Interview On Freecloud

Posted on Sun Jan 30th, 2022 @ 5:00pm by Captain Rueben Gregnol & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein

Mission: Mission 14: Holoworld
Location: Freecloud
Timeline: One Month Before
1338 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Another day, another café out of the ice-cold environment that Freecloud had turned into overnight it felt. The warm coffee was defrosting him but the man would need more of it to function but at least this time he was no alone in the interview. He had been considering allowing Michael to take the lead as it was for his engineering but they would see how it would go before they decided properly. It was not quite the usual dive being a café, but it was out of the normal route for tourists on Freecloud so they would all be able to speak and be able to listen.

“That was colder than I have known it before,” Gregnol said trying to make casual conversation as they waited.

"Definitely colder than last night," Burnie agreed, clutching his mug of hot coffee close to warm his hands. "Honestly surprised there aren't more Andorians on this world."

Gregnol was about to comment on politics or something as witty when the waiter brought over some snacks. “Ah, I think that is her.” Gregnol noticed someone coming through the door wearing what the message had said she would when he had requested an interview.

Sleek midi dress with the sharp, pronounced shoulders and impossibly smooth holographic fabric that seemed to scream literate meets celebrant, though much like an overcrowded bar the outfit seemed to be stressed past maximum occupancy limits, the thick female form making use of the maximum tensile strength of the superbly crafted fabric that lay upon her. Exactly as advertised, though the adjectives in the interview request probably didn’t do the dress, or the body within it, justice. Still, it was exactly as advertised, a juxtaposition of sophistication and intimidation.

It didn’t take long for K to read the room and find the captain. Mr. Gregnol or what-have-you. It didn’t take Q levels of intelligence to spot the captain of any vessel be it starfleet, private, or otherwise. They always looked important, even if they didn’t know it.

Two bums staking out a coffee shop, watching the passers by as they sipped their drinks waiting for someone they were scheduled to meet. The small talk looked more like cast members backstage before a show than friends mingling for some reason or another. Clearly business-like. Or at least business-likeish. Thems were them. That was obvious.

She waltzed on over to the men in wait, her gait more akin to a tank than a dancer, and wasted no time in mingling herself among her awaiting interviewers.

“Captain,” she smiled as she reached out her hand in standard customized greeting to the man she was scheduled to meet, paying near-to-none attention to the tagalong he had brought along.

Burnie didn't mind. He just sat back, observing. If Gregnol decided she was worth consideration, he'd turn it over to him to ask the technical questions to be sure she had the chops for his department.

"Gregnol will do," Gregnol said taking the offered hand as he rose from his chair as the woman approached. It was not usual custom or at least Gregnol had gotten used to not going for shaking hands straight away in Starfleet or the word he inhabited now. There were just to many other options. "This is Michael. He is the chief engineer of the vessel you inquired about." He introduced without a second thought.

“Gregnol. Michael,” Katherina nodded to each accordingly, taking note of the casual use of any ol’ name they wanted to use, given, sur or otherwise. Not that it mattered though. To Katherina it was always K. “K. Guess you can call me K, K?” It sounded better than it read.

Gregnol stayed silent on the suggestion that she could be just called K. K was not a name in his opinion but he could see if it worked.

She sat down with the two of them, settling in quite quickly and almost immediately looking like she had been there for quite some time. “So lets get down to the brass tacks, shall we? You’re looking for help. I’m looking for work. Is there anything else you needed to know, or can we start talking about the benefits?”

Burnie cocked an eyebrow at the bold assumption that she was obviously qualified, especially as he'd neither seen nor heard anything about engineering experience or credentials, which he assumed was her specialty, otherwise why would Gregnol have him along for this. "How about, what experience you have working as in engineering? Or are you applying for a different position?"

Brass tacks, indeed, and it seemed at the moment as if K was rather tactless. Her previous job interviews had all started the same and it seemed they’d all have to go in the same direction too. She didn’t like getting into the details, but she supposed it was inevitable. Just tell ‘em what they need to know, K and stop being such a hardass.

“Yes, I am here for a job in engineering. Heard your ol’ bucket of bolts was in need of another hand and figured I’d oblige Ms. Mary, one old lady to another,” she began in as casual a fashion as she could, mostly directing her attention to Michael as it seemed he’d be the one more interested in her skills even if it was the other guy who’d be making the final call. “And as for experience, well, it’s quite a mixed bag. Worked on a lot of mining equipment and other small-scale stuff for a while, but after a bit I moved up to the big leagues. Worked on a few freighters here and there and a couple’a runners. Don’t think I need to go into the particulars of who I worked for, but suffice it to say I’m no stranger to fixing up dinged up space boats. You got any particulars you’re wondering about if these ol’ hands can handle,” she asked the inquisitive chief engineer, sorta holding her hands out as if to show that they were, in fact, working hands.

Burnie's head tipped side-to-side, thinking over that list. "That's fairly general experience. What's your knowledge of dilithium crystal converter assemblies?" If she had any real knowledge of warp engines, she'd know the rough era of ship and level of experience required to maintain it.

“The Devil’s Lantern, huh,” K remarked with an upraised brow. “I gotta say I know of them more than I know about them, but from what I hear they’re a real bitch to refuel what with the lack of a theta-matrix compositor and all, but it can’t be much worse than working with the power stations in those God damned lithium mines. You wanna talk about pushing something well past retirement age, then look no further than those.” She knew they weren’t quite the same, but a little bit of knowledge flexing in the department of working on outdated technologies certainly couldn’t hurt, especially if she was going to be dealing with an honest to goodness DCCA.

Gregnol was staying quiet for a moment. There were many reasons why Burnie had been brought along but the questions were on point for the requirements for his ship. If you had good people around you, the ship was a good place. “As you can see we have very unique requirements for an ageing ship,” The Captain said with a small smile. He glanced to Burnie wondering how it measured up on what he needed.

Burnie was considering the same question. K's reply indicated some level of knowledge, but nursing along old mining equipment was different than working on a classic ship (he'd sooner call an elegant older lady a crone than refer to Rosie as 'ageing'). "She's a good ship, but there are a lot of systems that need tending to keep her in good repair. You've obviously worked in mines. What's your experience on starships?"

TRANCATED