 5:54pm

3,281 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: General Sim Postings
Location: Deck 13, Deuterium Storage and Antimater Injector Assembly
Timeline: TBD

[ON]

Deep in the recesses of the Engineering sub-level compartments, a whole secondary host of engineering crawlways and passageways. Hawksley was furious that the Adronn Heliator 557-4 unit #33-04444 was on the fritz. There were three redundant diagnostics in the unit that competed.

“I don’t understand. This unit was just replaced at Starbase 174 months ago. What the frack?” He mumbled to himself, forward deep into the inner plumbing and conduits of the Tomcat. Down on Deck 13, Deuterium Storage and Antimatter Injector Assembly.

There were moments like this when he had to call on someone who knew a few things or two in Engineering. More than a few. Hawksley’s idol in Engineering matters was his life, to begin with.

A deflated Leland slapped his com badge and waited. =/\= Uh. =/\= He wiped the sweat from his forehead. =/\= Lieutenant Hawksley to Lt. Commander Dodd. Sir, are you free? =/\=
oO Please be, please be, please be…Oo

Dodd was in his quarters enjoying his freedom from his uniform when he got the request from Hawksley. He walked to his comm badge, =/\= This is Dodd, what can I do for you Chief? =/\= Dodd responded to the call from Hawksley.

Leland's vision Lazer liked on to the control mechanism, its LCARS and isolinear chipsets having been scrutinized. =/\= This is stupid, honest, Sir. Sorry, it is even a waste of your time... =/\= He honestly felt bad for disturbing Officers after hours.

=/\= Foolish question Lt. Commander. Dodd.. Here we go. Ships deuterium theorem is .0098.774 nanometric of volume per variance. What level do you suggest Animatrix the eps, cps, and classes in Deuterium storages…" Leland had pulled off his earphones, listening to music while he had Worked.

=/\= Well, Engineering issues are never a waste of my time. If you have .0098.774 nanometric of volume for the deuterium theorem, you need to counter that for the Antimatrix with a negative nanometric of volume that will balance out the deuterium. So you need to be sure to set the system to auto-calibrate and you can allow a variance range of .9902 to negative .9902. This will seem off but the system will shift to allow for split-second adjustments in the need for emergency warp needs. =/\=

Leland grimaced; he was learning, and asking questions was the best way to learn. =/\= Thank you, Lieutenant Commander. =/\= Hawksley felt more confident now in his approach. =/\= You’ll get no other issues. You know deuterium tanks, so dull!” =/\= Lelands earbuds had fallen from his ears as he hit his head on the overhead under access deuterium crawlway J-09. “AWWwwWw FFff….” Hawksley’s forehead bunted into a steel router. Leland furiously rubbed his forehead. He breathed outward, circling his sore head with his large hand. =/\= Still getting used to her Chief! =/\= Leland replied kindly, a gesture that it had once been his Engineering.

=/\= Let me get some clothes on and I will just come down to visit you and check on my girl before you defile her any more. =/\= Dodd replied as he could picture Leland making the engines go offline and having the ol' Tomcat drift in space. But Remy knew that he would never actually get that far.

=/\= See you then Chief. You got my location. =/\=

By the time Lieutenant Commander Dodd arrived, Hawksley turned to greet him. "Getting weird seeing you in clothing." He jested playfully.

"Dodd. And defile her... She's whispered things in my ears that... I... I cannot repeat." He wickedly grinned to himself while typing in and updating the latest deuterium quotients and set levies for the uptake nozzles a few decks upward... "You didn't need to come down, I was about finished."

Dodd had arrived in a form-fitting sleeveless muscle shirt that outlined his chiselled torso and a pair of loose-fitting running shorts and a pair of tennis shoes. "I had to come to visit my baby even though I moved up to the bridge, I am still an engineer at heart. This place is always going to feel like home." Dodd then stepped over to look a the panel that Hawksley was inputting the data.

