Sliver of Latinum For Your Thoughts

Posted on Mon Aug 29th, 2016 @ 6:58pm by Captain Rueben Gregnol
Edited on on Mon Aug 29th, 2016 @ 8:35pm

Mission: Mission 2 - Contagion
Location: Deck 3 - Ward room
Timeline: MO: -4 0130 hours
1586 words - 3.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Rueben sat patiently watching the Chief Engineer. They were the only pair in the ward room this late most having gone to bed early due to the early wakeup call from the alarm system when the power had shorted out. The Captain sat slouched a little going over the PaDD that Resseesem had given him in way of a ships status report.

“How fairs Engineering?” The Russian asked his accent thickened by the home grown alcohol that he had drunk.

Bradon twirled the coffee around for a moment, then looked up at Rueben. "It fairs," he answered. He stood and went over to the replicator. "Recycle, then give me a cup of Brazilian Black, please." It hummed for a moment, the cup vanishing in a swirl of color, then reappeared, steam rising out of the top.

"You want a cup?" he asked the captain.

"Da... Why not." The Captain said with a smile. He should go over the report before attempting to sleep. Bradon drew another cup from the replicator, then sat down across from the captain. He pushed the mug over to rest in front of Reuben.

"Now that you ask, Engineering could fair better. Could fair worse, too." He took a healthy swig of the black coffee. That phrase pitched his interest.

"In what way?" The Russian asked taking a sip of coffee.

"Most of the systems are running nominally. All of them, though, could use a good old fashioned tune up. To do that, though, requires that we have spares aboard for most of the things we would need, or the raw materials to fabricate what we don't have. Currently we do not have that luxury. There is a lot I could do to bring this ol' girl back up to snuff," he said, reaching out to pat the nearby bulkhead, "but that is going to take some latinum." He took a sip of his coffee.

"Mechanically, she's sound. I've been running some level two diagnostics against her main systems. With a little TLC, I think I can bring her around again."

"Latinum we don't have at the moment. Barton left us with nothing when he was arrested finally." Rueben admitted. The annoyance of that situation evident in his tone. Barton was his best friend only person outside of blood that he loved but he could be a pain sometimes.

Bradon nodded. He had sorta been expecting an answer similar to that. "Luckily there's nothing critical that Rosie right now. Our crystals are still in good shape, and we have one set of spares." He grinned when he thought about where he had found those. "Someone had gone to a great deal of trouble to make their storage cases look like a load of dirt for the gardens, even to the point of locating them in the storage area reserved for hydroponics." I found them when I was cross-checking inventory. I guess they did not think someone would actually open the things to do a visual check on the contents.

"Da i am not surprised at all about anything on this ship if i am honest." Rueben admitted softly. He had searched some of the different areas of the ship when he had been Executive Officer and found all manner of things relating to the ships sordid history. It sounded like the man had the ship in hand but did he have the engineers in hand. "Your Engineers?" He asked sipping the coffee. It was a different blend that his usual.

"They are doing a great job," he replied. "I haven't gotten to know them as well as I need to; we have all been too busy for a sit down. I am planning on correcting that little issue just as soon as I can. Those two extra crew you assigned me have helped keep our workload down to only eighteen hours a day, instead of the full twenty-four!" He grinned as he said that, but he was only half-joking.

Rueben shook his head suspecting that the man wasn't as joking as he was trying to be. "Jeassaho will stay there all day if you let her." He said with a small smile as he thought about the Betazoid. "I hoped finding them would be handy at least you can have watch keepers in pairs now."

Bradon nodded. "When I found out that they were only scheduled one person per shift, I damn near had a heart attack. A ship this size needs at least two on duty at all time. I am hoping that we can find a couple more bodies when we dock next to help flush out the department. Logistically a ship this size should have at least thirty engineering staff; I can probably make do with a third of that. So two or three more should do the trick." He stopped to take another healthy swig of coffee.

"Will we be able to do that?" he asked. "I will be glad to take on the chore of finding them."

Rueben frowned a little not entirely sure that having more people that they didn't know onboard right now was a good thing. A second thought came to him as he opened his mouth to say something maybe this was his first step in moving away from Starfleet and the rules and regulations he had known since he was eighteen.

"Perhaps you are right if you want the chore it is yours but no more Betazoids okay." He teased a little thinking that they had enough on board. "Have you thought any on your schedule for Engineering?"

"My schedule?" he asked, a bit surprised. "I really don't have a set schedule. I will be on day shift for the most part. It really depends on what is happening on the ship. Some repairs are best done in the early morning hours when there is less demand on the systems. I have all three shifts overhead, so I guess you could say I am a floater. Why do you ask?"

"Have you considered two watches instead of three eight hour ones?" The Russia man wondered softly. He was trailing it on the bridge to see how it was going to go until they had more crew at the very least.

"Why would I consider that, sir? That's a long time for someone to stand a watch. Oh, in emergency situations I can see it, but not for a standard watch." Bradon replied. He could not imagine doing that. What would be the point?

Rueben smiled a little much preferring this Chief Engineer that the previous one. You could discuss things with Bradon while Natal didn’t approve of anything anyone said, he liked to be able to discuss things with his senior team.

“I am trying it out until I get another pilot on the Bridge. I have no choice but to.” He said with a shrug, it was suggestion nothing more than that. “It is just a suggestion but it is up to you my friend if you think you have enough watchkeepers to man everything and keep the lights on when she wants to behave.” The man assured softly a teasing grin on his face.

Bradon nodded as Rueben finished speaking. "I believe I do. I and going to try the normal three shift rotation, as I believe I have the people to cover. Counting myself in on the rotation, which I will, I can have two people per shift standing watch. If a situation arises that's more than they can handle, then they will notify me of the situation. I will then determine who will be helping out." He stopped and offered a lopsided grin to the captain. "Which we both know that everyone's ass will be up and on duty until the crisis is past."

He finished off his coffee, then set the cup down. "Back on the subject of recruiting, I thank you for allowing me to hire on two more engineering personnel. The final decision as to whether we hire them or not is up to you, of course. You are the Captain. And I will do my best to avoid anyone of the Betazoid race. But if they are the best of the offerings..." He let his voice trail off.

“Da…I know Bradon.” It wasn’t that he didn’t want more he just thought they had enough of them floating around reading thoughts as they were not bound by Starfleet Regulations. “They seem to be the best engineers for some reason. If they are the best, then they are but I prefer no more I believe you will have enough to handle with the two females you have.” Rueben muttered with a smirk as he thought of Jeassaho and then frowned at the thought of Tiffin. He downed the rest of his whiskey and picked up his PADD that Reessem had prepared about all duties and crewmembers on board.

Bradon rose, picking up his coffee cup as he did. "Thanks for the chat, Captain. Time for me to call it a night. Tomorrow comes quite early."

“Goodnight Bradon. I am glad you are here by the way. I think you are just what the ship needs right now with these lights going on and off.” Rueben added as the man moved to the exit leaving the Russian alone with his thoughts and work.


OFF:

Bradon Gordon
Chief Engineer
SS Mary Rose

Rueben Gregnol
Captain
SS Mary Rose