Hitting the Ground Running

Posted on Mon Jul 20, 2015 @ 6:46am by Lieutenant Commander Steven Wyman & Lieutenant JG Rhe'la Daughter of the Forty-ninth House

882 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Eye of the Beholder
Location: Docking bay 19
Timeline: Sometime after "I DO Know a Guy. Er... Girl."

ON:

"Well for crying out loud, Ensign. It took you long enough to get here!"

Ensign Rhe'la, Daughter of the Forty-ninth House, very nearly threw her duffel bag at the Human engineer towering over her. If she didn't know that Wyman was kidding, she would have been tempted to go on the defensive. "It's not like I was on the other end of the Federation or anything. I should have just created an interspacial fold and stepped from the Klingon border to your doorstep in a heartbeat. And you couldn't even have the place put back together by the time I got here?"

Steve laughed and patted his protege on the back. "Good to have you aboard, Rhe'la. And even better to know that I'm leaving the place in good hands. Although... umm... I kind of told the Captain that if you fell on your snout she could recall me from my new command and send you packing back to the Cavalry. So... no pressure..."

Now she really did hit him with the bag; swinging it around and connecting with his midsection. Wyman immediately dropped to his knees with the wind knocked out of him. "No pressure? NO PRESSURE? Commander, have you completely lost your mind? Why would you promise something like that?! Why would Starfleet give a command to someone who would do something THAT insane?!"

Now that he was down on the diminutive lizard's level, Steve looked her dead in the eyes and (in between gasping for air) said sternly, "Because I know you can do it. And I know that there's no chance in Hell you're going to fail. You might have some hiccups, but there's no way you're going to let me or the Captain down. Or, you'll do it to spite me. Either works."

Swinging the bag back over her shoulder, Rhe'la let out an exasperated sigh. "I don't know how in the name of Emperors past Ceridwen puts up with you."

Slowly, Steve got back to his feet. "That's a question i've been asking myself for eleven years. But, just a reminder for those of you playing at home - she pursued me."

"No accounting for taste..." the Zarnac deadpanned as she set off down the corridor. Though she had never set foot on DS5 before, she was familiar with the general layout from her time on Starbase Protector. It wouldn't be hard to find main engineering.

"I'm going to need a department manifest, a copy of the duty roster, a maintenance schedule, a list of ongoing repairs, and the latest performance reviews on the enlisted personnel." Seeing a look of confusion settle onto Wyman's face at the last one, she added, "I assume Ceridwen is going with you to the Archimedes? That means I need a new engineer's mate."

It was refreshing to see the young female he had trained in Starfleet protocols and technical standards immediately taking charge. Even when he'd made his recommendation to Captain t'Vaurek he'd had a twinge of doubt that this timid girl would be up to the task. But so far she seemed ready to go.

That, of course, was while the two of them were more or less alone. How she would hold up under the actual day to day pressure (or, for the matter, under Isha's withering gaze) would remain to be seen. But for now, she was holding up to all of Wyman's faith that he had put in her.

"Sir? Are you coming?"

"Oh, right. Sorry. A little lost in thought." By the time Steve had snapped back to reality, Rhe'la was at least twenty paces away. As such he had to jog to catch up. "Your quarters assignment, and everything else you asked for except the performance reviews. Kind of came out of left field with that one, but I'll have Welshy pull all of that together for you by morning."

Rhe'la was already reading the repair list, and the sheer scope of the damage nearly made her turn around and get back on the transport. "Your entire structural integrity field is running off back ups, and it's at such a low level that if someone sneezes on the promenade the whole place will crumble like a cheap pastry."

"We've been focusing our efforts on getting main power back online. The primary and secondary reactors took a beating when we were trying to get out of the planet's gravity well. By the way, the main deflector is a total loss. I've got three teams working around the clock on rebuilding it from the ground up."

Thankfully, Rhe'la specialized in structural systems and shields. She knew her skills would be of help getting everything back up to a hundred percent. But the magnitude of the damage caused by the emergence of the star system... she could probably write a paper on it.

Once again, Steve patted her on the back. "Come on. It's gonna be fun!"

"Says the guy who's leaving..."
OFF

Slowly but surely I await the other engineers on the Cavalry in writing Rhe'la's exit from there. At least for her arrival I only have to deal with that nitwit Wyman. ;)

Lt. Cmdr. Steve Wyman
Chief Engineering Officer emeritus
Deep Space 5

Ens. Rhe'la, Daughter of the Forty-ninth House
Incoming Chief Engineer
Deep Space 5

 

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