The Engineer's Lament

Posted on Wed Apr 29th, 2015 @ 6:39am by Lieutenant Christopher Hartley

343 words; about a 2 minute read

Mission: Deadly Diplomacy
Location: Main Engineering

Chris had to sigh as he looked at the damaged EPS relay. "Seriously, how the hell can this be damaged? I thought we put this one in after the battle?" Chris asked.

"We did, Chief." One of his engineers replied. Chris buried a growl, and looked at the report in front of him.

"And you're telling me that none of you know what caused this?" Chris asked. He frowned as he went over to the computer, calling up the specifications of the relay grid. "Who was the last person to run a maintenance check on the grid?"

"That would be your predecessor, S'kott." Came the reply. "But he cleared it."

"Yeah, and he also had no idea what a gel pack was." Chris growled, as he ran a quick check. His suspicions were confirmed as he looked at the readout. "Looks like part of the grid was misrouted, and several of the gel packs need replacing. Given my predecessor's lack of experience, I'd say it was a simple error. But the fact that you didn't check it sooner is a damned sloppy mistake. You ever make a mistake like that while working for me and I swear you'll be working on a garbage scow." Chris said. "NOW GET IT REPAIRED AND REPLACED!"

None of the engineers spoke, but they quickly got to work. Chris shook his head, and made a mental note to go over every EPS grid and relay, before someone screwed up big time.

"What else can go wrong?" Chris asked, as he went to his office. He went to the replicator, and ordered a coffee...and stepped back as it appeared without a mug. "I had to bloody ask." He said, as he headed back out to get on with his job. He did make a mental note to report to the CO, to give her a full report on how badly he needed his engineering team from Utopia Planetia, and hoped they would be free to come aboard to help him.

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Lieutenant Chris Hartley
Chief Engineer
USS Calypso

 

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