Joint Duty Log | CO & CEO | Capt. Carpenter & LtCmdr. Rhodes | "Repairing Recipes"

Posted on 241403.06 @ 2:23pm by Captain Eric Carpenter & Acting Captain Mark Rhodes

Mission: Where no man has gone before.

= Captain's Dining Room =

Dinner with the Chief Engineer now. Eric had already met his Chief Engineer, prior to launch, and had gotten a good impression of the man, but he needed to meet the man under less formal circumstances so as to get the measure of the man. As head of one of the bigger departments on the ship, Rhodes was a significant player on his ship. So, having him over for dinner was rather important.

Mark Rhodes adjusted his uniform before he hit the chime to the Captains Mess. He still had his messenger bag slung over his shoulder with his tools in it as he had just come from Main Engineering and didn't have time to drop it off along the way.

The Steward admitted the Chief Engineer into the dining room, and Eric rose from his chair as Mark entered the room. "Ah, Commander Rhodes. I thought was going to get stood up by you."

"Oh no sir," said Mark stowing his toolkit under a small end table just to the right of the door. "I am still inspecting ship systems and the time got away from me. My apologies for making you wait sir."

"Oh not at all." Eric smiled. "I spotted we didn't loose any significant parts off the ship as we went to warp, so you clearly earned your pay. Please, have a seat. Steven will bring you a drink and a plate of lovely roast honey glazed ham - cooked it himself you know." He indicated the steward.

Mark took a seat stood behind his chair and waited for the Captain to sit down before he took his seat. "It'll be nice to have someone who can cook somewhere on board. On Jupiter Station it was a shuttle trip to Earth if you wanted a good cooked meal," chuckled Mark as he took the napkin off the table top and placed it in his lap. "And yes, ship hasn't come apart yet. So something is working. The issue with the Aquarius' docking clamps was sorted out. Leave it to the folks at Utopia Planitia to create such an oversight in EPS grid wiring."

"How bad is it?" He asked, as the steward placed the plates in front of them. "If we're going to have to shut down parts of the ship, it'd be nice to know in advance."

"Nothing that severe," said Mark as he thanked the Steward. "The only major thing we had to do was reroute after the issue with the docking clamps. For some reason when they designed the ship they insisted on running the grid work 7 decks up before heading down to where the actual tap was. Another thing odd we discovered is in a saucer separation the clamps holding the Aquarius would automatically disconnect. Which if you are trying to evacuate the stardrive section onto it, makes things very hard to do as it drifts away on its own."

"I'm sure there's a design reason for that, but damned if I can figure out what it is. I'm just a Captain, what would I know." He smirked.

"Sure had all of us scratching our heads," said Mark. "Well at least we are getting this sorted out. Its coming together quicker then I had thought."

"Well, all new ships have interesting quirks. That's why Chief Engineers get to tinker so much." Eric said, rather enjoying his ham dinner.

"Indeed," said Mark as he took a bite of the delicious food. "So how are things upstairs? I haven't had a chance to make it to the bridge much since we departed McKinley," asked Mark trying to make small talk.

"Well, nothing's fallen off or broken, if that's what you mean." Eric smiled. "We're having some niggles with a couple of the aft bridge stations, and the Second Officer's chair squeaks when it rotates, but nothing worth reporting until the major niggles are fixed."

"Understood," said Mark. He took then raised his glass, "If I may, to the USS Enterprise, and all who have come before her and to all who will come after."

"To the Enterprise." He acknowledged the toast. "Long may she not blow up."

"Well there is always that," chuckled Mark after he took a drink. "Shes holding together just fine. I may seem on edge at times, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I wasn't."

"You'd let me know if she was going to blow up, I hope. I don't want to be surprised one morning, ya know."

"Ill keep you posted, sir," Mark replied with a smile. "So if I may ask sir, what lead to you getting this boat? From what I had heard this was quite the sought after commission."

"I didn't even apply for it." Eric answered honestly. "Admiral Malone decided to give it to me. I was after any command after my last command was decommissioned... since there wasn't much left of it. But I was put on shore-duty for about a year, which annoyed me. I wanted another command, and I had to wait - but it was worth it."

"Indeed," said Mark. "I was working Corp of Engineer's Colonization Department on Jupi-" all of a sudden Mark's right hand twitched and dropped his fork dropping it onto the plate then bounced onto the table with a loud clang. Without looking the Captain in the eye he opened and closed his hands a few times then continued talking as if nothing had happened. "On Jupiter Station. It was an interesting job but I prefer spacefaring."

Eric raised an eyebrow. "Everything alright, Commander?"

"Oh yes sir," said Mark not making eye contact. "I accidentally got a little to close to a plasma tap this morning and scorched my hand a bit. That cute red head doctor fixed me up," he said sounding somewhat ashamed. "Wait, I am sorry sir. That was disrespectful of me, let me rephrase: the Chief Medical Officer took care of the issue sir. Seems like my body is taking a little bit of getting use to the restructured nerves."

Eric narrowed his eyes, and made a note to have the ships counselor pay Rhodes a visit. Last thing he needed was for his Chief Engineer to have some kind of breakdown. He also made a mental note to talk to the 'cute red head doctor' about it. It might be important, but for now, he deflected. "I understand. She's a bit of a fire-cracker that one, I'd watch yourself."

"Oh by all means sir," said Mark. "I meant nothing by it. Only time you'll find me in sickbay is to get patched up, nothing more. It was my own darn fault, got a little to close to the plasma tap, then the regulator failed. Could have been much worse then a burnt hand," he said thankfully.

"Shouldn't you have taken better precautions?" He asked, concerned.

"I did. Followed proper protocol, but the protocol was written for if the regulator is in proper working order. We were always taught in the academy better to burn your hand then lose your hand. Its an archaic system but sometimes parts fail," said Mark.

"Better not to burn it at all." Eric said, narrowing his eyes somewhat.

"Yes but there is always the chance, working so close to this kind of machinery accidents will happen. In a perfect world parts would not fail while you are working on them, but alas, they do," said Mark.

"Well, that's true of anything, I guess." Eric said, still somewhat concerned at the caviler fashion that Rhodes was showing for life. Accidents did happen, but this just seemed... cold somehow. Something about all this was rubbing the CO up the wrong way, and he didn't like that he couldn't figure it out. He would definitely be talking to Doctor Rogers and this Lieutenant Vinik.

The last of dinner was cleared away, and a good evening had come to its conclusion. "Thank you for dining with me, Commander." Eric said, standing.

"Thank you for having me Captain," said Mark standing. He grabbed his shoulder bag. "I best be heading back to Main Engineering. I still have some systems to inspect," with a salute Mark departed the Captains Mess and headed for his duties.

Eric waited till he'd gone, then moved over to a console to send messages to both Doctor Rogers and the ships counselor to contact him immediately regarding the well-being of a member of the crew.

--

Captain Eric Carpenter
Commanding Officer
USS Enterprise
NCC-1701-F

Lieutenant Commander Mark Rhodes
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-F