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Cobb's Ready Room - Durheim is summoned

Posted April 6, 2021, 5:16 p.m. by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) (Sharon Miller)

Posted by Warrant Officer Jonathan Durheim (Chief Engineering Officer (Incoming)) in Cobb’s Ready Room - Durheim is summoned

Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in Cobb’s Ready Room - Durheim is summoned

Posted by Warrant Officer Jonathan Durheim (Chief Engineering Officer (Incoming)) in Cobb’s Ready Room - Durheim is summoned
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Engineering. As a former yellow-tunic himself, Cobb new better than anyone the importance of a functioning and efficient engineering department. And on the Leviathan he had been gifted with many highly-skilled and accomplished officers to help keep the ship in the air.

And then there was Durheim. The man was an enigma and no mistake. Cobb could almost feel unnerved by his unique cybernetic enhancements, were he not, in truth, so impressed by their technicalities. But still…the time had come. He and Raauhl needed to have a serious talk with Mr Jonathan Durheim.

=^= Mr Durheim =^= he finally issued the summons, =^= Please report to my ready room at your earliest convenience. =^=

After a brief pause, a reply was sent - though Durheim sounded a bit absent. =/\=Ah, yes Mr. Cobb; I understand.=/\=

  • Captain Zachariah Cobb

Raauhl entered as the Captains communication aired. “I take it I’m not late yet?” He’d been in his quarters playing with Genesis while Casela was away he found himself a full-time dad, not that was a bad thing but he sometimes found if he left her to cure her own boredom it usually meant taking walks on the hull or gliding through the ship’s decks scaring half the crew to death, not to mention get all the anomalies riled up.

  • Commander Raauhl, XO

Augmetic limbs had advantages and disadvantages; in Durheim’s mind, the positive outweighed the negative. Especially now. Hard-wired neural connections made remote work trivial - something that was a massive advantage when dealing with either sensitive technology or dangerous anomalies. Currently, he was seated at a workbench; arms discarded to one side with thin wires embedded in the otherwise-empty sockets, and face (figuratively) glued to a viewscreen. Working within a cleanroom was inherently troublesome; add unstable materials to the mix, and mistakes become expensive. Sure, Redshirts may be a dime a dozen, but skilled labor wasn’t…

Roughly an hour or so later
Durheim relaxed as the remote mechandrites pulled back from the small box. Everything appeared to have gone as planned.... but testing would have to wait. The chemical reaction took time; longer in a vacuum. Hopefully after a week or so, results could be obtained.

Rising from the workbench, he awkwardly maneuvered about until one of his limbs ‘clicked’ into place; reconnecting it’s twin was significantly easier. Smiling in satisfaction to himself, he left the small lab and made for the Ready room. Mr. Cobb had said “earliest convenience”, after all… And Jonathan could be a very literal person when it suited him. Not that disrespect was intended, of course.

A polite voice broke into the conversation (or silence, as the case may be) “Mr Cobb; Oh! And Mr. Raauhl; how may I be of assistance?” Durheim had entered the room quietly; with no mention or indication towards the vast intervening time between the summons his arrival.

Durheim; at his earliest convenience

The captain had selected a fine bottle of aged Romulan whiskey for Durheim’s arrival. But patience was limited, even in one so indolent as Zachariah Cobb, and so upon his arrival, the engineer would find the bottle already half-drank.
“Ah, Mr Durheim,” he turned his acute attention to the engineer. “Did you get lost amongst the jefferies tubes on the way to this meeting?”

Jonathan smiled brightly at the Captain. “Ah, no, Mr. Cobb - I know the jefferies tubes quite well! I’ve made a point of learning them even when blindfolded. You hadn’t appeared to indicate this meeting was time-sensitive, and so I did not rush my work.” He frowned; briefly tilting his head in thought. “Was I incorrect in that interpretation, Mr Cobb?”

Zachariah frowned, momentarily unbalanced by Durheim’s response. Nobody had ever admitted to such a literal interpretation before. But even so, the man was technically correct.
“Your interpretation is…logical,” he shrugged through the deliberate selection of words. “If perhaps a little…misguided considering your audience.”

A glancing nod to Raauhl before continuing, then Zachariah spoke again. “Mr Durheim, please have a seat. You were recently involved in a mission that saw us faced with a mirror of our own ship and crew. And that the conclusion of that mission had a dreadful toll on William Hampton.”
A pause, the details too painful to bring fully into the light.
“Well…so we now have a vacancy for an engineering chief and…I have been watching you for some time, Mr Durheim. As you are no doubt aware, I have served my own years as an engineering chief, which puts me in good stead to evaluate another. And while there is no doubt that your methods are, at times…unique, I have been almost universally impressed by your results.”

“As I am sure the Commander here would agree,” he nodded once again to Raauhl, allowing his First Officer opportunity to share his own opinions of Durheim.

  • Captain Zachariah Cobb

Durheim’s posture changed subtly; and sharp, narrow eyes settled on Cobb. He remembered - all to well, as it were, the events that Cobb spoke of. But that wasn’t what drew his ire - he could see few possibilities for this line of thinking. One: Cobb was seeking a recommendation from the engineer. Two: Cobb was recommending Durheim for the role of Chief Engineer - but he was only a Crewman; much less a commissioned officer. And so a third possibility loomed - cruelty. While he had quietly suffered needless abuse in the past, it had not been without consequence to the narrow-minded individuals. But the Leviathan was different… he had been accepted here - or had he? Memories flashed through his head; and he frowned as reality re-asserted itself against his less-than stellar past. He had been accepted here. For the first time, he felt as though others cared about him and his well-being; as opposed to merely tolerating him and his eccentricities. As this thought settled at the front of his brain; he relaxed, and his eyes lost much of their sharpness. He was still on edge, perhaps noticeably so. But the intense flash of anger was just that - a thing only briefly shown.

Not being sure of what to say; and atypically considering that what he said could matter, he moved away from the entrance of the ready room and took a seat at the table, settling for a polite nod.

-Durheim the Cautious

Cobb could sense the unease in Durheim, so with rapid precision he refilled three glasses and slid one towards the engineer.
“Here, you look like you could use a drink,” he commented, sipping eagerly at his own. “Look, lad, I know that you’ve been working towards a warrant officer track. I’ve read your assignments and also the results back from Starfleet. In fact, only yesterday I was contacted by Admiral Roebuck himself, asking for a personal review of your performance.”
Blue eyes descended onto thick goggles, the potential for connection somewhat removed by the heavy glass. “And I was happy to recommend you fully for the promotion.”

Reaching into his desk drawer, the captain extracted a telltale black box, placing it on the table between them and allowing Durheim, for the moment, to draw his own conclusion.
“But first I must ask you, Mr Durheim, your thoughts on our engineering chief vacancy. Has the position ever appealed to you?”

  • Captain Zachariah Cobb

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