Duty Log - CEO - Lt Cmdr Rhodes - "Caught Between a Rock and a Warp Core"

Posted on 241402.20 @ 2:00am by Acting Captain Mark Rhodes

Mission: Where no man has gone before.

=/\= Main Engineering =/\=

The first thing that Lieutenant Commander Mark Rhodes did after exiting the Executive Officer's Office was head for a turbolift. Stepping on, he called out for "Main Engineering." Within a few seconds he was just a short walk down a corridor from the entry way into Main Engineering. Directly across from the archway into Engineering was a typical door with a small stamp that read Storage Bay 13, that would soon be retrofitted into a set of quarters for him.

Walking up to the door it opened revealing a square room that was about 10 meters by 10 meters. The room was clean, shiny and sterile. Mark was glad that this space remained untouched from when it was completed because he could customize his quarters to his tastes. Having check out what were to become his quarters he exited and crossed the corridor entering Main Engineering.

Mark had never saw a Main Engineering so busy. There were countless gold clad officers and enlisted men moving around working, installing, making adjustments and many other actions. There were panels open, wires hanging and random boxes open both empty, waiting to be disposed of, and filled with equipment ready to be installed.

Engineering extended 4 decks, two above Main Engineering and one below. There were 2 table top terminals, one in a small meeting type room that Mark walked through entering into high ceiling area surrounding the Warp Core with cat walks a deck above looking down in the room. There was another table top terminal in this room too and was considered the Main Terminal in Engineering.

Standing in the archway between the meeting room and the Main Chamber Mark looked around the Main Chamber. Looking the room over he saw a door to the left that lead to his office and another archway to his right. From what Mark had read the archway lead to the Slipstream Drive Core and an engineering lab which was set off of that room. Mark walked over to his office and the door opened automatically as he approached it.

His office was somewhat on the small side but it would work for his purposes while on the ship. There was a plastic sheet covering the loveseat and another on the arm chair. There was a stand for a coffee table sitting without a top in between the front of Mark's desk, the loveseat and the armchair. Leaning against the wall was a box that Mark had assumed was the glass top of his coffee table. Both the table top terminal and the wall terminal, that was situated behind Marks desk, were black. He smiled to himself knowing this would probably be the last time they were off for quite some time.

He tossed his shoulder bag on the plastic covered couch and sat down at his desk. Turning on both terminals they took a few moments to load the available information about the ships systems. He set his wall terminal to have a cross section of the ship showing most of the ships systems in green but there were still a lot showing red which meant they were still being worked on or had yet to be installed. He pulled up some information and threw it on his PaDD.

He put in a requisition order to the Quartermaster for a cot, a mobile replicator and a mobile hygiene unit to be delivered to the Chief Engineers Quarters, formally known as Storage Bay 13. Mark knew he would eventually get the room set up to his liking, perks of being the Chief of Engineer, but for the time being he would sleep in his barren quarters. Most of his time would be spent in Engineering for the next couple days.

Having transferred the most up-to-date information to his PaDD he got up and exited his office. He walked over and stopped in the archway between the meeting room and the Main Warp Core Chamber. "Ladies and Gentlemen!" said Mark in a loud tone to get everyone's attention.

"I am Lieutenant Commander Mark Rhodes, your Chief of Engineering. I've got a problem. This bucket of bolts was suppose to be out of Space Dock and completely ready for our Shakedown Cruise today, 1200 hrs, we were supposed to be moving under our own power but here we sit. Just because the Commanding Officer hasn't come aboard yet does not mean that we can take our sweet time getting the job done.

"When I came aboard and checked in with our Executive Officer I told him it was my plan to get the Warp Core primed and online by 1200 tomorrow and I can assure you that goal will be met. Sooner we get under our own power the sooner we can start testing some of our systems.

"I will be making my rounds for inspections of major ship systems first then staring in on auxiliary systems. I have faith that we can get the job done, after all, we are Starfleet Engineers. Thank you for your time folks. As you were."

Mark let his crew get back to work and moved back into his office. The opened his shoulder bag and pushed aside some of his personal effects and took the rock that his former CO at Jupiter Station had given him and placed it on his desk out of the way as the first bit of something to make his office not look so sterile.

"Computer, access Jupiter Station Personnel Replicator Preferences. Replicate Toolkit-Rhodes-011." A few seconds later a brown leather messenger bag filled with a plethora of tools and odds and ends appear on Mark's replicator. He sat down with a smile on his face and tried to figure out where to start his inspections. Regardless, it was official, he was now in the thick of it.

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