Posted May 26, 2020, 10:42 p.m. by Lieutenant Robert Mason (Chief Engineer) (Joe P)
Posted by Chief Petty Officer Oscar Cameron Cascarrabias Demalia (Engineer (Grouch)) in Side Sim - SB 157: Chief Engineer’s Temporary Office - CPO Cascarrabias Check-In
Posted by Lieutenant Robert Mason (Chief Engineer) in Side Sim - SB 157: Chief Engineer’s Temporary Office - CPO Cascarrabias Check-In
Posted by Chief Petty Officer Oscar Cameron Cascarrabias Demalia (Engineer (Grouch)) in Side Sim - SB 157: Chief Engineer’s Temporary Office - CPO Cascarrabias Check-In
After he had gotten a look at the maintenance work that was happening with the USS Ogawa, Oscar realized that he probably should do certain things - like officially report for duty, and then, later, get actually cleared for duty. Of course, he preferred to be a bother, and so immediately chose to do those two things out of order. He was still in his isolation suit, decked out in Engineering gold, when he walked into the office without announcing himself or even bothering to press the door chime. He found the door unlocked, so it wasn’t like he needed to engage in that small bit of polity.As Oscar walked in, he would be able to immediately overhear a conversation that the Lieutenant was already engaged in with someone else over the computer terminal at the desk.
=/\= The appropriate requisitions procedure… =/\= the voice on the other end of the line started to say before the Lieutenant just cut them off.
“Would take too long and would not result in the part that is required,” he said, with extra emphasis on the very last word.
=/\= The part that you requested has been deprecated. Mark VII-B is an adequate replacement. =/\=
“No it is not.”
=/\= The manual says it is. =/\=
“The manual incorrect, as can be demonstrated by simply installing the part and observing the oscillations that destabilize the warp fields due to the difference in operating frequency between the Mark VII-A, which the rest of the assembly was designed around.”
=/\= The higher frequency should not affect field stability at all. =/\=
“They wouldn’t, in a fixed geometry drive system. I am trying to repair a variable geometry drive system.”Oscar overheard the argument, and internally rolled his eyes. Of course they were trying to replace a warp core that was so old that Starfleet didn’t technically stock it anymore. There were any number of reasons why the Chief Engineer was overreacting, but Oscar figured he could point out the easiest way to do the job in due time.
“Chief Petty Officer Cascarrabias Demalia reporting for duty.”
(Oscar Cascarrabias, Engineering)
The Lieutenant looked straight up at the intruder in the isolation suit, stunned by the sight of something that he interpreted to mean that his day would only get worse. “What, like that?” he asked quickly. “What’s wrong out there now?”
– Robert Mason, CE
Curmudgeon that he was, Oscar couldn’t hold in the immediate response. “Well, mostly, a starbase crew is trying to fix the ship to which I’ve been assigned, and it sounds and looks like they have no idea what they’re doing.”
Oh, so nothing new there, Bob thought but did not say.
=/\= Wait, what? =/\= came the voice from the computer terminal. Apparently someone didn’t really like that assessment.
CPO Cascarrabias knew that the Lieutenant was probably referring to the fact that he was wearing his isolation suit. Whatever the case, he decided to act as if Mason had meant, “Like that?” to mean, “Unannounced.”
“Wild guess, they accidentally assumed it was one of the Miranda-class ships that got recommissioned when we were duking it out with the Dominion, or trying to save as many Romulans as we could. Well-built ships - you can toss in newer stuff and it takes to it like a cast iron skillet to butter - but since the McCoy-class looks the same from the exterior, they assume that they can do the same stuff with it.”
Oscar shrugged.
“Yeah, they are that stupid,” Bob agreed.
=/\= Hey, I’m still here! =/\=
“You can probably just swap out the parts that control warp field alignment, calibrate the whole thing accordingly, and get the VII-B to work like the VII-A. Heck, you could probably get the VII-Γ,” (Starfleet’s choice to make a bastard child between Latin and Greek was dumb, especially when they could have just kept going in the Roman alphabet without anyone caring), “to purr like a kitten on a variable geometry warp system if you swapped out enough parts.”
Oscar Cascarrabias
Engineering
“Well sure,” Bob said. “But to do that I’d have to swap out all of the parts in the one system that is actually working. At which point, it would actually just be easier to just send the whole ship to the breakers. Which I’ve been told is not an option at the present time. That’s why…”
He turned to face the screen again, “you’re going to give me the VII-A that I know you have in storage, that I know is nobody else is using.”
=/\= It’s not allowed for me to give that to you.=/\=
“It’s not allowed, or it’s not recommended?”
The face on the monitor paused, knowing exactly as Mason did that it was phrased as “recommended” and that arguing about it further would be several more rounds of procedural arguments hinging on that particular detail.
=/\= The latter, =/\= came the concession.
“Right. I thought so. Have the VII-A here by noon, please.” The ‘please’ was curt and tacked on as an afterthought just as Bob’s finger tapped on the terminal to end the communication. The supply clerk vanished from the screen.
“I’m Robert Mason,” Bob said as he turned his attention back to the man in the isolation suit. “If you were assigned here, you must be… ‘Cas-car-ra-bi-as’.” He struggled somewhat to get the name right. Clearly he did not have much experience with pronouncing Spanish names.
“I didn’t butcher that, did I?”
– Robert Mason, CE
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