"Looks good, just always remember the opposite is the input for whichever variant you need to fix. This is the one place where the negative is a good answer at times." Dodd stated as he moved to look at another panel of readings.

Hawksley furrowed brows on his forehead as he nodded, entering in the details that the Chief was giving him. The years of his experience were bar none obviously! "Chief. Thank you." Leland entered the right variants after each... " This may take a while!" Hawksley mumbled to himself.

"You know you can simply enter a simple algorithm and it will do much of the major input for you," Dodd stated as he input the algorithm and the system began to auto-adjust to the new variant and purr like a little kitten. "I am sure you will figure all this out as I did but I want to save you the headache and stress. I left a file on the chief engineer's computer you can access. It is called chief shortcuts. It contains many helpful tips and tricks you can use to get up to a level beyond mine in no time. I just hope Taggert did not delete it as she had her own sense of mayhem to her methods of engineering."

“You created the shortcut manuals….” His eyes bugged out. “I thought that was you. Oh, Man! Those manuals have been a godsend at midnight oil fests, staying up late on issues. And then boom! There is the quotient; there is the solution to the impossible problem that occurred in the first place. Dodd. Thank you, thank you!”

Hawksley gratefully hands shaken his boss the cheat sheet. It did more than provide an answer. It offered different theories to the engines and power systems on the USS Tomcat that were uniquely set to Engineering. Their engineering, not some galaxy-class engineering routines.

“You created that book of wisdom!! It’s locked in my office, along with my other lockable. Which were cigars, cigarettes, deodorant, and of course a bottle of Rye.” Leland smiled.

"Well, I spent a lot of time in that office and could almost run the whole department from in there. I even had a shower installed when I was chief. I am not sure if Taggert removed it or not, I have not spent a lot of time down here since then." Dodd replied. "But Rye, come on, you can do better than that. I would only lock up my Romulan Ale and the Aldarian Brandy."

"Altarian Brandy. You obviously haven't had Canadian Rye and Coke. Take a break." Hawksley looked at his watch. "Besides I owe you one. I'd be down here for another three hours before I blew up the ship." Leland shrugged. Engineers joke with one another. He then wiped his hands of the primer oils that he had used on the bio-membrane instalments to the LCAR subroutines."

"First one back to the Office gets the choice of Alcohol and Cigar!!!" He eyed Dodd. Before bolting with his equipment kit, this time memorized all of the bulkheads that were in the way.

As Hawksley darted away, Dodd activated an old site-to-site transporter program he had for emergency situations in engineering and was beamed into his old office in the blink of an eye.

"What took you so long, Leland?" Dodd stated as Hawksley arrived in his own office after the Lieutenant Commander. Dodd was holding back extreme laughter as he knew Hawksley was totally shocked.

He would beat Dodd and then offer him a drink in his victory. Since becoming department head, Hawksley had begun jogging in the lower levels of all the recesses. This allowed him to physically understand the mechanics around him, like aboard an ancient earth-ocean-faring vessel.

Leland was jogging in through the opened doorway. Leland shook his head. “Unbelievable. Dodd. You used the transporter!” He huffed and grumbled. He took a seat on the other side of HIS desk.

“So, like what I did with the place?!” There wasn’t much done. There were just a few mugs, manuals, padds, and his tool kit secured into a lock on the wall. An old NHL Earth Hockey Flag hung from one of the recessed bookcases in the room.

"You apparently have not spent much time here." Dodd smiled. "You are doing a fine job and I always enjoy spending time in engineering and with you. However, you have this and will do a fine job as the chief. You have an excellent crew of engineers and if I am correct you will get a couple of new recruits when we get to Starbase 51. I am always willing to give you a hand when you need it and hopefully, soon I can start getting off the ship more as I lead away teams in the future."

"Cheers, Sir." Hawksley had interjected. Taking out two Tumbler glasses and then filled them with some of his Canadian Rye and then Coke.

