Stepping Up

Posted on Tue Jul 23rd, 2024 @ 6:38am by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Lieutenant Sarah Graesyn

1,261 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Starship Graveyard

Taiga had recieved a disturbing report from Engineering. Lieutenant Rea, the ships acting chief engineer had been involved in an accident. It seems that integrating different technology from different ships and civilizations was not an easy task. Whilst the engineering teams had been working hard to build 'boosters' to attach to the Tokyo, an overload had caught the Eifie engineer and put her in sickbay with serious burns and injuries.

There was now only one problem. The Engineering teams needed a strong leader from the Tokyo. One that knew the ships systems, and what the Tokyo was capable of doing. Also someone who had been heavily involved with the construction of the boosters.

She let out a sigh, this planet had already taken far too many lives and heavily injured more as well. She finally put down the PADD and tapped her comm badge. "Aisaka to Graesyn. I need to see you in the ready room."

Sarah paused in her duties, raising a brow to nobody in particular. =/\=Understood, Captain. On my way presently. =/\= She wrapped up the task that she had been working on, cranking on the hyperspanner that she had been using and then pulling it away and checking her work over with a Tri-Corder before crawling out from the Jeffries Tube. She smoothed her uniform out and then stepped into the turbolift.

As the lift arrived on the bridge she took a look around curiously and then headed to the ready room door, pressing the chime and settling into a slightly modified parade rest on account of her physical disabilities.

The doors of the ready room swished open. "Come on in," Taiga called.

Sarah stepped into the ready room and met the Captains gaze. “You wished to see me, Captain?” Her face contorted into a small frown for a moment as a thought whirled through her mind. “Did the doc send you negative information about my health conditions?”

"I haven't recieved anything about any health condition..." Taiga said. "Are you concerned about what this is about?" she asked indicating to the meeting.

She looked puzzled for a moment and then glanced down to the braces that hugged her knees. “Confused more than concerned, sir. I’m rather accustomed to only being called into the Captain’s ready room if somebody in command has decided that I am unable to perform my duties adequately.”

"Quite the opposite," Taiga said motioning for her to take a seat.

Sarah slid into the seat opposite Taiga and leaned forward slightly.

"As you know Lieutenant Rea was caught up in a feedback surge from the engine boosters we're building." Taiga started. "She's going to be out of action and off duty for a couple of weeks whilst she recovers. I've been told she's very lucky to not have been killed."

Taiga paused for a brief moment. "That however leaves the position of Chief Engineer open. We need someone to take charge of the department, someone who knows what's going on, how our systems work and is capable of stepping into the role." She looked at Sarah as she sat back in her chair, rubbing her rounded out belly. She was looking forward to finally get off this planet and this was a delay she couldn't afford.

"As next in line I want you to step up to the role of Chief Engineer. You have the qualifications, you have the experience and you know the current stage of development of the booster engines." Taiga said simply.

Sarah listened; nodding here and there as the situation was explained. When Taiga mentioned her stepping up her eyes lit with internal fires. “It would be my honor to step up and fill the role, Captain. Thank you.” Finally! A command that it seems I don’t have to worry about questioning me daily!

Taiga couldn't help but smile at the woman's burst of enthusiasm. "You have a lot of hard work to do." She stated simply. "Combining several different engines together is no easy task. Plus, we still need to incorporate the Romulan singularity core into our systems."

Sarah only smiled and offered a small chuckle. “I guess I have some homework to do so that I can familiarize myself with the systems in question. I’ll get my team to work immediately…. Just so happens that we have an excellent resource in engineering in the form of an Engineer that worked Earth Spacedock on the retrofitting teams”

She looked around the ready room briefly and a singular brow raised in the fashion of Spock as a thought hit her mind and bounced around. “How do you feel about me bringing an older project of mine to bear on Engineering, Captain? It could prove to be a very valuable asset for the entirety of the ship.”

"I'm listening," Taiga replied simply intrigued by the engineers idea.

“Couple of years ago; when I was nowhere near an opportunity to rise anywhere beyond a standard grade Engineer and when I was working on a ship where I was required to do check-ins with the ship Doctor three times a day I coded an AI assistant that I could hand tasks I was involved in over to while I was away from my duty station.” She motioned toward Taiga’s computer on her desk as she took a breath. “I’ve developed the AI since and with proper permissions granted by the command team on board a ship it is now able to augment an entire Engineering Team; in so far as to run Engineering on its own in the case of an emergency.”

"An AI huh?" Taiga asked curiously.

Sarah spun the computer toward her for a moment and accessed her personal files in the Starfleet Archives and then found the ones she had designated for the AI and pulled them up before turning the computer back around. “It is this AI that I want to integrate with the Tokyo’s computer. I think it may be able to increase efficiency of Engineering as a whole by taking some of the Main Computer’s burden off and handling it instead.”

Taiga studied the design on the screen. Computer engineering wasn't her area of expertise at all, she was a tactical and command officer. But it did look like it could have a lot of potential. "Hmm..." she said as she looked it over. "This looks promising, but I am a little weary of letting it have access to most computer functions. However..." she paused. "Lieutenant Nezuko is our resident Computer specialist, I want you to work with her on this. She is the Chief of Operations, and that does include our computer management."

“Gladly done, Captain. I will coordinate with her ASAP. LOKI is set up to require command codes to finalize his access to any systems. So I will keep you updated on progress.” Sarah grinned and gave a small wink.

Taiga nodded. "Good. I look forward to hearing on your updates. As for now, you should report to Engineering and oversee the lead of building those boosters."

Sarah nodded and stood. “That’s where I will be heading then, I’ll get you a report on the progress as soon as is realistic once I arrive… shouldn’t be more than an hour or two.”

Taiga gave her a small nod. "Keep me informed. Dismissed."

Sarah turned on her heel and strode out of the room, heading for Engineering and taking a breath.

Posting By:

Captain Taiga Aisaka
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Sarah Graesyn
Chief Engineer

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