Getting noticed

Posted on Mon Feb 7th, 2022 @ 12:31am by Captain Akeno Misaki & Lieutenant Torvin Anor

Mission: Arista
Location: Ready Room

A few days after the ordeal of 'Junior' the Wayfarer was en route back to the nearest outpost. During the time in the Nebula, the ship had lost some of its crew to Juniors wrath, from the destruction of the scouting and surveying shuttles and teams to the damage 'junior' did to the ship to keep them there.

Akeno was still cleaning up the mess after what had occured. They were only a couple of days out from Starbase Eighty Three where they will be taking on new supplies and crew. She however had noticed that there was one officer who had caught her eye.

She smiled as she tapped her comm badge. "Lieutenant Anor. Can you report to my ready room at the earliest convenience" she said simply. She was still getting used to being the Captain and giving orders, not asking them. She shook it off and picked up the PADD she was reading to wait for the Lieutenant to arrive.

"Captain? Oh yes, of course!" came the unsure voice of Torvin, who had not been expecting a direct message. Closing the comm carefully as he was currently suspended upside down in a Jeffries tube working on a rather annoying hard to reach component from the regular direction the ladder provided. The clattering of his tricorder dropping down to the ground below him a good distance followed by his saddened whine of "oh come on..."

It would be a good 20 or so minutes before he had arrived on the bridge, a place he was starting to see far more of than he had expected in the last few days, and considering one of those times he had done a rather awkwardly hotwired site-to-site transport of the person he was due to meet, only did more to make him feel like he was about to be swallowed whole and set up for the next shuttle to a deep-space sensor outpost never to be heard from again.

He walked the busy workplace to the door of the Captain's ready room and took a small breath before stepping in, standing at attention and keeping as formal and as regulated as possible. Juxtaposed by his uniform that, as it often was at the end of his active work shift, frayed and damaged in multiple spots from his hands-on work, and the few steps back from where most would consider the "standing space" of the captains' desk, closer to the door than to her. "Lieutenant Junior Grade Torvin Anor reporting as requested Captain!" he called out, covering his nerves with a steady voice.

Akeno looked up and simply smiled. "Looks like you've had a long shift Lieutenant" she said simply noticing the damage to his uniform. She slowly pulled herself up, which was considerably easier now that 'Junior' was no longer occupying her belly. She made her way around the desk and past the Lieutenant to the replicator. "What you having to drink?" she asked simply.

At her words, he almost automatically tensed before realising the question. "Oh, a lemonade please if you wouldn't mind?" he said, his formal approach almost destroyed by a question he was not expecting, he decided to approach a little to stop the Captain from having to travel the distance herself. But still keeping a distance subconsciously "Is there an issue with the ship Captain?" he asked, trying to catch whatever 'issue' was already on the cards "It's taking a little while to get some of the systems settled after the shock she took. But I can assure you they'll all be cleared by the time we get to Eighty Three. I've been working non-stop for the last two days on it." he said to try and assuage any worries of not looking ship-shape in time. Feeling the same concern himself since her engineering status currently rested in his lap.

"Oh, I'm well aware of your hard work Lieutenant" Akeno said as she passed him his lemonade. "Oh and lighten up a little will you, at this rate you'll strain something. Relax" she told him. She made her way back to her desk, but instead of sitting behind it, she leant against its edge slightly informally.

"Ok Lieutenant, this is whats going on. This ship sustained quite a lot of damage over the last few days. I read the reports on how you helped to save me from what 'Junior' was doing on the bridge. Hot wiring a side to side transport like that was rather impressive" she took a sip of her own drink, she had opted for a iced coffee. "I will admit it was rather embarrassing having that happen to me, however..."

Akeno paused for a few moments, taking another sip of the cold coffee. She allowed the cool bitter taste swish around her mouth before swallowing it. "Many of the current Department Heads have come to me about you. They've noticed that you've been doing one hell of a job keeping this ship running, in fact, you're acting very much like a Chief Engineer..." she told him with a wink. "Doesn't that sound... kinda nice?"

Torvin's eyes widened at her words and what they insinuated "Chief?" he stated in an almost whisper to himself. The idea gave him a thrill and a terrible dread all at once. Sure he'd heard the murmurings of some of the engineering crew, but he had thought his name was being thrown into the conversational pot as a simple consideration, but enough to reach the Captain seemed almost impossible to him. He thought they barely knew his name! "I...I don't know what to say Captain." he replied honestly, the shock doing the rest of the work to drop his professional defences down a little "I'd have figured you'd consider a longer served crew member. Would the crew be comfortable with an outsider like myself?" he stated, his mind jumping to the worst-case scenario, an engineering crew hostile to him and his position, a detriment to the ship.

"Outsiders on a Starship crew become your family pretty quickly. I was once the outsider when I was the Exec under Captain Sprague" Akeno replied to him. "You're stood out and unlike the other engineers you have demonstrated that you have the skills to become a leader. Granted, you're still wet behind the ears and you'll need to work on your self-confidence. But I think that this push is what you need to become one hell of a Chief Engineer" Akeno explained to him softly. She then placed the now empty cup down on her desk and stood up, even though she was tiny in height compared to him.

"Well, what do you say Lieutenant; will you take the job?" she asked.

He took a breath, a part of him wanted to ask a million questions, and double-check she did in fact want him. But he another part of him, something he hadn't called on much before. The part of him that had walked him into starfleet, made him read book after book of textbooks and engineering diagrams into the late night. The part of him that let him dangle upside down just a little while ago. He straightened himself up and nodded "Captain, I'd be honoured to take the position, and she'll be singing like a bird by the time we get to that starbase." he sipped his drink and winced "...And I'll adjust the replicator programs for the lemonade."

Akeno let out a small laugh. "You'd think by now that our replicators could get that right". She reached into her pocket for a moment and then held out a hand for him to shake. Hidden in her palm, a small red velvet box. "As of this moment, you are officially the new Chief Engineer of the United Starship Wayfarer..." she told him.

"Thank you, Captain." he said with a smile as he shook her hand. His face looked confused as he felt the box in her grasp. He looked down as he took it away. His eyes shot up for a moment before looking back to the box, opening it to see the full pip right before him. As he looked back up to her, he knew it didn't take an empath to see the grateful smile plastered on his face "I'll do my best to make sure it's a decision you never regret."

Akeno nodded at him. "Go whip that engine room into shape Lieutenant" she told him simply. "You're senior staff now, welcome to the big leagues. Now put that pip on your collar in replacement of the half pip, hold your head high in pride. You've earned it"

"Aye Captain!"

A few moments later, Lieutenant Torvin Anor stepped out from the ready room, as one of the engineers sat waiting for him with a Padd, a smirk on his face. "Ready to get to work chief." Torvin gave a grin back as he came over and took the Padd "Let's see what you've got...."

Posting by

Captain Akeno Misaki
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Torvin Anor
Chief Engineer