Leland handed the glass to his long-time mentor and considered him one of his Best Friends. "Cheers, to the Tomcat and our valiant leaders. May we have a wonderful shore leave..."

Taking a drink and clinking cheers to Dodd, Leland asked. "Do you have any ideas for your shore leave Sir?" Hawk had known this past mission was an intense one for the XO had endured the scenarios presented on the planet.

"I plan to check in on Rocky and then maybe take a shuttle to the closest environment to go hiking in a non-holographic form. I know there are three moons that are class M in the area around Starbase 51 and one of them is an overgrown rainforest for the most part and one is mountainous but with a temperate climate. I think the third one is mostly aquatic. I hope to be able to have three days at the very least getting very lost in nature and enjoying my solitude if you know what I mean." Dodd replied. "What do you and the little lady plan to do?"

“That sounds awesome.” Leland sounded almost jealous. “Take along Hercules; he’d love the adventure!”

“Me and the Lady. We’ve got some medical tests at the Starbase, our hybrid child. I wonder how that will turn out. Betazoid/human. Would that mean he’s more in tune with his mother than I could understand?”

He had so many concerned questions.

“Sir. Your 1/4th Betazoid correct ¾ Ullian? Do you have any insight into how this birth is supposed to happen?” All Leland knew, and Lilliana told him, was that it needed special attention.

"I understand your concern, but he may not have any telepathic abilities. However, if he does have some it will be more empathic than telepathic. He would likely be an empath but yet he could communicate some with his mother or other fully telepathic beings. I likely could do some telepathic communications with him. For him, it would like to be based on his proximity to another telepath. Does that help any?" Dodd replied and took a swig of his beverage.

Leland raised a brow. "You're asking me if you can telepathically speak with him? You sure can! Just ensure he knows that he's a Maple Leaf fan in the Federation NHL." Hawksley chuckled.

"In all seriousness Commander. I think me and Lilli just need some time to spend. It's been a busy mission." Leland nodded.

"You stay safe out there... I don't want to have to come over with a Tomcat shuttle and get you out of some bear trap down there in the woods."

"I am hoping you two can get some enjoyment before the blessed event and the little bugger comes out to make the next eighteen years of your life a twisted jigsaw puzzle," Dodd replied. "As for a Maple Leaf, come on, he will be a Plasma fan no doubt. And maybe if I get in a bear trap it will be worth my while to explore something new. That moon is populated by ninety-five per cent men as it was originally a military training facility that has been turned back over to nature. So it is possible that they are hunting for new adventures as well."


“Thank you for hoping.” He laughed. “We’re pretty good for the enjoyment levels. A child will complicate things, but that’s married with children!” Hawksley was still proud of his recent vows.

“Pshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” One thing that got Hawksley roused was sports talk. “The Plasmas. The only thing they’re good for is Jonrai N’Rall. Good backhand, terrible offence.” He scowled.

“Sounds like you’re going to be busy. Keep me updated. That trip sounds amazing; I’m jealous. Sir.” Leland grinned at Dodd. “And your taking along Hercules. You left that part out….” He prodded.

"I am happy to take him if you need him out from under your sheets. Sorry, I mean feet." Remy replied. "I do have a portable holo-emitter I can download him into for the trip and he would likely enjoy the forest and then I don't have to worry about picking up after him since he is a holo."

Leland nodded. “I think he needs to be with you. You only saved his program and life!” Hawk confessed. “If you do take him, then Hercules won’t be distraught. We were going to leave him with a sitter.”

“Plus, up in those woods. He can give a good barking! You’ll need that. I’m unsure how well a holo emitter would interact with him and any animals.”

"I guess having a companion even if it is Herc, would be a nice touch and I am sure the holo-emitter would withstand any confrontation with nature we would likely encounter. The largest wild animals on the moon are wildfowl that tend to get about as big as a person but they are harmless. They eat only plants and small reptiles and insects." Dodd replied. "Besides, I think I may enjoy having a dog for a few days."

"I think you will. I think I need to get used to this Father thing. I wish I could ask you about being a Dad. I keep telling myself. Be honest. Be kind. Be generous, vigilant. I can't be his or her best friend, but I can sure as heck try at it. I can't play the good cop bad copper thing." He was genuinely concerned.

"My parents... Didn't hear a peep from me as a child. I don't know if this will be the same thing."

"Dude you will be great, I wish was a father as I would spoil my children with all I could give of myself. From what I know you just have to play it moment by moment and day by day as there is not one thing that is the same for every situation." Dodd replied.

Leland listened to Dodd. He smiled. He was a good friend and mentor. Leland appreciated the advice. “I will remember that Sir.” Leland smiled. He then took a sip from his drink having the Commander’s ear.

“I guess the first order of business… Well, second order. After we meet with Starbase Medical, we will take a trip to my parent’s cottage in the Alberta Rockies. “It’s humble. Lilli would like to meet my parents. They want to find out who was taking on the Hawksley name of their Son.” Hawksley winked.

"Wow, you married her and they had not met her, what if they can't stand her," Dodd said with a very large grin. "I would be happy to make sure Hercules keeps busy for the time you are back on Earth. and I have hiked the Alberta Rockies so I was likely close to your family's home and I hope I did not offend them as I may have mooned them in passing."

“And when you do take Herc… Make sure he doesn’t bounce off that moon's gravity and can’t get down again.” Leland poked jokingly.

"I won't let the mutt get away from me," Dodd remarked. "I will have him bonded to the combadge implanted in my hiking boot so there will be no way for him to get too far away from me."

Hawksley let his eyes wander to his desk. "Well. If they don't like her," he clasped his hands together, "I don't know what would be not to like. She is my Imzadi. That is for certain." Hawksley shook his head at that thought.

"Mom and Dad are easy-going, carefree. More than likely they would be ones to walk in the nude just like you, so!" Leland shrugged. "You might have been spotted. I'm sure Mom wouldn't have minded it." Leland winked at Dodd.

"Well she likely made your dad have to compete with the vision that night," Dodd replied with a devilish laugh.

Hawksley took a look at his wrist chronometer. "We arrive not too long from now at the base. I'll be overseeing the shutdown and core diversion to SB51. My first shunt down and hand over. It's in the books, I've trained for it already." He breathed outward wanting to ensure everything went according to the book.

"Anything I should know, other than 'by the book' of course Dodd?"

"The book is not all it is cracked up to be. Rely on your team as they are the best sense of the flow, they know what to do, how to do it and when to do it all they need is the initiation of the command and they will compliment your position fine." Dodd replied. "I have always said to them that they make the chief's position look super easy. They can make you feel like you can do anything and they will support you if you are supportive of them."

"Sage advice from a Lieutenant Commander who once trained me by the book, and then allowed me to make mistakes along the way...." Leland smiled "Just this morning. I needed help with the Adronn Heliator 557-4 unit. Now I know how to make it look easy, as well. You made it look easy, Remy Thank you."

"Easy is just practised tinkering," Dodd replied. "I miss this engineering department in the sense as this feels more like home, but I was expecting to have been married and taking this promotion to XO was better for that aspect of my career. I will have lived vicariously through you, Leland. Just know I am here if you need me, but I better get a move on and finish prepping for my hiking trip."

"Any time Remy, Sir. Any time. Wouldn't have it any other way." Hawksley had nodded and stood up from his seat when so, Dodd did. "Take good care, and I want to hear all about it. You're the lucky one. You've got man's best friend with you to go, I assigned Herc's unit to you. Any time just re-energize him when you're ready to take him along."

"No worries, I will enjoy the time and Herc will be given a small upgrade to allow his unit to charge via solar power and I will pack some backup power supplies," Dodd replied as he exited the chief engineer's office and headed out to finish up his duties before docking at Starbase 51.

[OFF]

 

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